Chapter 23

Thorin rarely had time to work as a blacksmith but he'd finally managed to squirrel away some time to work. He sat at the bench in his private workshop, bent over a pile of papers, each with scribbles of different designs in charcoal.

He'd made a mistake, giving Bilbo the garden as the second courting gift. Now he had to make something grander for the third.

He'd thought about weaponry and discarded it quickly, having already made a knife to accompany Bilbo's sword. Besides, the joy Bilbo had found in the garden would outlast any blade Thorin could forge.

He'd thought of jewelry next but cast that thought aside as well. Bilbo had access to untold amounts of sparkly finery and had never seemed inclined to wear any of it, even grimacing every time he had to wear the thin Consort's crown, let alone anything else.

He couldn't outdo Bilbo's mithril shirt either so armor was out as well.

There had to be something he could make that would bring joy to Bilbo beyond that of the garden. Didn't there?

Grumbling, Thorin tossed his latest page filled with indistinguishable lines over his shoulder and onto the floor to join its fellows. He pulled another clean sheet forward and leaned over it to start again when someone knocked at his door. Before he could demand they leave, the door opened.

"There you are Uncle," Fili said. "Do you have a moment?"

Casting an irritated eye at the massive pile of abandoned sketches and half-formed ideas scattered across his bench and on the floor, Thorin gave up his own time for creating as a loss. "Come in, Fili," he said and nudged a second stool away from the bench. "What's on your mind?"

Fili sat, carefully arranging the coat Lady Sigrid had given him so it didn't bunch beneath him. "I wondered if you could help me with something," he said. "Mostly just the calculations for materials and a bit of advice. Weapons smithing is more your forte than mine."

Intrigued, Thorin pulled the sketchbook Fili set in front of him closer. "Throwing knives?" he asked. "What's wrong with the set I made you?"

"Nothing," Fili said and started rolling a bit of charcoal back and forth on the bench with his fingertip. "I was going to make them for Sigrid."

Thorin's eyebrows rose a bit. "Just Sigrid now, is it?" he asked.

Fili directed a very unimpressed look at Thorin. "I'm courting her and, considering how things are going, I'll marry her before too long as well. We figured given names were a good start to cultivating that relationship."

"Mmm," Thorin said, nodding. "Why throwing knives?"

"She has a real talent at it," Fili said. "I taught her the basics today and she hit the target with every throw."

Unlike Kili, Fili tended not to exaggerate. "Indeed?"

Fili nodded and Thorin watched a small, proud smile work its way onto Fili's face. "It really was amazing," he said and then looked up to meet Thorin's eyes. "I want to make them as a courting gift."

Thorin almost cursed at the words and then stopped. "I'll help," he said, "but only if you help me figure out what to make Bilbo for his third gift."

Fili looked confused and a bit, well, something else that Thorin couldn't quite decipher. Irritated? Angry? Upset? "You're already married," he said. "Why do you need to make him courting gifts?"

"Bilbo and I didn't have the chance to court properly, if you'll remember," Thorin said. Fili turned away but not before Thorin caught a displeased expression. He couldn't quite pinpoint just how deep that displeasure went. "I know it's not how we typically go about courting and marriage," Thorin said gruffly, "but it is important to me. I'm trying to be as proper about our marriage as I can, even if I am going about it all in the wrong order. So far I've made him a dagger and kitchen knives for his first gift and the garden as his second."

"Wouldn't the mithril shirt have been the first?" Fili asked and there seemed to be a strained note to his tone, something that almost sounded like hope that Fili didn't want to feel. Thorin decided to ignore it, knowing Fili preferred to follow tradition as much as possible. It made sense considering how hard he seemed to want to follow those traditions with his One, whether he recognized her as such or not.

"I'll not include something given during a fit of gold madness and distrust as something meant to be done out of loyalty and with a willing heart."

Fili nodded. "I can understand that. If you'll look over the sketches and see if there's one we can improve upon, I'll brainstorm for your third courting gift."

