The young woman woke up the next morning to find Fili and Kili looking down at her and stroking her hair. She gave them a small smile and sat up. "Good morning!" Kili happily greeted, causing Talia's smile to widen.
"Hey."
The two brothers looked at each other knowingly. "How are you feeling?" Fili asked.
"Better than last night. Thanks boys, for what you did." she told them. The brothers waved her off and she began to stand up.
"Hold on!" Kili insisted. "We want to do your hair today!" he chirped, causing Talia to giggle.
"Seriously? You wanna go through that mess again?" she snorted.
"What are you talking about? Kili told me that you have great hair!" Fili said, causing Talia to narrow her eyes.
"Sure...if you think that a bird's nest is great, then yeah, go for it!" she said wryly.
Fili and Kili chuckled at her comment as they both took sections of her hair. Once they combed out most of the knots with their fingers, they began to braid. She was surprised that they were actually able to go through her hair. With her curls being so frizzy and tangled, she always got impatient with her hair, which was why she always had it up in a bun.
When the two brothers were finally finished, she looked at their work through her phone's front camera. "How are you boys better at braiding than all of the girls I know combined?" she wondered.
"We're just gifted." Kili chirped, causing Talia to laugh.
"Thank you, boys. I'll see you later." Talia said, beginning to stand up. The Terran cringed when the brothers took hold of her arms to help her.
Talia ended up sinking back down to the ground and rubbing her forearms. "Are you alright?" Fili asked, worry clear in his tone. Fili and Kili both bent down to look at Talia.
Kili stared at Talia, then at her arms, and back at her. "What happened to you?" he asked, almost as if a part of him knew. The young woman didn't respond, and Kili took her hand in his, gently rolling up her sleeve.
Talia gritted her teeth as her jacket sleeve was rolled up to reveal dark blue and black bruises all around her arm. The brothers gasped. "What happened?" Kili demanded, though Talia could see that he was more frightened than angry.
"Nothing, I just had a bad fall earlier." she insisted, scratching her lower lip with her teeth.
"I don't believe you. You're no clumsy fool, Talia, and you know it!" Fili said angrily, hurt by the fact that she would lie to them.
The young woman looked down, missing the haunted look on the brothers' faces. "Talia...did Thorin do this to you?" Kili dared to ask. Talia looked up at them, speechless. How was she supposed to explain this to them? Thorin was their uncle, their family. The last thing she wanted was for the poor boys to look at him even more differently than they already were.
"Did he beat you?" Fili demanded loudly.
Talia shushed them immediately. "Keep your voices down, he might hear you." she hissed.
"He hit you?" Kili whisper-yelled.
"No! Of course not! He...he just has a tight grip." she admitted.
"How long has this been going on?" Fili asked.
"A while... Boys, please. Do not say a word about this." Talia begged.
"Why not? He's hurting you Talia! What if it gets worse?" Kili insisted and Talia shook her head.
"Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do? Organize a company of twelve Dwarves to rebel against their king just because he grabbed me too hard?" she retorted, causing Kili to falter a little.
Talia sighed. "I can handle him."
"But for how much longer?" Fili asked.
The young woman looked Fili in the eye. "Until you don't need me anymore."
The blonde prince furrowed his eyebrows. "Talia, your part of this quest is finished...we don't need you anymore. You could leave right now if you wanted to." he insisted, though the young woman could detect the strain in his voice as he said the words.
The Terran looked down. Her work here wasn't finished yet. She still had the Arkenstone. Until she figured out what to do with it..."No, I can't. There's something I have to do first." she said.
"And what's that?" Kili asked.
Talia paused. "I..." she smiled. "I can't leave without a proper goodbye. And I'm not ready to do that yet." It wasn't a lie. Though Thorin's behavior had given her the thought of leaving, she really just couldn't say goodbye to her Dwarves just yet. They were family. She still wasn't entirely sure what she would do without them.
Once the brothers seemed fine with Talia's response, they left for the treasure room. Though she knew she would probably get yelled at for it, Talia made her way down the halls to sit down on a bench. She wanted to be alone. The young woman took out her phone, and started looking through some of her old pictures. She let a single tear escape her eye as the memories fired back into her mind. Talia wiped away the tear and smiled. It was a good journey. Every minute of it, even the messy ones.
"What is that?" a deep voice hissed. A nerve struck Talia when she saw that Thorin had found her. She stood up from her place as Thorin stormed in to face her. "In your hand?" he demanded again.
Talia furrowed her brows. "It's nothing you'd want." she told him calmly.
The Dwarf king cocked an eyebrow. "Show me."
The Terran actually chuckled a little bit when she showed him what was in her hand. "It's just my phone." she smiled.
Thorin blinked. "I apologize."
Talia waved him off. "Nah, it's fine. It's not a big deal." she told him. Thorin gave a small smile, and she smiled back. "Do you...wanna sit down? I've noticed you've been looking a little tired lately." she said.
