When Dis said she wanted to see how much of Thorin's money they could spend, she wasn't joking. Bilba had thought what she spent before leaving Shire was a lot, but quickly realized it was a mere pittance in comparison to what Dis cheerfully spent.
She'd expected them to go to the main Erebor mall, located near the center of the city. Back in Shire she'd often enjoyed spending a lazy afternoon at the mall, window shopping, grabbing a bite to eat or watching a movie at the theater. Here, the closest she'd gotten to the mall had been a few glimpses of it, both in person and in searches online during times when she'd been feeling particularly lonely or nostalgic.
Part of her had been excited about getting a small taste of what life used to be like but, really, she should have realized that it was never going to be that way again.
The Durins, as it turned out, did not shop at the regular mall.
The mall they went to, instead, wasn't even on the main island. It was on one of the minor ones behind the main island. There was a second mall there, several stories high and covering nearly all the landmass of the small, rocky spit of land it sat on. It was, Dis explained, where the wealthy of Erebor tended to shop along with their sizable security entourages. The public were welcome to visit the mall but did so with the understanding that there would most likely be a background check run on them the moment they stepped foot through the door.
Back in Shire, with Rosie and Bofur, Bilba would have spent her time leisurely walking through the mall. Dis, in contrast, approached shopping the way Bilba imagined a general might approach a war. She had memorized the layout of the mall and knew the most efficient way to hit every store she deemed essential.
She deemed a lot of stores essential, as it turned out.
For Bilba, it became a whirlwind she could barely keep up with. They'd enter a store and immediately be surrounded by the employees, all eager to help Erebor's princess. Dis would start talking and then, without warning, Bilba would find herself being measured and poked and prodded and fitted for all manner of things. Shirts, pants, skirts, dresses, and lavish gowns, all in various levels of formal and informal.
"Clothing is important," Dis explained, as she casually rejected one dress for another without any reasoning Bilba could see. "Too formal and you risk elevating someone to a station they have no business at. Too informal, and you risk offending an ally. We're judged in everything we do, down to the shoes we choose to wear or the jewelry we don't. It all sends a message, whether we like it or not." She paused suddenly, eyes staring off blankly into the distance and then, to Bilba's surprise, shot her a guilty look. "You know what? I'm sorry. I'm sitting here lecturing you like you're a novice on her first day of training."
"It's all right," Bilba said quietly as she watched a new parade of shoes being brought out from the back of the current store, they were in. Boots, heels, flats, even a few pairs of sandals. After this, Dis planned to hit the jewelry stores to ensure she had the right bracelets, rings, necklaces and hair pieces for various functions. Tiaras would be supplied by the palace. There were apparently at least fifteen of them, all to be worn for, and at, specific functions. "I didn't actually know most of this."
Dis and Ori stared at her.
"I'm sorry," Dis said. "You what now?"
Bilba flushed. "Shire has a large royal family. It wasn't seen as necessary to train everyone, when only a few ever interacted diplomatically with other families."
There, that was a good explanation…wasn't it? Part of her felt like just blurting out the truth. Telling them that she'd basically been a pariah because of her grandfather's hatred toward her mother. Tell them about the dreaded visits that were more about her grandfather showing off his evil than about training her to be a princess.
Just tell them…everything.
The other part of her, however, shuddered at how her grandfather would react if he found out she'd said anything. Yes, he was in Shire and she was in Erebor but, even so, the mere thought made her blood run cold.
She wasn't stupid. Reckless, and impulsive sometimes like when she'd allowed a two-year absence from the palace to convince her that she could stand up to her grandfather, but she wasn't stupid. Foolishly trying to stand up to him was a far, far cry to betraying him. What he could consider a betrayal anyway.
He could reach her in Erebor, of that she had no doubt.
She ran her hands up her arms, suddenly freezing, and forced a weak smile at the two women standing over her.
"Huh," Dis said after several long moments. She waved a hand absently. "Well, in that case, I'll keep talking then."
