A/N

Thank you all for your support so far :D It means a lot to me whenever someone reviews and it's really a lot of fun to bring Nàin back :D

Now, I didn't really read this through. I will at some point, but until then, there might be some weird spellings and/or grammatical faults... Sorry about that

Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings, I only own Nàin and the characters that I have come up with and their stories.

Chapter 4
Old and New Customs

Fili re-entered the room with a smile on his face. Walking over to the bed where his wife and son were waiting for him, he sat down with a sigh.

"What did he want?" asked Nàin quietly, her son interestingly playing with her fingers.

"Nothing important," said Fili, smiling over at her with what he had hoped was a convincing smile, though Nàin could see through it. She could see through everything when it came to her husband and so, Nàin only frowned at him.

"Please don't do that again," said Nàin. "Lying, that is."

Fili quickly shook his head before trying his best to divert the conversation to something else. He was not about to let his wife begin to worry about those Orcs when they, at the moment, posed no bigger threat to them than any other Orc in the lands did. She had enough on her plate trying to raise their son while he was away because of his duties. He was not about to let her worry about that too… Not yet, anyway.

"We were discussing Erebor's defenses," said Fili with a soft smile. "I made Kili my first in command for the future army we are going to build up."

"Army? Well, I suppose each kingdom has one," said Nàin with a nod of her head. "Do you need my help?"

"No, not at the moment," said Fili with a soft smile. "You stay here with Thor for now."

He leaned over towards her, gently patting Thor on the back as he made a gurgling noise of happiness at his father approaching them, before he interlocked his fingers with Nàin's. Staring deep into her eyes, he smiled at her; "Men lananubukhs menu…"

Nàin smiled widely at her husband, gently pressing a kiss to his lips; "I love you too."

Much to Nàin's surprise, Kili had already managed to gather a rather large group of Dwarves for the army. Of course there already were some warriors who had pledged to keep being warriors for king Fili, but they were not enough warriors in case Erebor would be attacked. They needed more, even though they could easily just close the gates and wait the enemy out.

She had gone downstairs to the market earlier that day with Thor, Dis and Thorin. A lot of attention had been brought there way, many of the citizens having wanted to greet little Thor who seemed to have enjoyed the attention fairly much. At the end of their visit to the market, Thor and Thorin had found a pretty dagger which the salesman had given to them for free because of who they were. As Thorin, now carrying Thor and the dagger, walked away from the salesman, Nàin had slipped him a couple of gold coins anyway, to which he had seemed very happy for.

Now, in the afternoon and close to dinner time, Nàin had brought down Thor to the training halls. They were far away from the mines and far away from any unstable walls or ceilings and so, Nàin fought it would be safe enough for Thor. Staying up in the Halls of the Royals constantly was starting to take a toll on Nàin, and she noticed that Thor would go to bed much easier after an eventful day as well – meaning it was a win-win situation.

Carrying little Thor on her hip, she watched Kili stand before the warriors he had gathered, watching them spar together. His eyes roamed over them with a serious look in them, one she was not accustomed to seeing in the young Dwarf's eyes. Kili was always the joker and the gleeful youngling. Now, he was different and Nàin could not help but to miss the old Kili a bit.

As Kili raised his hand, all Dwarves stopped sparring, turning to look at him.

"That's enough for today," he said. "I will choose which ones of you I will take in tomorrow. Don't be late."

With that said, the Dwarves began to walk away, chatting and talking to one another. As they passed by Nàin and Thor, who were still standing by the door leading to the stairwell, they greeted their queen and future king with a nod of their heads or some respectful words. When everyone had left but Kili, Nàin began to cross the hall towards him. He watched her approach him with his hands on his hips, as though he was going to scold her for being down there.

However, as Thor reached out his hands to Kili, wanting to be picked up by his uncle, his features softened and he grabbed the little toddler from Nàin with a smile on his face.

"I should be telling you off, you know," said Kili as he began to walk towards a small door at the farmost wall.

"For what, walking around my kingdom?" she asked sarcastically before sighing. "I'm going mad staying up there all day… I need to get out. Dis and Thorin agreed."

