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Even as hope and pride swell in Thorin’s breast as he gazes upon the Lonely Mountain from the Carrock, loneliness sputters to life deep in his heart. While there are those in the Company who remember what life was like in Erebor before Smaug came, none yet live who remember what it was to belong to the mountain, to sit on her throne and feel the thrum of her pulse deep in your bones. It wasn’t often that Thorin’s grandfather let him sit on the throne and feel Erebor, but he still remembers the first time.
He’d been barely more than a babe. His Naming Day was barely days away and his mother’s belly was heavy with Frerin. “It’s time you knew what responsibility feels like, my lad,” Grandfather had said as he lifted Thorin onto the throne. He’d squirmed a bit against the hard stone until Grandfather’s hand on his shoulder stilled him. Then he felt it: the heartbeat of Erebor vibrating through the rock. The whump of the Great Hammer, the chipping of mining picks in the deeps, the steady thump of boots along bridges and passageways and through rooms, the rush of the falls outside that slowed to a steady stream within. It was all there. It made Thorin’s heart pound and his breath catch to feel it. For the first time in his life, he felt the weight of the mountain pressing in around him.
Broad, work-roughened hands caught his smaller, smoother hands, distracting him and he looked up into his grandfather’s kindly blue eyes. “Aye, ‘tis overwhelming, at first, lad.” He pressed a hand to Thorin’s chest, feeling his pounding heart. “Just remember that Erebor will never steer you wrong. Feel her in your heart and it will always be true.”
Years later, Erebor’s beat would be drowned by the siren song of gold and riches in Thror’s heart. The creak of dry branches, the roar of flames, and the growl of a dragon would nearly drown it out in Thorin’s heart, but there, on the Carrock, with those most loyal to him and Erebor and a wily burglar by his side, her song swelled within him once more. He made a promise to himself, then, that he would see her heart renewed and his sister-sons upon the throne to learn what Thorin learned long ago and all their forebears had learned before him. Erebor would always be the One for the line of Durin.