Dinner had passed in silence, but Thorin could not have talked anyway with his mouth full. He had missed the dwarven cuisine and Branns dinner was incredible. With a deep sigh he leaned back in his chair after dinner.

'I could impossibly eat another bite. And I have the feeling that I might turn into Bombur soon.' Thorin mumbled and made Brann laugh. She knew the cook of the royal household and like him very much. Imagining Thorin becoming round and soft like Bombur amused Brann.

'You still have a long way till you look like master Bombur.' Brann reassured him and began to clean up the table as Thorin took her hand and pulled her close, towering him. The fight was almost forgotten as their eyes met.

'Thank you for the lovely dinner.' Thorin said quietly and placed a soft kiss on the palm of her hand. It all happened so quickly that Brann could not form a decent thought and she shivered as Thorins lips met her palm. As a reflex she moved her hand to his beard and gently stroked over it and Thorin closed his eyes while leaning into the touch.

A knock on the door interrupted their closeness and Brann chuckled as Thorin cursed in Khuzdul. She parted from him hesitantly and opened the door. The woman from the market was standing there, at her side a man with a filthy bandage around his hand. Thorin frowned at the late visitors, but Brann smiled and let them in.

'I have promised her to look over his injury today, I hope you don´t mind?' Brann whispered to Thorin who shook his head. He watched as his wife gestured the couple to sit down by the fireplace and losened the bandage.

Brann gasped as she saw the wound. It was infected and suppurated.

'You must be in pain! How long since you have that injury?' Brann asked the man who shrugged his shoulders.

'Its not that bad, I have this injury since two weeks now. It was about to heal but then it got infected. I had to go to work, we cannot bear losing the income.' he stated bitterly.

'What is your profession?' Brann asked. It looked like the man needed to work with his hands, hence the infection.

'I am a carpenter.' the man told her and hissed as Brann put pressure in his hand. 'I can´t let my family starve just because of this small injury.'

'This may be a small injury but you have gangrene and you will not help your family when you lose your hand or even your life.' Brann scolded him and felt his temperature on his forehead. 'You already have a light feaver.'

His wife winced at Branns words and clung to her husbands shoulders. 'Can you help him?' she asked with a hopeful look towards Brann.

Brann sighed and took another look at the wound. 'I think I can, but you have to follow my orders accurately. You will have to stay in bed for a few days and spare your hand.' she told the carpenter who snorted.

'I cannot do this, my family will starve.' the man worried.

'No they won´t.' Thorin barged in and made Brann jump. She had totally forgotten that he also was in the room. 'We will see to it that your family gets to eat during your recovery.'

Brann looked at Thorin with big eyes. She knew that Thorin had a good heart, but she had not expected him to show it that openly towards strangers. 'We will not let our neighbours starve coldheartedly. We are no elves.'

Brann could hear the bitterness in her husbands voice and see the pain in his eyes. But she would ask him about that later. She smiled at the carpenter and his wife and nodded reassuringly.

'Your wife and daughter are welcome to eat with us and I will tell your wife how to take care of the wound so she can tend to you if I am not available.' Brann told him and the carpenter only looked at Thorin and Brann with huge eyes.

'I have no words to tell you how grateful I am.' he said quietly. 'About the payment...'

'We will talk about the payment when you have recovered.' Thorin told him firmly and turned to the door. He had to finish that blasted sword before the ranger would come back the next day. 'Have a nice evening.' With a last glance at Brann he left the house and Brann looked after him with a soft expression on her face.

'Your husband is an honorablr dwarf. You must be really happy.' the carpenters wife told Brann quietly and Brann could only spare a pained smile. If only she knew.

'Alright, at first I must clean the wound and that will hurt. It could be possible that I need to cut the edges of the wound, too.' Brann told the carpenter. She took a wet cloth and started to wash out the wound carefully, but the carpenter winced at every touch. His wife watched with a pale face as Brann took her sharp little knife and cut out the edges and the seriously infected parts of the skin. The carpenter shivered, but he held still. As the wound was cleaned Brann covered it with a salve she had made herself and bandaged it tightly.

