I stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "You're not serious. My father? A dragon? If that were true, how am I not a dragon too?"

Mr. Weaving sighed. "You don't believe me?" He asks as if he was actually hurt by that.

"No. I don't." I say and cross my arms over my chest and assumed a protective stance, favoring my ankle which was killing me now.

"Then go to your friends. They'll have to tell you what their real plan is now, now won't they?" Mr. Weaving asked in a bit of a biting tone.

"I guess they will. And frankly, I trust Richard's word over yours, anyways. I never liked elves in the movies anyways." I say and turned and limped out of the room, feigning indifference.

But what he said did affect me. My father was a monster. Did that make me one too?

I found them gathered in a large room. Tables and chairs sat stood around a large fireplace and one larger one was filled with food that seemed to have been picked through.

When I entered the room, Richard stood up immediately, closely followed by Graham and the others turned to look at me.

"Abigail." Richard said softly. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you? What happened in there?" He stepped closer to me and held out a hand and I took it and held onto it a little tightly for support. He stepped closer and in one smooth movement scooped me up into his arms and carried me over to a chair and set me down in it gently and moved an ottoman for me to put my foot up on.

I was sure I had been blushing and I folded my hands in my lap then looked at him and said, "It's true, isn't it?"

"Is what true, Abigail?" He asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"That my father is the one who cause you all this pain?" I asked, words choking off as my eyes watered. I was responsible for all of their pain all these years.

They all had a somber expression on their faces and Richard let out a small sigh then nodded.

"Yes. It's true."

"Then why are you helping me? Why did you save my life? Why are you protecting me? For all you know I'm a monster just like-"

"Don't say that." Richard said, voice low. "You could never be like him. "

As if it was an unspoken command, the others all got up and left the room so it was only Richard and I sitting in the large room, the only sound coming from the popping and crackling of wood burning in the fireplace.

After a while, I broke the silence. "And how do you know that?"

"Because I know you."

"You don't. You don't know me. You only know the basics of my personality that I've shown you. You don't know me, Richard. I-"

"Abigail. Be quiet for a moment." He says seriously and I went to say something, then let out a huff and closed my mouth. He let out a sigh before saying, "You're right. I don't really know you. I hardly know you at all. We've known each other for scarcely a month. But I know Smaug. The things that he is, the looks, the mannerisms. You are the polar opposite of him. You are brave and strong and caring and gentle. You are anything but evil, Abigail. Your will is strong."

As he spoke, his expression was one of utter seriousness. I smiled a little and looked down at my hands. I didn't know what to say to that in response. Should I compliment him back? Stay silent? I looked at him and said instead,

"A while ago we were texting and you confirmed that you cared about me. Is that still true?"

He looked at me then moved his hand to the back of my head and gently pulled me foreword and kissed me. My whole body went stiff, my eyes wide and I pulled away from him and stood up shakily. "I-I'm sorry. I'm not ready for that."

He stood up too and didn't touch me or anything and took a step back. "I'm sorry, Abigail. I shouldn't have done that." He ran a hand through his hair and looked ashamed of himself. I wrapped my arms around myself and rubbed my arms.

"I'm sorry. I just...recently went through a breakup. A bad one. It didn't end well at all and neither did the one before. I haven't had any luck and relationships scare me now. Getting too close scares me..." I drifted off and bit my lip.

He was quiet for a long time, then said, "Then I'll wait for you."

His words shocked me and I looked up at him. "What?"

"I'll wait for you. When you are ready, come to me." He says, blue eyes shining as a small smile stretched across his face.

I was at a loss for words. "I...Why? Why would you do that for me?"

"Because you're worth waiting for." He says honestly. "I will always protect you and be by your side. I'll never let you go once I have you. I'll make sure you're provided for in every way and you always have what you need."

I felt my eyes water and I just stepped forward and dropped my head onto his chest and wrapped my arms around him tightly. His arms encircled around me and I just closed my eyes. Being there- in his warm embrace- it felt safe. Good. Like I belonged there.

"Richard?" I whispered.

"Yes, Abigail?"

"What's your real name? What do they call you where you're from?" I asked and didn't move out of his arms. He was quiet for a long time, then he said softly,

"Thorin. Thorin Oakenshield." He says it with a hint of hesitation, as if the name haunted him. His arms tightened just slightly around me.

"Thorin." I say softly. "I like it." His grip on me loosened just slightly and he let out a little sigh and rested his chin on my head and he said,

"Then you may call me that if you wish."

I nodded. "Ok, Thorin. Thank you."

*^*^*^*

We stayed for another two days in that mansion, mostly so that my ankle could have a chance to heal, but also so that we could replenish our supplies.

The elves gave me a tea to drink that they said would help me heal and from what I could tell, it was working.

On the afternoon of the second day, I was walking around their extensive library when I came across a computer. I immediately sat down at it, putting my mug of magic tea on the table beside me and pulled up a search engine.

I immediately typed in the name "Thorin Oakenshield" and pressed enter. The screen went white as it loaded, then results for a book came up.

"'The Hobbit'." I mutter out loud. I then looked at the author and my eyes went wide. "By J.R.R. Tolkien."

I selected the author's name and it took me to a picture and a short biography of a man underneath with white hair, a black hat, striped scarf, and a pipe between his teeth. He was smiling at someone off camera.

The man was my grandfather.

I read on and it said he had died in 1973.

Confused, I went on my phone and held the picture I had taken with him just ten short years ago up the the picture of the man on the computer screen.

It matched perfectly. The scarf, hat, white hair, pipe, and wrinkly smile were the same on both. And then me at fifteen.

I swallowed hard and read up on him some more. He had been friends with C.S. Lewis, who I had definitely heard about. He wrote the book series one of my favorite movies was based off of.

I looked at his children and none of them looked familiar, which I thought was strange.

I frowned and searched for information on the book and found out that the thirteen dwarves were on a mission to reclaim their homeland- just like the little book I kept in my back pocket.

Just like the thirteen men who had shown up at my door. And Thorin's name was on that list.

Swallowing hard, I looked up other books he had written and found 'The Lord of the Rings'. I had seen those movies countless times but had never seen the more recent movies on 'The Hobbit'.

I took a sip of my tea and stumbled upon a site entitled "The Tolkien Chat Room".

I clicked it and sit required me to make a username so I just typed in 'Abby.214'. I waited as it loaded then a pop-up came up asking for my phone number and that the Chat was now exclusively on an app. Curiosity getting the best of me, I downloaded the app and logged on.

I stood up from the computer after closing the program and joined a chat.

Hey. I have some questions about Thorin Oakenshield.

I typed into the box.

I waited, then a message popped up from a user by the name of "Goblin.King".

Then you've come to the right place, my friend.