“Thorin’s Dream of Love”, Ch. 12: Thorin Awakens from his Dream to Continue His Quest, November 14, 2013 Gratiana Lovelace (Post #470)

“Thorin’s Dream of Love”, Ch. 12:   Thorin Awakens from his Dream to Continue His Quest,  November 14, 2013 Gratiana Lovelace (Post #470)

(This is an original fan fiction story by Gratiana Lovelace; All rights reserved;  The characters from “The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey” and “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” are owned by Warner Brothers, no copyright infringement is intended) [(1) story logo left]

[From time to time, I will illustrate my story with my dream cast of:  Richard Armitage as Prince Thorin Oakenshield, Lucy Griffiths as Lady Kiralin, Jeffrey Thomas as King Thror, Mike Mizrahi as Prince Thrain, Lee Pace as King Thranduil, Graham McTavish as Lord Dwalin, Orlando Bloom as Prince Legolas, Evangeline Lilly as Captain Tauriel, Ken Stott as Lord Balin, Hugo Weaving as Lord Elrond, and Adam Brown as Gralin, Aidan Turner as Kili, and Dean O’Gorman as Fili, etc.]

Author’s Mature Content Note:  “Thorin’s Dream of Love” is a story of romance and intrigue set amidst the backdrop of Middle Earth.  As such there will be some passages in this story involving heartfelt love scenes (R rated) and some passages involving highly dramatic moments.  I will label the maturity rating of those chapters accordingly.  Otherwise, the general rating for this story is PG or PG-13 due to some mature situations and topics.  If you are unable or unwilling to attend a movie with the ratings that I provide, then please do not read the chapters with those labels.  This is my disclaimer.

Author’s Recap from the previous installment:  Nine months ago when the Dwarves began their quest, they left their families and loved ones behind–perhaps never to see them again.  It was a heartwrenching parting–made more so for Queen Kiralin because her whole family is on this quest in support of her husband, King Thorin.  But the Dwarves, their wizard Gandalf and their burglar Bilbo have much yet to do.

“Thorin’s Dream of Love”, Ch. 12: Thorin Awakens from his Dream of Love to Continue His Quest

After a long night of dreaming about his life as it long ago once was, King Thorin Oakenshield [(1) above] awakens leaning against the hard boulder that he had fallen asleep on while he and his Dwarven comrades are on their quest to reclaim their birthright of Erebor.  There is a smile on Thorin’s face for gazing upon the beautiful image of his wife Kiralin [(2) right] just before his eyes open.  Lord Dwalin on night watch sees his friend, nephew, and king awaken and he comments.

Lord Dwalin:  Whispering so as not to awaken the others, though some are merely dozing unbeknownst to them.  “You smile, my friend.  … Thinking of her?”  Lord Dwalin smiles in thinking of his niece, Kiralin, Thorin’swife.

King Thorin: “How can I not?  My Lady wife Queen Kiralin is ever in my nightly dreams.   In our early marriage years–when I would journey to our people far and wide in exile–she was always waiting for me to come home.  We were never apart for long.  So our separation now is difficult for both of us.   But now, I somehow feel that I am hastening home to her by fulfilling our quest–and then I will never leave her again.  Our time together as husband and wife of 171 years is still not enough–she is my love and she is my life.”  He says with unabashed tenderness.  “I have promised to come back to her, and I always keep my promises.”  He smiles wryly.

Lord  Dwalin:  “Ah!  But our quest to reclaim Erebor is frought with danger.   Thorin, why do we not accept the lives we have built since Smaug claimed the mountain and be done with it?”  Lord Dwalin scowls mightly [(3) right].

King Thorin: “I cannot leave our heritage behind with none to care that we were once a great people!”  King Thorin hisses with bitterness for being a king with no kingdom and his people not having their birthright.

