28

"Alright! Who's next?" Fili said wringing out his hair with one hand and combing through his beard with the other.

After admiring their homeland from Carrock's peak, Thorin had decided to allow the Company a day's rest in the forest below, if it was even large enough to be called such. Since they had experienced attacks from stone giants, goblins, and Orcs all in the span of one night, they could all use some time to recuperate and get their bearings together. They had made camp in a small clearing only a few footfalls away from Carrock's base, where the Company stayed relatively calm and quiet. Though the silence was odd for the dwarves, it was comforting; for once, they kept to themselves.

Most of the day the dwarves had slept, ate, or simply relaxed, but the thing they were most eager to do was bathe. Adjacent their camp, a small dirt path led to a stream, secluded from the gaze of others by the intense brush. Fili had just returned from the water, grateful for the feeling of being clean. He was one of the last ones to take his turn, for the setting sun showed it was nearly nightfall.

"Auntie? Have you and Thorin been yet?"

Talia looked up at her nephew, his voice pulling her from her absentminded thoughts. She sat with her legs crossed, her back leaning on stone. Thorin rested his head in her lap, fast asleep, with his hands folded over his chest. Talia had been running her fingers through his hair gently, the action comforting both him and her as she played with the raven-black strands.

"No, but we're the only ones left." She responded softly, looking back down at her husband. "Thank you, Fili."

Even after he nodded, the young prince did not move. His eyes were fixated on his uncle. "He's been sleeping all day. How is he?"

"Exhausted and in desperate need of healing." Talia replied, smiling reassuringly at Fili. "His wounds are extensive."

"Can you heal him?"

Talia's smile fell a little, though it was not hidden to her nephew. "I can try."

"You will." Kili interjected from her left, tossing a small, smooth stone up and down in his hands. Talia could make out Khuzdul runes, though she was not close enough to read them. "I think you two in the water will help immensely. I'm sure he'd agree."

Talia narrowed her eyes at the cheekiness of the dwarf. "Would you be a dear and smack him for me, Fili?"

"Happily."

"Mahal, brother! Not so hard!"

Talia grinned, surprised Kili's volume alone hadn't woken Thorin. "You two are just like him, you know. When he was young, there was no mistaking the mischief in him."

"Really?" Fili asked, settling next to his brother. "How so?"

"Well, one time he stole all of the spoons out of my house, one by one over the course of a week. Then, he switched out my red rouge for my black battle paint, which stained my cheeks for days. On the eve of his twentieth birthday, he got so drunk that I found him and Dwalin clanging my swords against each other in my living room. They were laughing so loud that I'm shocked my mother didn't wake. They were fighting with their eyes closed; they're lucky they didn't lose an arm."

"Master Dwalin!" Kili exclaimed, taking on the tone of a scolding mother jokingly. The dwarf in question, who had been smiling fondly at the inkling of a memory, quickly snapped out of his haze. His face dropped, unamused that Talia was disturbing his reputation amongst the princes as a fierce warrior. Balin chuckled at his brother, nudging him slightly.

"What? It was too cold to play with them outside." He shrugged.

"You took them outside?"

"Don't be mistaken, lads, they're no lightweights." Balin interjected, his cheeks a rosy red from his laughter. "But it did take them quite some practice with getting drunk to get to that point."

"And what of yourself, Master Balin?" Fili asked, grinning mischievously.

"Well, I was a studious lad. Very academic, loved my books. I was training to be the King's advisor, you see—"

"If you call 'training' drooling over every blonde in the room." Talia snickered, causing Balin's expression to fall as Dwalin laughed merrily.

"OI! I didn't mind brunettes!"

Talia could only shake her head and wink at her nephews, much to Balin's chagrin.

"I had no idea Uncle behaved in such a manner." Kili observed out loud, a smile across his lips as he stared off into the distance.

"Neither did I."

"Well, you didn't get it from Dis, now, did you?" Balin added, happy to get the subject off himself.

"I always thought it was Father."

"Beldan wasn't much of a prankster, but when he was, Dis would be furious with him. Still, she laughed along with the joke. Every single time." Talia recounted, grinning at the memory of her brother-in-law tickling Dis' nose until she sneezed. "But your mischief is mostly that of the line of Durin."

"I can't imagine him stealing all of your spoons." Fili looked down at Thorin with a smirk, who still slept soundly in Talia's arms. "I always remember him behaving with the utmost chivalry."

"Well, his pranks were always chivalrous. The next day, he brought all of them back. He helped me clean off the war paint when I nearly ran away from embarrassment. He woke up early after he and Dwalin ransacked my home and put it all back together again, just the way it was."

Fili and Kili looked on to their aunt in wonder. Balin and Dwalin exchanged a glance, grinning at the happiness in Talia's face as she recounted the tales.

"He would always insist on taking me home, no matter how late. Whenever I was sick, he would stay with me the whole day, and he remembered how to make my favorite kind of tea, the one that doesn't upset my stomach. Sometimes, I think he would let me hurt him during sparring so that I would win." Talia was now staring at him, her fingers running over the braid in his hair while he slept.

