AUTHOR'S NOTE:
A brief fluffy chapter, just to get back into things. I could not thank everyone enough for their messages of support and understanding. It has been a long and complex recovery, and will continue to be, but I'll try to be here where I can be.
juliebigjewlzbrowning: Believe it or not Hegi has been on my mind frequently for sometime. I fear I have terribly neglected her, when she was such a bold presence on the road home. I do have something planned for her in the not-so-distant future. She still has a role to play, and an important one.
AmandaBaker852: Bain is going to be married soon and we will meet his bride. I picture a sturdy girl, about his age, who holds her own well enough but has a fairly similar temperament to his. I wish Tolkien would have elaborated further on some of these characters, especially in the years between The Hobbit and LOTR. I guess that leaves us to fill them in as loyally as can be done. What sort of ruler do you imagine Bain to be, both in Laketown and in Dale?
Bunôn- treasures
.
"A lady of your court? Why me?"
Lulia sat across from the king and queen, less than enthused. Outside of Bombur's home, there were a contingent of guards, the escort king and queen at their leisure with kin.
"I know you would rather be in the sparring ring with your cousins and brothers, but you are a young lady now, and making your debut in the king's halls no less. I promise it will not be terrible," Meisar coaxed.
"I'm wearing a dress. It is terrible, your majesty." Lulia tried to cross her arms tempestuously but the ruffles on her sleeves prevented her from achieving her pose. She sat beside Bombur, surly. He laughed.
"Freyda is in her early sickness. She is with child again you know," Meisar kept on. "So she cannot be of my ladies' train to greet the visitors. I will need someone to replace her, and you are my choice."
She sat silently but Bombur nudged her. "It is an honor you should choose me, your majesty."
"It is a great honor, and we shall both be very grateful to you," Thorin said.
In the kitchen Bira was singing and pausing to giggle at her daughter's histrionics. The dwelling was warm and richly scented in a stew of tomatoes, beans and corn and warm bread. Beans and corn had come a gift from the dry terraced lands of the East in Tir's honor, where their kin partook of such food in the parched climate, along with mouth-melting peppers and sweet yams. The unruly children were soon yowling over a paste of the peppers, an innocuous schmear over crusty hot bread, to Urdlaug's amusement.
"Freyda just had a baby, what's she need another for?" Lulia inquired suddenly and imperviously. "Dwalin must be very fond of her."
"That's enough!" scolded Urdlaug from the kitchen table, smacking down her wooden stirring spoon to make her point. Lulia jumped. "You are nearly a woman, and it is high time you started acting it." Yrsa and Anbur giggled behind the door, and Lulia shoved a chubby fist their way in warning.
"You are quite the dramatic one. I think you are a fine little lady," Meisar protested with amusement. "If only for a few days, and it will be, I promise."
"Such an honor, my lass, to be raised up so by king and queen. It will be an honor to all of us," Bombur added. "Think of when we baked bread and soup in hovels, no so long ago, and now raised up we are."
"Friend," Thorin placed his hand on Bombur's shoulder. "You took it upon yourself to raise up our fortunes, in joining a particular quest. We do each other equal favors."
"Perhaps," agreed Bombur, popping the other half of his tart into his mouth, brushing the crumbs off to rain on a giggling Lulia. "But you shall do me no more raising up, lest you injure your back, my liege."
"I am still going to ride Burt to greet the lord and lady-mother of the Iron Hills. You promised," Lulia reminded, sharply, almost a whine. The pout on her face suggested "no" was not going to be a suitable answer, even from a king, or queen.
"Yes, I did."
"So will I? Please!" Lulia nearly came up off the seat.
Meisar smiled to herself quietly. "That is one promise I intend to keep."
.
Siv and Brynja were playing at dice in Meisar's antechamber when Thorin finally came ready to retire. Siv was lounging on her side, hugging a pillow, her leg crooked up over the side of it, teasing Brynja after another score. The ruby-red garters of her stockings were showing, just above the knee and daintily tied in bows. Brynja sidled across quickly and flung her skirt down over it, doffing her head in a quick bow to Thorin. Siv followed at a leisurely pace, rising to curtsy.
"Idleness is not becoming, Siv," Thorin chided lightly. "Shouldn't you aiding the queen? Her duties are many in these days."
"The queen's gettin' his highness ready for bed, having his bath and all. Griet and the nursemaids are tending on 'er. Told us to be at our leisure," Siv answered, plopping herself back on the lounger. "I swear it, my king."
"She's only just released us. We've been at duty all the day!" Brynja added. "Much has been done."
"I apologize," Thorin murmured. He clutched the flat velvet box a little tighter, shelving it under his arm. "Be about your business."
The door seemed to open so quietly she didn't appear to hear him at first. Meisar, at the vanity in her blue robe, held Tir over its table, so that he could see himself in the mirror. His legs were useless to standing; mother held him under the armpits, gently swaying him from side to side in his sleep-shirt. Griet stood at her side, admiring the scene, folding up his day-clothes to go for a wash. The nursemaids on attendance also stood back, watching with affectionate amusement.
"It is you, my lovely. What do you think?" she asked the non-responsive babe, his blue eyes wide with confusion in his reflection. He withdrew his fist from his mouth to touch the looking glass, and leave a sloppy hand print. "You are your father's son, the handsomest I have ever seen."
"I still say he has your mouth," Thorin offered amusedly. "And your forehead. And your general good nature."
