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abc: I know you reviewed for Enthralled, but this is the only way I can let you know I got your message. I do hope you find my new story here and also this note. Thanks. T.O.W.G.

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Chapter 5

~X~

When no answer seemed to be forthcoming, and the silence that reigned was more accusing than anything, Thorin turned to address the still wide-eyed delegates, doing his best to sound calm and diplomatic.

"Balin, please see that our guests are escorted back to their chambers so they might rest up a bit before dinner." He then looked directly at them, his stern face telling them in no uncertain terms that questions at this point would not be wise. "I will speak with you all in my private council room before dinner…to clear up this matter. But for now, I must beg your indulgence and ask that you allow Lord Balin to see you away."

There was some grumbling, a few side glances of suspicion, but the four dwarves did as Thorin bid, dutifully following the disappointed looking Balin down the stairs and away from the royal chambers.

When only Thorin, Dis and Kili remained, the younger dwarf appearing just as guilty and abashed as his brother, all eyes turned back to Fili and Jade.

"For the love of Mahal, get up off the floor!" Thorin spat, turning his head as if he were too ashamed to even look at them. "You are dwarves, not animals!"

"I…I wish I could," Fili admitted, reaching up in another attempt to disentangle his vambrace from her long hair. "It would seem that I'm stuck."

Dis hurried to their side and between her and Fili, they were at last able to unhook the two, allowing the crimson-faced dwarrow to scramble to his feet, still not willing to look his enraged uncle in the eye. Jade sat up, yet was unable to quell the tears that began to fall from her eyes at her mortification.

"Now, care to explain what exactly was going on here?" Thorin seethed, an unsettling idea coming to is mind after what he had just seen, and yet he wished to hear the truth directly from his nephew's lips. "And how in Middle Earth did you two end up on the floor with her hair tangled around you like that?"

"I…I was attempting to keep her quiet," Fili admitted, cringing when he realized just how horrible that made him look. "I was hoping to avoid this very situation, fearing that you would automatically assume the worst, should we be discovered here alone."

"As you can see, that certainly worked out well for you, did it not?" the king growled, crossing his arms over his powerful chest. "And what else are we expected to believe when the crown prince is found alone in a maid's room, on the floor…on top of her? Even if there is a reasonable explanation, which I truly hope there is, do you think that any of those tongue-wagging emissaries will believe a word of it? You have dishonored not only yourself, and this young lass, but your king and kingdom as well!"

"I know, Uncle," Fili muttered, looking at the floor in shame. "I take full responsibility."

"No!" Jade spoke up, clamoring to rise as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm the one who is at fault, Your Majesty. Prince Fili was…he was here by mistake, for he was unaware of all the facts. But, if anyone is to be punished for this embarrassment to the royal family, it is I."

"Jade?" Dis questioned, having no idea what to think. "What are you saying?" And even though she was confused and upset, the older dwarrowdam placed a comforting arm around the young lass and guided her to sit beside her on the bed, holding her close as Jade buried her face against her shoulder.

"That is untrue, Uncle," Fili firmly insisted. "Jade had no part in my being here. It was all my idea, she knew nothing of my intentions."

"And I had just as much hand in this as Fili," Kili also stated, not willing to see his brother take all the blame when it had originally been his idea. One he was greatly regretting at this moment.

"Enough!" Thorin shouted, tired of hearing whose fault it was without the benefit of any explanation as to why it happened in the first place. "I would suggest someone start explaining this, for until all the facts are presented, I am unable to decide how this should be handled," Thorin instructed, holding up his hand to further silence his nephews, before turning his eyes on Jade. "You claim to be the one at fault, lass? How about you tell me why you feel so strongly about shouldering the blame." While he had seen this young maid on several occasions since his sister's arrival in Erebor, he had yet to speak with her personally, so he had no way of judging her character or the truthfulness of her claim. Still, Dis seemed to be quite taken with the lass, and Thorin was often more willing to accept the good opinion of someone on his sister's word alone - even over his own judgement.

Jade did all she could to quiet her sobs, knowing that there was no way to get out of this without telling the whole truth…no matter how embarrassing it might be. Raising her head, yet not daring to look anyone in the eye, she began to confess.

