Chapter Forty-two: Tentative Alliances

Bella peeked from her nest as the door opened. Tauriel had gone to the mess hall to secure some lunch and maybe pick up the latest news concerning the Company. It appeared that her hostess had been at least halfway successful as she had two trays of delightful food. Oh, Bella thanked Eru that some things were true for all females across races, in this case, bouts of insatiable hunger. Thankfully, Bella wasn't being plagued by said ailment, but it was an excellent excuse for Tauriel in order to provide food for both of them.

Both knew that this particular excuse would only last them a week, but by then, Bella suspected that she could return to her foraging habits as she explored the palace. Tauriel promised to have a supply of lembas in her room. While not the best, it would ensure that Bella would get her fill of food every day.

"Your dwarf attempted to strike a deal," Tauriel said once she closed the door.

Bella jolted upright at that. "Fili did?"

Tauriel nodded, laying the trays on the table. "King Thranduil made him an offer. It sounded as though the deal was almost accepted but then something happened and the deal was dropped. My people are blaming Fili for not going through with the deal, but I suspect that there is more to it than what I've heard."

Bella nodded in agreement, gathering her project up to put beside her on the table. "Fili wouldn't have backed out of a deal without good reason."

"I suspected as much," Tauriel said. "Though I am curious as to what happened."

"I'll be sure to ask when I next visit them," Bella said.

Together they ate their lunch, lightly discussing both everything and nothing, generally concerning their rascally dwarves. After finishing, Tauriel took the empty dishes and set them and the trays in the hall for returning later, and Bella returned her attention to her Masterpiece.

She had decided that now was the best time to work on Fili's vest. She couldn't really do any proper searching right now, and while the cramps were much less than they were four days ago, her body was still punishing her.

"I've been meaning to ask what you're working on," Tauriel said, sitting beside her.

"My Masterpiece," Bella answered. "According to hobbit traditions, once I give it to Fili, we are promised to marry within a year. Ideally, according to older generations, within four months so that another joint masterpiece would be created by the time of the first anniversary."

Tauriel chuckled. "You hobbits don't hesitate when it comes to children."

Bella laughed as well, wincing as it jolted her aching stomach. "Bilbo and I being the only children is highly unusual," she said, stitching a Durin sigil. "A good many families boast at least a half-dozen little fauntlings. Most blamed the lack of children on Mother's adventuring, but . . . something actually happened when Bilbo and I were born. She was unable to bear children after that." She smiled sadly. "Mama said she was devastated that she couldn't have more children, but then as Bilbo and I proved to be especially wild, she was grateful there weren't more to add grey hairs."

"You must have been terrors," Tauriel said with a chuckle.

"Oh, we were capturing wizards from a young age," Bella assured. "We sent tongues wagging as we grew up, so utterly adventurous and unhobbit like. At least until our parents died and Bilbo started being the respectable one."

"Were you . . . considered an outcast?" Tauriel asked.

Bella glanced over to her. "No one ever said it, but I rarely got invited to events. Or treated very friendly in public. So, it was more implied. What about you? I suspect there's a reason you asked."

Tauriel threaded her autumn red hair through her fingers. "How many elves are known for having red hair?"

Bella considered it. Really there weren't too many that she could recall. "Feanor and some of his sons from the First Age are all I can immediately recall," she said.

"Kinslayers," Tauriel said. "The most disgraced of the Firstborn."

Bella winced, guessing where this was going. "Legolas and his two friends were the only ones to give you a chance."

"More or less," Tauriel said. "It's really a miracle that I rose to the rank of captain, though I suspect Legolas may have had a hand in that."

"I'm sorry," Bella said. "I can't imagine being looked down on for something you never did, would never dream of doing."

Tauriel half-smiled. "I guess it makes me more grateful for Kili in a way."

"Oh?"

"Dwarves don't have that sort of prejudice. I know that I'll have to accept them being wary of me because I'm an elf, but at least it won't be because of my hair."