Lord Dwalin:  “Heritage? Or, legacy?”  Dwalin raises a busy eyebrow knowingly.  “Why do ye not tell Kilorin who ye are and let him decide for himself if he wants his birthright?”

King Thorin:  Startled that someone has guessed his secret, Thorin looks quickly up at Dwalin and sighs resignedly.  “I have nothing to give him now.” King Thorin raises his empty palms upward.  “But if we can reclaim the mountain, then I can give him the riches of our people and a place as their future king.”  Thorin sighs forlornly.

Lord Dwalin:  “He has grown up without a father for your stubbornness.”

King Thorin: “It was not stubbornness, as you call it, but resolve.  Resolve made us give away our only child, our son, for another to raise and care for as her own because that was what he needed to survive.   It broke our hearts.   I could not give my son a father’s love right after he was born because his dear sweet mother Queen Kiralin needed my love and attention during her long recuperation from the childbed sickness.  I hoped to give my son his mother back.  And in the end, we were not who he wanted nor who he needed.”

Lord Dwalin:  “Did you blame him for bonding with Princess Dis?”

Thorin: “No!  A thousand times no!  He was but an infant.” King Thorin exclaims.  Then he somberly admits as his tears fall upon his beared cheeks. “I blame myself for not realizing sooner, the choice we had unconsciously made in not caring for Kilorin ourselves when he was first born.”

Lord Dwalin: “Aye.  Looking back, it is always easy to say what we should have done.  But if it happened all over again and Kiralin needed your strength to survive, I doubt that ye would have done it differently.    Kiralin would not want you to blame yourself.  She loves you and your son together.  She bore your precious child, which was her most fervent wish.”

King Thorin:    “I know.  Kiralin and I had intended to take Kilorin back again at some point when he was a little older and raise him as our son.  But Kilorin was so happy with my sister Princess Dis and with his older brother/cousin Fili–him even using the nickname we gave him, Kili.  However, I had little to offer my son Kilorin but toil and sorrow–as our people scraped and foraged for their very existence at times.  I was a lowly blacksmith, toiling away for hours on end for a pittance–not a very royal way to earn a living.”  King Thorin admits wryly.  [(4) right]

For it has only been in the last twenty years or so that prosperity as returned to the exiled Dwarves of Erebor–because they are able to sell their finely crafted metal workings to the highest bidders.

Lord Dwalin:  “You did what was necessary to survive–we all did, plying trades that we had forgotten when buffered by the wealth of Erebor.  Your working along side all of us was more than merely royal of you, King Thorin-–you showed leadership beyond your birthright.  You have earned our respect and loyalty, my King.  And I am proud to stand by your side on this quest.”    Lord Dwalin bows deeply to King Thorin.

King Thorin:   King Thorin puts his hand over his heart with deep humility and bows to Lord Dwalin.  “I am honored by your words.”

Lord Dwalin:  “And if my great nephew Kili is the Dwarf of the House of Durin who I think he is, he is proud to stand and serve with you as well.  Why did you never tell him he was yours when he was older and could understand?”

King Thorin:   “In the name of Durin, we wanted to.  But then we did not want to selfishly uproot him.  And we felt that we had lost our chance to claim him.  So I pretended to be his uncle and helped him grow into the fine young man that he is today–and Kiralin pretended to be his aunt, giving him all the love she has to give.   Kiralin and I are grateful that our son has grown to manhood–strong and true.  And we could not be more proud of the man Kilorin is and will continue to become.” He nods his head.  “But these past 76 years since he was born have only grown more difficult without being able to have Kilorin in our lives as much as we would wish.  We miss him every hour that he is away from us.  And with both he and I gone on this quest, Kiralin is all alone–wishing us both home to her again.”

Lord Dwalin:  Looking over to some of the seeming to be sleeping Dwarves facing them not ten feet away, Dwalin points to Thorin’s son.  “But Kili is the spitting image of you as a younger man, Thorin.   He has the same resolute jaw, the same noble brow, and same intense gaze.  Not to mention the nose.”  [(5) right] Lord Dwalin smiles at his jest, and King Thorin rolls his eyes bemusedly.  “Did no one ever guess that he is your son?”

