Chapter Fifty: Written in Stone
Emelia thought the gold floor was tacky. At first, she didn't realize what she was looking at. It seemed unreal, borderline impossible, and she couldn't help but bend down and run her hands over the smooth surface. The reflection colored Fili's hair and face an unnatural shade of yellow that made him look jaundiced and sick. She was paler than him, so she imagined the effect was worse on her, but she didn't give it much thought, too enraptured by the sheer amount of money beneath her fingers. She was taken by the gold at first, but the longer she stared at it, the longer she ran her hands over the cool metal, the more annoyed she got.
"This is just excessive," She said after a moment, making a face at her own reflection. "I don't even want to know, to be honest, how much this is worth."
She glanced over at Fili leaned against the wall, noticing that the dark look on his face hadn't left. He was mad at her. Kili was too, but he was currently talking to Thorin so she was saved from having to see his anger. Or perhaps he was hurt, but that bothered her even more to consider. She felt shame burn through her chest once again. She tried to push it down, but realized that she couldn't. It wasn't fair and it wasn't a situation she had ever imagined herself being in, but they couldn't go back. Kili had asked her to marry him and she had said no. Well, not in so many words, but her silence said enough. Emelia glared at herself one last time before she stood up and turned around to face Fili. He was watching her, arms folded across his chest, lips pursed, scowl deep-set and angry. The panic and guilt built up again, causing her lips to tremble.
She sucked on them, gulping in a deep, greedy breath as she tried to hide the physical manifestation of her inner monologue.
The happiness she had felt was all but gone, making her feel like it hadn't even really been there in the first place. Kili hadn't said a word to her since, which she didn't blame him, and Fili had, once she told him why she needed to talk to Thorin, given her the worst sort of disappointed silent treatment imaginable. She deserved it, but it still stung all the same. She chided herself for being so self-centered. It wasn't about her. It had never been about her and she had let herself forget that.
The golden floor was even more offensive to her, suddenly, and she decided she couldn't look at it anymore so she scrubbed the toe of her boot over her reflection, feeling better as she covered her face and turned to gaze at something else.
She settled on the pitiful fish she caught, discarded by the archway on the other side of the hall, and sighed. Neither her or Kili had been thinking clearly. It was stupid, laughably so, to go outside when the main reason, besides her own personal ones, of course, she came back to the mountain was to warn them about orcs. Fili looked like she'd sucker punched him when she told him. He also asked her why she didn't say anything sooner. He hadn't spoken to her since when the only answer she could come up with was to point at Kili. She was saved from any further explanation when Dwalin appeared clear out of the blue and said Thorin wanted to talk to them.
Emelia walked over to Fili, running her hands through her ratty hair. She tried to smooth it over and over again, patting down one wild curl, only to have another spring up on the other side of her head. He followed the movement, face never changing, before he sighed and reached into his pocket and pulled out a small strip of leather and held it out to her.
She took it and pulled her hair back into a messy bun at the nape of her neck, frowning when a piece fell in her eyes. "How do you keep your hair so neat?" She asked, tucking the red curl behind her ear.
"I wash it regularly," Fili said simply, slight mirth in his eyes despite his sour expression. She scoffed and smoothed her hair again. Her hands felt like they needed to do something. "And my hair isn't nearly as cumbersome as yours." He gestured to the stubborn curl that seemed hell-bent on making a new home directly in front of her face.
"My hair used to be pretty," Emelia said, giving up on making her hair cooperate after a few more attempts. She moved her right hand to her chest and rubbed it back and forth over her scar, looking at the small hallway that Kili and Dwalin had disappeared down almost 30 minutes ago, by her estimation. It could have been longer, or only a minute, the stress she felt was the same. "Anyway, how long do you think they'll be talking?"
Fili mulled it over for a moment. When he spoke, he didn't sound like he wanted to be talking to her at all, which she understood. She would probably be a little bitter towards one of them if their roles were reversed. "I don't know."
"Maybe Kili will tell him and I can avoid the whole thing." She was only half joking. Truthfully, she didn't understand why Thorin wanted to talk to Kili first, or when Dwalin had turned into a glorified messenger, but she thought if she had to wait even longer, then maybe some good would come of it and she wouldn't need to tell him in the first place. She'd never been that lucky, however, so she was already mentally preparing her speech to Thorin.
