Chapter 17

Var's glare was hot enough to burn a hole through my head. Her hands were gripping her hips as if she was trying to keep them from leaping up and wrapping themselves around my neck.

"You and I are going to have a little talk," she growled.

I nodded.

She probably hadn't even noticed the interested looks we were getting from the other dwarves gathered in Thorin's Hall—at least, from the dwarves who weren't watching Thorin's sister Dis.

"Fili! Kili!" barked Lady Dis. They approached their mother warily, looking both defiant and ashamed. Then Dis shifted her furious gaze to her brother, and her voice dropped to a deep snarl. "Thorin."

Thorin Oakenshield, proud and stubborn King in exile, crossed his arms and glowered at his sister. But when Dis grabbed her sons by their ears and marched out of the Hall, he followed.

As they left, Lady Ran commented to nobody in particular, "I just thought the ladies might like to know." I could hear the smirk in her voice.

Var shot her an irritated glance, then turned to leave.

Naturally, I followed her. There was going to be no way to get around this. We would just have to have it out. The other dwarves looked alarmed, so I gave them a nod and a reassuring wave. Gloin, a married man, nodded back.

I followed Var out into the corridor. "I tried to tell you, but you never gave me a chance to explain."

"Not here," she said out of the corner of her mouth, and kept walking. I followed her through the Great Hall of the settlement to one of the more elegant inns, The Mithril Mattock.

The room she took me to was draped with dresses in shades of crimson, Var's favorite color. Her traveling pack stood in a corner. There was no sign of my gear anywhere.

I frowned. "Is this our room?"

"It's my room," she answered shortly. Her emphasis on the word "my" spoke volumes. Clearly, I wasn't staying here.

Anger exploded in my brain. I took a step closer and jabbed my finger at her. "I would have told you about the quest when we were at Poldor's, but you didn't want to hear it. I tried to tell you when we were on the road, but you put your hand over my mouth! Mahal furku, if you wanted to know what I was going to be doing next, all you had to do was ask!"

She stomped her foot and threw her arms wide. "What am I supposed to ask, whether you've agreed to go on any suicide missions lately? Hello, darling, sign up for any doomed quests today? How dare you think about doing something like this without consulting me!"

She snatched up a bronze metal vase filled with tiny flowers made out of colored onyx and dashed it against the floor. Mahal, that was going to cost a pretty coin or two.

"What did you think?" I roared. "Did you think that from now on, I'd spend my life walking three paces behind you every time you went shopping or took a meeting?"

"I didn't expect you to leave me now." She collapsed, sitting on the bed with her head in her hands. Sobs racked her body.

I'd known this moment would come, and I'd known it would be bad. It was bad. Guilt twisted like a knife in my gut.

I knelt down beside her. Softly, gently as I could, I said, "I don't want to leave, but I have to. I promised Thorin to share in this quest even before you and I were together in Bree. I know what I'm doing. I've gone on these types of missions all my life. This is what I'm good at. This is what I do."

She looked up at me, still furious, her eyes red with tears. "But you're not just you anymore. We are a couple now. And this isn't what WE do."

That knocked the breath out of my lungs. I sat back on my heels and stared at her. We—this was a new idea. Not myself anymore, but part of something else, some different arrangement…how had this snuck into my life without me knowing it? What was going on? I got to my feet and paced around the room.

Finally I stopped. Looked at her. "What do we do?"

She shook her head helplessly. She didn't know either—or else she didn't want to say what she really wanted. She probably thought I would hang around and take orders, like most dwarven husbands seemed to do. Mahal knew, I would never be able to do that. It would kill me quicker than any hopeless quest.

I just needed some time to reason with her. Some nights alone together, where we weren't so pressured by all these stupid rules and expectations, some time for just the two of us…and I could convince her to see things my way.

Time. I only had a week.

I sighed and looked around at the room. "So where did you leave my stuff?"

"Back in Nott's bachelor quarters," Var said, wiping her eyes and adopting a more businesslike tone of voice. "But that's not about this—quest thing. That's part of the deal I made with Nott. Technically, you and I are not married according to the dwarves of Ered Luin until an appropriate ceremony can be held, and until then Nott insisted that you remain in her household."

I stared at her in mounting indignation. "That's ridiculous."

She nodded. "But it will only be for a month. Then we can—"

"A month?" I asked, incredulous. "For the love of Mahal, what the hell do you need that much time for? The Company is leaving in a week's time for Erebor."

