To make up for my long absence I'm giving you another chapter tonight :) Fare warning; it's a LONG one!
Love
D.
The next few days she saw more and more of Fili and Kili, the planning for the elven visitors was done and now they were all just waiting. On the fourth day, she slept in late, the night before she had had trouble falling asleep, thinking about her parents and what they were going to do on what was supposed to be her sixty fifth birthday.
She stretched like a cat before opening her eyes;
"AH!" Hovering only inches from her nose was the grinning face of Bofur;
"Morning lassie! Hurry up, ye are late!" He threw a skirt and a short sleeved tunic on the bed
"Wha..?"
"You'll see, hurry, hurry!" He urged her on. Thankfully she had slept in her short summer dress last night so she wasn't completely naked but seeing his reaction she could have been. "Oh Bofur, it is a dress after all."
"But it is tiny." He winced with his back towards her. She made sure he had his eyes closed and his back turned before she quickly pulled it off and replaced it with the clothes he had thrown on the bed;
"There, am I descent enough?" He turned back to face her and lit up again;
"Perfect!' he grabbed her hand; 'now come!" He pulled her out of her bedroom before she had time to put any shoes on and down a long flight of stairs only to emerge in the throne room.
"Surprise!" Everyone yelled.
"Happy name day Lady Deidre." Bofur greeted her as her eyes filled up with tears, they were all there; Fili and Kili, Dís, Thorin and Bilbo, the rest of their company and Gandalf.
"Happy birthday muinthel nín." She heard a voice behind her saying in Sindarin. She flew around and stared into the smiling face of Logon.
"Logon!" She yelped and threw herself around his neck, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. He held her tight for just a second before putting her back down and kissing her on the head;
"I think there are some who wants to congratulate you." He turned her around again and all the dwarfs came over and greeted her.
She was then placed in a big, soft armchair at a table and breakfast was served. Fili sat close to her and Logon on the other side.
"After you told me about it, I pulled something together. I hope you don't mind." The blonde dwarf whispered to her as he poured her some more tea.
"Not at all, thank you." She flashed him a huge smile and pulled him into a hug and a kiss which resulted in wolf whistles and banging in the table from the others.
"Oh shut up you dorks!" She laughed. They all ate until their bellies were full and then they pulled away the table and someone yelled "presents!" and her eyes turned huge, they all carried gifts for her.
"But, you shouldn't have!" She protested.
"Yes we should, now hush girl and let us celebrate you." Her grandfather said with a small smile in his beard.
Dís came first carrying a large box, as she opened it, it was filled with different types of clothes; leggings, pants, tunics and a few dresses.
"I know how you prefer to wear pants so I pulled some things together so you don't have to walk around half naked." Fili's mother had not been totally found of the tight leggings and pants she had gotten from the elves and the jeans she had brought with her. These were all made in a dwarfish style.
"They are beautiful, thank you so much!" She hugged the other woman.
"My turn!' Thorin exclaimed earning him an elbow in the ribs from Bilbo; 'I mean, this is from us." He handed her a huge package, she unwrapped it and it was a couple of very big, old books, the covers were leather and the titles were printed in gold.
"They are beautiful." The men blushed.
"I found them and thought about you actually. The top one is from the Shire and the bottom one is from the Blue Mountains." Bilbo explained. She leafed through the pages, they were neatly written and every now and again there were pictures. She placed them beside her and hugged the King and Bilbo.
"I love them all ready." The couple blushed again and beamed with pride.
There were barley time to digest all the gifts given to her. Fili was the next one, he handed her a small, flat box. Speechless she looked at the content, it was a waistband of purest gold hammered to look like foxes, and they were joined nose to tail. There were a couple of big golden earrings as well as a couple of bracelets shaped from boar tusks, almost completely round and polished until they shone.
"Thank you so much." She whispered; "They are beautiful." Her eyes filled with tears, and to the others delight she kissed him once again, straight on the lips without shyness. She felt him wrap his arms around her. When someone coughed they pulled away and her head was spinning slightly.
A very blushing Kili stood behind his brother with a small basket in his hands; "This is for you. I found him in the woods and there were no trace of a mother anywhere near. I waited for hours to make sure."
She looked down and saw a small bundle of red fur and her eyes looked in to the very big, dark eyes of a fox cub. Through the link she felt his fear of the new smells and surroundings and also a curiosity.
'Hello little brother, don't worry, they might smell weird but we don't mean you no harm.'
'Where is my momma?'
'I am afraid she is gone little brother. Will you allow me to help you grow big and strong?'
She opened the mental door for him and showed that she meant no harm.