'Take this with you.' Brann gave the wife the small pot and some herbs. 'Change the bandage every day and make sure that the cloth is clean. Thats very important! Use the salve once every day and make him a tea out of those herbs. That will fight the feaver and the infection in his body.' I will look after you when I bring you dinner. For lunch you and your daughters can eat here with us.' she told her and walked over to pack a basket with bread and cheese. 'Take this, its not much, but its a decent breakfast for tomorrow.'

The carpenters wife was speechless and exchanged a look with her husband before she hugged Brann tightly. 'Thank you so much...I don´t even know your name.'

'My name is Brann.' the young healer said quietly and tried to catch the names of her customers. The carpenters name was Dorn and his wifes name was Elsa. Their daughters were Rose and Margeret. 'See you tomorrow. Good night.'

Brann watched her neighbours leave and gazed towards the smithy where Thorin was evidently working. She wanted to thank him for his support, but she knew that he wanted to get the rangers sword done before tomorrow. So Brann cleaned up the house and granted herself a hot bath in the big tub. It was a real recreation and Brann almost fell asleep in the warm and cozy tub. As she heard the door from the smithy slam shut and Thorins heavy steps walk towards their house she quickly climbed out of the tub and dried herself before slipping into her nightgown. Thorin was able to catch a glimpse of his wifes naked backside as the gown slid over her body and stopped in his tracks. As Brann turned around Thorin tried not to look caught. But Brann only smiled.

'You want to take a bath, too?' she asked quietly. 'The water is still warm.'

Thorin swallowed and nodded. Brann left the room as he stripped down and came back with a new sponge as he was already sitting in the tub. Thorin circled his aching shoulder. The hard and fast work on the sword had strained the muscles in his shoulder and he hoped that the warm water would help. He heard a stool scrape over the floor and suddenly warm little fingers touched his shoulder and Thorin flinched. Brann had pulled back her hands as she saw Thorin flinch and frowned.

'Let me take a look at your shoulder. You´ve been straining it all day and the days before.' Brann asked him and reached out for him, this time waiting for his permittion. Thorin took a glance over his shoulder to make sure that Brann was serious. But he could only see honest care in her eyes and therefore he nodded and tried to relax. Brann took a little flask of mountain tobacco oil and rubbed it over Thorins shoulder after she had pulled back his long hair over the other shoulder. Thorin felt goosebumps forming on his skin despite the hot water while Brann started massaging his shoulder. At first it stung as she moved her hands over the strained muscles, but soon enough Thorin began to relax and leaned back into Branns touch.

'I could get used to this.' he teased and jumped as Branns palm collided with the back of his head.

'Sorry, I slipped.' Brann stated dryly and Thorin could not help but chuckle quietly. Her fingers moved in circles and moved up the nape of his neck, putting pressure on the strained muscles and Thorin had to supress a protesting groan as he felt Branns hands leave his skin. But her fingers were soon replaced by the sponge and Thorin tensed anew as he felt Brann brush the sponge over his back and shoulders. He relished in the soft treatement, but he did not trust the peace.

'You don´t need to do that.' he said quietly, but closed his eyes in delight.

Brann smiled behind his back. 'You want to do it yourself?'

'Not necessarily.' Thorin smirked and heard his wife chuckle quietly.

'Just let me perform my duty as a your wife.' Brann asked of him and continued cleaning him as she had seen her mother do it with her father countless times.

The sponge moved over Thorins back, his shoulder, his neck, throat, over his arms and finally over his chest. Meanwhile Brann was leaning over his shoulder and her breath tickled Thorins neck. His body reacted to the gentle touch and Thorin tried to cover himself with his hands below the water.

Brann saw his hand move down and smiled. She could not see through the water in the dim light of the room, but she appreciated the sentiment. She was curious, but the sight of Thorins massive upper body already made her weak in the knees and she did not want to rush it. Brann imagined how it would be like if not the sponge moved over Thorins skin, but her hands and felt her cheeks burn with excitement. Especially as she moved the sponge over Thorins chest she had to swallow hard and hoped that Thorin could not hear her heart beat loudly. After a while Brann took a deep breath and wanted to pull back and stand up again as Thorin grabbed her arm with the sponge and moved it back over his chest, not saying a word. Smiling, Brann sat back down and continued brushing the sponge over her husbands chest. Thorin let his head fall back against the edge of the tub and pulled Brann closer, so that their head were touching. They stayed like that for a while before Brann felt a sting in her legs.