"It must be something that outshines the garden," Thorin said, already flipping through Fili's sketchbook. He paused when he came across a quick sketch of Sigrid. His nephew had found a quiet moment to draw the young woman while she'd been embroidering something. Thorin examined the sketch briefly, noting how good the likeness was before turning back to the sketches of various daggers and their sheaths. "You'll need Dwalin's help with the leatherwork, I take it?" Thorin asked.

"They'll be simple enough," Fili said as he scribbled a few ideas down on a spare bit of parchment. "I think I can manage. He did teach me some leatherwork and these are fairly plain after all."

They worked in silence for a while, both absorbed in their thoughts and figures before they started talking through their ideas until they both settled on something.

"Where is your brother, by the way?" Thorin asked as he searched the shelves for the ore he intended to start with for his project. He would need Kili's help for parts of it.

"He's been working on something for Tauriel with Bilbo," Fili said as he tucked his book away. "I'll let him know you need him."

"Thank you, Fili. Good luck with the smithing. Let me know if you need any more help."

"Yes, Uncle," Fili said and left Thorin to his forging. It was a good thing he did. Thorin had a great deal to make before he could present his work to Bilbo. He hoped Fili was right and that the massive undertaking would please the hobbit.

Kili and Bilbo were indeed working on something for Tauriel. However, they were not in a place where Fili was likely to find them if he were to search for them specifically, such as in Thorin and Bilbo's rooms or Kili's rooms or workshop. No, he'd only find them if he found himself a bit peckish and wandered his way into the kitchens to a secluded corner where the Mountain's cooks didn't work unless there was a massive feast. The corner's distance from the rest of the kitchen made it ideal for Bilbo for the days when he wanted to do his own baking and Bombur could spare the space for him. Now, making a dish that was extremely undwarfish, the solitude mattered all the more.

"I've seen these things before," Kili admitted as he helped Bilbo feed large sheets of some kind of dough through a hand-cranked contraption where it was pressed thinner and thinner with each pass through the machine, "but I can't say I've ever tasted it. Elf food and all."

Bilbo glared at Kili from where he was carefully making sure the sheets didn't bunch up or feed poorly through the machine. "Hardly elf food," he said. "Hobbits made pasta first. They got it from us."

"Why didn't we have it when we were at your little hole in the ground?" Kili asked, still cranking the handle until the last of the dough passed through. He moved aside as Bilbo started fiddling with it, changing out parts before picking up one of the thin sheets of pasta and feeding it through the back of the machine. Kili started turning the crank again and long thin noodles came out instead of making the sheet thinner.

"I was fresh out," Bilbo said. "Made the last of the fettucini for lunch with a lovely pesto sauce, grilled chicken, and sautéed asparagus. I'd planned on making more the next morning but instead, I went haring off on an unseemly adventure. Imagine, a proper Baggins like me doing such an irresponsible, unrespectable thing like that."

"And you loved every minute of it," Kili said as he watched Bilbo drape the noodles over a board before moving to cut the next sheet of pasta dough using the machine.

Bilbo snorted. "Hardly," he said. "I was miserable the majority of the time and outright terrified the rest."

"What about that time we-"

"Terrified."

"Or the time-"

"Horrified."

"Or the thing-"

"Utterly. Disgusted."

Kili glared at Bilbo for a moment before he thought of one thing Bilbo couldn't protest against. "Beorn's," he said.

Bilbo opened his mouth to retort and stopped. "All right. You've got me there. Beorn's was quite pleasant once I got passed the giant shapeshifter and the animals that didn't act like animals."

"Rivendel?"

"Oh, all right. Enough," Bilbo said, flapping a hand at Kili. "Fetch that pan and that large pot, would you? Fill the pot about two-thirds with water and put it over the fire." Bilbo dug under another cabinet until he found the little footstool Bombur had found for him after he caught Bilbo standing on a large pot to see what he was doing on the counter for the third time.

"So, remind me what this is," Kili said a few minutes later as the water started to boil and he helped Bilbo add garlic and onion to a large frying pan that had melted butter already sizzling in it. A bowl of cooked chicken sat to the side, waiting to be used.