Talia was surprised when Thorin seemed to come back a little, and he nodded. They both took a seat on the bench, and Thorin looked at her. "Who braided your hair?" he asked...sounding almost offended.
"Um, your nephews." she answered, causing Thorin to relax a little. They both stayed in what Talia felt was an uncomfortable silence. Ever since Thorin...got sick, conversation had been running a bit thin between the two of them.
"Have you figured out how you'll spend your reward?" Thorin spoke up. There it was. Another money conversation.
"Not completely. I know that when I eventually have my own place built, I want big windows so the sunlight can get in. And I want something fuzzy for my bed, because I love snuggling up in blankets." she said, bringing a chuckle from Thorin. "I also wanna have a tin roof so that I can hear the rain when I go to sleep."
Talia looked to see Thorin giving her a wide smile. Automatically, she found herself smiling back. "But yeah, that's my plan for now. I'd probably need some money for traveling too, but-"
"What?" Thorin cut her off. Talia looked up to see his eyes shifting back. Had she said something wrong? She was about to ask when Thorin scoffed. "Talia...I don't think you understand...what made you think that you are leaving?" he asked lowly.
The young woman widened her eyes ever so slightly. "Um, Thorin. You know that I care about you and the company...very much. But, I can't stay here. This is your home, not mine." she said carefully.
"This could be your home, did you ever think about that?" Thorin growled.
Talia gaped a little. "Well, no. I'm not a Dwarf." she said bluntly.
"That doesn't matter. I will not allow you to get yourself killed over your reckless urges. Your place is here." Talia had to look away from Thorin. He was treating her like she had no voice. He was treating her like she was...his property.
That was the last straw for Talia. She let Thorin treat her like she was an invalid, she let him treat her like she was a mindless child, but she would not let him treat her like she was another one of his precious gold coins. "What do you know about where my place is? You don't control me. My contract is up. There is literally nothing binding me to this place. I can leave whenever I feel like it." she snapped.
Thorin turned his head swiftly towards her. "This is your place because this is where you belong! No, I may not be able to control you, but I do have a say in what you can or cannot do as long as you're here! I am the king!" he shouted. "And my command is that you remain here." he whispered lowly. Talia glared back at him, a part of her wondering where the heck her willpower had been for the past few weeks.
"Don't you remember? You're not my king." she hissed. Immediately, Thorin grabbed Talia by the arms and squeezed. The young woman gasped, gritting her teeth as she felt like Thorin's grip could break her bones. Before Thorin could say anything, a voice called his name in the distance.
Dwalin came through the halls, and stopped at the scene. Thorin released his hold on Talia, and she held her breath as she tried not to make any kind of sound from the pain. "Thorin, survivors from Laketown. They are streaming into Dale. There's hundreds of them." the warrior said. The Terran saw Thorin's face molding into a glare once more.
"Call everyone to the gate. To the gate! Now." he commanded, making his way out of the halls.
The company had spent hours bringing multiple huge pieces of stone to the front gate. For the past few weeks, there had only been a huge hole in place from when Smaug broke out of it. Now, Thorin had given orders to block it up. Talia honestly didn't see the point. First of all, they had given a promise to the people of Laketown. They probably just wanted what they were owed. Second, it wasn't like these poor, homeless people were armed. What were they going to do that could even be considered potentially dangerous?
Talia was helping Kili pull a wheelbarrow full of stone to the gate. She knew that Kili didn't agree with this. He told her all about how Bard had let him and the others back into his home, how that Elf from Mirkwood, Tauriel, had come to heal him, and how the people of Laketown had even supplied them with a boat to cross the lake.
"I want this fortress made safe by sunup. This mountain was hard won, I will not see it taken again." Thorin barked. That was when Kili dropped the front of the wheelbarrow, causing Talia to stop.
"The people of Laketown have nothing! They came to us in need! They have lost everything!" Kili insisted.
Thorin only glared at his younger nephew. "Do not tell me what they have lost. I know well enough of their hardship." The Dwarf king turned to look upon Dale, where the fires that were lit by the people were visible. "Those who have lived through dragon fire should rejoice! They have much to be grateful for."
Talia was staring at Thorin, wondering what could possibly be going through his head. From what it sounded like, Thorin didn't seem to feel anything for the people who had just lost their homes, and family members, and friends. She would have thought that Thorin could, in a way, relate to their situation. He lost his home to a dragon once, but he obviously refuses to put his story and theirs in the same league. Thorin was now in the mode of protecting his treasure from them...and just about everything else that breathed.
"More stone! BRING MORE STONE TO THE GATE!" Thorin commanded, tossing multiple heavy stones to Nori. The poor guy actually had to fend off a few, Thorin was pushing so hard. As Kili picked up the wheelbarrow once more, Talia could only look forward at Dale, wondering what the company would soon be in for.