"That would hardly be a departure from what you did when you got here."
"Rude."
"When were you planning on tell us? Were you going to wait until they were breathing down our necks?"
"I made a mista…"
"Emelia, do you not understand the severity?"
"Of course I do. Why do you think I came back?" She paused, realizing how her words sounded. She immediately backtracked, blushing slightly. "That didn't come out right, Fee. Look, I don't know how to do this with any sort of tact or grace and the pressure of all of this is starting to make me feel like I'm going to vomit and pass out at the same time. I should have told you right away. If something bad happens because I decided it would be a good idea to waste half a day, I'll never forgive myself."
"I would not phrase it as a waste if I were you. Kili wouldn't take it very well if he heard."
"It's not like it would matter," Emelia said, the miserableness in her voice reaching all-time highs. "We were barely together two hours and I already messed it up."
"Don't be so dramatic," Fili said, some humor finally returning to his face.
"He asked me to marry him." She picked at a loose thread on her coat and sighed, moving so she could lean against the stone column with him. It was one of the ones that was still standing, but it was cracked straight down the middle. Fili didn't seem bothered. When she pointed out the structural integrity of the room when they first walked in, all of the dwarves, Fili, Kili, and Dwalin in this case, scoffed and ignored her. She didn't mention it after that. "Sort of. He just kind of blurted it out."
"Was this before or after the orc scouts?"
"After."
"And you agreed?"
"No."
"You said no?"
"No."
"Emelia, what happened?"
She bit her lip, mulling it over. She tried to rub some warmth into her arms, grimacing at the crustiness of her clothes. Fili watched her hands, eyeing the bruised skin on her left knuckles with raised eyebrows. She slipped her hand into her pocket. "It was going really well, I think. One minute we were talking and the next we were," She stopped, trying to decide if Fili would want to hear every detail or not. "Getting better acquainted."
"Snogging, you mean."
"Yea, quite a bit actually." Fili raised his eyebrows and smirked, causing her to look down at her feet again. "You're a total girl, by the way."
"I'm simply interested in my brother's happiness." He moved away from the stone column and stepped in front of her, the serious expression back on his face. "And yours."
"He asked me to marry him and the only response I could come up was the equivalent of marking farting noises in my armpit."
"You can do that?"
"Of course."
"Show me."
"I'll show you later. Look, I don't know how marriage works for dwarves, but I feel like this is a bad start."
"You're exhausting, Em, did you know that?"
"I've been told. I think you're missing the point, though. My difficultness aside, I still can't imagine a scenario where it's a good idea to respond to a marriage proposal by asking if the person is kidding." Emelia snorted at the ridiculousness of it, shaking her head slightly. "But what do I know? All my experience with the opposite sex has been pretty limited to movies meant to make you think your soul mate is waiting at the next bus stop, or waxing poetry moodily in a coffee shop somewhere."
"Or in a company of dwarves trying to regain their home in a mountain previously occupied by a dragon."
"I'm overthinking this, aren't I?"
"Absolutely," Fili said, wrapping his hand around her shoulder and squeezing it tightly. "Kili didn't tell you anything?"
"No?"
"Nothing about braids?"
"No. Like I said, I don't know how any of this works. When my parents met, my dad was a lot older than my mom and they didn't date very long before I happened." Emelia smiled to herself, thinking how it must sound to someone else. She rubbed her chest and cleared her throat. "They were a good example of what it's like to love someone, but they weren't exactly the best role models when it came to doing things in the right order and at the right time."
"Well, if there was bad time, this would be it," Fili said, snapping them back to the reality at hand. "Stop fidgeting. You're setting me on edge." He grabbed her hand and prevented her from compulsively moving it back and forth. "Em, it's not supposed to be easy. Love is hard and I am absolutely sure that you and Kili will find a way to make it even harder without really trying. But if orcs are really coming for us as we speak, I'm happy that you two have each other."
"Can you feel it?" He furrowed his brows, not understanding what she was saying. "Something bad is going to happen."
