This chapter was getting way too long tso I have decided to split it.

To the guest reviewers I cant respond to on PM, thanks so much for your comments they mean a lot and Im glad that you enjoy my efforts.P

Meetings 1 - Wizard and a king to be

Bard was at his noon meal when the message was brought to him, a simple repast but taken with his family where he could manage it. Today was a day when he had managed it and both his daughters and his son, along with his eldest daughter's husband and his son's new wife were at the table.

"Gandalf you say?" He said with a frown at the messenger. "Are you sure it is he for he has not been seen this side of the mountains since the battle?"
The messenger shrugged.
"That was the name the boy sent by the gatekeepers gave my lord. A shabby figure, old, but hale and hearty enough despite his white beard.
Bard swallowed a gulp of ale and smiled.
"Aye that sounds like the wizard. I recall being concerned that he would not be able to weild a sword when I first saw him, more than seven years ago now, and yet he did well enough and better than many younger. But then he is a wizard's and so is not to be measured by the usual means I suppose."
He broke more bread from the loaf before him with a thoughtful look. Then he stared with narrowed eyes at the herald.
"You say he has come from the Elvenking?"
"So he says my lord."
"Strange then for I saw King Thranduil at midwinter, I hope no new threat has crawled out of the north."
The herald shook his head
"He said nothing of his message and I doubt the gatekeepers would ask if he said that message was for you."
Bard nodded, he was not yet King of Dale but come midsummer and the striking of the battlestone he would take up the crown of his forefathers, and most in Dale had long since looked upon him as if that crown were already upon his head.
"Well whatever it is it is clear it cannot wait until midsummer for then Thranduil himself will be amongst us."

He saw the look that flashed between his daughters at that remark and suppressed a sigh; the eldest was now comfortably and most happily wed but he remembered well her time of infatuation with the king of the wood and it was clear she still bore a fondness, if not a fancy, for him. Judging by the look on the younger ones face it seemed that she was now of an age to share her sisters earlier partiality; with the ceremonies fast approaching he could only hope that the Elvenking would take this second adoration in the same calm, gentle and considerate manner as the first. He recalled it so well and with a sense of sinking in his stomach for there had been times when it had been most embarrassing for her father and her brother. Thranduil had been much in Dale at that time, as he would be this summer, yet the elf king had never made mention of it and had treated the girl with an almost fatherly air whilst at the same time managing to avoid making her feel a child or a fool. Indeed he had done it so well and with such grace and apparent ease that Bard wondered how often he been called upon to negotiate such fancies amongst the daughters of men. For himself he had to admit that if his daughters were to be subject to such wild infatuations he could only be glad that they chose to be so with one he could trust without reservation. He had often consoled himself with the thought that such ardent adoration was better directed at an elf, and a king at that, than some wastrel boy of the town with a handsome face and a predatory eye.

He put that matter to one side for later consideration and turned his thoughts back to the message.

"Where did the messenger say he he was lodging? He is more than welcome in my house, for he was at our side when the battle was at its harshest and I would see him treated with all due honour."
"He is quartered at the house of the Elvenking my lord. It would seem that he does not intend to stay long in the city."
"Ah, I see, it was to be expected I suppose since he comes from their king. I do not doubt the elves will see to to his comfort, they have known him a long time and respect him well. But I would see him given all honour by the people of Dale too and given a feast if he stays long enough."
"Very well my lord. When would you meet with him?
"Ask him if he will come at sundown, and dine with us if he free to and has made no other commitment."
The herald bowed and left.

"I recall Gandalf," Bard's son said, "a strange fellow. all beard and eyebrows."
"Aye, strange he was." Bard agreed with a smile. "He spoke of orcs and doom and yet seemed surprised when both came upon us so swiftly. King Thranduil named him as a wizard but his magic was of little use that day. Though he wielded staff and sword as if a much younger man."
He sighed.
"I heard afterwards that it was he that set Thorin Oakenshield upon the path to the mountain in the first place and yet he never said why, though I doubt it was for any purpose the dwarf knew. Dain tells me that he travelled some way with that company and yet he seemed taken aback by Oakenshield's actions."
"Perhaps he had not expected the dwarf to succumb to dragon sickness so quickly and fall so completely to the heat of gold fever." His son in law observed.
"Perhaps," Bard replied with a considering look. "Perhaps, and yet I think there was more to it than that."

