A.N: Mentions of miscarriage in Gloin's flashback, just in case that's a trigger for you.
Chapter Forty-Seven: Gloin
T.A 2939 Ered Luin
"It'll be expensive," Gloin shakes his head over the roll of parchment, a list of supplies a single dwarf would need for a trip to Erebor. If only half the number they need answer the call this venture could easily bankrupt New Belegost, Gloin and Thorin entirely should they fail. Even if they succeed the return may only just cover expenses and Thorin will need a larger share than most to rebuild the city.
"Can it be done?" Thorin asks. He has already stated, explicitly, that he will not borrow if he can help it. Gloin doesn't blame him, he well remembers the last time a member of the royal family was used to repay a debt.
"It can," he hedges. "But the risk far outweighs the rewards. And paying off the others should we fail would leave us destitute. Were it anything else, cousin, I would say it wasn't worth the risk."
"But it is Erebor," Thorin says. "We've lived too long under the sky. Our people don't thrive here."
"Which is why I'm willing to consider the risk," Gloin replies.
Building a life here has been hard, even though he has no memories at all of Erebor the ancient stronghold calls to him. More and more often Oin returns home with the news that an expectant mother has lost a babe, or that a child has been born to the stone without even the chance of a breath. His own Mimli has lost three babes, only Gimli survives, and Oin places a great deal of it on the lack of nurturing stone around them. Gloin doesn't much care about the why, only for the pain it causes his beautiful wife and the white it has placed in her rich beard.
"You have suffered as much as any other," Thorin says. Gloin would disagree, Mimli's family was wealthy and, as a banker, he has been able to increase that wealth. There are those without even the smallest fraction of that as Oin reminds him daily.
He shrugs.
"The way I see it, waiting another five or ten years won't make a difference," he says in answer to an earlier question. "The coffers may be fuller, or we may suffer another horrendous winter like that one near on forty years ago. Costs will likely rise. You may get more volunteers in ten years time, but they're likely to be desperate and poorly equipped."
Thorin stares down at the roll of parchment, his eyes distant as he considers Gloin's words. Then he nods and turns to Balin who has also been quietly considering it.
"Put out the call," Thorin orders.
T.A. 2941 Erebor
Gloin has heard many tales about what some of his ancient ancestors could do with their Stone Sense. He'd thought them nothing more than fanciful tales for children until the very mountain had lashed out at the orcs and turned them into little more than twisted fragments.
He had joined the Company in racing back to Erebor, forcing his way through crowds of Men and Elves (all of whom were staring at the mountain with wary awe) to find answers from the only two who might know what had happened. They had arrived to find Fili and Bluebell alive and wrapped in furs at the base of the throne, a throne which now looked nothing like the broken pillar it had once been. The light of the Arkenstone fills the room, lending a sickly cast to the faces of all gathered and while he wants to shrug their story off as a fanciful imagining there is too much evidence to the contrary. Fili and Bluebell sit close to one another as they tell their story, as though they can't bear to be apart. Maybe they can't. Their marriage braids alone, capped with shards of the Arkenstone, lend some credence to their tale.
"What was it like?" Kili asks. "Being part of the mountain?" He sounds almost wistful, as though he would have wished to experience it.
"Terrifying," Fili shudders, small looking in his pile of furs and obviously exhausted. "It was worse than that time I nearly got lost in the stone."
"Everything that made us who we are was gone," Bluebell clarifies. "I can still hear her, I've never been able to just hear the stone before."
"She's telling us everything we could do if we wanted her to," Fili closes his eyes and shakes his head. "I understand why the others who did this travelled so much after."
"What happens now?" Dain asks. He seems to be taking this far better than any of them would have expected.
"We bring our peoples to Erebor," Thorin declares. "Both of them."
"Both?" Dain doesn't seem too happy with that thought, many of the refugees of Erebor took shelter in the Iron Hills and are well integrated by now.
"The hobbits and those who fled Erebor," Frerin clarifies. He's one of the few not shocked by the thought that most dwarves from the Lonely Mountain must have a small amount of hobbit blood.
"The land will need healing," Bluebell adds, "just like the stone. Hobbits are as much a part of Erebor as dwarves, she wants both of her people back, as many hobbits as we can persuade to come."