She did, but seemed distracted, while Ori kept shooting her strange glances that Bilba couldn't read. She didn't think she'd given anything away, or said something she shouldn't, but couldn't be sure. In any event, it was obvious she'd have needed to say something. She was clearly in the dark about Erebor's etiquette and, without help, stood an exceptionally good chance of offending just about everyone.
Suddenly, the fact that she'd spent a month in her room didn't seem like the worst decision ever. In fact, deciding to leave her room was beginning to feel more and more like a bad choice. Since she'd done so she'd almost drowned, gotten Thorin hurt, and had to deal with the Thrain and now her apparent lack of royal training.
They finished with the shoe store and then hit the jewelry ones just as Dis had said. It was only after they'd spent more money than Shire made in a year that Dis announced their next stop would be to get dinner.
At this, Bilba stumbled to a stop in shock. "How long have we been here?" Without thinking, she fumbled for her phone only to remember that, of course, she didn't have one.
"Oh!" Cerys suddenly stepped forward from where she'd been silently guarding them along with the rest of their sizable security force. "My apologies, Your Highness. I completely forgot." She pulled a slim phone from a pocket and held it out to Bilba.
Dis made a tsking sound. "Well, that's boring." Her eyes narrowed for a second. "There's a store on the second floor that sells phone accessories. We'll hit there and then eat."
"But we're supposed to eat at the palace," Bilba stammered, stumbling forward a few steps as Dis began to march off on her newest quest. "The king said—"
Dis spun to face her and, with a sigh, pulled her phone out and dialed. "We're going to be late," she said shortly as soon as the call was answered. She paused for a few seconds as the person on the other end responded. "Well, that's not my fault is it?" She listened for a few more seconds, visibly rolling her eyes and mimicking someone chattering away, before hanging the phone up with a bright smile.
"That…that wasn't the king, was it?" Bilba asked. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.
"He's annoyed that Thorin is too tied up in meetings to come to dinner," Dis said absently, focused on her phone as she texted something. She hit a button and then slid the phone back in her pocket. "And now the boys and Frerin won't be going either."
"Won't he be angry?" Bilba couldn't imagine ever treating her grandfather like that. He probably wouldn't have killed her, but she had no doubt he'd have made her wish he had.
"He'll be fine," Dis said airily. She hooked her arm through Bilba's and tugged her in the direction of the escalators. "Eating alone occasionally won't kill him. Maybe he'll reflect on his own behavior and stop taking us all for granted."
"One can hope," Ori said dryly as she linked her arm through Bilba's on the other side. "In the meantime, I think Thorin would definitely want Bilba to bling out her phone as much as possible."
"Oh, definitely," Dis said cheerfully. She pointed her arm forward as if leading a charge. "Onward, to victory and draining my brother's bank account."
Much as Bilba had wrongly envisioned what going to the mall for a royal would mean, she soon found she'd been just as wrong about what "getting something to eat" meant.
In Shire, with Rosie and Bofur, it would have meant going to the food court and finding a place, or several places, that looked fun to try. Then they'd search for a relatively clean, and empty, table that, if they were lucky enough, would have enough chairs for all three of them. Eating would be a mishmash of trying to fit all their food on the far too small surface while ignoring just how uncomfortable the chairs were. They'd laugh and talk, voices louder than normal to try and carry over the chatter of other mall goers and the loud music being piped over the speakers.
Here, it meant a high end, exclusive restaurant that took up almost an entire floor of the mall. A snotty looking man at the door held a list of guests who were allowed entry, though he immediately swept aside when he saw Dis approaching. As Bilba passed, he gave her a look that made her feel like a rat following a swan.
It was the first such look she'd gotten while being at the mall that day and served to forcefully remind her just how poorly she was viewed in Erebor. Yet another difference from Shire. There, no one cared one way or the other about her. She'd used to feel sad about it from time to time, but now understood it had been a blessing.
