An Unexpected Party

"The Greasy Elf" was a decent inn. It could have been one of the poorest, dirtiest, grimmest, and many other ests at that, for all I could care. I had a room all to myself, a roof over my head and a bath with running water. It was pure opulence. The elves at Grey Haven had been more than gracious and had given me some nice clothes to wear. The problem was, of course, that I only had those and I realized it only after I washed them. I was confined to my room, luckily I had asked for food and wine beforehand and I would be pleasantly enjoying myself inside a home, not having to worry about the weather or keep watch for enemies.

I had just finished the bottle of wine and as I was considering how to get downstairs and get more, there was a heavy knock on my door. I went to open the door but I remembered in time that I was, in fact, naked. I threw the bedspread on and opened the door. Two sea-blue eyes stared at me, framed by dark-brown-speckled with white hair, thin lips smirking.

"Master Thorin" I greeted with a pleasant smile.

"Lady Morwen" his smirk grew bigger as he gestured at my attire "Am I interrupting?"

I laughed heartily. "I wish." I moved away from the door and invited him in.

He laughed and nodded his gratitude.

I gracefully sat down and arranged my…sheet, while welcoming Thorin to a seat. He smiled in amusement.

"So" I asked as ceremoniously as I could "How can I be of assistance to The King Under The Mountain?" I blame all of my mirth on the wine. Thorin smiled toothily.

"Well, my kin is throwing a celebration of sorts and I am here to take you take you with me." I opened my mouth, but Thorin continued. "Though, seeing you don't have any clothes…"

The sulk on my face could have been seen from Mordor, but to dress it up, I indifferently replied: "That's alright, I couldn't have come anyway."

Thorin started to laugh so hard that my frown turned into a smile and then in full blown laughter. As the amusement died down and I was whipping tears from my eyes, Thorin got up and said he will go look for some clothes. I nodded my thank you and lit a cigarette. I hadn't finished smoking when he returned with a bundle in his hands.

"Here" he handed it to me "I hope they fit."

"Thank you." I got up and went to the bathroom to change.

I would have preferred some britches and a simple shirt, but apparently Thorin brought me a dress. It was a simple dress that fitted me well, actually being quite long.

I emerged from the bathroom to find the dwarf-king peacefully smoking from his pipe. The sweet smell of pipe-weed filled the room. I self-consciously fixed my new dress as it made me fill somewhat naked. His eyes twinkled with glee feeling my hesitation.

"Where would you even find a dress, I taught you dressed your women like men?"

"Only those that have a beard." Thorin answered as he took a whiff from the pipe.

"Oh, behold, Thorin Oakenshield can joke! I must make a note of it." I teased despite laughing at his reply.

"It belonged to a human woman that traveled here with her husband. The keeper taught it would fit you well"

"Well, I'll be sure to thank him. So, should we proceed?"

"Aren't we eager!" He got up and opened the door.

"Of course I am. In all of my years I haven't been invited to a dwarven celebration." I grabbed my cloak and closed the door behind me.

The festivity was being held in a great hall that had been dug in the mountain. Thousands of candles had been lit leaving no dark corner. The dwarves were clearly dressed in their best garments and only now did I realize that even Thorin had discarded his road clothes and wore a beautiful azure shirt with elaborate silver string. I kept looking left and right my head getting faintly woozy.

"What are you looking for?" Thorin asked amusedly.

"The dwarf-women." I whispered surreptitiously.

Thorin's laugh bellowed all over the hall, making heads turn to us. Most of them were smiling, while some were frowning. I was frowning, too, but at the dwarf-king. Still laughing merrily he guided me to the table and started to present some of the dwarves.

"This is Dáin II Ironfoot, my cousin and lord of the Dwarves of the Iron Hills."

I took a deep bow with my right hand over my heart. "Lord Dáin"

"This is Lady Morwen, she accompanied me on the road here."

"I like 'er, Thorin. A human woman and she is showing me the respect only my kin have." He laughed heartily. "You are welcomed in the great stone halls of the Dwarves, Lady Morwen."

I smiled brightly. "Thank you, Lord Dáin."

