Chapter Eleven: Thorin
T.A. 2871 Ered Luin
Thorin paces as he waits for his brother to emerge from his chambers. Frerin arrived late the night before, already weeks later than his promised return and this conversation cannot be put off any longer. They have been on borrowed time as it is and with this final demand Thorin has found his hands rather neatly tied. He only hopes that his brother will hear him out and place the blame where it belongs rather than lash out as he usually does when the subject of his arranged marriage comes up.
"I'm not staying long, nadad," Frerin says when he finally appears and takes a seat at the table. He grabs a heel of bread and some honey, years of travelling with his mysterious Bella have given him some odd habits.
"I called you back out of more than a desire to make sure your face hasn't grown any fouler," Thorin grumbles. Trading insults with his brother is more appealing, and entertaining, than having to tell him that his time as a nameless traveller with all its freedom is over. It's also less likely to get his nose broken.
"This is about Ghruna again," Frerin says, pushing his food away. Thorin leans against the wall next to the door with his arms folded and stares at his brother, a glare that intimidates nearly everyone around him into listening. Unfortunately, of the two people in the world that this rarely works on one is sat in front of him with a matching glower.
"You know I would change the bargain made if I could," Thorin replies, and he has tried.
Ghruna's father has them over a barrel. He doesn't want his daughter married to the heir to the throne of Erebor, the one who will eventually head off to attempt to reclaim it. He wants the second son, the spare as it were, because even if Thorin disappears off to the Lonely Mountain, even if he succeeds, Frerin will remain tied to Ered Luin. Ghruna will never have to make the dangerous trip East and all of her father's wealth will remain in the Blue Mountains untouched by the plans of a mad man. He has even offered to attempt to repay the sum of money that was loaned as part of the bargain, and more besides in place of the troops given, but the sum had come to a figure that would take them several lifetimes to repay at their current rate of growth. Unless Frerin fulfils his responsibility as a Prince of Erebor (exile or not) all of the refugees of the mountain who have spent so many years rebuilding their lives will be turned out of Ered Luin.
"You're asking me to turn my back on my One, Thorin," Frerin snarls. Throin closes his eyes and sighs. That complicates things. "I didn't come back because you summoned me, I came to get Amad's beads to give her."
"I'm sorry, nadad," Thorin whispers. "I'm so sorry, you can't."
"Give me one good reason why," Frerin's hands are fists on the table, though he hasn't stormed out yet which is something. At any other time Thorin would admire this self-control.
"Because if the two of you aren't courting in the next two years her father will demand repayment of every coin he gave our father and grandfather to help settle our people and try to retake Khazad-Dum, with interest." Frerin regards him with hard, dark, eyes. "I have seen the sum, our people could never hope to repay it. We would be turned out into the wilds once more with nothing and nowhere to go."
Frerin stares at him silently.
"I never should have come back," he says finally, "I should have had Bella write to you and tell you I had died in the wilds. I should have known this would come up."
"You would rather we grieve your loss?" Thorin has dealt with the pain of losing his grandfather, the ever-lessening hope of ever seeing his father again. He knows that Frerin has long since mourned both of them and finds it hard to believe that his brother would force him to go through that pain again.
"To be with my One? To marry where Mahal intended instead of where a gold addled old fool and his battle mad son decided I should? To be happy instead of sacrificed? Aye, I would have." He puts his head in his hands. "Half of New Belegost saw me come in last night and so, it seems, I have little choice. I can't put Dis through that again, I won't put her boys through it."
"I am sorry, Frerin," Thorin says because there is nothing more that he can say. He knows well the pain of losing his One, he knows how it lingers in the heart and the soul.
"You don't get to be sorry!" Frerin hisses. "I'll do my duty, but not until I've told Bella myself why we must part ways."
Thorin shakes his head. "Can I trust you will return if I allow it? You will condemn our people if you disappear now, you know that."
"I won't disappear," Frerin snaps, "but I won't turn my back on her either. She deserves the truth and more."
