And another one, another one

Ch 15 Marriage?

Râlia woke up to an empty bed she had shared with her daughter last night. Being winter, and very gray outside, there was no good way of telling what time it was now. That aside, when did Maliah start waking up early? Something that probably could be contributed to Bilbo or Frodo. A whiff of a delicious smell made its way to her nose and beckoned her out of the comfortable bed. The air was a little chilly in the room, but it didn't bother her since the mountain could get very could during the winter as well. Making her way to the kitchen, she entered to see Maliah cooking and Frodo setting the table with a pot of tea.

"When did you learn to cook, ibrizinlêkh?"

Her special name only her mama called her grabbed Maliah's attention and she stopped chopping vegetables to turn and look behind her. "Bilbo and Frodo taught me." A hint of pride was in her voice, no doubt from her learning a new skill and excelling. Frodo not moving caught her eye and she looked to see him staring blatantly at her mom. Frowning for a moment, Maliah realized why; her mama was wearing a sleeveless shirt and all her scars were showing on her arms. Râlia noticed as well and grinned at his slack-jawed expression. She had gotten comfortable years ago with the way her body looked, dwarves loving scars help that along, and no longer cared what others thought about them.

"Did the dragon breath fire on you?"

A short laugh escaped her, "No. This is from a different fire. What are we having for breakfast?"

"Vegetable, eggs, bread." Maliah returned to her task while she spoke.

"You have fresh eggs?"

"Frodo bought two chickens and created a pen in one of the storage rooms. I talked him out of buying a rooster."

Râlia laughed louder this time and sat down at the table. She waited for Frodo to move and sit down opposite of her. It was when Maliah brought the rest of the food to the table and sat down did Râlia bring up the topic she knew her daughter didn't want to discuss.

"Now, you realize since Maliah is only 43 and underage for marriage according to dwarf traditions." She watched as both froze, moving only to look at her with wide eyes. "What do you propose we do about this, Frodo?"

Under the intense stare of the Warrior Queen his uncle had told him about, Frodo lost his ability to speak. A hand fell to his leg and he glanced to his right to where Maliah sat. "Honestly, Ma'am, we have no answer for you. I realize she is still 20 years away from being an adult for a dwarf, but she has passed the year for maturity. We decided a while ago to see what you have to say on the subject and not make any decisions."

She stared down the hobbit who held her gaze nervously. A smart idea on their part and he was partially correct, Maliah must have been given him lessons as well. At 40, a dwarf reaches their maturity and have reached what they will look like for the next 200 years, roughly. Looking at her daughter, it seemed Maliah was to look very youthful for almost the rest of her life. "So you want permission to marry her because she is technically underage?" Râlia took a sip of her tea and waited for an answer.

"Yes."

Her eyebrows rose as Maliah's eyes widened and turned to Frodo. Apparently, he hadn't told her his final thoughts on the matter. "Has she told you the rules and traditions of our culture? Do you know or have you completed any of the steps for courtship?"

"Yes." The simple answer was given again before he went into his explanation of his gifts to Maliah. "My first gift was decorations for her hair, including ribbons and baubles for the braids I wove in her hair. A month after that I presented her with her own section of the garden complete with flowers that represented her in my opinion. Lastly, I have been giving her lessons of all subjects I know; including gardening, cooking, learning Sindarin."

"And what is the final step that is supposed be done?"

"I am supposed to create a home for us and our future family. But we already have a home."

"There is more ta creatin' a home than buildin' one, laddie." None of them had noticed Dwalin standing at one of the kitchen entrances. "Ya have a house ya both live in, but is it a home ya two built together?"

Frodo looked down, mulling over his words. That did make sense, in a way. Everything in the smial was his and from his ancestors, nothing was hers. So, he could start making it theirs. Yes. He could do that, maybe one of the spare rooms. "How long do I have to finish the task?"

"As long as it takes." Râlia saw the calculating look in Frodo's eyes.

"So…then we could get married?"

Dwalin looked at his Queen and friend. Was she going to allow the hobbit to marry her youngest daughter? At the age she was now? This family was becoming worse and worse with their Ones.

"What do you plan on doing?"

"Changing my home into our home, starting by turning one room into her own."

"And you want to marry Maliah after the room is done, I suppose."

"Yes."

Râlia leaned back and considered the Hobbit. If she said no, Maliah might convince Frodo to go ahead and get married anyway. And she already swore she wouldn't tear them apart and taking Frodo back to Erebor with them might do more harm than good. But saying yes, Fili would probably kill someone. Not her, but someone; hopefully not Frodo. This situation was insane, why did the two youngest daughters of the royal line have to find their Ones outside of Erebor? "I will not say yes or no, right now. Complete your task first and then we will discuss the two of you getting married."

Frodo frowned. "Does that mean you will be staying here until I'm done?"

"No, I have to return to Erebor. I will be sending Daemyn here on a regular basis to check on you two, think of him as a chaperone."

"Where is Daemyn?" Maliah looked around curiously, just realizing the robin hadn't accompanied her mama.

"Warm in Erebor, he is giving your father updates on how I am doing. Although how I am going to tell him about this is not going to be easy."

Frodo shuffled his feet. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you so calm about us?"

