Khuzdul - dwarrow language

Iglishmek – dwarrow sign language

Ghivashel – treasure of all treasures

Mizim- jewel

Kurdu- heart aka my heart

Chapter 21

"Now give me a hip toss!" Dwalin was standing in front of her, one hand on her shoulder the other on her elbow, and her stance mirrored his. He shifted his weight forward allowing her to pivot and bring her back to his chest and her arm wrapped round his. Squatting down, putting her weight on the balls of her feet she pulled Dwalin farther forward bringing him over her and with a quick motion she popped her hips into his thighs and brought him tumbling over.

"Oomph" he landed on his back, his chin carefully tucked towards his chest. "That was good!" he crowed from the ground. "Let's try it at full speed!"

Billa had begun her hand to hand training four weeks prior, the first day her wrists were healed Dwalin had woken her up and dragged her to the training grounds and every morning since she was expected to join him. She would never be able to best an opponent in regular hand to hand combat so Dwalin and Nori had conspired to teach her a martial art from Harad a southern country, it used balance manipulation to overpower an opponent using their own balance, and it was perfect for a hobbit like Billa.

"Another!" Dwalin kept running her though her drills, hip tosses and leg sweeps chokes and joint lock each move designed to give her the advantage over a larger opponent. Practice every day had not made Billa an expert, she wouldn't even term herself proficient but each day she got a little stronger, a little faster and sometimes when they mock-sparred she would feel that perfect shifting of balance and would land a throw.

"Give me ten more sets of each and you can wash up!" Billa grabbed onto Dwalin again and threw his unresisting body again and again. What a beautiful way to start the day!

Thorin enjoyed sneaking down to watch Billa train in the mornings. Seeing her hair braided back and her face flush with sweat and exercise always stirred his blood. They had gotten closer over the last month and a half, spending time together in the evenings on her lessons or in each other's arms. For all that Billa had been through she never shied from his touch, her lips always opened like a flower to the sun under his attention. She flinched less often now only starting at dark shadows in the night when she was between sleep and wakefulness. And how might Thorin know such a thing? How would he know what her copper hair looked like splayed over a pillow and how her body curled into his in her sleep?

Dwarves were not prudish in their thoughts of love and though Billa had never lain with him in a wedded manner they spent many nights together chasing away nightmares and sharing slow languid kisses. Thorin was kept from taking her while she lay pliant and warm next to him by only his iron self-control and will power. Only Billa had the power to move them beyond kisses and long embraces. Thorin knew Billa to be an excellent student and he longed to teach her the ways of bed sport as he was Khuzdul and iglishmek. He would teach her every spot on his body that would make him a puddle of yielding flesh and help her discover those places of her own. Thorin often wondered if her tongue would be as talented in the bedroom as it was in his throne room.

"I thought I would find you here." Balin walked to where Thorin hid in the shadows of the training arena, "We need to get going if we're to get anything of import done today." And though he wished to stay Thorin reluctantly turned from the sight of his intended glowing with sweat and pride and wandered back into the mountain, they were expecting Ravens today.

"Is it here? Is it here?" Billa couldn't keep herself from scrambling into the Council hall where the Ravens had assembled, these were the responses to the first round of missives they had sent to far flung Kingdoms in an effort to begin treaty negations immediately after the battle. They had sent birds to Rohan and Rhun, Lorien and Rivendell and farthest of all a small flock had flown to the Shire.

"Yes, yes it's here!" Kili waved a set of thick envelopes in her face her Grandfathers blocky writing on the front. She grabbed them from his hand before he could pull them from her reach and ripped opened the one labeled as the first in the sequence.

Dearest Granddaughter,

It warms my heart to know you have survived your journey and have settled into the Mountain Erebor. I hope your dwarrows are treating you well. Your tale seems almost too Tookish to be true, to think that my little Billa has cast off her Baggins' sensibility so thoroughly as to outwit trolls and dragons. Your Mother would be proud, your Father would try to hide it but we both know he would be pleased as well.