"It…it all began the night we arrived from Ered Luin," she said, doing her best to keep her voice steady, between the occasional sniffles. "I must have been more nervous about the move than I thought…for that night…I did something I had not done in a long time." Here she looked up at Dis, pleading for understanding. "I went walking in my sleep, much the same as I did when I first came to the Blue Mountains."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Dis asked, reaching up to tenderly cup Jade's face in her hands. She very vividly recalled the handful of times that she, or the night guards, had found Jade wandering the halls back home, dressed only in her sleeping clothes and having no memory of how she had gotten there. One time they had discovered her walking across a very precarious parapet, leaving both Dis and Jade to fear she might do herself harm. Thankfully after a few weeks, this all subsided and she had not been plagued with it since…or so Dis had believed. "Is that why you've been acting so strangely as of late? You feared that your night wandering had returned. You could have come to me with your fears, Jade."

"I know…and I'm now so sorry that I didn't," she nodded. "Yet, that's not the worst part of it," she added with a low moan. "For you see, where I ended up that night was…was in Prince Fili's room, and more specifically, his bed." At this she dared to raise her eyes to rest on the golden prince, her gaze pleading for both understanding and forgiveness. "I had hoped that he had not seen me there, that he had been asleep in the chair before I arrived, yet when we met in your chambers that following morning, and I saw the look of recognition in his eyes…I knew that had not been the case. I was too humiliated to speak to him about it, praying that if I avoided the issue, and him, it would all just go away. I was wrong. So you see, King Thorin, it is I who have caused all this trouble. I should have told the truth and confessed my mistake…but instead my silence has led to an even greater one." At this she broke down again and sobbed her misery into the comforting shoulder of the Lady Dis, all the while the older dwarrowdam rubbed her back and spoke soothing words to her.

Fili was stunned, and now painfully ashamed. Here he had assumed it had all been some ploy, a game she had been playing to get his attention – and it had worked perfectly. Yet now, to learn the truth, he felt terrible. There was a reason why he was supposed to be the levelheaded one of the two, why he left such harebrained schemes to his younger brother, for he was not suited for such intrigue! Nor did he particularly enjoy dealing with the consequences when things went horribly wrong. Perhaps Kili could shrug such things off, but Fili took it to heart and felt deep regret over the pain he had caused. He had spent the better part of his life getting his rambunctious brother out of scrapes like this…he never imagined he would now be the one neck-deep in trouble.

Walking over to where Jade and his mother sat, he humbly went down upon one knee in front of her and reached out to take one of the sobbing lass' hands, drawing her eyes to him.

"Miss Jade, you do yourself wrong to insist on shouldering the blame in this case, for it is I alone who is at fault," he told her sincerely. "Had I known the truth, or at the very least, acted as an honorable dwarf should - speaking no more of it and allowing you to retain your dignity - none of this would have ever transpired. Instead I acted foolishly, going to ungentlemanly lengths in hopes of speaking with you alone, by entering your chambers uninvited. I can only offer you my sincerest apologies for my errant behavior. If it takes the next hundred years, I will see that your reputation is exonerated and every dwarf in Erebor knows that it is I who was the cause of this misunderstanding. You shall not suffer because of my folly."

Jade could not believe her ears, and apparently her tongue was equally stunned, for all she could do was stare at the handsome and repentant dwarf before her. To have the crown prince of Erebor down on his knee before her was not only outrageously absurd, but it was causing her heartrate to increase and her stomach to do flip-flops. She could honestly swear she had never seen eyes as blue as his, or so full of remorse and sincerity.

"Well…" Thorin said with a deep and heavy sigh. "That clears up the question of why, but now we must deal with the how."

"How?" Dis asked, staring up at her brother with curiosity.

"How in Durin's name we are to explain this to those blasted emissaries?" Thorin growled. "Not to mention the rest of the mountain when words gets around…and you know that it will! I cannot have my nephew, and heir, looked upon like he is some randy dwarf who would corner and attack a helpless maid in her own bedchambers!"

"He did no such thing!" Jade was quick to speak out in Fili's defense. Then, realizing just how rudely she had spoken to the king, added, "I mean…the prince never acted in any such way, Your Majesty."

"While I thank you for your confirmation on that, I never thought he had, lass," Thorin nodded, gracing her with a slight grin. "I know my nephews, and while they might be wild and thoughtless at times, they are not the type who would ever purposefully cause harm or tarnish a maid's honor. However, it is not me that we will need to further convince of this."

"I…I could leave the mountain," Jade suggested, the very idea causing her great distress, yet she had been without a home before, she could surely wander the world again until she found another. "With me gone, they could be told that I was to blame, that I…I led him on and tried to seduce him for his wealth and title."

