Thorins sword clashed against the walls of the training area and Dain rolled his eyes.

'I already killed you half a dozen times and now you have no grip on your sword. You are one of the best warriors I know, why are you fighting like a dwarfling this morning?' Dain frowned. 'Its the queen isn't it? You're not concentrating on this.'

Thorin cringed his teeth and picked up his sword. He could only think about Brann and wanted to kick himself for being such an idiot. Now, months after the marriage and even more months after Frerins death he had realised how incredibly foolish he had behaved towards Brann. At first he had not given in to his feelings because it felt wrong towards Frerin. Frerin had loved Brann, he had seen something in her Thorin had failed to see back then. Taking her as his own wife had felt like treason. Then, after making her his through marriage, he ruined everything out of fear of his own feelings.

'I am a coward, cousin.' Thorin mumbled.

Dain did not understand. 'What? Just because you lost the grip of your sword? You didn't throw it away on purpose!'

Thorin had to smile at his cousins misunderstanding. 'I am not talking about our training. I am talking about me and Brann.'

'Then I was right.' Dain stated dryly. 'It is the queen. What did you do to her?'

Thorin sighed heavily. 'How did you know that I did something?'

'Well, there have been rumors, cousin. Rumors about you and a dwarf lady from Ered Luin. I do not want to tell you how to live our life, but you are not honoring your queen with such affairs.' Dain told Thorin, who paled. He had not known that people rumored him to have an affair. Suddenly Thorin felt sick of remorse. He had to get back control over his own life.

Thorin thought that his relationship to Brann could not get more complicated as he ran into the council dwarves of Ered Luin who demanded to speak to him. As he listened to their petition he felt a terrible headache build up behind his eyes. The dwarves of Ered Luin demanded that the king of the dwarves of Erebor and direct descendant of Durin took a dwarven wife and produced a dwarf heir. They respected Thorins decision to marry the human woman, but after the law of the dwarves a king or lord was allowed to take more than one single wife for the purpose to secure the own family line. Due to the small number of females in the dwarven race it was an high honor for a dwarf to marry more than one woman. Soon, other dwarves from all the seven kingdoms joined them in council and even the dwarves of Erebor were not indisposed to that idea. Brann would stay Thorins queen and first wife, but the second wife, in this case a dwarven woman, would be the mother of his heirs.

Thorin shook his head. Even if things had been different between him and Brann he would never have thought of taking a second wife. Brann was his wife and he had already damaged her honor. None of the council dwarves could understand his determined refusal, but they bowed their heads in respect as Thorin left the council to speak to Balin. The old advisor of his grandfather looked at Thorin with a worried expression.

'If you do this, you´ll lose her forever.' Balin stated quietly. 'Brann will never accept another woman at your side. She´ll probably rather leave the Blue Mountains and leave the place of your queen to the other woman. What is it you want, Thorin?'

Thorin remembered that he had asked Brann the same question. And now he would give Balin the same answer Brann had given him. He did not know. All he knew was that he had to concentrate on fixing the damage he had inflicted on his marriage for the moment.

Later that day Dis and Balin sat down together at the dinning table. They watched the royal couple in worry. Thorin and Brann sat at the end of the table, not looking at each other, but keeping up the impression of a strong royal couple.

'This is not good.' Dis whispered to Balin. 'These two are strongly overpowered by their feelings. They have went through too much pain and grief to handle their emotions right now.'

Balin frowned. 'Thorin needs to see his queen as the woman she is, no, as the woman she has become. She is no young and innocent healer anymore. He tries to protect her. He thinks that he is not good enough for her. What he does not realise is that she does not need his protection. She needs him.'

'I may have an idea how to push them a bit.' Dis grinned. She had played with this thought since Brann had seeked comfort with her sister in law. 'I will give her something to heal.'

The kings sister got her chance as Brann excused herself and went to the royal chambers. But before she left she glared at Dara menacingly, who had chosen a seat near to Thorin this evening. Dis knew that the dwarves of Ered Luin hoped for Thorin to chose Dara to secure the line of Durin. Balin had told her what the council had asked of Thorin and Dis had been enraged at the thought. She was relieved as she heard that her brother had denied the request of the council. But apparently Dara still had hope. Thorin must have felt her fiery glares, but he only glanced at her twice, with an unreadable expression. When dinner was over Thorin stood up to leave for his chambers as Dara followed him into the dark corridors of the city. Halfway there she had caught up with him and grabbed his arm.

