Chapter Text
Chapter Seven
Thorin was an unmitigated arse.
He deserved to have his hair shorn and his crown stripped away. He deserved the scorn, and hatred, and disgust of his people and kin. He deserved to have been struck down during the Battle of the Five Armies.
What he most certainly did not deserve was the heart of Bella Mira Baggins and the unconditional, unfathomable, unyielding love that came with it. And yet, it was his. She loved him, despite everything that he had done, despite how deeply he had wounded her, she loved him still.
Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thrór, was not worth the flesh and bones that had been used to make him.
But despite that, he was loved. Loved by the most beautiful creature to ever grace the world; surely Yavanna must have used beams of pure sunlight when she crafted her most courageous and clever daughter. Bella was a treasure with no equal and Thorin had treated her as if she were nothing; she should have hated him, despised him. Thorin would not have blamed her if she had.
She didn’t hate him though, no, she had forgiven him. She had risked being heartbroken all over again, had come to Erebor terrified that she would not find the love she desperately needed from kin, simply because she could not condone any harm befalling Thorin, even if just in a nightmare.
Mahal, how he wished he could hold her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and never let go; he wanted to keep her tucked against him always, safe from the horrors of the world. It was a cruel tactic, ensuring that Thorin and Bella could see one another, would be able to hear each other’s cries of pain if the Master wished to get creative, but were unable to comfort each other through touch. He had to get Bella out of here, even if it killed him. Thorin strained against his chains again, sensing a slight weakness in the metal of the left one, but not one that would be easy to exploit.
“You’re going to hurt yourself,” Bella chided, concern for him swimming in her aquamarine eyes. Her eyes were so beautiful, living gemstones that sparkled in the dim light.
“Not significantly,” Thorin assured her.
Bella huffed and rolled her eyes, tone exasperated and carrying a hint of desperate fear, “I would rather you not hurt yourself at all, Thorin.”
“The dream you had, it truly frightened you,” Thorin commented lightly.
“Yes,” Bella inhaled deeply, “I was running through the Royal Wing, I didn’t realize it when I had the dream but… it was the Royal Wing. There was a pair of doors, with a dragon upon them, and past them was your study. A group of dwarrows… killed you with Orcrist. They had curled black beards.”
“Blacklocks,” Thorin stated in surprise.
“That’s what Galadriel told me,” Bella continued, “Right before informing me that it might have been more than a simple nightmare, despite my being prone to such.”
“The doors to my study have no dragon upon them,” Thorin soothed, “And, as far I am concerned, never shall. I receive enough reminders daily about Smaug, I do not wish for more.”
“I know,” Bella confided quietly, “That was one of the things that I checked during the first night I was back.”
“How did you get into my rooms?” Thorin questioned, a bit stupidly, in retrospect.
“I snuck past legions of orcs to get to Mount Doom,” Bella retorted, less subdued, “I am more than capable of sneaking past a handful of guards.”
“Perhaps you should join the Shadow Shields,” Thorin suggested wryly.
Bella snorted delicately, “As if Nori would let me. Fíli and Dori would probably never let me leave the Royal Wing again if I so much as suggested it.”
“You think that Kíli would?”
“Kíli has Tauriel to beat sense into him,” Bella rejoined, “Fíli does not… although he may, perhaps, have someone to fill that position soon enough.”
“You mean Sigrid,” Thorin deduced.
“You knew?” Bella blinked at him.
“There is very little that goes on within my mountain that I do not know about,” Thorin replied, “Least of all secret sword lessons between my heir and the eldest princess of Dale behind closed doors.”
Bella winced, “Okay, so it sounds fairly inappropriate when you put it that way. But they really are just training.”
“I made sure of that,” Thorin told her, “How did you know?”
Bella blushed a bit, “It, er, might have been my idea.”
Thorin’s eyebrows shot up at that admission though, in truth, he was less shocked than he could have been.
“Bard was being difficult,” Bella defended, “And Sigrid was getting desperate. I knew Fíli wouldn’t be able to condone her remaining ignorant and untrained in the matter of being able to defend herself. Especially because…”
“She is his One,” Thorin finished.
“Yes,” Bella agreed and then hesitantly asked, “Does that bother you?”
“Why would it?” Thorin asked, perplexed.
“If… when Fíli marries her,” Bella explained carefully, “And if they have children… there will be many who protest having a half-human in line for the throne of Erebor.”
