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Congratulations to Emrfangirl for being my 300th reviewer!
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Chapter 26
~X~
Jade did indeed scurry to the healing halls first thing in the morning to see if Fili was awake. Yet, the grumbling and fussing she heard through the door left no doubt in her mind that he was.
"Leave off, will you Kili, I can dress myself!" came his frustrated voice of the blond prince.
"The sorry state of your tunic and trousers says differently," Kili replied, humor more than evident in his voice. "You look like a toddler dressed you."
Jade placed her hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh when she heard only a growl in response to Kili's dig. When she felt she could at last keep a straight face, she knocked on the door. "May I come in?"
"Um…just a moment!" came Fili's frantic call, followed by a bit of shuffling, a few cross words, and at least one sharp cry of pain. "That hurt, Kili!"
"Then stand still and let me help you, instead of fighting me at every turn!" the dark-haired prince grumbled.
After a few more minutes, Jade was given permission to enter, finding both Fili and Kili looking a bit worse for wear, yet the immediate smile that sprang to the blond dwarf's lips made her heart leap in her chest. To think she had almost lost him. It still gave her the shivers!
"You look much better today," she spoke up. "Am I to assume that Oin is still letting you go back to your chambers to heal?"
"I'd like to see him try and stop me," Fili huffed, apparently having had enough of the healing halls. "However, what's say we all get out of here before he changes his mind."
"Sounds good to me," Kili grinned, knowing just how his brother felt, having been laid up recently himself. "Lead the way, Jade."
"Actually, I think I could use a bit of steadying," Fili spoke up, wanting nothing more than to be touching the beautiful dam, even if it was only on the arm. "Would you care to escort me, My Lady?"
"I believe I was instructed to do just that by our king," she smiled, taking hold of him and tucking her hand through the crook in his elbow. "Can't disobey a direct order, now can I?"
"Why not? You did when King Thengel was here," Kili was quick to point out. "Why bother starting to listen to Thorin now?"
"Put a sock in it, Kili," Fili said with a roll of his eyes. "And get the door, will ya?"
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So, they headed out, making their way down the halls at a snail's pace, according to Kili.
"Can't you move any faster?" the dark-haired prince whined. "I had a leg injury and still I got around quicker than you."
"Feel free to go on ahead then, we'll catch up," Fili offered, eager to get any amount of time alone with Jade, no matter how small.
But Kili was not falling for it and narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"You're doing it on purpose!" he accused. "Just hoping I will shirk my duty as chaperone and leave you two alone. Well, if I must be watched every minute, then so do you! Now seriously, hurry up, or our breakfast will arrive at your chambers before we do!"
"You already ordered food?" This Fili had not known. "And what about Tauriel…will she be joining us?"
"Of course! You don't think you're the only one eager to spend time with their lovely lass, do you?" Kili questioned. "So, pick up the pace, Nadad, time's a wasting!"
"Fine…but only because you said there will be food when I get there," Fili laughed, giving Jade a playful wink.
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Thorin had managed to avoid having to entertain Lord Baldar at breakfast, due to his attention being needed in one of the crafting halls, but he was hoping that both his nephews would be present at the noon meal. Oin had reported that Fili was released, and able to return to his chambers, giving the king a good feeling that it might indeed come to pass. Dis too had said she would be there, and that alone would take much of the pressure off Thorin.
When the time at last came to head to the small dining room set aside for private meetings with important delegates, Erebor's king was already dreading the encounter. He tried to convince himself that there was no reason, for Lord Baldar had been quite congenial, and even accepted Kili and Tauriel's betrothal rather well. Yet, something still nagged at Thorin, and it appeared that any mention of the Grey Mountain princess was met with odd looks and a quick change of the subject. He also found that the need to know why their courtship was called off was nagging at him something fierce. And Thorin decided it was high time he found out.
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"How was your morning, Lord Baldar?" Balin asked once the dwarf and his aid had arrived at the dining room. "I hope your stay has been pleasant thus far."