She suppressed a shiver and instinctively moved a step closer to Cerys. She wouldn't say she entirely trusted the other woman yet, but she was a familiar presence and Bilba could admit to feeling at least some level of safety when around her. An unstable safety to be sure, but safety.
They were led to a dimly lit private room with a thick, maroon carpet, a mahogany table and chairs padded with black leather. The overall effect might have been oppressive were it not for the fact that the walls and ceiling were literally covered in white and green tinged crystal. Lights had somehow been strung up behind them, creating an effect that made it feel like she'd just walked into a geode.
Bilba stumbled to a stop at the sight, staring in awestruck wonder. "Oh, wow. This is gorgeous."
Dis beamed in pride. "Isn't it? Ereboreans know how to decorate."
"They do indeed." Bilba shook herself out of her stupor and went to her seat. Their guards lined up along the walls and outside the room. Having so many eyes on them felt awkward to Bilba but Dis and Ori seemed oblivious.
As she settled in, Bilba absently set her new phone on the table. It now sported a case featuring inlaid gems that formed spiraling flowers and leaves set in a gold tone background. The case came with a spot to attach a charm, so she'd bought a small cat that reminded her of her feline friend from the beach.
Dis reached over and grabbed the phone. "I'm going to put my number in it, all right?"
Bilba nodded. "Okay. Would you mind putting any other numbers you think I should have? I don't have any right now."
"Oh!" Ori sat up straight and clapped her hands together. "Put mine too!"
Dis nodded, eyes focused on the screen. "I'll put all of ours, and your guards." She frowned and looked up. "Have you gotten your bracelet yet?"
"Bracelet?" Bilba asked blankly. "What bracelet."
"We haven't had a chance to sit down and design it with her, Your Highness," Cerys broke in from where she stood against the wall. "It's next on the list."
Dis nodded absently. She looked back to the phone but raised her other hand and jingled a charm bracelet hanging from her wrist. "We all have custom security bracelets. If you're ever in an emergency, all you have to do is activate it and you'll bring down pretty much the entire palace security on you." She set the phone down and moved one of the charms, a small, linked set of hearts, to reveal an almost invisible indentation. "It's designed so it can be activated quickly, but not accidentally."
"Oh." Bilba started to ask if anyone had ever had to use it, but bit back the question. If the answer were yes it would have been under extreme circumstances and it was likely Dis wouldn't want to relieve such a thing.
"Are you on Ravenhill?" Dis asked suddenly. "I'm going to send you a request."
She did something on the phone, and then handed it to Ori who also fiddled with it before handing it back to Bilba. "There, I sent you one too."
"Thank you." Bilba carefully took the phone back, unsure of what else to say. To be honest, the entire day had been overwhelming and she was still trying to process everything that had happened. "I'll send you texts, so you'll have my number too?" Her voice was shy even to her own ears, and she couldn't stop the irrational thought that both women would reject her offer in spite of having given her their numbers to begin with.
"Great!" Dis said cheerfully. "Now, the next time my father tries to pull a stunt you can text me and I'll come help him remove his head from his ass."
Bilba focused on her phone and didn't react. She had no intention of doing any such thing. The last thing she wanted to do was have the king see her as some sort of snitch or troublemaker. Not only that, but she didn't yet know if Dis was the sort to take her father to task only to get angry and protective when someone else did the same.
She pulled up her contact list and was surprised to see the long list of numbers Dis had added. Her own, Thorin's, Ori's, Cerys and Gareth, even Frerin who she still hadn't met and the king, who she planned to never call if she could help it. She also had no intention of ever calling Dwalin or Nori, but could see the reasoning behind having their numbers, as well as Balin. She added Rosie's, and Arwen's and made a mental note to find out her steward's number to add that one as well.
She moved instinctively to add Bofur's, only to flinch and stop. They'd agreed not to communicate, she reminded herself. Bofur needed to move on, and so did she. She wanted to move on. The sooner she did the sooner it'd stop hurting so much every time she thought about him.
