Author's Note:

Bâheluh means 'my friend of all friends' in Khuzdul.

Âzyungel means 'love of loves.'

X

Finally, after too many days spent upon their harrowing quest, Kili set foot within the Lonely Mountain.

Cold air greeted him and he took a deep breath in, his thoughts and spirit comforted by the smell of moist stones and sharp metals. This was his long-forgotten homeland, and yet he was not happy to be there. It could have been anything - perhaps his gratitude would be slow in coming. Or, perhaps he was so fatigued by it all that finally reaching their destination held no appeal to him. He took to the staircase slowly, feeling frustration nagging at his conscience with every step. The strange scuffle that had happened between him and Fili had soured his mood tremendously.

Nadi glanced back at him constantly as she led them through the winding halls. He knew that she was anxiously anticipating the spark of joy that was supposed to illuminate his face at the sight of his homeland. The smiles that he returned were so tight and mirthless that he knew, then, that he was only wearing them for her benefit.

"Look how the water glistens upon the walls," she said in awe as she led him along by his coat sleeve. "And when it drops it's like many crystals hanging in the air. Look, look, Âzyungel! The ceiling is so far away that its grains look like specks of starlight! Look, Kili, look!"

"Yes, I see," he said as he brushed a droplet of water from his face.

"You see, but are you looking?"

"Yes, I am looking and seeing. Stop moving so fast! The Mountain is ours! The dragon will not reappear if we look away for one moment."

"You don't know that. I was here when Bilbo awakened him-"

"-and I was there when Bard killed him."

"Hmph," Nadi said and cast him another infuriatingly hopeful glance. "I'm sure that you could have done it just as well, had you gotten the chance." Such simple words, and yet they pierced through his coldness like a heated dagger. He smiled and ruffled her hair, but the moment was short-lived.

"How unfortunate that the world has been deprived of my brother's many miraculous feats," Fili mumbled, and then, seeing Nadi's warning glance, he added. "Where is Thorin? Where are the rest?"

"They are-"

"Wait! Wait!" Came a small voice came from below them. They all turned and watched as Bilbo hurried up the staircase with a wild look in his eye. "Wait! Stop, stop right there!"

"Bâheluh," Nadi said with a proud smile but he silenced her with a flustered shake of his head.

"You need to leave," he said with some difficulty. "We all need to leave, now!"

"But we only just got here," Bofur said. Bilbo narrowed his eyes and shushed him.

"I've tried talking, but he won't listen-"

"Who!?"

"Thorin! He's been down there for days. He doesn't sleep. He barely eats. He's not been himself. Not at all. You -" Bilbo said, turning upon Nadi. "You…well…you would have noticed if you hadn't been spending all of your time outside."

"Guilty," she said simply. Bilbo shook his head again, harder this time. Kili wondered if one day his little head would just pop right off from the effort.

"It's this place," Bilbo hurriedly cleared away the croak in his throat. "I think a sickness lies on it."

"Sickness?" Bofur exclaimed.

"What kind of sickness, laddie?" Oin asked.

"It's a…it's uh…Fili? Fili? Where are you going?"

No one had even noticed that Fili had left them all behind. In the short while that it had taken for Bilbo to deliver his message, Fili had wound himself away down another flight of stairs. The Dwarves glanced at each other and quickly began to follow in pursuit, all the while calling out his name. But it was as if Fili hadn't even heard them. His face seemed to shine with an unearthly glow as he approached the ground level of the mountain - the glow of the millions of coins spread out upon the floor. He stopped so suddenly that the five of them crashed quite suddenly into each other behind his back.

"Ah, yes…" Nadi said sadly as she watched the faces of her companions fall slack-jawed with awe. "How could I have forgotten to mention the gold?"

She was ignored as the Dwarves hungrily took in the sight of so much wealth. It seemed to them as if there was even more than before. There lay before them ancient medallions, coins, crowns, and bracelets. Glimmering necklaces were tangled around rings wrought of precious silver medals. Gold plates of armor stood wedged in mountains of jewelry fit for the highest courts. There were sapphires, rubies, and diamonds laid about as if tossed away by the hand of an uninterested child. One could have even believed that the treasure's glow was warm, warm enough to singe the skin.

There, amongst it all, stood Thorin Oakensheild. His fingers were tented along the sides of his chest as he cast his gaze back and forth upon the trove. It seemed as if he didn't know just where to look: the carpet of gold stretched on for many miles. The sight of his mother's brother so engrossed with his loot was sickeningly lustful, and yet Kili could not force himself to look away. He had never been one for riches, thanks to Nadi's woodland influence. He'd always been much more enamored with rare species of lizards than Dwarven-crafted metals.

