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Happy Friday everyone.

And as always, thanks for your continued support and reviews.

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Chapter 73

~X~

Another month passed, and spring was now in full bloom. The fields were covered in a patchwork of white, yellow, and green as each crop began to flourish and grow. Even the fruit trees seemed to have grown a foot since they had planted them. The hobbits attributed this to the rich, dragon-baked soil, and while they realized there would be no fruit this year, the following season should prove most productive.

Marigold and Thorin spent many hours touring the fields, marveling over their labors and the pure pleasure it brought them. Yet nothing compared to the joy the two shared in each other. Thorin was overcome with love for his little hobbit, and she in turn could not have adored him more. They were very rarely apart, finding every excuse imaginable to be in each other's company…not that anyone complained. Yet they were still very careful to keep things respectable, never allowing their feelings to push them too far over the limits of propriety. Thorin wished to approach Mari's father with a clear conscience, asking for her hand honorably, and not like some thief having already raided the storehouses. It was tempting, no doubt about it, but in his mind, she was worth all the frustration, and the endless nights of torment. Still, Thorin could not wait for the wedding night.

Yet…the more he thought about it, the more he felt unsure. He had bungled up their courtship at the beginning, due to not knowing hobbit customs…he would hate to start their marriage off the same way. So this is what brought him to Dwalin's chambers late one night, knocking on the door with an uneasy look on his face.

"Thorin?" Bergie questioned, a bit surprised to see the king visiting at such an hour. "Please, come in."

"What brings you here?" Dwalin asked, laying down the ax he had been sharpening.

"I…I have some questions," he began, sounding very reluctant and unsure. "Questions that…well, that only you might be able to answer."

"Perhaps I should leave you two alone?" Bergie suggested, taking a few steps towards the kitchen. Yet before she could get very far, Thorin's voice stopped her.

"No…I was hoping you might stay, since some of this concerns you…well, your kind anyway," the king all but begged, doing his best to sound in control.

"My kind?" Bergie repeated. "As in hobbit…or female?"

"Both," Thorin admitted, looking down at the floor in embarrassment.

"Oh…well, then," she replied, coming back over and taking a seat on the sofa, ready for anything. "Please, ask away."

A bit shocked by Bergie's willingness and lack of hesitancy, Thorin and Dwalin sat down as well, yet both appeared reluctance to begin. When no one spoke for a good minute, it was the hobbit who got the ball rolling.

"So, if I might be so bold as to hazard a guess as to the nature of this visit…" Bergie began, doing her best to keep the humor out of her tone. "Were you hoping to find out some information about hobbit physiology?"

"NO!" Thorin barked out, turning several shades of red. "I mean…not exactly. I was just wondering…well…will Marigold be expecting anything I might not know about…on our…wedding night?" He looked over at his cousin for assistance, but found that Dwalin was doing all he could not to laugh at his king's plight. Some friend he was!

"Expecting?" Bergie reiterated, her brows furrowing together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I have messed up so many times with her already – ignoring her, the flowers, the proposal – I simply do not wish to overlook or forget something that she might be expecting, simply because I have no idea I should be doing it. And since you and Dwalin will not be journeying to the Shire with us, you won't be there to answer these last minute questions. So I figured it was best to ask now and get it out of the way."

"Well…" Bergie said, now deep in thought. "I can't think of anything specific that a hobbit might be expecting that a dwarf would not already have thought of. There are no customs or rituals I am aware of that should be held to." She then looked over at Dwalin. "How about you? Did I ask for anything odd or out of the ordinary on our wedding night? I mean, other than painting your body blue and running around the room six times clucking like a chicken?"

"WHAT?" Thorin blurted out, actually believing Bergie's words…for all of five seconds, before Dwalin burst out laughing.

"Oh, cousin!" Dwalin said between gasps for breath. "You should have seen your face! Absolutely priceless!"

"Well, I am pleased that my suffering could amuse you so," Thorin huffed, standing up with every intention of leaving. Yet a gentle hand on his arm stopped him as Bergie urged him to sit back down.

"Please stay, Thorin," she begged, though she could not wipe the smile off her face. "I did not mean to tease. But honestly, do you truly think we hobbits are that different from dwarves? We…hobbit lasses…expect no more from our males than your dwarrowdams do. And while I know you wish to please my niece in every way possible, please know that she in turn is just as worried about making you happy as well. Nothing is required of you, other than to love her and treat her with respect. If you can do that, then I believe that everything else will fall into place. So don't worry so."

