Chapter 2
There were small festivities almost bi-monthly in the wealthy Erebor. The people were allowed their joy, many of the folk from this very kingdom in the old days, or growing up on stories of it. Some were requested by the people, asking politely if they may use a hall and have a party, coming up with clever ways to make it sound like a good idea. Others, the king held for his people out of gladness and, once, an actual holiday.
Today would be the birthday of his sister, the Lady Dis. Those who remembered the days of old Erebor remembered how enthralled the Durin-kin were to have a daughter amongst their names, therefore there was always a party for the people. It was just a feast with much dancing that all of the kingdom would attend. Gifts only came from dear friends and nobles it may be expected from, but the new Erebor had yet to choose the nobles that would create the court.
Azel had only heard stories of this, and that the higher ranking dwarves often left Dis laden with lovely things. Without a court, she figured there'd be little that the woman would get.
She'd met Dis, once. It was in the Blue Mountains many decades ago, at the seamstress. Azel remembered the woman's kind remarks at the coat Azel had commissioned and ultimately designed, though not made. It was one of the first times a kind word was spoken to her since her mother had died six winters before, and Dis had been someone with a well-known name, so it felt like more than just common courtesy.
So now, Azel wanted to get the Lady a gift.
Plus, she felt a bit like she was standing on thin ice after what she'd done with the gold that still littered the steps of the throne room four days later.
Walking into the Hall of the Kings, where this was the first party held there probably due to its golden floor (only the best for Lady Dis), was like walking into a land of elves for Azel. The dwarves were all strong and bearded, dressed in their best, the dwarrowdams beautifully robust and in festive gowns with their hair in curls and braids. Azel was too thin, hairless on her face, and had straight hair left mostly short due to an incident with a fire almost a year ago. All she could manage was two chest length braids in the front, one thicker than the other.
She'd give anything to look like the dwarrowdams. Like Cecla and Miwren. But she didn't, so she hardly tried to dress like them, looking horribly odd in their thick gowns. She wore a decent human surcoat hemmed for her short height, but under were her usual pants and tunic. Plus the only colour she could afford was a strong orange. Not that there weren't other people brightly coloured dancing around.
The difference was, Azel wasn't staying for the festivities, as wonderful as they could be. She even waited until the majority of the feast would end to go, hearing the loud music and cheer from three halls away. With a small box wrapped in the nicest cloth and twine she could find so quickly under her arm, Azel looked briefly for the woman, wondering how she'd get the present to her.
Now was certainly not the moment. Lady Dis was dancing cheerfully with her brother, the king. They were quite the scene, even with Thorin's stoic expression.
Azel did lay eyes on the two brothers, though. Maybe she'd seem stupid to walk up to them, but she did despite the nervous fluttering in her heart. The princes were talking with each other, the older with arms crossed, the second eating a pastry.
"Your highnesses." She addressed, not having a clue what else to say. They both looked at her, Kili chewing a mouthful.
"Fili, and Kili, at your service." Fili lowered his head, addressing her.
If they recognized her, they certainly didn't let it show. "Would you give this to your mother?" She asked, holding up the gift.
"What for?" Fili asked, stepping to face her while taking the gift.
"It's her birthday." Azel reminded him blandly.
"Yes, and this would make you the only one outside of family to bother to gift her anything." He countered, looking at her calculatingly.
She just stepped back, hands behind her back now that they were empty. "You don't need to tell her who it's from. She'd be none the wiser."
"Then how would she thank you?"
Azel shook her head. "This is me thanking her." She did not explain, giving a small curtsy before turning and leaving the hall once again.
Kili and Fili shared a look. "Do we tell her?" Kili asked.
"I'd fear that if our mother ever did anything for that woman, she'd not remember. Save her the embarrassment?" Fili offered.
"Sounds fair." Kili agreed.
They made way to the high table as Thorin escorted Dis back to her seat. Fili went to her side, placing the present in front of her.
"Oh, what's this?" She asked cheekily. "I know you two wouldn't have the charm to surprise me with a second gift."
"How funny." Kili said sarcastically, grinning at her. "It's not from us."
"A woman asked us to give it to you as a token of thanks, we know not what for." Fili said simply.
Dis was beaming as she ran her hands over the earthy blue fabric. "Beautiful cloth, as well." She murmured.
