By the time spring is on the approach Nori has already begun to put some thought into the logistics of the four of them getting home. The boys, perhaps unsurprisingly, were already aware of the shift in her relationship with Dwalin when they finally tracked the two down. Being the little pests they are, and after months on the road with them in this version of her life and the last, not to mention living with them the last couple of months, Nori knows that the two of them worked together to give her and Dwalin more space than they would have if nothing had developed between her and the guard. Which is a blessing in some ways, even if she and Dwalin do not use the alone time the way that the two seem to think. They talk, perhaps more in some ways than they did the first time Nori lived this life, and she explains a little more about the work that she, and eventually Kíli when he completes his training, does. While she does not go into detail about how her world works, she knows that this Dwalin has a greater understanding of it all than the one who broke her heart. It also gives her the opportunity to teach Dwalin a few of the signals she once used with another version of him. It will make her life easier in the long run if she can at least get him to pause or watch if she needs him to.
Mostly, however, they talk about the trip home. It is tempting, naturally, for them all to travel back together. In part because she knows that if Dwalin is with her Thorin will resist the urge to have her and Kíli hauled off and locked away somewhere, unless he decides to go after all four of them. The dwarf king's anger has always been a dangerous thing to provoke. There are reasons, however, why going back with Dwalin and Fíli will not work. First of all, Nori wants to check in with Briar for a while before going back to Ered Luin, not something that she really wants to do with Dwalin and Fíli in tow. Although the hobbit knows the older prince Nori wants to avoid introducing her to other members of the future Company, it is enough that she already knows both Fíli and Kíli, Balin, Dori and Ori. That is altogether too many people who will be involved in the future mess of a quest, the more people who are aware of the Briar Baggins and her abilities, or lack thereof, the more chance it will all fall apart. Although Nori wonders sometimes if it would be better to keep Briar away from the whole thing entirely. Then she remembers some conversations about hobbits and the way that they love and she knows that if Briar's heart is already touched by Kíli there is no way she can keep the pair of them apart. Even if Kíli has not yet made his own mind up.
They agree, closer to spring, that Dwalin and Fíli will join the same caravan to Ered Luin that Hela's father is running. Nori is not entirely sure what stories the two boys have fed the lass to explain Kíli's presence, but they have made her aware of the fact that Kíli has been travelling in disguise because he did not want his older brother to have all the fun. Very much the sort of thing that a more spoiled and indulged younger prince would do. Since Hela's father is aware of Kíli's identity, however, it is easy enough to argue that they should not be on that caravan in order to keep the lass and her family away from any backlash that might come with Kíli's return. Dwalin and Fíli's caravan will be one of the first ones to leave, Nori and Kíli will leave a week later, with Graldik's caravan. Asger had sought them out and asked if they would be willing to join once again and Nori had no reason to deny the request, with the amendment of leaving when they reach Bree.
To Nori's surprise Dwalin simply arches an eyebrow when she mentions her plan and shrugs it off, no hint of jealousy in him at all. She is not entirely certain whether that reassures her or not. The Dwalin of her past would certainly have scowled and bellyached about it for days before his departure. The Dwalin of now merely says, "If you're sure that's a good idea," and brushes a kiss over her cheek before going back to nursing his ale.
Nori blinks and pours her own drink, the subject apparently over and done with far more simply than it would have been in her old life. Having agreed with Dwalin that they would take this winter as it comes, that they would revisit the subject of what they are to one another when it is over, she has found that this simple, amorphous thing, is not what she wants, but it is probably what she needs right now. She is free to come and go as she needs and pleases, free to enjoy herself and trust him, but without the certainty of his ties to her and without the obligation of her ties to him.
"Where do we go from here?" Dwalin asks on their last night before he and Fíli leave.
"Where do you want to go?" She replies, not willing to lay her cards on the table and reveal too much of herself.
"I think we have a good thing," he says. "I think something like what we've had this winter could work for us."
"I agree," she takes a drink, "so we carry on as we are? Revisit it once I've finished training the lad and they're done with the caravans?"
"Unless something changes between now and then," Dwalin agrees. "Unless one of us meets someone."
"Unless you meet someone," she mumbles. The more time that passes the more she is coming to accept that Dwalin really might be the only one who ever holds her heart. Grey eyes lock with hers and she realises that she might not have said it quietly enough. She swears softly but he gives her a half smile.
"You're the lass with the amethyst eyes," he almost purrs. "Be hard pressed to forget someone like you." Which is a comment that puts an end to the conversation for a while, and it is going to be a long five months or so between now and when she finally gets back to Ered Luin, if he even still wants her then. Nori is going to take whatever she can get.
Predictably, Ordan makes his move against her the week after Dwalin and Fíli depart, ironically the day before she is due to leave. Nori had spent time this winter rebuilding her network in Labamgarel Zarrakh, something she had let slip in her last life over the twelve years that she worked for Thorin, and so there are those among them who are quick to let her know that the silver haired dwarf has something planned. Fortunately, Ordan is a coward and whether that is as a result of his general personality, his upbringing among Men since his mother fell with child after his father's caravan passed through, or a Mannish trait that he inherited Nori has no idea. The fact that he is a coward, however, means that he spends more time trying to find people to help him get back at her than he does covering his tracks. It also means that no matter how skilled a thief he is, he has few friends and few who will work with him. Not even his apprentice, who should show him some loyalty, wants anything to do with Ordan's plans and it is the boy who alerts Nori to it in the first place. If not for the fact that she already has Kíli to worry about she would consider taking the lad as her own apprentice for that.