"I will not allow it!" Fili barked, looking from Thorin to the lass who was offering to sacrifice her reputation and home to save him. "There has to be another way!"

"Of course there is," Dis nodded, leaning forward to kiss Jade on the forehead. "No one is asking you to forfeit your good standing here in Erebor, and I too will not permit you to leave. We will think of something, trust me, my dear."

"If only this indiscretion had not been witnessed by those from the other kingdoms," Thorin muttered, rubbing his forehead with his hand, as if attempting to stave off an oncoming headache. "Or there was some logical way to explain why these two would be found alone in her chambers, though I doubt they would believe any excuse we might give for them being found on the floor like this."

"What if we could make them believe there was a reason," Kili interjected, up till now doing his best to blend into the wall.

"How so?" Thorin questioned, willing to listen to any ideas at the moment, no matter how farfetched.

"What if we told them that Fili and Jade were already courting?" the dark-haired prince suggested. "A young dwarf in love who was caught stealing a few moments alone with his betrothed, would be easier to explain away than Fili taking advantage of some random maid."

Everyone in the room was silent for a moment, each one turning their eyes to the other as the idea was considered. Fili, however, found that he couldn't take his gaze off the now stunned dam. Was this something horrifying to her? The prospect of being matched up with him?

"That might work," Thorin stated at last. "I'm sure, given the circumstances, none of those prying delegates took the time to notice that Jade was not sporting a courting braid, and if we were to act quickly, no one would dare protest the intended union."

"I will not have my son, or Jade, forced into marriage just to allow you to save face in front of a few pompous delegates!" Dis cried out in horror.

"And I will not subject Jade to further embarrassment by being asked to accept my unwanted suit!" Fili added, though his eyes lingered a bit longer on the young dwarrowdam before looking away.

"I never said they would actually have to wed," Thorin informed them with a sigh of exasperation. "Many a young lass will accept the suit of a solicitous dwarf, only to realize after a time that they are not compatible, and the courtship is terminated. Even you, Dis, allowed yourself to be wooed by a few others before setting your heart on Flinn."

"Amad!" Kili spoke up, pushing himself off the wall and stepping closer in surprise. "You never told us that!"

"There is no shame in a dam making sure her choice is the correct one," Dis informed her somewhat disgruntled son, holding her head high. "I ended both suits long before anyone became unduly attached, and the moment I laid eyes on your father, I knew there would never be any other dwarf for me. I did nothing I need to apologize for."

"That is how it shall appear to go for Fili and Jade as well," the king decreed, sounding as if his mind had been made up. "She will accept his petition, allow him to court her publicly, making a fine show of it, and once the delegates have all returned to their own kingdoms, she will break things off in a respectable manner. No one will judge or shun her for not choosing Fili in the end if it turns out he is not the one she wishes to marry."

"Yet will any disavow Fili's choice of maidens?" Dis inquired. "Will they insist that you make him court a dwarrowdam of noble birth?"

"If that's the case," Jade broke in, "Then I fear I cannot offer any family history or claim of nobility in my bloodline, for I do not know who my true parents were," she insisted, looking slightly embarrassed by the admission.

"You think I give a rat's ass for titles and such?" Thorin asked, scoffing at the idea. "When I called for aid in taking back Erebor, who was it that answered? Kings, lords, dwarves of high station? No! It was merchants, miners, tinkers and toymakers, yet each of them joined our company, bringing with them loyalty, honor, and a willing heart. Each of them I have since bestowed a title upon, from the mighty Dwalin down to little Ori, for the service and friendship they gave. No one will question the fact that I care not who my heirs choose to marry!"

"He means it, too," Kili spoke up. "Uncle's often told us that we can choose whomever we wish to wed…when the time comes, that is."

"However," Thorin continued, turning to gaze upon the stunned looking lass, still wrapped protectively in his sister's arms. "This all hinges upon whether or not you are willing to go along. Granted, if you had initially come forth with the truth of the matter, much of this could have been avoided. Yet it is not you, but these two addle-brained dwarflings I hold responsible for the situation we find ourselves in." Thorin noted that both his nephews at least had the decency to look ashamed of themselves. "Thus, I leave the final decision with you, Miss Jade, will you bow to your king's request and answer his call with loyalty, honor and a willing heart as well?"

