'The Iron Hills have attacked our caravans!' prince Frerin, Thorins younger brother, exclaimed furiously. Balin and his brother Dwalin, the captain of Thorins army, stood there and listened to the princes outburst. 'We are mourning about a dozen dead! The Iron Hills have an alliance with the race of men, which my brother tries to achieve also! But how are we supposed to be allies with men if they support our enemies?'

'What do you suggest, my prince?' Balin asked the young prince. 'Do we have proof that it have been our kin from the Iron Hills?'

'The survivors of the caravan have recognised the armor of the dwarves from the Iron Hills.' Frerin assured and Dwalin nodded. 'The alliance with Dale seems to make them bold. They might think that we are an easy target since we do not have official alliances with the elves and men.'

'We need more proof before we can go to war with the Iron Hills.' Balin warned Frerin. 'A war would distabilise the whole northern region, even the dwarves of the Iron Hills can´t be that reckless. And war is the last thing Thorin wants.'

'He will not have a choice.' Dwalin grumbled. 'What king stands there while his people are murdered?'

Balin sighed heavily. The attack on the caravan was a huge step back in Thorins efforts to pacify the north. But his brother was right, such attacks could not be tolerated.

The life of one of Thorins concubines was one without worry and without peril. Tauriel felt strangely at peace inside of the mountain, but her heart still cried for her love, Kili. As an elf, Tauriel was used to wander under the sun and under the light of the stars. Kili had once told her that the light of the stars was a cold and distant one, but to Tauriel the starlight was memory, precious and pure. She had not seen the sky since she had come to Erebor a week ago and she missed the freedom she had experienced as an elf.

The only one who seemed to understand her was the hobbit. Not even the other concubines, all from the race of men and elves, understood why she cried herself to sleep every night. Billa did not need words, she saw the broken eyes of the elf and smiled at her comfortingly. Tauriel took Billas classes to divert her thoughts from the despair she felt. She did feel better when she was near Billa, but her heartache remained. Tauriel noticed the growing bond between the king and the tutor of his family, but she said nothing. Little did she know that Billa was about to make her life a bit easier.

Billa was summoned before the king about a week after the ring incident. They had not seen each other for a week and Billa wondered what the king wanted from her this time. Had she gone against protocol again? She was even more stunned as she came into the throne room and was ordered by the king to follow him as soon as she had arrived in front of the throne. In a fast pace Billa tried to follow the king and started to get out of breath as they climbed countless staircases for a while. After a while they had reached the end of the staircases and Thorin walked down a narrow corridor guarded by four heavily armed dwarves. My goodness, is he bringing me into the dungeon? Billa was about to panic, but behind the next corner Thorin stopped and turned to smile at Billa. He opened a heavy door and gestured to Billa to pass. With a distrusting look Billa passed the door and froze.

She was standing on a huge ledge, about five time as big as her garden in the Shire. Built into the rock on the mountainside was a door and behind it were several chambers. At the edge of the ledge stood a massive wall, as high as Billas shoulders and Billa felt as if she was standing on a huge balcony. 'Where am I' she asked in wonder and heard the king chuckle. A wonderful sound.

'You are on the southwest side of the mountain, mistress Baggins.' Thorin explained to her with a smirk. 'If you look out there, you can see parts of Dale and in the west you can see Gundabad. A landslide destroyed most of the rooms on this side of the mountain, but we have stabilised the rock and I was thinking that perhaps you would prefer this open wing to your chambers deep inside of the mountain. You can turn this plain into a garden if you like. And there is one other thing. Tauriel, master Baggins!'

Billa jumped as the king called out for his concubine and her son. As she turned around she saw Frodo and Tauriel standing in the door to her new rooms and Frodo ran towards his mother happily.

'The sun! I haven´t seen the sun since...felt like forever!' Frodo exclaimed and jumped into his mothers arms. 'Can we stay here? Please?'

Billa was still stunned and turned to Thorin. 'Is it because you had promised me a house outside of the mountain in the contract you sent me - do not think I forgot, your majesty - or do you want to get rid of me?'

'Yes.' Thorin merely said and left with a wide smile on his face. Little did he know that Billa looked after him with the same bright smile on her face.