Any internal arguments in the Thieves Guild are handled among themselves and normally it becomes violent. As long as the guard do not get involved any inter-member conflict is generally ignored. Knowing that Ordan is out for her, Nori tells Kíli to stay in the boarding house with Nila for the day, although she doubts that he will listen to her and more than once she thinks she spots him trailing her. Ordan will possibly strike if she is with Kíli but he will definitely strike if she is alone, and he does with four friends in tow. They corner her outside a bar as she is slipping down an alley, frustrated at having wasted her day waiting for them to strike.
"A coward to the last, I see," she quips. "Too scared to face me alone?"
"Not stupid enough to risk it," Ordan replies.
"You won't be walking away this time," Nori warns him.
"One of us won't," Ordan agrees. "But I've got friends, you don't even have your pretty lad now do you? Left with your bruiser."
"That wasn't my boy," Nori smiles. "My boy is trained enough to keep his head down. Let's do this right, Ordan, just you and me. Your friends don't need to die for your idiocy."
There is a pause, Nori recognises at least one of the dwarves who has sided with Ordan and she can see the way that his expression shifts. She has worked with this one, fought alongside him too, and he has seen what she is capable of and how familiar she is with the local fighting style.
"I didn't agree to help you kill her, Ordan," he says to the taller dwarf. "None of us did."
"He tell you why he wants me dealt with?" Nori asks almost conversationally, hand resting on the small axe at her hip that Dwalin had left with her. "He tell you I sheared him because he ordered his lad to try and pick me? Wonder how many of you he's done that to."
The four draw back.
"That true?" One of them demands.
"What does it matter if I did?" Ordan cries. "She should have sheared that incompetant child, not me!"
"If he's incompetant, that's down to you," another voice pipes up, and Nori feels her heart sink into her boots as Kíli comes around the corner. "He's terrified of you."
"I told you to stay out of this, Cadan," Nori warns him.
"You know I'm not always that good at following instructions," Kíli grins. "And at least this way it's a fair fight." His confidence matches his youth, but the fact that Nori is obviously his sponsor, and that not one of those she is surrounded by noticed him, is evidently giving the thieves around her second thoughts. "Strikes me as a bit unfair that Ordan's stood all the way back there, though," Kíli adds, "if I were being rude I'd say that he's waiting for you to be distracted enough to stab you in the back. Or maybe he's just waiting to run in case his mates can't handle us."
"Ordan is a known coward," Nori confirms. "But at least he's found us somewhere out of the way to do this. Not much of one for slaughtering people in front of a crowd."
"Only takes one lucky strike to kill you," Ordan hisses. Nori smirks at him, thinking about the battle at the foot of Erebor and how many lucky strikes missed her that day. Sometimes she wonders why she managed to get out relatively unscathed when the cost for Fíli, Kíli and Thorin had been so high.
"Come and try it then," she tells him, pulling the hand axe out of the loop on her belt. It is not her preferred weapon, but a long mace is not exactly low key and both versions of Dwalin have spent time teaching her how to use this little weapon.
There is a pause then two of the ones Ordan has brought with him charge at her. The other two hesitate, and it is enough to allow Nori to down her first opponent purely by surprising him with how vicious she is willing to be. The two who have hesitated turn and run, obviously whatever Ordan has promised them is not enough of an incentive to carry on with the fight. Kíli takes the other one of Ordan's cronies and although he is not as familiar with the local fighting style as Nori, his training with Thorin, Fíli and Dwalin has meshed nicely with everything that she has been able to teach him up until now. Content that the boy can handle himself for the moment, she turns her attention to Ordan who is screaming after the two who decided to leave.
"I told you, Ordan," Nori snarls, throwing her axe and watching as it smashes into his stomach, "the next time you crossed me would be your last. I'm not taking your hair this time," she dodges as he attempts to throw a knife of his own at her, the toss clumsy due to the weapon buried in his abdomen. She kicks once she is close enough, spinning low so that she can knock his feet out from under him. "And I don't leave enemies behind me," she breathes, letting a knife slip out of her sleeve and shoving it into his throat before he can move or respond.
There is a moment of silence as Nori watches the life leave Ordan's eyes. Then she looks back at Kíli. The boy is staring at his sword where it emerges from the back of the one who had attacked him. The dwarf is dead, or will be as soon as that blade is withdrawn, and it occurs to Nori that the boy has never harmed one of his own people before, or if he has it has never been with the intent to kill.
"Come on, lad," she says softly, gently removing his hands from the hilt of the sword. "Let's get away from here before the guard come. We'll talk about it at home. Come on."
"I'm alright," Kíli breathes.
"No, you're not," Nori disagrees. "And that's alright. Come on." She drags the blade quickly through the thief's coat, a poor clean but enough to get them past a quick glance. Her own blades are already tucked away, but her clothes are blood splattered and lighter than Kíli's.
He follows her silently and internally she curses viciously. This is exactly what she had wanted to avoid.
A.N: It's just gone midnight where I am, which makes it Wednesday and I'm six chapters ahead so I'm popping this one up a little bit early. Because I can. I always write more when I have other things I should be focusing on, like crocheting Rainbow Dash (thanks girl child!) or writing up my maths assignment