She pulled up her Ravenhill account to accept Dis and Ori's requests, and was startled to see a third one waiting for her. "Thorin sent me a request."
"He'd better have," Dis said. "You are his wife after all."
Bilba chose to leave that comment alone. She accepted the requests and then, nervously, clicked on Thorin's profile. Her mood immediately soured at the sight of the name Kyra Lundair next to the newest post at the top of Thorin's page. It was some meme or another she'd posted, innocent enough on its own, but for the fact that the woman was literally everywhere Bilba went.
It had been posted only an hour earlier, she noted, and already had been liked by Thorin. Thorin who was too tied up in meetings to go to dinner, but not so tied up that he couldn't like something his ex-fiancée posted on his page.
"What's wrong?" Ori asked from where she sat next to Dis.
Bilba clicked over to Dis' profile. "Nothing." She studied the banner for the page, featuring a younger Dis standing next to an attractive, blonde man. "Is this your husband?" she asked, holding the phone up.
The other woman's face softened, and she took the phone to smile fondly at the picture. "Yeah, that's Vili. It'll be seven years this spring."
"I'm sorry." Bilba flinched in guilt, regretting having brought it up.
"It's fine." Dis handed the phone back. "We'll find him. I know we will."
"I believe you," Bilba said sincerely. She studied the picture a moment longer, wondering where the smiling young man had gone and why. He looked oddly familiar but, given who he was, it stood to reason she'd seen a picture in passing on the internet or even somewhere in the palace.
The food arrived just after that and she put the phone away as it was set out. They'd never been given menus or ordered but Dis and Ori didn't seem to think anything of it. A man Dis identified as the owner appeared and began announcing the dishes as they were set out. All of them sounded amazing, and Bilba felt herself growing hungrier with every passing minute.
The man finally stopped talking. He started to excuse himself, before pausing as Dis gestured him forward. He leaned over and, for several long moments, the two had a hushed conversation that Bilba couldn't hear from her side of the table. Then the man stood, bowed and left, after which they were finally allowed to eat. The food ended up being just as amazing as it looked and Bilba ate more than she probably should in an attempt to try all of it, and then a desire to go back for seconds on her favorites.
"So," Dis said as she snapped a breadstick in half. "How are things going with you and my brother?"
Bilba froze. "Uh…it's okay, I guess."
Dis raised an eyebrow. "You guess?"
"We don't know each other all that well," Bilba said, almost under her breath.
"Is that so?" Dis asked idly. She had an odd tone in her voice and Bilba had a sinking feeling she'd given away far more than she intended.
Dis didn't ask any further questions and the rest of dinner was spent in light chatter, mostly about favorite movies and books and the like.
Once they were finished Dis led them back out into the mall proper. Bilba was relieved to see the man at the door who'd glared at her was no longer there. He must have gone off shift while they ate.
They headed out, the only signs of their mammoth shopping trip the case and charm on Bilba's phone and the small, carry out box Ori had gotten to bring home to her husband. Everything else would be delivered to the palace later, Dis had explained.
"I hope I have enough room for it all in my wardrobe," Bilba mused, as they traveled down the escalator toward the first floor. "I probably should have thought about that."
Dis laughed. "That's cute." At Bilba's look of confusion, her own expression became startled. "Please tell me you didn't think that wardrobe was all you had to store your clothes in."
"It's not?" Bilba said slowly. It was all she had seen, and no one had mentioned anything else. Honestly, the thing was several times larger than what she'd had in Shire and was even larger than the ones she'd seen in Beatrice's room or any of her other relations.
Dis sighed. "It'll be too late by the time we get back but remind me to show you where your closet is. Or better yet just keep an eye out when the maids put all your things away. The wardrobe," she said in answer to Bilba's unspoken question, "is for your go to, day to day items, or to store an outfit you know you'll need in the next few days or week or so. It makes it less of a hassle if it's right there, you know?"