"Yes, Councilor Balin, it has," Baldar assured him. "We have been attended to very well, and the short tour of the mountain after breakfast was very educational." Here he turned and looked directly at Thorin. "Yet, I would prefer to get down to business, and bypass all this unnecessary diplomacy. Might we schedule time to sit down and discuss the true reason I came here…to bargain for our supply of coal?"
"Yes, of course," Thorin agreed, never one to beat around the bush either. "I have cleared my schedule and have devoted the entire afternoon to the matter. My sister-son and heir, Fili, will be joining us as well, and he has a few ideas that I believe you will find mutually beneficial."
"Your heir is sufficiently recovered to sit in on the meeting?" Baldar asked.
"He claims that he is, though I will send him off to rest should it become evident it is too soon," Thorin assured the older dwarf. "Yet, I will let him gauge the amount of his own stamina."
Dis was the next to arrive, blessedly taking over the job of conducting small talk, and letting Thorin take a short respite. It was times like these he truly appreciated his sister and her diplomatic ways. Perhaps he should have her glean the reason that Baldar had called off the betrothal.
"Are we late, Uncle?" came Kili's voice from the doorway, as he and Tauriel made their way inside.
"No, you are right on time, for once," Thorin replied, waving them in and directing them towards their seats. He still found their difference in height rather comical, yet the more he saw the two together, he found they looked…well, right. In another lifetime he would have forbidden such a match, yet, time had changed so many things in Middle Earth…why not his opinion of elves as well? "Where is your brother and Jade? Was he not feeling up to joining us?"
"Oh, he's coming," Kili assured him, pulling out a chair for Tauriel at the table, before taking his own seat. He turned and nodded respectfully to Lord Baldar who had just sat down as well at the right hand of Thorin. "My brother is just being purposefully slow is all. He apparently wants to spend as much time on the Lady Jade's arm as he can."
When the king of the Grey Mountains looked confused by this statement, Dis was quick to clarify.
"My eldest son is also in the process of courting a lass by the name of Jade," she informed him. "Unlike Kili, however, she has yet to accept his third courting gift, so he highly values any and all time alone with the lass…while still being properly chaperoned, of course."
"I understand," Baldar nodded, the wistful look on his face leading all to imagine he was recalling his own days of courtship as well. "It is indeed a privilege to find a dam willing to accept your suit, thus the lad should not waste a moment."
Just then the door opened again and in came Fili and Jade, the blond prince's arm still resting in a sling, yet the rest of him appeared strong and hale. The fact that he had a lovely dam on his arm and a wide grin on his face only added to his look of vigor.
"Forgive us for being tardy, My King," he spoke up, though not sounding the least bit sorry. Yet before he could say another word, Lord Baldar rose to his feet so quickly his chair toppled over backwards, striking the floor with a loud clunk.
"LILA!" he shouted, his eyes as wide as saucers as he stared at the dam on Prince Fili's arm. "Is…is it truly you?"
"Your…Your Majesty," Hakim stammered, also completely stunned by the similarity between the dam before them and the former lady of the Grey Mountains. "I…I do indeed see the resemblance…but I fear that this lass is far too young to be your daughter, Lila." He stepped closer and placed a hand on his lord's shoulder. "Can you not see that you are mistaken?"
"But…" Baldar began, not wanting to let go of his hope and excitement just yet. "She is the spitting image of her! How can this be?" Taking a few steps forward he reached out a shaking hand, yet he pulled back the moment Fili placed himself in front of her protectively.
"I do not know who you think you are addressing, Lord Baldar, but this is the Lady Jade, my intended. And I would caution you to keep a respectable distance," he warned.
"Fili, I don't think he means any harm," Dis cut in, realizing that for some reason he thought Jade looked like his daughter, Lila. She turned towards the stunned dwarf, speaking in a calm voice in hopes of snapping him out of his trance. "Lord Baldar…would you like a drink? A mug of ale to settle your nerves perhaps?"
"No…thank you," he responded, at last prying his eyes off the half-hidden dam beside Fili. "I…I am all right, truly," the older dwarf assured them, yet he only half believed it himself. "It is just that the Lady Jade bears such an uncanny resemblance to my daughter…whom I have not seen in almost ninety years."