'Yes. You are kind.' Came the silent response. He jumped out of the basked and into her lap, yawned big and instantly fell asleep there instead, curled up to a little ball.
"Thank you so, so much Kili, he is adorable." Kili had been staring at her the whole time with an anxious look on his face but now he sighed with relief and gave her a huge smile. It seemed like besides Gandalf he understood her connection with animals the best.
After that she got another few books from Balin, a couple of history books and another one with children's stories. Dwalin came up next, the tattooed dwarf was very kind even if his looks had frightened her a bit in the beginning.
"Princess." He bowed. Even if she time after time told him that she wasn't a princess, he was stubborn enough to keep calling her that every time he greeted her.
"Dwalin." She nodded and he handed her a single key.
"Thank you. What is this?"
Bifur came over and handed her a piece of parchment with a drawing on, after saying something in Khuzdul he gestured to Dwalin to translate; "This is what it is Princess." She looked down and saw the little house they had found down in Dale, only it was restored, the shutters weren't crooked, there were flowers planted below the windows and the door was open.
"You did this for me?" She choked on the lump in her throat.
"We did, we will restore the house for you. Fili came and talked to us a couple of days ago and even if we are mostly just toymakers we will do our best."
"Thank you so much!" She gently lifted the cub off her lap so that she was able to hug all of the dwarfs. Though Bofur pulled away and shook his head; "I will help with that too but this is from me." He handed her a small, hand carved squirrel. It was so realistically made that she could almost see its whiskers move.
"Oh Bofur I love it!" She exclaimed. Deidre looked down at it and without thinking twice she gathered her thoughts and sent a string towards the small creature. Slowly the wood melted away, it started with a flicker of an ear and the movement when he sniffed the air with his little nose. When it jumped up on top of the backrest on the chair everyone breathed in sharply. Gandalf looked like he was having a heart attack and they all stared at her with shocked expressions. The squirrel jumped across the table over to Bofur, sniffed his hand and nuzzled it with his face.
"I think he knows you." She smiled at the frozen toymaker. He glanced down and a smile spread on his face seeing his creation come to life.
It took some time for things to settle after that but eventually they all calmed down, especially when the squirrel jumped up Bofur's arm and fell asleep on top of his hat.
"Here." Gandalf came over with a long, thin package; 'Careful, it's sharp." She took caution unwrapping it, it was a short one hand sword, the pommel was a big, almost blood colored ruby, the same stones were inlayed in the belt. Logon smiled;
"It may be fitting to give you this at the same time then."
In his present there were a bow made in the same way the elves made theirs only smaller to fit her shorter body.
Fili sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand;
"Great, give a girl who can put a mountain upside down more weapons."
"Are you afraid of me Fili?" She mocked him.
"Yes, yes I am."
That just did it for her and she started laughing, unable to stop.
Here she was, in this distant world with a new family and new friends, more than she ever had, celebrating her sixty fifth name day. And the man, dwarf, she loved was admitting he was scared of her. Deidre skipped over to him where he stood with a sheepish grin, flung her arms around him once more; "Oh Fili, I love you." Then before he had time to answer and the room fell silent she kissed him again. This time she showed him what she really meant. When she pulled away the room was still silent and he was blushing red.
"I, um, Iloveyoutoo." The words came almost too fast to be perceived but a sheepish grin spread across his face when he looked at her, confirming that she had in fact heard him correctly.
A sigh came from Dís corner; "Finally." As Deidre looked over at her the older woman just smiled and rolled her eyes at the couple. The magic moment was broken when a servant came up to Thorin and whispered something in his ear. The King's eyes turned huge and then a frown grew on his face. He whispered something back and the servant protested.
"Fine. Tell them we'll be right there." He sent the man away again. By now they all looked at him. He just stared at Logon;
"Seems you're friends have arrived a bit too early. Apparently they are riding through Dale at the moment."
"I am so sorry your Highness, I had no idea of this." Logon apologized.
"Mhm.' was the only response he got back before Thorin turned towards Deidre; 'It seems like we have to postpone the rest of your celebrations Deidre. The elves are here." He still had a sour tone to his voice.
"I couldn't have been celebrated better in any way my King. Thank you so much for this, and thank you all for your marvelous gifts, they are more than I could have ever hoped for. I might have lost my first family but I have certainly found my second one right here." She said, then she thanked them all one by one again. She made a deal with Dwalin that they would go down to Dale the following morning to look at the house and to see what she wanted done with it. Then Thorin, Fili and Kili rushed off to put on some different clothes and Logon helped her carry all her new things to her chambers.
