Thorin cursed loudly as he rushed through the corridors of the royal house in Minas Tirith. Every one of this blasted corridors looked the same and Thorin knew that his sense of direction was not his best feature. As Thorin passed the next corner, he ran into someone smaller than him. At first he thought that it was one of the hobbits, but it turned out to be Kayas sister, Moya.

The half elf looked at the dwarf king and bowed reluctantly. At least her mother had told her some manners, Thorin thought bitterly.

'Is the council finished already?' the princess asked and Thorin frowned down at her.

'No.' he told her firmly and tried to walk past her. But the princess held him back.

'She will not talk to you.' she remarked with an icy voice. Thorin had to remind himself that the little girl in front of him was a mere child, but he still disliked her.

'I do not think that this is any of your business.' he snarled and walked a few steps before Moya made him stop again.

'I do not understand how a king could even be interested in a mere courtlady.' Moya sneered. 'Kaya is below you.'

Thorins blood froze in his veins as he turned around to face Kayas sister. 'How dare you? Kaya is of royal blood. She is a princess. She is your older sister. You should show her the respect she deserves.'

'She deserves nothing but my goodwill.' Moya sneered. 'And she is no princess. Not anymore. No princess of the Northern Realm would serve any other royal.'

Thorin gave the little girl his best frown, but apparently the girls arrogance made her immune to his glares. 'Is there something that you want to tell me?' he asked, his voice dangerously quiet.

'It is your fault that she was stripped of her rank and title, you know?' Moya gave Thorin an evil grin. 'It was because of you that she was banished from her home and lives in exile.'

'What?' Thorin could not make any sense out of Moyas words.

'Was your master Balin the only one who could properly read your contracts?' Moya asked him tauntingly. 'My mother set up the contract together with him. My sister´s hand for an army. Too much of a prize if you ask me. But anyway, my mother made sure that Kaya would not break off another marriage plan of our mother´s. In the contract was an additional specification. If Kaya was to break free from the marriage promise to you, she would no longer be a part of the royal house of the Northern Realm. It was either the marriage to you or exile. She chose exile.'

Moyas grin grew wider as she saw hurt and remorse in Thorins eyes. 'She loved you. She really did. And still, it was not enough.'

Balin. Thorins heart stung in pain at the memory of his old friend and advisor. He had to admit that he had not read the contract entirely. He had wanted to marry Kaya and he had trusted Balin to tend to the contract. He had not known anything about this addition and Balin had never told him. His old friend must have thought their love to be strong enough, stronger than the madness running in his family and stronger than the greed for his gold. But he had been wrong. In this moment, Thorin hated himself more than anything else. He had done this to Kaya.

As Thorin was able to focus on the present again, Moya was gone. So was Kaya. The queen of Gondor and her courtladies had left Minas Tirith for Rivendell.

The army left Minas Tirith one day later. Lord Faramir would rule in the king´s absence, as his father had done before him. A raven had reached Thorin with the message that fourhundred heavily armed dwarves from Ered Luin were waiting for him at the border of the Shire. Bilbo, Merry and Pippin were silent, but determined and all of the hobbits eye´s gleamed in need to avenge the attack on their home. They all worried about their friends and family and seeing their pain urged on the men, elves and dwarves. It took the army three weeks to reach the borders of the Shire. As they arrived the soldiers were tired and weakened, but the most important task still lay before them. The recapture of the Shire.

The first encounter with the orcs was shortly after the arrival of the army from Gondor. They had not yet met with the dwarves from Ered Luin as the orcs attacked by nightfall. Thorin, Kili, Bofur and Dori and Gimli formed a protective ring around Bilbo and Merry and Pippin fought alongside of the soldiers of Gondor. A nasty looking orc and a few warg riders broke through the personal guard of King Elessar, killing half of them and surrounded the king. Thranduils elves were not there, yet and Thorin and his dwarves were busy saving their own lives. It was when the ugly orc leader charged Elessar when three riders came crashing out of the woods in a murderous speed. Three hooded riders charged the orcs surrounding the king of Gondor and the lead rider smashed the orcs skull with an elven blade. The two riders flanking the leader charged at the other orcs and wargs and managed to drive the filthy creatures back. Behind these riders, an elven army joined the fight and soon, the orcs were driven back. Thorin felt Kili go stiff at his side and as he turned he saw a red haired elf fight her way towards them. Swiftly as ever, Tauriel slashed her way through the orcs with her elven daggers and behind her, Legolas shot the retreating orcs with a deadly precision.

'Kaya!' Thorin froze as he heard someone scream for the former princess. It was then when he saw one of the horses rear up and its rider slide down its back, avoiding the blow of an axe. The rider landed on his feet, but his hood slipped down his head. It was indeed Kaya and it had been Eowyn who had screamed out to warn her. Kaya nodded at her friend to signal her that she was unharmed, but soon many orcs surrounded her, thinking that the female on foot would be an easy target. But Kaya was an experienced fighter. One orc after the other fell under her blade and her loyal battlehorse stayed at her side, stomping and crushing some orcs below his hooves.

Tauriel rushed to Kayas side and Thorin had to smirk despite the dangerous situation as he saw Kayas frown. For some reason Tauriel and Kaya had never got along well and Kaya probably did not want the she-elf to help her.

'I do not need your help, redhead!' Kaya snarled, but in this moment five orcs threw themselves at her and Kaya rolled her eyes. 'Alright...help!'