"In that case, Gwathel, we shall have to stick together. I am sure that there will be dwarves out there who will protest having a hobbit as a future queen, and so we shall stand by each other's sides and refuse to let them trample us."

Tauriel laughed. "You certainly seem to have a dwarvish spirit."

"And I won't doubt that you have a bit of dwarvish spirit as well," Bella replied. "We'll need it to survive those rascals. Did I tell you what they did when we first met?"

"I suspect that there is a good bit that you haven't told me yet," Tauriel answered.

"Well, I tell you they were scamps from the moment they stood on my doorstep." Bella went on to regal Tauriel with the night that felt like a lifetime ago. She took pleasure in making the elf maid laugh and relished reliving the memories.

Gandalf had promised that if she did survive, she would never be the same. Did that meddling wizard know just how true that would be? She was all but engaged to a dwarven prince and had the promise of an elvish sister-in-law. She had gone from having only Bilbo, to having fourteen new family members. Possibly even fifteen if she dared consider adding the elven prince. But that may be pushing it a little far.

A small part of her warned that she would have to be careful. That they hadn't gotten through the most dangerous part of the journey yet. But for the moment, she pushed it to the side. Once her bleeding had run its course, she would return to her search, and hopefully with her ally, would discover not only the Company's supplies but also a way out.

Legolas couldn't believe he was doing this. Of course he had offered with the intention of following through, but to actually be rummaging through a dwarven pack for a collection of winter things. He had not really counted on it. Well, there was actually very little rummaging. The packs were practically empty of everything necessary for a journey. No extra clothes, no stores of food (so apparently, they were truthful about the starving part), no cooking utensils or dinnerware. It looked as though they were just traveling along with the clothes on their backs. Surely this wasn't how they'd been surviving since the Blue Mountains or the Shire.

Ah, the waterproof bundle. Maybe it shouldn't have been so difficult to find, seeing as it practically filled one pack. He opened it, just to be sure. The smokey scent of treated furs wafted out as he spied a dark blue bundle on top. He blinked as he noticed a bit of white trim. Was that warg fur? Well, there was yet another conversation starter. Sealing it again, he slipped it back in the pack and took the entire thing with him. Simpler to carry and hopefully easier to hide or explain away if someone approached him.

He managed to reach the dungeons largely unnoticed. He then proceeded to ignore the glares sent to him by the dwarves as he approached Fili and Bilbo's cell. Did that have anything to do with the rumors he'd been hearing from this morning? The deal that the dwarves refused? If Legolas wasn't careful, he would have enough conversation starters to last for hours or days.

At Fili and Bilbo's cell, Legolas could see that Bilbo was teaching Fili some of the complexities of Sindarin and Tengwar. The prince half-smiled as he used his master key. "One bundle of winter items as requested," he said, dropping the pack inside before relocking the door.

"Hannon le," Fili answered, immediately coming to the pack.

Legolas twitched a corner of his mouth in a smile. "Is my language truly so troublesome, dwarf?" he asked in Sindarin.

Fili looked up at him, returning the half-smile. "No," he responded in kind. "I am merely anxious to get started on my . . ." his face twisted in concentration, searching for the proper word before admitting defeat, "Masterpiece." He growled a bit in frustration. "It'll take ages, Bilbo."

"You nearly got it," Bilbo said. "You're doing quite well considering how spotty your actual lessons have been."

"And to think Kili is now needing to learn," Fili said, pulling out the items.

Legolas watched as each piece was laid out. A dark blue coat for a lady trimmed in white and lined with wolf fur. Dark blue leggings and a patchwork hat. A rich green coat lined with wolf fur, matching leggings, and another patchwork hat. Then two pairs of rabbit fur mittens and two pairs of supple, leather, fingerless gloves. "I rarely have bouts of intense curiosity," Legolas said, "but is that white fur from a warg?"