There is nothing to say to that.
T.A. 2941 The Trollshaws.
Thorin can honestly say that Frerin's hobbits have proved surprisingly useful, and they are Frerin's hobbits whether or not the family ties have been made official. Until his conversation with Frerin about the possibility of a marriage to Belladonna being accepted Thorin hadn't truly made the connection between this hobbit and the woman his brother had travelled with so extensively. The hobbits he normally encounters are from Bree and they don't seem like the travelling type.
Belladonna Baggins and her daughter are an anomaly in hobbit culture, potentially in more ways than one. The one that's bothering him the most right now is the strange indigo light that had filled Bluebell's eyes and flared over the limbs of every member of he Company. It had been immediately clear upon finding her that it had something to do with the hobbit girl. Thorin will admit, if only privately, that he doesn't deal with finding out that big secrets are being kept from him all that well. Frerin had hinted at it, of course, and the hobbits haven't been subtle about the glow of their eyes in the evenings.
If he lets himself think about it, Thorin can acknowledge that it is a little bit hypocritical to be upset about this development given all the secrets that his own people keep. He prefers not to think about it.
Gandalf returns, late as usual, just as the first rays of sunlight are spreading across the sky. The ponies have been freed, camp broken, and a sleepless night exchanged for a cold breakfast and preparations for an early start on the road. Frerin is keeping himself between the hobbits and the suspicious eyes of the rest of the Company in a manner that speaks volumes about how much he cares about them. Fili, Kili and Ori seem to have more understanding of it than the others, something which Balin is also noticeably displeased about, but it isn't all that unusual for the young to trade secrets and show off. The two young princes have also taken up protective positions and that Frerin allows it is less of a surprise than the fact that Fili has attached himself to Bluebell's side. Perhaps there was more to Frerin's questions a few days ago than curiosity or bitterness at the lot life, and his family, dealt him.
"I knew their particular talents would prove useful," Gandalf says, following Thorin's gaze and misinterpreting it. "I had not, however, expected it to happen so soon." He looks in the direction of the troll corpses that have petrified in the rising sun, something that the dwarves had lingered to make certain of. "Nasty business."
"Indeed," Thorin grumbles, "although I find myself less interested in how three trolls came to be in this place and more so in how the hobbits were so able to deal with it."
"In time, Thorin," Gandalf murmurs. "The other races must be permitted their secrets if you are to be allowed yours." Thorin grunts. "Unusual, though, to see trolls this far from their ranges. They could not have made it here and back in one night."
"There must be a cave," Thorin realises. A cave means the potential for a troll hoard and all the treasures it might contain. "Fili, Bofur!"
The two have the strongest Stone Sense of the Company. After a moment Bofur shakes his head with a mutter that sounds like 'too much earth' but Fili's face is scrunched in a slight frown and his Durin blue eyes have been replaced with shining mithril. He expects the little hobbit girl to have withdrawn but she's watching Fili in fascination.
"This way," his sister-son says after a moment and strides confidently through the trees. Kili walks on his left, grinning proudly as his brother's display of talent, and Bluebell trots to keep up with them, her hand still clasped tightly in Fili's.
That, Thorin thinks, could become a problem.
It doesn't take long for Fili's senses to be confirmed. The smell of the troll hoard reaches them before they find the entrance of the cave. It doesn't surprise Thorin that the hobbits choose not to enter, for all their usefulness the night before they are still delicate creatures with soft sensibilities. Ultimately only Gandalf, Nori, Gloin and Bofur enter with Thorin, who has Dwalin at his back as an ever-present shadow.
