Chapter 9:

Nala and Fili stood at the entrance to the chambers he led her too. It was overly large with a bed centred against the back wall. It was decorated in burgundy chiffon which tied at the four posters, matching the deep red bed coverings and silk pillows. Red seemed to be the theme of the room as the small, cushioned lounge was also a similar shade, situated in front of a small hearth.

"I think our time apart has caused you to forget that I am not a high-born," Nala murmured. "This too above my standing Fee." The nickname fell naturally from her lips.

Fili shrugged nonchalantly, a playful smile pulling on his cheeks. "Thorin said to find something suitable. This is suitable is it not? Besides, your brother was given an honorary title and being his sister most would expect you to be treated with the same standing." Nala couldn't find it in herself to argue any further. The room was gorgeous and it would be stupid to insist on something less. "Where are all your things? I can have them brought up for you."

The bareness of herself became apparent to both of them as she curled her arms around her stomach. She had her small pack, filled with a water bottle, spare socks and her staff was in place on a snap-sheathe along her back. "I've got everything with me. I had to leave most of it behind."

Fili's brow twitched as he took another step closer. "You said there was someone following you? Do you know if they still are? We can order the guards to search the area."

Nala shook her head. She had already imposed on their day; she could not ask them to disrupt it ay further. "No, I think I lost them after I went around the Misty mountains. I had a good head-start." She swallowed thickly, readjusting her pack. There was something about his demeanour that she noted. "You…you know, don't you?"

Fili nodded. "Thorin informed me after you left. He had Yorna and Dwalin track down the man that killed your mother. He was executed a month after your departure. Uncle sent a letter to your father, hoping that he would come back but your father didn't think it was safe still. I won't say too much else since I think your brother wants to be the one but we're going to protect you, alright?" Nala nodded coyly, wiping away yet another tear track. "I'm sorry about your father. I know how difficult it is to lose a parent." Pursing his lips, Fili took another step forward, embracing her in a hug much gentler than before. "It's going to be better here. You have people who know around you."

"Who does know?"

Fili squinted his eyes looking into the near distance. "Thorin, myself, Dwalin and Balin, Yorna, your brother, Bofur, Oin, a few of the most trusted guards under Dwalin's command. Oh, and myself."

"So, people I don't even know, know my family's secret before I did?" Fili sucked his lips, nodding shortly. "And Kili doesn't know?"

The blond Dwarf perked a brow. "No actually. Thorin didn't think he would need to know." Nala hummed in thought, scuffing the toe of her boot along the stone floor. "I'm going to let the others know where I've put you." He took her hand, squeezing her palm. "I'll have dinner brought to you as well tonight but usually it's in the main dining chamber. Most of the company members and family eat there every night."

Nala looked down at his hand then back up to his face, biting her lip. "Are you sure I'm welcome to come?"

Fili chuckled, nodding. "I think you meet the requirement of family in more than one way. It might lighten your brother up a bit. I don't remember him being so broody."

Nala managed a teasing smile. "It's gotten worse with age." They fell into a thick silence but there wasn't any sense of discomfort. Nala pulled her lips back, giving her old friend a taunting glare. "You're an idiot you know?"

Fili blinked, not expecting the insult. "What?"

Nala dropped her hands from his, instead, shoving a finger into his chest. "Going on a quest to a dragon infested mountain! Don't get me wrong, I'm unbelievably proud of you but I can't believe you actually did it. Mahal, I can't believe Thorin let you." Fili's worried eyes fall back into their usual lightness, accompanied by a guilty chuckle. "If you ever do something like that again, I'm coming along to make sure you don't die."

"As long as you don't go anywhere I can't follow," Fili countered, tilting his head closer to his shoulder. Nala pulled a straight face, but it eventually broke, and she nudged his shoulder with her own. "I do have to go now, I think I'm due in the map room with Balin soon. Feel free to come interrupt and drag me out anytime you want."

His tone clearly insinuated his desire to be anywhere but this so-called map room. Nala shook her head with wide eyes. "Oh, I should be fine," she taunts. "Maps sounds important and I wouldn't want to take you away from it."

Fili walked backwards out her door with a piercing glare. "Do you remember the call?"

Nala barely held her smile, leaning against the doorframe. "Twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl?"

Fili's smile grew wider as he kept pacing backwards down the hall. "You hear it, you come save me remember!" He turned around, waving over his shoulder as his walk turned into a jog. Nala waved back, resting her head against the frame.

She didn't dare leave her room, knowing she wouldn't find her way back on her own and she doubted anyone knew exactly where she was staying. Her pack and staff were discarded next to the wardrobe as she laid across the bed, boots kicked off. She had already cried once again, both for the mourning of her father and the relief that she was finally with her brother again.

Would she stay in Erebor? To her surprise, Bola had actually looked content when she first walked in. There was no way she would go back out there alone but did Erebor feel like a place she could call home.

Sitting up, Nala looked around her room with a critical eye. It didn't feel like home, not her own. But that was a little dramatic considering she had only been there for approximately two hours. Was her life on the road now gone?

As she rolled onto her stomach, from inside her jacket there was the sound of paper crinkling. Falling back onto her back, she reached in, pulling out the crinkled letter. She had never sent it off. The words on it weren't true anymore; she wasn't alright. Or maybe now she was.

