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Nori was worried, even if the Spymaster of Erebor couldn’t allow himself to show it. His being worried was on par with the King being worried, and that usually equalled a declaration of war to be met with some force.
Belba was missing.
That, in and of itself, wouldn’t have been as worrying as it now was, if it hadn’t been for her guard informing Dwalin of a nightly excursion – to the healing halls. She had come out looking both pensive and worried, hurrying back to her room afterwards.
Nori had become used to it, worrying from afar about his One, as that was everything she would allow him. She had taken him to bed, allowed him to touch her and hold her, but… he wasn’t her One if that was even something Hobbits had, but he loved her and would do whatever she wanted. If that meant a tumble ever so often, and no contact in-between, well… he was used to never being anyone’s firsthand choice, wasn’t he? Even for the quest, he’d been an afterthought, coming along more to protect his brothers than out of any kind of loyalty.
Belba was missing, had been seen going to the healers the night before she disappeared, and after that, no one had seen her. Dwalin had ripped her guards to pieces, having allowed her to slip out unseen, carefully not mentioning that no one from the company would have fared better – if Belba didn’t want to be seen, Belba would not be seen.
He strode through the mountain, walking as quickly as he could while giving the impression that he wasn’t in any hurry whatsoever. Bofur, striding alongside him, didn’t quite manage – he didn’t look like he was worried, not exactly, more like he was enraged.
The rage on the usually jovial dwarf’s face was enough to make everyone in front of them scatter.
As they entered Balin’s office it was to find the entire company, except one rather vital part, gathered. They all stood around the desk, staring down at the piece of paper that lay in the middle of it.
“Anything new?” Bofur fairly growled, sounding more like his cousin than he’d ever done before.
“We found…” Balin hesitated, voice breaking, sounding like he was on the verge of tears. “We found a letter.”
Nori stepped closer to the desk, reaching out to take the letter but hesitating before he touched it. He let his hand hover awkwardly over it before letting his hand fall back to his side.
The company knew that she was his One, of course, it wasn’t a thing a dwarf could easily hide from others, so he knew they understood his hesitation.
“I’ll read it, brother,” said Dori, stepping up to stand beside him. Nori was glad to have him here, even if he’d never say as much; glad to have that solid strength at his side, both mentally and physically. Dori picked up the letter and seemed to skim through it, and Nori felt him get tenser the further he read – finally, Dori cleared his throat and began to read.
Dear brothers,
Don’t argue! That is what you are to me – dear friends and brothers dearer still, and I hope that you shall not deny me this small kindness, even as I write this letter that surely will hurt you as much to read as it hurts me to pen.
I must be leaving. Things have come to light that I cannot abide, and the mountain is no longer a place where I feel I can comfortably stay. It is nothing anyone has done, no, this is merely my own propriety and Shire-bred respectability that has me turning my back on all of you.
This is not a decision I make lightly – I realise that it is the deepest betrayal to sneak away like a thief in the night (apologies for my stereotyping, Nori) instead of facing you, but… no, I cannot take the risk of you convincing me otherwise.
Please, do not follow me – I have run, as fast and far as a whisper on the wind, and I am not to stay in Erebor.
I am sorry for the grief this will cause us all, even if I hesitate to put words in dwarrow’s mouths like that – but it is for the best. Had I stayed, we would all have been far more grieved than will now happen.
Yours faithfully and gratefully,
Belba Baggins.
The silence in the room seemed to echo once Dori put the letter down again, and it wasn’t until his older brother put his arms around his shoulders that Nori realised he was shaking.
“She found out,” he managed to whisper hoarsely, arms wrapped around himself and then Dori wrapped around him, feeling as if nothing physically held him together then he’d crack, leave shards of Nori all over Balin’s office the way Belba’s letter had already left shards of his heart scattered all around. “She found out and she’s so disgusted she left not just me, but the whole mountain.”
Nori keened, his knees buckling and legs going out underneath him, and Dori was thankful for his own extraordinary strength; catching someone going entirely slack was no small feat. As Nori went to pieces in his brothers’ arms, Ori having joined them in crying on the floor, no one noticed the speculative look on Dwalin’s face, and the only one to see him secrete the letter away was his own brother.
“She left, she left, she left,” Nori said, a litany he couldn’t quite put an end to. Dori let him cry, resigned to carrying his spymaster of a brother home once he’d cried himself out.