Welcome back! I have two more chapters ready to go which I will post in the next day or so. I promised my sister that I would post more this weekend and since I just realized it was Sunday...here you go sis.
If you've noticed two identical chapters, nothing in them is changed, I just wanted to ensure they could be read as I received some messages that people couldn't find them/ connect to them.
A big thanks to doctors, and nurses, and all health workers keeping us safe during this time. Along with thanks to our service men and women and first responders. I am so grateful for what you do.
Stay safe everyone, we'll get through this together even if we have to be apart.
-Mels
I let Gloin lead me into dinner as was only appropriate due to our lie that Gloin was my father. He spoke to me, filling me in on what I had missed. Thorin had yet to show Lord Elrond the map, having refused to do anything until I was awake, and he knew that I had come to no harm. Gandalf wasn't getting that far with him and apparently Gandalf was hoping that I could talk Thorin into showing the map to Lord Elrond. I sighed at that, wondering if I could even begin to convince him. Thorin was stubborn, like all dwarves, and I doubted he would listen to me on that subject.
As we reached the open-air dining hall of Lord Elrond, our escort stopped us and informed us that Lord Elrond had requested that I dine with him at the head table with Thorin, Gandalf, and himself. I had a dilemma to consider then. I didn't want to insult Lord Elrond, but I also wanted to sit with Fili and Kili and the rest of my friends rather than having to act diplomatic. I sighed and agreed to sitting at the head table, deciding that it was better to make allies as Mahal said. I could always sit with my cousins later.
The others sat down around the two long tables in the Elven court. Bilbo looked around at the fare laid out and seemed to be happier than the dwarves as the table was laden with vegetables. I grimaced, knowing that this wasn't going to go over well. I didn't personally like just vegetables myself, but I knew that when someone was offering you food, you ate it regardless of your own personal feelings about the food.
"Try it. Just a mouthful," I heard Dori try and coax Ori into eating as I sat down at the head table, sitting with Thorin as Gandalf and Lord Elrond weren't there yet. Thorin looked thunderous and I laid a hand over his and gave him a pointed look. He grumbled but looked a little less grumpy.
"I don't like green food," Ori complained to his brother ass I turned around slightly in my seat to watch the others. Dwalin was looking through a bowl of greens, searching for something.
"Where's the meat?" Dwalin asked the others and I snorted slightly. Dwalin looked up and our eyes meet, and I smiled back at him before looking away. Oin held up a vegetable with his knife and looked at in disgust as I turned back around, remembering my manners.
"Have they got any chips?" Ori asked as an Elf maiden began playing a harp in the background. I sighed, knowing that it was going to be a long night and I knew that I would just have to try and get Thorin through this without insulting the Elf Lord.
"Kind of you to invite us. I'm not really dressed for dinner," I heard Gandalf say from somewhere just outside the hall as both he and Lord Elrond came into view.
"Well, you never are," Lord Elrond responded and both men laughed as they arrived at the courtyard. I stood when they both approached, but Thorin remained sitting. I groaned internally and plastered a smile on my face. "Mae g'ovannen, hiril vuin," Lord Elrond said as he greeted me, taking my hand in one of his own and kissing the back of it. "It is good to see you on your feet once more," Lord Elrond said as I curtsied a little clumsily.
"Your healers are very skilled. Many thanks for your aid in my recovery," I told Lord Elrond as we all sat.
"Even my healers are not as skilled as you may think. Heal you they did, but what you see now was not done by us. Aredhel discovered that your wounds seemed to be healed overnight," Lord Elrond told me with a curious look in his eyes as he watched me and I placed a hand on Thorin's knee under the table and squeezed it has he started to bristle.
"Then we must thank the Valar for my recovery as well," I said, a smile still bright on my face.
"Indeed. How do you find my halls?" Lord Elrond asked me as a server poured wine into all of our cups and another brought out our food which was a large salad.
"They are beautiful. I've never seen so many flowers before," I told Lord Elrond truthfully and he nodded in appreciation of my comment.
"Rare to see a darrowdam so far from the safety of the mountains," Lord Elrond said then as he raised his wine to his lips, and he drank before setting it down. I knew what he was doing, testing my lie. I squeezed Thorin's knee under the table once more as he went to answer the Elf Lord and Thorin picked up his fork and began stabbing at the food in front of him.
"We're traveling to the Iron Hills. My betrothed has sent for me to join him there," I told Lord Elrond as I picked up my fork and began daintily eating as Thorin shoved the food into his mouth, not caring for manners in this situation. Gandalf remained silent and ate his food while keeping his head down as Lord Elrond also began eating.