"Emelia, for the love of Mahal, stop being so morbid. I know I said that something could come of this, but you told us and you're going to tell Thorin. You've done your part."
"Hear me out though. In movies, the protagonist, that's me for the sake of this argument, always gets their love interest, Kili, just before shit hits the fan." He wasn't following. "Nothing good has stayed good. Middle Earth has a serious case of radioactive decay and I think we might have reached our half life back in Mirkwood."
"Emeli…"
"I know, its dramatic or whatever, but this kind of thing doesn't end well. Someone is going to get hurt, or worse."
"I won't let that happen," Fili said, looking at her with so much sincerity it almost hurt. Kili had said almost the exact same words to her in Rivendell, made the exact same promise, but it hadn't held true for him, so she didn't think it would for Fili. She stared at him, realizing that this was the longest they'd talked since Beorn's house. Emelia missed him and she didn't realize how much until she was staring at his face. He was all she had, for a brief bit at the beginning of their time together. Her foreboding feeling worsened when she thought about something bad happening to him.
"Would it be weird for me to tell you that you're my best friend and that I'm really happy you flirted with me when I was covered in my own feces and vomit?"
"Not in the slightest." She launched herself at him, burying her face in his chest.
"I promise I won't keep information about an orc attack to myself next time." He laughed, his chest rumbling the same way Kili's did and she was struck by the idea that he might one day be her brother as well. If they all managed to survive the next few days, of course. The dread came back, but she didn't say anything, choosing instead to hug him tighter.
"Now, do I have to ask again, or are you going to show me that armpit fart?"
"Laddie, get back here!"
Kili stormed out of the hallway with a murderous look on his face, Dwalin hot on his heels. He looked around the large hall, making a beeline for them when they made eye contact. Fili unfolded her arms from around his shoulders and stepped towards Kili, holding out an arm to catch him and hold him in place. Kili tried to shove him off, muttering something angry under his breath in Khuzdul. He was practically vibrating with rage as he repeated what he said, spitting the words out like poison. Fili's face showed shock, causing Emelia to look back and forth between them in confusion.
"He said that?"
"What?"
"He didn't mean it, Kili. You know he isn't himself at the moment."
"Could someone tell me what's happening?"
"Thorin wants to speak with you," Dwalin said, completely ignoring Fili and Kili, who were now having their own hushed conversation, which Emelia couldn't understand a word of, entirely independent of the other two standing with them. She watched them for a moment, reading their tense body language, before she turned her attention to Dwalin. He grabbed her shoulder, but she shrugged him off. "Now."
"Hang on. Kili what happened?"
He kept talking to Fili, although he did pause long enough to give a look that she couldn't quite describe.
They held each other's gaze, each of them analyzing the other for what felt like an eternity before Emelia finally nodded and broke the contact. His frustration towards her seemed to have been redirected towards Thorin, for whatever reason, and for that she was thankful. Perhaps Fili had been right to tell her she was being dramatic about the whole thing. Once again, she also had to remind herself that it wasn't about her.
"Fine. But you're telling me when I get back."
She followed Dwalin down the hallway, blinking rapidly as the glow from the golden floor disappeared in the darkness of the narrow path. She felt closed in in such a small space so she reached out and grabbed his sleeve, simultaneously slowing him down while she pulled herself up almost directly behind him. He turned left and led her down a flight of perfectly smooth stairs. Next came another long hallway followed by a smaller set of stairs. At the bottom she could see a pile of gold pieces abandoned carelessly at the bottom.
"Watch your words," Dwalin advised, pushing her into the hallway at the bottom of the stairs.
"What?"
He didn't answer her. She sighed and continued down the hallway. The amount of gold and other things worth more than she could estimate increased until she was walking on nothing but gems, coins, and intricately designed jewelry. Her feet sank into a pile, causing her to stumble forward. Her hand connected with the sharp edge of an ornate shield and the metal sliced through the top layer of her skin. She inspected it for blood and kept walking, pressing her thumb into the cut to keep it from leaking out onto the gold.
Emelia's breath caught in her throat.
