Shobha had spent most of her time holding court in place of Fili and Thorin, as well as working in the infirmary. Otherwise she had found herself in front of Aulë and Yavanna a lot over the last two days since Thorin left. It was quiet there, and gave her time to think. She had even started to water the hanging wall of plants, trim the unruly growth, and run her hands over the carpet of soft foliage lovingly.
Shobha hated being in their bedroom, everything had reminded her of him. She had spent the first night in the infirmary. Then feeling stiff for sleeping at the desk, she had finally braved their bed on the second night. Of course she had made a fair few close friends, but Thorin was the reason she stayed in Middle Earth.
And then she spotted the bed – the linen hadn't been changed by some sort of miracle! She didn't waste another moment, so shedding her clothes, jumping straight in and inhaling the pillows and furs, which smelled of vetiver, pipe smoke and Thorin's earthy musky scent. She had finally fallen asleep wrapping herself in these.
…
Meanwhile, Thorin and Fili sat by the fire, on watch. It should have been an easy ride if they had travelled light, but their soldiers travelled with large weapons and tents. And their path had been obstructed by many felled trees, clearly placed on purpose by the orcs that had come to dwell in the mountains, and they had taken care, travelling slower than hoped, so their ponies didn't hurt themselves. And crossing Mirkwood was not their plan. The southern parts were still overrun with dark magic, and they would be more likely to get lost, so travelling around was their only option.
The golden haired prince silently stole glances at his uncle, who sat there brooding. Fili was unsure what awaited them in the old goblin tunnels.
Thorin pulled out his pipe and tapped it out but just held it in his fingers. Even pipe weed seemed unsatisfying at this point. He should have been sitting on their gifted couch in the bedroom, smoking, while holding his new bride, completely nude enjoying her body and touch, by the hearth.
"Thank you for your support…" Fili spoke softly. He felt selfish at having stolen what little happiness his uncle had. And he knew Thorin had lost so much in his lifetime.
"Hmmmm." Thorin grunted, it was fair to make his nephew feel guilty for a while longer. His rash actions may cause a great degree of problems for their entire kingdom. "So have you decided on a plan?"
Fili looked at his uncle tentatively.
"I thought to use Draeg as bait. As though he is here on his own with only a few, to honour the ransom and free their princess. And then follow them, once they are captured. And let them lead us to the prisoners."
Thorin looked at him and nodded.
"Except the Orcs dwelling down there will know those tunnels better than us. So it won't be as simple as that. And fighting in such confined spaces will not be easy either. But that is the reason I came with you: to make sure you get out alive – to protect my heir."
Fili looked down at his boots. The memories of the last battle were still quite fresh: Thorin had been very badly hurt at the time, and they were certain he would have died if not for Thranduil and Gandalf.
"So long as you honour our agreement – should anything happen to me," Thorin had instructed Fili, after his injury with the Morghul shaft already. But he already knew that his sisters son bore a soft spot for his One. "My only wish is that she is looked after well."
Thorin leant back against a log and looked up into the night sky, spotting the Sickle of the Valar. It reminded him of how they had made love under the starlight only a few nights ago. He was glad they did – for his bedroll smelled divine, like her. He wondered what she was doing right now.
…
A further two days had passed, but the emptiness had not eased. Tauriel had come to stay with them for a bit. She had claimed that she had some free time given, but Shobha wondered whether Thranduil had sent his captain to keep watch, while her husband was away. While she wasn't a great fan of the Elvenking and his cold demeanour, he had come to her aid, when she had required it for Thorin's sake.
Even the dwarrows presenting their arguments to court had been far more muted than Shobha had seen them previously behave in front of even Thorin. Gloin and Balin had reassured her it was because they had felt guilty that she should have been enjoying their first week as a married couple instead of having to take care of the Kingdom in her husbands absence, rather than it being related to her being a woman. Either way she had not felt challenged enough for her mind to be suitably distracted.
The Blacklocks were settling into a semi-permanent camp just out of Erebor, and the children who had been sick were thankfully much better now, and their wounds healing well, with their care.
