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Dwalin insisted on walking me the fifteen feet to my room that night, only to stop me at the door. "You never answered my question about the marketplace."

Nothing slips by him, does it?

I sighed, staring at his ear instead of meeting his eyes, and shrugged. "Nothing big, Dad. Just some people not being super fond of… me? But they were only a little passive aggressive. It was mostly how alone being surrounded by people, yet without company, made me feel."

I could see his frown pull down out of the corner of my eye, great big wrinkles folding across his brow and dipping between his eyebrows. "What do you mean, 'passive aggressive?' And why the question? Are you telling me or asking me?"

Ever the instructor. I sighed again. "I wasn't sure how to put it, is all. Passive aggressive is just stuff like me asking people to call me Aria, instead of Arrianna, and them calling me Arrianna just to watch me grit my teeth. Or saying something lightly veiled in front of kids because they know I won't make a scene with kids present." I shrugged again. "Like I said, not a big deal, just a bit emotionally taxing."

He regarded me silently for a moment. "And?"

I blinked. "And? And what?"

"You're leaving something out, lass."

"It's not a big deal, Dad. Besides, I'm here now, and I couldn't go back, even if I wanted to."

Another moment of silence, then he grabbed my face gently and brought our foreheads to rest together. "Aye, maybe. But it's still bothering you, Aris. So I want to know."

...Aris is quickly becoming a trump card, and I'm not sure I like it.

I heaved yet another sigh, closing my eyes and leaning into the embrace a bit. Hey, no one can turn down a good dad hug, no matter the circumstances. "My world is, and has done a lot to be, more accepting, just in general, but there is still progress to be made, still prejudices and misinformation and small backwater communities that like to mutter about 'sin' and 'unnaturalness' and being 'mentally ill' where it doesn't apply. And like it's some sort of leprosy or shameful choice - but that's a whole other can of worms. So some Karen saw me kissing a woman and started telling her friends to keep their kids away from me, whatever. So Mrs. Alderson stopped waving when I walked past the flower shop and the school kids had all kinds of names for the crazy hermit lady to giggle to each other about, whatever. So my sister greeted me 'Arrianna Marie' whenever she called or dropped her kids off, even after I came out and asked her to call me Ari, or if that was too hard, Aria would do. It's all gone now, Dad. I can start fresh here. Aria, Aris, just the foundling of Dwalin, son of Fundin, of Durin's folk. Nothing more, nothing less."

Rant city.

I started crying.

"Ach, lass. I thought so."

Neither of us got a whole lot of sleep that night.

The next morning, Thorin held me away by the shoulders and eyed me critically, before drawing me into a slightly tighter, slightly longer hug then usual. Dwalin, emerging from my room behind me, patted my back, then Thorin's shoulder, then stepped away to do his own critical eyeing - of the room. I chuckled and shook my head. "Dad, the Company can manage themselves for eight hours without disaster raining down."

He grunted and glowered at me. "You obviously haven't spent enough time with Durins."

I died. Thorin just glowered at me wheezing and holding my sides, while Dwalin smirked. There was a brief exchange in Khuzdul that had Thorin subsiding with rolled eyes and a shaking head, while Dwalin's smirk grew that much more smug.

At that moment. Kili and Fili came bouncing over. Well, Kili bounced. Fili pretended that he wasn't bouncing.

"Ooh are we tormenting Uncle?" Kili slung an arm over my shoulder.

"We're offended you neglected to inform us first." Fili threw an arm over my other shoulder, effectively sandwiching me between the young princes.

"I'm afraid my father is actually the one responsible, and therefore your grievance is with him, rather than myself," I smirked at them, "You are welcome to inform him of your displeasure."

Both boys glanced at Dwalin, then began to lead me away, speaking over each other as we went.

"Oh, in that case-"

"No need to bother him, really-"

"If it was Dwalin, then-"

"No need for us to get involved."

"Exactly."