There was a mountain inside the mountain. She didn't know where to look. The golden floor was excessive, but the horde, and that was the only word she could think of that did it justice, made that look like it was made of polished crap when compared to the treasure in front of her. She slipped on the gold and sat back against one of the smaller piles, mouth falling open as her eyes danced around the room rapidly, unable to look at one thing for too long, unable to focus.
"Ah, Emelia, I was wondering when you would come and see me."
Emelia stopped staring at a gilded statuette long enough to turn to her left. She scrambled off the pile, wincing as she set her hand on something rough. She didn't like Thorin's smirk, but she especially didn't like how he was carrying himself like he was greatest thing since sliced bread. She eyed him up and down, taking in his coat and, more importantly, the crown atop his head.
"Hi, Thorin." She offered him a half smile and moved forward, holding her hands together behind her back. She didn't quite know where to start, so she began with the easiest thing she could think of; flattery. "Being a king suits you."
"I have always been a king."
"Now you have your crown."
"Now I have my crown," He paused, a dark look crossing his face for a moment. "Although, there are those who would just as soon steal it off my head along with everything else in this mountain."
"Are you okay?"
"Why would I not be?"
"You seem a little off." She studied his face, gauging his mood. He wasn't generally agreeable, but he seemed even more stubborn now.
"Off?"
"I don't want to offend you."
"That has never stopped you in the past."
She wondered if there would ever be a time when she and Thorin would get along. She thought she might genuinely like him under different circumstances. "Well, in that case, I want to talk to you about Lake-town."
"What of it?"
"It was destroyed by a dragon."
"I recall." Emelia bristled at his tone. "I was pleased when I heard you survived."
"After Bard told you I died. Talk about an unnecessary plot twist," Emelia joked. He didn't laugh. She rolled her eyes and continued. "Anyway, I've heard you're not planning on giving Bard and Thranduil any gold."
"And have you come to try and convince me otherwise?"
"No, I wasn't planning o…"
"Erebor could be your home, Emelia, if you wished," He cut across her, completely ignoring the annoyed look she gave him. "But I will not tolerate disloyalty from someone like you."
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"You are mortal."
"And?"
"And I am not certain you won't try and sway me to give away what is rightfully mine or to help them."
"Actually, now that you mention it, that's exactly what I'm going to do."
"Excuse me?" It was like she was watching him transform right in front of her eyes. She hardly felt like she knew him to begin with, but Emelia suddenly felt like she was looking at a stranger. Thorin's features were the same, but she didn't know the person standing in front of her. Emelia squeezed her hands together and looked away. She eyed a chest filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of gems about the size of a fingernail. She spotted rubies, diamonds, sapphires, and other ones she couldn't identify. There was a purplish one with veins of silver that interested her and she almost walked over so she could look at it closer. But she refrained. There would be more time for that later. She looked back at him, avoiding looking at one feature for too long for fear she would start to recognize him even less than before. "What did you and Kili talk about?"
"That's private."
"Did he tell you that Gandalf thinks Erebor is vulnerable?"
"To what, exactly?"
"Orcs. He thinks that orcs are coming to take advantage of that and I believe him."
"Orcs," Thorin scoffed and turned away from her. "What need do those vermin have for treasures such as these?"
"I don't think they care about the treasure so much as the sweet ass location," Emelia said, glaring at his back. She thought about running forward and kicking him in his back, just to make a point, but she didn't think that would prove much of anything beyond the fact that she was an actual child with issues dealing with her emotions. Although, she thought the emotional roller coaster she had been on in the last 24 hours was enough evidence of that without any added outbursts. "I think you should listen to him."
"So they will come. This mountain has never been taken by an outsider."
"Except for the dragon."
"Do you enjoy mocking the generosity I have given you? I have offered you a shelter and protection and you give your thanks by ope…"
"Shelter and protection? That's what you calling this? Okay, look Thorin, I thought we had already gone through all of this in Mirkwood. The only thing you've given me is stress, wrapped up in emotional trauma paper, tied off with shitty string, and signed by you, Thorin Oakenshield, Middle Earth's most checked-out King."
"Your insults have grown more colorful and nonsensical."
"I had a lot of time to think about what I would say to you if you were stupid enough to ignore what I'm trying to warn you about."