Shobha had also taken time to train with Kili, Tauriel and Balin. They did not exert her anywhere as hard as Fili, Dwalin or Thorin had, so she wasn't even exhausted after that. She would spend breakfast and dinner with Dis, Gael, Balin, Kili and Tauriel. But neither Dis nor Shobha had the heart to speak about their worries to the other, knowing how heavy each one's heart weighed for safety of the group.
So within a couple of days, Shobha had taken to looking through the more complex trade petitions that had been awaiting Thorin's attention. She had initially started working in his study – but found everything in there distracting. And so she had sifted through all their wedding gifts to find a beautiful hand carved bureau and chair upholstered with velvet, which she had moved to their parlour. There she worked till she wore herself out late into the night trawling through the various petitions and requests for trade, tariffs and taxes between the kingdoms. Then finally when she could no longer read or write due to fatigue, she would crawl into their bed, hoping she wouldn't wake up in the night and lay there sleepless wondering how Thorin was. Suddenly mobile phones seemed so appealing.
…
Shobha woke up to bright sunlight on a soft green hill. Panic rose in her heart immediately – it was not Erebor! In fact she looked like she was nowhere in Middle Earth that she recognised anyway. It looked like Wales, where she had first fallen into this world. She missed her family – but no longer wished to return home.
Standing up she looked around urgently for any landmarks but found none – she was alone. There weren't any sheep or evidence of farms, so maybe she was in luck and hadnt been sent back.
"You look nervous," a deep voice behind her rumbled.
Startled, she turned to see a large broad man, with shaggy silver shoulder length hair and a matching beard, wearing a leather kilt and vest. He was built like a dwarf, but the size of, what she imagined the giants were like from fairytales. And then her tired neurones connected.
"Mahal…?" She whispered, eyes wide. This surely had to be a dream!
"You have been spending much time staring at my wife! Hoping, wishing and thinking… And your mind is more powerful than the rest of your kind." He stood there, looking rather annoyed at her. The humanity in what she imagined was supposed to be a supposedly God-like being perplexed her. "Your thoughts are rather loud my dear! And frankly quite… whiny!"
"Huh?!" She stumbled backwards a step or two but found her footing fine. "Um –"
"But apparently your mind is more coherent than your mouth… Why am I here…? Well it appears my lovely wife has grown rather fond of you, and feels we have been…or rather, that we ARE treating too roughly for your worth. She feels the need to nurture you." Then he looked at her skeptically raising an eyebrow, as if looking at yesterday's takeaway wondering whether it should be thrown out or consumed. "I think you are too soft frankly – there are many of us Valar who witnessed Thorin in his sickness. His obsession was you – you were his treasure, like the Arkenstone, he wishes to claim you. And some of us believed that you were too soft on him. Particularly after he threatened to bed you, regardless of your wishes. Fortunately as you have an important role to play in the destiny of Arda, you still carry the protection of the Valar."
Shobha still stood there with her mouth agape, looking at this giant Valar.
"Well are you not going to say anything?" He rumbled on.
"What is going to happen to them?" she asked at last taking a step forward and then thinking twice about getting any closer given that she was already craning her neck plenty to get a glimpse of his face. She had lots of questions to ask, but this would be given priority. "Why would you do this in the middle of our honeymoon?"
He then sat himself down crossing his legs oddly.
"Is that better?"
"Um –" But that REALLY didn't help at all – in fact, Shobha quickly averted her gaze, discovering the hard way that the Valar did not wear any underwear. And that Mahal, like his dwarf creations, was EXTREMELY well endowed, except this was now on a monumental scale.
"Oh sorry!" He smirked letting his legs lie flat in front of him. And then a low deep laughter rumbled out of his chest, it sounded like the ground was shifting. "But it did make my day when you thanked me for Thorin's Crown Jewels – of course I cannot take credit for how well he uses them to please you – he has taken it upon himself to study your body, and such an eager student he is – I suppose I don't blame him either. None of the Valar have ever received such gratitude from anyone for being bedded before – and they were all most jealous of me!"
