"Balin isn't going to be happy that we don't have courting beads with us, is he?" Kili asks after a while.
Billana has calmed enough that they have been able to sprawl over the blanket together, enjoying the sun and the light caress of a summer breeze while eating the light picnic Fili had thought to bring. He has been idly fiddling with a lock of her hair for a while. Both of them, she has noticed, seems to have already taken to playing with her curls and she wonders if that is a part of dwarf courtship. She'll have to ask at some point, but for now her attention is more caught by Kili mentioning beads.
"He'll understand," Fili replies, "it isn't like we came on the quest with the intention of finding someone to court."
"What are you talking about?" She asks, suspecting that they won't explain unless she points out that she is completely out of the loop.
"Courtship braids," Kili replies. "Don't hobbits do something to show they're courting?"
"Not really," she shrugs, "the Shire gossips usually spread the word pretty quickly. And we don't really do courtships gifts either now I think about it. Just the betrothal gift and the dowry that the bride brings with her."
"Sounds similar to the way Balin said the Men do it," Fili observes.
"Is that a bad thing?" She asks, biting her lip and worrying.
"No, Kitten, it isn't," he assures her, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead. "But we'll need to talk to Balin about it all. He can explain it better than we can, and it's his place as guardian."
"What if I don't want him to know?" Billana asks, because she isn't sure that she does.
"Why wouldn't you?" Kili asks and she looks away. "This isn't the sort of thing that should be kept a secret, Kundith. He won't look at you any differently, I think he'll be relieved actually." She stares. "Why do you think he was tearing a strip off me last night?" She hadn't thought about it like that and he laughs when she admits it. "Come on," he gets to his feet and helps her up. "Much as I would rather put this conversation off the sooner it's done the better."
"Especially as we've been gone most of the day," Fili agrees. "I'm surprised no one's come looking for us," he mutters, gathering the blanket and remains of their meal.
Five minutes later they come across Dwalin, Nori and an irate Balin.
"Did it occur to any of you to inform someone of your plans?" Balin demands as soon as he is close enough. "I've been looking for the three of you for most of the afternoon." Billana turns accusing eyes on Kili.
"We told Thorin," Fili replies before his brother can.
"Lot of good that would have done," Dwalin rolls his eyes. "He's been plotting with the wizard all morning and left orders not to be disturbed."
Behind him, Nori smirks.
"I think that might have been the point," the thief says, his sharp eyes running over Billana. She still doesn't quite know what to make of Nori, even after months on the road together he makes her nervous with the way he seems to see everything and the spark of something behind his moss green eyes.
"Much as it pains me to agree with you," Dwalin grumbles.
"You wound me," Nori grins, his expression not even close to mockingly offended. "So, who asked her first?" He leers.
"Nori," Balin warns and he steps back. "Is there something you would like to tell me?"
The three of them exchange a look and Billana begins to worry at her lower lip. One of them will have to tell Balin, and all the rest really, but Billana cannot seem to summon the courage to be the one to do it. Back home she knows that the reaction to her choosing to court just one of her friends would cause a scandal. That she has agreed to court both of them is inconceivable. Yet the more she has thought on it during the hours they spent together by the stream the more she begins to think that it could never have happened any other way. There will be time to think on how it came about later, for now she has to think of the words to use so that she can convince Balin that this is something she wants and not something that they have pressured her in to. After all, to start with she had been completely prepared to say 'no'. Fili slips his hand into hers, squeezing gently, and Balin follows the movement with sharp eyes and a raised eyebrow. Kili is the one who steps forward, though, and she wonders if they had planned this as much as they had planned to get her alone in the first place.
"We've asked Billana for a courtship," he says, "and she's agreed."
"Both of you?" Nori presses before Balin can. Her guardian gives him an irritated glare.
"Both of us," Fili replies.
At least, she thinks, she isn't the only one who needed that clarification. Nori's face lights up with glee, an expression she has noticed all too often when he is about to win one of the many wagers he has with other members of the Company. Balin's face, on the other hand, turns stern and he looks at her as though he is trying to peer into her mind.
"You've accepted them both, lass?" He asks her. "You understand that you would be receiving attentions from both of them?"