"Chicken scampi," Bilbo said as he stirred the diced onions and minced garlic around. "Tauriel mentioned liking it once. Now, this is my mother's recipe. Take it to the grave or I swear I'll come to haunt you after I die."

Kili shrugged. "Don't know as I'll remember it just from making this once. I'm not exactly the world's greatest cook. I leave that to you and Bombur."

"If she likes it, I'll write the recipe down for you but do NOT, under any circumstances, pass it on to someone that isn't your own child. This is a Took Family Secret Recipe. We don't mess around with these things."

"If you say so," Kili said and handed over the lemons Bilbo pointed at.

"I do," Bilbo said and tasted the sauce before chucking the tasting spoon into the sink. "Now, tell me what else you plan to do for Tauriel besides serve her dinner?"

"We have good nephews," Bilbo said later that night as he and Thorin prepared for bed.

Thorin looked up from where he was shucking off his shirt to throw into the basket inside their washroom. Why they needed a basket, he had no idea. That's what servants were for now that he was actual royalty again, or so he'd thought. Bilbo had other thoughts on the matter. "What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Nothing in particular," Bilbo said. "They've just been doing well lately, with their duties and everything."

"This wouldn't have something to do with the surprise you and Kili have been working on for the elf, would it?"

Bilbo glared. "Fili has a big mouth. Forget what I said about him."

Thorin laughed and wrapped himself around Bilbo once they'd climbed into bed.

After an impromptu trip to the markets ended with Thorin injured in the side when an assassin missed Bilbo when they threw a knife at him, Nori went berserk on security, confining Bilbo to his rooms until further notice. Which meant Bilbo lost out on what he deemed to be a great deal of fun, especially when he learned about the negotiations for Fili and Sigrid's wedding. The way he found out about them, well, that was interesting in and of itself.

Dis barged into his and Thorin's rooms one morning, interrupting Bilbo's slog through the mound of paperwork Balin had brought him to look over as Thorin was suddenly too busy arguing with his advisors to do it himself.

"I need your help," she said as she settled herself on the edge of Bilbo's desk.

Startled, Bilbo looked up at Dis, unsure of what to say. After their disastrous meeting, they hadn't had many interactions beyond royal and family duties with Thorin, Fili, and Kili acting as a sort of buffer between them. Bilbo thought it was absurd. So she'd knocked him out. It's not like she'd attempted to throw him over the ramparts or anything (he kept such thoughts to himself, knowing it was probably still too soon to joke about the event in Thorin's eyes).

"What can I do to help?" he asked finally, setting aside the report on the repairs to Dale's walls. Apparently, they'd become a priority after Lady Sigrid had fought off two wolves that had somehow managed to make it into the city over the winter. Imagine that.

Dis rubbed at a silver bracelet of interlinked rhombuses. Some had small runes etched into them. The simplicity of it surprised him for a moment before he recognized it for what it was. Fili's work. Probably something sentimental. Dis seemed to prefer less gaudy jewelry compared to most of the higher ranking dwarrowdams, at least when she wasn't acting in a royal capacity. "I need help with Fili's negotiations."

"Negotiations?" Bilbo asked, leaning back in his chair to better watch her face.

"His wedding and marriage negotiations," she frowned, not at all pleased.

"I'm afraid I've once again missed the details on some dwarrow tradition," Bilbo confessed as he stood. "Why don't I call for some tea and you can tell me what wedding and marriage negotiations entail and how I can help?" He indicated the armchairs sitting in front of the fireplace before heading towards the doors to his rooms. He asked one of the guards there to send a servant for tea before returning to his own seat across from Dis.

"Now, what is this about?" he asked once the tea arrived and they were settled.

Dis told him. Bilbo found himself frowning as she detailed contracts (and why did dwarrow need to insist everything be put in a contract?) that would be written up that would dictate how the wedding and some of the major points of the subsequent marriage would go, covering things as mundane as wedding décor and as serious as methods for rearing any possible children. When she'd finished, Bilbo poured her a second cup of tea.