"Yes, I've heard all about the time you spent with my nephew."
"I hope not everything. That would embarrassing for everyone involved," Emelia said, staring at the back of his head, waiting for him to turn around.
"Kili and I have spoken about it."
"That isn't what we're talking about. We're talking about orcs and what you need to do about it."
"Nothing. That is what is required of me and that is exactly what I will do. If that bargeman wanted my aid, my gold, then he should have treated me with the respect I deserved."
"This isn't about the gold. Why is that the only thing you three can think about?"
"Three?" Thorin turned around to look at her, eyes narrowed. He was tense and Emelia suddenly felt like she shouldn't be alone with him. Dwalin had told her to watch her words, but she could tell, now, that it had nothing to do with her, but with Thorin. There was something wrong, something off in the look in his eyes. She tried to subtly take a step back without him noticing, but quickly realized the shifting gold floor beneath her made that impossible. She used a set of gilded armor to keep from falling over and dug her foot down in the gold, finding a bit of balance once she met solid stone a few inches down. She wrapped her non-bloody hand around a large sapphire, unsure of if she wanted to squeeze it until her hand ached, or throw it against the wall in the hopes that it might snap him out of whatever mood he was in.
"You, Bard, and Thranduil," Emelia said carefully, watching his face.
"You would lump me with them? Those honorless m…"
"Thorin, I'm…"
"Stop interrupting me, Emelia." She snapped her mouth shut and clenched her hands together tighter behind her back. "I see we have come to it now; the real reason behind your return to the mountain."
"Open the mountain," She pleaded, taking a daring step towards him. His responding laugh wasn't a pleasant sound. It grated on her ears, piling tension on in an almost unbearable amount. "Thorin, you don't have to give them gold, just let them come inside. They're like sitting ducks out there."
"I don't have to do anything. I would sooner throw myself off the battements than allow those thieves to step foot in my home." He turned away from her, shoulders drawing back haughtily as he spread his arms to the massive gold pile in front of him. "Let them come, if they so desire such safety. I will gladly deny them over and over until I am blue in the face. You can tell them that they will find no aid from me."
Emelia, demonstrating, once again, the worst decision making imaginable, hurled the sapphire in her hand at his back. She regretted it instantly. It felt across the small space and smacked him on the shoulder and fell to the ground with a clang, but that wasn't what she was focused on. No, she was too concerned with the now deadly look on his face. She thought about apologizing, but, upon realizing that he wouldn't accept it anyway, decided to stick with it. Despite her shaking, she crossed her arms over her chest and tried to look as if she wasn't internally screaming. She thought, if Thorin was actually himself, he would see right through her.
"There are children, Thorin."
He ignored her and walked forward, the look on his face muderous.
"If your concern for them is so great, then return to them. We have no need for you."
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I knew from the moment I met you, you would be trouble. I saw the look in your eyes, the treachery in you gaze. You have mastered the art of appearing innocent, Emelia, but I saw you for what you were worth and it was little. I see that it is even less now that you have allowed yourself to be poisoned against us by your own heritage."
Emelia's mouth twitched, but she said nothing. She didn't think, even if she had a hundred years to think about it, there would be much more she could say to him, and even less that would get through to him. Disappointment flared in her chest for a moment, making the dwarf in front of her even more unrecognizable. Realization replaced it as she thought about the fact that, with Thorin's sudden, and frankly horrifying, dismissal, there wasn't anywhere they people of Lake-town could go to escape the orcs. She thought of Tilda, Hiron and Galon, Sigrid, Bain, and even Bard. She thought of the old woman crying, and the man who'd helped her, the man and woman passing out blankets to everyone else. Even Alfrid crossed her mind, although she was of the opinion that he deserved an orc or two chasing after him. Still, she would prevent it if she could.
"You're better than this, Thorin. You aren't cruel."
"I did not fight to win back Erebor, only to be subjected to you and your betrayal. You will leave now, Emelia."
"What?"
"Do not return. I think you will find I'll be much less agreeable should we cross paths again."
