It takes nearly three months for Nori and Kíli to put together all the pieces that they manage to gather. For her part, Nori is fairly certain she has worked out who and why within a few hours of her meeting with Dwalin in Dori's kitchen, unable to sleep after the discussion with her former lover who is not her lover and so she had spent some time putting it together. She could have delivered her findings there and then, but she had decided to continue in part to see how long it would take Kíli to work it out and in part because she realises, once she has confirmed her suspicions by digging into the file, that the one who ordered the hit is too cunning to make another attempt any time soon.
It is an old ploy, Nori has heard of its use in Rohan in the distant past as well as some of the Eastern kingdoms of Men, and a simple one in some respects; kill the heir, let the spare have a few close calls and force the king to either marry someone young enough to provide him with another heir, or force his remaining heir to do the same thing. Once the child is born the king and any other older family members meet with a tragic accident, illness or die during an orc attack and the child is placed on the throne under the control of a regent who keeps all the power. In some respects, Nori is hardly surprised that this has happened now while the line of Durin's influence is at its weakest. With what she knows of the future, however, her reaction is one of incandescent rage rather than distant anger. It takes explaining the entire ploy to Kíli to prevent Nori from making her way to the house of the one who ordered the hit and eliminating him herself.
Then she goes with Kíli so that she can help him explain his findings to Thorin.
Their king is, understandably, enraged. Unlike the times when Nori saw him upset during the quest, however, Thorin manages to keep a hold of his tongue rather than lashing out at Kíli. Whether it is because Nori is still a relative stranger to him and he has no desire to show any sort of weakness in front of her, or he is relieved that Kíli's recent apparent poor behaviour has simply been a cover for his investigation, Nori neither knows nor cares. She just stays close as her apprentice details what they have found in quick, concise sentences as she had instructed him to.
"Why now?" Thorin demands.
"That, we haven't been able to find out," Nori replies. "Funnily enough, people who are planning to off their king and his family don't keep this kind of thing written down. And speculating leads to bad habits of connecting things together incorrectly." The displaced king scowls at her. "I'm more interested in what you want to do about it."
"The attempt failed," Dwalin says, "they have to know that we would be looking for who it was."
"They do," Nori confirms, "but there'll be another attempt, soon I imagine. The contract hasn't been fulfilled. If someone else had died in Fíli's place it would have been void, and whether by your hand or not the assassin responsible would have been killed, that kind of clumsiness is inexcusable. The only other way the contract could be cancelled is if the one who ordered the hit is killed."
"We have very little evidence," Dwalin objects, even with the small amount that Nori and Kíli have managed to gather it would not be enough for Thorin to take official action. Nori gives him a dangerous grin.
"I don't need more evidence, guard," she points out. "I've heard enough from his own lips, the lad too. For the right fee I'll gladly take care of it."
"Fee?" Thorin raises an eyebrow. "I was under the impression that such a task would be one of Kíli's duties when he takes the mantle of the Wolf."
"He hasn't taken it yet," Nori points out with an arched brow, "and even if he had, he needs to earn a living and pay his Guild fees, same as the rest of us. If he were to do it now out of duty, well, he'd get himself killed. He hasn't been trained, we haven't got there yet, have we lad?" Kíli shakes his head although he has gone noticeably pale at the thought of having to kill another in cold blood. That is something he will have to get used to, but not this time. "He'll get himself killed, either during the job or when the Guild finds out he's overstepped. Hasn't even passed his thief's test yet. You want the dwarf in question quietly taken care of? I'll do it, and because I'm fond of the boys I'll give you a discount, but no thief, spy or assassin works for free. Not even the lad." Better she make that clear now than one of them having to come up against it when Kíli has completed his training. "If you think he's going to be able to do it all alone, you're as delusional as your grandfather was," Dwalin sucks in a breath from his place behind Thorin, his eyes going wide. "The Wolf never worked alone, he always had a pack. Funnily enough, they all had to be paid given we all have this expensive habit of wanting to eat."
"I should have you killed for that," Thorin snarls, getting to his feet.
"I've come out of worse," Nori replies. "And you still need me to train him. I promise you that none of the others will make the kinds of allowances for him that I do. He'd be living among us, not coming home every night we're in town."
"Uncle," Kíli speaks up, "she hasn't said anything that others haven't at one point or another. And much as we may dislike it, if half of my mother's memories are to be believed she isn't wrong about Thrór."
"You are changed," Thorin observes.
"Apparently I'm growing up," Kíli mutters. "Besides, she's right, I'm not ready to sneak in and kill someone. Not yet. Give her the job."
"Dwalin?" Thorin looks at the large guard.