The hoard is exactly what he expects it to be. Coins and jewels and bits of battered armour and swords that have rusted and decayed. The elvish swords are a surprise and one that he would cast aside if not for Gandalf's remonstration and an honest appreciation for the skill of the thing even if he dislikes its creators. It also serves to remind him of the decision that lies before him with regards to Rivendell. A part of him, a very large part, wants to avoid the place. Even before Smaug Thorin never really liked elves. He has always found them arrogant and superior, and the less said about Thranduil's actions the better. Gandalf's insistence on going to Rivendell sits uneasily, he's only willing to trust the wizard so far, but Frerin's agreement is somehow worse. Before Azanulbizar Frerin had been as mistrustful of elves as Thorin, but in the years following his first disappearance into the wilds with his Belladonna Thorin noticed that opinion shift. Obviously, Belladonna had dragged his brother to Rivendell on more than one occasion and it reminds Thorin that there are still so many lingering unanswered questions.
"You should give it to Mama," he hears Bluebell say to Gandalf, "she's better with a sword than I am."
The wizard has another blade in his hands, although this one would be little more than a knife to an elf, and he is offering it to the hobbit. That either of the hobbits have any weapons training at all had been a surprise the first few nights on the road. Now seeing them practice with Frerin has become normal and several other members of the Company join them most evenings. He has often heard his brother lament the fact that he had never made Bluebell a blade as he did Belladonna.
"Your mother has a sword, you need one of your own as well," Gandalf tells her softly. Her answering glare reminds Thorin of his brother, a clear sign that Frerin has likely been as much of an influence on the girl as her parents. Still, she accepts the sword, then flounces over to Frerin who laughs and helps her attach the sheath to her belt.
Further contemplation of his brother and the odd little family he has gathered is cut off by, first, the arrival of a possibly insane brown robed wizard and then secondly the arrival of warg scouts. Thorin doesn't miss the way that the hobbit's faces pale, nor the mother's choked sob as his brother pulls her into his arms. Even as Thorin is assuring Gandalf that none but his kin know of the quest he is absently aware of Bluebell talking to mother, telling her that this time it will need to be Belladonna who invokes the hiding because if this goes wrong Bluebell will need all of her strength to heal.
He hates all of these unanswered questions.
"I will draw them off," the mad wizard declares.
"We can help," Belladonna is still pale, but her voice is admirably firm in the face of her obvious fear. "We have claimed them as temporary clan and can hide them from sight with the Blessing."
"It won't mask your scent, Mistress Hobbit," Radagast replies and even the stranger seems to know more than Thorin.
"It will give us a head start," Bluebell says and the wizard nods. Thorin looks at the older hobbit, she doesn't seem steady on her feet and her eyes have darkened from the indigo shade she has in common with her daughter to a worrying shade of midnight that seems to spread.
"Are you certain your mother can do this?" He demands.
"She has to," Bluebell responds, and her face softens when she glances at her mother who is already starting to chant. "My father was killed by orcs and wargs in front of her." She adds and it goes some way towards explaining the reaction. He nods and sees the same flicker of indigo fire spread over him as he had the night before. The others mutter uncomfortably but they obey the order to run when it is given, imminent danger more pressing than their need for answers.
So begins a less than merry chase as they avoid wargs and their orc riders and the crazy man who is supposed to be leading them away. Belladonna's breathless chanting doesn't let up, although she is so quiet that Thorin can't make out the words. Frerin stays close to her, the hobbit is apparently so focused on her task that she is unable to defend herself if need be.
Getting caught was inevitable but Belladonna keeps up her chanting until it becomes clear that the wargs have their scent and keeping them hidden has become pointless. At least this way she is more able to use a sword but Thorin notices with dismay that at some point in all the commotion the wizard has vanished.
"He's abandoned us," Thorin snaps when someone else notices that the old man has disappeared.
"No," Frerin shouts. "Look, Bella, make for the entrance!" He's pointing towards a rocky outcrop that looks no different from so many others. The older hobbit obeys, her daughter following. Fili only pauses for a moment, his face taking on that slightly absent frown once more as he considers it, then he grabs Kili's sleeve and mutters something before following the now vanished hobbits.
"This way, you fools," the wizard orders as he pops up from behind a pile of rocks and they all make a break for it.
A.N: Events we all know well and don't differ too much from canon (in this case movie canon) will be glossed over a little bit. There's no point rehashing everything every time