After her talk with the King she silently entered Thorin's room in an attempt not to wake him up. As she slipped under the blanket as well she immediately felt his arm around her, pulling her closer towards him and his nose nuzzled into the crook of her neck.

She smiled as he mumbled sleepily, "I missed you."

"I haven't been away that long," she giggled and tapped the tip of his nose.

"Every minute you're away feels like an entire lifetime," he mumbled but she could hear that he was more asleep than awake already and shifted even closer to him, placed a soft kiss on his lips and whispered,

"I feel the same. And now sleep well, my love."

Though she felt more than comfortable in Thorin's strong arms, her sleep was restless and filled with strange dreams.

Dark and stony was the ground beneath her. Each step of her whirled little clouds of dust into the thick, hot air. The shapes around her formed into men and women, most of them human. She could also see some dwarves and elves. Their clothes ragged, hair messy and dirty, tears ran down from some of their faces.

A sharp pain exploded on her back as the whip of an orc blew down on her, tore her ragged tunic apart and left red, bloody streaks on her back. They approached what seemed a huge factory; trees were hacked down and thrown into the hot flames below which seemed to come from out of the earth. She cast another glance around, could see massive mountain ranges securing the valley from three sides. In the distance she could see the shape of a high mountain, a single, solitary peak which rose shadowy at the horizon. Black smoke swirled out of it and covered the landscape into an evil shade of grey and black.

Her eyes burned from all that smoke. The air was dry and made breathing more than difficult. She stumbled and cried out,

"I can't go on anymore! Please!"

Another blow of the whip hit her back and the evil voice of the orc snarled,

"Amal shofar, at rrug!" (Where there's a whip, there's a way!)

Lailah could feel hot tears streaming down her face as she stumbled once more. The orc grabbed her hair and pushed her face into the dirty ground before he laughed and moved on; let her lie where she was. She did not move, did not want to catch the attention of any other orc.

As she was certain that she was alone she lifted her head up again, her gaze drifted into the distance again, fixed on that high mountain.

Another dark voice suddenly called for her in the common tongue and her head started to ache massively as the voice growled louder now,

"I can see you!"

With a loud scream she snapped out of her dream, her breath came heavily and sweat covered her forehead. Thorin woke up with a start and watched her concerned.

"Lailah, what's wrong?"

"There—there was that voice. Dead, so many dead—the flames, that flaming circle!"

He frowned and pulled her into his arms, stroked gently over her head and tried to sooth her. "It was just a dream, Lailah. Everything's fine. Calm down, I will protect you."

She still sobbed silently against his shoulder. "Orcs, there had been orcs. They tortured me—"

He could feel his body tense a little. "No orc will ever lay hand on you!"

"Please, Thorin—hold me and never let me go."

The Prince placed a kiss on her forehead and pulled her down back into his arms again, started to hum a slow and soothing melody and with a smile he felt that she soon drifted back into a dreamless sleep again.

"Is everything alright?" Frerin asked while he and Lailah just passed the gate of Dale. She had been strangely silent the whole way and Frerin was much concerned about that.

"I just had a bad dream last night," she replied vaguely and changed the topic immediately, "So what present do you have for your sister?"

"She will get her very first instrument today," he said proudly and led her along the main street towards the shop of a harp maker.

"A harp? That's an interesting choice for an instrument. How come you chose this?" she asked curiously as they entered the shop. The shop keeper bowed in respect and went into the back of his shop to get the harp he had created for Dís.

"Why I chose the harp? Well, the harp is kind of a family tradition. We all know how to play a harp," he replied with a smile and examined the golden harp with the dwarfish rune for 'D' carved into it.

"Wait, what? You all know how to play a harp? Even Thorin?" Lailah asked surprised and tried to imagine him playing that quite delicate instrument.

"Surprised? Maybe you should ask him to play something for you," Frerin chuckled and thanked the shop keeper for his excellent work and took the small harp which was now neatly packed in a red box with a white ribbon.

She laughed softly and left the shop with him. "He hadn't told me about it, yet, but I suppose he is a wonderful musician. He is such a gentle soul, so romantic, so—"her voice trailed off and she blushed as she saw Frerin grin at her.