"And what does the King in Exile have to do with your union?" Lord Elrond asked, turning to look at Thorin who stopped eating and swallowed hard before answering him.
"Adaira is the daughter of my cousin. She is to wed my cousin Dain's only son. I am traveling to the Iron Hills to bless their union," Thorin told Lord Elrond and I smiled prettily, even managing to get myself to blush a bit.
"Well, congratulations on your impending union," Lord Elrond told me with a bow of his head in my direction and I bowed my head as well before I continued eating, no longer the topic of discussion. The topic changed to the swords that had been discovered in the troll horde, Gandalf asking Lord Elrond to take a look at them both to see if he knew anything about their names or history. First, he inspected Thorin's new sword, Orcrist.
"This is Orcrist, the Goblin Cleaver. A famous blade, forged by the High Elves of the West, my kin. May it serve you well," Lord Elrond told us, and he handed Orcrist back to Thorin, who accepted it with a nod. Lord Elrond then examined Glamdring, Gandalf's sword.
"And this is Glamdring, the Foe hammer, sword of the King of Gondolin," Lord Elrond said as he pulled the sword slightly from its scabbard, inspecting the blade. "These swords were made for the goblin wars of the First Age..." Lord Elrond said before he handed Glamdring back to Gandalf who nodded in understanding. "These swords have been lost for an age, not seen since the Fall of Gondolin. How did you come by these?" Lord Elrond asked and I looked down at my plate so as to not give anything away on my face.
"We found them in a troll hoard on the Great East Road, shortly before we were ambushed by orcs," Gandalf told Lord Elrond who raised an eyebrow as he looked at all of us his hand up near his mouth as he pondered this.
"And what were you doing on the Great East Road?" Lord Elrond asked and neither of us answered. Thorin looked perturbed by this question and pushed his chair back.
"Excuse me," Thorin said abruptly and Lord Elrond nodded at him and excused him and Thorin stormed off past the elves who were walking around and playing lutes, flutes, and harps and past the Company as well who were still dining. Standing on the other side of the hall, his back up against a pillar. I excused myself as well and went to sit beside Kili on the bench as he and the others budged up and made room for me.
"Here lass," Gloin said gruffly, as he pushed a plate of rolls into my hands, fresh butter and jam slathered onto them.
I thanked him quietly and ate before looking up at Dwalin who was sitting across from me. He was staring at me and I smiled at him brightly and e looked down quickly, shoveling food into his face. I rolled my eyes and continued eating, glad to have something that didn't taste green and bitter.
"Can say I fancy elf maids myself, too thin," Kili suddenly said as and elf played a harp near us and I coughed slightly, Bofur patting me on the back with a sly grin on his face too. "They're all high cheekbones and creamy skin," Kili continued, looking across from me at Bofur as Dwalin raised his eyebrows and Bofur smiled and nodded at Kili as I drank some water to clear my throat. "Not enough facial hair for me. Although, that one there is not bad," Kili said as he turned around and looked at the elf playing near our table.
"That's not an elf maid," Dwalin finally told him, leaning in across the table and the elf turned around slightly, still playing, revealing his masculine features. Kili looked stricken and embarrassed as the dwarves at the table laughed at him. I couldn't help but chuckle myself but then I patted Kili on the back as his face turned a bright pink. He looked down at his plate and nodded.
"That's funny," Kili said as he looked down at his hands, I gave him a side hug, squeezing him tightly and he sighed, bumping foreheads with me.
An Elf maid leaned down, playing a flute near Oin, obviously seeing his hearing trumpet and wanting him to experience the music as well, but Oin apparently didn't like it as he stuffed a napkin into his hearing trumpet before putting It back of to his ear, smiling and nodding across the table as the sound was dampened. I watched Nori pocket something, but I didn't see what it was, so I made no move to stop him. Maybe he found something he wanted to take before the others.
"Fourteen Dwarves and a Halfling. Hm. Strange traveling companions, Gandalf," I heard Lord Elrond say, and I took a peek back up to the other table as Lord Elrond studied us, gesturing towards us with his wine cup before he raised it to his lips.
"These are the descendants of the house of Durin. They're noble, decent folk. And they're surprisingly cultured. They've got a deep love of the arts," Gandalf said as Bombur stuffed his mouth and I pinched the bridge of my nose, knowing that what he had just said didn't reflect what was going on.