“They can all go fling themselves off of cliffs,” Thorin returned firmly, eliciting a shocked giggle from Bella, “Politically speaking, theirs is a good match. There is no law which states that the King of Erebor must be fully dwarven.”
“I think it might have been implied,” Bella said.
Thorin shrugged, as much as he could, “Any who protest Fíli son ruling Under the Mountain shall have to contend with the business end of Orcrist and, unless I’m sorely mistaken, Sting’s as well.”
“You’re not,” Bella assured him, “Although I’m just as liable to bury a knife in their backs before they even realize what has happened.”
“Have you always been this bloodthirsty, little flower?” Thorin teased.
“My former neighbors would tell you that I have been utterly corrupted by thirteen dwarrows and a wizard,” Bella said dryly.
“But we know better,” Thorin remarked.
“I can’t tell you how close I was to throwing the Company out of Bag End before you showed up and I finally got an explanation for why my smial had been invaded by dwarves,” Bella admitted with a smirk.
“That would have been a sight,” Thorin chuckled for a moment and then sobered, “Perhaps the addition of human and elven blood will be enough to spare the children of my sons from the curse of Durin. Either way, I am confident that Erebor will be stronger because of the unions between Fíli and Sigrid and Kíli and Tauriel, not weaker.”
“You know,” Bella spoke softly, her eyes glinting with unshed tears, “I don’t believe that I’ve been as proud of anyone as I am of you at this moment, Thorin Oakenshield.”
“I am unworthy of your pride, Ghivashel,” Thorin said.
“You’re really not,” Bella denied.
“Tell me about Mordor?” Thorin requested then, the query a result of, not idle curiosity, buy of a fervent need burning inside of him. He needed to know what his Bella had been forced to endure without the support of her kin, without his support, because Thorin had been so terribly blind and callous. And here he was, thinking of her possessively, as his, again, as if he had any right to.
“I certainly will not be recommending it as a place to spend one’s holiday,” Bella quipped, her tone light with false cheer.
“Bella,” Thorin implored, “Please. Unless… if speaking about it pains you…”
“It won’t,” Bella returned, “I haven’t even had any nightmares since returning to Erebor. The worst thing that the Ring did was attempt to convince me that you and the others would die if I destroyed it. That fear was assuaged as soon as I saw all of you, healthy and hale, upon my return home.”
“Healthy, perhaps, but not whole. Not without you, Ughvashâ,” Thorin insisted, eliciting a soft smile from her. It warmed him utterly, to see that sweet smile and to hear her refer to Erebor as her home. “The Ring spoke to you?”
“And sent me a plethora of bad dreams,” Bella answered, sounding more irritated than upset, “It meant to frighten me into compliance… all it did was compel me to hate it unreservedly. I was very glad to be rid of it, in the end.”
“Tell me,” Thorin repeated.
Bella considered him, “You’re not going to like it.”
“I am quite confident of that,” Thorin declared, “I still… I need to know.”
“I discovered what the Ring really was shortly after the Battle ended, right after I spoke to Dáin, actually,” Bella began diffidently. “I set out for Lothlórien, because Gandalf had mentioned that Elrond was there, recovering from a fight against Sauron in Dol Guldur. Legolas joined me almost immediately; he was quite furious with his father regarding Tauriel’s banishment from Mirk-, I mean the Greenwood, and wished to put as much space as possible between himself and Thranduil. It was in Lothlórien that we both met Gimli. He, er, had attempted to follow after the Company and gotten rather badly lost. Galadriel saved him from a pack of orcs and healed him.”
“Yes,” Thorin muttered, “That certainly sounds like Gimli.”
“Legolas and Gimli… they were drawn to one another almost immediately, although they tried to hide behind the customary dislike that they felt they should have had for each other at first. It was a source of great amusement for the greater part of the expedition to Mordor,” Bella revealed, “But by the end, they had sorted themselves out, with a little help from some Orcs.”
“Orcs?” Thorin questioned sharply.
“Legolas, Gimli, and I were the only three of the Fellowship who actually walked through Mordor,” Bella sighed, “The others were detained by the Steward of Gondor until Aragorn deposed of him and claimed his kingship. Almost immediately after getting in… Legolas and Gimli allowed themselves to be captured by a band Saruman’s Urak-Hai and Sauron’s Orcs as a distraction so that I could keep going. Legolas let them torture him for several days to protect Gimli.”