"What?" came Thorin's gasp of surprise. That would have been very close to the time their betrothal had been called off. Was he about to learn the reason for this at last? "I do not understand. What happened?"
Here Hakim stepped forward once more and gently steered his leader and friend back to the table, righting his chair and easing him into it. Yet, even though Lord Baldar appeared to regain his composure, his eyes never left Jade's confused face for long.
"I was a foolish ruler, one so blinded by ambition that I failed to recognize that my little lass had grown into a lovely dwarrowdam…one with her own mind on so many subjects," Baldar began, laying bare his sins and shortcomings before everyone present. "And she had already chosen whom she wished to marry as well, thus when she learned that I had arranged a match with you, King Thorin, for political reasons, she utterly rebelled. Had I known her feelings for the dwarf she claimed to love ran so deep, I would have bowed to her wishes…at least I want to believe I would." Here he lowered his head, utter misery now etched on his face. "Yet, I never found out the answer to that, for my Lila ran away in the middle of the night, leaving the Grey Mountains with her lover in order to be together. I looked, I searched, and left no stone unturned, but every lead turned into a dead end. I never saw my little jewel again, and to this day I do not have a clue as to what became of her."
"Your…your little jewel?" Jade gasped stepping out from behind Fili with shock filled eyes.
"Yes," Baldar nodded, still beside himself at the appearance of the lass. "That is what I called my precious daughter, my little jewel."
At this, Fili, Dis, and Kili's mouths all fell open, each knowing of the medallion that Jade had inherited from her true family, as well as what was written on it.
"And might your daughter…Lila, have had some memento that sported such words of affection?" Jade pressed, daring to come a few steps closer to the older dwarf that now held her undivided attention. Her hand ached to reach up and grasp the medallion she always wore, but she dared not give any hint to what she had been referring to, wanting him to deny or confirm it without being told.
"A memento?" Baldar's bushy eyebrows came together in confusion, but moments later they rose to his hairline as recognition struck. "Lila always wore a necklace I had given her! One with a stone pendant with those very words engraved on it. My Little Jewel."
Fili felt his throat tighten, forcing him to swallow hard in order to breathe properly once more. Had Jade just found her long lost family? And if so…what did that now mean for the two of them? Yet he could think on that later, right now she needed his support, and Fili was not about to let her down. Approaching behind her, he stood very close, letting Jade know that he was there for her.
Thorin, Balin and Tauriel all watched in confusion, yet knowing something very important was taking place. Even Hakim was now standing there in anxious expectation, the look on his face one of disbelief.
"A…a pendant like this one?" Jade all but whispered, reaching for the mithril chain around her neck and pulling on it until the item she had treasured all her life was brought into view. When she held it out before her, Lord Baldar gave a heart wrenching sob and rising to his feet, he stumbled towards her. Reaching up he let the medallion rest on the tips of his fingers, ones that he could no longer keep from shaking.
"This…this belonged to her…I would know it anywhere," he choked out. "I gave it to her…to my Lila when she was very young." He then stared up into those green eyes which were an exact replica of his daughter's. "How did you come by this…and why do you look so much like my Lila?"
When Jade appeared unable to answer, her own voice stolen from her as tears began to fall from her eyes, Dis stepped in.
"Because, Lord Baldar…I believe that Jade is your granddaughter. Lila's only child." she explained.
"WHAT?" Thorin gasped, having expected something momentous, but certainly not tis. Jade was not a lowly maid at all, but instead a lady of high birth, the granddaughter of the Lord of the Grey Mountains? "How can this be?"
"I…I never knew my real parents, for they were killed during an orc attack when I was a mere infant," Jade spoke up at last, reaching out to grasp hold of the elderly dwarf when this news seemed to cause him great pain. "My foster parents found me among the slain and raised me as their own. They told me that this pendant was the only thing they ever found that pointed to where I came from, or to whom I might belong." At this, she removed the necklace and handed it to the ruler of the Grey Mountains, as he continued to inspect it with a sense of joy and regret. "For so long this was all I had to go on, hoping that one day it would lead me to the truth about my past. Yet until you spoke these very words, I feared that day would never come."
