Brann stood at her fathers grave, gazing down at the fresh pile of earth that marked the lords last cold bed. Her hands were still full of dried blood and her dress was a mess. Looking down at her bloodsoaked clothes Brann remembered that Lindin was still in a critical condition. It was a wonder that he had not died. Brann believed that his love for his family kept him alive and that he desperatly wanted to see them again and clung to his life. The young woman was surprised that dwarves could love so dearly. Somehow she had been under the impression that dwarves were only drawn to riches. But at second thought Brann scolded herself for thinking that way about dwarves. The last days had shown her what grief could do to souls. The dwarves mourned their dead deeply and Brann had seen dead eyes look at the burial fires of the fallen comrades and family members. The worst thing was that the aim of the battle had not been achieved. Moria had not been reclaimed.

The young healer felt lost. She and her mother were all alone now. Her father and brothers were dead and there had nowhere to go. Brann slowly walked back to the medical tent and felt someones eyes on her. As she looked up she saw prince Thorin lean at the back of his tent, watching her. His piercing blue eyes seemed to burn right into her very soul and Brann felt a hot shiver run down her spine. She felt like prey under the eyes of its hunter and quickly lowered her gaze. As she looked up again Thorin was gone.

Brann shook her head, entered the medical tent and headed for Lindins bed. The dwarf looked pale and breathed heavily. He looked at her as she came near. He was not able to talk yet, but his eyes drifted to the jar of water. Brann understood and filled him a cup of water. She sat down at his side and held his head up while he was drinking. Swallowing pained him, but he drank the whole water.

'Its alright, you have to drink.' Brann told him softly. 'Its important for you to not dehydrate.'

Lindin nodded at her and tried to smile. He tried to sit up, but Brann softly pushed him back into the bed. 'Don´t move, master Lindin. You need to rest. I am right here, give me a sign when you need anything.' At the dwarfs nod she walked away and tended to the other injured. She was so concentrated on her work that she had not heard Frerin walk into the tent and she cried out softly as a heavy hand touched her shoulder.

'I am sorry, Brann, I did not mean to scare you.' Frerin held up his hands and saw Brann take a deep breath.

'Its alright, I am just...I didn´t...' Brann suddenly felt extremly tired. Frerin took her hands and sat down in a quiet corner together with her. Shyly she glanced at her bloody hands in his hands. The dwarf prince left her for a second to get a bucket of water and a sponge and started to gently clean her hands from the blood. His touch was comforting and Brann felt at ease for a short moment.

'You should rest.' Frerin told her quietly.

'There is no time to rest. And I am afraid that if I close my eyes I will dream of...my father...the orcs...all that blood.' Brann felt tears burning in her eyes. She was frightened to death and shook violently. Frerin took her in his arms for comfort and Brann calmed down a bit. 'But who am I telling this? You know how awful it feels to lose family. I am sorry, I did not want to trouble you with my pain.'

Frerin took her chin into his hands. 'You do not trouble me, Brann. Talking about it makes it better. You´ll see. We will have plenty of time to talk about this when we return home.'

'We? Return home? I do not understand.' Brann looked at the prince with confusion.

Frerin sighed, he had imagined a more romantic place to ask Brann, but he had to know her answer right now. 'I want to ask you to be my wife and return to the Blue Mountains with me. You will be safe with us, with me. You and your mother will have a good life in the Blue Mountains.'

Brann looked at the young dwarf in shock. She had not seen this coming and the thought of marrying a dwarf added to her troubled mind. 'Prince Frerin...we barely know each other...how can you...why would you want to marry me? Me of all people? I thought dwarves would not chose partners from different races.'

'You have shown your worth in the past days. You and your family have rushed to our aid as we needed you the most and you have paid a heavy price for it.' Frerin started and Brann interrupted him.

'Do you want to marry me out of guilt? Is that it?' she asked, but she was too tired to feel anything. She just wanted to know.

'No.' Frerin stated calmly. 'I want to marry you because I fell in love with you. We may not know each other for very long, but you have captured my heart since the moment we met. You are so brave and so beautiful and I would be honored if you accepted my proposal.'

Brann felt overwhelmed by her feelings. She felt exhausted, excited and shocked all at once. The princes offer sounded like a fairytale in her ears. A dwarf prince who fell in love with a human woman? She had never heard of such a romance before. The young woman could not think straight.

'Please, give me some time to think about it...prince.' she asked him quietly and saw him smile understanding.

'You have all the time you need.' Frerin promised her and placed a soft kiss on the back of her hand. 'Now rest, you need your sleep.' After he tugged her in into one of the beds he left the tent and took a deep breath. She had not said no.

