Title: A tale about friendship, Part 18?

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 18, Thráins journey

Thranduil looked at Melian and said "but before you start telling that chapter I have something that I would like to know more about. What happened to Beleg the Half dragon? You said that he was never seen again in the village of Huor." Melian answered

"Five years after the Council where the Half dragon was punished, when the Army was assembling and preparing, Morwen wrote a letter to Melian. In this letter where she wrote about the things going on in the village she wrote the following: ´I thought that you would like to know that the Half dragon has passed away, mourned by none. The Dragon curse caused him to suspect his people for trying to take things from the stores. His family tried to keep him inside when the weather was foul but to no avail. This caused him to catch a string of illnesses that finally took his life. Boromir has taken over as Chieftain and his kinsmen who were driven away by the Half dragon are now returning to aid him.´ " Thranduil and the children thought that it was a good thing even though they felt sad for the young man who had to take up such a heavy responsibility.

"I would like to ask a few things also" Bard added "first of all I would like to know why a man was named after a person who, if the tales speak truly, was his exact opposite."

"They do speak truly" Thranduil answered, "Beleg Cuthalion was a noble and kind Elf, not to mention the best archer in Beleriand. He would weep to hear his name given to such a foul person." Melian agreed with both of them and said

"According to the tale his father had hoped the boy would become as kind and noble as his namesake but his hope was dashed when the dragon curse showed itself in his teens. I have had the theory that the father tried to get a grandson and live so long that he could cut his son from the succession, putting the grandson in his place."

"Secondly I have always wondered about your name and that of your brother, neither of which are common in this area" Bard said. "And in your tale we find one more Melian and two Boromirs. How were they given these names?" Melian smiled and said

"Our mother people regarded queen Melian of Doriath as the example of what a woman should be and a healer in particular; calm so she could cool down the hot blood of her husband at need, knowledgeable in the healing arts and able to give sage advice. Morwen also wrote in her book that a seer told her that her then newborn second daughter would bring more than a thousand gifts to the village, in Elvish that is translated as ´mene anna´ which was turned into Melian. My mother hoped that these abilities would also be given to me so she named me in this manner. As for my brother he was named after our fore uncle whom I have told you about. He and the Halfdragon´s son were named in honour of the valiant Steward Boromir I of Gondor. He proved himself as a great leader of Men and many fathers hoped that their sons would become like him."

Then Thranduil said to Balin "what happened? Were you attacked?" and Balin answered

"No, we weren't attacked in the Halls. We lived in peace in the Blue Mountains and for a while we were able to work and trade. Mostly we were making tools that we traded in the area but we also made jewels, even though we didn't do much of that because we didn't have much of either silver or gold. But when thirty years had passed since we came there we started to notice that Thráin, our Father, was troubled by something although we didn't know what it was. I spoke about it with my uncle Gróin and none of us knew what troubled him or what we could do to help him. All we could do was to watch and wait. I could at times hear him say something about treasures and the Halls of Erebor but I didn't understand what he meant with that. I think that had Gróin been in the Halls when things became serious we would have had a chance to convince him but my uncle was away on a trading journey with his sons, Óin and Glóin, when our Father suddenly gave the Ring of Melian to Thórin for safe keeping and left, taking me and my brother with him in the group of companions."

Thráin looked at Balin and asked, "where did he try to go?" and Balin said

"He tried to go back to Erebor. But for some reason we were followed by misfortune. There were many obstacles in our path, the more we tried to get there the harder it became. Suddenly one evening as we were walking along the outskirts of Mirkwood there was a downpour and we were forced inside the eaves of the forest. We set watches but he wasn't there the following morning. We looked for him for many days and then we had to return to our Halls without him. We passed the village that Melian had built and told her the sad news. We thought that our Father might have escaped from the attackers and made his way to Khazad-Dûm, and Melian promised to go there and look for him. She brought her children with her when she left the village. Before she did she went to the memorial to Thrór and said to him ´I wasn't there when you needed me. I wouldn't let your son come to harm, not if I can help it.´ So we returned to the Blue Mountains and told Thórin that he had to take up the position as Durin´s Heir, at least until his fathers fate was known. He was very sad when he did so."

Thranduil said to Melian "what had happened to your foremother in the years that lay in between?" and Melian answered

"She was working as healer in her village and also received the travelling groups that passed with friendship. They were able to travel in peace there, every robber knew that the people were ever vigilant and could track them down in no time at all. She had sons and daughters and the village prospered." Gandalf agreed with Melian and said

"I came there now and again and I was always welcome where ever I went. I met your foremother and on one occasion I was treated by her." When the others looked at him in surprise he added "there are dangers enough in a forest even when there are no robbers there. I stumbled over a tree root and strained my ankle. I stayed in the village while my ankle healed, and while I did so I also met a number of friends. We spoke with each other about many things; among them we often spoke about what Melian Golden heart had done. When they thanked her for it she said ´I simply did what I had to. When we found you in the Orcdens we simply had to get you out of there.´ I could see that she was proud of being able to help them and they were proud that they were her friends. Many of them said that they had two birthdays and that one of them was the day they were rescued." Gandalf smiled at the memories of sitting in the village, talking with Dwarves, Elves and Men and watching them sitting together in peace, talking about what they had endured.

TBC