After weeks of travel, it was a comfort beyond measure to sleep in a real bed again. Éiwyn woke with a sense of peace and refreshment she had not known since before her father died. The warm welcome by the people of Thornost, and Dís especially, worked to clear away the worry Éiwyn still carried about her removal to the Ered Luin.

In the great hall she nearly cried for joy to find a breakfast of scones with fresh cream and jam. It seemed to her the finest meal she had eaten in her life. She was glad not many were at table to witness her devour her scones in fewer bites than was entirely ladylike. She had just eaten the last crumbs off her plate when Dís joined her.

"Good morning," Dís said as she sat down across from Éiwyn. "I hope you slept well."

"Very well, I thank you."

"Good. If you're up for it, I thought I might show you the city."

Éiwyn enthusiastically nodded her agreement.

They spent all that first day roaming Thornost and making Éiwyn acquainted with her new home. She quickly learned to find her way around Thorin's halls, as the layout was fairly simple. The city, however, would take some getting used to before she would be able to seek out any particular building with confidence.

Within the walls of the city were hundreds of sturdy wooden houses and dozens of shops and markets. Éiwyn saw signs for a tailor, a leather-works, a seamstress, a toy maker, and seemingly innumerable smithies. Thornost contained a mine entrance carved into the mountainside, from which they produced vast amounts of iron. They were well known for their ironworks, and weapons from Thornost were sought out all through Beleriand and the Arthedain.

"We're not nearly so grand as Annúminas," Dís said as they strolled about town, "but we get on well enough. There is little you may desire that you cannot find within our walls. Anything lacking we can get from outside trade, although that may take half a year or more."

"I'm sure there is nothing I need," Éiwyn said, more out of politeness than outright truth.

Dís gave Éiwyn a frank look. "You can't have brought all your necessities in a horse's pack."

Dís had the same steel-blue eyes as Thorin, but where Éiwyn thought his were often icy, hers shone with warmth. Yet she wore a sternness about her features just as Thorin did, and possessed the same regal carriage. Éiwyn wondered that she, herself, did not seem to have those noble graces, despite having been a royal of Annúminas nearly her entire life.

Although she was gracious and open, Dís asked Éiwyn nothing of her betrothal to Thorin, nor was the binding ceremony mentioned. Éiwyn guessed there was much Dís might ask of her, but was too polite to do so. Perhaps Thorin had spoken with Dís privately and explained everything. Then again, Thorin hardly seemed like a man who explained everything to anyone.

After ranging all over the city until Éiwyn's mind was awhirl with buildings and lanes, Dís showed her to the stables. "I believe you have a friend here," Dís said jovially.

"Alfrid!" Éiwyn rushed to her horse's stall. She rubbed Alfrid's soft muzzle and stroked his shaggy black mane as though it had been weeks since she'd last seen him rather than only hours.

"I can't help but take that as a bit of an insult." Éiwyn looked up to see Kíli walking towards Alfrid's stall.

"I'm afraid I didn't notice you there," Éiwyn said as she continued to stroke her horse's neck.

Kíli shook his head dismissively. "Nah. Don't pay any mind to the man whose deadly aim with a bow likely saved your life countless times on our journey. That's no bother."

"You saved her life countless times, did you?" Dís asked as only a skeptical mother who has heard more than a few tall tales can.

"As far as we know, yeah." Kíli grinned at them impishly.

"May I ask what you're doing in the stables, or will you just tell me more nonsense?" Dís's voice was stern but she looked at her son with obvious affection.

"I came for this, actually." Kíli leaned over the low wall of Alfrid's stall to take his bridle down from its peg. "Thorin asked me to repair it. One of the straps is worn, see?"

He held the bridle out for the women to inspect. There was in fact a worn section, although Éiwyn had not noticed it before.

Surprised Thorin had seen such a small thing, she said, "Oh-tell him thank you."

"Tell him thank you?" Kíli repeated. "I am the one going to repair it."

Éiwyn laughed. "Then I thank you as well."

"Get along, then, to your repairs." Dís waved him away and Kíli quickly nodded to each of them before fairly running out of the stables.

Dís watched Éiwyn nuzzling Alfrid and raised one quizzical eyebrow. "I don't suppose you want to ride him today?" The pained expression on Éiwyn's face caused Dís to chuckle, and soon they were both laughing at the idea.

"Good gracious, no," Éiwyn said, "I'd rather not sit in a saddle again for a few months, to tell you the truth."

Dís patted her on the back consolingly. "Come up to the kitchen, I have a salve for that." The women burst into laughter again as they made their way to the great hall.