"How can I help?" he asked.

"It's Thorin," she said. "He's going to want to be present for the negotiations and I'm worried he's going to try to dictate the entire affair into something grand for Erebor's people and not something for my son and his future wife."

Bilbo nodded. "Yes, yes. That does sound a bit like Thorin. However, I can't keep him from going where he wants and I'm to stay here until we find who is behind all the assassination attempts."

"I'm aware," she said as she stared into her teacup. She traced along the filigree around the rim, some memory catching her briefly as they often did Thorin at the smallest things. She came out of it quickly and looked up at Bilbo. "Could you remind him that Fili is his nephew and not just the Crown Prince of Erebor and that Lady Sigrid was just a bargeman's daughter a scant number of years ago?"

"That is something I can do," Bilbo said as he took up a biscuit, "but I do believe you will need to bring some of the fierceness your sons often told me of in order to keep Thorin in line."

"I'm afraid they exaggerate," Dis said, setting the teacup down gently.

Bilbo snorted. "The tales the entire company told me about you have led me to believe you to be a force to be reckoned with and I've seen it myself. I think you can manage your brother. If nothing else, remind him that he is at the negotiations by your leave only and that you can throw him out at any time. He loves to be involved with everything so he should hold his tongue for a while after."

"And all brothers love to meddle in their sister's affairs," Dis said with a resigned sigh. She remained silent for a time before lifting her hands above her head and then dropping them onto the arms of her chair. "Thank you for taking the time," she said as she climbed to her feet.

"Think nothing of it," Bilbo said. "Truth be told, I've been hoping for a chance to talk with you. Feel free to come to visit me anytime. I'm stuck in these rooms for the foreseeable future." He cast a long-suffering eye around the green stone walls. Pretty as the carvings were and as hard as the Company worked to keep him entertained, he was still a bit bored.

"I'll keep that in mind," Dis said with a smile. "Thank you Master Baggins."

Bilbo made a face. "Bilbo, please," he corrected. "I'm not too fond of being referred to by that name."

Dis nodded before she paused and turned to fully face Bilbo again. "I'd almost forgotten. Apparently, flowers are important in human wedding ceremonies. If it is decided to have them at the wedding, would you mind providing them or finding a way for them to be brought to Erebor? I'm afraid no other dwarf in the city grows them just for beauty."

"I'd be happy to," Bilbo said.

"Good. You can expect Fili and Sigrid just after the negotiations are done. Thank you again, Bilbo." She left

The negotiations for Fili's wedding hadn't gone exactly how Thorin would have liked. But, as Bilbo had so graciously reminded him, Fili wasn't just the Golden Crown Prince of Erebor, but also his nephew, the little lion cub that looked at him fiercely, ready to defend himself and those he thought of as his charge. He'd almost hit Thorin's hand with that throwing knife after all.

Lady Sigrid's knife almost hitting her father's hand a moment later had been satisfying, to say the least. And the workmanship. If Fili hadn't become a jeweler, he'd have had a promising career as a blacksmith.

That wasn't the point though. Fili's wedding would not be the massive State event that Thorin had pictured it when Sigrid had first beat Dwalin in combat. Still, there had to be something he could do that would help solidify Fili and Lady Sigrid's future positions within Erebor.

He slowly made his way through the royal wing.

"Quit your brooding," Dwalin griped next to him. "You're darkening the entire mountain."

"I do not brood," Thorin responded automatically but without any heat. There had to be some-

He stopped in his tracks and looked to the side at a set of ornately carved doors painted Durin blue. Of course.

"Where's Fili?" he asked before Dwalin could dish out a retort to Thorin's denial.

Dwalin shrugged. "My guess would be his workshop, making something for his lovely girl."

Thorin rolled his eyes. "Do you ever stop looking?" he asked.

Dwalin shrugged. "Just because she's not available doesn't mean I can't enjoy the view. Strong lass like that, perhaps I'll challenge Fili for her."

