Thorin orders Audhild placed in chains as soon as the extra guards appear. The 'dam has long ceased struggling, apparently having realised that even if she could talk her way out of the accusations of espionage, she will never talk her way out of stabbing Dwalin and killing the boy. The guards object, Audhild is of noble birth and kin, but Nori puts a stop to it by pointing out the fact that Dwalin has his hand pressed to his side with blood seeping between his fingers. After that they are less than gentle in their treatment of her, and Nori strongly suspects, until Kíli confirms it a few days later, that Audhild was aided in falling down a few times on the way to the cells. It says quite a bit about her as a person that she approves of such actions on this occasion rather than feeling the injustice of the brutality of the guards as she usually might. Her mind, however, is rather more occupied with Dwalin than it is with the events surrounding Audhild's black eye and missing teeth.
Nori is rather firmly ordered to keep clear of proceedings once Audhild is taken into the custody of the guard. Her job has been done. She has discovered who has been stealing from her king and how and it is time for her to withdraw back into the shadows. Nori, child of Aari, Wolf of the line of Durin, does as she is told. She steps back and melds back into the background as either the anonymous guard or the slightly vapid Nori, daughter of Tori, who has also become a regular fixture around Thorin's court over her few years as the Wolf. As that character she flitters around in dresses far more flouncy than Nori would ever tolerate under normal circumstances, gathering the gossip.
She will never admit that she is hiding behind the personality of the flighty dwarrowdam, but deep inside she knows that she is. Dwalin should not have been hurt, she knows she should have checked for extra blades more thoroughly. She was careless and an innocent boy paid for that with his life. Dwalin will be fine, she knows that because she trusts Óin's judgement when it comes to wounds, even if the old healer had muttered about it being fortunate the blade did not land a few inches higher or to the left, but he is still out of action for weeks and Nori knows that Dwalin hates enforced inactivity. The guard shoulders as much of the blame for the incident as she does, more even becauses he argues that ensuring Audhild was completely disarmed was something he should have done properly as a guard rather than relying on a spy and assassin to consider doing that job. To her surprise, Thorin agrees with that assessment, although he does point out that this is also an opportunity for both of them to learn, and notes that he has no need to reprimand Dwalin since his cousin will have a new scar to remind him of his carelessness.
"I'm alright, lass," Dwalin assures her one night a couple of days after the incident. He has his arm wrapped around her as they lie together on his bed.
"I know," Nori whispers, not quite able to keep the tremor from her voice.
Lying together like this, clothed and quiet as they wait for sleep to claim them, is unusual for them. Not entirely out of character, in the years since they began this thing in Labamgarel Zarrakh there have been nights when they have simply wanted the company, but it is still a rare thing for the two of them that has slowly become a sign of how quietly comfortable they are with one another. It is another old habit that Nori has let herself slip into even after promising herself that she would not.
"Nori," he shifts, grunting when the wound pulls awkwardly. "I'm not him, I'm alright."
That makes something in her scream. She wants so badly to shriek that he is the dwarf who will break her heart one day. He is the dwarf who left her to grieve alone, he is the source of the part of her that shies away and fears that he will turn away from her and hurt her again. That he took himself from her, took the comfort and safety she found in him, at the time of her greatest grief when they needed each other the most still haunts her in the middle of the night. She will wake sometimes to find herself sobbing from dreams that he has once again turned his back on her and the closer they become, the more frequent the dreams are becoming.
"What if it had been Thorin?" She finds herself asking. "What if Audhild stabbed Thorin? Would we be talking now? Or would you have called this, whatever it is, off?"
"No," Dwalin replies, "because it would have been on me for letting him take custody of her. My failure, not yours. We would still be doing this." Nori wants to believe him, but she has a future which shows that Dwalin would turn from her due to his failure. "Look at me," he orders, shifting so that he can meet her eyes even though the angle is awkward. "I didn't miss why this started, lass. I didn't miss that you started looking into her because you didn't like that she was trying to mine your patch. I may not see as much as you do, but I do know how to use my eyes and I'd be dead if I couldn't. I see what you're like when it's just you and me, and sometimes the lads too. I chose you, lass, I chose you that night we met and I know you aren't ready to hear the words. You've been hurt, but I'm not him. I don't want to be him."
She stares at him for a long moment, not quite sure what to say but still unable to reconcile this Dwalin who claims he would stay with her with the future Dwalin who cast her aside.
"She wasn't aiming for the boy," he continues suddenly. "She was aiming for you."
"You can't know that," Nori shakes her head.
"I nudged her," he replies, "just enough to knock off her aim. She was aiming for you. I had a choice, you or the boy. I chose you. I knew it would make things harder for Thorin, and I chose you anyway."
She has nothing to say to that, so she kisses him instead.
"I will always choose you," he breathes when they part.
Just one more thing that the Dwalin of her past, his future, never said to her.