Jade was stunned! King Thorin, son of Thráin, son of Thrór, a dwarf of legend in his own time, was asking for her aid. She was speechless! And yet, he wanted her to allow herself to be publicly courted by Prince Fili? To allow him to…to…well, Jade had no idea what actually took place during a dwarf courtship! Dis had been teaching her customs and other traditions of her birth race, yet never had this subject come up. Would they be expected to spend copious amounts of time together, hold hands, touch…kiss? She already felt light-headed and fluttery around him as it was, how could she possibly survive having him show her any amount of affection, even if it was all make-believe?

For the first seventy-eight years of her life she had never even set eyes on another dwarf, never understanding what it felt like to be drawn to anyone in a romantic sense. Then for the past year she had lived among her kind and still experienced no such feelings. Yet after only one day in Erebor, she had felt a connection to Fili that even now she could not explain, knowing that it had nothing to do with the fact that she had been found in his bedchambers. It terrified her to think that she would now be forced to see him daily, speak to him as if they were in love, and do it all under the critical eyes of the mountain kingdom. How could she possibly say yes?

Yet, after one look in Fili's eyes, ones that were still at her level for he had yet to rise from the floor, she knew she would never abandon him to face this scandal alone. While she could leave, search out a new home where no one knew of her and her shame, Fili would be forced to endure the talk, the looks and the harsh whispers behind his back for years and years to come. He was one day going to be king, and the very least she could do to repay Dis for all her kindness, was to attempt to save her son from slanderous gossip.

"I…I will do whatever I can to put this right," she nodded resolutely, earning her a pleased smile from her king.

"Are you sure?" Fili asked, once more pulling her in with his deep blue eyes and hopeful smile. "No one will think any less of you if you choose otherwise."

"I was too scared and embarrassed to confess my mistake before," Jade assured him. "I will not allow such fears to stop me now from setting things right." She then tore her gaze from Fili and looked up at Thorin. "Tell me what I need to do."

"Well, first a courting braid will need to be placed in your hair, then a formal announcement will be made at dinner tonight," he began, ticking off the steps as his mind began to spin a web of subterfuge. "I must go and speak with the emissaries while you, Fili, go fetch the bead marked with your family crest, for it will need to adorn her braid to signify that she is being sought after by a member of the line of Durin."

Thorin knew that of all the items the two siblings had brought on their journey, the small bag of beads and hair clasps had been one they had never allowed to be taken from them. Even in the dungeons of Mirkwood, the seemingly insignificant objects had been overlooked, thus allowing them to be retained. When Fili and Kili were given their official family braids at the age of five, a bead was placed at the end that signified that they were sons of Durin, and heirs to the throne would one day succeed Thorin and take their rightful place in history. Yet on the day they came of age, each one had received a second bead which was forged by their closest male relative, in this case, Thorin. It was the one they would give to the dwarrowdam they chose to court, leaving the marriage bead to be designed and crafted themselves for their intended bride. Their uncle knew that neither one of them had ever found need to take the bead out and use it…until now. It caused his heart a measure of sadness to think that it should now be used to perpetuate a ruse. Yet there was no helping it.

Kili appeared anxious to get out of the room and away from his uncle's accusatory glare, yet Fili had not left his position before Jade.

"I am in your debt, Jade," he told her in a soft tone. "Though I do not deserve your good will, I thank you for it nonetheless. In turn, I hereby swear that you will never suffer harm, disgrace, or a moment of regret during the time we must both play false."

Jade opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Dis, however, seemed to be suffering from no such malady.

"You're darned right she won't!" she told him, taking on the scolding tongue of a disappointed mother. "You will cater to Jade's every whim, you will devote all your time to making this ruse successful, and if I hear of you ever making things difficult or causing her to shed one more tear over this, I will make you wish those trolls had roasted you for dinner! Are we clear on this, Fili, son of Flinn?"

"Yes, Amad…perfectly clear," he answered, feeling much like the same lad who had been caught sneaking a garden snake into his room to be kept as a pet. That bright idea had gone over just as well as this one had when his mother had caught him in the act. Needless to say, the snake had been turned loose. Yet Jade could not be, and he knew he would do everything in his power to see that she came out of all this unscathed. It was his duty as a prince, and his responsibility as an honorable dwarf.

"Now, go get your courting bead," his mother directed, "while I prepare Jade for what is to come."

And with one final apologetic look at the lovely maid who was soon to be announced as his intended…Fili turned and left the room.

And there you go! One messed up, confusing situation for all. A Fan Fiction specialty. ha ha.

Look...Kili finally DID have a good idea...we hope.

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