The paper shrivelled under her fingers into a tight ball before being tossed over her head onto the floor somewhere. She would write another as soon as she got some paper and ink. But then she shot up from her bed, walking around it until she reached the dropped paper. Picking it back up, she takes it to the unlit hearth instead, placing it on the stone slate. The room was too nice to be trashed by a low born.

'A low born living like a noble' Kili had once told her. And the statement was true enough, but it wasn't like she asked for the life she led. She sighed, knowing the high of her reunion with Fili would soon be again brought down to reality once Kili got over his shock and returned to his snarky self. Maybe now that they were both of age it would be easier for them to be civil. Tolerable at the very least. If she was completely honest, she didn't hold any hate for him and she wouldn't reject the idea of them being friends. But by judging his expression from just two hours ago, Nala knew that was a daydream.

A soft knock at her door rattled her out of lucid thoughts. "Come in."

Her brother poked out from behind the door with a heavy-set face. "I brought us both dinner. I'm assuming you want to eat in here tonight." Nala nodded, pulling her legs underneath her. They could eat on her bed like they were children again. Bola entered with two highly stacked plates. The food on them made her mouth water. She had been stuck eating the bare minimum of whatever she could scavenge. There wasn't any time to wait around and hunt.

"I could get used to this," she noted as the plate was handed to her. Bola snorted, sitting on the end of her bed. He settled down, leaning up against one of the posters and kicked off his boots before stretching his feet out. "Is your room this big?"

He nodded, his mouth already full. "Yeah. A bit different from Ered Luin, isn't it?" Nala nodded silently, her own mouth quickly filled with potato. At Ered Luin, they lived a small family section. Most of that house could fit in this one room, yet it was still considered a luxury in the Blue Mountains.

They ate in silence for the most part, both of their minds filled with a jungle of thoughts. Nala knew that their father's death was a heavy toll on him, just as it was on her. She was just waiting for it to show. For her, it had been two months. Two months to come to terms with his death. That was barely enough time to mourn but she had time to think, Bola hasn't.

After there was nothing left on her plate, she put it aside on her bedside table, folding her hands in her lap. "He was proud of you, you know," she whispered. "I am too. He stood over my shoulder when I was writing to Wikor and made sure that I wrote every last detail that I knew down." She let out an air-filled laugh and Bola smiled down at his plate. "I just wished we could have buried him."

Bola stayed silent for a long time as Nala traced her finger over her palm. "Me too," he eventually said through tight lips. "And I'm proud of you as well. You kept your head on and made it home safe."

"You're already calling Erebor home," she wondered. Bola looked around her room, slowly nodding.

"I've been here six months already. Besides, where else would we go?" Nala shrugged, avoiding her answer but she knew her brother could see right through her. "You want to stay on the road, don't you?"

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I knew Ered Luin wasn't an option, but I thought we were safe on the road. I didn't realise…nobody told me… How am I supposed to know that Erebor is safe too?"

Bola moved his plate aside, crawling along her bed until he rested by her side. "Because you have me here. You have Thorin, Fili, Dwalin. Mahal, even Kili is here."

"I think he'd rather let me die if we're being completely honest," she snorted gruffly. "Did you see the look he gave me today? And all these people…they were around and out mother still died. Don't get me wrong – I don't blame them at all, but they couldn't promise safety then, so how can they promise it now?"

"Because we didn't think we had anything to be safe from," her brother intoned. "We thought they were all dead. Now we know. I'm sorry we didn't tell you, we-"

"I'm not upset about that," she intervened. "I understand; you didn't think there was anything to worry about and when there was, you thought you could handle it." She tilted her head back, peering at her brother with a raised brow. "Am I wrong?"

Bola's eyes flicked between her own for a moment before he shook his head. "No, but I'm glad you know now. You need to be careful, especially of new people. You're going to meet a lot of them being here but if you ever spend considerable time with any of them, I need you to tell me and Thorin exactly who they are. I'm already doing the same. It's just a precaution so we know exactly who's interacting with us."

Nala's mouth fell open slightly with a small frown to accompany it. "Is…is that why everybody needs paperwork to enter the mountain?"

"For the most part," he replied lightly. "It was Fili's idea so we would have a record of people and we thought it would also be a good way to keep track of the population, where they've come from. Just to make sure resources are being allocated effectively and such."

"This all seems like a bit much," she murmured. "Thorin's a king. I know that he's a family friend, but surely he has other things to focus on."

Bola's head swayed from side to side as he bit the corner of his mouth. "There's a bit more to it than just being a family friend." He exhaled loudly, scratching his head. "We'll talk about it with him in a few days after you've gotten some rest, alright?"

Nala nodded, settling for the knowledge that she knew her questions will be answered. And she was exhausted. But not as exhausted as Bola look. She observed him for a while, noting his dark eyes and furrowed brows. "You can let it out," she whispered. Bola's head turned to the side ever so partially, searching her eyes. Nala's own tears filled her eyes once again. "Don't bottle yourself up with me."

At her words, his bottom lip curled up and his eyes clenched shut. Her brother let his face fall into her shoulder and Nala shifted around to curl her arms around his neck, resting her cheek against his hair. She bit her lip, running her finger through his hair as her own lungs began to shudder with erratic breaths.