"I trust her," Nori blinks in surprise."Without what she's been teaching Kíli, Fíli wouldn't be here right now. She's taken them both under her wing and much as you and their Ma dislike it, the things she's been teaching them will keep them safer than they would have been without. She put us on the alert for the second assassin, I'm sure a lot of what she just told us should have been kept quiet as well. All personal animosities aside, since she started training the lad she has done nothing but work to keep him, and you, safe. I don't like the method, you know I don't hold with this cloak and dagger shit, but this is her area and if she says this is the best way, trust her. Better that than the consequences of ignoring it all."
Nori suspects that her expression must match Thorin's, although she tends to be pretty good at keeping reactions to herself. Still, hearing that Dwalin trusts her even with as antagonistic as she has been towards him makes a few of the cracks in her heart heal a little, even as others open a little wider.
"This isn't going to get you into my good graces, Guard," she smirks.
"I like all my parts exactly where they are," Dwalin shrugs, "I'm not going to try and charm my way somewhere I'm not wanted."
"I wish you would," Thorin grumbles. "Very well," he huffs after a moment of thought, "I'll pay you after the job is done."
"Half now, half on completion," Nori shakes head, "and there'll be a contract. We do this by the book or in a few weeks it'll be my head on a spike in my boss' office. I have very little interest in dying. Won't take long, I bought a form copy of the contract with me. Best to be prepared."
"Uncle," Kíli insists.
"Give it to me," Thorin holds out his hand and Nori grins. It is always nice to get a bit of money out of the notoriously tight fisted line of Durin. "These are your reduced rates?" He asks as he reads.
"You get what you pay for," Dwalin mutters. "You that good?"
"One of the best," Nori assures him and it is not a lie. She is one of the best, but she also dislikes doing it unless necessary.
In this case, it is necessary. In her last life the contract was closed after Hela's death and another attempt was not made, the Guild rarely takes a repeat contract on a mark after an accidental death. It arouses suspicion. A few others had cropped up over the years, but knowing that Nori had taken on the role of Wolf for Thorin had put many off taking the job on. This time will be different, but mostly because she will let it be quietly known throughout the Guild that Thorin put a hit out on the one who tried to have Fíli killed. It is one thing to know that the king will need a lot of evidence to order a public execution, Thorin's position is precarious without Erebor, it is another entirely to know that he will order the quiet elimination of any threat to his heirs.
Thorin hums as he reads, eyebrows pulled into a frown as his eyes skim rapidly over the words. Everything Nori has told him about the cancellation of contracts is in there, but the document is almost five pages long and it takes Thorin a while to get through it.
"Half now?" He asks after a while.
"Make your mark at the bottom," Nori tells him. "And half now. You'll hear of his death, he's known enough for it to reach you. I'd rather not cut bits off him to bring as proof, you understand."
"Indeed," Thorin murmurs, raising his eyebrows before turning to dig into one of the drawers of his desk. "Your payment," he hands her a small leather pouch after counting out the contents. "I trust you will be discrete when departing?"
"Always am," Nori chirrups. "Today is a good day," she mutters as she bounces the pouch in her hand. "Coming, lad?"
"Do you mind if I take the afternoon?" He asks. "I want to spend some time with my brother."
"I got paid," Nori shrugs, "I'll allow it. Normal time in the morning at the warehouse. Can't let you get rusty."
"I'll walk you out," Dwalin says quickly.
"I thought you said you trust me?" Nori grins up at him.
"I trust you to do your job," Dwalin rumbles as they leave the room, although Nori does not miss the way that Thorin rolls his eyes at the pair of them. "And since your job seems to be pinching shit, digging out secrets and killing people for coin, I think I'll keep an eye on you while you leave."
Nori holds up the knife that Dwalin usually keeps tucked at the small of his back hidden by the harnesses that hold his axes.
"If I wanted to take something," she tells him, "you wouldn't know until I was long gone." She hands the knife back to him.
"How much have you already taken from me?" He demands, almost sadly, as he takes it from her.
"Oddly," Nori muses, "I haven't taken anything from you. As you've pointed out, we need to work together and stealing from you just… Rule one, you don't pinch from the people you work with."
"It's a small thing, I suppose," Dwalin almost teases, "but I'll take it."
A.N: Crochet Balin is done and can be found on my deviantart page: Artemis-Desari (as if anyone is surprised). The link can also be found at the end of the AO3 version of this chapter (since AO3 allows that).
I promise the next one really will be Kili. Also, I'm sorry for any weird typing bobbles in the next few chapters (however many it ends up being) My main computer up and died last night (right in the middle of my D&D session) and until it's repaired I only have the chromebook. The 'g', 'h', ' ' and backspace don't work on it (I don't know) so I have to use a clunky keyboard if I want to type on it and sometimes the Manbeast buggers off with the spare keyboard if his wireless one runs out of battery. 12 months of remote learning on top of my own studies have not been good for the tech in this house it would seem.