"As if she hasn't been already," Nori snorts and Dwalin elbows him.
"Of course I do," she replies with more confidence than she feels.
"And you realise that until you're of age there will be a number of ground rules?" He adds.
"We thought as much," she nods, because they had discussed it briefly and it was one of the reasons that they had put off returning to the cottage in the first place, especially considering that Fili had brought a good supply of fresh scones, honey and cream with him.
"You say that you've accepted," Balin steps close enough to examine her, "yet I see no braids or gifts." Fili shuffles slightly.
"We didn't exactly plan this, Balin," Kili says defensively and this time it is Billana who slips her hand into his.
"Hobbits don't do things like that," she tells Balin before he can reply, "we share a meal or a picnic usually. Which is what we did and why we were so long." Balin makes a considering noise.
"Alright, lass," he replies, "you run along back to the house and tell Ori I'd like him to go through the ceremony for marking you a dwarf friend with you. I need to talk to these two."
She glances at her companions who nod, Fili even goes as far as to push her unruly hair back behind one pointed ear. Balin glares at him, but doesn't say anything even as Kili pushes his luck by brushing a barely there kiss over her lips. Balin clears his throat and Nori makes a gagging noise. Billana, on the other hand, flushes and after touching a gentle hand to Fili's cheek she reluctantly begins the walk to the house. Most of the Company are sprawled outside when she gets there, lying among the massive flowers and as relaxed as they can be while still uncertain of their safety in this place. Dori looks up from his mending as she approaches and smiles.
"Balin was looking for you," he says as she halts near him, if anyone will know where to find Ori it is his overprotective oldest brother.
"He found me," she shrugs, "he wanted a quick chat with Fili and Kili so he sent me on ahead to talk to Ori."
"Finally came to the point, did they?" Dori asks. She stares at him. "We aren't always the most observant," he tells her, "but even Gloin could see the direction of that seam. Nori is going to be truly insufferable mind, most of us thought it would take them until Lake Town to ask you."
"I had no idea," she mumbles, certain that her face is about to catch fire.
"I'm sure you didn't," Dori agrees. "Ori is inside, somehow he managed to keep hold of the record he's been keeping of our journey and he's updating it."
Billana thanks Dori and hurries inside before any of the others can catch her. She quickly spots Ori sat at the over large table, his legs swinging, and he hums while he works. The tune is unfamiliar, as most of the songs she occasionally hears the dwarves hum and sing are, and she listens to him as she waits for him to lift his pen from the page of his book. She has little desire to startle him in the way that the others do. He has a steady hand but that cannot always make up for the occasional flinch he gives when taken by surprise. It isn't long before he lifts his pen and sits back a little, blowing on the wet ink softly as he waits for it to dry so that he can turn the page. Billana clears her throat softly, then calls his name. Ori turns wide eyes on her and then grins. She isn't as close to him as she is Fiil and Kili, she just hasn't spent as much time with him as she has the princes, but he is her friend all the same so he seems to realise that something is troubling her almost as soon as he has helped her to clamber up onto the bench beside him.
"What's the matter?" He asks. "Or would you prefer to talk to Fili or Kili? I can keep my nose out of it if you want. I can be too curious sometimes."
"Ori," she laughs, though the sound isn't quite right to even her ears. Her friend is curious and that isn't something to fault him for. "I just left them with Balin."
"You don't sound happy about that," Ori replies, returning his attention to the wet ink on his book. "What happened?"
"You can't guess?" She grumbles. "Everyone else seems to have known it was going to happen before I did."
"Ah," he says, setting aside his record. "So, they asked you. I wondered why Fili was so eager to get away from Thorin earlier."
"Why do people keep saying it like that?" She exclaims. "Both of your brothers have said almost the same thing!"
"You don't have a brother like Nori and not learn to watch your back," Ori tells her, "or every other side of you and all the people around you. It's why Balin thought I would be a good choice for recording this quest. And after last night-" He shrugs. "It was obvious back in the Shire that there was something between the three of you. I've never seen them so protective of anyone, except their mother on occasion."
