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“I think I made a mistake.”
Bard glanced away from the reports in front of him towards at the reclining chair and its occupant curled up in it with a wrinkled brow. He sighs softly as he tries to ignore the sweat on his brow, gathering under the circlet around his head.
“In what way?”
A small, pale, sweat-soaked hand rises up and waves gently in the general direction of anything in particular.
“Anything. Everything. Leaving the Mountain in the midst of a heatwave to see you and your folk in Thorin’s name to appease her Council that their new Queen-Consort isn’t dead weight...”
Bard blinks once, then twice. That didn’t quite sound right to him, the Dwarves meandering about Dale, all of whom seemed to have high opinions of their new Queen, whenever he has stopped to speak with them. Surely, Bella was mistaken in the opinion that she shared with him.
“That can’t be right. Most of the Dwarves, I have spoken with here in Dale seem to like you. Unless of course, they have been lying to my face.”
Bella snorts softly before she speaks again.
“Outside of Thorin and the Company, there a good many Dwarves that seem to like me. But there have been loud whispers recently from a growing number of Dwarves – including some members of the Council – that believe the Queen-Consort shouldn’t be of another race. I’ve even heard some say that they think I’m a dead weight for needing to be taught their language and needs to be taught the ways of Dwarven Courts that Thorin should send away and take a more Dwarven partner.”
Bard immediately picks up on what the Queen-Consort to be isn’t saying and blinks as sweat rolls into his eyes. Part of him knows that he shouldn’t be surprised that she feels that way when his feelings are similar in regards to the leadership of Dale. That someone else should have been chosen rather him even when there was no one else that could lead his people. White, hot anger and sorrow bursts to life in his veins, taking him by surprise for a few moments.
“And you agree with them, don’t you?”
A whispery movement of cloth catches his attention as he watches her sit up in the reclining chair. Bella doesn’t look at him, but he can see the answers plainly in the expression on her face.
“How can I not, Bard? Their whispers are right. I should have gone back to the Shire and stayed there, instead of returning to Thorin’s side after I settled all of my affairs there with my family. She should have a Dwarven husband or wife at that’s already versed in the ways of how their Courts work. Not some Halfling, who was only taught to manage a few smials in Hobbiton.”
Bard sighs as he moves to kneel down in front of Bella and takes her small hand gently between his.
“If you had done that, then we of Erebor, Dale, and Mirkwood would be the poorer for it without the expertise of a Hobbit get the Desolation to start growing green things again. Thranduil and I know you so our preference would be to work with Erebor through you on solutions that are agreeable to all parties, not some strange Dwarf that wouldn’t be keen on working with us in the first place. As for Thorin, I have seen the happiness of that Dwarf in her eyes when she sees you and I recognize that look of adoration and love that she sports just for you. I don’t think she would look at anyone else like – save perhaps for her family.”
Bella opens her mouth to respond, but she’s cut off when the door opens to reveal Sigrid standing there. She smiles softly at them both as Bard pulls away from Bella and moves to stand up.
“Did you need something, Sigrid?”
Sigrid shakes her head slightly as she glances between them.
“No, father. I just wanted to let you both know that King Thorin has arrived, looking for her wayward Consort as she put it.”
Bella groans softly and covers her face with the handkerchief that she pulls out of her pocket to dab gently at her sweaty to ignore the knowing look that Bard is no doubt sending her. She’s both a bit pleased and a bit more mortified that Thorin would leave to the Mountain to come to retrieve her, but to her heart, she knows that it means that Thorin does indeed care about her despite the words being hurled against her.
She looks up as Thorin enters the sitting room with Dwalin coming in behind her to wait by the door and smiles beautifully when she sees Bella on the couch. Thorin walks over to her quickly and gently headbutts.
“Ibinê.”
“Hello, my love.”
Thorin pulls back just slightly to kiss her cheek and look at her with a soft smile that she knows warms Bella’s heart before her “kinging mask” settles back on her while looking between her and Bard.
“Were you able to complete the agreement that you came here to do, my heart?”
Bard shakes his head in answer.
“Not today, King Thorin. The summer heat put an uncomfortable end to the discussion about the inspection of the fields. It was thought best hold off on the field inspection when the heat would be less prone to putting us all into an early grave. Your Queen-Consort included.”
Thorin inclines her head slightly as her hand finds Bella’s shoulder and starts to knead it gently. Bella makes a soft sound in response as she leans into Thorin’s side.
“Indeed. That would be a great loss for all involved and live in the area. Shall I take you back home to the Mountain, Ghivashel?”
Bella groaned softly as the world spun a bit before her eyes and her head felt a bit lighted. She tightened her grip on Thorin’s clothes. She tries to listen to the talk between Bard and Thorin to the best of her mental ability.
“By all means, you can take her back, O’King. We’ve done our best to keep her cooled off though I think the heat of the day may have finally gotten to her, however.”
“As you say. We can –”
Bella’s not absolutely sure what happens next – though she is fairly certain that she had blacked out –, in the space of one moment to the next one, she opens her eyes to find that she is surrounded by the familiar stone walls of Erebor rather than Bard’s home in Dale. And that she is in the bed that she shares with Thorin.
Sitting up quickly is obviously the wrong thing to do when she can’t find Thorin anywhere in the bedroom. She puts her head in her hands to try and block out the sickly spinning of the bedroom.
A hand lands gently on her shoulder.
“Easy. Easy there, my sister.”
She blinks into her hands and slowly looks up to see that Dís is apparently keeping her company, while Thorin is not.
“Dís. Where’s Thorin?”
She watches as her sister-in-law sighs softly before pouring water from a pitcher next to the bed and then hands it.
“Here. Drink it slowly.”
Once she has done, only then does Dís deign to answer her question.
“Since bringing you back from Dale, unconscious I might add, my sister has gotten it into her head that she needs to consult with the best engineers in the Mountain on how to keep the surface entrance cooled during for visiting peoples during a heatwave. And I am here beside you because she wanted someone to keep you company until she is able to return to your side.”
Bella swallows distractedly, there are some days where she doesn’t know to take being the inspiration for an idea that Thorin might have. She finds that she’s a little uncertain at times on how to deal with that sort of attention.
“That seems a tad excessive and a lot of work.” She says softly as she leans back against the headboard of the bed.
“Indeed.”
She shakes her head slowly and whispers fondly.
“Silly Dwarf.”