Bilbo rolled his eyes with a vague smile as Fili chuckled with pride. "Bella earned the right to wear that warg fur," Fili declared. "She slayed the white warg of Azog single-handedly."

"Truly?" Legolas asked, amazed. While he had never met or seen this Azog, he had heard of the pale orc. He honestly didn't know what stories to believe. But for a hobbit woman to have slain his mount . . . either the orc and his warg weren't as large as the stories claimed or the hobbit was fierce and not to be underestimated.

"Indeed," Bilbo said. "I'll admit to being rather in shock when it happened. Azog had personally singled me out in a skirmish we had. Bella naturally objected to that and leaped in with her two swords. As the warg turned to snarl at her, she thrust one blade through its mouth to its brain and thrust the other into the jugular. The brute made the mistake of shaking her off as it sent my sister flying and ripped her swords out."

Legolas held to his composure. "Remind me to never cross Miss Baggins. I fear I might be her next victim."

"Only if you actively attack someone she cares for," Fili said. "And I suspect that if she were here, she'd say that her skills couldn't compare to an elf's." He shrugged. "Though I may disagree."

"Ah, yes, still smitten by how she aided your brother in killing the wolves who wished to have us for dinner," Bilbo said.

Fili's cheeks reddened as he set a pair of the leather gloves aside and started packing away the rest. "She managed to fight with a grace and ferocity that some dwarves can only dream of. Surely not much different than if you were to witness a hobbit lass in the kitchen, especially if she had caught your eye."

Bilbo opened his mouth as though to protest then paused to consider. "Oh, very well," Bilbo grumbled. "When you put it that way. Though I would dare to say that you have a bit of hobbit in you now considering how you react whenever Bella's apple pie is mentioned."

"Your sister somehow managed to make my absolute favorite dessert even better than my mother twice over," Fili said. "How can I not look forward to that bliss?"

Legolas rolled his eyes at himself as he settled down beside the cell. He might as well get comfortable. "I believe this is the second time you've mentioned this apple pie within my hearing. Care to explain?"

Bilbo answered, "Just as Bella and Fili were courting in the way of dwarves, I wanted to be sure that they were also courting in the way of hobbits. One aspect of hobbit courtship is a meal that they prepare for each other. Most often, one will prepare the other's favorite foods and invite the other to dinner and then be returned the favor. And, when my sister prepared Fili's dinner, she made her red ribbon apple pie."

"'Red'?" Fili cried. "How could she get anything less but first place?"

"The judges are very strict," Bilbo answered. "But this last year was a very close thing, since even the judges admitted that they had trouble determining whether it was her apple pie or Mrs. Cotton's cherry pie. It finally came down to crust, and they decided Mrs. Cotton had created the more elaborate design."

Fili scowled, lightly grumbling in dwarvish as he started to intensely study the gloves.

"As I had been saying," Bilbo said, "Bella made Fili her best apple pie, and the lad practically melted from what I heard. He hoarded it immediately. And that is a very good sign if you were to ask the older or more superstitious hobbits. What especially silenced any nay-sayers against them was the fact that he offered her a bite of his hoard."

"What significance is that?" Legolas asked, his brows furrowing lightly.

"During the Wandering Days," Bilbo answered, "food would normally be scarce. And so it was a fairly common practice to share food with the community when there was some to be had. So for someone to give their love interest some food, and the interest to hoard it, meant that they held a deep regard for the giver and appreciated them. It became even more serious when the receiver would return a bit of their hoard to the giver.

"It has lost some of its meaning over the centuries. But the eldest still claim that to share from the hoarded dish means that it is match made by Eru and the Valar themselves, and nothing should be done to break the relationship lest the instigator be punished."

Fili huffed. "Should we be grateful or ungrateful that the Sackville-Bagginses didn't object?"

Bilbo chuckled. "Knowing Lobelia, even if she were struck down, she'd find a way to torture us beyond the grave."

"Not the nicest folks I take it," Legolas noted.

