'What was that?' Fili looked at Billa with an alarmed expression. Another shrieking, but also suffering howl reached their ears and Fili winced.

'It comes from the mines.' Billa stood up and followed the howl echoing in the narrow corridors and high ceiling of Erebor. Fili followed her silently. They needed a while to find the source of the suffering howls and as they did, Billa covered her mouth in shock.

Chained to the rock sat a female dwarf, hardly recognisable below a layer of dust, filth and sweat. She crawled back as Billa and Fili appeared and covered her face. She lamented and cried, but Billa could not understand her. Fili frowned at the dwarf and covered his nose.

'What is that smell? Its awful!' Fili looked down at the chained dwarf in a mixture of disgust and disbelief. But Billa knelt down beside the dwarf.

'Prince Fili, I need you to translate.' Billa told Fili determinately. 'We'll see this as a testing of your Westron.'

'Master Balin, this is not right!' Billa was furious and paced in front of the old advisor. 'In your culture a dwarf servant has the right to buy him or herself free. This servant has given her mistress the amount of coins that would buy her her freedom and her mistress took it! And then she chained her up for her ingratitude!'

'Please, mistress Baggins, these things are none of your concern.' Balin sighed and tried to calm Billa down. 'Don't interfere in things you do not understand.'

'You are right, I do not understand!' Billa exclaimed. 'This mistress has taken the money and she did nothing! She stole it from her servant! I do not live here for long, but I know that dwarves see theft as a crime punishible by death in the worst case! This noble dwarf has commited a crime!'

But Balin only shook his head and stayed deaf to Billas outrage. Tired and disappointed Billa returned to her class. Fili already awaited her. The young prince was also tired from last nights happenings and seemed thoughtful.

'Mistress Baggins?' he adressed Billa quietly. 'Why are some born high and some born low?'

'That is an excellent question, prince Fili.' Billa sighed. 'But maybe you should ask your father.'

'You are the teacher, not my father. I ask you.' Fili stated stubbornly.

Billa looked at the young dwarf in amusement. She turned around and reached for one of her books and gave it to Fili.

'Uncle Bombadils Cabin.' Fili read out loud. 'By Arwen of Rivendell. An elf woman?'

Billa chuckled at Filis shocked expression. 'Read it. It will open your eyes. And you should know by now that females of all races are not to be underestimated.'

As if on clue Dis appeared behind Fili. 'Good morning, mistress Baggins. I see that my son has developped an interest in books? You need to tell me your secret?'

Billa warmly smiled at Dis and thought that there was more to the dwarf lady than met the eye. She was the first lady of Erebor and she supported Thorin in her own way. Maybe there was no love between them, but respect and friendship created a strong bond between the king and Filis mother. Filis returned to his book and left the two women alone.

'This is a beautiful ring you have there.' Dis suddenly remarked and pointed at Billas golden necklace with the ring of her mother.

'My mother found the ring during her travels through the Misty Mountains.' Billa remembered. 'She was quite the adventurer. Sometimes I wish I was more like her.'

'But you are!' Dis smiled. 'You are far away from home, in a land foreign to you and the rest of Middle Earth. A very unexpected journey one might say. You are a brave soul, Billa Baggins. Your mother would be proud of you.'

Billa felt a warm tingle in her heart from lady Dis words and let out a happy sigh. 'Thank you, lady Dis. Your words mean alot to me.'

Dis only took Billas hand and squeezed it. 'You have no idea how much hope you give us, Billa Baggins. King Thorins family sets all their hope in you. Your tutoring will set a new course in the politics of the dwarves. We have hidden in the shadows for too long and our secretive and introverted way of life has weakened us. The dwarves are a strong folk and it is time that we take our place in Middle Earth.'

Billa swallowed heavily as Dis bowed her head and left to help the other wives with their daily duties. The dwarves hope in her was flattering, but it was also a burden. A burden she had not wished to take. Billa subconsiously played with her ring and suddenly she knew what she would do. Her mothers ring was the only posession of worth she had left and to be honest she had never liked the golden ring. Her mother had forbidden her to ever put it on, but Billa - curious as ever - had done it anyway and had managed to disappear in the middle of the Yule feast in Hobbiton. Thank Eru, most hobbits had been too drunk to realise that Billa had a magical ring. Afterwards Billa had never put it on again and tried to ignore the whispers coming from the ring. She would not miss it.

'Mistress Baggins!' Balin rushed into Billas classroom two days later, as she had just ended her lessons. 'The king asks for your presence at once! Have I not told you to keep your nose out of that servants business?'

Billa could not help but smirk at the scolding advisor. 'You did, but I chose to ignore it.'

'The kings loyalty towards the nobles families as well as their loyalty to him shall not be compromised.' Balin muttered and turned to lead her to the throne room, where the dwarf mistress kneeled on the floor before the throne. As Billa entered she heard a sneer from the dwarf and a wave of khuzdul was thrown at her. King Thorin sat on his throne, highly amused.

