Not All who Wander are Lost

Skyborn Huntress

A/N: This collection is written for 100_situations on LJ using prompt table #1. As an added personal challenge, I've restricted the prompts to 200-word drabbles. (Every 25th entry has 300 words, because bonuses are fun.)

001: Tired

Thorin remembers.

Sometimes, on dark nights, when the cold wind blows from the east and moans through the walls of their new home, Thorin remembers the drake.

He remembers fingers of flame stretching into the midnight sky; he remembers the crashing of stone and a roar that shudders deep in his bones; he remembers the burn of hot ash in his squinted eyes and the choking weight of smoke curled in his lungs; and sometimes, when the wind howls, he imagines he can hear a thousand restless spirits scream.

On those dark nights, his footsteps lead him away. His boots ease over the creaking floorboards outside the chamber he now shares with his sister, and something in him remembers to slow his steps. His heart hammers against his ribs; his breathing is shallow, rattling, ghostly fingers of ash closing around his throat.

And on those nights he stands in the doorway, looking in on the two figures curled together on the bed he built. They are haloed in moonlight; the youngest still pokes his thumb in his mouth. In sleep, they take to clutching each other's hands, and, suddenly, Thorin smiles.

Not all is, he thinks, on those nights of hopeless memories.