"Gold," Thorin said in a deep voice that rolled through the empty caverns of the mountain. "Gold beyond measure…beyond sorrow and grief…"

He shuddered and looked up at them dazedly. His breath rolled from his bearded mouth in white, frolicking mist. There was a hunger in his eyes that seemed to eclipse everything else - even the sight of his own sister's sons standing proud within their homeland.

"Behold," he said as he held his arms aloft. "The great treasure hoard of Thror. Welcome my sister-sons...to the Kingdom of Erebor!"

X

The next few days were spent in an impassioned attempt to locate the Arkenstone. Though, as the hours passed and the sun and moon grew dizzy in their chase, the passion began to lessen. Nadi had sorted through so many piles of coins that her fingers had gone numb. There were times when she found herself simply trudging along through the treasure without a thought in her mind. Bilbo was right: Thorin did not eat and he did not sleep. Thus, he expected the same of the others. Her stomach constantly grumbled and growled. So hungry was she that she had begun to gnaw on her fingernails and hair out of sheer desperation. She avoided Thorin as if he was a plague. When she could, she would sneak out on a ledge jutting from the mountain and simply breathe in the night air. It was during these times that she immersed herself in memory. While her body was trapped in the freezing hell house that had become Erebor, her mind was set free within the forests of her youth and Bilbo's cozy home. It was only the thought of disappointing Kili that kept her rooted to the mountain. She couldn't slink away again. Such a habit had become rather pitiful in her eyes.

"So what does that say of Thorin?" Bilbo had asked while they had huddled together beneath the staircase.

"What?"

"You said that Kili is the only reason why you're here. So what does that say about your loyalty to your king?"

"Do not talk to me about loyalty to that man."

That man.

She couldn't even bear to say his name, much less look him in the eye. The few times that she had caught him gazing at her from across the room had set a black and murderous fury upon her heart. She often imagined strangling him with her bare hands for what he was putting them through. The search for the Arkenstone had become senseless and savage torture.

But, what was even more savage was the secret that she alone carried: the Arkenstone was in her possession. Only by speaking up about it would they be freed of the punishment inflicted upon them by Thorin. But she couldn't. She had overheard the conversation between Bilbo and Balin. Thorin had succumbed to gold-sickness, just like the Dwarves before him. The Arkenstone in his hand would only spell their peril. She could not sentence their world to death by delirium when, soon, she'd be bringing a child into it.

I'm doing this for Sili, she often reminded herself as she stumbled weakly through the gold-lit halls, I must keep the Arkenstone away from Thorin for my son's sake.

Well! It was all easier said than done!

On the seventh night of their futile search, she received word that Thorin had summoned her and several of the others to the Bridge of Thrones. It was with trepidation that she followed the others along the worn, dusty steps. Thorin stood with his back turned towards them and his ringed hands folded along his back. He had traded his traveler's clothes for attire more fitting for a king: a full fur cloak flushed around his shoulders, a silky azure shirt rested upon his chest, and several silver accent pieces hung from his broad neck. He was beautiful - so pressingly and formally beautiful with his somber countenance that Nadi couldn't help but think back to the love that she had once had for him.

"Nadi," he said. He held his hand out to her as the others climbed the steps. She took it silently and allowed him to turn around so that her back was against his chest. He rested his heavy hands upon her shoulders as he addressed the others.

"It is here in these halls," he said as Bilbo, Dwalin, and Balin came to a stop before him. "I know it."

"We have searched and searched," Dwalin said.

"Not well enough," Thorin countered. Bilbo and Nadi met eyes and quickly looked away. Thorin was running his thumb along the back of her neck. The feel of his nail along the most vulnerable part of her body made her shiver.

"Thorin, we all would see the stone returned-" Balin tried but Thorin was quick to cut him off.

"And yet it is still not found!" He thundered. Nadi felt the rumble of his chest against her back and quickly covered her ears.

"Do you doubt the loyalty of anyone here?" Balin asked.

"The Arkenstone is the birthright of our people," Thorin said. "It is The King's Jewel. Am I not the king?"

His last words echoed throughout the silent hall. He was waiting for them to speak, and perhaps hoping that one of them would defy them so that he could unleash his fury upon them. Somewhere, the Arkenstone lay swathed beneath her layer of clothes. If only he had reached down and slid his hand beneath her vest, he would have found it. She was almost tempted to give it to him.

Almost.