She jumped to her feet. "You can't be serious! You're not still going on that insane quest!"

I growled and stomped to the door.

"Come back here! Where are you going?" Var shouted after me.

"To see Aunt Nott and get this mess straightened out right now."

I stormed all the way through the Great Hall to the Goldsmith's Guildhall. As I entered the building, Nori and his two brothers appeared.

"Going to see Lady Nott?" Nori asked.

I nodded and kept walking.

"Thorin says we're staying in her household."

I glanced at the three brothers Ri. "Come on."

We all went up to Aunt Nott's offices. I knocked and entered without waiting, and nearly walked into the business ends of a pair of newly sharpened halberds.

"Mahal damn you, Dwalin, where are your manners?" barked Aunt Nott. She was sitting in her usual chair behind her enormous desk, and beside her stood my cousin Oin the physician. He held her wrist between three fingers. Aunt Nott waved her free hand at the guards. "Oh, just let him in, I needed to talk to him anyway. And who are these fellows with you?"

The pair of armed dwarves guarding the doorway drew back their weapons, scowling in disappointment. I looked from one to the other, surprised. I'd never seen these two before. Then I realized that Aunt Nott had company.

Two more armed guards flanked either side of the large divan that Aunt Nott had set against one wall of the office. Sitting—no, reclining—on this divan was a vision of female splendor. From her flaming ginger curls to her jeweled heels, this dwarf woman was decked in so much gold that she probably clanked when she walked. Chains of gold were threaded through her hair, gold beads hung from her delicate beard, a thick collar of gold circled her neck from jaw to collarbone, bracelets wound up her arms, and brooches and baubles were pinned to her gold-embroidered dress. She even wore golden ankle bracelets.

It took me a moment to notice the woman under the mountain of jewelry, but she was worth looking at all on her own: emerald eyes, creamy skin, rich red lips, and very full white breasts showcased between the gold collar and her low-cut bodice. She grinned at me, her eyes narrowing with evident amusement.

I looked quickly at my aunt. "Sorry. Didn't know you had a visitor."

"I would have mentioned it, you young idiot, if you hadn't come barging in here like a goblin on a rampage," Aunt Nott said. "In case you've forgotten, it's customary to wait until you're invited into someone's office."

Oin had apparently finished his medical examination, and was packing up his black bag, ignoring us all as he scribbled something on a piece of paper. He handed the paper to Nandi, hovering attentively in the background.

The gold-encrusted dwarf woman on the divan watched as Oin muttered some instructions to the butler. Her voice was sweet and dark as she spoke to my aunt. "Come visit one of my men sometime, Nott. I'm sure I could find someone who could get your old heart going."

Aunt Nott's butler Nandi stared at the woman reproachfully. I wondered, not for the first time, if there was something going on between him and Aunt Nott.

Oin closed his black physician's bag and muttered, "Oh, I wouldn't say that."

Aunt Nott looked up at the physician. "Wouldn't say what, Oin?"

Oin flushed a dull red. "Gloin's not an old fart. He's fairly young."

"No, Oin, never mind," Aunt Nott said loudly. She glared at Nandi and made a shooing motion with her hand. "And I'm not going anywhere, so don't look at me like that. See Oin out, would you?"

The golden one laughed. Raising her voice, she added, "You'd be welcome anytime, Oin. Stop in and let us take your temperature."

Ignoring her, Nandi ushered Oin to the door, both of them bowing and murmuring to one another as they exited. I had just turned back to Aunt Nott when I heard steel clashing against steel. At the door, Nori was facing the crossed halberds of the guards.

"Where are you going?" I demanded.

"Forgot something," Nori said, trying to duck around the guards. "See you later."

The woman on the divan spoke again. "Oh, dear. Another one leaving so soon? We can't have that. Let's see who this shy fellow is."

The two guards grabbed Nori and hauled him forward.

The woman leaned forward. She did clank when she moved. "Ah…Nofur, isn't it? What a pleasant surprise to see you again."

Beside me, Ori said, "But…"

"Shhh!" Dori grabbed his brother's arm.

Nori gave her a carefree grin, no mean feat when you're being held up by your armpits by two burly guards. "Yes, Madame. Nofur at your service. Nice to see you."

Aunt Nott leaned back in her chair and tapped one finger against her lips. "So, Virtue. You know this dwarf? That's more than I can say. I hardly know who my nephew has taken up with these days."

The woman's eyebrows rose as she gave me a lingering once-over. "The big one?"