'Why aren't you looking at me anymore, your majesty? Weren't you pleased with me?' Dara asked hoarsely. She knew of the petition of the dwarves of Ered Luin and she had already seen herself as Thorins queen. Dara hated the frail looking human queen. The dwarf lady was not ready to accept that the young woman might beat her in the battle for Thorins heart.

Thorin grabbed her hand as she reached for his face. 'I am sorry, mylady. You have done nothing wrong, but I have wronged my queen and you. I apologise if I have disrespected your honor. I hope you find a dwarf who can love you like you deserve it.'

Dara looked at the king in shock. 'You have done nothing wrong, my king. I protect my honor for myself and I see honor in pleasing you.'

'I am married, lady Dara. I should have considered my queens honor before dragging it through the mudd and I will not repeat that.' Thorin stated firmly. 'I never wanted to hurt either of you. I hope that you can forgive me.'

Dara was not ready to give up, yet. She moved closer to Thorin and whispered sensually. 'I can give you what she can not, king Thorin. You need a woman who meets you on eye level. A woman who can fullfill your needs. Queen Brann is no such woman.'

Thorin was about to push her away as Dis came rushing around the corner. She sneered at Dara who instantly backed away from Thorin and bowed before the kings sister.

'Get lost, you cheap floozy.' Dis growled and Dara gasped in a played hurt expression. But she was not brave enough to go against Dis, so she left with bared teeth.

Thorin was about to speak as Dis fist smashed right onto his nose. He heard his nose break and groaned in pain.

'By Durins beard! What was that for? I told her to go!' Thorin felt blood run down his face and glared at his sister.

'I heard that!' Dis snarled and glared at Thorin with her hands on her hips.

'Then what in the name of...' Thorin had to breathe through his mouth, his nose began to throb painfully.

'That was for Brann.' Dis smiled at her brother and led him to his chambers, but instead of taking the side door she entered through the main door.

Brann was about to get ready for bed and was clad in her thin nightgown as the king and his sister came in. She instantly saw Thorins broken nose and rushed to his side.

'What happened?' she asked and took a closer look.

'A little quarrel between sibblings.' Dis grinned and shoved Thorin into his wifes arms. 'I will get water and stuff or you to tend to my brothers nose.' Blinking at Brann Dis left for the bath.

'I have to set the bone, that will hurt.' Brann told him quietly and pulled Thorin closer to the fireplace for more light.

'I think that was my sisters plan all along.' Thorin stated dryly and frowned at Dis who returned with a bowl of water and a sponge.

'I'll leave you in the caring hands of your wife, brother.' Dis murmured and smiled at her sister in law. 'Good night.'

She had reached the door as she heard an ugly crack and Thorins pained growl and smiled. She was sure that Brann had not been very tender and that she had as much fun setting the bone as Dis had breaking it.

Thorin winced as Branns cold hands moved over his nose and controlled if it was set correctly. She was back to being the experienced healer and for a short moment Thorin could see the focused and concentrated expression Brann had shown on the battlefield so many times before. Brann took the sponge and began to clean Thorins face from the blood.

'Why did she do this?' Brann asked Thorin tried to look down. But Brann firmly took his chin into her hand and lifted his face into the light.

'I deserved this.' Thorin said quietly and decided to be honest. 'She saw me with lady Dara this evening.'

Brann pulled back her hands as if she had burned herself on Thorins skin and pressed her hands to fists.

'She should have broken more than your nose.' she growled and Thorin could not help but smile. Brann almost never showed her fierceness, but the few moments in which she did she reached Thorins heart.

Slowly Thorin took Branns fists into his hands and placed kisses on them. Brann tried to pull away, but Thorin was stronger than her and she could not move her hands one little bit.

'I told lady Dara that I would not make the same mistake twice. I am sorry, Brann. I am sorry that I damaged your honor and I am sorry that I hurt you. I have been an insufferable moron and I hope that one day you can forgive my foolishness.' Thorin told his wife and felt her fists relax in his hands.

But Brann could not forget Thorins treason. Not yet. At the same time she wanted him to be hers and only hers. She looked down at her hands in his bigger ones and sighed deeply. She had not answered yet and Thorin began to feel nervous. Also, Thorin could not help but notice that Brann looked incredible in her nightgown. Her hair fell over her shoulders in cascades and the thin nightgown underlined Branns soft curves. The young woman had changed in the last year. She had become more womanly, her body had become softer. She was still thin, especially compared to dwarves, but Thorin could not tear his gaze away from her. The soft curves of her breasts were heaving below her gown while she breathed heavily.

'Give me time, Thorin.' she asked of him.

