It has been said, throughout time, that the dwarves and the elves were two races that never got along. They hardly conversed, let alone look one another in the eye if they so happened to meet. These separate lines of Middle Earth kept to themselves as any unfriendly neighbour would, which is why the news of this event was so shocking.
No preparations could have helped Thorin II, son of Thrain, son of Thror, king under the mountain, to deal with it at his current age of 124. No, experience would not have helped; nor patience that the dwarf king rarely possessed. He had been ruling the kingdom of Erebor for some time now, long enough to have taken a wife; Faelwen.
Now, I might have mentioned that there was more than one shock in this tale, however the dwarves of Erebor had learned to love their new queen just as their king had, and were able to overlook her slight differences. How could a strong, powerful race such as the dwarves accept and elf into their midst you ask? Quite easily actually; for Faelwen was not an elf, but a very unfortunate dwarf.
To make a long story short, Faelwen's parents were happy - for the most part. Dwarven couples vowed to stay side by side forever and had a tendency to be very jealous. This proved to be true when Faelwen's mother went missing, leaving a grief-stricken dwarf to look after a young, helpless dwarfling. Soon enough though, rumours had begun to spread about the real reason why she had fled - to be with the elves, one of which they suspected was her secret lover. Now, a clear headed dwarf would have realized that there was no way on Middle Earth that this could ever occur - for dwarves and elves hated one another for as long as anyone could remember. But in the case of Faelwen's father, he began to believe them and before long he had given her and elvish name to spite his late wife and to bring misery upon the being which had once represented their love. After that, as far as anyone knows, he followed in his wife's footsteps and was never seen again.
As you can probably imagine, this little detail made Thorin a bit more protective than most dwarf partners ought to be. He even tried to create and exception for her case; to try to change her name, even if the 'rules' stated that dwarves keep their given names for life- no exceptions. However, Faelwen would not have it.
"If they are to accept me as their queen, I want them to accept all of me." she explained to Thorin, hoping he would understand.
He quickly rose from where he was seated in the study. " I could not bear to see you hurt any longer because of this. They are my people, which means it may be difficult for them to see past..."
She closed the space between them and placed a small finger over his lips. " If I am meant to be their queen then it shouldn't matter what my name is." she could recognize the frustration growing behind those deep blue eyes. "Plus, the only name they'll know me by is 'your highness'." she laughed as she made a mock bow before her king.
He shook his head and smiled at her, he knew that no matter what her name was then, he had chosen his perfect queen. Thorin quickly drew her into his large embrace and just held her. Without a word she stretched her short legs up to plant a kiss on his awaiting lips. "You know..." he managed to say as he pulled away, "speaking of names, I would love to hear mine on your lips." he quickly kissed her again, anticipating her reaction.
When none came he reluctantly pulled away, and for a moment he was worried that she hadn't understood what he was insinuating. Thorin had never been one who was great at blatantly expressing his feelings. To his relief though, she smiled coyly at him and simply replied, "Well your highness, I seem to be having some trouble remembering what it is exactly..." as she trailed her fingers along his breast plate.
That was apparently all the encouragement he needed as the young king picked up his wife in one sweep and carried her to their room down the hall.