The kitchens in Thorin's halls were not so large as those in Annúminas, but Éiwyn found them just as welcoming. While Dís searched through the apothecary's cupboard, Éiwyn roamed among the stoves, delighting in the aromas as she went. Two cooks were busy at work chopping vegetables for the evening's supper and Éiwyn offered them her assistance.

"Not today," Dís said, pulling her gently away before she could be taken up on the offer.

"I don't mind helping."

"And we won't mind accepting your help, I'm sure," Dís said. "But for your first few days here, at least, you must let me treat you as the honored guest that you are. I cannot have it be said I put my brother's bride to work on her first day in the city."

Anxiety rippled through Éiwyn's chest at the word 'bride', and she tried to soothe her nervous heart. You have nothing to fear.

Dís led Éiwyn down a long corridor of the great hall, watching her as they walked. "To tell the truth, I'm a little surprised the former princess of Annúminas would make herself at home in the kitchens."

"I made myself of use all through the great hall," Éiwyn said. "Well, how useful I made myself was sometimes up for debate. But I enjoyed keeping occupied." Éiwyn smiled sheepishly thinking how dismayed her father would have been over such a conversation.

"Well, at least Thorin had the good sense to choose a young woman willing to put herself to work. We've all of us had to work hard to get where we are, never mind where we came from. I'm not saying we'll put you to work in the mines," Dís said with a laugh, "but we're not a people prone to idleness."

"I understand." Éiwyn had not left Annúminas expecting to be spoiled and coddled in Thorin's halls. The squalor she had anticipated was pleasantly nonexistent, but even so, she hardly expected to sit idly and be waited on every day.

"I'll leave you here," Dís told her. Éiwyn realized they were standing before the door to her own chamber. "All of this talk of work aside, I want you to think of yourself as our guest, at least for a week while you settle in." She watched Éiwyn critically as though unsure her request would be obeyed. "You have had a long journey and deserve to rest, starting now. Take your ease a while before supper, I'm sure you need it after all you've been through."

Dís started to walk away before she turned back and handed Éiwyn the little jar of salve. "You may need this, too." Dís winked and strode away down the corridor.

Éiwyn laughed softly to herself, grateful for Dís's forthright nature amid the confusion of her new situation. As instructed, she attempted to lounge about her chamber. She passed some time gazing out the little window, watching people of Thornost going about their business below. Wishing she had thought to include a book or two in Alfrid's pack, Éiwyn lay across her bed and sighed.

Although she had tried not to dwell on thoughts of her future, the floodgates of worry opened in her idleness. What would life be like as Thorin's wife? She could imagine herself as Lady of Thornost easily enough, working among the industrious town folk as Dís did. It was not an unpleasant picture, for the people seemed friendly and eager to please, but when she tried to imagine standing at Thorin's side among them, the little dream faded.

He was not an ogre, she knew. But her opinion of him had varied so much over the years, she hardly knew what to think. That he was willing to wait for their binding until she was ready was a comfort, and yet she could not expect him to wait indefinitely. They would be bound eventually.

Sleep briefly overtook her and when she woke, she felt sure it was time to prepare herself for supper. She had just finished braiding her hair when there came two hard raps on her chamber door. Checking herself quickly in the little mirror on her wall, she smoothed the last stray wisps of hair with her hands.

Éiwyn opened her door to find Thorin standing in the corridor.

She gave a small bow in an attempt to conceal her start of surprise at finding him in her doorway. "Good evening, my lord."

Over the weeks of their journey, she had grown used to seeing Thorin in traveling clothes and light armor. Yet this evening he stood before her in a brilliant blue tunic open at the collar with a short vest elaborately embroidered in silver. She felt somehow smaller than usual wearing only a gray linen dress with no ornamentation. Nothing Alfrid had carried from Annúminas in his pack compared to the finery Thorin wore.

He nodded and gave her a smile that just barely altered his features. She thought perhaps it was his short beard which made it so difficult for her to discern the more subtle of his smiles, and found herself relying on his eyes to determine his mood. On rare occasions he smiled so wide his eyes crinkled at the corners, but those smiles were nearly impossible to mistake, unlike the one he now wore.

"Good evening, Éiwyn. I hope I am not disturbing you."

"No, not at all. I was only making myself ready for supper." Éiwyn unconsciously smoothed her hair again as she thought how plain she must seem compared to him.

"You always look lovely, Éiwyn."

She was both pleased and embarrassed by his praise. Thorin's compliments were rare, which made her all the more conscious of herself when he gave them. She willed herself not to blush but knew she had no power over it.

He ducked his head slightly as though to draw her gaze back to his own. "I have something for you. May I give you a gift?"