I waved goodbye as I was escorted away, we'd all see each other in a few minutes at breakfast anyway, but it would appear I was eating with the boys today.

"Is there any particular reason the two of you have abducted me?" I grinned at both of them, only to get very self-satisfied smirks in return.

"A reason?" Kili leaned around me to look at his brother.

Fili returned the look, "Why would we need a reason?"

Both grinned at me wolvishly. "No reason!"

I laughed and raised an eyebrow, "I see how it is."

They both laughed as well, then continued to babble nonsense about reasons. I just tuned out. It was fun to see Fili letting himself loose a bit though. It was almost as if he was realizing he didn't need to put on the mature heir face for me any more. It felt a little like acceptance. I smiled.

Breakfast was, as every meal with the dwarrow, a lively affair. There was lots of cheerful chatter, a few sausages thrown, some good-natured ribbing, and off course a song or two. As the boys wouldn't hear otherwise, I stayed sandwiched between them at the table, and finally got to witness their mischief up close. You'd have thought they were twins, the way only a look or raised eyebrow could convey what would take minutes of conversation and scheming. In addition, I learned how absurdly observant the two are, despite pretending to be a bit oblivious.

...That made me concerned.

What did these two rascals know? Why did they abduct me this morning? Maybe just because I was upset last night? Maybe something I didn't know but they'd observed in my behavior.

I realized I was frowning when I was nearly knocked off the bench by Kili flopping over to drape himself on me, sighing dramatically.

"Alas, the lady hates our company!"

Fili mocked a swoon on the other side, "See how she frowns!"

Half tempted to dump both the very heavy dwarrow on the floor, I rolled my eyes. I couldn't help but smile at their antics though. Besides, neither were wearing armour at the moment, so…

I grinned, "Alas indeed," and proceeded to dig my fingers into both of their ribs.

The ensuing chaos was immensely satisfying.

By the time the boys had stopped yelping and lamenting loudly, the whole table was laughing. Even Thorin and Dad were fighting their smiles. Thorin was losing the battle though, and eventually let it go, grinning widely and chuckling. I couldn't help but stare a bit, the dwarf looked to different when he let himself be happy. Like, it was almost as if years were lifted off his shoulders, and the smile lines made his striking blue-grey eyes really pop out. I mean, light eyes and dark hair was the most striking combo ever, and Thorin was even more attractive than Richard Armitage's portrayal of him. When I'd thought about it, I thought dwarrow would be less attractive than the movies, not more. It just wasn't fair.

Thorin raised an eyebrow at me, and I realized I'd been staring. The flush that rose in my cheeks was very hot, and undoubtedly very bright.

I scrambled away from the table, blurted something about being late for running, and dashed from the room.

Subtle.

When I got back to my room, I swung the door shut then flopped onto my bed with a groan, burying my burning face in the duvet. Why did I have to realize how attractive the damn dwarf was? Why? It'd been ages since I found a guy attractive, girls were usually my preference, but now that I'd seen it, I couldn't unsee it.

And I couldn't help but play the last week in my head, going over each interaction with Thorin, and I realized I'd been flirting with him. Not obviously, or overtly, but I'd been positively clingy.

I groaned again.

I felt like crying.

Why do I always want the unattainable ones?

Even if he liked me, he could only love his One, and even then he probably wouldn't be allowed to be with a One who wasn't a dwarrow, being King and all.

It begged the question of just how sacred dwarrow considered Ones, and if they always had relationships, and half a million other questions I wasn't even sure I was allowed to ask, let alone know the answers to.

I groaned a third time.

Then, someone knocked on my door.

I scrambled off the bed and began stripping out of the dress (yes, they made me wear dresses) I'd worn to breakfast. "I'm not decent! I'll be out in a second! Who is it?"

"Aris"

I paused, then sighed. "Half a sec, Dad, I really am not decent."

There was another dwarf who was all together too observant.

Within a minute I'd shimmied into the soft leather breaches and wool tunic Dori had made for me, and was lacing the leather vest.