"Change the tune, why don't you? I feel like I'm at a funeral," Nori said then, sticking a finger in his ear and rooting around before putting his finger in his mouth as I looked on with a look of disgust. Oin having only heard a few words of the sentence turned to look down the table at Nori.
"Did somebody die?" Oin asked and I pressed a hand over my face in secondhand embarrassment as Bofur stood up.
"All right, lads. There's only one thing for it," Bofur told everyone before smirking in my direction as he stepped up on the bench and then walked up onto the table, kicking plates off of it and standing in some of the food. "There's..." He began to sing, pointing a hand towards Lord Elrond and I put my face down onto my hands in front of me. "an Inn, there's an inn. There's a merry old inn, beneath an old gray hill, and there they brew a beer so brown, the Man in the Moon, himself came down, one night, to drink his fill," Bofur sang, stamping his feet in tune as the other stamped their feet and banged on the table singing along with him. I looked up and caught Dwalin's eye and was surprised with how happy he looked as he sang along. Kili nudged me, trying to get me to sing along and I sighed heavily and then smiled as Dwalin looked at me.
"Oh, the ostler has a tipsy cat," Bofur sang as the food fight began, one of the dwarves through a roll in Lord Elrond's direction. It sailed between Gandalf and Lord Elrond and I heard Gandalf hum loudly as he became very interested in eating all of a sudden. " That played a five-stringed fiddle, and up and down he saws his bow, now squeaking high," Bofur sang, as he mimicked playing a fiddle, his voice rising high as more food was tossed about. "Now purring low," Bofur continued, his voice dipping low and the dwarves tossed food at him as the Elven musicians all frowned and looked confused and put off by the performance.
"Now sawing in the middle. So, The cat on the fiddle, played hey-diddle-diddle, a drink that'll wake the dead," Bofur sang as Bifur drummed on the table with spoons before banging on his head with them as more food sailed by Lord Elrond and Gandalf which I caught Kili doing. I shot him a glare as Dwalin caught my attention and he gave me an expectant look which I only shook my head too. "He squeaked and he sawed, and he quickened the tune, and the landlord shook the Man In the Moon 'it's after Three!' he said!" Bofur finished to uproarious cheers form the dwarves as they threw more food around and at Bofur.
Kili drew back his arm and I saw him aiming for Lord Elrond which I knew he would hit with his aim, so I reached up and tugged at his arm. His aim was thrown off and the handful of mashed potatoes struck the statue of an elven woman with a hawk right next to Lindir's head. The elf turned to look at it with an expression of dismay on his face as Gandalf looked down at his plate as Lord Elrond turned to look at the wizard with a raised eyebrow. I rose from my seat and looked down the hall at Thorin who was smirking at the mess the Company had caused. I let out a deep breath, counting to ten, before turning to the others.
"A'khuz!" I shouted over the ruckus and the dwarves stopped but one last thrown bit of food smacked me in the side of the head and plopped to the ground.
I reached up and wiped some mashed potato from my head, the others looking at Fili who had thrown what hit me in the head. I glared at them all before I walked out of the hall with my head held high and my shoulders back. I heard someone hasten after me, so I walked more quickly away.
"Adaira!" Dwalin shouted as he ran after me and I stopped walking, not turning around as he caught up with me. He stood next to me, his expression apologetic as he watched me carefully. "Let's get yeh cleaned up lass," Dwalin told me and I nodded and let him lead me away, slipping my hand between the crook of his proffered arm.
"How we must have looked," I said with a sigh, shaking my head and Dwalin looked down at me as I met his gaze.
"Let them think what they will," Dwalin told me as we walked through a quiet part of the city, neither of us encountering and elf as we made our walk. Dwalin brought to a fountain which was breathtaking, gardens surrounding the area before us, moon flowers just starting to open their petals as the sun set.
The fountain was in a courtyard by a cliff and a large statue of a woman, holding a bowl poured water into the top tier of the fountain before the water fell over the basin and filled the second and then the third pool. The water was sourced from the waterfall, some falling into the fountain while the rest of it fell unhindered over the cliffs. We sat on the edge of the fountain and Dwalin pulled out a bit of cloth and wet it in the fountain before handing it to me. I ran the cloth over my hair cleaning it from the last of the potato before handing it back to Dwalin. He frowned slightly and pointed to the side of my head.