He broke more bread and chewed upon it in deep thought for a while and then he raised his cup of ale towards the company at large with a sombre look upon his face.
"There was a meeting before Oakenshield's funeral between the three, King Thranduil, Lord Dain and Gandalf, what it was about I cannot say but it seemed more concerned with the past than the future for what little I saw."
His eyes took on a faraway look as his mind drifted back to the snowy days after the battle and he spoke slowly.
"I was called at one point in that meeting to speak of the fate of Dale after the dragon took the mountain. Something was amiss that was clear, and not just the recent battle, for the wizard seemed deeply concerned and King Thranduil looked most grave. Lord Dain however seemed much put about, very shocked in fact something I have never seen from him since. The wizard was the one who called me and it seemed to me that he was in some way acting as a mediator between the king who was and the king yet to be."

He smiled, a shadow of some old feeling hovering about his eyes.
"At the time I was not much surprised at the strain between them for Dain's insults before the mountain had been heard by many, man, dwarf and elf, and it is fair to say that his conduct towards the Elvenking up to that point had not been what I would have expected of a great dwarf lord."
He gave a sudden crack of laughter.
"More like a drunken tap room bully if I speak truly. That or the gangs of ill mannered lads you see taunting visiting merchants about their dress or some such thing in the market. Never did I expect to hear such crass words from a dwarf lord."
He shook his head, and a shrewd look displaced the mirth from his eyes
"But later I wondered if had just been that for Lord Dain seemed to change afterwards, his swaggeringwas all gone, he was most subdued and avoided King Thranduil as much as he could while they both remained near Dale."
He sighed, the mantle of his own lordship falling upon him again.
"As he still does, to some discomfort for those who must walk a line between them."

"But both are coming for the midsummer fair and the striking of the battlestone are they not?" That was Bain's wife.
He looked towards his young daughter in law with a faint smile
"That they are, and they will need to be in each others company at least some part of the time. But things move on and now that Dain is himself a king no doubt he will have learned some manners and to moderate his language, at least when others might hear it. Of Thranduil I have no complaint then or now, for though he treats Dain with a little coolness when they meet he is ever kingly and dignified and none hearing him speak to or of the dwarf would think his manner more than usual diplomatic caution. Yet even so it may not be comfortable,"
A look of sudden understanding lit his eyes.
"Indeed that might be why the wizard is here and wishes to speak with me, to test the lie of the land in that respect."
"I wonder that King Thranduil agrees to be in Dain's company at all from what I heard of the matter. If I were he I would not wish to as much as acknowledge him." Sigrid said with a frown.
Her father shot her a hard look over the rim of his cup.
"When you sit as high as he does then some things must be done, must be borne even when you would not wish it. As you all will discover when I take the crown of Dale no doubt. Neither the king under the mountain nor the king of the wood will risk a greater rift whilst the future remains so uncertain, whatever their private feelings about the other. However elves have long memories and though King Thranduil will not let it weigh with him in terms of his actions towards Dain, or any dwarf, nor will he forget."
A suddenly thoughtful look settled on his face as he recalled again the meeting in that winter seven long years ago...
"Yet if what I suspect is indeed the case then it might be harder still for Dain."

He pushed away his plate and rose to his feet
"But that is not for now and I have much to do before sundown. Bain, I will see you at the market gate at the third bell of the post noon."
Ignoring their pleas to sit down again and tell them more of what he meant he turned and left the room.

XXX

Gandalf was sitting smoking a pipe in a small arbour in the quadrangle of the Elvenking's house in Dale when the steward came to tell him that Lord Bard was awaiting him. He rose quickly surprised that Bard had come here rather than wait for him to attend at his house as sundown as his message had said. But the reason was soon explained for once they were alone Bard stepped close and spoke low.
"I gave the matter more thought and decided I would have us meet here first rather than my hall, for there are many curious eyes and ears there and if it is King Thranduil's business you are about it might include things better not heard by others."