As Thorin came into the medical tent the next morning to visit Lindin he saw Brann sit at the side of his brother in law. She was feeding him a warm soup and Thorin felt relieved that Lindin seemed to be recovering slowly.

'Your appetite is back, thats a good sign. Soon you will be with your wife and sons again.' she smiled warmly at Lindin whose eyes started shining at the mention of his family. 'You miss them very much, do you?'

Lindin nodded and Brann felt a sting in her heart. She missed her family, too. But unlike Lindin she would never see her father and brothers again. Feeling tears burning in her eyes Brann focused on her patient.

'You have to tell me about them when you feel better.' she told Lindin and stood up to wash the bowl and spoon. As she turned around she saw Thorin in the entrance of the tent.

'Your highness, I have not heard you come in. What can I do for you?' she asked him shyly.

'I wanted to visit my brother in law.' Thorin informed her and looked at her closely. 'You will meet Lindins family when you come back with us.'

'I beg your pardon?' Brann frowned at the princes words.

'My brother has offered you marriage. Am I correct?' Thorin asked her firmly.

'Yes, he has. But I have not accepted his offer, yet.' Brann informed Thorin and walked past him. Thorin was taken back at these news.

'How can you decline his offer? It is an high honor to marry a dwarf of the line of Durin!' he exclaimed and followed Brann out of the tent. The young healer frowned at the dwarf prince.

'I may have lost many things the past days, but I still have my own will, prince Thorin. Nobody asked me what I want.' Brann said quietly.

Thorin stopped her by grabbing her arm. His hold on her was firm, but not aggressive. 'Frerin is a good dwarf and many dwarf women would envy you heavily.'

'He is a good dwarf.' Brann agreed.

'But...?' Thorin did not want to let the topic go. Before Brann could answer they were disturbed by Frerin.

'What is going on here?' he asked with wide eyes. All he could see was his brothers grip on Branns arm and he did not like it. Thorin realised that he was still holding Branns arm and pulled back his arm.

'I am sorry. I did not mean to frighten you.' he said gritting his teeth. With a last dark glare at the healer and his brother Thorin left for his tent.

'What was that all about, are you alright?' Frerin asked Brann worriedly. 'Thorin is a kind person, he is just...please don´t blame him for his actions lately. He stands under alot of strain.'

'He did nothing to me. He was just surprised to hear that I had not yet accepted your marriage proposal.' Brann smiled at Frerin reassuringly. 'Your brother loves you and could not understand how anyone could decline such an offer. He thinks very highly of you.'

'You want to decline my offer?' Frerins heart sunk into the ground and his expression changed into pure sadness.

Brann took his hands and looked him in the eye. 'I have not made my decision yet. I am sorry, but it is an important decision and I cannot decide this now.'

The hurt look in his eyes was more than Brann could take at the moment. Gently, she cupped his cheek in her hand and pulled back as he hissed.

'I am sorry, I just...' Brann was lost for words. She did not know what had caused the young prince to react that strongly on her touch.

'You could not know.'Frerin assured her. 'In the dwarven culture touching ones beard is a very intimate gesture.'

Brann nodded in understanding. 'You have to tell me more about your culture, prince Frerin.'

'I will.' Frerin got his hopes up. If she liked what she heard it might fasten her decision. 'Tonight?'

'Tonight.' Brann promised him and smiled as she saw his happy face.

'Tell me about dwarf women. I have never seen any.' Brann asked Frerin as they were sitting at the fireplace in front of the medical tent. It was a cold night, but Brann had cuddled up into a blanket and she enjoyed the quiet and sky clear night.

'We only have very few females. About one third of the dwarves are women.' Frerin told her.

Brann looked at him with big eyes. 'But thats...how do you? I mean...With so little dwarf women how can your culture...grow?' She realised all of a sudden how hard the high amount of dead in the battle of Moria must have hit the dwarves.

'The dwarven race is indeed diminishing.' Frerin told her sadly.

'But how come that anyone has ever seen your females?' Brann was curious. 'Some people even say that dwarves have no women and are made out of stone. But thats ridiculous.'

Frerin chuckled. 'Some dwarves seem to be made of stone. But there is a reason why only few have ever seen dwarf women before. We dwarves protect the few women we have from others and they mostly stay inside of our mountains. They only travel outside the mountain in great need, last after the dragon took our home, Erebor.'

'I am so sorry for your loss.' Brann told him, but could not help but muse about the dwarf women. Frerin saw the curiosity shine in her eyes and chuckled lightly.

'Many who have seen dwarf women have mistaken them for dwarf men. Our women tend to wear mens clothes when they are outside and they have beards like us. And deep voices.'

