"Sweetie," Lilanna caressed her daughter's moonlight hair delicately, trying not to be too harsh to wake her up. "It's morning, you must get up."

Despite getting enough sleep, Lorna still felt the weight of exhaustion on her. Like bricks tied up around her back. It was agonising. As she got up and out of bed, she groaned in response.

"You alright?" Her mother asked, her eyes scanning her body immediately for any signs of injury.

"Just my back," Lorna tried to stretch it out but it still didn't work.

"I'll make you something to calm down the pain," her mother assured her, softly. Lorna smiled tiredly at her mother, her eyes only a little open. Chuckling at the sight of it, Lilanna walked out the room to make her daughter what she needed.

Eventually, Lorna walked over to her closet to look for something appropriate to wear. She knew from her mother's experience of being Dis' mother's handmaiden that there wasn't any need to wear anything fancy. Being a handmaiden meant cleaning the Princess' rooms, clothing and bathing her, brushing her hair and putting makeup on her if she pleased - fundamentally this could mean her gowns could get ruined or dirty.

Reaching out her ebony green gown, she quickly put it on with no help from her mother since it was a simple dress. Afterwards, she sat walked over to her desk and grabbed a few pins and two white ribbons. Neatly braiding her hair, Lorna remembered reading a book about elvish hairstyles, sometimes her mother would spend the whole day in Lorna's room with her looking up new hairstyles to experiment with each other. But her favorite was the two small plaits that came together to form a long ponytail. When she was fully finished, she didn't bother to say goodbye to Bellaena since it was way too early for her to awake.

Taking one step at a time from the nerves, she reached the bottom of the staircase with her father and mother waiting near the door. Her father was still in his night clothes, while her mother like Lorna was dressed and ready to go to work. "Lovely gown, dear," Lilanna smiled, "now, here's your medicine for you today, drink it while we're walking to the palace," she handed it to Lorna who studied the vial instantly. Like her mother she was always curious about everything, her eyes scanned the object with the cold blue liquid inside. Lilanna turned towards her husband and bent down to kiss him on the cheek, "have a good day, my love," she told him, softly, they both shared a brief intimate look at each other until Lilanna spun on her heel to open the front door and stepped out, with Lorna close behind.

Closing the door behind her, Lorna walked alongside with her mother through the isolated streets of Dale. It was very early and so there weren't many people around. The occasional market stalls being set up ready for the day, and men and women opening their curtains to the cold, spring morning.

Remembering the medicine her mother gave to her, she quickly gulped it all down. "Ew," Lorna whispered, sticking her tongue out at the flavor of the substance.

Lilanna laughed out loud, not caring if the town was asleep, "the flavor will disappear in a while, my dear."

Trying to forget the taste of it, Lorna's mind thought of Dale. How she wished to get out of it and go in search for other kingdoms and islands. But nevertheless, she still adored Dale. The city was so diverse and lively. Everyone in the city, as well as Laketown, were different. There weren't as many elves as Lorna would've liked, but she knew there were many travellers going by which she would spy on them through her bedroom window. Sometimes King Thranduil of Mirkwood would come to stay for months, to which she would beam up at the elves that would pass by in the streets.

"Keep up, darling," her mother instructed gently. Skipping towards her mother, they walked past their street towards many others until they reached the bridge that was in front of the mighty front doors of Erebor. A small river came between Erebor and Dale, as a child, she would sometimes spot small toads hopping from one lily pad to another. She would study each little detail of the frog, run home and draw the frog from memory and then hang it up on her wall.

Erebor was magnificent, although she had never been inside of it before, the outside exterior of it was spectacular. The carved walls with so much detail and beauty in it, stretching high up the mountain. As they passed the bridge, her mother too looked over the edges in curiosity.

Walking through the bridge and through the winding road towards the front doors, Lorna felt that with each step more and more weight on her shoulders.