Bilba didn't but nodded dutifully.
They exited the mall, and her steps slowed as she realized full night had fallen. They'd literally spent the entire day shopping. Bilba was certainly tired, but, if asked, would have insisted they'd only been out a few hours at most. She cast a guilty look at Cerys and Gareth, wondering if the two had been able to eat or see Wynne, but neither appeared unhappy. Perhaps they'd gone on breaks when she hadn't been looking? She had spent a lot of time trying things on and being measured, so it was certainly possible.
They all loaded back into the limos and started the long journey back. Bilba must have dozed off because, before she knew it, they were pulling down a low ramp into an underground parking garage behind the palace.
Once they were parked, they all got out and took an elevator to the main foyer of the palace.
"This is where I must leave you," Dis said as they made their way up the stairs toward the royal levels. "The boys will be waiting for me to tuck them in and read them a story."
"I need to head off too," Ori said, holding up the carry out bag. "Dwalin should be off shift by now and I texted him that I was bringing food."
Bilba nodded. "Thank you, both, for today. I had a really good time."
As she said the words, she was startled to realize she meant them. She had had a really good time.
"You're welcome," Dis said cheerfully. "I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast, all right?"
Bilba nodded and the other woman left, followed soon after by Ori who impulsively hugged her before skipping off to her own rooms. Most of the security had already dispersed, so Bilba bade Cerys and Gareth goodnight before heading to her own room. She'd hoped by doing so they'd head off to their own rooms and Wynne but they followed her until she'd walked through the doors of the suite before wishing her a goodnight and leaving.
Once the doors were closed, Bilba let out a breath and sagged forward onto the wood for a few minutes. It had been a crazy day from start to finish, but she was happy to have it end on a high note.
She pushed up and noted that, while the room was dark, a light was on in the small kitchen, casting enough of a glow for her to see by. She was pretty sure it had been off when she'd left that morning, which meant Thorin must have come back.
His door was shut and there was no light shining from under it so either he'd come back and left again, or he'd already gone to bed.
Bilba started to go to her own room, only to find herself slowing to a stop before she got there.
Did Thorin know what had happened? About the pregnancy demands, and whatever had gone on with Kyra? She chewed on her lower lip and cast a nervous glance toward Thorin's door. If he did know, then she imagined she'd have found him waiting for her to come back to discuss it.
That or he was off, even then, comforting Kyra over whatever the king had said to her when he'd summoned her to his office.
Bilba grimaced. Think positive, she told herself firmly. You had a good day today, so don't ruin it.
Thorin didn't know, she decided. And if he didn't, then she'd much rather have him hear it all from her before he heard it from someone else. Get her own side in as much as possible before he heard whatever twisted version she was sure would be making the rounds tomorrow.
She let out a short breath and wrapped her arms around her torso. Telling him herself would be best, which…meant…she'd need to go knock on his door…and wake him up to tell him.
She shuffled forward slowly, until she was standing in front of his door. She raised her hand and curled her fingers into a fist to knock…and then just stood there. Her stomach twisted, and she tried to force herself to breathe normally.
It's fine, she told herself. It's totally fine. Just…knock on the door. It's fine.
She moved her hand forward, only to freeze as another, unwelcome thought came to her.
What if he wasn't alone?
Her face flamed, and she shook her head. No. Not even Thorin was crazy enough to bring his mistress into his room at night. He'd have had to parade her past his own guards and the news would be all over the palace by the next morning. No way he was that stupid.
Hopefully.
She half lowered her hand, raised it again and then, before she could think about it any further, reached out and rapped sharply on the wood. Immediately her heart jumped into her throat and her muscles locked up.
A light snapped on under the door, and footsteps moved across the floor. A moment later, the door was pulled open and Bilba found herself face to face with Thorin…dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers.
Not…what she'd been expecting.
Not even close.