Many Apples to Share
"Thank you Dwalin, appreciate it."
"Any time, man. He's always been like an uncle to me, it's the least I can do."
"You shouldn't have to be up all day, watching him, not when you're on night duty. I just really... he feels safe with you."
"Was a good day, too. He came outside for a bit to watch me split logs. Told me stories over tea again, I swear I've got the Erebor guard routes memorised now!"
They finished their pipes in silence, and then Thorin turned towards the door, heading inside as he bid his friend farewell.
"If there's ever anything I can do for you..."
"Actually... yes!" Dwalin replied and Thorin had not expected that. "I've got time before I need to report at the gate and I could use some company. Join me for a beer at the tavern?"
Thorin hesitated, clutching the door. "We could just... I'm sure we've still got some at home."
"Aye, but Baldur could use our custom."
"I should probably... Thráin..."
"Your father is in bed already, snoring up a thunderstorm. And Dís got home a while ago. He's having a good day, I'm sure she'll be fine."
They went back and forth on the matter several times, until Dís interjected telling her brother that she could very well manage on her own and if he didn't close the door and jog off this very moment, he'd be sleeping in the shed tonight. That much for supportive sibling relationships. Feeling somewhat betrayed, Thorin set out with Dwalin towards the centre of the town.
The night was bitterly cold, stars glimmering in the clear sky as their breaths billowed from their mouths in great clouds. At least the cold seemed to keep people inside; they met nobody on the road, the only sign of life the smoke rising from chimneys and the glimmer of light behind the windows where families sat together for their evening meal.
"Any luck today?" Dwalin asked.
Thorin just made a non-committal noise. It wasn't that the day had gone badly, in fact it had gone as well as could be expected, but he was done with being a leader for the day, all he wanted was to be an ordinary Dwarf, one who did not have to worry about treaties and trade quotas and court rulings and complaints.
"At least the food stores are looking nice and full," Dwalin tried again to start a conversation. Thorin guessed he owed him one.
"The harvest was good and we were able to buy in quite a bit," he confirmed. "We are still rationing everything, but it shouldn't be too bad this year."
Dwalin hummed contentedly. "Can't stand a meagre Yule, me, so that's good to hear."
When Thorin didn't reply, he continued. "Remember the satsumas in Dunland? Now there's a real treat! And always ripe right around Yuletide as well. Used to love those. Balin used it shamelessly against me, bribed me into all sorts of things!"
He laughed at the memory and Thorin smiled. Young Dwalin's fondness of satsumas had been legendary, he used to get into all sorts of trouble to obtain just one more and Thorin still recalled one particular incident in which he they had gotten stuck on top of a tree like some pansy Elves, and Thorin had barely been able to stop laughing long enough to run to get a ladder and help them back down, Dwalin and...
He viciously kicked a snowbank and watched it tumble in a cloud of white powder.
"And remember the Yule presents you used to make? Oh and Balin as well. That one year when he made the lantern with all those stars. Dís loved that one!"
Thorin pushed those memories as far away as he could.
"Don't think anybody still does Yule presents," he said. "Everyone is too preoccupied with putting food on the table and keeping the children warm, nobody spares a thought for paper lanterns. Just one more old tradition I have made them break with."
They had argued about this many times and the exasperated look Dwalin gave him spoke volumes of that. Still, if Thorin had been a better leader, people would still have enough leisure to be treating their children to something special, rather than just scrambling for survival in these gold- and gem-less mountains. But Dwalin did not argue tonight.
"How about we create some new traditions," he said instead.
How exactly they came up with the idea, neither one of them would be able to recall, but something developed from thinking about the satsumas and the memory of past Yuletides when there had been more to look forward to than merely two days without work. They all treasured their children, rare gems that they were, but somewhere along the way, the wonder of Yule had been lost amidst the toil and terror of their lives.
Dís heard them rummage around the storage cupboards, but when she asked what in Mahal's name they were up to now, Dwalin told her it was a secret and blew her a kiss. Thorin was smiling somewhat sheepishly as they made off with a large bag of apples and a smaller one of walnuts. Dwalin barely made it to the gate in time to start his night-time duty as a member of the town's guard.
The next morning, both of them were out and about early, seemingly in deep conversation, stopping here and there, lingering in front of houses as families got ready for their day. Most kept their heavy winter boots on low shelves underneath the overhanging roofs of their houses, trying to keep the inside dry and tidy as they all lived in such crowded conditions. As everybody slipped into their boots, there was a surprise waiting for the dwarflings.
Walnuts and apples were nothing compared to the wonders of Erebor at Yule, and Thorin knew he would not have been terribly excited about them as a small child, but he also knew just how much an apple could mean. There were shining eyes all around and not just among the children either; their parents were laughing as well.
"It's magic," Dwalin whispered as a small boy squealed right in front of them, pulling a bright red apple out of his boot.
The word stirred memories within Thorin's brain, and he clenched his teeth for a moment, but people were smiling around him, for once living in the moment instead of worrying about their future, and their positivity was contagious.