They stopped when they reached the doors. "Who goes there?" Gazing up towards the battlements, a group of guards stood watching down at them. "State your name and address."

"My name is Lilanna Silverstone, and this is my daughter, Lorna Silverstone," her mother wrapped one arm around her daughter's waist, "we are handmaiden's to Princess Dis and Princess Agirth."

Lorna watched as the guards exchanged looks, "open the door," the guard yelled. Almost automatically, the doors to Erebor opened and together they both walked inside.

Lorna gasped.

Inside, ebony stone walls filled the space. Stairs cases that went up and down, left or right. The handles to the staircases golden, matching the walls and stairs. Gazing more upwards, the stone that hadn't been carved stayed silently above them all. It almost terrified Lorna, knowing that any minute at any second parts of the unmade stone could fall.

Lorna prayed to Mahal that wouldn't happen.

Meanwhile, Lilanna showed some identification to the guards who opened the doors, the papers showed where they lived and information about themselves. Obviously the guards weren't stupid enough to let anyone into Erebor with just words. When Lilanna was finished, she took hold of her daughter's arm, "come on, follow me," Lilanna pulled Lorna along as they walked up a set of stairs. "Don't look down, that'll make you dizzy." But before Lilanna could warn her daughter, Lorna's eyes moved downwards and over the golden handles. Oh dear, that's high.

Immediately Lorna cocked her head away and moved her head to look up to where the stairs ended and a hallway began. "Now, this is the royal chambers, along this hallway Prince Thorin and Frerin and Princess Dis sleep, take the next steps upwards are where King Thror and Prince Thráin and Princess Agirth sleep," her mother told Lorna who kept her eyes still, focusing on what her mother was telling her - knowing full well that she would need to learn these details. "Follow me, and I'll show you where Dis' chambers are," Lilanna and Lorna walked towards the hallway. It was dark, with only a few candles light for them. Three rooms, three doors and one guard on each door. "Here's where Dis is," Lilanna pointed to the door at the end near the window. "I have to go, little dove, but I'll see you at lunch time. Lunch time all the servants go to the kitchens, that's at the bottom of Erebor," she kissed her daughter on the forehead, "good luck, you'll be amazing." Lorna watched as her mother left her, ascending up the stairs towards Princess Agirth's chambers.

Lorna stood opposite one guard outside Dis' room, his uniform silver with the Erebor emblem on his chest plate. He wore no helmet - didn't need to - he looked young, shorter than her. His beard wasn't too long, not like her father's. "My name is Lorna Silverstone, I am Dis' handmaiden," she tried to sound confident, but her voice quavered a little.

"So." The guard replied, bluntly.

"So let me in, or you'll have an upset, late Princess on your hands," Lorna snapped at the guard. Both, she and the guard looked shocked at what she had just said. Where did that come from?

Nevertheless, the guard moved to the side to let her through. Carefully and quietly, Lorna turned the door handle to open the door and let herself in. Shutting the door even more carefully behind her, she then walked over to the bed and looked down at Dis who was quietly snoring.

Leaning down, her eyes roamed the Princess, taking her features in. She was beautiful. Like every Princess should be, Lorna thought. Her hair was a light brown, like chocolate. She wore a silky white nightgown, with parts of her legs sticking out from under the covers. "Princess," Lorna got the nerves to speak up, "Princess Dis, it's time to wake up."

She heard the Princess groan, then gulped, clearing her voice, "who are you?" Not bothering to open her eyes to look herself.

"My name is Lorna Silverstone, I'm going to be your new handmaiden," Lorna said.

"Hm," hummed Dis, slowly one by one her eyes opened and she looked at Lorna standing above her. "You are an elf," she stated.

"Yes," Lorna replied, quickly adding, "your majesty."

Dis scrunched her face up, "please," lifting her body up from the bed and sitting cross-legged, "don't call me 'you majesty', 'princess', 'my lady' ever again. Well, unless we're in the company of my father or mother, or grandfather even. Just call me Dis." Lorna's lips lifted to a smile, she was kind. "And you are going to be my new best friend," Dis said. Lorna couldn't help but chuckle.