King Thorin: “Only you, my Uncle.”  Lord Dwalin blanches.  “People see what they want to see.  Our family resemblance is usual for uncle and nephew.”

Lord Dwalin:  “Except that your sister Princess Dis was light as is her blood son, Fili.”

King Thorin: “But Dis’ husband was dark, like me.  And he had died a few months before Kilorin’s birth.  So the ruse of her claiming him as her son succeeded.  No one questioned it.”

Lord Dwalin:  “I still say that Kilorin has a right to know that you are his father.”  Dwalin scowls.  “Kiralin wants you to acknowledge him as yours.”

Thorin:  “But I do acknowledge Kili as my heir, along with Fili–for I have no other sons, nor will I.”  He thinks sadly about Queen Kiralin’s delicate health making her having more babies too risky.

Dwalin:  “But …”

King Thorin:  Thorin raises his hand.  “Leave it, Dwalin.”  King Thorin [(6) right] sighs wearily as he cautiously and yearningly looks behind him to where Kili sleeps.   “Every day I think that I will tell Kili that he is mine–mine and Kiralin’s–but then I lose my nerve.  Ha!”  His laugh is hollow in sadness.  “So much for me being King Under the Mountain if I do not have the courage to tell my son that I am his father–and the courage to bring him to his mother Kiralin.   I fear that Kili will hate me for not telling him sooner.  And if we lose Kili over this, Kiralin will never forgive me.   We have lost much, Dwalin. We cannot lose Kili all over again as well–but forever this time.”

Lord Dwalin tilts his head in understanding.  Then both Lord Dwalin and King Thorin turn and look to the East where the rising sun will shine forth in but a quarter hour.  They stand in silence, nothing more needs to be said.  For tomorrow, they make their first attempt to enter the mountain to reclaim Erebor for the House of Durin.  Although, Lord Dwalin looks around and he wonders where their burglar Bilbo could have disappeared to again?

***

Lying upon the ground, his eyes closed but he is not asleep, Kili’s face in shadow betrays the truth of what he just overheard.  His mind understands what was said by Lord Dwalin and King Thorin about him–and his heart sorrows.  Kili hesitates for several minutes.  Then Kili opens his eyes and he rises and he walks over to his uncle.  Kili touches King Thorin’s shoulder.  King Thorin turns to his son Kilorin and smiles at him benignly, proudly, even as the coming morning dawn light softly illumines King Thorin’s face with a halo glow [(7) right].

King Thorin: “Kili, my boy, you are awake early.”  King Thorin adopts his familiar tone with his son/nephew and he smiles.

Kili:  “I am, my King.”  Kili searches King Thorin’s face, his father’s face.  “… Papa, you and Mama will never lose me.”  Kili says with tears in his eyes–to know that the man he has always looked up to as a father, is his father–and the woman he adored as his Aunt Kiralin, is his mother.

King Thorin: “Oh Kilorin!   My son!”  King Thorin whispers in awe. This is a pivotal moment for King Thorin being able to call Kili his son out loud.

The two men embrace for some time [(8) right]–King Thorin is not willing to let Prince Kilorin part from him. Tears are shed on both sides–even coming from the unexpected quarter of Lord Dwalin, Kili’s true  great uncle.   Finally, after several minutes, father and son part.

Lord Dwalin:  “Aye.  It is done.”  Lord Dwalin whispers quietly as he manly tries to wipe away his tears.  And he thinks, Kiralin would be happy now–to have her two loves reunited.  Though, Queen Kiralin’s reunion with her son is yet to come, if they are successful in reclaiming the mountain.  And Lord Dwalin–like the old warrior he is–measures their hoped for success not by reclaiming their Dwarven gold, but by staying alive.

