Bree never changes, Nori thinks as she takes a barrel from the wagon she and Kíli are helping Asger to unload and carries it into a storeroom. The dwarf who owns this particular shop is one of the few permanent dwarf residents of Bree, which is many occupied by Men and a small collection of more adventurous hobbits. He does good business as a blacksmith in the town for the most part, and has a yearly delivery of good dwarven ale and pipeweed brought by Graldik's caravan which he sells at an inflated price to other dwarf residents and travellers as they pass through.
"Rat piss in the Men's taverns," the dwarf tells Kíli, as he carefully stacks the barrels, "always has been. Likely always will be I'd wager. Only ones who do an ale I can stomach is the hobbits, but there's nothing like brew from home either. You want my advice, lad? Don't go marrying a Woman, not if you want more than good food anyhow. Greta cooks a fine meal but there isn't a Man in this town who can brew ale worth a damn…" Nori gives Kíli a commiserating smile as she slips back outside unnoticed.
"How many Women has Draghi married?" Nori asks Asger. She is aware of the blacksmith. Every dwarf who stops in Bree for any time at all knows of him in passing at least.
"Greta makes three," Asger says, easily lifting a cask of brandy. "He telling that poor lad all about how tough he has it?"
"In detail," Nori chuckles. "Suppose I better go and rescue him if that's the last barrel?"
"I'll do it," Asger tells her. "Need to get him to send his lads out for that wagon anyway. Take that one and get it stashed will you? No sense dragging it everywhere while I'm trying to find a few more hands."
Nori nods, but she doubts they'll find the number they need. They are over a week late at this point. Three caravans have already left from everything that Nori has heard on the way in. Granted they were going back to one town or another in the Blue Mountains, but it will leave them with very few stragglers looking for something to sign on to.
"Just the afternoon?" She asks.
"Nah," Asger huffs. "We're going to have a bugger of a time finding enough extra hands. Be here overnight at least." He pauses. "You still got a hankering for that bath?" He asks.
"If we're here overnight I think I'll treat myself to a private room. Mahal knows I won't get the chance again for a while," she nods.
"Fancy a bit of company? Your lad'll be alright by himself for a couple of hours."
It is on the tip of her tongue to refuse him. She should, but weeks on the road has given her time to think and even though she refused him the previous evening without Kíli in front of her the reason to avoid entanglements and fooling around does not seem quite so immediate.
"If you're paying," she grins.
"Tell you what," he pulls a pouch from his belt, "let's make a night of it. Get a couple of rooms at the Pony, one for the lad, one for us, and I'll meet you at the baths in a few hours. Try not to bleed Graldik too dry."
"Sounds like a plan," Nori accepts the purse with a wink.
He gives her a wide smile, and her mind points out that it is not the warm thing that crosses Dwalin's face when he is pleased or happy. It seems more dangerous and out of place on Asger, but perhaps that is the scar. His laugh is certainly joyous enough and there are few who have spent as many years as Asger on the caravans who do not have a limb, ear or eye missing.
Kíli emerges only a few moments after Asger goes inside, his cheeks flaming and his dark eyes slightly panicked. Nori laughs, well able to guess the topic of discussion which her young apprentice has just escaped, then climbs up into the seat of the cart to urge the ponies pulling it forward.
"Time to get some practice in," she tells him and watches from her higher perch as the lad slips through the walking Men and Women who all part to avoid the passing wagon.
By the time they have reached the yard and stables, groomed the ponies and paid the fee for their overnight care, Kíli has managed to steal a total of about thirty silver. Bree is bustling at this time of year and the Men are easy marks when packed tightly together.
"Nicely done," Nori praises him once they have taken two rooms in the Prancing Pony and retreated to the one which will be Kíli's for the night. "If I were you, I'd keep my head down tonight, maybe get a couple of drinks and get some extra sleep while you can."
"What about you?" Kíli asks, although she can tell he has no intentions of ignoring her recommendation. Their time on the road the previous year has taught him how important it is to take advantage of a good bed when available. Besides, Bree is not a place to get into trouble, it is always prudent to have a town or two where one is not wanted for some petty theft or another.
"I have other plans," Nori smiles.
"Asger?" The boy actually waggles his eyebrows at her and Nori chortles delightedly, which seems to be answer enough for him. "Have a good time. But don't tell me about it, I don't want to know."
"As if I would, cheeky little shit," she cuffs the back of his head lightly, almost fondly. His bright grin reminds her of why she is working so hard to make sure he trains and stays alive. "Just don't go upsetting any fathers," she instructs as she pulls the few clean items she has in her pack out, shouldering the rest to wash before her bath. "I'd say don't do anything I wouldn't, but that leaves you too many options for mischief. Just stay out of trouble, get yourself arrested and I won't be able to get you out this time."