"Bergie is right," Dwalin assured him, having sobered at last. "You have nothing to fear. Your love for Marigold is plain as day…you two will work things out just fine together." He then got a wicked look in his eye and leaned in a bit closer. "Although, if you would like me to give you a few pointers, I could always…"

"NO!" Thorin barked out again, shooting to his feet. "Thank you, but no! Dain already told me more than I care to know…and coming from that crass old warthog, I can tell you, it was not all entirely pleasant." He gave a visible shudder before continuing. "I just wished to make sure I was not missing a crucial piece of cultural knowledge, is all. Now that I have been assured that I am not…I will take my leave." And with that, he did, striding out of the room and shutting the door…not even looking back once.

"That was rather mean of us," Bergie laughed, after he was gone.

"I think if we had been deadly serious it would have only made it twice as embarrassing for him," Dwalin assured her, chuckling to himself. "No, this way he got the message, and by adding in a bit of levity, he still might be able to look us in the eye come morning…maybe."

"And I simply can't wait to tell Marigold all about this!" Bergie stated, rubbing her hands together in evil glee.

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Two weeks later, during a rather sunny afternoon, Thorin and Marigold decided to take a ride out to the edge of the orchards. It was important to keep an eye on the crops and trees that skirted the area, for those were the ones that stood the most chance of faring badly. It was also a good excuse for the two of them to get out of the mountain, to escape all the curious eyes and people who wished to speak with them about every little thing. At times Marigold found it exhausting…and yet she knew that as the future queen, she needed to concern herself with everything they felt was important. Still, it was nice to simply be away, with Thorin…and their bodyguards of course.

The little hobbit had come to realize that even within the walls of the mountain, the king, and soon to be queen, were shadowed at all times. She understood the need for protection, after all, Thorin was for all intents and purposes, the mountain itself, and everyone looked to him for guidance. Today it was Dwalin and Kili, along with several more guards, who were tagging along, though thankfully at a slight distance.

Marigold would catch bits of the conversation being bandied between her aunt's husband and Thorin's nephew, their hearty laughter drifting up to her ears as it was carried by the wind, but not enough to be following it closely. Not when Thorin was already speaking next to her, capturing her full attention with his deep and sultry voice. Oh, how she loved to hear him speak, and found she longed for the day when they would be able to share more intimate moments together…alone. The idea of him whispering things into her ear in the darkness sent shivers up her spine and pasted a smile on her face that would not go away. If Marigold had the power to force the crops to grow faster she would, for she could not wait to be on their way back to the Shire, where she would make Thorin her husband at last.

"And that is why we never let Dori near a keg of ale unattended," Thorin chuckled, apparently finishing off a story that Marigold had not been giving her full attention to. She laughed anyway, knowing that would most likely have been her response, nodding as if in agreement. "Now…tell me something about you," Thorin prompted, apparently feeling as if he had fulfilled his story telling quota for the afternoon. "Something from your childhood that perhaps very few know about." He leaned over a bit on his pony, bringing his lips very close to her ear. "I do so want to know everything possible about my future bride."

Once again, that shiver of excitement ran through her at the sound of his deep and sultry voice. Oh, he was simply intoxicating.

"Something little known, you say?" she repeated, doing her best to force her mind to function correctly while he was so close. "There is not much that can be kept hidden in the Shire. Everybody knows everyone else, and no one does anything without being seen…or caught."

"And what might you have been caught doing, my little wild rose?" Thorin teased, but when he saw her blush, he pressed on. "Oh, so there was something, then? What is it you are hiding, Marigold Brandybuck? Tell me."

"It was nothing horrible," she laughed, feeling the heat rush to her cheeks. "I mean…nothing illegal at least."

"Do tell," Thorin prompted.

"Well," she began, giving a sigh of resignation, "One summer, me, Esmerelda Took, Ellie Banks and Bell Goodchild all decided to go swimming near the Baywater Bridge," she began, taking a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure that no one else was listening. Thankfully, Dwalin and Kili were still conversing loudly and the other guards were too far away to hear.

"Bell Goodchild…" Thorin broke in. "That is the lass that young Hamfast Gamgee wishes to marry, is it not?"

"Yes!" she grinned, loving how Thorin was apparently taking an interest in her fellow hobbit's lives. "And a nicer lass you will not meet anywhere," she added loyally.

"Now, I might disagree with that," Thorin stated, giving her a wink.

"Flatterer," she giggled, before continuing on with her story. "Anyway, we had been swimming for a while when several lads happened by."

"Lads?" At this, Thorin's smile faded and his eyes grew suspicious. "Was this Olo Miller character one of them?"