"Is that allowed?" Lorna asked, unsure.

"Probably not, but who cares I'm the Princess," Dis said, cheekily. "I haven't had a friend before, I only have my brothers."

Lorna blinked, "neither have I."

Dis beamed, "then I shall be your first and you shall be my first," reached out to hold her hand, Lorna smiled even more and they both squeezed each other's hands. Lorna then helped Dis out of bed and ready for a bath. Dis told Lorna that all the royal chambers have a separate room where the bath is kept. Imagining the bath to be like the silver little one at home, Lorna didn't expect the bath to take up the whole room! The sides of the bath were wooden, and inside it filled at least twenty or more people inside.

"This is the switch for the tap," Dis pointed at the metal tap in the far corner of the bath tub. Lorna walked over towards it and switched it on, immediately water burst out and began filling up the tub. Steam began to rise and steam up the windows, "be a darling and open up the window." Doing exactly what she instructed, Lorna couldn't help but let her mind wander.

"Where does the water come from?" Lorna asked, curiously.

"From the boiler room downstairs, where they get the water from the lake behind the mountain," Dis replied, she didn't seem to mind Lorna asking questions.

When the water reached a suitable level, Lorna stopped the water from running. Turning around she immediately cast her eyes down as Dis dropped her nightgown onto the floor and hopped into the bath. Lorna went over to where her nightgown was and picked up. "Where would you like me to put this?" Lorna asked, politely.

Swimming around in the huge tub, Dis replied, "a woman comes around with a trolley where you put dirty washing, she'll knock when she arri-" suddenly a knock came from the door. "Ah! There she is."

Lorna walked towards the door and opened it wide, peeking her head through. In the middle of the hallway stood an old lady, her back hunched forwards holding on to the wooden trolley like her life depended on it. Careful not to wake up the two Princes, she walked over to the little old lady and dropped the nightgown into it. Nodding in thanks to the woman, Lorna walked back to Dis' chambers.

Dis was out the bath already, a towel around her body as she sat at her dressing table. "What earrings should I wear, Lorna?" Dis asked, sighing wholeheartedly. As Lorna made her way to the desk, she looked down at the earrings all in a row in a draw under the table. In the row above were different sorts of necklaces, as well as rings.

"Hm," Lorna thought, "the sapphires looks stunning," pointing at the beautiful jewellery. After sorting out everything Dis was going to wear, they then came to the door where Dis breathed in and out heavily. Lorna looked at her with concern, "are you well, my lady?"

Dis snapped her head to look at Lorna, for a moment Lorna thought she was going to slap her. "What did I say you were to call me?" Dis smirked, raising one eyebrow at her new friend.

Lorna huffed out her nose, "Dis, are you alright?"

Dis' smirk turned into a warm smile, "I'm fine, just preparing myself. You are to follow me at all times, and do whatever I tell you. But don't worry, I hardly do much so all I need from you today is to talk to me - keep me company, which I'm sure you are capable of doing."

"I won't disappoint you, Dis, thank you for giving me this job," Lorna said.

Dis slide her arm through Lorna's and together they walked out into the hallway towards where Dis was wanting to go. "You won't disappoint me, Lorna. And if you do I'm sure I'll forgive you, I'm the forgiving type."

Lorna laughed, "what do you want to do today, Dis?" asked Lorna, looking down at her friend. Lorna was only a couple of inches taller than her. Apparently, Thorin was a very tall dwarf, only two inches taller than herself - well, that was what she'd heard.

"To the training ground," Dis said, "my brothers will be sparring probably."

Lorna nodded, turning her head to look forward. As they took many stairs to wherever the training grounds were, Lorna tried to keep her breathing steady, her anxiety crept up a little as her mind began to think of the Princes.