"Ye can't be serious! Ye can't be! It'd cause a scandal!"
Baby Sada whimpered and made to pull on Bofur's moustache; her uncle pulled his head back and sighed impatiently as he continued to lightly bounce the infant on his knee.
"I'm use to scandal," Nola protested gently, "We all are!"
"No," Bofur pointed out, "We're apart of it against our will! Mahal, bless me, but even you were adamant in refusing the title of Thorin's official mistress!"
"Who said anything about taking that particular title?" Nola demanded, and Sada began to cry, "She deserves to be around her father. Oh, give her to me; all this yelling is upsetting her."
However, Sada insisted on clinging to her Uncle, fat tears sliding down her cheeks as she did.
"Maybe she doesn't want to leave 'ere," He mused, placing a kiss into her soft black curls. Sada's tears stopped and she cooed pleasantly.
"Don't it…doesn't it bother ye? Why would Solara-his wife-extend ye such an offer? It's odd."
Nola shrugged as she continued chopping vegetable for supper; "She's had a hard lot recently," She pointed out, "A second miscarriage and an unhappy marriage…maybe she's fearful she'll be sent back to the Iron Hills and is trying to appease…an unappeasable king?"
Bofur groaned and playfully nipped as baby Sada's hand as it made to grasp his moustache once more.
"I can't stop ye," He admitted, "I know Sada needs her Da'…always did. Maybe I'm just…I dunno…paranoid; what, with all that happened with Sol, and I've been around Sada since day one."
At this the baby cooed and giggled as she began chewing on a fist; Nola and Bofur smiled at the sight of her and a moment of peaceful silence broke the tension.
"She'll need her Uncle," Nola pointed out as she scraped the chopped vegetation into an already pot of water, "and Nori even. Thorin would allow the two of you to visit and vice-versa. Besides…Ye might very well be in need of some relaxation given everything that happened three weeks ago!
Not only that, brother, but ye deserve a break from so much responsibility. If I go, with Sada, it'd just leave ye to care fer Bifur and the shop."
"Oh, take Bul with ye!" Bofur laughed, flinching as Sada succeeded in grasping one part of his moustache and tugging on it roughly, "I'll sleep fer days!"
~~~~~~~~~~******~~~~~WARNING: IMPLIED CHILD ABUSE~~~~~~******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What are ye playin' at, my sweet lil fool? Eh? I just found out that Nola will be taking up occupancy here. Now why would you, the King's wife, actually offer to board the King's mistress and illegitimate daughter?"
Solara backed against the cool stone of the dungeons; a smile playing upon her full lips as the point of Bul's blade poked at the flesh of her neck and sent a wild, pulsing urge straight down and between her legs.
"Dis has been prodding," Solara confessed girlishly, "Thorin is so depressed from my most recent miscarriage that it causes me to despair…each time he goes to see her and deny me my marital duties."
Bul sniffed, pressed his blade delicately deeper, and waited.
"Mmmm! W-well if-when-Nola arrives with her brat it will be a distraction for all. Dis will be as over bearing toward Sada just like she is her own sons, Thorin's mood will lighten and pretend to give a damn and visit my bed, and then there's you."
Bul's head leaned and he couldn't help but scoff; "What?" He inquired, "What about me my pet?"
Solara giggled as Bul reached out and jerked her against him by the front of her loose night gown with his free hand while he held the blade in his other hand at Solara's boney back.
"I begin to think," Solara explained, "that my blood and Thorin's don't mix…I've come too far to fail…so I was thinking about getting some help from you."
Bul's eyes glimmered excitedly; "Ye want me to…Ye want me to help ye?" He asked with a thin smile, "Ye want me to try to father your child?"
Solara giggled and flicked her tongue against the Feyd captain's lips; "Who better?" She teased, "You're my match. Not some stuffy, boring king!"
Bul kissed Solara violently. So much so, in fact, that after a moment he tasted her blood and broke the embrace slowly.
"Risky," He confessed, ignoring Solara's exaggerated pout. "Sol, that damn fool, I must be careful."
"I can take care of that imp!" Solara gasped, sucking on her bleeding lip, "I've got friends just like you do! All you need do is ask…provided you agree."
"Ye said Dis was prodding," Bul pointed out as he pulled away from Solara, "that means she's watching, aye?"
"I'll speak to Thorin," She countered, "if anything he'll order her to stop so he won't have to hear my complaints."
"When Nola gets here, surely ye know, He'll spend much time with her…how are ye gonna get him into yer bed? How are ye…going to dispel any questions that might arise?"
Solara some shackled that hung from the ceiling with a playful smile upon her youthful features.
"You work with poisons," She replied softly, "Surely you know what an aphrodisiac is? I need only to slip some into his wine, let you know beforehand…and then meet you after."
"Before," Bul said shaking his head with a sneer, "I won't even partake of a kings leavin's!"
Solara giggled, her eyes still upon the shackles that dangled from the ceiling, and she asked: "You agree then?"
Bul smirked and approached his Solara slowly, watching her toy with the chains above them, he sighed and nodded slowly.
"Ever been in 'em?" He asked watching Solara playfully swing from the chains like a child, "They're quite extraordinary."
"I've a gift for you," Solara sighed pleasantly, slapping Bul's hand away as it made to undo the lace of her night gown, "Something I know you'll love!"
"Where?" He asked with a bemused expression, "Why? I thought I'd be the one givin' gifts this night."
Solara went over to the cell door and opened it slowly; "Come in," She ordered coldly, "Don't keep him waiting. Don't be such a whelp! Move it!" She spat.
When the 'gift' entered, a longing surged through the feyd captain and his eyes seemed to glow with a disturbing light.
"How old?" He asked, kneeling upon one knee and urging the child forward, "Where did ye get her?"
"Where do you think?" Solara said as she began to undo her long braid, "No family, an orphan, I purchased her on the pretense that she'd be well cared for. Oh, and she's not quite sure how old she is but I'd guess around…oh…maybe eight."
"Yer a pretty one," Bul said, extending his hand, "C'mere. I won't hurt ye, child. What's yer name?"
The little dwarf girl took the larger hand tentatively and allowed Bul to pull her close; looking her up and down he sniffed and gave an approving nod before asking the child for her name once more.
Looking over her small shoulder, seeing Solara wave her hand impatiently, the girl looked back at Bul, swayed heavily, and whispered: "Gem."
Bul cleared away the child's dark hair from her large and glazed eyes and chuckled as he took her into his arms and rose to his full height.
"Yer a desperate one aren't ye?" He teased, "Ye should go back to yer chambers. Whatcha drug this girl with? She's completely out of it…pulse is very low too!"
Solara shook her head as her bloody hair fell to her waist in thick curls; "I'd rather watch," She explained, "and I gave her a big dose of vassa grain. I know you said you like them aware but considering where we are and what you want to do...I had to take precautions. Do you think she'd make much noise if we…"
Solara pointed her finger upward and smiled sheepishly.
"Nah," Bul answered as he stroked the child's hair gently, "She's half-way dead any how."