CHAPTER ONE - Sleep Well My Angel
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Nori looked down, shocked at the babe that was just lain upon his chest. The newborn dwarfling gave an unhappy wail, curling little pink fingers into Nori's chest hair.
"You have a healthy little dwarrow, there." The Healer, Lili, told him through a tight smile. "You won't be able to have any more this way though."
"That's fine. I didn't even know this could happen to me." Nori choked; eyes still glued to the naked babe he'd just watched be pulled from his body. Suddenly it all clicked, and Nori's hands began to shake, and shocked tears came to his eyes.
"Don't get Drunk, dressed as a 'dam, if you're from the line of Durin." He laughed brokenly. "Dori warned me, but I didn't know what he meant. Fuck. Ori?" He gasped out, tears escaping to run down his cheeks, breathing becoming harder as pain and shock really set in.
"Here, some poppy-milk for the pain." Lili offered, having finished stitching her patient up. "If I was surprised about this little one, I can't imagine how you're feeling right now. Just drink up and rest some." While Nori swallowed the bitter concoction, Lili's assistant took the still upset newborn to be cleaned and weighed.
Once the healers had left, and the cleaned babe was laid in the attached cot, Nori gazed upon the small life he'd unwittingly brought into the world. Black hair covered the small head in wild tufts, soft skin already showing to be a more honied shade common to the Blacklock dwarves, than the pale of Nori's own, and a pair of bright emerald eyes gazing back into a matching, if older pair.
"I can't be your Amad, little one." Nori frowned, gently brushing a finger delicately over newborn skin until the lullaby of the potent poppy-milk pulled the dwarf into slumber.
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"You're leaving." The astute dwarrowdam noted factually, arms folded across her chest. "Without Hari."
"Miss Lili, I…" Nori sighed and pushed his unbound hair back under the turban tied around it in the current Blacklock fashion.
"You're underage."
"Yes."
"Don't come from a well-off family."
"No."
"You don't know who the father is."
"No."
The pair stood in the sparsely lit guest room of the healer's family home for a moment of silence, both their eyes on the sleeping dwarfling on the other side of the room.
"I can't look after him. I'd be bringing Hari across most of Arda, to the Blue Mountains, even if he survived the trip, he'd just starve along with me and my brothers." Nori repressed a sob, as he took in what would probably be the last view of his son. "Your colouring is close enough to mine, and your husband is a pretty typical Blacklock, no one will question him not being yours'. You're a Healer, and Jamis is a Guardsman – you can actually feed him and pay for his schooling."
Lili interrupted her fellow red head with a tight hug.
"You don't have to convince me to adopt little Hari, he's the greatest gift anyone could have given my family. But are you sure it's what you want to do?" The dwarrowdam questioned quietly.
"It's what I have to do." Nori replied and disengaged from the hug. With one last glance to the sleeping babe, a sniff and a discrete wipe at wet eyes, the young dwarf ducked out the door, slipping away from the residence in the Ephol Duath, beginning the long journey back north to Thorin's Halls in Ered Luin.
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Jamis came home from his shift on the guard rotation, to Lili standing in the living room, gently rocking the little babe whose previously unaware parent his sweet wife had taken in as a charity case. Imagine Lili and her assistant's surprise, when instead of a ruptured appendix or something, there'd been a live baby in there, ready to come out. The poor young dwarrow hadn't even known he'd had the genetic quirk to make bearing a child possible, much less that he'd been carrying one.
The young lad had been a mess, emotionally and physically, and had been so damn grateful for Lili for her help. He had the most loving, beautiful dwarrowdam in all of Arda for his One, regardless of what cousin Sirius sometimes teased, and young Nori and his dwarfling were benefiting from Lili's giving nature.
They'd been trying to have dwarflings of their own for a while now, but hadn't yet been blessed by Mahal, so the presence of a newborn in their home was something Jamis was choosing to take as a portent of many tiny feet running through their halls in the future.
"Where's Nori?" The dark-haired dwarf asked quietly, taking a peek over his wife's shoulder, and smiling at the quiet but awake little dwarrow.
"Gone home." Lili replied. The mug of mead Jamis had been raising to his lips, lowered again.
"What?"
"He wanted us to raise the little one, since he couldn't. So, my love, meet our son." An awed and grateful smile spread across Jamis' bearded face, as Lili gently transferred the newborn into his arms.
"You, mizimith, are the greatest treasure your new Amad and I could ever have received. Welcome, Harilaos to the House of Black."
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Nori's scar from little Hari's birth hadn't healed as cleanly as he'd hoped, and still his stomach muscles ached like being stabbed, even nearly a year later. He had finally made it back to Dori's house in Ered Luin and was trying to get out of his travel worn clothes without waking either of his brothers. Trying, being the key word.
"Nori?" Apparently unsuccessfully, as Dori poked his head around the door without waiting for a reply. There was pause, and then Nori's older brother was there helping to remove the garment giving the younger dwarf so much trouble.
"Oh Nori."
"You know, your warning was about as clear as coal." Nori gave a choked laugh, not feeling able to look his big brother in the eye. "Had no idea what you meant, and suddenly they're cutting a babe outta me."
"Oh Nori." Dori sighed again, sweeping his brother up in a hug, for once mindful of his incredible strength. "And the pebble?" He cautiously queried."Gave him to a well off Blacklock couple – married, both in good work with steady income. The 'dam coulda been my sister in looks." Nori
muttered into Dori's shoulder, for once not resistant to the taller dwarf's affections. "What happened to yours? Ori is?""Our brother. I lost my little one during the surgery to get him out near 25 years before Ori was born to Amad." Dori finally admitted, holding himself together by the skin of
his teeth. "Losing my child is not something I think I can talk about still."
The brothers remained leaning together for long while afterwards.
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And that's Chapter One. Chapter title is from 'We Are The Fallen's song of the same name, as it was that song that inspired much of the interactions between Hari and Nori, both in this chapter and later in the story. Very Emo, I know, but whatever, I happen to like the song.
Next few chapters are background world building, and such are relatively short. Longer chapters coming soon.
Reviews and constructive criticism welcomed. Flames will be deleted, as internet trolls are not worth the time or effort.
Happy reading!
-Vengeance