“They escaped though,” Thorin murmured, horrified, “They’re alright.”
“They’re alright,” Bella promised him. “I tricked the Urak-Hai and Orcs into fighting one another and freed them. They were… rather angry about it at the time,” Bella huffed, “But I didn’t agree to bear the Ring for the sake of Arda and I wasn’t about to let my brother’s beloved son or my sister’s dearest cousin be killed by Orcs when I could do something to prevent it.”
“I understand,” Thorin told her, “I would have done no differently, in your place. Well, perhaps, I would not have thought to fool the Orcs. I would have charged in, sword raised high, and most likely would have been killed for my efforts.”
“History does actually support that prediction,” Bella replied tartly.
“The other members of your Fellowship,” Thorin inquired, seeking to distract her from that particular branch of thought, “How did they come to join you?”
“Aragorn and Arwen were already in Caras Galadhon when Legolas and I arrived,” Bella illuminated, “They had been visiting Lady Galadriel, Arwen’s grandmother, and Arwen sensed the presence of the Ring almost as soon as she came into contact with me. She told Aragorn and the two swore on the spot to help me get to Mordor. Legolas and Gimli were present and they vowed to go with me too. By the time that Gandalf showed up the following morning, we had already begun to make plans for the excursion south. Éowyn, Boromir, and Faramir arrived a few days later as part of diplomatic envoys from Rohan and Gondor. Arwen insisted on us telling the three of them and her intuition on the matter was later proven to be extremely beneficial; Éowyn killed the Witch-king of Angmar, the Lord of the Nazgûl, and Boromir and Faramir were able to guide us safely through the Dead Marshes and pointed us in the direction of the secret stair near Minas Morgul, which is how Gimli, Legolas, and I made it into Mordor.”
“Minas Morgul,” Thorin echoed in a bland tone, appalled at how close Bella had been to the city of the Ring Wraiths.
“There was no other way in, save the Black Gates, and that was more suicidal than we were actually going for,” Bella explained. “We climbed the stair and worked our way through a tunnel system into Mordor. We barely made it through the tunnels actually because of, well, Shelob.”
“Shelob?”
“A spider,” Bella grimaced, “A spider larger than the ones who tried to make meals of us during the quest, a great deal larger, actually. We got past her though… and almost ran straight into the arms of Orcs.”
“You were in so much danger,” Thorin lamented.
“The road was treacherous, we were beset, often, by orcs and the Nazgûl,” Bella said bluntly, “To walk inside Mordor was to inhale death with every breath, entering Mount Doom was like walking into dragon fire. It… it was terrible, Thorin, but I survived it. I survived and now I have the chance to live.”
“I should have been there,” Thorin replied.
“I’m glad that you were not,” Bella retorted, “I don’t think that I could have made it if I had been forced to fear for your safety. Knowing that you and the Company were safe was a profound comfort, Thorin.”
“You… you had your mithril coat?” Thorin asked tentatively, “You wore it?”
“Every minute,” Bella assured him. “It saved my life on more than one occasion.”
“Good, that’s… good,” Thorin decided.
“I still have your ring,” Bella blurted out a moment later, “Your great-grandmother’s ring, I mean. I’ve been meaning to give it back to you.”
“It was a gift, Bella,” Thorin returned, as evenly as he could.
“But you gave it to me when you wanted to marry me and-”
“You think my wishes have changed?” Thorin cut her off.
“Have they not?” Bella inquired quietly, looking unsure.
“I do not deserve you,” Thorin spoke firmly, “I will never deserve you and I’m completely ignoring thousands of years of dwarven tradition by even speaking about this without first presenting you with a gift, but, there is nothing I desire more than to have you by my side forever, as my wife, my Queen, and my most beloved friend. So, if you’ll have me…”
“Yes,” Bella declared, tears that Thorin hoped were happy ones trailing down her cheeks, “Yes.”
Thorin smiled widely, his heart lighter than it had been in months upon months… and then the door to their prison slammed open. Reality hit like a boulder striking the earth and Thorin tensed immediately as the Master strolled in, staggering slightly as he walked. Thorin could smell strong spirits on him as if he had bathed in the stuff. The key to the shackles confining Thorin and Bella swung a considerable amount from the Master’s belt with each step that the man took.