Bag End has been secured under my care until you can return to it and Hamfast has been charged with keeping your garden kept and Lobelia away from your silver, so no worries there. You missed much during your adventure. You have a new Uncle! Yes that's right your Grandmother and I are proud to welcome Isengar into the family, he takes after you and Grandmother in looks, copper fuzz sticking about at all angles. We hope you can come home soon to meet him.

But enough pleasantries, my dear, let us get down to business. We do have extra seed stock, as you well know and would be willing to trade it if the price is right. We shall speak with the Lady Dis to see what payment they can offer for our surplus, but your suggestion of iron work is a good one indeed. We shall send all that we can spare with the first caravan from the Blue Mountains. I hope they reach you in time for planting.

The rest of the envelopes are from the Gamgee's, I'm almost certain he wrote an entire book on the subject of farming just for you and your dwarves. We love you and miss you my dear! May the Green Lady continue to guard you.

With love,

Grandpapa Took

Billa eagerly tore into the rest of the envelopes from Hamfast and inside was a greater treasure than all the mithril in Khazad-dum.

"Oh, my" she started skimming through the pages. "He really did write down everything!" There was a chapter on cultivating cuttings into trees, seed storage and composting. There was more written here than Billa had ever known about tending the land and growing food for a large population. Billa almost swooned.

"Careful there," Thorin snuck up behind her reading the letter over her shoulder "is it really so much that you would faint over it?"

"You don't understand! Hamfast Gamgee has forgotten more about gardening than I could learn in a lifetime! This is how his family has made a living for generations and he wrote it all down. Just like that! If anyone in the Shire found this they could run them out of business." Though he didn't understand it at first Thorin could appreciate the idea of a Master crafter keeping secrets of their trade.

"I shall have to write Master Gamgee a letter of gratitude as it is likely that you and he will be responsible for feeding three different cities come harvest time." He leaned into her, inhaling the clean scent of her hair and skin. "We are very grateful that you would work so hard for us ghivashel." and kissed her chastely on the lips. "I will have lunch sent to your workroom. Go now before you are overwhelmed by the excitement."

So Billa took off with her letters to her workroom. The large stone room had been a courting gift from Thorin it had a narrow floor but was sided by rising level of stone ledges. Each ledge held wooden troughs with soil or glass jars with water. This was Billa's cultivation room. Here she worked to grow and nurture cuttings of fruit trees and start bulbs sprouting to be transplanted into the fields later. After she nurtured them far enough they were transferred into a larger store room to be tended by some of the men and women of Laketown.

"Billa" a voice came from the other side of her door "are you here?' Of course Bard couldn't just walk into her work room. No one was allowed in without Billa's permission, a fact that was enforced by one of the guards that went with Billa everywhere, a condition Thorin insisted on after she accepted his proposal. At least she didn't have to have Dwalin following her everywhere all day like Thorin did. Instead she had Ginta in the morning and Ranka in the evening. They were a good sort, recruited from the Iron Hills guards that had originally come from Erebor and were planning to stay behind when Dain left for home. It had taken many weeks for her to be alone with them without jumping when they moved but sharing tea with them had helped her know their hearts and minds. Each had an Amtekinh in their family, Ranka's mother had survived an attack during the wandering and Ginta's sister had been forced upon while working in a town of men. Their steady presence and attitudes had been a balm to her frazzled nerves when she walked past dark alcoves and through lonely corridors. She was grateful to Thorin for finding them.

"Yes Bard!" she called from her table "Come in, come in. I have excellent news." She continued talking over the man's pleasantries "I got the notes from the Gamgee's! We can finally draw out the final field plots!" Bard, who was thoroughly overwhelmed by Billa's nonstop excitement, had stopped just inside her doorway watching her flip through the parchments and dart up and down the ledges that held her plants. "That means we can start planting by next week! We can feed the mountain! We can feed Laketown! The pastures will even be ready by the time we get stock from Rohan! Bard this is everything we've been working for!" She lunged from her spot on a ledge and onto Bard, squeezing him around the neck.