King Thorin: “My beloved son Kilorin, I am so sorry that I never told you before now that you were mine–mine and Kiralin’s.  And that we loved you more than words could say.” King Thorin shakes his head apologetically.

Prince Kili: “But you did show me love–in every way, as my uncle.   I felt safe and loved and nurtured growing up.”  Prince Kili pauses.   “However, I have a sorrow in my heart that only you can heal, Papa.”

King Thorin: “I will, if it is in my power to do so, Kilorin my son.”  King Thorin is resolute as he places his hands on his son’s shoulders.

Prince Kili:  Looking up into his father’s gray blue eyes, Kili softly asks through his tears.  “Until we can be together with her again, Papa, please tell me about Queen Kiralin and how you fell in love with her. Tell me about my mother.”

King  Thorin:  “Oh!”  He startles even as his tears fall again.   “I will try, my son.”  King Thorin looks into his heart and finds the words his son needs to hear.  “My lovely  Queen Kiralin, your mother, is a graceful swan with a caring and loving heart that she bestows upon me and upon you–and all whom she meets.    For she loves you, my son, with a mother’s loving protectiveness that only our desire to see you survive and thrive sustained her when you were absent from us.   When she gifted me with her love a lifetime ago, my life developed a meaning and a purpose beyond what others had imposed upon me when I was their prince.  And she is the only lady whom I love–with a fierceness and faithfulness that sustains me to this day, 171 years after we were joined in marriage.  My Kiralin remains forever in my heart as my beautiful dream of love.”

Prince Kili: “But how did you meet?”  He asks eagerly.

King Thorin:  King Thorin smiles.  “She made me washing soap scented with such pine forest freshness and cleansing purity that I felt at once reinvigorated.  So I had to meet the fair lady who had made me the soap.”

Prince Kili: “Soap was how you came to meet Mama?”  Prince Kili asks incredulously.

King Thorin:  “Soap.”  King Thorin nods impishly.

The two men embrace again, then they sit upon a boulder together–for King Thorin to tell his son Prince Kilorin more about his mother Queen Kiralin, how they met that first time and how they fell in love.  King Thorin and Prince Kilorin–Father and son, at last.

To be continued with Chapter 13

Ch. 12  References, 11/14/13 Gratiana Lovelace

1)   “Thorin’s Dream of Love” story cover graphic original image link: Richard Armitage portraying Thorin Oakenshield in “The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey” was  found at
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=177921775727384&set=pb.140357729483789.-2207520000.1379123868.&type=3&theater

2) Kiralin image is Lucy Griffiths as Lady Marian in Robin Hood found at  http://www.robinhoodwinked.net/images/Characters/LucyGriffiths.jpg

3) Dwalin  image is Graham McTavish found at  http://www-images.theonering.org/torwp/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/dwalin-grahammctavish.jpg

4) Thorin forging metal is Richard Armitage in THAUJ richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Hobbit/Hobbit-AUJ/album/HobbitAUJ-055.jpg

5) Kili  was portrayed by Aidan Turner  and Thorin was portrayed by Richard Armitage in  “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “The Hobbit:  The Desolation  of Smaug“  found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Hobbit/HobbitStills/album/Dwarves-DoSBanner-16Oct13.jpg

6) Thorin image as portrayed by Richard Armitage was found at richard-armitage-34515277-500-500.jpg

7) Thorin image as portrayed by Richard Armitage was found at  richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Hobbit/HobbitStills/album/Thorin-06Nov13.jpg

8) Thorin hugging Kili image is Richard Armitage portraying Thorin hugging Martin Freeman portraying Bilbo and was found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Hobbit/Hobbit-AUJ/album/HobbitAUJ-681.jpg

Link to the previous “Thorin’s Dream of Love”, Ch. 11:
https://gratianads90.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/athorinsdreamoflovech11imagesnov0713gratianalovelace.jpg