The wizard looked around him and smiled.
"You think elves less curious my lord? For their hearing is certainly better than that of men."
Bard smiled and shook his head
"No, I know more than that. But I trust them to show more wisdom and to guard their lord's business carefully. My kin, though they are learning to be more circumspect, are not yet fully accustomed to being anything other than simple tradesmen; and at times…."
He let the words tail away with a wry smile.
Gandalf nodded his understanding.
"Indeed, your fortunes have gone in ways and reached heights I doubt you expected when you were growing. Your children too."
Bard nodded.
"That is true, though I was raised to know my lineage, that I was of the line of Girion, and to do honour to that line however humble my circumstances. I raised my children to do the same."
"Yet soon you will resume the place and mantle of you forefathers is that not so? For Thranduil tells m
you will take the crown once the battlestone is struck."
Bard smiled and inclined his head.
"That is indeed so. I have held the lordship of Dale since the battle before the mountain but I said I would not take the crown until Dale was once again what my forefathers ruled. Midsummer and the striking of the battlestone will put the days of ruin behind us, and the time of the dragon will pass into history. On the day after that I will be crowned king of Dale and my line will be as it was before."

Gandalf sighed.
"I regret that I will be unable to witness the event, for it will be joyous I do not doubt, but I must travel west again once my business here is completed and I will be in the far south or over the mountains on that day."
Bard inclined his head again in acceptance.
"That is a sadness, for I had hoped that all who were there that day and lived might join in the celebrations. But I know that the world remains under shadow, even though peace reigns for the moment, and that you may have much work still to do before we can consider the threat truly passed."
The wizard looked at the soon to be king of Dale more closely, noting the changes that nearly eight summers had brought about in him. Though he was still tall and straight there were slivers of silver in his dark hair and deep lines about his eyes. He seemed slightly heavier in build too, no doubt the effects of hours of sitting in council and with trade delegations, coupled with finer food than ever he had known in his life before the day he shot the dragon. Somehow it came as surprise to Gandalf for he had spent much of these last years amongst the elves or in the Shire, and had given little thought to the changes that would have occurred in the mortal men of Dale, or indeed to those he would see in Dain. He spared a moment to wonder if it would be Bard or his son, or even his grandson, who would be faced with resuming the fight against Sauron. For whilst Thranduil knew it would be his lot to take up that fight again, the span of men removed such certainty.

Gandalf hoped it would not fall to Bard, nor even to his son, for the world needed more time than that to make ready, yet he doubted the delay would be such that it would pass beyond three generations of men. But this was not the time for such speculation and so he smiled at Bard and drew his pipe from his cloak.
"It is a fine day my lord and there is a warm bench in the gardens where I might smoke a pipe as we discuss my business. I will have ale or wine brought as you prefer for Thranduil would wish all hospitality to be shown. Food too, if you are in need of it."
Bard shook his head.
"I've not long had the noon meal, and elvish wine and ale, though as good as any I have ever tasted, might slow my wits more than my afternoon's tasks demand. But let us go to this bench of yours for it seems that I spend too much time sitting in stone halls these days and the sun on my face would be welcome."

With that they returned to the bench that Gandalf had just quit.

When the messages of goodwill he had been charged with were delivered and responded to it was Bard who went first to the heart of the matter.
"So my lord wizard, what is it that brings you here and on King Thranduil's business?"
Gandalf looked over his pipe with a serious face
"Well not all is his business, though it is true that he would know how the land lies before Midsummer." He said softly.
Bard smiled knowingly.
"Ah, Dain and his dwarfs then? What is it would he know that he does not, for I saw him just before the midwinter feast. Is there anything new to concern him since then?
Gandalf was silent for a moment apparently concentrating upon drawing his pipe to a better smoulder.
"Only that it is his intention to permit his son to visit with him," he said at last, "a recognition of the friendship between you and his pleasure at you finally resuming the seat of you forefathers, But given what has passed he would be assured that such a visit would present no difficulties for you."
Bard's smile widened.
"I knew he had returned to his father's halls but did not expect to see him visiting outside the forest so soon. To see them both here would be an honour I had not looked for and it would give me joy. As for difficulties, for me it causes none unless ..."
There his voice tailed away for a moment.

Gandalf said nothing but watched him through a haze of pipe smoke with a measured look. Eventually Bard spoke again.
"I do not know the substance of the history between Dain and the Elvenking nor would I seek to trespass upon things that are not of my concern, but it was clear enough in the little I saw that day before we buried Thorin Oakenshield that something most serious was amiss. Whether it is related to the elven maid who cannot return home I cannot say, though I know there is some matter of unease between King Thranduil and King Dain on her account. But I have undertaken to shield her presence here from Dain's knowledge as much as I can when she is about the town, or at least to see that he is not called upon to see her when he visits, few though his visits are these days. Nothing has changed, she remains here as I told him in the winter and as far as I can judge she does as she is bid and does not parade about where she might be seen by a dwarf of Dain's guard."
He drew a deep breath and looked sharply at the wizard.
"My only concern would be if the coming of the king's son were to alter that. Should it do then I could not consider myself responsible for the outcome."