“What have you done to make your pretty halfling cry, Oakenshield?” the Master demanded, his words slurred just a bit, as he loomed over Bella drunkenly.
“That is none of your concern,” Thorin snapped.
“I think that she could use some cheering up,” the Master suggested, his tone lewd, “Don’t you? Would you like me to cheer you up, pretty?”
Bella glared at the man, nothing but contempt evident in her expression, “There is nothing that a crude, callous, disgusting individual such as yourself could ever do that would induce anything but the most severe derision from me.”
“We’ll see about that, won’t we?” the Master taunted, incensing Thorin.
“If you so much as touch a single hair on her head,” Thorin snarled, “I will tear your heart from your chest.”
The Master laughed, a low, cruel sound, “You are powerless, my prisoner. I am going to break the woman you love and you are going to sit there and watch, helplessly, as I do it.” The man gripped Bella’s hair and tilted her head up, “You really should watch how you speak to your betters, halfling.”
“I am half of nothing,” Bella retorted.
“I think of so many better ways for you to use that mouth,” the Master told her.
Those vulgar words, delivered by the tongue of an equally offensive man, were enough to make Thorin’s world wash crimson. A growl escaped his throat as he pulled at his restraints with a renewed vigor; he would die before he allowed the Master to harm Bella. One audible ‘pop’ later and Thorin’s left arm was free, the clamp that had kept the chain fixed to the wall having given way due to the intense strain due to Thorin’s exertions.
The Master spun around at the noise, but he was too late to stop Thorin from swinging the loose length of chain as if it were a whip, too late to do anything but widen his eyes in shocked terror as the chain wrapped around his neck completely, propelled to do so by one precise jerk of Thorin’s arm. The Master sputtered for breath, clawing at the metal encircling his throat, as Thorin yanked the despicable man away from Bella and toward him.
The moment that the man was fully within reach, Thorin snapped the Master’s neck unceremoniously. He was dead before his body had time to slam into the rough stone flooring.
Thorin took a deep breath as his wrath faded and he snatched up the key, using it to unlock his right wrist before rushing to kneel before Bella, whose eyes were wide.
“Are you alright?” Thorin asked, unfastening the cuffs around her wrists as quickly as he was capable of, “Bella?”
“You just… you just ripped metal from stone to save me,” Bella uttered, blinking quickly, “I think I need a minute to wrap my head around that.”
Thorin took her hands in his, inspecting the dark bruises ringing both of her wrists, “I think it would have been more impressive if I had actually been able to rip his heart out.”
Bella huffed out a laugh, gripped the lapels of his shirt and kissed him. Thorin returned it at once, wrapping his arms around her deceptively slender form and pouring his very soul into the kiss. Bella’s lips were soft beneath his and tasted like honey; the skin of her cheek was silk to the touch. Thorin held on to her and would have been perfectly content to never have that moment end. Except…
“Well,” Dáin announced, bursting the bubble of their little world, “This explains quite a great deal, actually.”
************************************************************************
Bella looked away from Thorin to see eleven of her brothers and Dáin, and a few other dwarrow besides, watching her and Thorin with expressions ranging from utter shock to varying degrees of wariness to stark relief. Though why Kíli, Bombur, Dwalin, and Ori looked so relieved was a mystery that Bella didn’t quite have the energy to solve at that moment.
“Hello,” Bella managed to say and then, for a complete lack of anything better to add, “Thorin pulled a chain out of the wall.”
Abstractedly, Bella understood that the stresses and joys of the day had actually affected her a bit more than she would have assumed they would.
“We can see that,” Fíli replied slowly, “Are either of you hurt?”
“Bella’s wrists are bruised badly,” Thorin announced.
“Yours are bleeding,” Bella pointed out reasonably, “So, technically, you’re more hurt than I am. Because you ripped the chains from the wall.”
“Are you ever going to get tired of repeating that?” Thorin wondered, amused.
“Probably not,” Bella decided, giggling in a mixture of relief and amazement. She looked into Thorin’s eyes, so full of happiness that she felt like she could float if she really wished to. Thorin leaned forward and nuzzled her nose with his; a Hobbitish gesture of affection that he had once scoffed at, preferring the more traditional dwarven means of expressing love, like kisses and forehead touches and, of course, sex.
“For the love of Mahal,” Bella distantly heard Nori complain, “It’s like we’re not even here; it’s bloody Lake-town all over again.”
“Oh, hush,” Ori scolded.