'Mistress Baggins, this noble dwarven lady accuses you of stealing her property. You gave her your mothers ring, a noble prize for a servant, but you gave her the payment after you removed the servant from her chains?' Thorin cocked an eyebrow at Billa. 'Have I gotten myself a burglar instead of a teacher?'

'King Thorin, if I may explain.' Billa bowed her head, but kept a straight composure as always. 'This servant has already tried to buy her freedom from her mistress once, like your laws allow her to. But the mistress dwarf took the money and chained her up near the mines. If I would have given her my ring in beforehand, she might have took it without setting free the servant. No dwarf should be above the law. Your majesty wants to build a kingdom greater than himself and thats why I came here.'

Billa could see that her words made an impression on Thorin, but before he could speak the dwarf lady sneered at Billa in broken Westron.

'You dare to stand before the lord of the silver fountains!' she looked at Billa in disgust and spit to the ground. Billa frowned at the dwarf lady and Thorin smirked at her defiant expression.

'Master Balin, would you please inform the lady about our laws?' he ordered and had to supress a grin as Balin told the dwarf lady that according to Ereborian law every servant had the right to buy his or her freedom.

'But if all of my servants would buy themselves free...' the dwarf lady was stunned. 'Then I would have to serve myself in the end?!'

'That would be most unfortunate.' Thorin stated, but his eyes were hard and the dwarf lady understood that there was nothing to discuss. Clenching her teeth, the dwarf lady bowed deeply and rushed out of the throne room. But before she left she took Billas ring and tossed it over the edges into the deep of Erebors mines with a nasty smirk. She would not take a hobbit charity. Thorin looked at the hobbit while her gaze followed her mothers ring down the deeps of the mountains and the clinging of the metal on stone faded. He could see her wincing as the ring disappeared, but she stayed calm. He felt sorry for her loss, for he knew that the ring had been her mothers, but this was what she got for intervening in the nobles business. Since there was no businees to attend in the throne room anymore, Thorin stood up and walked to the door, followed by an unusually silent Billa.

'How are the classes going, mistress Baggins?' he wanted to know. 'Is my son behaving?'

'He is doing very well, your majesty.' Billa stated. 'I wanted to thank you for sending me supper, back then. But it had not been necessary.'

Thorin looked at the hobbit in surprise. 'I know my son, you would still sit there.'

'But what lesson has he learned? To respect his classmates? Or to fear his father?' Billa told Thorin quietly and winced as Thorins handsome face grimaced into a frown. But the king quickly regained control over his features.

'Since I have heard no further complains about either my son or yours, I suspect that the matter is settled.' Thorin sighed and looked at Billa. The hobbit was a stubborn one. 'Your husband must have been very understanding.' he said all of a sudden and regretted his words as soon as he saw Billas face.

His words were not meant in a mean way, but Billas heart ached at the memory of her husband. 'My husband never felt threatened by my opinion.' she merely answered and looked at her feet.

'And because I am not threatened by you or your opinion either, I will allow you to stand in my presence.' Thorin told Billa and smiled. It was the first time that Billa saw the king smile at her and she tried not to look too surprised. She had been accepted on eyelevel with the dwarves by their king himself. Not only on eyelevel with the dwarves, but on eyelevel with their king.

'You still miss him. How long as he been dead?' apparently Thorin was not ready to let the topic of Billas husband go.

'He died nearly two years ago.' Billa said sadly.

'How?' Thorin knew that it was an insensitive thing to ask, but he could not help himself.

'In my arms.' was all that Billa said.

'Mahal must have had his reasons to take him from you.' Thorin stated quietly. 'Reasons we do not understand. All I understand is that if it had not been for your tragic loss, the unique opportunity of influencing the faith of the northern lands might have fallen to somebody else.'

Billa looked at the kings now soft eyes in surprise. His words had something comforting and for the first time since her husbands death Billa felt warm and safe around another person. It just struck her that this person was the king of Erebor, the lord of the silver fountains and the lord of the arkenstone. It scared her. Billa looked back at the throne and her eyes locked on the arkenstone.

'It is the heirlom of my house.' Thorin told her as he followed her gaze. 'The heart of the mountain.'

'You removed the mountains heart?' Billa asked timidly. 'Maybe all the gold is the mountains blood?'

Thorin tilted his head to look at the smaller hobbit. 'I never thought of it that way. To us, the arkenstone defends our right to rule, my right to rule. Because of that stone my house stands strong.'

Billa could not understand how a mere jewel could represent so much, but she accepted it without asking. 'The arkenstone is on Erebors flag, is it not?'

Thorin nodded. 'The flags color is a royal deep blue, which is the color of the house of Durin, my house. The throne and the arkenstone on the flag symbolize Durins right to rule.'

'What if the jewel will be lost one day? Or stolen?' Billa asked.

At that, Thorins face darkened. 'Lets hope that this will never happen, to the sake of all.'