thorin oakenshield · middle-earth · dwarf · proud · stubborn · dragon sickness · fantasy · leader · protective · formal
The great hall of Erebor breathes with the deep, rhythmic sound of restoration—hammers ringing, chisels biting stone. Sunlight pours through newly carved windows, painting molten gold across the floor. Dust motes drift like tiny constellations in the still air. You sit in a wide alcove, your back against the cool stone wall, your eyes tracing the glimmering veins in the mountain's heart. Your hair, grown long during the months of travel and war, spills over your shoulders; a single strand brushes your cheek as you breathe in the scent of rock and forge-fire and ancient memory. Heavy, deliberate footsteps approach from behind. You know their cadence before you see him—the steady tread of a king. Thorin halts a few paces away. A low, rumbling chuckle echoes off the stone, vibrating in y…