“Uncle,” Kíli spoke up, loudly, “We need to get Bél back to the safety of the Mountain.”
That got Thorin’s attention and he turned to look over at the others again, prompting Bella to follow suit.
“Kíli’s right,” Dwalin said, “It ain’t safe, havin’ her so far away from Erebor. There are still plenty of Orcs roaming these parts and ya both need medical attention before we go.”
Thorin nodded and stood, lifting Bella to her feet at the same time. Bella took one of his hands in hers, gratified when he gripped hers back.
“They took Sting and Orcrist,” Bella revealed as Óin walked over and inspected her free wrist.
“We’ve got ‘em,” Glóin announced, lifting both the swords up so that she and Thorin could see them, “The fools upstairs were arguing about how much they were worth when we slit their throats.”
“You didn’t arrest them?” Bella questioned, not all that concerned by the fate of the Master’s soldiers, but curious despite herself.
“They dared to kidnap you and Thorin,” Fíli replied grimly. “Their fate was sealed from the moment they laid their hands upon you.”
“How did you find us?” Thorin asked.
‘Bella’s fairy,’ Bifur signed, ‘We found it where the two of you were taken.’
“It was very clever of you, Namadith,” Dori praised, “To plant it in such a way that we could follow your trail here.”
“You didn’t mention that,” Thorin spoke lowly.
Bella blushed, “Yes, well, it slipped my mind. We were a bit preoccupied with other things.”
“Like snogging each other senseless?” Nori inquired. “What, exactly, were the two of you planning on doing if we hadn’t been the ones to come down here?”
“And what were you thinking, leaving the Mountain without guards?” Óin demanded as he carefully bandaged Bella’s left wrist.
“I think that we’re in trouble,” Bella said in an aside to Thorin.
“Yes,” Bofur agreed emphatically, his arms crossed, “You are.”
“Bells,” Fíli declared definitively.
************************************************************************
The long trek back to the Lonely Mountain, Ori noted, was remarkable in two ways- and the first way was that Thorin never released Bella’s hand for any part of it, shooting besotted look after besotted look her way. Bella, for her part, gazed back at him as often as she could, her entire being aglow with an ardent delight.
The second reason that the journey was noteworthy was that, at one point, the moon’s beams broke through the thick canopy above them and bathed the pair of them in an almost ethereal light as they smiled wholeheartedly at one another. For a moment, just a moment, Ori didn’t only see Thorin and Bella in that patch of moonlight, but Durin I and his queen, a Hobbit with thick red curls and honey-brown eyes, as well, smiling at the other two contentedly. Ori blinked and they were gone, but he would never forget the sight.
How long had he suspected the wife Durin I took from the grace of the earth, the only wife that any of the incarnations of Durin ever had, was a Hobbit? There was an entire section in the Mekebel filled with texts written entirely in Greentongue which had supported his suspicions and now he had seen the truth; a truth that had been so jealously guarded by the dwarves living in the time of Durin I and directly following his death that it had been lost to legend before Durin II had ever been born. Until now.
Ori looked around at the rest of the group and realized that, while Dáin and his men seemed blissfully unaware that anything had occurred, and Bella and Thorin were too wrapped up in each other to notice anyone else, the rest of the Company had gone as pale as milk. Ori took Dwalin’s hand and squeezed it gently.
“Did ya see…?” Dwalin questioned in a harsh whisper.
“Yes,” Ori answered candidly, in an undertone. “It would explain why none of the other embodiments of Durin ever found their Ones. He heard her voice in his dreams but he never saw her; she must have been waiting for him in the Shire each time.”
None of the incarnations of Durin had ever gone near the Shire, which had been settled by Bella’s people in the period between Durin I and Durin II. The first Hobbits to appear in Arda made homes in the land around the Lonely Mountain, where Mahal forged his dwarrow in secret, although many, especially non-dwarves, considered Moria to be the true homeland of the dwarves, as it was where the first dwarven kingdom was established. Mahal and Yavanna had crafted their children to coexist in harmony and, privately, Ori blamed the separation of the two races for why both dwarves and Hobbits were so terribly prejudiced and were less than what they could be. After all, how much had Bella flourished amongst the Company? How good did the dwarves she claimed as hers grow to be because of her influence?
“And each one made terrible mistakes because of her absence,” Dwalin remarked insightfully, his words mirroring Ori’s thoughts.