"You couldn't stand it when you lost, Talia. I remember." Balin added, smiling to himself.

"Either that, or it just gave him another excuse to visit you in Dale." Dwalin suggested, raising a brow at his friend. "Thorin would deny the best healers in Middle Earth if you were available to take care of him."

"It probably helped that my mother was the best healer in the kingdom." She added, shifting slightly underneath him. "Speaking of healing, I should take him to the stream. His wounds will become infected if I don't take a look at them soon."

Talia gently nudged him awake, helping him stand once his cerulean blue eyes met hers. She wrapped his arm around her shoulders, winding a hand around his waist. "Ready to get clean?"

He nodded, still half asleep. Talia smiled as she walked them away, slinging her pack over her shoulder. She saw the disappointment of her nephews as they went, leaving them when she still had so many stories to tell. Then, she grinned as an idea hit her, preparing to call over her shoulder. "Balin! Tell them of how Dwalin got that scar on his brow!"

The elder dwarf laughed, agreeing and waving them off. "Well, it was Durin's Day, and the feast had just ended. Dwalin was out cold, so much so that Thorin and I had to carry him through the mountain. We smacked his brow on his headboard so hard that..."

Balin's voice faded as the couple made their way through the woods, reaching the bank of the stream. Thorin proved he could at least walk on his own, but Talia still kept him close with a hand intertwined in his, pulling him to the sandy shore.

"Come on. We must clean your wounds." She said, releasing his hand to take off her boots.

"You were hurt too, Talia." Thorin replied, shrugging off his jacket and letting it drop to the floor.

"But you almost died, Thorin."

"As did you."

Talia sighed, rolling her eyes as she moved closer to him. "It's not a contest."

"Then don't downplay it." Thorin fired back, hearing her sigh as he helped her out of her fur coat. "Come. Let me see."

"Your injuries are much more—"

"Come, Talia."

So she stepped towards him, their bodies so close that she could feel the heat from his. He looked her up and down, slowly running his thick, calloused hands over her skin. She watched his eyes as they scanned over her wounds, taking in the few gashes that ran across her arms. She hissed almost inaudibly as his fingers reached her triceps, touching the skin as gently as he could through her tattered clothes.

Wordlessly, he moved down to the bottom of her tunic, his fingers at her hips. He helped her out of the fabric and tossed it aside, her skin now bare against the warm breeze. It had been so long since he had seen her like this, yet his gaze was fixated on the cut that had caught his attention originally. He ran a thumb over the wound as she focused on slowing her breathing, closing her eyes. Thorin could tell that it wasn't deep, but that it hurt like hell.

"We'll have to clean it." Talia said, taking his hands in hers and beginning to turn away. But he pulled her back as other parts of her caught his attention.

Like Talia had said a few weeks ago, the scars from her years in captivity covered her even underneath her clothes. Thorin took in the marks littered across her shoulders, back, and chest, holding her by the waist with one hand and tracing over them with another. He could feel her breath on his neck as he bowed his head down to hers, the pad of his finger falling on a particularly nasty mass of tissue on her collarbone. He couldn't believe how she was still so radiant despite the faded white scars all over her body. If anything, she was even more beautiful than before.

"Do you remember getting them?"

Talia met his eyes with her emerald green ones, seeing both the innocence and the pain behind the question. "Not all of them. Some." She answered truthfully, folding her hand over his. She guided his palm to her collarbone, placing his fingers on the scar that he had noticed before. "This was from the very first day. He wanted to make sure he made an impression." She moved his hand to her hip, following a white line that went around her side and to her back. "This was when I made the mistake of flinching." She turned so that her back faced him, pulling him to the base of her neck. "This..." She began, feeling his fingers run all the way down her spine, following the lengthy scar down to her tailbone. "Is the largest one I have. It was the first time he used that blade embedded on his arm."

"Talia..."

She turned to face him. She expected his gaze to be that of crushing anguish, of the sadness he had told her he felt regarding her past. But this time, she couldn't read him. His eyes were steel, unyielding to her will to understand them.

Instead, she kissed him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, one hand found it's way into his dark hair, while the other pulled his chest closer to hers. He returned it hesitantly, his heart a blend of emotions as he closed his eyes and held her close. When he opened them, her green orbs shone at his.

"It's okay. I promise."

Thorin sighed, leaning his forehead on hers momentarily before bringing his lips to her brow. He let her lift his own tunic over his shoulders and bring him to the stream. They both slipped out of their trousers and waded into the water, watching the sunshine dance on the surface as it lapped on the shore.

They stopped when they were chest deep, proceeding to tend to each other's wounds. Talia insisted on taking care of him first, for he was more hurt than she. She knew he would never admit it. She washed the blood away from the cut on his torso, feeling the hardened muscle underneath, and tended to the gash on his chest as well. He then moved to help her, rinsing the grime away from her injuries on her arms and shoulders. He gently brought a rag to her temple, wiping away the redness with such delicacy that Talia almost thought he wasn't doing anything. She loved how his eyes reflected his focus; her green ones easily got lost in the deep seas that were his.