"Know this…" he said in a deceptively paternal voice "If anyone should find it... ...and withhold it from me... I will be avenged. Go, now. Keep searching for the Arkenstone. None will rest until it is found."

The three men nodded and took their leave with averted eyes. Nadi made a move to follow but Thorin pulled her back.

"Nadi," he whispered as he toyed with her earring. "Why do you quiver so?"

"You frighten me," she said weakly. "You have changed."

"As have you! Do not think I haven't seen the way that you look at me now…like you're already relishing the feel of the blade twisting in my back."

"It is a shallow and empty shell of a man that speaks to me now. You are not the king that I once knew."

"The king that you once knew was a desperate man trudging along on threads of hope. Why do you test me so? Do you not trust me anymore? You understand, don't you, that you have always been in my favor?"

"And you have fallen out of mine." Nadi pulled herself away and turned to face him. Her hand was resting upon her belly. It was obvious that he had noticed. "Your proclamations of affection do not sway me. I can see the ill-intent in your eyes."

"Spoken like a paranoid woman who has something to hide," he hissed back. "So what are you hiding from me, little thing?"

She smiled, feeling suddenly very brave. She remembered that she had something worth fighting for, something far more precious than a little, glittering stone. "What have I to hide from you, O, King?" She repeated in a low voice as she began to back away, her hand never leaving her stomach. "A bright and blessed future."

With that, she turned away, leaving Thorin to stand alone before the throne to his silent and expansive kingdom.

X

She found Bilbo sitting alone in an abandoned hall later that night. She set herself down gingerly before him, wondering if the heaviness that she felt was a product of fatigue or the newfound burdens of her own body. She had checked her belly countless times but hadn't been able to find any signs of swelling or distention. Dwarven women tended to carry their children longer than any other race of women. But, still, she was impatient. It sometimes felt as if her son was only a figment of her anxious imagination.

"Hi," she said softly. She searched Bilbo's face hungrily, hoping to find a small spark of kinship. He looked over at her, smiled softly, and quickly stuffed something in his pocket.

"Hello."

"I would offer you a coin for your thoughts but, seeing as how we are surrounded by gold, I am afraid that my offer may not be so tempting."

"Ah, well, that's the thing, isn't it?" He said. The slightly flummoxed and distracted nature of his verbiage had become an odd sort of comfort to her. "Even if we weren't sitting upon mountains of gold, I'd still be uninterested in taking your coin. I've always found pleasure in lesser, but sweeter things like…"

"Blowing smoke rings at the doorstep of your Hobbithole?"

He laughed softly. "So you remember?"

"'Course," she said with a yawn. "Sometimes it's all that I think about. If I could be anywhere - anywhere in this big, horrible world - I'd choose to be back home in the Hobbit-place, sitting there with you and smoking all of your tobacco."

"That can be arranged," he said cordially. "When we get back."

How did you know, she wanted to ask, that I do not intend to stay here in Erebor? But instead of speaking, she nestled her chin on her knuckles and gazed happily into his plump face. He was a confusing little thing, in terms of looks. Sometimes, when the light of fury or passion was upon his brow, she found him quite handsome, and admirable. But other times, when they sat close to each other and spoke in low-voices, she was inclined to find him humbly and comfortably plain. It was a welcome change from the hairy and starkly angular handsomeness of her fellow Dwarves.

"Your thoughts, then?" She asked, dipping her head low to catch his eye. He avoided her gaze for the longest and then gave a resigned twitch of his nose.

"Now, Nadi, I didn't want to bring it up but…the Arkenstone."

They both looked up and glanced into the hall adjacent. She thought that she had heard footfalls upon the stairwell. But it had only been the sound of water dripping onto the ancient stone. They were alone. The rest of the Company toiled restlessly below them, sifting through the caverns for a pretty rock.

"What of it?" She asked, although she already knew the answer.

"It's been several days now. You said that you would examine it to make sure that it is the right one. Have you even examined it at all?"

She bit the corner of her bottom lip and forced herself to look away from him. She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the stone that she had taken from him was, in fact, the precious Arkenstone. But she couldn't tell him that. Her duty was to take the stone back to Bahn and await his instruction. This was a non-negotiable matter, although she hated lying to him.

"I found another one," he said, his voice breaking through her dark thoughts. "It's a gem of sorts - illustrious and bright, like the rainbows that used to float over the Shire. Here-"

He pulled something out of his pocket and held it up to her. It was true: the gem that he had found was beautiful and unlike all of the rest. But it was not the Arkenstone. She knew this immediately.