“Mahal never intended for Durin to spend any of his lives alone,” Ori said. “He won’t be in his next one.”
Ori would create as many records as he needed to ensure that when Durin VII came into the world he would know to make straight for the Shire to find his One.
“If Durin’s wife was a Hobbit,” Dwalin replied thoughtfully, “And that becomes common knowledge… there won’t be any dwarf in Erebor who dares to make an issue outta Thorin makin’ Bella his Queen.”
“And the non-Ereborian dwarrow?” Ori asked.
“If any of them make an issue of it,” Dwalin swore lowly, “They’ll find themselves gettin’ up close and personal with Grasper and Keeper.”
************************************************************************
Bella had fallen asleep in Thorin’s arms almost immediately upon their sitting down in the Royal Parlor. Thorin, Nori noted with exasperation and approval, was looking at Bella as if the King were a flower and she was the very sun which sustained him. Approval, because if Thorin was going to look at Bella Mira Baggins, he had ruddy well better look at her as if she were a divine gift from Mahal.
Exasperation, because Nori had managed to suppress his memories of how ridiculously gone on one another Thorin and Bella had behaved in the days between becoming engaged and the descent of the gold madness, through much time and effort, and now he remembered the love struck behavior perfectly. The Spymaster of Erebor was going to have to increase his surveillance on both of them to an exaggerated degree until this besotted stage had passed; they both were going to be completely useless before that time.
“Idad,” Fíli spoke, after Dáin had been dismissed and Balin had joined them, trying, and subsequently failing, to divert Thorin’s attention away from Bél, “Idad.”
“Sure, little lion,” Thorin commented agreeably, “Whatever you like.”
Fíli took a deep breath and looked skyward as Kíli snickered at the older Prince’s dwarfling nickname resurfacing. Nori certainly did not envy Fíli’s position as Bella’s eldest brother; he was quite glad that it was not his responsibility to get Thorin to listen to him while the king was so distracted.
“Shut up, little raven,” Fíli instructed his younger brother, causing Kíli to wrinkle his nose in discomfiture, and then tried again, “Thorin.”
Thorin finally looked toward him, blinking, and asked in a mild tone of voice, “Yes?”
“What are you doing?” Fíli questioned.
Thorin appeared to flounder at the query for a moment and then decided, “Guarding Bella.”
Fíli exhaled sharply, “What the fuck were you thinking, taking her out of the Mountain without backup? Even Kíli knows better than to do that.”
“Yeah,” Kíli agreed and then frowned, “Wait… was that an insult?”
Thorin flinched minutely, Bella stirred in his arms briefly before settling again, “I never take guards with me when I go to Dale-”
“Which I’ve formally complained about on multiple occasions,” Dwalin interjected harshly.
“I believed that no one would dare attack Bella if I was present,” Thorin admitted, “Especially not on a road so heavily traveled as the one between Dale and Erebor is. It was nothing more than providence that no one happened upon the Master’s group as they were kidnapping us.”
“Clearly, you were wrong,” Fíli snapped.
“Yes,” Thorin agreed without contest, “I was. Bella’s life was put at risk because I was an idiot.”
“I’m not disagreeing,” Nori chimed in, and it said something, didn’t it, that he was so comfortable with Thorin and the Company that he was willing to imply the King could be moron to his face, “But, to be fair, Bella is just as much to blame for the lack of guards as you are.”
“Something like this was bound to happen eventually,” Ori sighed, “She’s been remarkably cooperative about it for our sake, but she hates having strangers following her around when one of us can’t be with her or when she leaves the Mountain.”
“Perhaps, now this will convince her otherwise,” Bombur suggested hopefully.
“I can guarantee you that it won’t,” Bofur muttered.
Nori caught his eye and saw that Bofur knew exactly how Bella would respond; she wouldn’t see what happened as a hint to let others stand in her defense, she would see it as an incentive to push herself harder to ensure that she could take care of herself and those that she loved. Oh, she’d let her brothers fret over her, because she would know that they needed to in order to heal from this, but all the while she would be planning new ways to become faster and stealthier and lethal.
“You were teaching her archery before,” Nori turned to Kíli, “Have you restarted your lessons?”
“Not yet,” Kíli answered.
“You should,” Nori urged.
“Why?” Kíli asked, “I mean, I’d love to, but you’re acting like it’s super important.”