"Oh, she and the rest of her snobbish family have attempted to be the Smaug to our Erebor," Bilbo answered. "Lobelia has been wanting Bag End ever since Mama and Papa died. But, it is our home, our father built it for our mother, and no Sackville-Baggins shall ever reside there if we have a say in the matter."

"Hm. Remind me to discuss things with Balin and Uncle just in case we need to face tossing that Lobelia out of Bag End upon our return," Fili said.

"Certainly," Bilbo answered. "I would like to think my preparations would keep that from being necessary, but considering how long it's taking simply to reach Erebor, much less the Iron Hills. We may potentially need some backup."

Fili looked up from his intense study. "Bag End was the Masterpiece your father made for your mother."

Bilbo smiled. "Yes, at least that was what everyone said. His actual Masterpiece was Mama's honeymoon gown. He would have done her wedding gown, but superstitions about the groom not seeing the bride's gown until the ceremony."

Fili winced. "That might be a problem for us," he said.

Bilbo pursed his lips. "Indeed."

"I was wondering at the state of your packs," Legolas said.

"Goblin tunnels in the Misty Mountains," Fili said. "It's a miracle Gandalf recovered what he did."

"Mithrandir was traveling with you?" Legolas asked.

Bilbo stiffened.

Fili answered, "He's been a friend of the Tooks and Baggins for quite some time in my understanding. He hoped to see us safely all the way to the Iron Hills, but he left us just before we entered Mirkwood. Apparently, he had been tasked with investigating something before we left Rivendell. We hope to reunite between Dale and Erebor."

The hobbit's shoulders slackened as Bilbo blinked a bit owlishly at Fili before shaking himself. "Yes, Gandalf has taken quite a few Tooks on grand schemes and adventures. Bella and I are the first Bagginses that he's managed to coerce. But, I suppose we only have ourselves to blame, seeing as we captured him when we were but five years."

Legolas smiled. "How did you manage to capture the wily wizard?"

"Oh, our attempts were nearly foiled by our mother," Bilbo said, his eyes now twinkling with mischief. "But Bella managed to scramble up him like a squirrel and claimed his hat. Then we could ask any question and he would be compelled to not only answer us but answer us truthfully." He laughed. "At least those were the rules we made up. Gandalf was kind enough to comply and play along. Every so often, Bella will steal his hat again and ask a question of him, but more in memory of our childhood fun."

Legolas breathed a chuckle. That certainly fit what he knew of the Grey Wizard. He looked to Fili who was now taking a bit of charred stick and was lightly marking the surface of the tan leather. "What are you plans, if I may ask," he said.

"I wish to embellish Bella's gloves with silver filigree and fitting gems," he answered. "I know much of the work must wait until I can access a forge and the proper tools, but I can make plans."

Legolas pursed his lips. Maybe he could convince his father to allow the dwarf to go to their forge. It had been over an Age since any of his people had been jewelers, at least in order to rival dwarven craft. But maybe Fili could make do. And of course someone would be there to supervise, make sure that weapons weren't being crafted.

What was he even thinking?! Helping a dwarf? But . . . Tauriel's words of the other day were true. And, he could clearly see the love Fili felt for his hobbit in the dwarf's shining blue eyes. So before he could talk himself out of the offer, he said, "I could ask permission to take you to our forge. I don't know if we would have the proper tools."

Fili turned away but not before Legolas caught the twist of disgust and disappointment. "I doubt your father would see fit to grant such a request. Not after this morning."

"What happened this morning?" Legolas asked. "I have only heard rumors."

Fili pressed his lips tightly together as Bilbo started explaining.

"The Elvenking offered Fili a deal," he said. "In exchange for our release, Fili would ensure that Thranduil got his starlight jewels returned to him. Since it was a point of contention before the fall of Erebor, Fili investigated the commission from both elven records and dwarven accounts. His findings led to him agreeing that your father should have his gems returned. But before the deal was struck, the Elvenking changed the terms of the bargain. Instead of all of us being released, he would require at least one, if not a full seven, to remain until the gems were in his hand."