"You love my brother very much. That makes me happy," he said as they walked through the streets and crossed the marketplace where Lailah spotted the shop of a toymaker.

"Yes, I love him very much. And I can't wait to show him my home as well," she smiled and approached the toy-shop.

"I thought you already have a present for my sister," he asked curiously as they entered the shop.

"I have but it's a dress and she will grow out of it one day. Maybe I should give her something that lasts a little longer. Something that will remind her of me, you know?"

She took a teddy from the shelf and smiled. "Those look very nice and yet they look all so—ordinary. Do you know what I mean?" she turned to look at Frerin who watched her curiously.

"Uhm—you mean because they all look the same?"

"Aye and your sister is not an ordinary girl that looks like everyone else. I will buy some cloth and wool and create a unique teddy for her. I'm certain I'll be able to create it in time if you are ready to leave?"

"I have everything I need," Frerin chuckled and they left the shop again and after Lailah had bought the material they made their way back towards the mountain and arrived around noon.

The dining hall was already decorated for the feast and the cooks were busy to create the most delicious meal. Once they arrived at Lailah's room she turned to smile at the young Prince and placed a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you for that wonderful morning, Frerin," she said and he blushed a bit.

"No, I thank you for accompanying me. Now I have to get myself ready for the feast later. Good luck with the teddy and see you later!"

She entered her room and started to work on the teddy which took around two hours until it was finished.

Lailah was certain that Dís would be very happy about the two presents.

Later in the afternoon Lailah decided it would be time to go and give Dís her first present, so she could wear her new dress later at the feast.

Lailah took the box and left her room to go and find the girl. She finally found her in Thorin's room where she unpacked a box with lots of candy and a necklace with a blue gem in the shape of a heart, framed by tiny diamonds.

"Look, Lailah! My brother made this!" she squealed and showed her the necklace. Lailah took it carefully and examined it. It was a stunning piece of jewelry and her gaze drifted to Thorin who smiled at her.

"You made this? Thorin, that is so beautiful," Lailah said and handed the necklace back to Dís who already tried to reach for the box with the dress. Thorin chuckled and stepped closer to Lailah.

"I thought it would be a wonderful idea to create her own personal heart of the mountain," he whispered and placed a kiss on her lips. She smiled against his lips and caressed his cheek until Dís squealed loudly.

"My dress! Thorin, look! That is my dress!" she jumped happily up and down and finally threw herself into Lailah's arms. "I love you, Lailah! You're the best!"she called and placed a kiss on her cheek.

Lailah laughed and ruffled the girl's hair. "So, would you like to wear it for the feast?"

"Yes! Yes, yes! Let's try it on! Thorin, go!" the girl called and pushed her brother towards the door. He chuckled amused, managed to catch another kiss from Lailah before he left them alone.

The girl pulled her tunic and pants down and Lailah helped her to put the new dress on. It fit perfectly and Dís twisted a little in front of the mirror. Lailah chuckled as she was aware that the little dwarf princess was such a girly girl which was somehow so unlikely for a dwarf woman even as a child. That's something her father once told her. Now that she thought about her father she could feel a sadness washing over her but pushed these thoughts aside as Dís took her hand and signaled her to lower down on the edge of the bed. She did what she told her and watched the princess curiously.

"I made something for you as well!"

That surprised Lailah and watched how Dís started to rummage in her cupboard and finally pulled a little bag out of it. She approached Lailah and handed the small bag to her.

"What is it?" she asked but Dís signaled her to open it. Still very curious she opened the bag and revealed a leather bracelet with two pendants. "You made this?"

Dís nodded with a proud smile. "Put it on!"

Lailah put the bracelet on and examined the pendants. Though they were not very accurate but it was still visible what they meant to say. The first was a golden elf rune which had the meaning 'Family'.

The other one was a silver dwarf rune, and not just a simple one. It was the sign of Durin, the same sign of Thorin's ring.

"Dís, that—that is so beautiful!" she said and pulled the girl into her arms, placed a soft kiss on top of her raven-black hair.

The girl giggled quietly and said,

"You are my family as well now, Lailah."

A/N: I knoooooow I wanted to put the feast and the journey to the Iron Hills in here and make this chapter muuuch longer. I apologize for that and hope that I will be able to update until the weekend again

Hope you had fun anyway.