Gandalf puffed on his pipe in silence for a moment before he replied.
"I do not think it will, nor would he consider you any any way at fault of it did."
He looked across at Bard with a knowing smile.
"One of my tasks whilst here is to meet with her and prepare her for the visit, and to convey to her the king's expectations of her conduct with and towards his son at the ceromonies. But I would be sure that there has been no sign of Dain's renewed interest in her that you are aware of before I speak with her."
Bard shook his head.
"None at all. Dain himself is rarely here as I have said, nor then is his guard who stay close to him within the mountain. Nor do those who came with Oakenshield often visit; I think they find the destruction the Dragon wrought upon the men of the lake by their pursuit of gold hard to face. As for others, well they would know nothing of whatever the matter is unless Dain charges them to do so. I have seen no sign that he does so."

"So there has been no difficulty between the dwarfs and the elves in Dale? No taunts or mocking skirmishes or threats. I'd not expect it of those close to the Kings but others can be quick to follow a scent if they catch it and will often push it much further than their Lords would have sanctioned."
Bard shook his head.
"No, I feared there might be in the early days when dwarfs came out of the south and east to join Dain but it seems he had a tight grip upon the behaviour of his people. No doubt he knows that they would have met with little sympathy amongst the men of the lake and of Dale given the destruction wrought by the dragoon."
A shadow of an uncomfortable look flitted over the wizards face and Bard recalled the rumours of his part in the matter and was sorry for his unguarded words. He had never doubted that the wizard had acted for the best, or whatever he saw as the best, and dragons were unpredictable and Smaug might have chosen to destroy them at some point even without Thorin's quest. He smiled and patted the wizards arm.
"But be easy, there has been no strife between elf and dwarf of any kind within the City, though I cannot speak for other places."

Gandalf nodded comfortably.
"Good, I thought that would be the case. As you say there are other matters between Thranduil and Dain and it is true that those need not concern you. Unless you fear for their conduct in your City if they find themselves in the others company?"
Bard smiled
"The Elvenking is too a great lord to do anything of that kind, as for Dain well…..it was a time of anger and battle and tempers ran high, I am sure that in more sober times his manners are better disciplined. Certainly I have never seen him behave in anything but a most circumspect manner when in the company of King Thranduil, though it is true I have rarely seen them together."

Gandalf gave a benevolent smile, recalling the events of that day, for himself he would assume nothing of the sort for both Thorin's and Dain's behaviour had been most disappointing. But it was also true that Dain had learned a painful lesson after the battle, and that, if nothing else would hold him silent, albeit with gritted teeth.

Bard had risen to his feet.
"I have business I must be about and if there is nothing more that you feel we need to say away from prying ears I will leave you for the moment and see you at sundown for as fine a dinner as you will have seen since leaving King Thranduil's halls. All my family are looking forward to seeing you."
Gandalf inclined his head.
"There is nothing more of a secret nature I would say to you. I will see you when the sun falls."
Bard bowed and strode away.

Gandalf watched him go with a thoughtful look. It was clear that though Bard knew a little of the wider matter between Thranduil and Dain he had not learned the sum of it since that meeting, and therefore it seemed likely that it was not spoken of at all, which should make his discussion with Dain a little less fraught. But would it be enough to prevent Dain opening any further rifts between dwarf and elf in time? Thranduil would stand no further public insults and while he might not react in the wider view his anger would be cold and long reaching behind the scenes, just what Gandalf most wanted to avoid. He puffed on his pipe and turned matters round in his mind for a while before putting that pipe aside and rising to return to the house. No, Bard was right and the dwarf would behave becomingly if only in public; and all would pass off well enough provided nothing said in private was repeated. If nothing stirred the matter of this faithless guard and her actions on Ravenhill then there was little to be feared it seemed. Perhaps he has been worrying unnecessarily.

As he stepped across the threshold his frown returned. He could only hope he would be of the same mind same after he had met with the banished elf, and that was perhaps a matter best not delayed for long.