"You can come in now."

The door opened and shut slowly, and I listened as Dad took a few steps into the room, then stopped. I was facing away, still fiddling with my laces and struggling with the last vestiges of my blush.

"That was quite the display." His voice was entirely unreadable, and I winced.

I wasn't really sure what to say. "Sorry."

He grunted, and took a couple more steps. "Why are you apologizing?"

I huffed. Why indeed? "Because I made an utter fool of myself? Because you must be upset with me? Because-"

"Must I?"

I finally turned to face him, only to find that his face was just as unreadable, arms crossed across his chest, and feet planted. I sighed and threw my arms up.

"Well I'm upset with me!"

He tilted his head just a little, but his expression didn't change. "Why?"

Mindful of the way my conversation with Oin had been overheard, I stepped closer and hissed, "Because now I'm going to be pining after someone unattainable for months. Again. Like always!" I scrubbed at my face with both hands, then whirled around and stalked over to where my weapons were laid out on a chair, picking them up and beginning to fasten them with sharp movements. "I'll be fine, and it won't change anything, and if my display at breakfast is overlooked or forgotten or whatever no one will even know it's just frustrating."

A heavy hand landed on my shoulder and I jumped, fumbling a strap. How-?

"Why?"

I growled and jerked away, now tugging each strap with an entirely unnecessary amount of force. "Why what?"

"Why unattainable? Why Thorin? Why are you so angry?" My father grabbed my shoulder again, and gently but firmly turned me to face him. "Aris."

I deflated and keeled forward against him, burying my face in the crook of his neck. "Because I'm not his One? Because he's a King of dwarrow and I'm a human foundling." I took a deep breath. "Why Thorin? I don't know. I didn't even realize I found him attractive until breakfast, but that isn't enough, it's everything else too. Everything about him, even though I know that sounds stupid and cliche." I paused, then continued in a voice barely above a whisper, "Because he makes me feel safe."

For a very long moment, we just stood there in silence.

Then Dad grunted and pulled away far enough to take my face in his hand and peer at me closely. When he didn't say anything, I shrugged and dropped my gaze to stare blankly at his chest. "It's not a big deal, Dad. I'll get over it. And I'll stop bothering Thorin so much."

He just grunted again, then dropped his hands to my shoulders. I glanced up to find him eyeing me with a slight frown. "We'll see. Come, training."

I sighed and nodded, pulling away to make sure everything was fastened properly before following him out of my room, eyes fixed between his shoulder blades rather than seeing if anyone was looking at me differently. Tonight I would have to act like nothing happened, but for now I would wallow in my humiliation like any mature twenty-eight year old.

Training was amazingly un-awkward. While all three of us were a little quieter than usual, Fili and Kili were their usual bundle of chaos while they trained Bilbo. It had become a habit for all of us to start together with a jog and stretching, once the boys had informed Dad and Thorin of how important I thought it was, then they would break off with Bilbo. His training wasn't near as rigorous, and only lasted the morning instead of nearly the whole day. When he stopped we would all stretch together again, then they would leave while Dad, Thorin, and I discussed things like tactics and what Orcs and Goblins' strengths and weaknesses are. When I asked about Trolls, Wargs, Were-worms (if they actually existed), Stone Giants (which I had to assure them existed) and Dragons, both of them grew rather solemn. Can't blame them though, the woman with some knowledge starts asking how to fight certain enemies, you start assuming those are enemies you're going to have to face.

Today, however, was the day I would remember something important about Dol Guldur.

In the middle of a conversation about the best tactics to use against Wargs, I suddenly leapt to my feet. "Oh shit!"

Both dwarrow jerked back in surprise with raised eyebrows, but before they could ask I was scrambling away. "I have to find Gandalf! I'll try to be back in time for afternoon training but don't worry if I'm not, this is important!"