Thorin took a deep breath of relief. 'You have all the time you need. I will wait, as I should have done from the beginning.'

The delegations of the other dwarf kingdoms left the following week, but not without revisioning their petition to Thorin and pressuring on its importance. Durins line should be continued with pure dwarven blood. Brann was respected for her bravery and skills as a healer on the battlefields of Moria, but she was still a human. In fact no other human had ever been accepted by any dwarven society, so Brann was an exception she could be proud off. Nonetheless, Thorin was relieved that Brann did not understand Khuzdul and had not heard about the petition. She would have left the Blue Mountains instantly.

Life went back to normal slowly. Thorin and Brann only saw each other a few times a day, including dinner. Dwalin watched them in worry. Brann had started to sneak out the mountain at night and spend the nights outside staring up at the stars. Dwalin had always followed her for protection, but had kept a respectful distance to the queen. As he told Thorin about his queens nightly wanderings the king frowned deeply. Thorin had spent alot of time thinking about his relationship to Brann. He had an idea how to start over his life with Brann, but he needed Balins and Dwalins help. After a day of council he asked the Fundin brothers to stay.

'My friends, I ask for your help in an important matter.' Thorin took a deep breath. 'In the last year I have done everything in my power to build up a new life for the dwarves of Erebor. The Blue Mountains are stable and secure. And I will need to concentrate on my marriage. I will leave for a few months and take my queen with me. I will leave the Blue Mountains in your able hands. I trust you, my friends, and I know that our kingdom will be safe with you.'

Balin nodded understandingly and Dwalin smiled relieved. They were happy to hear that Thorin decided to fight for his marriage at last.

'What is your plan, laddie?' Dwalin asked his friend and king.

'I will travel to Bree, to a village of men north of here. I will take work as a blacksmith and Brann could work as a healer again. One of the merchants told me that they have need of skilled hands. Maybe if Brann and I can concentrate on ourselves for a while we will get to know each other better.' Thorin sighed deeply.

Balin patted Thorins shoulder. 'You'll manage, laddie. Brann is a wonderful woman, she will be a good wife to you in every aspect of your lives - if you let her.'

Dis took a deep breath as Thorin told her that he would leave for a few months. But she knew that he needed to do this. And she still had Dwalin and Balin, who could help her with her sons. Thorin had been a great support to her after Lindins death and had helped her raise her sons as if they were his own. In his mind and heart they were his heirs and he had never planned to produce own heirs, even before he had met Brann.

'What does Brann say about all that?' Dis asked Thorin who frowned at her question. 'You haven't asked her yet, haven't you?' As Thorin shook his head Dis sighed desperately. 'Thorin...you - I won't say it because there are dwarflings in the room, but I am sure you know what I mean to say. Are you going to decide without involving her into the process again?'

Thorin was irritated. He would leave his family and his new home, only for Brann, for their marriage. He would live as a blacksmith instead of a king and would try to fix everything he had done wrong so far. He hoped that Brann would appreciate his effort.

He walked to the royal chambers and quietly opened the door to Branns room. His queen lay in front of the fireplace on soft furs and read a book. She was so into the book that she did not notice him until he had reached her. Brann jumped and cried out quietly as Thorin touched her shoulder. As she realised that it was her husband she relaxed and looked at him questioningly.

'Is the council over?' she asked and Thorin nodded. 'What are you doing here?'

'I need to talk to you.' Thorin cleared his throat. 'I know I haven't been a good husband to you since we married. But I intend to change that. I have talked to one of the merchants and he told me that the village Bree is looking for a new blacksmith and they could also use good healers.' Thorin took a deep breath before he continued. 'If you approve we will go to Bree and live there as normal people and...concentrate on us. We will get to know each other and maybe I can show you that I can be a good husband to you.'

Brann looked at him with big eyes and forgot to breathe. She could not believe that Thorin would do this for her. That he would leave his mountain, family and friends to be with her. Only with her.

'What about Dis? And Fili and Kili?' Brann asked hoarsely. She knew that Dis still struggled to raise her boys and get over the death of her husband. Dis was strong, but Brann did not want to deprive her from her brother.

Thorin smiled at his queen. It warmed his heart that even now she was thinking about others, in this case about his sister as if they were her family. Thorin corrected himself. His family was her family now.

'Do not worry about it, my queen. We can travel back and forth if we are needed and Dis and her boys can visit us if they like.' Thorin assured her. 'But for now, its just us.'

For the first time since she was with Thorin Brann smiled at him. She felt a warm tingle on her hand and looked down to see that Thorin had covered her small hand with his. Maybe this would work.