Thorin snorted. "Lady Sigrid would eat you alive," he said and turned back the way he'd come, intent on finding his oldest nephew.

"And I'd enjoy every minute of it," Dwalin grinned. "Can't resist cleverness and strength in the same package."

Thorin thought of the years Dwalin had chased after Nori before Nori had stumbled on Lira. "You have a type," he accused.

"Clever as your pretty little husband is, he's not very strong," Dwalin reminded Thorin.

Thorin drove his elbow into Dwalin's ribs. "I thought I told you to stop ogling my pretty little husband."

"Can't help looking at him," Dwalin said with a shrug. "Be a bit odd if I didn't look at him when we talk."

Growling, Thorin shook his head and continued stalking to Fili's workshop. They passed a happy Kili on the way and barely stopped to knock on the door before barging inside.

"Really Kili, I said I would- Oh. Uncle. What are you doing here?" Fili set aside his project.

Thorin picked up the silver hairbrush Fili had been working on. "Your second gift?" he asked, eyebrows rising into his hairline.

"Third," Fili said. "Still trying to think of the second."

Examining the brush, Thorin nodded his approval. The carvings were beautifully detailed and Thorin could easily make out the scene. He wondered if the event depicted was important to Fili and Sigrid. He didn't ask though, recognizing a private moment etched into a very personal gift. "I have something for you," Thorin said and left the workshop, not waiting for Fili's response.

"Uncle! Wait!" he could hear Fili scrambling from behind the workbench to chase after him. "At least let me lock up first!"

Thorin slowed his pace just enough for Fili to catch up to him before resuming his purposeful stride.

"What is it?" Fili asked as he fell in step next to Thorin, casting a questioning look to Dwalin who shrugged in reply.

"You'll see," Thorin said and refused to elaborate as they passed back into the Royal Wing. He led the way up to the highest level where he rarely went. He only ever walked the hall, knowing the rooms there would drown him in memories he didn't want to have just yet. Finally, he stopped in front of the blue door.

"Uncle?" Fili asked.

"You will want new rooms once you're married, I take it? I can't imagine you would want to spend your wedding night in rooms attached to your mother's or brother's."

Fili nodded, a flush rising up his neck and into his cheeks.

With a shuddering breath, Thorin pushed the Durin blue door, the door to the King's rooms, open. "Then take these," he said, "for you and your bride."

Gold gleamed beneath the dust, bright and horrible in Thorin's eyes. His grandfather's rooms were ostentatious, to say the least. Gold fixtures, gold lining, gold furniture, gold threads. He knew it well and still didn't want to see it. He turned instead to look at the only gold he ever really wanted to look at ever again. He placed an affectionate hand on Fili's bright hair, pulling him forward until their foreheads met.

"You will be king one day and I cannot bear to be in these rooms. Take them and make them yours. I will have someone clear these and the attached queen's rooms out before your Lady arrives in the Mountain again. You may do with them as you please." He released Fili and stepped back so Fili could enter the rooms and inspect them.

Fili paused at the doorway, glancing inside. "You're sure?" he asked. "They're much larger than what you have now."

"The memories in these rooms are too much to bear," Thorin said honestly. "You have no memories of them or of the dwarf that occupied them before Smaug attacked. You can make them more of a home than I ever would."

Nodding, Fili stepped inside the room and looked around. Thorin turned away, keeping his eyes averted, afraid the sight of golden hair in that room would bring to mind his brother as well as his grandfather. Dwalin caught his eye as he turned, his face as grim as Thorin felt.

It wasn't long before Fili came back out, carefully closing the doors behind him. "Thank you, Uncle," he said. "Lady Sigrid and I will be sure to put them to good use."

Thorin nodded. "When you show them to her, make sure to tell her she may commission whatever furniture she likes. This will be her home too."

"Of course. I'll take her to the appropriate guilds myself." Fili fell in step next to Thorin and they headed back toward Thoirn's rooms where the family intended to meet for dinner.