"Even if you did not possess this, Lady Jade, I would not have rested until I knew the truth, for there is no doubt in my mind that you are my blood kin…my child's child." And before Jade knew what was happening, the weeping dwarf pulled her into a warm embrace, his salty tears falling onto her shoulder as he whispered endearments into her hair. Soon Jade joined him, wrapping her arms around this unknown dwarf and hugging him back as if they were long lost relatives…which they in fact were.
By now Dis was in tears as well, with Fili even more choked up than before. Even Kili was wiping at his eyes and trying to hide it from everyone else. Tauriel, of course, noticed and wrapped her arms around her tender-hearted dwarf with a smile. Hakim was a blubbering mess, with Thorin and Balin looking around not knowing what to say or do.
At last Baldar pulled back, cupping Jade's face tenderly in his hands, the two of them hardly able to see through their tears. Yet they both wore a wide smile, beyond happy to have found each other at last. With great reverence, the older dwarf reached up and replaced the necklace around Jade's neck, knowing that this was where it truly belonged.
"I have so much time to make up for, my sweet Jade," the old dwarf said through his sniffles. "I want to know all about you and hear everything you have to tell about your upbringing." He then got a worried look on his face. "That is…if you will permit such a thing. For I am the one who acted so heinously and disregarded the wishes of your mother…and apparently your father. Causing them to flee from their own homes in order to be together. This is something I am ashamed to admit and have regretted every day since Lila left. Will you forgive a foolish old dwarf, even if he can't forgive himself?"
"Of course, I will," Jade assured him. "You have obviously punished yourself enough as it is, no sense in me doing so as well. Everyone makes mistakes," here she let her eyes drift to where Fili stood beside her. "Yet, often, in the making amends for our foolish actions, we can find happiness all the same." She hoped he understood her meaning, and the soft look that came to Fili's eyes gave her confidence that he had. She next turned back to her grandfather. "I can assure you that I want nothing in this world more than to get to know my true family, and at last to be a part of your life."
"You have an uncle as well!" Baldar was quick to inform her. "My son, Balmor, your mother's brother. He will be beside himself with joy to learn that he has a niece. He is also married, with two sons of his own…your cousins."
"I have an uncle, an aunt…and cousins?" Jade's eyes once more filled with tears of joy. "I actually have a…a family?" All her life she had wished for such a thing, a true dwarf family, and here at last she had all she dreamed of.
"If you want us," Baldar nodded. "And you can be assured that we most definitely want you." He then turned to Hakim, suddenly looking younger and less burdened than he had in years. "We must alert our people to the fact that my granddaughter, the Lady Jade, will be coming to grace the halls of the Grey Mountains with her beauty."
And while the white-haired aid looked pleased by this news, Fili was anything but.
"Wait…what?" he broke in, not at all liking the idea of Jade going anywhere. "Jade cannot leave Erebor!"
"And why not?" Lord Baldar demanded. "She is my kin! Thus, she should return to her rightful home…with me!"
"But Jade is my betrothed!" Fili argued, panic rising in his voice. "She wears my courting bead and has accepted two of my courting gifts."
"Yet not the third?" the older dwarf pressed, his tone telling Fili that until she did, nothing was written in stone. "And…as Jade's grandfather, it is I who you would need to petition for her hand. Something I believe you have yet to do."
"He just found out you were her grandfather!" Thorin spoke up, eager to stand beside his nephew in all this. "Just as you have as well!"
"Details," Baldar said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Yet I know now, thus it is my duty to see that my granddaughter is looked after. She has family now, and she can rely on us for love and protection."
"I assure you that even before you arrived, Jade has been loved and looked after quiet well!" Dis all but growled, her motherly instincts coming to the fore. "Was it you who greeted her at the gates of the Blue Mountains when she appeared out of the wilderness? Was it you who took her under your wing and taught her about her dwarf heritage? Or was it you who gave her a home in Erebor, as well as loved her like a daughter all this time? No! That was me!"