"I thought they were just being kind," she mumbles. "They knew I was nervous about having so many strangers in my home and I thought they were just trying to help."
"It probably started that way," Ori admits, "but, in my experience, those two have never been especially quick on the uptake about their own feelings. I'm surprised they got there this fast, but then nothing has actually gone the way any of us expected it to." He winces when they hear Thorin's raised voice from the stables. "You don't seem happy that they asked."
"I am," she replies quickly. "I never thought anyone would want to court me," she admits, "especially them. I'm not saying I didn't think about it, because I did, but I never thought it would happen so I just pushed it all away and told myself not to think about it. They're sweet and handsome and funny and they make me feel so safe. You all do, but not like they do." Ori snorts gently. "What if Balin tells them that they can't?" She asks suddenly.
"He can't," Ori tells her.
"But I'm not of age," she reminds him.
"It doesn't make a difference," he shakes his head. "In the first place it would be a losing battle, you'll be of age in a little over a month anyway which would leave them free to ask again and you to accept. In the second, he isn't your parent. It's his job as guardian to watch over you and keep you safe but he can't stop you from courting anyone unless he thinks they mean to harm you. In the third, you've already accepted. You've made your choice and no dwarf who knows what's good for him will try to take a 'dam's choice from her. He'll put some restrictions in place, but he won't be able to stop it. If he did all you would have to do is petition Thorin for a new guardian. It's blindingly obvious that neither of them are going to hurt you, and most of the restrictions Balin will put in place won't impact over much once we've left here anyway. The road isn't the best place for a courtship really." She lets out a little huff, shaking her head, if she had been in the Shire her grandfather would have put a stop to it all regardless of what she wanted.
"I must sound pretty silly," she says, "fretting over it all like that."
"Not really," Ori disagrees, "you aren't a dwarf, it stands to reason that some things would be different for your kind. You know you only have to ask, though, don't you?"
"I do," she smiles. "Which brings me back to why I'm here. Balin wanted me to ask you about the ceremony Thorin mentioned, the one to mark me a dwarf-friend."
"It will be fascinating to actually see it done," Ori beams, "I've read about them but never actually seen one. I'm not even entirely certain when it was last done." He pulls a page out from the back of his book, jotting a few lines onto the paper. "We don't do it much you see, it's really rare that anyone will do anything to earn it and it requires a vast amount of trust on the part of every dwarf involved in making the decision. Once it's happened you'll be permitted to learn almost anything about our people that you want, even our language." That surprises her, the one time that she had asked Balin about it he had told her that it was a sacred secret.
"What happens during it?" She asks. "What sort of thing would I need to know?"
"There's a couple of Khuzdul phrases that we would need to teach you," he says, still making a few notes, "and you'll need to pick someone to either braid your hair with the seven beads or do the inking. It can't be Thorin because he'll be presiding, and it probably shouldn't be Fili or Kili what with the courtship and everything, Dori would be a good choice for braiding and he can teach you how to do it afterwards."
"Inking?" She asks, caught by that part of his explanation.
"Yes," he turns her arm over so that he can touch the soft inside of her forearm. "It usually goes here so that it can be found quickly and easily, but I'm the only one here with any experience of doing them." He sketches a quick design on the paper, a formation of seven stars that looks vaguely familiar around a rune. "It would be placed into your skin using ink and needles, you've seen how many Dwalin has on display."
"Do they hurt?" She asks.
"When they're being done," he nods, "but after they've healed you don't know they're there unless you look at them. Dori would be honoured to do the braid."
"I know he would," she says, thinking about the practicality of it, "but when I shift nothing comes with me except this," she touches the charm Fili gave her. "I think that would include the beads, they'd be lost if I had to change in an emergency." Her fingers trace the design, smearing the still wet ink slightly. "This might be best."
"It will hurt," Ori tells her. "And it would have to wait until we reached Erebor and could find the right inks and supplies."
"But it can be done?" He nods. "And there isn't any other way?"
"There's a spell," Ori mumbles. "But I doubt any of the mages know it, it's complicated and really high level."
Kili probably knows, she thinks, she'll have to ask as soon as he can escape from Balin.
"Teach me what I need to do."