"Gah!" he choked from the sudden weight "Billa," he rasped "we need to actually put things in the ground first."

"You're right!" she dropped to the floor, grabbing his hand instead "We need to organize the work crews, we need to clear the ground, put in the irrigation ditches and till soil!" she pulled him from the room, Ginta falling into step behind them. Bard spared a moment to wish he had been assigned to a different work crew; this was going to be a long and dirty spring.

"Oh Thorin we'll be able to start the planting in the next two weeks as long as the weather holds!" Billa continued to gush over their shared dinner, the one time every week they were guaranteed to be alone together that didn't involve sneaking into an alcove in a hallway. A tactic that wasn't very effective since their combined guard force would then be loitering in the same hallway and even the densest of dwarves were able to deduce that the King and his Intended were also somewhere in the hallway. Dwarves may be very public in their affections sharing long kisses at the dinner table (Billa is certain she saw one dwarf giving another a "helping hand" at Thorin's coronation feast) but Billa was not and possibly never would be comfortable sharing such intimacies with the public.

"That is wonderful, mizim" seeing Billa's face turning ruddy from drink and her excitement stirred a heat in Thorin's gut, she was beautiful in her joy and so strong, images of her on the sparring grounds ran across his mind; Billa throwing around a dwarf three times her size, her face flushed and sweaty. None of that now, he shook his head hoping to dispel his thoughts. "But perhaps you would like to start our lesson?" Their plates had long been cleared and their cups emptied and still they had not moved to the sofa from the table.

Thorin stood and went to stoke the fire, the flames casting shadows across the room..

Maybe it was the warmth of the room or the feeling of pride that lingered from this morning but Billa felt giddy in a way she hadn't in weeks. She had flutters in her tummy and watching Thorin's eyes grow hooded and dark across the table just made her feel warm and flush, when he settled on the sofa leaving his strong thighs parted and ready for her to perch on was just too much. She had no hunger for iglishmek; tonight they would have lessons of a different sort.

She rose from her chair and moving to stand in front of the fire Billa turned towards her King, "You are an excellent teacher Thorin." She threw a small sway into her hips as she stalked towards him, the way his eyes glued to her form emboldened her. "You are patient and kind," She stood at his knees. "Handsome and strong" she leaned into kiss him, drawing his lip between hers and nibbling on it, "and you are all mine."

Without a moment's hesitation she crawled into his lap until they were flush from chest to hips. They had never kissed like this preferring to sit side by side or stand with their arms wrapped around one another but Billa was ready for more, she yearned for the fiery passion Thorin had shown her before the attack. It had taken them weeks for him to kiss more than her forehead, she did not fear his touch but the King feared his own strength.

"I would reward such a talented teacher." Her eyes darted from his eyes to his lips and with the same bravery that helped her face Azog, succumbed to her passion. His lips were so warm and firm and Billa quickly lost control of herself and the kiss. Thorin sat up straighter using a hand at her neck to tilt her face into his. His other went around her hips pulling her into his bulk. His tongue twined with hers, a hot weight that made her moan. The way he nipped her lips and alternated deep questing kisses with lingering pecks drove her to distraction.

"You undo me ghivashel" he growled into her mouth "I would see you fall with me."

-Adult Content! – See my AO3 for unedited version -

"I did not intend to carry things so far." He whispered to her, the fire had burnt down hours ago but still they did not stir to go their separate ways or to bed together

"Nor did I." she felt him tense beside her "But it was perfect." She gave him a slow kiss.

Billa was not afraid of her desire nor intimacy with Thorin, how could she be when his arms were home and his scent meant safety? No, Thorin had no reason to worry about Billa regretting their time together. Though perhaps he should worry about what she would like to learn next. She knew there were many pleasures they could share, she only hoped Thorin would be willing to teach her each and every one.