There And Back Again A

“You’re in Ward D.” It isn’t said with any sort of inflection, the smile is gone as Bard leads him past a quartet of numbered rooms and towards a set of stairs. “Each dormitory has four floors and sixteen rooms. One for each patient, one for the on call doctor, and one for the nightly orderlies. This Ward is almost full. So you’ll be on the top floor.”

“Oh, good. That’s…” He stops only a few steps up and turns a longing gaze on the ground floor rooms, only then noticing the little stenciled names a few inches below the numbers.

Balin, Dwalin, Oin, Gloin. He darts after Bard and through the second story, still reading. Ori, Nori, Dori, Fili. Another flight of stairs, he’s starting to puff noticeably, perhaps he can get his prominent uncle Thain to send them a letter regarding elevators. Kili, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur. Just one more, he’s wheezing slightly by the time he reaches the top, Bard waiting patiently by an open door. He scans the last few doors as he walks through his own. Two don’t have names on them, only the numbers, but the last not only has a name, but a silhouette in the window as well. Thorin.