Once they were done, the pair had given each other a little bit of space to rinse out their hair. Talia was combing through the ends of her hair as they floated in the water. When she was done, she fully submerged her head and hair underwater, resurfacing as the water pooled at her collarbones.

But before she could relax in peace, she gasped at the SPLASH that had blinded her. When she opened her eyes, Thorin had a far from innocent smirk on his face, his brow raised in a challenge.

"What?"

"You're dead."

Within seconds, Talia had raced over to him, hurling water his way as he did the same to her. They were laughing like they were kids again, finding a joy they hadn't felt in years. Finally, she grabbed ahold of his shoulders, forcing him under the water. She gasped for air as he pulled her down with him, much to her surprise. Once they resurfaced, Thorin was laughing so hard that he could barely breathe, whether it was from the humor of the situation or the extent of his injuries. The sonorous noise brought life to the air that Talia could have never imagined.

"You're ridiculous!"

"How so?"

"We're in the midst of a very important quest to reclaim your kingdom, yet you are splashing me like you are five years old!"

Thorin shrugged, still grinning. He swam closer to her, pulling her in with her hands. "Our kingdom."

"I've missed this side of you." Talia tilted her head, smiling back as she took him in. The sun cast a yellow glow upon her wet skin, complimenting her freckles and the wrinkles around her eyes. "You're more than a grouch, you know. You can still be fun."

"Want to see fun?"

"Thorin!"

He burst into laughter again, allowing her to push him away playfully. As much as they both knew it wasn't the time nor place, Talia almost wished she had ignored that logic. He was just so handsome when he smiled.

A few moments later, the pair found themselves at the shore, almost fully clothed. Now that Talia's bandages were taken care of, she had reached into her pack for materials to attend to Thorin. At the moment, she was wrapping the gash in his torso, and would proceed to the cut on his chest next. The sleeve of her tunic brushed against his bare skin every once in a while, making him shiver.

"Why haven't you used rue?"

Talia grinned to herself. "Your wounds do not require it. You have an odd obsession with that herb, Thorin."

"What? It is your namesake, after all."

She laughed softly, shaking her head. "I heard you kept it around in the Blue Mountains after I was gone."

He hummed in response, looking from her hands to her eyes. "Who told you?" He asked softly, a smile on his face.

"The boys. Fili said that you never took off your ring or bead."

"Neither did you."

"Kili even mentioned that he sometimes found you looking at the stars on every Durin's Day, long after everyone else had retired."

Thorin nodded, but the actions seemed silly now. Still, the way Talia looked at him was endearing, and he would do it a thousand times over just to see that smile again.

"Why?"

The question was simple, yet it held a certain weight that Thorin felt from her. Talia kept her gaze fixed on his bandage as she worked, but he knew it was to hide her emotion from him.

"I was remembering a better life, I suppose." He mused, looking away from her and falling deep into thought. "Every day, I looked to those stars to remember Erebor and the joy within those halls. But my mind always wandered to the eve of us on the statue, because that's where my mind wanted me to be. I wanted to remember life when you were in it."

Talia smiled at the memory. "I'll never forget that night. That feeling."

Thorin only stared at her, raising an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"You son of a bitch!" She smacked him as she realized what he had done, scowling at him. Though she was amused, the disbelief regarding his audacity had taken over. He chuckled, flinching slightly at the impact. "Fine, asshole. I won't forget it again."

"That's better."

Talia finished wrapping the bandage, grumbling something along the lines of how he didn't deserve it as she packed away her things. Thorin smiled and pulled his tunic back over his head as Talia helped him into his jacket, preparing him for the short walk back to camp. Once they had collected themselves, Thorin and Talia walked hand in hand through the wood, following the path back the way they came.

The rest of the night was a comfortable recollection of the past, shared by all members of the Company. The elder dwarves reflected fondly on their adventures in Erebor, just as Talia had done before with the boys. The younger lads recalled how the elder ones had raised them in the Blue Mountains, chuckling at the tales of good mischief. Gandalf laughed along with the merry gathering, knowing that there was never a dull moment in the life of a dwarf. Talia nearly toppled over when the wizard told the Company of their very own hobbit's humor, who was red with embarrassment. Bilbo cringed as he recalled the evening of his fifth birthday, having set off Gandalf's entire stock of fireworks in the span of two minutes and nearly lighting Hobbiton on fire. The Company was roaring with laughter at the tale. Even Thorin grinned and clapped his friend on the shoulder, telling him a similar story of how he had almost started a war between the dwarf clans with only one word and two matches.

Once their reminiscing was done, the Company settled into their respective bedrolls, storing their day of peace into memory. Though they would surely regret taking the day to rest once Azog caught up with them, for now, they allowed themselves to enjoy it. After all, no one was looking forward to running from the Pale Orc yet again, as they would proceed to do at the crack of dawn.

Thorin held Talia close, kissing the crook of her neck before resting his head next to hers. That night, he dreamt that he and Talia were weightless, lounging on the clouds and chasing the sky. When they reached out, they could touch the stars and hold them in their hands, finally feeling and harnessing the warmth of the light that had connected them.