Said wizard was surprisingly easy to find, I just asked the first elf I saw if they knew where he was, and the (very confused, but nonetheless polite) elleth led me to Elrond's office, where the two were talking.

"Gandalf! Did you encounter Thráin in Dol Guldur some ninety years ago?"

The wizard looked positively bewildered, and hesitated to answer.

"This is important, Gandalf. Did you?"

He blinked, and shook his head. "Why, no, child. Why-"

"Not a child. Okay, then that means he's probably still in the dungeons there. Damn. Um, if at some point you find yourself, say, entering the fortress to investigate, it will be a trap and you just might get yourself captured and Thráin killed in the process. And, since I could just tell you what you went there to investigate, the whole thing could be avoided, yeah? And then maybe, maybe you could be present when and where you otherwise need to be."

Both wizard and elf-lord raised eyebrows at me, and frowned.

Elrond was the first to speak. "That was both much information, and very little. What are you trying to say, Arianna Renwick?"

"Uhg " I groaned, "Is that entirely necessary?" I rolled my eyes. "What I'm trying to say, is that you don't have to go scout the tombs of the Nine, because they're empty. You don't have to foolishly enter Dol Guldur because the Necromancer is Sauron. You don't have to ditch the dwarrow you set on this path. Capice? While dark and gloomy does have to be dealt with, one thing at a time is an option. I don't know enough about magic and whatnot to know exact options, so I'd plan with Galadriel. But if you leave Dol Guldur alone for the, I don't know, three weeks? it would take to stay with the dwarrow, then maybe a lot of death, including Thráin's, can be avoided."

Gandalf frowned deeply at me. "You are making little sense, Miss Renwick."

I huffed, "Now you know how everyone feels when talking to you. Unfortunately, I cannot be more clear. I can only ask that you heed my advice, instead of writing it off as worth nothing just because I am a female of the race of men. I am intimately familiar with the consequences of a certain set of actions, and so will give advice that is definitely worth something. And if you don't believe me, ask Galdriel."

Both were still frowning at me, but Gandalf was chewing his pipe thoughtfully, so I nodded sharply and turned to leave. "I have afternoon training to get to."

"Aria," Elrond called out.

I paused, hand on the doorhandle. "Yes?"

"I would ask that you stay in Rivendell when the dwarrow depart."

"You what?" I whirled around. "You did not just say that. Stay? No! Are- I don't- why?"

The frowning elf-lord rose and began to approach me, but stopped when I flinched back and went to open the door. He raised both hands in front of him. "I ask that you stay. You cannot learn enough in a week to be anything other than a burden to your dwarves, surely you do not want that? And the responsibility of foreknowledge is not one you will be able to bear in their company. It would be wiser-"

I made a slashing gesture with my hand and drew myself up into my best professional snooty pose. "Enough. You go too far, Lord Elrond Peredhel, to suggest that you may order me about and know my mind. You may have lived for centuries uncounted and possess knowledge I cannot even dream of, but you do not know me. You do not know what I am and am not capable of. You think all men are less than insects beneath your boot because of the mistakes of Isildur, yet not all Eldar are similarly stained by the kinslayings. How… hypocritical." I turned to leave. "You do not control me, elf-lord. You are neither omniscient or without flaw. Your attempt at manipulation stains you." I opened the door, glancing at him over my shoulder as I left. "Good day."

I was a little late returning for training, but Dad and Thorin were still waiting. Well, as much as sparring is waiting. Once I got used to the discomfort of watching them seemingly trying to murder each other, I noticed this spar looked a little different than normal. There was a different… rhythm, to the way they were moving, and they seemed to be having some sort of conversation in Khuzdul, but it sounded almost ritualistic. I stretched a little bit, but didn't take my eyes off of them. Yes, definitely ritualistic.

Then I noticed the other spectators. Balin, Fili and Kili, and Oin were all standing silently off to one side, watching intently. I frowned. Something was going on here. I got the feeling it would be bad to interrupt though, in any way, so I remained another silent spectator.