She glanced once more around her and then reached beneath her vest. Her fingers scrambled against the stiff linings until she found what she was looking for. The Arkenstone sparkled with unparalleled glory as she held it between them. Bilbo gasped at the very sight of it and braced his hands against his lips.

"Nadi," he said carefully. "The one that you have - that must be it. Look at it, compared to the one that I found-"

"Nay, do not be deceived." She took the stone that he had been holding and held it next to the Arkenstone. There was no doubt about which one was actually the King's Jewel, but she hoped that she could still deceive him. "See the gold engrained along the cleavage of yours - and, here, feel its weight." She dropped his stone in his hand and watched as he weighed it. "The Arkenstone is not a light thing. It is heavy with the weight of its own power."

"You've held it before? The original, I mean?"

"Of course I have," she lied as he handed it back to her. "Why do you doubt me so?"

"It's not my intention. I just…" he paused and seemed to consider something that she did not understand. "Nadi, hear me out. I've been afraid lately of Thorin, and what he might do if he ever got his hands on the Arkenstone."

"Really?" She breathed as she leaned in close to him. His hands closed around hers which were still holding the two stones. "Tell me why."

"I had a conversation with Balin," Bilbo said. "And he agrees: Thorin is suffering from gold-sickness, irrevocably so. I am afraid that if he finds the Arkenstone, he will do terrible, terrible things-"

"-I feel the same way."

"And so you understand why I am so desperate to find it before he does, if only to keep it away from him and his greed."

"Bilbo, I-"

"What is this?" Came a stern voice from behind them. They startled away from each other and Nadi quickly slipped both stones into her pocket. Thorin was standing in the doorway. She wasn't sure how much he had heard, or if he had even heard anything at all. His expression was no indication of his emotions. She gulped, feeling the sweat run in rivulets along the side of her face.

"We were just talking-" Bilbo said, so quickly that his words became jumbled. Nadi forced herself to exhale, slowly. Her proximity to the Hobbit must have seemed very suspicious to her king. Thorin dipped his head and raised his eyebrow, the corner of his parted lips upturned slightly.

"Do not lie to me, Master Baggins, " he said in slow, measured words. And then, "You were going to kiss her."

Nadi's eyebrows jumped so high that she felt that they could have touched the ceiling. She stuttered foolishly as Bilbo's cheeks turned an incriminating shade of red. A small smile lit upon Thorin's face and softened his countenance.

"I saw the look in your eye," he continued in a voice that betrayed repressed laughter, "the way that you were leaning in so close to her. Come now, tell me, would you have gone through with it had I not appeared?"

"I-" Bilbo said.

"Uh-" Nadi tried.

Thorin gave in and gave a full, robust laugh that made his shoulders quake. Nadi simply could not believe that this was the same man who had supposedly succumbed to gold-sickness only a few days earlier. The sight of him standing there and chuckling with his hand upon his chest reminded her of their time spent together in Dale. Back then, he used to laugh in the same way whenever she tried to swindle him for her forest-found wares. Thorin's laughter was surprisingly boyish and highly contagious. None could help but smile when they saw mirth light upon his face.

She couldn't help it - the corners of her lips tightened into a smile as she stared at her king.

"Ah, Master Baggins," Thorin said joyously as he wiped the moisture away from his lashes. "A year ago, you could barely look me in the eye as I stood upon your doorstep and questioned your capabilities. And now here you are, hedging your flirtatious bets against Erebor's most esteemed Woodland Warrior. You have come so far!"

"I'd be a fool not to try now, wouldn't I?" Bilbo said. He cast her a glance that clearly read just go with it. "My father always used to say, 'your stomach will roil and rumble and quake for all of the pies you did not bake.' "

Nadi had no clue what that was supposed to have meant but it was obvious by the way that the two men were grinning at each other that it was 'just one of those male things,' as Kili was fond of saying.

"A wise and brazen man," Thorin proclaimed grandly and Nadi wondered just what had been said at her expense. "Although," he added, sparing a glance at Nadi. "I'm sure you'll find that this pie is rather rough around the edges."

"Better that than a soft, doughy filling," she answered back and Thorin crooked an eyebrow.

"You're one to speak about a soft, doughy filling, Nadi."

She could have slapped them just then - she really could have - for the snakish double entendre aimed at her pregnancy had Fili not appeared and informed him, in a tired voice, that the immigrants of Lake Town had taken up residence in Dale. The jovialness on Thorin's face immediately evaporated and he turned away from the two of them.

"Call everyone to the gate," he demanded in a harsh voice. "Do it. Now."

And, just like that, the glimpse of the man that he once was had been lost.