“It is,” Nori responded and then, at his blank look, “The next time there’s a battle, and there will be another battle, do you really want our sister out in the thick of it?” Nori let that sink in, “The more skilled she becomes with a bow, the more likely that we’ll be able to fight on the high ground, where’s it’s safer.”
“We’ll start lessons tomorrow, er, on Mersday, I mean,” Kíli decided.
“What happened before we arrived?” Fíli inquired, steering the conversation back to the abduction.
“Pulling your chains from the wall sounds more than a bit impressive, actually, laddie,” Balin added, a twinkle in his eye.
“Aye,” Glóin agreed, “It might have been man-made, but it was no brittle metal.”
Nori watched as Thorin’s arms tightened protectively around Bella and unease settled in his gut even before Thorin spoke, “The Master…he threatened to rape Bella. I lost it, a bit.”
Something cold rushed through Nori’s veins, turning his blood to ice. He found himself wishing that the Master’s corpse was before him so that he could desecrate it totally before feeding what was left of it to the carrion crows.
“You stopped him,” Fíli said, his voice shaking slightly.
“I snapped his neck,” Thorin assured. “He didn’t harm her.”
“Good,” Fíli told him.
“And that’s when you two decided to ignore your injuries, minute though they were, and the rest of your captors and snog, yes?” Óin asked.
“I… I wouldn’t exactly call it a decision, per say,” Thorin replied, looking down at Bella again with absolute tenderness. “She forgave me… for… she shouldn’t have, but she did anyway.”
Yes, of course she had. Nori knew that Bella had forgiven Thorin long before that night; it was not in the nature of a Hobbit to bear a grudge for very long.
“You’re going to marry her,” Fíli deduced, “Aren’t you?”
“I am,” Thorin returned evenly, “I am ordering you, this day, my sister-son, to neutralize me should I ever succumb to the gold-sickness again.”
Fíli recoiled in horror, “What?”
“I will not abide being a threat to Bella,” Thorin announced reasonably, as if his edict were in any way reasonable.
“I am not going to kill you,” Fíli hissed at him, “And you are not going to fall ill again, so stop being an idiot.”
“Fíli-” Thorin began.
“No,” Fíli cut him off, “I forbid it. You and Bél are going to get married and drive the rest of us crazy with your respective over-dramatic, ridiculousness until the end of time. And that’s final.”
Thorin opened his mouth, presumably to argue the point in some way.
Nori wasn’t having any of that, “We’re a family, Thorin, and this family will not abide losing you or Bella again.”
A chorus of soft, but utterly sincere, ‘Aye’s’ set that pronouncement into stone.
************************************************************************
Bella woke feeling better than she had in a ridiculously long time. She was resting almost on top of Thorin, who had her cocooned in his arms. They were still in the Royal Parlor, stretched out across the midnight blue sofa that they had collapsed on the night before almost as soon as they had seen it.
Bella tilted her head up and saw Thorin had woken up as well, “Good morning.”
“It’s quite late in the afternoon, actually,” Thorin told her, stroking a hand through her curls, “Dáin agreed to oversee things while I rested.”
“The Company?”
“They’re asleep,” Thorin told her, his tone now laced with astonishment as he spoke, “In piles all around us. I had a very long talk with all of them last night or this morning, I suppose.”
“Why do you sound so shocked?” Bella asked.
“I can’t feel it,” Thorin admitted roughly, “The pull of the gold… it’s gone, Bella.”
Relief was a heady thing to be sure.
“I told you,” Bella grinned up at him.
“You did,” Thorin agreed, looking at her in amazement, “I feel like myself but also more somehow. Like I can do anything I’ll ever need to as long as you are by my side, Nanging.”
“It’s a good thing that I’m never leaving you then, is it not?” Bella murmured and then froze as her stomach twinged in a way that she had all but forgotten it could.
“What’s wrong?” Thorin asked in concern.
“Nothing,” Bella laughed, half in disbelief and half in thrilled gratitude, “It’s just… I’m hungry, Khaeluh.”
************************************************************************
Translations
- Ghivashel – Treasure of all Treasures; Beloved
- Ughvashâ – Greatest Treasure
- Nanging – Flower
- Khaeluh – My Wolf
- Mekebel – Great Library
- Idad – Uncle
- Namad – Sister
- Namadith – Little Sister
- Nadad – Brother
- Nadadith – Little Brother