Her oddly colored eyes bore into Frodo's. "You are simply lucky it took so long for me to get here. A lot of my anger has already been taken out on other people and objects, and I can see just from sitting here with the two of you that nothing has happened." Blushes lit up the faces of Frodo and Maliah. "It isn't an easy decision, Mister Baggins, they never are when your child is concerned. But I understand the need to find and be with someone or something that is an important aspect of your life, even if you didn't know what it was in the beginning. I do wish this had happened differently, but there is nothing I can do now that wouldn't have repercussions."

"Yer Majesty…"

"Dwalin, I know Fili will be mad; however, I refuse to split them up. They have already formed a bond without completely and marriage acts."

Curious, Frodo looked at Maliah who shook her head slightly. She would tell him later how her mother could see the things she spoke about. Turning back to the Queen, he saw her locked in a staring battle with the fierce looking dwarf called Dwalin. He could tell they were at odds with her final thoughts on how to deal with their courtship.

"He's not gonna like what ye are doing."

"Well, when he pushes a baby out of his body he can contend with me. Besides, he did much worse when we first started our courtship."

That statement grabbed the attention of the two youngest in the room and when she saw their attention on her, Râlia faced them again with a smile. "Now, we will be staying here for a bit to ride out the worst of the snow and then we will be on our way. Until that time, you will continue to prove to me that Maliah should be allowed to marry you before the proper year. Do you have enough food?"

Wide-eyed at her announcement, Frodo could only nod. At least he hoped they did.

True to their word, Râlia stayed almost another month and in that time Frodo started his project on the spare room to the right of the entrance. Granted, not much could be done in the summer in the way of constructed; but he still cleared the room and began blueprints for what he had in mind. Later on, that first day, Râlia gave Maliah the gift she had carried for Frodo that she had pleaded for her mother to bring with her. It was a flower, bred from the gold flowers Râlia had gotten from the Valar years ago. It had been a project Melli had poked around with and had completed before going blind. Now, potted gold flowers were seen in the main points of Erebor as a contribute to their creator and to Râlia. Maliah had begged her mother for one through Daemyn on one of his visits prior to her letter. It wasn't exactly Hobbit tradition, usually it was something grown by the person in the courtship, but the meaning and the value of the flower rose above tradition. It was then Frodo gave her their first kiss, a small peck on her lips that had left her blushing. The dwarf guard who was in the room with them glared down Frodo who ducked his head and ran away to place the flower in the center of the home to display the gift.

Throughout the month, the dwarves in the group gave pointers to Frodo's blue prints and every so often, the Hobbit would find some trinket left behind by one of them. Of course, they all insisted none had done so and Frodo was left to add one after another to the room on a table. The gifts, as he called them, ranged from a small book to weapons. It was as if they knew without being told what his self-appointed task was for their courtship. Among them was Ranor, a dwarf with a fair amount of knowledge in architecture and wood work; something unusual for one of their kind. He and Frodo could be seen now and then, heads together over a table drawing and arguing about something. Maliah was the only one left not knowing any details about his gift for her, and it didn't bother her as much as she would have thought.

Râlia saw in the first few days of interacting with Frodo and Maliah that her daughter had changed in many ways since her escape from Erebor. While there were still childish acts popping up now and then, it had progressed into behavior like a playful pout between a couple. The young dwarrow was much more mature now, taking on her half of the duties in the house like she had done them her entire life while Râlia watched. There was no way she would have been able to stop them from being together, something she hoped Fili would understand. She had watched his reaction through Daemyn when her robin had passed on what had happened to Flynn, Dhiren's robin, and her eldest son only rose an eyebrow before conveying what had happened in the Shire to his father. First, Fili fell into a stupor at the announcement; something that made Râlia briefly nervous. Then she watched papers thrown off the desk in his frustration, mostly from not being able to be in the Shire with her and interrogate the Hobbit himself. Apparently after saying he would deal with her and the situation when she returned, Fili had gone to the armory and fought his way through most of the guards before Kili had to wrestle him to the ground with Gloin. Even though Râlia knew he wouldn't hurt her, in a bad way, his actions still made her weary.

When the first sign of green poked through the snow, Dwalin announced it was time to leave and his words tore at Râlia. She didn't want to leave her baby behind. Which was why when they were all packed and on their ponies ready to leave, she was still hugging Maliah firmly to herself. It wasn't fair her daughter had to be all the way across Middle Earth. Her arms unwrapped themselves and Râlia brought her hands up to Maliah's face, pressing their foreheads together.

"You will be careful," Râlia commanded. "I don't know what will happen anymore and it scares me more than anything on this earth."

"I will, be safe on your travels Mama." Maliah looked up at her circling raven, "Raanan will follow you to Rivendell, he wants to see the elves again."

Râlia laughed and looked to her daughter's bird. It wasn't an Erebor raven, something she agreed with Maliah on, so she could only assume her daughter had inherited part of her gift. She smiled at the thought. It would do well to have another protector for her daughter. "I will see you again, you can guarantee your father will insist to come down for your wedding."

Maliah blushed and glanced to Frodo who was standing behind them. "I promise to send you letters as often as I can, probably whenever Daemyn comes to visit."

With one last smile and holding back tears, Râlia kissed her daughter on the cheek and hugged her one last time before giving one to Frodo as well. The startled hobbit awkwardly returned the hug, unsure of what he should do. Together, he and Maliah did the same as when Mirari left; watched Râlia jump onto Tamesis and stood on the pathway until they could no longer see them.

Sunshine

for those who noticed, it was the same name as for Mirari but I changed hers. the previous chapter had a few dwarf language changes.