Thorin, Kili, and Fili watched in curiosity as she opened the present. Dis saw before them as she opened it, a small gasp coming from her. She took it out in cheer. Tied around a small round of wood to display it was a necklace. A simple leather cord with a pendant. It was a flat red jasper stone, a perfect oval and polished like a precious gem, with patterns of pearlescent white paint creating a simple swirling design.
"How beautiful!" Dis claimed, smoothing her fingers over it.
"Allow me." Thorin took it, tying it around her neck.
"Who is this from?" Dis asked, looking to her sons. "I'm not sure what I've done to earn such a lovely thank you."
They looked at each other. "We didn't get a name." Kili lied.
Whatever this token was for, Fili didn't trust it.
The only thing hotter than the inside of a furnace was dragon fire itself. Wearing one thick glove that fell only three inches higher than her wrist, it was Azel's job to shift heavy coals and sometimes repair these things, which were so rarely turned off. The heat of reaching in seared her skin but not truly burned. It'd hurt some and leave her olive skin bright red, but that would fade by the end of the day and she'd do it again tomorrow. It only took ten minutes of this work to leave her sweating, so she was never the neatest of dwarves or dwarrowdams, especially when half the job was to lie on the ground while she did it.
This was where Fili found her, two days after the birthday of his mother. He didn't ask or tell a sole what he was doing, but he had his suspicions. With how the woman acted in front of the king, then turn around completely to give his mother a gift he knew not for? It was odd and settled in such a way that he was not ignoring it.
When he found the furnace she was working on, her arm was in a hatch maybe one foot by one foot, seated on the ground with one leg out and the other bent, knee in the air. She was huffing and holding her weight with her other gloved hand on the side of the hot contraption. The air from even twenty feet away was rippling with heat as he neared, so he could not imagine spending an entire day practically inside one.
"Lady Azel, a word." He said, announcing himself.
She scoffed, not looking back. "Not a lady." She retorted.
Definitely not dressed as one, he thought. She wore a sleeveless tunic that was so thin it wasn't hard to find her body in it, as well as dark tan breeches that were loose and hanging on her hips by a drawstring. She may be horribly thin for a dwarrowdam, but she did have some curve to her hips, in the least.
Fili however only watched the side of her face. "I don't know what game you're playing, but you should know that whatever your plot was with confronting the king, it's done nothing." He began.
She looked back at him, stilling but not removing her arm. "No offense, Prince, but don't be daft. I had no plot – I was just annoyed." She turned back to her work, looking into the hatch. "We all have our pet peeves."
"As much as I'm sure you want me to believe that, I won't be so quick. Either way, King Thorin remains unoffended, which makes your gift to my mother unnecessary." He added, shifting his weight.
"My gift?" She screeched. "The two aren't connected, and it wasn't a bribe!"
Fili lifted a brow. "Then what do you claim it to be? What were you thanking her for?"
"Listen, Prince Paranoia," She began. "My mother used to tell me how the people of the court would bring gifts for the line of Durin on their birthdays, and we have no court. I owed her," She paused to grunt, throwing a flaming coal from this side of the furnace towards the middle, though he could not see, "So I gave her a gift."
"What did you owe her for? She remembers no grand deeds to warrant jewellery."
Azel didn't look at him, but turned her head slightly, her expression slightly unhappy. "It was decades ago. And she was simply kind when nobody else was. You're questioning a gift I gave because your mother was kind, or is that too hard to believe? Would you insult her in such a way, like you seem to be insulting me?" She snapped.
"I meant no insult. There just seems to be–"
"Look, can't you just leave me alone?" Azel barked out, pushing herself away from the furnace while looking at him.
It happened in a flash not even a second after she'd shouted at him. Her arm just pressed so momentarily into the top of the furnace's open hatch, scorching hot. Azel let out an agonizing scream, pulling her arm from the stone and clutching her elbow just below the burn.
Fili startled as she fell onto the ground, her entire upper arm a bloody red and the skin instantly raising in one massive welt. It should have been worse, so she must have only brushed against the heat of the furnace, but that was not his first thought. His first thought was absolute panic as she screamed out.
Then he picked her up urgently, not knowing what else to do. "Out of the way!" He shouted at the dwarves that had gathered around at her cry. They parted and he ran, as fast and hard as he could, searching for the medic.
When he got there, two healers took her and laid her out. Azel was just shaking, clutching her arm, but not crying or screaming. Fili stared on in shock and sudden guilt. He'd done this. It was his fault. She was only hurt because he'd pestered her for no true reason and drew her attention away.
