Updates might become a little scarcer. School's started, and I'm in my school play, so I'm busier than I was last summer.
A Merrier Place
Part Three: King Under the Mountain
Chapter Nine: A Matter of Mind
It had been several months since Balin had led his party out of Erebor and toward Ered Luin. In that time, Thorin and Dáin had almost completed their renovations of Erebor. Once reinforcements from the Iron Hills, and even some help from the other clans, the repairs sped up. Thorin was pleased with what was now his home, and excited to show off Erebor to his kin in the Blue Mountains, when they arrived.
Mostly, though, he was excited for his coronation. Thorin had spent a long time trying to regain the Lonely Mountain and his inheritance as Durin's heir. Now it was time for his hard work to come to be rewarded.
No one doubted his right to rule, not even himself. There was one thing that bothered him, though: what had become of the Arkenstone?
Thorin could not deny he still greatly desired to possess it. He would have inquired of it to King Bard, with whom he had last seen it, but he was hesitant to do so. He did not want the sight of the stone to trigger a relapse into the dragonsickness which had nearly caused his doom.
He thought to ask his counselors of the matter. Balin was still gone on the long journey to bring back their people, and Fíli and Kíli with him, but he still had Dwalin, perhaps his closest friend among the company, Dáin, his faithful cousin, the halfling Bilbo, who had proved himself over and over again, and the ever-elusive Gandalf, who wandered off but reappeared every once and a while.
The next time he saw Gandalf among the crowd of working dwarves, he bullied the wizard into joining him in his council room for a meeting. A bored-looking off-duty dwarf was quickly sent to gather up Dáin, Bilbo, and Dwalin. Thorin wanted to have this meeting now, while Gandalf was still in the area.
"What is this about?" Gandalf demanded, taking his hat off and bending over to pass through the dwarf-sized door.
Thorin sat down at the head of the council table. "There is something I must discuss with my counselors."
"I did not know I was included in that number," Gandalf said, smiling a bit slyly.
Thorin grunted. "Given the nature of the subject, I wanted your advice. Pray I don't change my mind."
The Gray Wizard raised an eyebrow in a disapproving fashion, but Thorin ignored him as Bilbo, Dwalin, and Dáin walked in and took seats close to Thorin. He nodded to Bilbo, sitting on his right, with a smile, and then to his cousin and old friend.
"Hello, Thorin," Bilbo piped up, a genial smile on his babyish face.
"What are we here for, cousin?" Dáin asked. Dwalin nodded, looking him in the eyes.
Thorin glanced at Gandalf, then said in his rumbling voice, "My coronation is approaching. I thought it might be a good to plan for it being as soon as Balin returns with our kin."
"Give them a day to rest, or so," Bilbo advised.
"Yes," Dwalin agreed. "But then would be a good time."
"Who will crown you?" Dáin asked.
Thorin looked at Gandalf. "I was hoping our friend Gandalf would."
The wizard, after a moment's thought, nodded in agreement. "Yes. Good. I will do it."
"Which crown will you use? Your grandfather's?" Dwalin asked.
Thorin shook his head. "No, not that one." There were too many memories of the dragonsickness attached to that crown. "I was hoping for a new one to be made."
"You'd have to order its production soon," Dáin said. "Balin will come back any day now."
"Yes," Thorin agreed. After a moment's hesitation, "I was thinking, perhaps, if we could get it back from Bard...we fulfilled our end of the bargain, after all...the Arkenstone could serve as a crown jewel."
"No!" Bilbo protested immediately. Thorin, taken aback by such a vehement response, blinked at the burglar in shock. A bit of the old resentment began to bubble up inside him. Did this runt know to whom he spoke? What authority did this traitorous outsider have against him?
Bilbo continued, speaking quickly and nervously as though he could hear Thorin's thoughts. "It's just—I think it might make you go back to the way you were. Under the...dragonsickness. It might make it worse."
Suddenly disgusted and alarmed by his previous thoughts, Thorin blinked firmly. Bilbo was right. It was lust for the Arkenstone which had made him spiral into his illness, and the same remnants of the disease which lurked in the back of his mind which made him wary to trust and so quick to anger.
"It is the heirloom of our people!" Dáin protested. "How this man came by the Arkenstone in the first place—"
As Bilbo squirmed uncomfortably, Dwalin broke in, "What's done is done. We must decide what to do next. I think Bilbo might be right. You were not here when Thorin was under the dragonsickness, Lord Dáin...it was not good."
"I think the wisest course of action would be to rid yourself of the thing altogether," Gandalf put in. "It has certain powers to ensnare the mind...and if one must put themselves in close proximity to such a thing, it ought to be sparingly used. If you do take it back, put it in some deep treasury under lock and key, not in your crown."
"The dwarves coming back will want to see it," Dáin said. "To know that you are truly the king."
Thorin frowned. He had been silent thus far while the others discussed. It was time for him to make a decision. He sorely wanted the stone, and he could not seem weak to his people, but Gandalf was right—it was a dangerous thing. Frowning, he made up his mind.
"We will take the stone back from Bard," he said slowly. "We will put it in the treasury. On my coronation day, I will hold the jewel up to the crowd and show my people. Then, after they are satisfied...it will go back to the treasury for good."
Gandalf nodded his approval. "A good plan." Bilbo agreed, seeming relieved.
"Very wise, your Majesty," Dwalin murmured. Then he gave Thorin a half-hearted grin.
Dáin sniffed. "This is your kingdom, Thorin. You make the decisions, even if perhaps they are not the best."
Thorin chuckled and elbowed his cousin playfully. "Perhaps you can afford to lose your mind, but I'd rather keep mine intact."
Dáin grinned. "Well said." Then his belly rumbled loudly. The dwarves in the room all laughed.
"I guess it's suppertime, then," Dwalin said.
"Let us adjourn," Thorin agreed.