"And I thank you for your concerns, Lady Dis," Baldar told her. "Yet, now…she has me."
"She has me as well!" Fili yelled, taking a step closer as he placed an arm around Jade's shoulder.
"Wait, wait!" Jade spoke up, taking a step back as if she didn't quite know how to react. "Stop this at once! I will not have you all fighting over me like a pack of wargs with a chew toy. Don't you think I should have any say in all this?"
Here King Thorin stepped in, holding up his hand in a commanding gesture.
"The Lady Jade is correct," he insisted, effectively silencing everyone around him. He turned and looked at Lord Baldar, fixing him with a stern glare. "Did you not just tell us that you regret dictating whom your daughter Lila would or would not marry? While I too agreed to this betrothal many years ago, had I known that my intended already loved another, I would have put a stop to it immediately. Would you now do the same to your granddaughter? Removing her ability to decide for herself where she would like to live…and with whom she would like to spend her life?" When Baldar's face grew pale and he looked away, Thorin knew his words had struck home. "Thus, I believe it best if we give the Lady Jade time to decide what she wants. And none of us should attempt to influence her decision on the matter." He then nodded towards Jade. "Is this acceptable with you, My Dear?"
"Yes…quite so, Your Majesty," the young dam agreed, though in truth she was so confused at this point she was certain no solution made sense. "I will think long and hard on what it is I want…but in the meantime, I would love to get to know my grandfather and hear all about my previously unknown family."
"Just as I would love nothing more than to get to know you, my dearest granddaughter," Baldar smiled, relief washing over his face.
"Then might I suggest we all sit down and enjoy some conversation over lunch?" Dis offered, quite proud of her brother for his diplomatic solution. "Perhaps we should all get better acquainted…especially if there is the possibility of our families one day being united."
"Hey, whatever allows us to get to eat, I'm all for it!" Kili laughed, taking a seat next to Tauriel and making a grab for one of the plates before him.
"Mind your manners!" Dis scolded, reaching out and slapping his hand. "Ladies first!"
"Yes, Amad," Kili muttered, rubbing the back of his now stinging hand.
And there you go...did that shed some light on the mystery?
So, now that Jade has official family to look after her...will that be a hindrance for Fili? Too bad he hadn't had time to fess up before all this hit the fan!
Looks like Thorin stepped up and laid down the law where Jade was concerned. And Baldar is just a bit overprotective...kind of like Dis with her lads. ha ha.
Guest Reviews:
Guest B: Oh...I think you are. And if you weren't, I believe this chapter answered that question, right? Ha ha.
Aranel Mereneth: This time I actually checked mail after dinner and not right before bed, so it worked out...and I was feeling generous. ha ha. Yep, everyone has thoroughly interrupted Fili and Jade...no one left now. However, I never make things easy...now do I? Thanks.
Emrfangirl: Congratulations on being my 300th reviewer! Wish I had a prize for you, but hopefully finding out Jade's connection to the Grey Mountains was prize enough. And glad you figured out who was who, and not engaged to Thorin. ha ha. Ummm, Yes, Oin did kind of stick his nose in on Thorin's interruption...but If I had to go through the rest of the company walking in at the worst time, this story would never get finished. ha ha. I too love Summerald's stories, it's got to be my all time favorite. I've read it three times, and I even got my husband to read it and he really enjoyed it too! I can't wait to see how the one she's writing now turns out!
Travelbug: I do like to drop hints along the way, so that it doesn't come at you out of the blue when the truth does hit. Glad you enjoyed the action in the chapter. I struggle with action scenes at times. I want to get the blocking just perfect. And no, I didn't mention Jade's proficiency with a blade way back when for nothing! Had to let her show off her skills somehow. ha ha. Yes, sadly, too many dwarves in Erebor and not enough private time for Fili and Jade. So sad. Well...did you like the big reveal? Thanks for the reviews!