Billana is happily wandering the rooms of the apartment when Nori finally tracks the three of them down. The thief raises an impressed eyebrow at the large rooms and smirks when Billana shifts to expose evidence of how happy Fili and Kili had been when she accepted their proposal. She flushes and is surprised when the princes do the same under Nori's scrutiny. It is quickly shrugged off, however, by Nori's announcement.
"Thorin's awake," she tells them. "It'll be for the best that we get the three of you back to the guard room. I know he isn't always the most cheerful of people, but this mood is sour even for him."
Nori keeps her tone light, but Billana likes to think that she has learnt to read the thief well enough since Mirkwood to know that Nori is concerned. Very concerned. Fili and Kili, who have obviously known her far longer, also pick up on it and the joy that has floated around them all afternoon seems to evaporate. Nori mutters something to them both and they nod, then they touch their heads gently to Billana's and leave. The silence between them is heavy and it is an atmosphere that lingers once they are gone.
"Where's the Arkenstone, Billana?" Nori asks her as soon as they are alone. She has that strange air about her again, the one that always used to make Billana nervous.
"I don't know," she replies, "I don't have it. Why?"
Nori shakes her head. "It was the second thing that Thorin asked for when he woke up."
"What was the first?""
"The gold, naturally," Nori sighs. "Balin says he's dragon cursed."
"What does that mean?" The thief leads them back into the corridors, taking narrow passages that rise and fall, loop and twist until Billana is thoroughly lost.
"It means that unless we figure something out we're going to have another mad king on our hands," Nori tells her, "and I don't think it's something either of the pretty princes will be able to fix." There isn't much Billana can say to that, she has nothing to add which might help, so she turns her thoughts to something else that she's been curious about for a while.
"That thing you do, where you look at people like you can see what they're thinking, what is it?" She asks.
"The Sight," Nori mutters, halting and leaning against a wall. "It lets me see when people aren't being entirely truthful, doesn't matter if they're speaking or writing, I just know." She shrugs. "For the most part it's just made life bloody difficult. Everyone with even the tiniest bit of power wants someone at their side who knows when people are lying. It isn't something that I like advertise."
"I can imagine," Billana admits, aware of how it feels to have an ability that she would rather others didn't know about. "But the rest of the Company knows?"
"Probably," Nori nods, "my brothers obviously know. I met Dwalin, Balin and Thorin because of it. Bofur's sister is a good friend. The only ones who might not know are Oin and Gloin, and I'm in no rush to find out if they do or not." She pushes forwards, starting to walk again. "Come on, let's not give his royal broodiness a chance to complain about our absence."
They aren't far from the room that they are still all staying in, work on the shoring up the shattered gates having taken priority over converting some of the less damaged shops into living space for the Company over the coming months. Now that Billana has seen the royal wing she is of the opinion that it will take rather less work to make those rooms habitable than it would the shops near the gate, but until Dain arrives they need to be as near to it as possible. Her brief hours in the garden, however, have reminded her of how important it is that hobbits have access to the sun and the earth and the mountain once more feels heavy over her head. It reminds her of how lucky she is that Fili and Kili have listened to her and taken her needs into account.
"-I would have the Arkenstone!" She hears Thorin roar as they approach and she glances at Nori nervously. Billana doesn't know where Fili has put it, but she does know that he had it. Whatever the reply it is obviously given in far more gentle tones and not even Billana manages to catch it. "You would keep it from me! Your King! My own kin set to betray me."
"Don't be ridiculous, Uncle!" She hears Kili cry. "We are only making certain that Smaug hasn't placed some dark spell upon it, for your sake."
"What would you know of such a task?" Thorin sneers.
"Given all the obscure books you've had me procure for him over the years?" Nori cuts in. "I think he probably knows more than you or Balin do. They aren't lying, Thorin."
"Is that the truth? Or your guilt?" The dwarf king demands.
His skin is sallow, his cheeks sunken after a week of being fed little more than sips of water and broth while he was unconscious. His hair is a mess, having not been combed or fixed since the battle with Smaug and, like the rest of them, he is in need of a good wash. They have yet to find the baths, and even if they had bathing Thorin would have been difficult. He looks frail, though he sounds anything but, and he stands without any of the unsteadiness that should come with a week of inactivity. Nori tilts her chin, meeting his glare head on with an arch of her braided eyebrows and a twist of her lips.
"You know full bloody well what that cost me," she tells him. "And of anyone, you and Balin have the least right to bring it up."
"Do not think-" Thorin begins.
"Enough!" Balin cuts him off. "You have just woken. Can we not rejoice in the fact that the mountain is ours once more? Can we not rejoice in the fact that it was Kili who defeated the dragon? Regardless of why your sister's sons are guarding the Arkenstone, what need have we of it? Dain is hardly going to contest your claim now that the dragon is dead and Erebor is back in the possession of the elder line of Durin. Dain is on his way," Balin continues, "the fires in the great forges have been relit," that gets a slightly irritated glare in Kili's direction. "We should be celebrating our good fortune. Not fighting among ourselves."
