A Jewel Among the Rocks

Prologue


“Cmon brother it will be fun!” Aveya pleaded to her brother

“No, its too dangerous to climb that high! Get down! Father will be here shortly with the King and the young prince” Farin said anxiously as Aveya climbed the tree “ And mother will not appreciate if you wreck the dress!!”

“You sound like such a girl! Oh who cares! I don’t like this dress aynway, I hate dresses. “ she pouted and crossed her arms while sitting on a branch.

-

Grandfather was going to introduce Thorin to Lord Loreweavers children, Thorin wondered what they would be like. He looked to Thror and sighed. No time to have fun ever....Frerin was still too young to play with, so there wasn’t anyone really to hang around with.

Finally they reached the meadow where the two were but Thorin could only see a one there. He raised an eyebrow at his Grandfather.


“Faren? Where is Aveya?” Lord Loreweaver asked


All of a sudden someone jumped from the tree and landed on the ground with a cats grace. The girls long aubern hair was a bit of a mess and her dress seemed to be wrinkled and dirtied
from the climb.


“Aveya! What have I told you about climbing trees! You’re mother is going to have a fit and the King and Prince are here!” Lord Loreweaver hissed

“Relax Dairen, all is well” Thror chuckled and looked from Aveya back to him “ She is just a child having some fun”


“May I introduce my son, Faren and my daughter Aveya”


Thror greeted them with a warm smile “ Please to meet you children. Now Thorin, how about you stay out here awhile with these two, myself and Dairen have some business to attend to”


“Yes Grandfather” Thorin nodded
-

“So...what should we do?”   Faren asked


“ Lets play hide and seek!” Aveya said with a cheeky smile “ You’re it Faren!” she giggled and took Thorins hand in hers and started to run


“ Oh cmon!” Faren yelled after them


Thorin looked down at Aveya’s small hand holding his and blushed, he furrowed his eyebrows and frowned, but continued to run.


“Cmon Thorin! Run faster! He’s going to come looking for us soon” she looked briefly back at him and smiled, her amber eyes full of spirit.


They came to a stop and looked around for a spot to hide.


“Hmmmm....” Aveya looked around for the perfect spot


“How about up in the tree?” Thorin asked


“No he’ll expect that...hmmm...” she continued to look around, moving around bushes and branchesuntil she found an entrance to a hidden cave “Cmon let go in here!”


“Its dark though, and we don’t know what is in there” Thorin said worriedly


“Oh don’t tell me you’re a scaredy cat like my brother!” Aveya pouted


“Am not! Its just we won’t be able to see” he added quickly


Aveya rolled her eyes and smirked “Sure...scaredy prince afraid of the dark”


Thorin grumbled “Am not, lets go in then!”  


Aveya giggled at Thorin’s flustered face “Thats the spirit!”


They slowly crept into the cave, it was a little dark, but the rocks around them illuminated their path with colours of blues and reds and greens. It was magnificent. The walls were crystalline and beautiful, the lights shining down upon them.


“Wow” Aveya stared wide eyed “this is...”


“Amazing...” Thorin finished for her


They looked at each other in amazement and continued to walk around. The cave was very tall, yet small at the same time, they quickly reached the end of the cave. At the end of the cave stood a pool of clear blue water, warm at the touch.


“Its so warm!” Aveya looked to Thorin “Feel it”


Thorin cautiously put his hand into the water, and she was right, it was as hot as bath water!


Aveya smiled at Thorins amazement and took off her boots and socks and stuck both feet in the water, Thorin doing the same thing.


“My feet are so warm now” Aveya giggled


“Mine too” Thorin smirked


She looked around the cave where she sat and then looked to the water. She raised an eyebrow as she noticed something in the water and reached out to grab them. When she finally retrieved them from the water she noticed that they were two necklaces with a red and blue stone which seemed to fit together like  heart puzzle pieces.


“Look there are two of them!” Aveya said and passed the blue one to Thorin “ Its perfect, now we have one each. Now we can be best friends forever!” she giggled

-
Years upon years past by, the three remained good friends, through many hardships they had been through, they remained strong and stayed together.


One of the hardest however, was the Battle of Azanulbizar, where there were many casualities that day. Including the death of Thorins brother, Frerin, leaving the Lonely Mountain in a state of mourning over the dwarven prince.


Thorin remained in solitude for months after that happened, not speaking to anyone nor letting anyone to visit him except for Aveya.


Aveya walked into the door of Thorins room and looked around for him. There on the bed sat Thorin, just looking out his window. She knew he blamed himself for the death of his brother, he blamed himself for anything bad that went wrong. She creased her eyebrows and walked over to her friend, sitting down next to him. She sighed and lay a hand on his shoulder.


