The Undecided Title Of Sara Miller *Hobbit Fanfiction* (Thorin/OC)

Chapter 35: Action

"Relax." He squeezed gently, his thumbs rubbing soothing circles into her back. "You need to be a little loosey-goosey," he teased, tweaking her earlobe softly. After several seconds he began to hum a soft slow tune that sounded like a lullaby, the music seeming to chase away her fear and sorrow as she felt a calm wash over her. She wondered not for the first time if Thorin's voice was really a spell. He continued to rub her shoulders, humming, and soon she had relaxed and he returned to her hair, his fingers gentle but sure. He worked carefully around the injury behind her right ear. The patch was healing but bare and she wondered if it would ever grow back, she guessed not.

Chapter 35:

In which Sara, Thorin, and Dwalin all begin to put their plans into action.

"That's a load of goat dung," said Fili staring in disbelief at his brother. "You know very well I won that drinking contest. I had to carry you home that night."

"No that can't be right," said Kili. "I distinctly remember winning, it was my 50th birthday after all and I won."

"You're balmy brother. It's not true."

Sara pulled back on the reins of her speckled pony as the two prince's storytelling spiraled into a heated argument... again. She sighed looking around at the others spread out over the grassy plain, the sun beating down on their backs. Thorin and Dwalin led the group without words only occasionally turning in the saddle to ensure that all were present and well. Bifur and Bombur rode together talking quietly as were Oin and Gloin. Riding off to the left, Ori sat chewing on the end of a pen as he poured over a parchment, Dori huffing in irritation whenever he had to reach out and steady his brother or guide his pony. Nori was to the right to the company between them and the dark twisting trees of mirkwood, his eyes near constant in their probing of the dark depths. His shoulders were tense as he kept one hand on the staff in his lap and the other near his hip where his knives were strapped. Balin and Bilbo were some distance behind her and Bofur was dawdling off to the far right by himself. Sara frowned. It was unlike the toymaker to be alone but an odd mood had gripped the entire company. They were all a bit more irritable and anxious than normal even the ponies. The first three days from Beorn's they had traveled quickly, the forest several miles to their right, but as they continued north the treeline had crept closer and closer until early this afternoon they were only a couple hundred feet away. The nearer they drew, the more morose and cantankerous the group became. This was already Fili and Kili's second tiff today and if truth be told, Sara had little patience for their bickering.

There was a little beep from her lap signaling her phone had reached full charge so she pulled it free of the cord and entered the new passcode. On her home screen there was a notification for her photo file asking if she wanted to delete duplicate or unnecessary images so she opened the folder and got lost in scrolling. There were pictures from college, some of her and her roommates goofing around at the grocery store and a picture of her and Nathen at Barren River Lake during summer break last year. She grimaced, maybe she hadn't been entirely honest when she told Thorin no one on Earth would miss her.

For as long as Sara could remember Nathan and his family had lived next door and they had grown up the best of friends. Sara could still remember going to the emergency room with Nathen the time he had broken his leg climbing across the old tree between their second story windows. Nathen had even been her first kiss, if you counted an experiment between seven-year-olds that ended in mutual disgust as a viable kiss that is. They had schemed and hatched plans together, often driving their parents crazy and when they were twelve had convinced them to let them build a proper tree house in the tree between their houses under the supervision of Nathen's older brother Jacob. After high school Nathan had left to join the Army and returned four years later to attend Eastern Kentucky University with Sara, using his GI Bill to pay his way through school. That first year of college together had been amazing and they had hung out so often that their grades had suffered for it.