"Yeh missed a bit," He told me, and I hummed slightly in frustration. "Do yeh want me…," Dwalin said, gesturing to my hair and my eyes widened slightly in surprise at the offer. While he wasn't direct family, we were...friends. I could say yes because I did trust him.
"Oh, uh yes, thank you," I told him, finally deciding that it was harmless and he nodded before getting the spot I missed. He was looking at me strangely as he tucked a loose strand of hair which had fall from my larger braid behind my ear.
"Sorry, I…," Dwalin began but I put a hand on his as he pulled away, turning away from me.
"It, fine. Thank you," I told Dwalin with a small smile on my face before I sighed deeply.
"Why do yeh care so much about how we looked?" Dwalin asked me suddenly, turning back to me and I frowned and sighed once more.
"It's because…things are changing. In Middle Earth I mean. I…you wouldn't believe me even if I told you," I told Dwalin, frustrated that I had no one to talk to about what Mahal told me and I looked down at my hands which were folded in my lap
"Yeh could try," Dwalin said then and I looked up at him and saw that he was turned towards me, listening intently.
"Alright," I began as I turned my body towards Dwalin. "Mahal visited me in my dreams. The first time was at Bilbo's home. He told me that I would determine the fate of Durin's line. And that I couldn't do it alone, I would need allies. I know how much my adad and Thorin and all of you hate Elves and I wouldn't say I like them either, but the way I see it, it was King Thranduil and his people that didn't come to our aid. It was him and not Lord Elrond. By the time the news would have reached Rivendell of Smaug's attack on Erebor, Smaug would already have taken up residence in the mountain," I explained to Dwalin, rambling slightly as I tried to piece everything together myself as I spoke.
"And then there is my grandfather. From the way my father talked about it, he wasn't well. He wasn't in his right mind. If Lord Elrond did try to offer our people shelter, would he have listened? There's so many questions going about in my head and then it doesn't help that Mahal came to see me again here," I babbled as Dwalin sat there and listened to me, his face expressionless. He didn't stop me, so I just continued, knowing that I had to get it all out.
"Mahal told me that you had to know when to fight and when not to fight and that a battle cannot be waged alone. He meant allies. Whatever is coming, whatever Raadagast was hinting towards this darkness, the poison that is supposedly in me, it has something to do with our Quest. I just know it does. And I can't even fight! I mean look what happened to me. How am I supposed to determine the fate of Durin's line," I said, and I put my face in my hand, overwhelmed with the weight on my shoulders.
"He's come to me to," Dwalin said and looked over at him, shock written all over my face. "Mahal's visited me too. Said that our quest would succeed, but the fate of Durin's line wasn't guaranteed," Dwalin told me gruffly as I frowned deeply.
"Have you told Thorin about this?" I asked him and he shook his head, looking down at his hands. "Why not?" I asked him quietly and he sighed heavily.
"Dinna think it mattered. We all knew when signing up that some of us might not make it back," Dwalin told me as he looked at me and I nodded in understanding.
"I…I forgive you for what you did back with the trolls," I said and Dwalin frowned deeply at me as we looked into each other's eyes. "Knowing when to fight and when not to," I added before shaking my head. "I know you only wanted to protect me, but you doing that made me feel like you didn't trust me to have your back. I haven't been training for nothing. I want to help and if you had all died…," I said, shaking my head and looking away as tears filled my eyes and Dwalin placed his hand on top of mine which were folded into my lap.
"I do trust yeh lass," Dwalin told me and I looked up slightly. "I just dinna want to see yah hurt," Dwalin told me and I sniffled and nodded in understanding. "Yeh a fine shot, I'll give yeh that," Dwalin told me and I chuckled, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand.
"The trick is to not aim apparently," I told Dwalin and he chuckled at that before we both looked at each other. We involuntarily leaned in towards one another as we stared into each other's eyes, but whatever moment we were having was broken as Dwalin leaned far away from me and stood up.
"Best be getting back," Dwalin told me and I nodded, rising to my feet.
We walked in silence back to our balcony and I felt a growing knot in my stomach. I didn't even know really what had just happened between us, but there was something. I noticed it now. Every time I was next to Dwalin there was this butterfly feeling in my stomach. I smiled and laughed more. I felt more carefree. Some of the pain of my father's pacing stared to lift and I felt like it was okay to be happy. There was something about Dwalin son of Fundin and I wanted to find out what it was and one of those questions was why I liked it so much when he touched my hair.
Khuzdul-
A'khuz- Stop
Sindarin
Mae govannen- Well met
Hiril vuin- My lady