"Now stop," she huffed, recognizing his jealous tone. "We were only children, barely in our tweens at the time. But to answer your question, no, none of them was Olo Miller." When he seemed placated, she went on. "As I was saying, some lads happened by and they began jumping off the side of the bridge into the water, rudely splashing us…like silly boys tend to do. We got angry and told them to leave, stating that this was our swimming spot and we had been there first. Of course they did not listen and continued to annoy us. Finally, the oldest of the bunch said they would leave and find another place to swim…but only if one of us proved brave enough to jump off the bridge, like they had been doing. Well, Esme was by far the most daring, but she had never been a very strong swimmer, and the water was deepest directly beneath the bridge. Elie was afraid of heights, and Rosa…well, she would never have dared to do anything of the sort, especially in front of a crowd. So, I was elected."

"You agreed to jump off the bridge?" Thorin sounded impressed. He already knew Marigold to be clever and strong willed, and she had saved Fili's life during the battle with the orcs. But he felt a surge of pride well up in him to hear that she had been brave as a child as well. He could only hope that such qualities were passed down to their own little lass.

"Well, someone had to get rid of those troublesome boys!" she huffed. "Unfortunately, things didn't work out quite like I had planned. You see, when I got up there, standing on the railing, I looked down…and that was my first mistake."

"Your first?" Thorin asked, his eyebrows coming together in concern. "What was your second?"

"Attempting to back out of the deal when I had four idiot boys standing behind me, egging me on," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Needless to say, there was a bit of taunting, where my pride eventually won out over my good sense…and I…well…"

"Yes?" Thorin encouraged, now anxious to hear what had happened.

"I jumped…but unfortunately, not far enough," she admitted in a reluctant tone. "My swimming clothes caught on a section of the bridge, and there I hung, dangling from my britches from the Baywater Bridge for all of Hobbiton to see. It took over an hour, and what felt like half the Shire, to get me down. I was completely mortified, and unable to look anyone in the eye for a month. To this day, my stupid brother still enjoys telling that story to everyone who will listen…whether they had heard it a hundred times or not." When she was finished, she looked up at Thorin, doing her best to assess his reaction. He was not smiling, nor was he frowning…he was simply staring straight ahead. What was wrong with him? Had something else perhaps caught his attention? "Thorin? Did you hear me?"

But just as she began to grow concerned, his usually sullen face suddenly split into a wide grin, and he let loose with a bark of laughter.

"I am sorry, Marigold, truly I am," he said between gasps for air. "I tried not to laugh, I really did. But the image of you hanging by your small clothes from the side of a bridge is just too hilarious not to laugh at."

"Oh, and like you never did anything silly in all your two-hundred plus years?" she accused, trying her best to give him a scalding look. But in truth, she could not, for seeing Thorin happy and laughing brought her such joy, and she would gladly tell him all her embarrassing stories if it meant seeing him like this.

"I have, my dear," he confessed, still unable to contain his mirth. "I have done many, many foolish and embarrassing things, but right now, I cannot think of any that top what you have just told me."

"You're incorrigible!" she huffed, still trying to appear stern.

"And you're delightful," he told her, leaning over and gently taking her chin in his hands as he brought his lips down to give her a quick kiss. "I look forward to hearing each and every story you have to tell me about your childhood."

"I might not tell you any more…if you choose to mock me, oh, mighty king," she informed him.

"I can think of many things I wish to do to you, my sweet," he assured her, his voice turning deep and velvety once more. "But mocking you is not one of them."

"Oh…I…Thorin," she stammered, so caught off guard by his suggestive words that she lost hold of her reins, causing her pony to jerk his head a little, startling her out of the imagery her mind had conjured. Reaching down she quickly regained control of her pony, clearing her throat as she tried to compose herself. "I…I think it best that we watch where we are going, and save the…talking for later."

"As you wish, my lady," Thorin told her, giving her a knowing wink. But before he could say another word there came a loud screech off to his right, followed by a dozen or more orcs bursting forth from the bushes and trees.

"TO ARMS!" Dwalin cried from behind them, as the guards swiftly came riding up to encircle Thorin and Marigold. Each one dismounted and drew their weapons, ready to defend their king and future queen. Kili had already loosed several arrows, each one finding its mark as their enemy fell, while Dwalin took out a few more with a few small throwing axes. Thorin leapt from his pony and grabbed Marigold, pulling her down and shoving her behind him protectively as their startled mounts bolted in terror. Orcrist was quickly in his hands and as the orcs drew near he began to cut them down in an almost effortless manner.

Marigold felt helpless, having no weapon with her except a small hunting knife strapped to her leg. Still, she pulled it from its sheath and held it out before her, ready to fight off any who happened to break through. Unfortunately, the ones before them were just a diversion, and all too soon it became clear that the true threat was approaching from the rear. It was Marigold who spotted them first, being the one that everyone was attempting to keep contained behind them. Letting out a loud scream she threw her knife, hitting the closest one in the leg, bringing him to his knees in pain.