An apology died on his tongue as a healer waved her hands at him. "Get out! Out! You're in the way!"
He stepped out, then just stood on the other side of the door in shock.
Cecla and Miwren would not leave Azel's side. She loved them deeply for caring for her while she was left with only her left arm, but there was a point where she just wanted to be alone. Not that she'd voice it, not while her two best friends were cooking and tidying for her, telling her all the best stories of what has been happening around Erebor the past day.
Just the past day, because Azel had only just disappeared into recovery after her burn yesterday morning. There was pound after pound of salve put onto her arm, constant cold wet cloths wrapped around it as her arm sat in a sling, but nothing stopped it from searing like a dragon had a constant hold on her bicep. She pretended it didn't hurt, but she could still feel the burn as if she were still pressed against the furnace.
"The old treasury has finally been cleared, and King Thorin heard rumours of people wanting the market there and said it was a great idea, so by a few months' time, we'll be shopping in the new market." Cecla grinned, just wringing out a cloth to hand Azel. She took it and tucked it around her own arm, the pain of the touch so sudden and sharp she almost gagged on it. Her friends acted like they didn't see her face change. "But first, they are putting up a rail. A beautiful stone one – they've asked that Ori fellow to draw up a design for the chisellers."
"Great." Azel said in disinterest.
Miwren changed the course of the gossip. "You know, Porge is getting thicker." She said about a dwarrowdam that had been quite horrible to many. "Mostly in the neck. She'll never marry with that neck."
"How will she wear any jewellery?" Cecla teased with her.
The two laughed warmly from their seats around Azel, who was sunk into her arms chair, feet tucked under her, covered in a blanket and a fur over her unharmed shoulder. The only parts of her visible were her head and injured forearm, shoulder in-between as well.
Again, they noticed Azel's disinterest. Cecla perked up. "I heard that there's going to be a jubilee in Dale soon. We could go? Or just shop around, if you'd like."
Azel gave a short nod. "Yeah, that sounds great." She agreed.
Even before they could talk about planning this little venture, there was a knock on the door. Miwren popped up, smoothing her skirt. "I'll get it." She smiled and went to the door.
The red haired dwarrowdam opened it, then stood there uselessly and uncharacteristically quiet. A low male voice asked, "Is this where Lady Azel lives?"
"Um, yes!" Miwren blurted, loudly. "We were just leaving. Cecla, come." She urged Cecla, making Azel try to see who was at the door. Cecla moved quickly to follow Miwren. "You can come in."
As her two friends went out, in walked a blonde dwarf, closing the door behind him. Azel frowned and looked away when she recognized him. In no way did she acknowledge him, not with a word, a look, or a gesture any larger than sinking further into her seat.
Fili took a few steps in before seeing how unwanted he seemed to be, stopping to stand far from her arm chair. "I came to apologize. You would have never gotten hurt if I had kept my silly suspicions to myself."
She uncovered herself from the blanket, getting up with the fur still on her other shoulder. Getting up, she strode past him and opened the door again. "Great, thanks, now you can get out." She said insincerely.
Troubled, Fili turned to face her but did not move to go. "I truly never meant you insult, and certainly not harm. I am sorry, and I've never meant that so sincerely. It was wrong of me."
"Yes, it was. I'd forgive you but you did more than make me burn myself." She bit, letting the door close when it seemed he was going nowhere. "I haven't any clue what I'm meant to do now. Do you know just how hard it is to find a job that pays as well as mine at the furnaces?"
He looked at her with less apology, confused. "I don't know what you mean. I spoke to the healers and they said in three or four weeks you'd be fine. The scar'd lessen, even. Surely you can go back to work."
"You idiot." She sighed, realizing just how ill-informed he was. There was a prickling behind her eyes, chest thick, but she wouldn't cry. "You have no clue what happens when someone working the furnaces and forges gets hurt, do you? It's dangerous! Which is why one accident and you're gone! I have no job!"
The comprehension was clear on his face in the following seconds. "I hadn't known. My lady, I'm beyond sorry."
"Stop calling me lady and just get out, okay?" She sounded deflated even to her own ears, using her left hand to right the wet cloth that was slipping from her burn. "I'm tired and I'm in pain and I haven't been alone all day, so please, get out."
Fili just watched her a moment as she walked back across the room, grabbing the fallen blanket before going into the back bedroom. Then, feeling inappropriate for lingering, he let himself out.