"I know," Kíli huffs. "Go, get clean, have the kind of fun that gives me brain searing mental images. I'll keep my head down. Not like I need to help myself to any extra coin now anyway. Maybe I'll buy a book."
"A book?" Nori arches her eyebrow, amused.
"I read," he objects, almost offended.
She waves a hand and he shakes his head as she leaves the room. Kíli is a good kid, as is his brother, and training him seems to be doing the one thing that never happened with her other apprentices. Training him is making her start to wonder what it would be like to have a child of her own. She could have done, once, had the Dwalin of the future not broken her heart and put her in a position to start this whole mess over again. They were talking about marriage before the battle, children would be the natural next step of that joining. As it is, Asger will not be that for her. He has spent much of his life on this caravan route, and his age and stories indicated that he very likely spent many years before that on others. Those whose lives revolve around the trade routes and guard duties that come with it rarely have families. Many who do often end up travelling with them and most merchants have rules against children on the trade routes. Just because not every caravan encounters orcs or bandits does not mean it does not happen. Children on trade routes is a bad idea.
Serious relationships on a trade route are a bad idea as well, but Nori doubts Asger is aiming for anything other than an occasional bedmate, there are not all that many opportunities for privacy on the road anyway.
She wakes the next morning in a very good mood, stretching out a few kinks as she makes her way down to breakfast lazily. It had been a little strange, after stewing over Dwalin for so long, to finally take the offered chance to have a little fun with someone else, but she feels more settled than she has in a long while. Her good mood rather promptly evaporates when she enters the taproom and finds Kíli talking with two familiar faces.
Dwalin and Fíli.
"Aunt!" He greets her cheerfully, Cadan's Iron Hill's brogue lilting easily off his tongue. "Did you have a good night?"
"Better than I've had in a long while, lad," she replies, sitting next to him with more ease than she feels. "Who are your friends?"
"Dwalin and Fílian," Kíli tells her, obviously understanding why she would ask the question even though Fíli frowns at it. "Asger hired them yesterday to join us on the road to Labamgarel Zarrakh."
"Well, it'll be nice to have some extra hands," Nori mutters, resolving to find a quiet moment with Dwalin as soon as possible to make sure that the large guard knows how important it is that he not expose any of the lies that she and Kíli have told. She had not been adverse to Dwalin and Fíli possibly joining them, but given the circumstances of their departure she is fairly certain that the only reason Dwalin isn't already trying to drag Kíli back to the Blue Mountains are the contracts that he and Fíli have already signed.
"Didn't take you four long to start chatting," Asger comments from behind her. He squeezes her shoulder lightly as he walks around to drop into one of the remaining spare chairs. "Suppose that saves me the introductions. Got two more to come, so we'll give them until we've finished eating."
Breakfast is fairly easy, easier than Nori had expected. Fíli and Kíli chatter on together like youths tend to, with the dark-haired lad telling his older brother all about the different people he will meet when they rejoin the rest of the wagons in a couple of days. The final two new hands appear not long after breakfast, a black-haired dwarf with a waist length beard that is caught in a lattice of steel clips and a blond with a limp that indicates either an old injury or a false limb. Introductions are made quickly, the older two looking the rest over in almost haughty silence before giving simple nods and shouldering their belongings. Nori glances at Kíli and runs her left middle finger through her right eyebrow, friendly. Kíli pulls a face in return.
"Do you want me to get the cart, Asger?" He asks.
"Get to it," the one eyed dwarf laughs, his mood as improved as Nori's had been. Kíli hurries off, grabbing his brother's sleeve to tug him along with him. "They're friendly quick," Asger observes.
"We did leave Cadan alone all night," Nori shrugs, "can't expect him to have stayed in the room and do nothing."
"Alright," he agrees, "well, let's get a move on, sooner we catch up the less bitching Graldik gets to do."
"He like that a lot?" Dwalin asks.
"Never had a merchant fuss more than this one," Asger sighs. "I've been running this caravan with him for the last twenty years or so and I miss his old Pa. Told Revik I'd take care of his lad, though."
"Those are always the hardest promises to keep," Dwalin agrees.
The other two are already in the back of the cart when Nori, Asger and Dwalin arrive, with Fíli and Kíli stood beside it watching them warily.
"Get in, boys," Asger instructs, "you pair as well," he directs at Nori and Dwalin. "Let's get this show on the road."
A.N: Don't kill me! It had to happen to help with the healing. You lucky lot get an extra chapter this week. I'm four ahead from this point and I feel like cutting into it a little bit. Plus, I'm tired and have had a rough day (nothing big, just life being the way that it is) so I'm making myself feel a bit better by posting.