"In the spirit of good news," Fili continues, holding his hand out to Billana and she goes to his side. "Kili and I asked Billana to become our wife this afternoon. She's agreed."
There is a moment of silence and then the Company breaks into raucous cheers. Even Thorin's face clears for a moment, the grey colour fading as he smiles widely and gleefully, the dull look in his eyes replaced by genuine joy.
"I am pleased for you all," he says warmly, "love is a rare thing and should be treasured. Will you wait for your mother?"
"Actually we were hoping for a lot sooner than that, before Dain gets here," Kili says. "Now, if we can manage it."
"I don't think so," Nori snorts. "This is her wedding day. Billana's only going to get one of those. She's going to need a bath and a dress and you two should have somewhere a bit nicer to take her for the wedding night than this. And Balin's her father, he can't perform the ceremony. It'll have to be Ori." Everyone stares at her. "Just because I'm a thief and a scoundrel doesn't mean that I've never thought about my wedding day."
"Then why do you keep refusing me?" Billana hears Dwalin mumble.
"Not the time," Nori hisses back at him. "We'll talk later. If they really want to rush this we need to get a move on." She looks at the princes. "Have either of you even bothered with making the beads?" She asks. Kili shifts sheepishly. "I see. Dwalin, escort them to the forges so that they can sort it out will you? And make sure that they have a set of chambers ready before you chuck them in the bath. Balin, you said the forges are lit?" Balin nods. "Which means that the baths will be warm by now, I think you had better show us the way."
"Can't you find it yourself?" He asks with a wary glance at Thorin.
"I can," Nori shrugs, "but don't you want to be the one to tell your daughter what to expect?"
"I think you're doing a pretty good job at the role of mother yourself," Balin shrugs, and Billana sees Dori wince as Nori turns her glare onto the white-haired dwarf. "You are correct, however, that it would be best that I talk her through it."
The six of them leave to the sound of Bombur declaring that he had better look at preparing a feast of celebration for them all, or as much of a feast as they can manage in the circumstances. Dwalin herds Fili and Kili away as soon as they are out of the room, giving each one a clip about the ear for not thinking ahead before opening their fool mouths. Nori and Balin take her in almost the opposite direction, heading down into the mountain. As they talk Balin explains what will happen once everything has been prepared to her satisfaction. Billana is tempted to say that as long as she marries Fili and Kili she doesn't care how prepared it all is. She had never believed that she would marry in any case and the only chance of it in the Shire would have been the marriage her grandfather was talking about arranging for her. Now just the thought of that makes her feel sick and she wonders how she could have accepted it if she had never met them. She suspects that no matter who her grandfather arranged to be her husband she would have fled. So while her wedding is happening with the kind of haste that is only seen when the hobbit lad and lass in question have anticipated their joining, she is coming to realise that she doesn't want to miss out on a good meal with the music and laughter that follows. She doesn't want to miss out on wearing a pretty dress and preparing with a luxurious bath. She may not be able to wear a flower crown, and it's certainly the wrong time of years to find any blossoms, but she wonders if the dwarves have a tradition like it.
Balin, it seems, has a similar idea in mind, because as they walk he starts talking. He tells her what to expect during the ceremony, what she will need that he will find for her, what she needs to wear and how her hair will need to be presented. He instructs her that she will need to choose her guard, a dwarf or 'dam who will stand beside her to ensure that she is not being coerced into agreeing to the wedding, something which makes Nori snort and shake her head. Father's do not give any one spouse to the others, as the Men might give their daughters to their future husband. Of course, no dwarf has tried to force another to marry against their will in centuries, but it doesn't mean that it hasn't happened. Those who are to marry go to the ceremony unarmed, something that Billana doesn't know whether to be relieved about or not. The guests, however, all attend the weddings armed to the teeth.
Fili and Kili, she knows, will very likely ask Dwalin or Thorin to stand with them, though with what ever Smaug had done to Thorin seeming to still linger about the dwarf king Billana would rather they ask Dwalin. Since she cannot ask Balin, as parents are not permitted to act in the role of guard, she asks Nori since the thief has become one of the dwarves she has grown closest to in the last few months. Balin seems content with her choice, or not surprised at least, and hurries off to find the few things that she will need so that the ceremony can be performed as correctly as possible given the circumstances.
A.N: As I said last chapter, I'm just rolling with it.
Updates may slow. As of Friday the schools over here will be closing to try and help contain the spread of the new plague. Quite why our illustrious leader (said will all the sarcasm available) has waited this long I don't know, but there we are. So aside from trying to keep up with my 30 hours a week of study (because no disease is going to stop my online degree) I also need to keep my two children occupied and try to make sure that they don't fall too behind in their own schooling. Middle Earth is starting to look pretty damn appealing right now.