"Thorin, run!" Dwalin shouted, realizing they were greatly outnumbered and no ponies remained in sight. "Take Marigold and find cover!"

Thorin balked at the command, ignoring his war-chief's words and continued to slice at the oncoming orcs.

"Don't be a fool!" Dwalin railed, taking out another enemy with his twin axes. "Get the lass to safety! She is your first priority. Now run!"

Fleeing from a fight was not in Thorin's blood, but after one look at his frightened little hobbit, he saw the wisdom of Dwalin's orders. They were out in the open, with no tactical advantage. And if he could find cover, he might be able to better protect Marigold. So giving one last look of encouragement to his cousin and nephew, Thorin took hold of his fiancé…and ran.

If Marigold thought keeping up with Thorin the night he proposed had been difficult, this time it was near impossible. Thankfully, they did not run far, but soon Thorin had them weaving in-between trees and jumping shrubs, all with a good number of the orcs hot on their heels.

"Marigold, can you climb?" he shouted back at her, his voice full of controlled fear.

"What?" she gasped.

"Can you climb a tree?" Thorin repeated.

"Y-y-yes," she assured him, not quite sure why this mattered right now.

"Then climb!" he ordered, grabbing hold of her at the waist and all but tossing her at the lower limbs of a massive oak before them. He stood there and offered assistance until her legs were out of his reach, then he turned and faced the oncoming horde, his sword already dripping with the blood of the previously fallen enemies.

"Thorin!" Marigold called from above him. "Take my hand…climb up with me!"

"Nay! There's no time," he argued, his face set as he watched six or seven of them approach. "Stay up there…and don't come down, no matter what! Do you hear me?"

Marigold could not find any words, but she nodded her head, knowing full well that Thorin could not see her, as his eyes were focused on the foes ahead of him. There were over half a dozen orcs, and only one Thorin, but Mari had nothing with which to assist him. She recalled Bilbo's tale of how he and the dwarves had climbed pine trees to escape the orcs and wargs during their journey, throwing flaming pinecones down at their enemy. But this was an oak tree, and even if it had been the season for acorns, she doubted that throwing such small missiles would have done any good. Oh, why was there never a wizard around when you needed one?

"Oakenshield!" the first orc hissed through his blacked teeth as he came within speaking distance. "We have cornered the king!"

"Come and taste your death if you tire of living, scum," Thorin growled, holding his sword out before him, daring them to approach. "I will gladly sever your miserable heads from your worthless bodies if you dare."

"Our master will be pleased when we bring back this prize," another one spat out, saliva dripping from his putrid lips. With twisted grins they all slowed and began to encircle the tree, each one eyeing Thorin as if he were a tasty treat. "Long has he sought to capture the dwarf king of Erebor and enslave his people, and at last you have been caught outside the protection of your mountain. Now we have you, Oakenshield," he said, then taking a quick glance upwards, he added, "You and your little female!"

"Over my dead body, filth!" With that, Thorin gave a roar of rage and charged the orcs, determined to protect his one…even at the cost of his own life.

"Thorin! NO!" was all Marigold had time to shout before the ringing of steel against steel drowned out any further words.

OH DEAR! What will happen next? I wish I could offer a bonus chapter to you this weekend to find out, but I am seriously behind in my writing and can't spare one. So Monday you will find out. I promise.

What did you think of Thorin's Q and A with Dwalin and Bergie?

And Marigold's embarrassing story? Shame on you for laughing, Thorin.

I hope Kili and Dwalin will be all right...and Thorin and Marigold too!

Guest Reviews:

Kendall Merritt: I am so happy you are enjoying the story, and yes, Dwalin in a relationship is a very novel idea, right? But he is such a great husband and I know he will be an awesome dad. Marigold and Thorin are fun too. Hope to see you again as we continue on!

Feu d'Argent: Tell your brother to stop poking you. ha ha. Fili really is trying to make up for missing Flinn's birth. He is going overboard, but still, so sweet. A good vocabulary is a precious treasure...never lose it! Shut your pie hole has been around for AGES, so I doubt where you heard it was the first time, nor will it be the last, but I do think it is a saying that dwarves would use. ha ha. And I do love pie! Kili is still growing, ha ha. So he eats CONSTANTLY. ha ha. Thanks.

Aranel Mereneth: A little Drama mixed in makes you appreciate the fluff more. ha ha. We will have to come up with a name for the boys kitchen club. ha ha.

abc: Yes, Bilbo and Dis' plan will be revealed next week. So soon. Dis says she forgives you. Maybe one day Thorin will join the midnight kitchen club. ha ha. I have the baby's names picked out already, but I if you would like to share any ideas, I am open to them...you never know, I might need more kids names later on (I still have a whole third part of this story to go! You never know who might be begetting more babies)