"You give me far too much credence, husband," she maintained, retiringly.
"My king," the women murmured in unison, all dipping.
"Be at your leisure for the night, ladies. You have worked hard all day I do not doubt," Thorin granted.
"Thank you my king," the maids curtsied again and went about their way. They could hear Siv and Brynja making their way out after them, their boisterous gabbing. Alone at last, he kissed the top of her head, took in the gentle scent of her hair. She was partial to lilac and poppy in summer, he was finding as their time together wore on.
Tir was he still getting used to. But he was not so much a wee stranger. A flash of recognition and thrill was in his eyes. He put his arms up toward Thorin from Meisar's lap. Thorin picked him up and laid him against the light summer extant robe he had donned in the heat of the day, in spite of the mountain's shield from the blazing heat beyond. The summer had been relentlessly hot, but the rains came at such intervals that the harvest of the coming autumn seemed little threatened. Tir on his shoulder, his neck, radiated a warmth unlike any other.
"He adores more than anything the moment when his father arrives in the evening," Meisar smiled. Thorin walked him around the room, holding him under the bottom under one strong arm, clasping his little hand in the other. Tir's free hand always found its way to clasp about his hair beads, occasionally pulling them loose. His reflexes were swift enough by then to rescue them before they wound up in his mouth.
"Erebor is quite busy on your account," he whispered to him. "The brewers are especially glad for your being this week. One is even making a special summer ale that shall be your namesake. Even though you cannot yet enjoy it."
"I heard several of the breweries are doing the same. And they have struck quite the competitive spirit over the matter," Meisar put forth. She turned from her seat, ready to welcome Tir back to her arms once he had slimed the tips of Thorin's braids thoroughly.
"He is not the only one for whom special new crafts are done," Thorin began. He reached swiftly under his mantle where he had managed to conceal it in length. "I have made you something I have waited a long time to give you.
He opened the flat velvet case and inside lay a simple diamond crown, blue and white, a thin band but one that glittered magnificently under the dimming candlelight in the chamber." "I thought it a proper gift for a new mother."
"It is more than proper," she whispered, running her fingers along the luxuriant band, when he set it on the table before her.
"Did I not promise you that I would one day make a diamond crown for your hair?" Thorin asked, his half-smile in the mirror.
"You did," Meisar murmured warmly. Thorin's hand over her shoulder she reached up and rubbed gently the fingers from knuckle to tip in one hand, tilted her head to the side to kiss him there, lay her cheek against his hand.
"I want you to wear it when we present him to the realms. You have all cause to be the most radiant of queens in this land," he bestowed.
"Do I?" Meisar questioned earnestly. He saw the flash of the shepherdess, heavy, in her eyes again, downcast and slightly ethereal.
"For trying to make your case to Lulia, perhaps so," Thorin said. He placed the band on the crown of her head, hair drawn back in a tight plait, grazing the floor underneath her. He knelt by her side, drawing her gaze to the mirror in front of them.
Lashrîth. Through the cycle of life no epoch seemed so precious as that time. The three of them in the mirror made an agreeable picture. An image that he longed to preserve for all of time, if only it could be managed somehow. Her jeweled crown on her barely-kempt hair, the explosion of thick frizzed locks as he undid his temple braids and laid the beads in their little glass dish on her vanity. Tir reacted to the thick 'clink' with curiosity, eagerly searching for the source over the shiny surface of the table, his screwed mouth and thorough gaze. King, queen and prince, mother, father and child; for once, they were one in the same, perfectly blended.
"Might I have been better to ask Hegi instead? She enjoys herself in a fine dress at least we know," Thorin pondered aloud.
"I have a feeling Hegi would rather make her moonshine and fireworks in peace. But we should call upon her and Bifur soon. It has been a time."
"They have sent gifts for our son. Have you received them yet?"
"I don't know. So many gifts arrive for him. Things he will take years to use, or even know," Meisar remarked.
"Put your ladies up to the task of going through them then. Keep them on their toes, my love. You're too kind a mistress," Thorin smirked.
"Are you telling me you miss the shepherdess? Shall I strike them with a club in the morning to wake them up?" Meisar responded, amusedly. Her smile seemed wistful.
"If that is what Siv requires, I shall not oppose it," Thorin bent down and kissed the peak of her cheekbone from behind. "But truth to be told, I have gotten used to the queen, and I much adore her. Some things are only fit for a queen."
"I think this the most beautiful piece I have ever possessed," Meisar ran her fingers over the crown atop her head, gingerly extracted it so she could see the hand-carved sapphires, the perfectly white diamonds, in earnest closeness. "I will be proud to wear it."
"We should get some rest, my love. It is going to be a long day tomorrow, and a few after," Thorin urged, extending a hand for her to join him.
She laid Tir the cradle and covered him up to his armpits in the light blanket, embroidered as all his linens were in their royal sigil. By the time they had shed their clothes and readied for sleep, the baby was already snoring.
Daring not kiss him a final time lest he wake, she offered it to Thorin instead, once they had gone abed and drawn close beneath their summer linen sheets, cool to the touch. She lay against the warm, clean linen of Thorin's sleep-shirt and the hairy chest that peeked out from the undone laces. The contrast of abrasive and smooth ran over the peak of her cheek. It would be a time before they could know each other again, but to lie close together was the sweetest of all in such absences.
"Jewel of my heart," he murmured before he drifted off. "I love you so."
.
Lashrith- New parents