"They agreed on you going down here with Thor?" asked Kili, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh… No, they agreed on me taking Thor with me to the market while they kept watch…" she mumbled, earning a sigh from Kili.

"Nàin-"

"I know, I know, it's dangerous," sighed Nàin before running a hand down her face. "Walls can collapse, ceilings can collapse – but I don't go where Fili has not told me they've fixed the walls yet. I promise."

Kili did not reply. Instead he opened the door he had been walking towards and led her inside of his little office, which she had not seen before.

"Fili told me you'd become his first in command," said Nàin with a soft smile on her lips. "I can't think of anyone better suited."

"It's a lot of work," said Kili, placing Thor on a table with his legs dangling over the edge.

"I don't doubt it," said Nàin.

"Gimli offered to help, you know," said Kili with a soft chuckle. "If people think I'm too young…"

Nàin smiled; "He's a good lad."

"He is," nodded Kili, sitting down on a nearby chair.

The office was rather unruly. Kili's desk was filled with scrolls of paper (no doubt filled with names of warriors he was going to recruit), feather pens, bottles of ink, daggers and swords. Luckily, the small table Thor was sitting on had no weapons sprawled over it, only pieces of paper which Thor was not interested in.

For a long while, Thor and Nàin watched as Kili wrote down notes and sqruibbles after each Dwarf's name on the various scrolls he had in front of him. How Kili even remembered who everyone was, Nàin did not understand. All she did know was that someone named 'Ungor' had not been qualified for the army of Erebor.

"You know," said Nàin as Thor reached his hands up to her. "We need a better name for our army."

Kili chuckled, putting his pen down and turning around in his chair, watching Nàin lift up Thor, bouncing him softly on her hip to which he laughed.

"Any suggestions?" asked Kili, a smirk on his lips.

"Hm... What about, 'Durin's Army'," said Nàin with a smile. "Or something like 'Durinators'."

"What?" chuckled Kili. "What does that even mean?"

"I don't know… It just popped up in my mind," said Nàin before scoffing; "I don't see you coming up with a better name."

"Well," chuckled Kili. "If I do, I'll make sure to let you know. But for now, I'm starving and dinner will have been served already."

"Right," sighed Nàin, looking down at Thor who had been watching her intently as she spoke with Kili. "I guess we'll have to go back up again and wait for our dinner to be served… up there… all alone."

She gave Kili a side glance before clearing her throat, "Come now, our halls of solitude await."

"Oh, alright then," sighed Kili, rubbing a hand over his face; "But if Fee or mother get angry, then you're taking the blame."

Nàin smiled widely at Kili. She had not been down in the Dining Hall for so long now and although the long table was always filled with loud Dwarves who did nothing but laugh and make her own thoughts inaudible to herself, she had missed it. Of course Thorin would sometimes join her up in the Halls of the Royals to eat his dinner with her, in peace and away from prying eyes, though that was mostly when he had a bad day with his Sickness; meaning he usually was not very talkative then. Dis had to be down in the Dining Hall for dinner as she was royal and needed to show her face during meals. But customs were that a mother and a toddler was not allowed in those halls when a meal was being served.

"Dis is not going to like this," said Nàin with a smirk on her lips. "She's all about following old rules."

"Why in Durin's name are you smirking?" asked Kili, surprised. "Mother can be scary when she gets angry."

"Yes," said Nàin, the three of them exiting Kili's little office. "But I can't help but find it amusing when she gets all fussy about keeping to the old customs which all the old kings followed. Times are different now."

"Nah, that's not why you're doing this," chuckled Kili. "You just like to see your mother-in-law get all red in her face in front of people."

Nàin smirked, though quickly wiped it away from her face and cleared her throat; "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course not…" mumbled Kili with a smile on his face.

The three walked through the kingdom. One would think that the Dining Hall is not far away from the quarters of those who use that particular hall. Though it is. They had to ascend and descend numerus stairs and cross numerous bridges to get there. Though they were of the line of Durin and belonged in that mountain – which meant that they knew all the shortcuts and hidden doorways which the others barely knew of. The walk, in other words, took only five minutes for Kili and Nàin.

