Title: A tale about friendship, Part 17?

Author: Dís Thráinsdotter

E-mail: Overall rating: M, for violence and orctorment. This chapter: M

Summary: A group of children are told the tale of their friendship with the dwarves in general and the Folk of Durin in particular.

Warnings: The overall rating of this fic is M, as parts of it deals with violent battle and torment. There are also Original Characters in the fic, but no Mary Sues. Unbetaed, all mistakes belong to me.

Disclaimer: I don't own any one of Tolkien's characters, never have, and never will. The only ones I own are the people you have never met before.

Chapter 17, The hunt of the robbers

"When the trading was finished," Melian said, "the people of Huor returned to their village. Morwen who had gone with them wrote in her book ´the Lord looked shaken and sad, the loss of his son a hard blow to his heart even though he was proud of both his son and his grandson. He agreed that his grandson had been a bit too young to be fighting as Dwarves aren't considered Battle ready until they are forty but the losses had meant that they had been forced to send thirty-year olds into battle. In the end it had meant that Azog had been slain and vengeance taken.´

When they returned to the village everyone cheered but they were also sad to see that a number of the children wouldn't return. That evening Melian and Boromir told their people about the war, the battles and all who had been rescued from the Orcdens. When they spoke about the last battle and it's aftermath everyone wept. Huor then said ´we have no need to make any boasts about this. We went in order to get vengeance for what happened to our friend Thrór and we have gotten it.´ The people of the village decided to put two memorials in the graveyard, one for the Dwarves who had fallen and one for the children of the village. It was also decided that if any of the Folks who had been fighting or rescued needed aid, that aid should be given." Thranduil smiled and said

"I think I heard the village of Huor named ´the village of the Half dwarves. Why was that so?" and Melian answered

"When there are men and women who are unsure that they will return home they seek comfort where ever they can. The Men of the village were seen as too close akin to receive such comforts but the Dwarves were able to receive what was given. This had its inevitable consequences and a number of children were born with Dwarven fathers." Bard asked

"What did the people of the village say about that?" and Melian answered

"Such things had happened before, with becoming fathers killed by flash floods. According to custom the parents of the mother adopted the children. But the names of the fathers were always known and when the children asked they were told who they were. As for as I know many of those children still live in the village and everyone honours them."

During the years that followed many trading groups consisting of Dwarves, Elves and Men passed the village. One reason was that many wanted to thank the people of Huor for the aid they had received and they brought gifts that Melian and the others felt that they couldn't refuse. To Melian the most important gift was to see the rescued peoples again and hear that their kinsmen had accepted them. The people of the village was proud to hear that their children had been doing great things during the war and when they were told about the sufferings of the rescued they were very angry. The sight of all the people going through the country attracted a number of robbers who tried to attack the groups. But they hadn't reckoned with the people of the area, they were hunted down and brought to the village of Huor for judgement. That way the robbers soon learned that they weren't able to rob anyone in the area and they soon left, looking for easier pickings elsewhere.

Melian and Emeldir married sons of other chieftains and builded two new villages. By chance six Dwarf groups had at the same time gathered in the village, five of them were on trading journeys and resting in the village of Huor. The people of Thráin had left Dunland as they felt that there were places where they would be welcomer. They had decided to go to the Blue Mountains and make Halls there but while they were travelling they had also decided to visit the village of Huor that they had fond memories of. At the weddings Thráin was one of the witnesses to the woves given and at the feast afterwards he told the newly become husbands that they were indeed fortunate to have married their wives. The Dwarf groups aided the people who were building the new villages and with their aid the villages became well built. As a token of the friendship between the peoples of these villages and the Folk of Thráin the emblems of Durin were carved into the gates as a reminder to the people about the bond. In the centre of the graveyards a memorial to Thrór was placed along with a memorial to the Dwarves who fell in the war."

Balin smiled as he remembered the feasts. "When we came to the village Huor welcomed us and we were given a guesthouse to stay in. We went to the graveyard to see the memorial to Thrór that Thórin Oakenshield had told us about and were astonished to see that our fallen had also been honoured. My brother and I were amazed to find our father mentioned as Fundin the Steadfast. When we asked Boromir about it he answered that they had told their people about all that had happened, they had decided that he could be given no other byname. Everyone honoured us and it was a pleasure for us to help to help Melian and Amandil son of Amlash build the village. When we left Melian told us that we would always be welcome. Finally we came to the Blue Mountain where we started to excavate Halls for ourselves. They weren't as great as the Halls of Erebor but they were ours. We traded our goods and started to be a bit well off. For a few years we had peace there and then disaster struck again."

TBC