The Letter

To the Lady Dís,

Daughter of Thráin, Son of Thrór, Princess of the Line of Durin.

From Dáin Ironfoot,

Son of Náin, Son of Grór, King Under The Mountain.

Dís looked at the front of the envelope again. Unless she was much mistaken the handwriting was that of her brother but the return address was Dáin, King Under the Mountain. She hastily opened the letter and no, she was not mistaken, for within the first line was what her brothers, Thorin and Frerin, called her when trying to placate her temper.

Dearest Dís,

This is written buy my own hand and you should know my hand, sweet raven Dís.

Dáin, is King Under the Mountain and has declared Thorin Oakenshield, Fíli the Aurum Lion and Kíli the Fox Nero to have fallen in Battle at the Gates of Erebor.

You must abide by this, sweet raven, I beg of you. Declare the Halls of the Blue Hills in mourning. Your sons and brother are dead.

On a lighter note, the two crickets from 'The Uncle's Forge' are with me still. Their injuries are severe but they will recover well. I have taken the action I have due to one thing. While dwarrows would accept me to my seat, but they would in no way accept my One to sit beside me and I could not bear to sit there without him. I offered that same seat to the first of the crickets but he stated that as his brother's One would not be accepted either, he would not accept the seat. In his own words. "If our people will not accept the One's of our family neither then they will accept me, as I support the One's of my kin." Typical of him, isn't it?

The three of us are currently residing in the Healing Halls of the Woodland King, I and my kin are welcome guests of elves, sweet Dis. Elves! We will leave here later today to travel to the House of Beorn, a shape-shifter of our acquaintance, his place is east of the Misty Mountains but still west of Mirkwood not that distant form the Old Forest Road. We are expected by him to stay for a few weeks, to aid our recovery and it is there we will be met by the remains of our travelling party, I know not how they will take our condition but am assured by my old friend and his brother that they will be pleased. From there I plan to travel west past Bree, to where my One calls home. Both crickets and the younger cricket's One insist on coming with me and are planning our journey as I write. She is strong willed and will keep him line, you will like her. I find I do.

Mourn your brother and sons, sweet raven, but do not mourn me or the crickets. This raven will be travelling with us and will return to me with you thoughts.

I am and always will be

Your Thundercloud.

Dís took a deep breathe before raising her head to meet the eyes of the guards.

"The Halls are to be Mourning Cloaked. Thorin Oakenshield, Fíli my Aurum Lion and my Fox Nero Kíli are dead in Battle before the Gates of Erebor." She turned and headed for her office, before stopping and turning again to the messenger. "Bring the raven to me. The one who bore this letter. No other."

In her office Dís sank into her chair and leant forward resting her head in her hands. To the observer she looked a dwarrowdam grieving her sons and brother, but in truth all she felt was relief. Relief that they were alive.

Hours later in her own rooms Dís read the letter again. Thorin had crammed a lot of information onto one piece of parchment and as she re-read it more things became clear while at the same time questions were raised.

1 Thorin, Fíli and Kíli were alive (thundercloud = Thorin, the crickets are Fíli and Kíli)

2 They had serious injuries that were healing.

3 They were in the hall of the elf-king.

4 Thorin and Fíli were abdicating.

5 Thorin and Kíli had found their Ones.

6 They were well enough to travel a short(-ish) distance but not enough to cross the Misty Mountains yet.

7 There was somewhere that Thorin felt safe enough to spend the weeks of his recovery.

8 The Company had no idea the three were alive.

9 Thorin's One was a male.

10 If Thorin's One lived west of Bree then they were a likely to be a hobbit as there were few Men there and no dwarrows from the Blue Mountains had left yet for Erebor. Perhaps it was the hobbit from the Company.

11 Thorin's One may not know of his current condition or even if he's alive.

12 Kíli's One was female.

13 Kíli's One would not be a dwarrow or Fíli would not say they would not be accepted by other dwarrows, possibly a woman from Lake Town, but as they are in the Elven Healing Halls, the One is just as likely to be an elf. Only Kíli would have and elf for his One.

14 Is she a runaway or does she have permission from her family to travel with the Company?

15 Thorin and Fíli have accepted Kíli's One just as Fíli and Kíli have accepted Thorin's One.

16 Kíli, his One and Fíli are already plotting. May Mahal help us all.

17 The three of them planned to travel west to the shire, so she will be able to travel to see them eventually. Maybe for the weddings.

18 Where do they stand as far as the Courting Formalities?

19 Dain, Dwalin and Balin know all of this.

Now all she had to do was reply and wait. Wait to hear what was going to happen next.

To The Dwarroven Thundercloud

The House of Beorn

From Dís,

Daughter of Thráin, Son of Thrór, Princess of the Line of Durin.

Oh My Dearest Thundercloud, how I miss you and those crickets. To know they will chirp again gives me such joy, considering how you almost got them killed, you blundering idiot! I assure you that their mother is overjoyed at the news.

The Halls are Mourning Cloaked and its blasted boring here as a result. The latest gossip floating about is that Dís, sister to the fallen Thorin Oakenshield has a secret admirer who writes her sweet letters.

Don't laugh when I tell you that the only letter I have received in the last week is yours. I have to bite the inside of my cheek every time I hear the simpering giggle of the young dwarrowdams.

Give those crickets a smack upside the head for frightening their mother by nearing dying, they know better than that. As for you. You can expect their mother's wrath when you next see her.

Tell me more about these Ones. Yours is a Hobbit? Do you plan to tell him of your condition? How will he react do you think? What of that cricket's One? You say that she will not be accepted by dwarrows. What of her people, will they accept the cricket? Will she be permitted to travel with your party? Have Courting Formalities started? Has that cricket at least requested permission to Court her? Please tell me he has.

I must stop now or I will be writing all night and if I do that poor bird won't be able to carry my reply. And for Mahal's sake tell those crickets that I expect them to write to their mother !

I wait your next writing with baited breathe.

Dís

Thorin laughed and tossed the parchment to Tauriel as she walked passed and said, "Give that to the lads, would you, Tauriel? Oh, and be prepared for the groaning."

"Of course, Thorin. Beorn tells me that the wagons carrying the rest of your Company have been spotted, they should be here in about 2 hours. Have you thought any further on how you plan to greet them?"

"Dwalin and Balin believe that the best option is to be where they can see us well before they reach the House. Kíli thinks we should hide around the corner of the building and Fíli wants to wait until they've eaten and are starting to drink."

Tauriel laughed and replied, "They would. The Lion wants to stalk and the fox wants to play. Dwalin and Balin are very practical, but you haven't said what you want to do."

"I have no idea, Tauriel. I personally like Kíli's idea, but that's not fair to the Company. So, I have told the lads that we will wait outside the gates for the wagons. We'll keep an eye out and when we spot them we'll head out front to wait where they can see us clearly. Also that gives the lads and I plenty of space if we need to run away from anyone."

Tauriel continued to laugh as she headed for the verandah where her One and his brother sat in the early afternoon sun, playing with Beorn's chess set.

Thorin sat up and looked to the south, soon the remaining dwarrows of his Company would arrive. How will they react to find their fallen King and Princes' not dead?