"A gift?" Éiwyn's brow furrowed. "Why?"

"Why? Hmm." Thorin's blue eyes lit up with amusement. "Must I have a good reason to present you a gift?"

She smiled awkwardly at his merriment over the oddity of her question. "Of course you may give me a gift, if you like." She had never been courted and was unused to such attentions, nor had she expected them from Thorin.

"I do, in fact, have a good reason to give you this gift," he said. He stood with his hands clasped, one inside the other, and he looked at her with an almost tentative happiness.

"In Erebor, it was my people's custom to give the bride a token of betrothal. The token was a necklace with a single jewel on it, to signify that she was the jewel of the man's heart. I would like to give you this." He opened his hand and there, cupped in his palm, was a delicate silver chain with a single gem upon it. The stone was of sky blue that shone and danced in the candlelight.

"It's wonderful." She moved closer as she gazed at the pretty stone sparkling in his palm.

"I am glad you think so." He held it up before her. "May I?"

She nodded and turned around that he might place the chain about her neck. As he clasped it, his fingers lightly brushed the nape of her neck, causing her to shiver. His hands stopped a moment but then quickly secured the necklace. She turned to face him again and Thorin admired the effect of the little gem.

"I have never seen such a stone before," she said as she reached up to feel the coolness of it with one fingertip. "Is it from the mountain?"

"Yes," Thorin said, "but not the one you are thinking of. It is from the Lonely Mountain, from a relic that belonged to my mother long ago. I chose a blue stone to signify the Ered Luin. My past and my future, all in one."

Thorin cast a gaze on her so full of meaning that Éiwyn felt her cheeks burn again.

"Thank you, my lord."

He gave her a pointed look. "Will you not call me Thorin?"

Although she had previously considered calling him by his name, it somehow seemed too intimate. The distance between them made the title appropriate, although she could never tell him so. Instead, she gave him a crooked smile and said, "I'll try."

"I can ask for no more." His eyes twinkled as he looked at her, that same small smile on his face suddenly seeming mischievous. Perhaps she had thought wrong when she determined Thorin to be nothing like his nephews after all.

"May I escort you into the hall for supper?"

She carefully took his offered arm and they walked the corridor together. They came to a tapestry she had not noticed before and she stopped, utterly taken with it. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. It depicted a large stone archway stitched in silver-white strands of thread. Trees grew about the sides of the arch and stars were set inside it. The archway shimmered in the candlelight and Éiwyn almost reached out to assure herself it was made of cloth and not starlight.

"What is this?"

"These are the Doors of Durin," Thorin answered. "They are the western gate to Khazad-dûm."

Apart from the battle of Azanulbizar, she knew little of the history of Khazad-dûm. All she knew was that it was an ancient stronghold in the Misty Mountains, once the home of Durin, Thorin's ancestor and king of legends. If the entrance were so incredible, she wondered what a sight the rest of the city must have been. It was little wonder he and his father had sought to reclaim it.

They continued through the corridor at a slow pace as she examined more tapestries, each more lovely and intricate than the last. "Did these tapestries come from Erebor?" she asked as they gazed on an elaborately threaded design of a great axe that stood taller than herself.

"No," Thorin said, his voice grave. "Those were left behind or destroyed. No, these were wrought here."

"I have never seen anything to rival these." The beauty of the tapestries in Thorin's halls put those she knew in Annúminas to shame.

"Then I will have to take you to the weaving rooms some day."

He led her into the great hall where Fíli and Kíli lounged at table. They sat up properly when Thorin and Éiwyn entered and nodded their greetings. When Dís greeted Éiwyn, her gaze fell on the necklace with the single stone. Dís smiled to see it and embraced her as a sister. Despite such a show of affection, Éiwyn grew self-conscious, as though her betrothal was now more official than it had been before. Somehow, wearing Thorin's gift made her feel conspicuous, yet she did not quite desire to remove it.

She reached up and lightly touched it, this little gem that represented her place in Thorin's heart. It pleased and distressed her by turns. When Thorin came to feel love for her, she could not guess. When she would come to feel love for him seemed an equal mystery.

After supper, Thorin escorted Éiwyn to her room as he had done the previous evening. Once again, he took her hand in his as he bid her goodnight. This time, she had the presence of mind to say "Goodnight" in return before he cast one last glance at her and strode away down the corridor.

Shutting herself into her chamber, she quickly changed into her nightdress and blew out the candle at her bedside. As the smoke from the wick spun upwards into the air, Éiwyn climbed into bed and snuggled down into the soft blankets. Before she fell asleep, she reached up and curled one finger around the smooth little stone about her neck.