Princess Milly Stood at Erebor's main entrance, which over looked Long Lake and gave a wonderful view of the distant mountains. It was a beautiful place to be at sunset, watching the land change colors with the setting sun. A hot breeze blew, but far off in the distance, Milly could see lightning.

A gentle hand took her by the waist and she was pulled back into the loving embrace of her husband. She leaned back against his shoulder.

"Beautiful tonight, Isn't it?" she spoke quietly.

"You are beautiful day and night," Graig whispered back and placed a kiss alongside her neck.

It tickled and she squirmed in his arms. "Silly, I was talking about the landscape."

"It is beautiful because you are standing in front of my view of the landscape," he kissed her again.

"What am I going to do with you?" she teasingly asked.

"Kiss me?"

Milly turned around in his arms until she was facing him. He stood only slightly taller than her and all she had to do was lift her face to his to give him a loving kiss. It was many long minutes of kissing before she pulled away. They kept their arms wrapped around each other, chest pressed to chest. They both looked out over the view before them. The sun had set and the world was bathed in a purple twilight. Still far off in the distance, they could see lightning.

"I know the heat can make lightning," Milly sighed, "but I like to think there's rain in those clouds. Goodness knows we need it."

"Yes. But, even if those do have rain, it's too far away. By the time the clouds made it this far, they will have dumped all their water," Graig said.

"I know," Milly sighed, pressing herself closer to her husband. "Come on, let's go home."

They walked hand in hand back to their apartment. The mountain was as busy as ever. Because the light and temperature never changed inside the mountain, half of the jobs in Erebor were in the night hours. The mountain never slept.

Milly and Graig lived in the very same home that Milly had lived in with her father when they first arrived in Erebor. Milly had no memory of that time as they moved out when she was less than two years of age, but she loved the idea that for a little while, it had been just her and her Adad.

She made two cups of tea and set them on the sitting room table. She sat in her chair with a sigh and then sipped at her tea. Graig opened up the wardrobe and pulled out his project. He was a luthier by trade; a maker and repairer of musical instruments, specializing in stringed instruments. He had been contracted to make a viol for a courting couple. The dwarrowdam wanted to give her intended the viol as a wedding gift.

Milly opened her sewing basket and pulled out her current project - a finely embroidered tunic for Graig to wear on special occasions and events. During her sixth decade, after her mother had died, Milly often went to the seamstress shop and learned how to sew. Her mother had taught her, but she only knew human clothes and Milly wanted to learn to sew dwarven fashions. She had become very good and had created most of the clothes she wore as well as a few things for her husband and father. She was considering starting baby clothes when she was done with Graig's tunic. She was not yet with child, but if she started sewing now, she could have plenty of clothes ready for when she did have a child.

"You've been very quiet these last few days," Graig said. "Is anything wrong?"

"No. Not really," Milly sank back into her chair. "My days have been going well and my nights are better," she winked at her husband. He gave her a big grin in return. "I think Adad's stress about the winter food stores is rubbing off on me. I'm worried about it, too."

"It could be a very difficult winter," Graig agreed. "But what can be done?"

"My Adad's very smart," Milly smiled. "We are not as terribly bad off as one might think. See, when I was very young, we had a mountain quake that displaced us from Erebor for about a week. I hardly remember that, although I still get nightmares." Her voice trailed off and for a moment, she thought about those nightmares and the rumbling mountain and not being able to find her family. She shook the thoughts from her head. "Anyway, while we were homeless for that week, food was scarce because we could not get into the mountain to get any. Adad was in charge of the recovery and he later had great amounts of food and grain stored near the main entrance in case there were any future emergencies."

"Really? I had no idea. But, wouldn't the food be bad by now?" Graig asked.

"Of course not. The same food has not been in storage for the last seventy years," she laughed. "No, Adad has it rotated every other year. I know he wouldn't want to dip into that store of food, but it is there for emergencies and by the end of winter, we might be at such an emergency."

"How did I get so lucky as to marry the beautiful daughter of such a wise King?" Graig smiled.

"You were the only unmarried Lord that I was happy with," Milly teased.

When the subject of marriage had first come up as soon as Milly reached adulthood, she wasn't terribly thrilled. Dwarven custom required her, the princess, to marry a dwarrow of rank and nobility. Her father, though, had been much kinder, telling her to marry for love. But then, with a smile, he did add in, the higher rank of the one she loved, the better.

As Milly had started to be introduced to dwarven Lords from all seven of the clans, her hopes of finding love among anyone of rank, dwindled exceedingly. But then, she met Graig, a Lord from the Blue Mountains, her father's birthplace. Graig was very handsome with his tick brown hair, long beard and eyes the color of emeralds. She had been delighted to find his personality to be very favorable. He was not egotistical in anyway. He was soft spoken, kind, and a talented musician.

Milly fell in love. Graig's rank pleased the rules of dwarven custom and Graig himself, pleased her and her family. It had not taken them long to start courting and then married. The last six months, since their wedding had been very, very happy ones for Milly.

Graig smiled coyly at her and went back to his project. Milly resumed her sewing.

"Have you heard from your brother?" Graig asked.

"He wrote Adad. Seems they were travelling safely to Rohan," Milly answered.

"And when is your next diplomatic dinner?" he asked in a pompous tone.

"Next week," Milly laughed. "Visitors from the Iron Hills."

"I don't have to go, do I?" Graig almost whined.

"Yes you do and I will be sitting you next to Old Lord Vic. He is 251 years old, can barely hear, shouts everything he says and loves to talk non-stop about his former glorious days as the council head of all laundry facilities in the Iron Hills.," Milly smiled.

Graig groaned. "What can I do to secure myself a better seat at the table? Next to you, perhaps?"

Milly put her sewing down. She stood up and walked to her husband, took the viol from his hands and placed it gently on the table. Then she sat in his lap and put her arms around his neck.

"Oh, I don't know, but I'm sure I can think of something you can do to get on my good side." She leaned forward to give him a deep kiss.

When they separated, Graig grinned. "Anything for you, dear one."

Lovely readers, I will be out of town for the next couple of days and will not be posting more chapters until Monday. I usually like to have my stories completely written before I start to publish them, but this one, I'm still writing, although I'm much further down the line in the story. It's turning out to be quite epic in it length. I'm very excited for it and I hope you continue to enjoy it. As always, I love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Sometimes the little comments you leave me, help shape the story. Anyway, have a wonderful weekend!