Aunt Nott waved her hand and said, "Madame Virtue, may I present my uncouth nephew Dwalin."

Uncouth? That was harsh. I bowed to the oddly-named Madame Virtue. "At your service, Madame. And, Aunt Nott, may I present my companions, Dori, Ori, and uh,"

"Nofur," Nori filled in quickly.

"Right. Nofur. Well, Aunt, since you're busy, we'll be happy to wait—"

"No, no, don't leave on my account," said Madame Virtue. She smiled at Nori, showing all her teeth like a hungry gold lioness about to take a big bite of tasty dwarf. "I've heard good things about your friend Nofur here."

Nori's answering smile looked a little strained, so I intervened. "He's not staying. He's going on the Quest to take back Erebor. Thorin Oakenshield is leading us, and the wizard Gandalf is helping out."

She ignored me, and patted the divan. "Come sit beside me, Nofur. Make yourself comfortable."

Nori slid onto the upholstery next to her. She stroked his peaked and braided hair, and tugged lightly at his beard. I hoped he wasn't thinking of lifting any of the lady's golden ornaments—she probably wouldn't have liked that.

Aunt Nott turned her attention back to me. "Well, what is it you want, boy?"

"These three need someplace to stay until we go on the Quest," I said, pointing to them. "Can they stay with you?"

She nodded. "Stay with us, you mean. You're staying here too."

"No, that's the thing. I need to stay with Var. What is this month-long betrothal business?"

"Well, well," said Madame Virtue again. "So this was what it was all about. Nott, dear, did Lady Ran talk you into insisting on the full month?"

"Mahal damn it," my aunt swore. "Look, the standard betrothal period is a month, Dwalin. And, funnily enough, it's considered bad form for the groom to disappear before the ceremony."

I paced up and down, exasperated. "Who made that up? Var and I have been together longer than that. Can't I get time off for good behavior, and get married tomorrow? We're leaving in a week."

Smiling, Madame Virtue got to her feet, her gold jingling musically as she did, and took a little walk around me. She was fairly short and very curvaceous. Her hand trailed delicately across one of my arms, then over my chest and the other arm, and then across my back as she circled me. "The point is, dear boy, that someone is definitely trying to separate you from your beloved. And I think it's our little Ran."

Aunt Nott shook her head. "I can't believe Ran would do that."

"Well, what do I do now?"

Madame Virtue answered me. "You'd better convince Var to marry you quickly, so that you can go on your suicide—that is, your Quest—as a married man. And stay away from Ran."

"I've known Ran for years," Aunt Nott said. "She's a bore and rigid as a slab of granite, but she's never been underhanded before."

Madame Virtue shrugged, still looking me over as she addressed my aunt. "Maybe you just didn't stand between her and anything she really wanted before. But have it your way. Now, if we're done here, why doesn't Nofur come spend a little time with me?"

Nori jumped to his feet. "Quest."

"Don't worry, dear boy, I simply had a couple of little errands in mind for you. You wouldn't object to earning a little gold before you left on your noble quest?"

The thief's eyebrows lifted inquiringly.

Rising to her feet, Madame Virtue grinned at him and took his arm. "Well. I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. See you in a week, boys. Until later, Nott."

She swept out of the room on Nori's arm, followed by her bodyguard. I hoped Nori knew what he was doing. But then again, the spectacular Madame Virtue hadn't given him any choice. His brothers looked unhappy.

Ori burst out, "Who was that horrible woman?"

"Madame Virtue? She's a wealthy businesswoman," replied Aunt Nott. "Very wealthy. She owns a string of taverns and gambling-halls and, uh, other establishments. Now she wants to diversify her portfolio—expand into mining interests, possibly transportation services. That sort of thing. She came to me for advice."

"She's a criminal," Dori declared.

Aunt Nott sighed. "Well, never mind. If she said she'd bring your friend back, she will. She's reliable, I'll give her that—she's got a reputation for always doing what she says she'll do."

It seemed to me that it was time to get back to my problem. "But what about Var and me? Why can't we get married now?"

"Don't ask me. I'm not the marriage expert," Aunt Nott said. "I relied on Ran's advice, and if you don't want to ask her, you'll need to find someone else who can help you."

I groaned in frustration. "Who?"

"Try Fulla. She's good at these sorts of things." Aunt Nott scribbled some directions on a piece of paper and handed it to me. "She's married to Oin's brother, Gloin."