Tauriel grinned grimly and fought back the orcs together with the courtlady. It took only a few more moments until the orcs were driven away for good. Kaya firmly nodded her thanks to Tauriel and rushed back to Arwens side. The queen was unharmed, she only had a slight scratch on her cheek from crashing through the woods in order to get to her husband in time.

Thorin was about to turn to his dwarves as he saw an orc moving behind Kaya. The filth was injured and bleeding heavily, but it crawled towards the courtlady with a sword in his claws. The dwarf king did not think, he only grabbed Orcrist and rushed towards Kaya with a battle cry. Kaya turned around and saw Thorin move towards her with his sword held up high. She froze on the spot, too terrified to move as she remembered that she had been in a similar situation before. Back then, in Erebor. Kaya closed her eyes and awaited the blow, but she only felt the sword hit something or someone behind her. As she opened her eyes, Thorin stood in front of her, his swordarm reaching below her arm and the tip of the sword had killed the orc who had sneaked up on her from behind. Kaya began to shiver violently. The look she gave Thorin broke the kings heart. She was afraid of him and she had thought that he would kill her. She was shivering because of him. As Thorin reached out to touch Kaya, the courtlady recoiled. It was like a punch in his face, but Thorin knew that he deserved it. Kaya and Thorin stood on the battlefield, staring at each other, unable to move.

The atmosphere in the mountain was sultry after the dragon had crushed through the gate. Thorin and his company worried about Fili, Kili, Oin and Bofur, who had stayed behind in Laketown. Bilbo looked down from Erebors lookout and tried to see through the mist, at least he hoped that it was mist and no smoke from burning houses and bodies. Kaya noticed that Thorin was nowhere to be seen. As she asked Balin, the old dwarf only shook his head and pointed towards the treasury.

'Be careful, lass.' Balin murmured.

'The dragon is gone, master Balin.' Kaya frowned at Thorins advisor, but the old dwarf only smiled at her. He looked exhausted.

'It is not the dragon you should fear.' Balin answered and turned away to join the rest of the company.

Kaya thought about his words until she reached the halls of gold. She had never seen so much gold in her life and took a moment to stare at the huge golden hills and the gems inbetween the golden sea of coins.

'Its beautiful, isn´t it?' a quiet voice behind her made her jump. Thorin was sitting on the stairway, his gaze fixed on the gold. He did not look at Kaya.

'There are more beautiful things in life.' Kaya shrugged her shoulders. Reluctantly she sat down beside Thorin.

'Like what?' Thorin asked and Kaya looked at him in surprise.

'The world around us, Thorin.' Kaya tried to remember how her home looked like when she was a small child. 'The sunrise over the Misty Mountains, the magical trees in Lothlorien, the Shire...and there is more. The most beautiful thing for me is the sight of the people I love. Their smiles.'

Kaya suddenly realised that she had never seen Thorin smile. He had smiled during their journey, but it had been sad or bitter smiles, no smiles from the heart. The princess looked at her intended and frowned.

'It is impolite to stare at others.' Thorin smirked and turned his face towards her. He froze as he felt her fingertips move over his face. Kaya trailed her fingers over his forehead, down his nose and over his beard.

'I want to see you smile, Thorin.' Kaya told him quietly. 'Maybe one day, when all of this is over...'

Thorin lowered his gaze and relished in the touch of her fingers on his skin. He wanted to lean into her touch, but he could not find the peace to do so. Not here, in the treasury. Slowly, Thorin stood up and reached out for Kaya.

'Come, I want to show you something.' Thorin pulled Kaya up by her hand and did not let go of it until they reached the main wing. Kaya stared at Erebors mighty stairs and went pale as she looked into the deep. Not one of the stairs had a rail and they were quite narrow. Kaya felt dizzy only looking at them.

'Did anyone ever fall down these stairs?' she whispered and heard Thorin chuckle. 'The handrails are missing and its really...deep.'

'Does it scare you?' Thorin asked and moved closer to Kaya, who nodded. 'Then I will not let go of your hand until we have reached the royal wing.'

Kaya felt ridiculous walking down the narrow stairway. She was annoyed that something that simple could make her stomach wrench in fear. Her palms were sweaty and her breath was erratic as they reached the royal wing. She started to breathe normally again as they left the stairs and Kaya could not look into Erebors depth anymore. They stopped in front of a dark red door and Thorin pushed it open. Kaya followed him through the door and looked around in the big room. There was a huge fireplace and above the fireplace was a huge painting, showing five dwarves. As Kaya walked closer, she could recognise a young Thorin on the painting, standing beside an adult female dwarf, who held a dwarfling. The male dwarf at Thorins left looked like him, at least the eyes and the nose were the same. This was Thorins family, this was his room. Kaya let her gaze wander over the dark furniture. The bed caught her attention. She had not slept in a real bed for ages and she missed the warmth and softness of a bed. Thorin had seen her glance at the bed and smirked.

'Take the bed.' he whispered into her ear and wrapped his arms around her from behind. At first she stiffed, but then Kaya leaned back into his touch. She was cold, so much Thorin could tell. 'I will look for something to light the fire.'

'How do you not suffocate that far inside of the mountain?' Kaya was tired, but she also had so many questions.

Thorin smiled into her hair. 'There is enough fresh air coming through our mines. Every mine has a admission for air. Otherwise the forges would not be working. I will show them to you, when we have restored our home.'

'Our home.' Kaya did not know how to feel about it. This mountain was a strange world to her.

'Do you regret coming here with me?' Thorin asked her, but there was no allegation in his tone, only worry.

Kaya turned around in his arms and smiled at him. 'No.' was her only answer.