Then, there came a lot of names that I couldn't place or remember. I was seated next to Thorin and a Flói fellow who was very cheerful. He conversed heatedly with… Frár, I believe, about the mines of Moria. It would have been quite interesting if Dáin wouldn't have talked so loudly and smashed the table at every word. He was eating mutton chops whole and waived them around as he was trying to describe diverse adventures. I had to do a lot of ducking, but there was a lot of laughing, too. At one point, Dáin became silent as he downed a pint of ale and Frár took this chance to tell us a story. Only, after the first word he got out, Dáin accidently smashed him in the head with a bone and he promptly forgot the whole story. He stared at everyone, mouth slightly agape, an empty look on his face. "I forgot." He said. The table erupted in laughter, the stone walls shacking. I was clenching my stomach and Thorin trembled. Dáin threw the mutton chop at the wall and smashed a tankard full of ale in front of Frár as an apology of sorts. The dwarves consumed colossal amounts of ale, wine and food. The poor serving dwarves barely kept up with the demands. Nonetheless, they still found time to ask me if I wanted anything else. All of a sudden, the chatter and laughter turned to singing, the dwarves pulling out instruments seemingly out of nowhere and playing. Even Thorin joined in, his deep, grave voice reverberating off of the walls. The song was beautiful and I wished I would have known the words so that I could join in. It ended and I clapped and cheered loudly earning a smile from Thorin.
As the night progressed so did the amount of ale and the cheerfulness was getting palpable. The stories got rowdier and more blatant. In fact, Thorin decided to share a rather interesting account from our journey. "Well, I have a funny story about Lady Morwen…" Thorin looked at me, but I just gave him a confused look, which he took as an approval to carry on. "We were on our way here, along Lune, when it got dark and I decided we should camp. Now, being so close to the river, Lady Morwen decided she would go wash herself, so off she went and I, of course, remained in camp. Ten minutes or so pass when I, suddenly, hear her screaming. I hastily got up, axe ready and ran in the direction I heard the scream. Now, what you must know is that the horse we were travelling with is quite smart and has a very special sense of humor." The dwarves were looking doubtful at Thorin. "That is no joke, I assure you, as you will see. Now, I reach the river and I am looking left and right for our Lady. Nothing, not a sign. And I am getting worried, I am thinking about orcs and such, when I hear another scream. I turn to my left and there she is." Thorin looked at me a smirk on his face and eyes glistening with mirth, I was silently laughing despite my red face. "And there is the horse. At first I didn't understand. He was running with something in his mouth and Lady Morwen was chasing him, but as they got closer the bundle in his mouth turned out to be clothes and Lady Morwen turned out to be running around in her…well…in her…unmentionables. The horse ran past me, but I was too shocked to catch him, a soaked Lady Morwen following him and screaming at the top of her lungs." At this point Thorin started to shake with laughter and was finding it difficult to finish the story, the other dwarves were already roaring with laughter. "Now, listen, she threw me a murderous look and kept on running. But" Thorin laughed "I will always remember her running down the river, shaking her fist and screaming profanities, exposed." The dwarves were gasping for breath at this point and Thorin laughed freely, while I couldn't help, but smile. The celebration went on and some of the dwarves got up and started to dance, while the others sang. I felt incredibly happy and content, warmth feeling my stomach. I turned to Thorin and smiled. "You know, Thorin, I love these kinds of moments. These moments of happiness and bliss…before it all starts…This quest will be difficult, extremely perilous. There will be a point in which everything will seem hopeless, when you will see no light and everything that was seemingly in reach will be worlds apart. That even if it will finish all right… you can never see yourself being happy again. Not like before and how could you? After all that happened, after all that you saw, after all that you did?... And that's when, Thorin, I like to think about these moments, where I can see how happy I was and that everything can be alright. They give me hope and they also serve to remember what I am fighting for, so I can get up and strike back with more strength, resilience and determination; just when the enemy thought he gave me my final blow. Evil likes to make you feel like you are alone and doomed to fail, but you should always remember that you are not alone and that there is always hope." Thorin looked at me intensely, put a hand on my shoulder and smiled. "Thank you, Morwen!" I smiled brightly and nodded. "Now, we should enjoy the rest of the evening, enough of the depressing things." I got up and went to dance, Thorin following closely.