"Stop being so harsh on the girl, husband!" A soft melodious voice broke through from behind, as a tall shapely, and incredibly ethereal woman stepped forward. Unlike the statues, she was smaller than Aulë by quite a bit. Her dress was a spring green shade, made of soft silk and flowed around her as she walked. Her long dark hair fell almost to the ground and her earthy tone skin glowed as she looked at Shobha with her warm hazel eyes. She walked barefoot, and each blade of grass seemed to worship her feet – their mother. Shobha had never seen a God before, obviously. But she imagined this was what a God or Goddess looked like!
"My Lady Yavanna." She breathed out falling to her knees and bowing her head, instinctively. She had spent a fair amount of time since Thorin's departure looking at the statue of Yavanna in the temple – but she was so much more beautiful in real life – if that's what this was!
"She didn't do that with me." Aulë grumbled in the background. "I told you she has what her people call a 'girl-crush' on you."
"Hush! Its probably because I didn't show her my unsightly parts." Yavanna dismissed his complaints. "Please stand my dear."
Shobha stood to watch Yavanna take a seat next to Mahal, except she touched the earth, which rose to create a small tuffet for her to sit on, bringing her to almost the same height as him. He lovingly arranged her dress for her as she sat down and then rested his large hand on her's in her lap.
"I am so sorry for all the pain you have been put through child." She spoke looking at the woman, with a mix of pity and compassion. "I want you to know that there will be some hard times still ahead of you… But know your thoughts and prayers do not fall on deaf ears…"
"Hard times – Oh God! Like will Thorin, Dwalin and Fili be ok?" Shobha worried. Who else could be in danger?
"The danger will be more for you, sadly." She spoke carefully gauging Shobha's reaction. "And we will be doing all we can to protect you from coming to great harm... But you must take rest and look after yourself please, for you are to play a key role in things to come for Middle Earth."
"Will we be ok?"
"I can not say more – your arrival is part of a long forgotten prophesy.. but there are those who wish to stop you." She sighed as Mahal stood next to her and helped her up, turning to walk away. Shobha tried hard to follow them but her feet remained planted to the floor, immobile. "Look after yourself child. For you nurture something valuable within…"
Shobha woke up to a loud bang as the doors to their terrace had blown open, the curtains flapping away. She sat still for a moment, unable to recall when she last opened the doors – it would have been when Thorin had taken her outside to show her the stars, and they had somehow ended up making love. Then her thoughts turned to the strange dream she had woken from. What did Mahal mean about hearing her thoughts? Surely they were the great Valar – did they not hear all thoughts?! And what did the gorgeous Yavanna mean about what she nurtured within her? Her courage… her heart…? And then she thought of the only person she could when faced with such circumstances: Gandalf! She needed him back. He had promised to return by the end of the week – what was keeping him?
She stood in a hurry and pulled on her robe as she rushed to close the doors to the terrace and then walked through into the parlour, where she found Allon, he was still alert at whatever god-forsaken hour this was.
"My Queen," he stood from his seat in salute. She had insisted if they would guard her continuously, then they should have a place to rest and had set a divan and chair for them in their parlour.
"Allon, I need your help. I need you to ride out to find Gandalf for me and bring him back. Its urgent." She quickly scribbled a note for Gandalf on her bureau as she spoke. "Don't worry about guarding me – send one of the King's guard to stand by the door for now. Aro will be taking over in a few hours anyway."
He nodded, as he took the note.
"Gandalf rode north with Bilbo, an elf and another man." She said. "Take plenty of supplies and a couple of other guards with you. Be safe. The only other place I can think of is that he has either gone to Lothlórien or Rivendell."
"My Queen." The broad, dwarf armoured in red leather, saluted her, beating his fist against his breastplate and bowing, took his leave.
...
Dear all,
thank you so much for following my story so far :)
thank you for your reviews - I am always ever grateful for your support xx
dragonegyptianblue - each of these two will have a fight to come, but I totally agree Fili has acted a rashly, but there will be explanations in time (unfortunately his actions will have an impact on everyone else). Thank you again for your support, I am very grateful. hope you enjoy this chapter - the calm before the storm :)
please please continue to post reviews, thoughts, comments and fave and follow xx