Emelia's mouth ran dry. She cleared her throat and refused to look away from him. She knew if she did, he would have won. She folded her arms over her chest and held his gaze, finding a bit of satisfaction in how his jaw muscle started clenching up in agitation. Her satisfaction was short lived, however, when she saw how his face darkened after a moment, how his hand reached down to a large knife hidden beneath his robe. "Thorin, no." She wasn't sure if he was looking at her with some sort of newly formed hatred based on his own perceptions of her trying to reason with him, or if he had felt this way about her the entire time and was simply not bothering to hide it any longer.
"I will not repeat myself. Be gone. The Kingdom of Erebor is no longer open to you. Let it be written in stone. Dwalin!" Emelia dug her foot out of the pile of gold, unsure of what exactly was happening. Thorin's flare for dramatics wasn't nearly as endearing as it had once been. She backed up, running into the set of armor once again. Making sure to never look away from him, she dug around for something to defend herself with, just in case the need should arise, but he turned away from her when Dwalin appeared to her left. "Escort Emelia out of the mountain and see to it that she doesn't return."
"Thorin?"
"Do it. I will not make the same mistake I once did. You are a snake, Emelia Kinsington Montgomery."
"Wait. I haven't done anything."
"Emelia, don't." Dwalin put his hand on her upper arm, fingers digging into her muscle.
"No! You can't do this," Emelia said, desperation saturating her voice. She pulled her arm out of Dwalin's hand and stepped towards Thorin, very mindful of what she was doing. "You have your mountain, you have your gold. You don't need anything else. Is this how you want to start your rule? By knowingly leaving people to die? Because, what, you're afraid someone might take some of your gold. I think you have enough, Thorin. Even Scrooge McDuck and Donald Trump would find this excessive."
"Dwalin, remove her!"
"No! Thorin, don't do this!" Dwalin grabbed her around her shoulders and pulled her back, practically dragging her. She sat down stubbornly, forcing him to bend down and lift her up over his shoulder just to get her to move. "Stop! Let me go." She punched his shoulders and kicked, digging her knees into his chest but he kept walking.
"Kill her if she tries to come back."
Dwalin had to squeeze her closer to him to keep her from running back and launching herself at Thorin. Once they reached the hallway, he pushed her against the wall, holding her to it with his arm. She struggled, kicking his legs and clawing at his arms until he snapped at her. "Emelia, listen to me. You have to leave."
"That wasn't Thorin."
"No, it wasn't."
"You knew he was like that before I went in there."
He confirmed it for her when he didn't respond. She nodded, looking down at her feet. She stood for a moment, breathing heavily as the reality washed over her. Thorin banished her. Somehow, through all the scenario's she had gone through the last day she spent waiting to speak to him, that thought had never crossed her mind. It hardly seemed real, but the look on Dwalin's face confirmed it for her. She was banished. It was certainly something to add to her list of shit things. Of course, this was probably the shittiest. Or at least, the one that hurt the most.
She made the decision not to dwell. She had more important things to think about. "I have to go. I have to tell them that there's no where to run."
There was no where else for them to hide, nowhere left to run. All that was left was to them was waiting for the inevitable.
Surprise! I'm not dead! Just mentally and emotionally exhausted, but I'm still kicking. Firstly, I think apologies are in order. I have never left a story this long without an update (beyond the hiatus') and I feel so horribly about that. I never intended to be gone so long, but life (and a bad case of the writer's block blues) caught up with me and I didn't have the motivation for much of anything, let along fanfiction. The support for this story is truly mesmerizing and, honestly, is like 95% of the reason I've stuck it through this long.
I missed the 3 year anniversary, but I wanted to say, from the bottom of my heart, that your support has meant the world to me. It has even inspired me to work on my own original works, which are finally going somewhere (YAY!), so thank you, thank you, thank you.
A quick note on what happened this chapter. Kili and Emelia were taken straight to Thorin as soon as they walked inside from last chapter and Thorin wanted to talk to Kili first. What they talked about will be addressed next chapter, as well as some resolution for Emelia's completely over the top drama about the fact that she didn't say yes to Kili. Like girl, chill. Also, she won't be embarking on her banishment (Thorin is such a drama queen) alone, so there's going to be tons and tons of good Kili/Emelia stuff next chapter.
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