"You will need to be very persuasive, sweetling," Belladonna smiles.
"We'll think of something," her daughter grins, "but we'll probably end up with mostly Tooks and Brandybucks."
There is a great deal to do before they can depart and winter is nearly upon them, too close to cross the mountains again any time soon. Word is sent to Lady Dis of both their success and the outcome of the battle. It will likely be late spring before the first caravan arrives but Thorin makes a point of asking his sister to wait before departing New Belegost. Come spring Fili, Kili, Bluebell and Gloin will begin the long journey back to the Shire with a small guard so that they can attempt to recruit as many hobbits as possible. It would be a shame for Dis to miss seeing her sons for another year.
Gloin spends winter focussed on the treasury and beginning to divide its contents between the members of the Company and Erebor's new allies. Dain is paid for his timely aid, Bard is given an approximation of what must have once belonged to Dale and they will likely see a great deal of that make its way back into their coffers over the next decade as Dale is rebuilt. The Company are encouraged to choose some small, personal treasure and given a small chest of gold for immediate expenses. The rest is made a note of in several large ledgers that, should their families continue for generations, will likely never be filled. Bluebell marks her share to be used for the rebuilding of the hobbit settlement around the mountain. She has wealth enough of her own in the Shire and as Fili's wife she has access to his share as well. Frerin, much like his daughter, has access to his wife's share and so adds his to Thorin's, larger, allowance to aid in the restoration of Erebor. The only thing he takes from it is a chest of gems and Gloin pretends not to see or hear when the other dwarf hands it to their elf companion with a wink and whisper of thanks for not betraying them. It is, after all, not his business what they do with their share once they have it. He also pretends not to hear the conversation that follows.
"You must have known Bluebell had it," Frerin says softly, "you see better than any of us."
"I did," Legolas admits.
"Why not just take it? It is why you let us free." Gloin tenses, although the Arkenstone is completely safe now this is possibly something that Thorin should be made aware of, just in case.
"My father's orders were clear," the elf admits. "I disagreed with them when he gave them to me, and the longer I spent with all of you the more I disagreed. Ultimately it was your wife. She treated me with far more kindness than I deserved, and I found myself loath to disappoint her."
"Yes," Frerin laughs, "she does have that way about her. You couldn't know that I would give these to you after all was said and done."
"No," Legolas agrees, "and I honestly fail to see what my father wants with them. I think I will travel, once everything has been settled. It is time to get out of my father's realm and see the world."
"I know some people who can help with that," Frerin's voice is growing faint as they walk away.
Gloin files the information away in his mind. For the most part it is only confirmation of what they had always suspected of the elf. He had intended on betraying them and whether the reasons for not doing so are his friendship with Belladonna and Ori (who spends as much time as he can either in the library or pestering Legolas for answers to questions), a friendly rivalry with Kili or simply the lack of opportunity it matters little. Thorin isn't surprised, although he decides not to act on the information in the end. Legolas has been of more help to them than Thranduil likely intended and even if they don't much like the King of the Woodland Realm, it would easier to be on civil terms with one of their nearest neighbours, especially with the number hobbits who will very likely be on their way through Mirkwood in the coming years.
Their relationship with Thranduil doesn't improve much until Bluebell and Belladonna (who grows larger with child daily) take over negotiations. They don't have the centuries of animosity that dwarves do and, with Frerin's help, they manage to hammer out some peace that will hopefully grow easier with time. Legolas, oddly, helps as much as he can with his father and Gloin finds himself actually growing to like the elf prince. Even when it is later confirmed, by Thranduil no less, that Legolas had been under orders to steal the Arkenstone and the gems that Frerin had taken such pains to return it doesn't come as a surprise. They had suspected something of the sort, after all, and the treachery is Thranduil's not the son's, who had apologised to Thorin about the whole thing in private before any meeting with his father had ever taken place. The young elf, in fact, makes a point of remaining with one or other member of the Company whenever he's in the mountain over the winter, allowing them to keep a watch over him even though it has long been proven an unnecessary precaution.
All in all, it becomes a productive winter and they number ten when they depart Erebor. Gloin, Fili, Kili, Bluebell, Bombur, four guards from the Iron Hills and, surprisingly, Legolas.