Tauriel spent the days with Billa and Frodo in class or in their own wing with access to the sky and fresh air. At night she returned to the royal wing to the other concubines. After a few weeks she felt courageous enough to ask Billa to take a letter out to Dale. The hobbit loved to walk over the markets of Dale and Tauriel hoped that Billa could get a letter to Kili. She told her that it was a letter to her family and Billa innocently took the letter to take it to the market. That way, Tauriel managed to keep in contact to her love and her days were filled with hope and joy when she received a letter back. The hobbit had no idea, but Tauriel did not plan to tell her about Kili. The less the hobbit knew the better.

That evening Billa and Frodo were invited to dinner with the royal family. It went well until Thorin offered Frodo an ale, much to Billas shock.

'Your majesty!' she exclaimed and faced an mused Thorin. 'My sons is eleven years old, he will not drink any ale!'

'I had my fist ale at the age of nine.' Thorin grinned. 'I am sure there is no harm in that. But I will promise you that I will never offer your son ale again, if you will not give books as such - to my son.'

Thorin held "Uncle Bombadils Cabin" between his fingers and gave it back to Billa, who understood his intent. At first she was disappointed that Thorin seemed ignorant to this western influence, but she was was instantly told otherwise.

'I cannot change my kingdom over night, mistress Baggins.' Thorin told her quietly and then turned back to his family, leaving a dreamy hobbit behind.

In the meantime Frerin used his brothers good mood to talk to him about the attacks from the Iron Hills. He was sure that the men from Dale stood behind their allies from the Iron Hills and recommended a preventive attack on Dale. But Thorin declined.

'I will not attack anyone without proof of their hostility. And you will leave the Iron Hills in peace. If we attack the Iron Hills we will have a full scale war on our hands and we will have to fight on two fronts. There are other ways to settle this.' Thorin looked towards Billa as he said this. He already had a plan. 'The men and elves already think of us as barbarians. I am not what they say and neither are our people, Frerin. I will invite the men of Dale and the men of the south. They have become strong and aggressive and I will not let them force us into war with the Iron Hills so that they have an excuse to also declare war on us. Mistress Baggins, would you come here for a moment?'

Billa was surprised that Thorin asked her to join him and his brother, but she smiled openly as she walked over to them. She paled as she heard what she was asked to do.

Thorin had planned the feast with the men to be in three weeks. Billa had no idea where to start, but she knew what to do. Thorin and the dwarves of Erebor would not be the barbarians most of the men expected, they would show themselves from their best side. Which meant, table manners, a civil feast and clothes in a more western style. Billa started by teaching the dwarves how to use a spoon, a fork and a knife, which was not easy for people who were used to use their hands to eat. Especially cutting the meat of the bone was no easy task for some of the dwarves and Billa had to fight rolling her eyes when the food was catapulted of the dish various times. The most difficult task was to keep the servants from dropping to their knees when Thorin arrived, for they let go of their dinner trays and the glasses and dishes shattered on the floor with a loud crash. After the fifth time Billa had enough and nicely told Thorin that it would be impossible to wait on the guests in this manner. Thorin smiled at the hobbits remark and told the servants to stand up. At first none of the servants moved, for they could not understand why their king suddenly needed them to stand in his presence. At last all the servants were standing around the king and his court, although their eyes were still set downwards.

'But only for that night.' Thorin told Billa with a smirk and Billa nodded happily. That was more than she had expected from the protocol loving king.

Billa, Dis and Tauriel worked on the dresses for Thorins wives and concubines day and night. Billa had combined a few western styles with the dwarven style, which made the dresses less pompous, but still royal. She chose dwarven colors, like dark blue, red and green and combined them with golden or mithril highlights.

In the end she was quite happy with herself. For that one evening she had managed to turn the old society of the dwarves into a perfect mixture of their old culture and western highlights, that way the dwarves would stay themselves without turning into a complete western society. Billa liked the dwarven culture, although it was so different ot her own. That was it - it was different, not bad.

Erebor had a rich culture and a proud history, one that could easily match the culture and history of elves and men. Billa remembered the stories she had been told about Thorins grandfather, king Thror who had fallen victim to madness, followed by Thorins father. The thought that Thorin owed his kingdom to dwarves who had been declared insane frightened Billa. But when she looked into king Thorins eyes she could not see any madness. At least not when he was with her. Maybe he would be different.