'They have beards? Thats...interesting.' Brann could not imagine how a woman with a beard would look like. She could not imagine such a woman to be the slightest attractive. 'So all the women in your culture must be married right?' Brann figured that with so little choice the dwarf men would not care about attractive or not.

'Well...thats another reason for the increase of dwarven population. Some dwarf women have never married because they desire not to or simply never fell in love with another dwarf and did not want to marry out of love. Many dwarf men desire to spend their time with crafts instead of women.' Frerin explained to Brann who looked at him with an astonished look on her face. That was alot of information.

'You are telling me that dwarf men rather craft things than be with their women?' Brann was shocked. 'Are your women that awful?' She bit her lip, but Frerin laughed out loud.

'Some are.' Frerin grinned. His laughter had attracted his brothers attention and Thorin watched his brother and the young healer closely. She did look beautiful in the light of the fire. The flames reflected in her soft brown eyes as she looked at Frerin. Thorin could see affection in her eyes, but no love. Frerin loved the woman, but she did not love him. Suddenly Thorin admired Branns decision to not accept his brothers marriage proposal right away. It would have been easy for her to just say yes, but she had not. Because she cared enough for Frerin to not misuse his affection for her. Thorin overheard them talking about dwarf women and saw the surprise in Branns eyes. He watched Brann as she took a streak of her hair and placed it between her upper lip and nose, like a beard, with a sheepish twinkle in her eyes. Frerin laughed and Thorin could not help but smirk. He wondered how Brann would look with a beard, like a dwarf woman. But Thorin came to the conclusion that Brann was strikingly beautiful, without having any dwarven traits. Her smile was warm and from the heart, but it was soon replaced by sadness. Brann still struggled with the horrors she had witnessed the last days and the loss of her father and brothers. She was no warrior, she was a healer and a young one at that. She had been safe in her village and had not seen any of the misery of the world. Thorin felt guilty for having brought such pain over her and her family.

But he had his own people to worry about. The dwarves were still overwhelmed with grief and the fit dwarves had to take turns to watch over the camp at night. They would not let the orcs surprise them one more time. His fathers advisor Balin and his brother Dwalin patrolled the northern border of the camp. The huge Dwalin had been furious that the young healer girl had overpowered him with the sleeping sponge, but his older brother Balin had been highly amused. Thrors advisor respected the young woman and her mother highly for their efforts and skill. He knew that if it had not been for them and Oin the dwarves would have suffered even more casualties. He decided to have a watchful eye on Brann, for he had a feeling that her fate was bound to the fate of the dwarves of Erebor from now on.

Later that night Gwen found her daughter sitting on her bed in the corner of the medical tent with a book.

'You should sleep, dear.' she told her daughter.

'You are not sleeping either, mother.' Brann looked at her mother. She looked as if she had aged many years since her father and brothers were gone. Gwen sat down at her daughters side and sighed heavily. She looked at the book in her daughters hands. It was a book about dwarven history.

'Why are you reading this? Where did you even get it?' she asked her daughter in surprise.

'A dwarf named Dori gave it to me. His younger brother Ori is a bookworm and he took some of the books with him to have something from his brother there at all times.' Brann told her.

'But why are you interested in this?' her mother had become curious.

Brann sighed. 'Prince Frerin asked me to marry him. I thought he had asked you first.'

'He should have asked your father first, but that is not possible anymore.' Gwen voice was filled with sadness. 'The prince really wants to marry you? Thats wonderful!'

Brann looked at her mother in surprise. 'Does anybody ask me what I want?'

'I thought you liked him, my dear?' Gwen took her daughter in her arms for comfort. 'You always seem at ease in his presence.'

'He is a very nice dwarf and he is attentive, polite and caring.' Brann smiled as she thought about her evening with Frerin. Talking to him had been fun and it had taken her mind of the horrid last days. 'But I do not love him. How can I marry someone that I do not love?'

'Your father and I have not been in love either, dear.' Gwen told her daughter and smiled at her surprised face. 'Love came with the years.'

Brann knew that her parents had loved each other, but she had not known that it had been different at the beginning. 'And what if not?'

Her mother sighed and said nothing anymore. They sat together for a while and Gwen hugged her daughter tight. 'It is your decision. But I think that a life at the side of prince Frerin would not be the worst thing for you to happen. Although I know only little of the dwarven culture. The prince seems really nice and he adores you.' Gwen smirked at Branns yet again astonished face. 'Have you not realised that? The way he looks at you and he always tries to stay near you.'

'If what you say is true then I should not marry him.' Brann stated firmly. 'It would not be fair to him. I do not want to use his feelings for me in our favor.'