The spar was lasting forever.

Usually they'd only go about ten minutes before calling a draw if no-one had won. Which, honestly, usually they called a draw. The two had been sparring with each other for probably a century, it wasn't often one could best the other. This time, though, it looked like they might just continue until someone won, no matter how long it took. And they were already sweating fiercely before I showed up. They had to have been fighting for nearly twenty minutes now.

Suddenly, Oin gave a sharp command in Khuzdul. Dad and Thorin immediately stepped away from each other, then dropped into formal bows. Which, also weird. Usually if they did anything it was just a nod or a handshake. My guess at some sort of ritual or ceremony was reinforced.

The spectators approached the combatants, Balin flanking Dad, the boys flanking Thorin, and OIn in between them. More ritualistic-sounding Khuzdul was exchanged, all of them saying at least a line or two, Oin officiating. Finally, Oin said something and the formal air broke, all of them, even Dad, smiling at each other, and the boys laughing and glomping Thorin. I'd almost say it looked like some sort of violent wedding ceremony, only Dad and Thorin merely gave each other a brotherly hug, then turned to converse with their witnesses.

There was no way they were anything other than witnesses for whatever that had been.

Then Oin noticed me, and said something quietly to the whole gathering, who all turned to me as I approached. It was an odd mix of happy and solemn expressions, as I searched everyone's face, but nobody spoke. Even after I reached them and stopped. Eventually, I figured I'd have to be the one to break the silence.

"Um, did I miss something?"

Fili and Kili grinned brightly, but didn't say anything. Balin smiled warmly into his beard, but also remained silent. Oien huffed and grinned, but walked away. Dad and Thorin shared a glance.

I threw my arms in the air, but couldn't help also grinning. "You could just say you can't or don't want to tell me, you know, or that it's none of my business, I won't pry. You're just all looking at me like I've interrupted a conversation about me." I laughed and shook my head. "Silly geese, the lot of you."

They looked wonderfully confused.

I laughed again. "Come on, don't I still have training to do?"

Dad grunted and nodded, "Aye lass," and that seemed to break up the party. Fili and Kili gave Thorin one last nudge and quiet ribbing in Khuzdul, Balin winked at me, and then the spectators were off, leaving me with the two combatants.

Thorin took a moment to gather himself, then regarded me with a slightly tilted head. "First, what did you need to speak to Gandalf about?"

I frowned thoughtfully, considering how much to tell him. I didn't want him to go haring off after his father, but he 100% deserved to know said father was alive, if not well. Hmm.

"It had to do with the whole 'quest being bigger than your people' thing. I-"

"Our people," Dad interrupted. "Aris Dwalindottïr."

I flushed, and smiled. "Thanks, Dad. The whole 'quest being bigger than our people' thing. I remembered something that's different in either version, but not really more than just mentioned, which is why I only just remembered, about where Gandlaf got the map and key? And had to check. That part mainly just concerns you, Thorin. But it's tangled up in how this quest is a tipping point for all of Arda. I'm, uh, not sure how much it's wise to share?" I finished uncertainly, biting my lip and glancing between them. I felt bad both were frowning now, smiles of just moments before vanished.

After a moment, Thorin nodded slowly, then spoke, "I will trust whatever you wish to tell me is all I need to know about this, and you do not have to decide now."

I swear I melted in relief, and I couldn't help but dart forward to give the dwarf a hug. "Thank you."

He just sort of patted my back, tightening one arm around my ribs before letting me go with a soft little smile I'd never seen on him before.

Dad grunted, and Thorin rolled his eyes (Thorin dwarf king o' stern-ness rolled his eyes. I will never not be surprised by this dwarf, apparently), but steered me toward our little corner of the field before letting go.

"You and Thorin will spar today," Dad said suddenly, "Then Fili, then Kili. You need to feel different styles."

"Oh goody," I grimaced. "I'm gonna be sore tomorrow."