"That's absurd," Legolas said quietly. Now, he honestly wasn't fully convinced concerning the betrothment journey, but even he could see that what his father was asking was unrealistic with the presence of the dragon.

"That's why I refused him," Fili said, his voice taut. "Even if we thought to go against Smaug, we would need every member of our Company . . . our family. And we most certainly do not wish to leave anyone to rot here until we could properly gain a fighting force." He scoffed. "And he accused me of being like my great-grandfather. I'm not the one bedazzled by sparkly stones."

He immediately turned to Legolas. "I understand that the gems belonged to your mother and thus have great sentimental value to you and your father," he said. "But, they are still mere objects."

"My father has always been fond of silver and white gems," Legolas said. "But, he never should have put more value in them than in someone's life." He released a long breath. "Tell me the materials you need. I'll ensure that you have them when I get you to the forge."

Both prisoners jolted in surprise. "But you father would-"

"You seem to forget that I am royal as well," Legolas said. "You are granted leave to work in the forge provided you are supervised and as long as you forge no weapons. Now, you said silver and choice gems. What gems do you require?"

Fili quickly recovered himself. "I would like two nicely sized tanzanites, they are to be the centerpiece of each design. Some small garnets and . . . some amethysts shaped as violets or that can be given that shape."

Legolas nodded. "I will see that they are brought to the forge by tomorrow at the latest." He paused. "Any significance to the gems?"

Fili quirked a smile. "An entire language. When I translate them for Bella, I will tell her the tanzanite represents how she makes me whole. The garnet is for protection especially on her travels. Amethyst is also protection but by ensuring she stays clear-headed and quick-witted."

"Then I will most certainly ensure that the gems are exactly as you requested," Legolas said. He rose to his feet. He needed to get to the treasury and enlist the help of the Master of the Treasury to be sure he retrieved the proper gems.

"We have nothing with which to pay for the treasures," Fili said, distrust slipping into his voice. "What will you demand of me?"

"This is my apology for how we've treated you," Legolas said. "But, if there is truly a need of exchange." He turned, locking eyes with the dwarf. "Ensure your brother respects and treats Tauriel right."

"Upon my honor," Fili said. Actually, it was Fili Son of Dis Daughter of Thrain, Crown Prince Under the Mountain who made the promise.

Legolas rested his right fist upon his heart, bowing low in solemn acknowledgement. Then with the air of leaving a fellow royal, he departed the dungeons.

Author's Note: Is this potentially a filler chapter? Maybe. But, I know that I love seeing friendships starting to form. For Bella and Tauriel, it is two future sister-in-laws bonding over their rascally soulmates and how they don't quite fit in with with their native communities. Legolas, Fili, and Bilbo are taking chances in trust, and for the prince, taking what he experienced in the past and being what he wished he had received.

And I could also be trying to get you to like Tauriel and Legolas (if you didn't already) because they are going to be sticking around for the rest of the story.

I had a bit of fun looking up gemstone meanings, though quite honestly, I'm starting to wish there was some stone/gem and flower/herb dictionaries complete with pictures that I could reference instead of searching an average of five different websites that may or may not have what I'm looking for. Anyway. Quick descriptor of each gem Fili mentioned and recap of their meanings. Tanzanite, described as "velvety-blue with deep purple undertones," in other words a dark blue-purple to just dark blue. From what I found on Google Images, it is quite complementary to what I consider Durin blue thanks to the films. This gem represents integration of heart and mind, wholeness. Garnet tends to be a rich, deep red. It symbolizes protection, especially on journeys. And finally, amethyst. This stone is usually a shade of purple and not only means protection but tradition claims that the person who wears it will be clear-headed and quick witted.

So, interested in your thoughts. Any theories that may be floating around. . . . (And silence. At least from all but one. But I am so thankful for that one faithful.) See you next week.