A Place to Belong

Chapter 20: Lessons

She pressed herself to the wall beside him and crouched below the window pane. She breathed as silently as she could. Whatever it was it was very large and possibly angry by the sounds of it. It grunted with every heavy step it took and growled low at every other noise.

She poked her head up to the nearest window. She saw a great bear slowing making its way across the courtyard, she was unsure of its colour but she imagined it could only be a dark russet brown or black. It was much larger than any bear she had ever come across in her lifetime. It looked like it would be as tall as the house if it reared up.

"Whoa!" she heard Kili exclaim, she shushed him again.

Then suddenly something clicked in her mind. 'Could this be Beorn?!'

It would explain the many bear carvings, drawings and seals all over his house and answer the question of what he shape-shifted into; and if it was it explained the reason he'd wanted them to stay indoors.

In this form he would be more of a threat and possibly not even be able to recognise friend from foe. It would be a bad day for anyone who crossed his path.

They both watched as the beast passed. Braerka had almost died when it saw her and leapt at the window, roaring loudly. She had ducked backwards for cover knowing it would be useless if the beast broke through the window but did it anyway. She felt Kili's arms protectively take hold of her. She could feel his heart thumping steadily in his chest; she was amazed at how calm it was.

The bear glared at them through the thin clear glass sheet with its small black beady eyes. It soon continued on his way before disappearing altogether.

Braerka stood up, moving from Kili's grip and moved to the window. She watched as it sped to a lumbering sprint and disappeared through the trees.

'Wow...' She thought, she mentally noted that she would never get on Beorn's bad side.

"That's the biggest damn bear I've ever seen!" Kili gasped, joining her at the window.

"Yeah!" she agreed. Then discerning there was nothing more to be seen, she returned to the room and lay down once more. Kili closely followed.

She lay there for ages, unable to sleep her mind plague by questions and theories. She rolled onto her side to see Kili still wide awake and staring at her longingly.

"You should be asleep!" she whispered to him.

"So should you!" he replied, smiling back her more widely. She huffed like a child and moved to roll over to her other side. He stopped her however, stretching out his arm taking hold of her and pulling her in close.

He then gently ghosted his fingertips across her cheek and tucked her hair behind her ear. They lay in silence for a while, either too unsure or too scared to do anything.

Braerka peered into his deep brown orbs. They glistened like gems in the moonlight that poured in through the small window. She still didn't understand why but when she looked into his eyes she felt calmness wash over her, she felt safe too. It was like all he had to do was be there and things would return to normal.

But both their lives were anything but and would never truly be normal. Braerka didn't mind that, in fact she liked it. The excitement that came with unpredictability of her life was what she enjoyed, she loved the unexpected; in moderation of course.

It was the uncertainty of everything; the quest, whether she could die or not, what exactly the consequences of having owned the Reaver for so long were and what she would do if and when her enemies caught up with her. That's what was holding her back.