Months roll past, Audhild is dealt with quietly. With a little more time to watch the incarcerated 'dam and listen to the way that the court talks about her, Nori comes to recognise the blind lust for wealth that comes to consume so many of her people had taken hold in Audhild's mind. Her connection to Dáin, even if only through her brother's marriage to the Lord of the Iron Hills' sister, means that Thorin has to alert Ironfoot before he can do anything permanent to Audhild. Dáin's response is to tell Thorin to do whatever he feels appropriate, promising that no trouble will come their way from the Iron Hills over it. Nori wonders what role, if any, Ironfoot may have had in Audhild's schemes, but with Dwalin still recovering she cannot quite bring herself to leave Ered Luin to look into it. Besides, by the time she gets there the trail will be long cold and any involvement on Dáin's part effectively covered up. Thorin at least does Audhild the courtesy of a quiet execution, more for Dáin's sake than out of any consideration for the 'dam, and Nori dons her Wolf disguise to watch as the dwarf king himself delivers the killing blow.
Yule comes and goes, Fíli's birthday is celebrated with greater than usual joy when the news comes that Hela has agreed to officially let him court her. It is yet another major change that makes Nori wonder if the quest for Erebor will happen at all. In her previous life Hela had been killed at Fíli's coming of age and the young prince had never seemed inclined towards anything more serious than a tumble in her experience. Perhaps this is why. Fíli's interest in Hela had been clear at his coming of age and when the line of Durin marry, they marry young and Fíli is dutiful as well as infatuated. Thorin is craft-wed, Kíli is craft-less as far as the public are concerned and the true nature of his craft means that it is unlikely he will ever marry unless it is another in their line of work. That leaves Fíli as the one it falls onto to continue the line. In Nori's past, just as the quest rolled around, Dís had begun to organise a match for her eldest son; who had been less than thrilled at the prospect but determined to do his duty all the same.
Nori suspects that sometimes, under the smiles, mischief and laughter, people forget that Fíli is as capable of taking his duty seriously as his uncle is. She is not as close to Fíli as she is to Kíli, who has fallen so deeply into the habit of calling her Aunt over the years that it has become a habit even when they are alone, but she is still concerned that he has approached Hela out of duty rather than love. He is young and should have a chance to live his life for himself before settling into his duty to the throne. It is a point that Kíli makes to his brother as well and it causes what might be the most serious argument that Nori has heard of between the two of them in either of the times she has lived this part of her life.
"I just want him to be happy!" Kíli snarls when he storms into Nori's kitchen late one night in early spring. "Why is that such a terrible thing?"
"You're asking the wrong person, lad," Nori responds, setting a cup of moonshine in front of him. It is terrible stuff and Kíli cannot hold it. He will be under after a couple of them and Nori will be able to drag him to his bed so that he has a chance to cool off before he goes back to continue an argument that has raged for two days so far.
"But you and Dwalin are happy," he argues, taking a swig and pulling a face.
"Me and Dwalin are older," Nori shakes her head, taking a small drink herself, "and we're both a bit broken from everything we've seen. We aren't exactly a measure of happiness you should aspire to. We're just two people who thought the other was a good fuck and accidentally found feelings along the way." She watches him take another long drink. "What brought this on, anyway? Couple of weeks ago you liked her well enough and they've been dancing around each other for, what is it, four years now?"
"Messing around isn't courtship," Kíli disagrees, "he might as well just go ahead and marry her at this point if all he cares about is doing his duty and making Ma and Thorin happy."
"Is that what you think this is?" Nori asks him. "You think he's just doing it for approval?" The lad shrugs and she sighs. "I've been watching them both for a while," she admits finally. "Thorin ordered I do it." Kíli's head twists so sharply so that he can look at her she wonders whether he just made himself dizzy. "This isn't duty for your brother," she tells him. "Not from what I've seen. He likes her, and courting her means he gets the chance to see if he loves her or it's all just fun and games. And thought you knew your brother well enough to see the difference in him." There is a moment of sullen silence. "Would you be happy if he reacted like this to Briar?"
"Briar's different!" Kíli flares.
"Is she?" Nori asks. "You know Hela far better than Fíli knows Briar. And he could ask similar questions about your relationship with her. Do you really love her, or is she just a good choice for your cover? Because an unknown hobbit would be the perfect choice of bride for an irresponsible prince."
"Me and Briar aren't like that," he hisses. "You know we aren't."
"But Fíli doesn't," she points out. "And he would want you to be happy too. So how would you feel if he came to you asking the same questions about Briar that you're asking about Hela?" He stares at her sullenly. "I think you'd react much the same way that he is to you and I think that maybe you owe your brother an apology." She perches on the edge of the table in front of him. "He's your brother, lad, and you pair know each other better than any pair of boys I've ever known. And you need to keep that, not just for the job, the job isn't that important really. But what you and your brother have? That's rarer than mithril. It's going to change, it has to because you're both grown and have your own paths and loves, but that doesn't have to be bad." Kíli lets out a sigh that sounds a little more broken than Nori would like. "Go and apologise to him, and get your head out of your arse. Your brother isn't an idiot so stop treating him like one."
A.N: It's up early. I have unexpected D&D tomorrow and might not get it up otherwise. Yay for time skip chapters. Let's start moving it all forwards although I'm eating into my buffer at a furious rate. Not a problem, my brain is starting to engage again it's just taking it's time a bit. As it does.