“Thorin...”


His blue eyes looked to her with such grief and sadness within them. He looked into her knowing  amber eyes and suddenly couldn’t control his emotions anymore. He covered his face with his hands as tears slipped out of his eyes. Aveya herself could not control the tears streaming down her face either, so both sat there in each others arms, crying together, mourning together and just staying together, as they always did.


-

It still hurt Thorin to think of the death of his younger brother, but time had past, and there was nothing more to be done about it. Frerin would not want him to waste his life away, he would want him to make the most of it.


He looked to Aveya, who stood across from him, ready to spar. It was what they always did in the afternoons, train together since they were little. Aveya’s mother didn’t really like the fact she was training, she would have rather had her be a proper noble lady, but Aveya had other plans.


Aveya had her usual cocky smirk on her face, trying to throw him off a bit. She had grown much since they were little, she was a woman now. Beautiful long aubern hair, braided in various spots and gold rings in her hair, her face now more mature, adding to her beauty. Now instead of the narrow hips of childhood, she had the curves of a woman.


She had many suitors at her doorsteps, each begging for her attention, yet she ignored them and laughed at them, for she did not fancy any of them, nor ever would she. She had her eyes set on one already. Her beauty did not only capture the attention of the nobles, however.


Thorin smirked back at her cocky grin.


“What are you smiling about?” Thorin laughed


“Oh just the fact that I am going to kick your pretty little arse” she giggled


“Oh really?” he chuckled “We shall see about that then, now won’t we?”


They circled each other, Aveya having her usual cat-like grace swiftness. Thorin swung at her first and Aveya quickly evaded the attack and swung a hit herself, getting him right in the stomach.


“Ooof”


Aveya giggled. He shook his head and smirked.


“ Now I’m not going to go easy on you, I let you have that one”


“Sure you did” she rolled her eyes


This time she swung out at him with her leg, he went to block it but she quickly maneuvered her leg to a different target. She sweeped at his leg, making him fall backwards, bringing her with him. Aveya squealed as she fell on top of him.


“Got you!” she giggled


“No you don’t!” Thorin laughed as he rolled around, so he was on top now and pinned her arms above her head.


“Got you now” Thorin smirked



“Urghh!!” Aveya struggled but couldn’t match his strength, finally she stopped squirming.


“This time! But I’ll get you next time, just you watch!” she laughed


Thorin laughed “Sure sure”


He smiled and then blushed as he noticed how close their faces were. Aveya noticed too, as blood rushed into her cheeks. He smirked and his eyes flicked from her eyes to her full lips. Her hand went up to his cheek and her thumb gently brushed it. He slowly leaned in to press his lips to hers.


“Thorin! We need you now!” a messenger came for him, interrupting what he was about to do.


Thorin sighed  sadly “I shall be there in a moment” he got up and nodded to Aveya before he ran off after the messenger


‘What was so important?’ she thought to herself

-
Aveya walked through Erebor, humming to herself, she was to meet Thorin here after he was done with his business. She looked up to the battlements, and saw him, he had a worried look on his face. She cocked her head raised an eyebrow, wondering what was going on.


“DRAGON!!!!!!!!!!!!” he yelled


Aveya’s eyes widened and she began to run. She looked around for her brother, mother and father, but could not see them anywhere.


“Faren!!! Mother!! Father!!!!”


All of a sudden she felt herself being pushed forward, it was Faren.


“Cmon little sister, mother is already out there and father is on his way!” he said as he continued pushing her forward.


She took a quick glance up to the battlements but Thorin was no longer up there. They ran hard and fast outside, not stopping for a moment. They ran out, dragon fire consuming all that it touched. She looked back and saw her father.


“Father!!!!” she ran towards him


“Aveya!!! Wait!!” Faren yelled at her



She ran towards him and just before he got to him the fire of the dragon got him. Aveya screamed in agony as her father turned into nothing but ashes and cinder.


“Aveya! Watch out!!” Faren yelled at her and pushed her out of the way as the dragon blew fire, almostt hitting them.


Aveya started running but noticed her brother not following, he was helping out some of the other dwarves to get to safety. There was a large crashing noise and as she looked back at her brother, a large stone column was crashing down.


“FAREN WATCH OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” she screamed to him


It was too late though, by the time he looked back, the column had crushed him underneath it. Aveya fell to her knees and screamed, she was in shock, her head swirling. She felt like she couldn’t move, like her legs were hundred pound bricks.


That is when she felt someone picking her up into their arms, it was Thorin. He picked her up quickly and ran with the others. He had come back for her after she saw her running towards her father to save him. Aveya’s head felt dizzy and she started to see black spots, and thats when everything went into darkness.