Thor looked completely amazed at everything he was seeing. He had never really been outside of the Halls of the Royals for so much as he had been that evening. First he got to see the training halls, and then he got to see all those staircases, bridges and secret passages as well. Once he got to the Dining Hall, Nàin was sure that his eyes would pop out if he kept staring so widely at everything.

As the guards opened the large doors for Nàin and Kili, the hall quietened down. Of course they had been expecting Kili as he always ate with them, though they had not been expecting Nàin and Thor.

As Nàin and Kili, as casually as they could, began to walk down the length of the table to where their family was seated, the scraping of chairs against the stone floor was heard as the Dwarves stood up to respectfully wait for their queen to reach her spot. She recognized barely half of the Dwarves who bowed their heads at her and her son, though she was sure she would get to know them as she returned to her duties.

Seated closest to the royal family was the former company of Thorin Oakenshield (all except for Gandalf and Bilbo of course). They all smiled widely at her, Thor and Kili. All except for Balin and Dwalin, who seemed slightly unsure of how to react to Nàin breaking the customs.

At the end of the table was Fili, who stood up as well as Nàin reached him. Kili sat at the corner of the table and positioned himself behind his chair, everyone else still quietly watching, still standing up. Dis was indeed red in the face. Whether she was embarrassed or angry, Nàin could not tell. Though she figured it was a mix of both emotions. Thor reached his hands out for Fili, who glanced at the Dwarves watching them once, before grabbing Thor and holding him in his arms. Bowing his head at Nàin who re-took her position next to him at the end of the table, the two sat down. The shuffling noises of everyone sitting down again could be heard and soon, the sound-level was back to normal again as Dwarves began to laugh and eat once more after the shock of Nàin and Thor joining them.

Thorin glanced between Dis and Nàin, a soft smile on his lips as Dis avoided looking at Nàin and Fili, eating her food rather quickly.

"I suppose this was Kili's idea?" asked Fili, balancing Thor on his knee as he continued to eat the meal on his plate.

"N-" started Kili.

"Yes, totally," said Nàin with a soft smile playing on her lips.

Kili fought against the urge to stick his tongue out at his best friend, side glancing once towards Dis and Thorin who were sat next to him.

"Either way," chuckled Fili. "It was a pleasant surprise."

"I was going insane up there, away from everyone," said Nàin, smiling kindly at the poor servants who were running around, trying to set up plates and food for Nàin and Thor.

Fili simply smiled at her, taking sip of his ale. As he sat the goblet back down next to his plate, Thor reached out towards it as if to do as his father had done. Nàin and Fili simply chuckled before Nàin moved the goblet a little further away from Thor, to which the toddler pouted.

A roar of laughter from down the table caused Thor to jump slightly in surprise, not used to the loud sounds in the room. Though he kept quiet, not seeming to be even slightly close to tears even though he had just gotten scared. Most likely, he was too curious about all the new faces to take the time to show to everyone that he did not like the loud noises.

Fili leaned over towards Nàin, whispering; "Mother is going to give you an earful later on."

"I know," chuckled Nàin. "But it's so worth it to be back again."

"Completely back or just for meals?" asked Fili.

"For now, just for meals. I'll take on my duties again in a month or so, when Thor gets used to this life."

"You're bringing him along?" asked Fili with a happy smile on his face.

"Oh, no, no," said Nàin. "I can't stay focused on my duties and Thor. No, he'll have to stay with Thorin or Dis from time to time. But when we have meetings, just the three of us, I can bring him with us. He's a good lad and won't be in the way."

"I'm looking forward to it," said Fili, placing a soft kiss on Nàin's cheek before going back to eating.

She glanced at the faces of the company who were smiling, joking and laughing along with those family members they had brought with them. She glanced at Thorin, Dis and Kili, smiling at them and feeling a warmth grasping a hold of her heart as the three of them smiled and talked with each other. She glanced at Fili who was gently feeding Thor with some of the food the servants had brought forth for him, smiling at Thor who seemed extremely happy to be fed by his father for the first time. The warmth in her heart spread as she realized she was surrounded by only friends and family (and all the strangers on the other end of the table) and she knew that she indeed was not going to follow the old customs ever again if it meant feeling so happy and alive. Dis would just have to get used to it.