'Thorin?' she asked quietly.

'Hmmm?' Thorin was too relaxed to answer verbally and made Brann smirk.

'I am getting a cramp.' Brann stated amused and hissed as Thorin let go of her hand instantly and sat up, looking at her with a worried expression. Brann smiled at him reassuringly and streached out her legs, stretching her muscles.

'Come here.' Thorin asked Brann and pointed to the rim of the tub. 'Sit down.'

Brann limped to the side and sat down on the rim of the tub, unsure what Thorin was implying. Thorin carefully took her legs and turned her around, so that her legs were dipping into the water. He lifted her nightgown over her knees and took her left leg.

'This one?' he asked hoarsely and Brann nodded. As he put pressure on the calf Brann hissed. 'Sorry.' Thorin muttered and began massaging her calf with gentle pressure. His gaze followed his fingers and moved over Branns bare skin.

Brann felt the pain fade away and being replaced by a warm and tingling feeling, caused by Thorin big and callous hands on her skin. Her other foot was tangling in the water, sometimes brushing Thorins legs and Brann was careful not to come to close to the one part of his body she had been avoiding since she had joined him at the tub. She was pulled back to reality as Thorin asked her a question.

'Don´t you have any hair at all?' he asked quietly, more to himself than to her, but Brann chuckled at his comment. 'No wonder that you are cold all the time.'

This time Brann laughed. 'I don´t think that a warming fur on my skin would be to your taste either.'

Thorin smiled at her comment. He concentrated on only touching her skin below her knee and not moving up further, although he wanted to.

'Better?' he asked after a while and looked up to Brann who sat there with closed eyes.

'Hmmmm.' Brann hummed and smiled Thorin who moved his hand to her feet, only to pull back as Brann flinched. 'Sorry, that tickles.' Brann said sheepishly.

Thorin smirked and sat up. He wanted to leave the tub, but did not dare to stand up in front of Brann. The young woman guessed his intentions and climbed out of the tub, heading for the kitchen after she handed Thorin a towel. Thorin quickly dried himself and put on a shirt and short trousers. This was the first night he and Brann went to bed together and Thorin was nervous. His nervosity irritated him, he was a grown dwarf, a prince. No young unexperienced dwarfling.

Brann saw his frown as she reentered the bedroom and smiled lightly. She was vey nervous, but she was tired of the gap between them and walked over to her husband with a determined expression. Slowly she took his hand and pulled him towards the bed. She did not let go when they climbed onto the bed and lay down side by side, facing each other. Brann leaned onto her elbow and let her fingers tangle with Thorins. She watched their hands closely, his callous big hands and her smaller ones.

'Tell me something about yourself, Thorin.' she asked him softly.

Thorin had been surprised by her taking the lead in this, but he was happy that she did. He was still unsure about her feelings towards him and did not want to scare her away by moving too quickly.

'What do you want to know?' he asked and slowly moved closer to his wife.

'I don't know, something about your childhood, you growing up or...why you hate elves?' Brann remembered Thorins negativity towards the elves earlier.

Thorin frowned slightly, but decided to tell Brann what she wanted to know. He told her about his childhood and about his youth, about Erebor and the dragon. His voice became sad and quiet as he told her about Smaug and how he took their home from the dwarves. Thorins eyes were full of sadness and grief and Brann could not help but feel her heart reach out for him. Gently she let go of his hand and cupped his cheek, stroking over his beard. Thorin stopped talking the moment she touched his face and looked at her, his eyes dark of supressed feelings. Branns eyes followed the trace of her fingers running through Thorins beard and felt Thorin shiver under her touch. She noticed then that Thorins breath had become erratic and pulled back, much to Thorins disappointment. As he saw her worried expression he took her hands and placed it back onto his cheek.

'Why did you stop?' he asked quietly, almost fearing her answer.

'I thought you might not like it when I touch your beard.' Brann told him shyly, but Thorin shook his head.

'I like it very much.' he admitted and looked at his young wife. 'Do you know what touching ones beard means in the dwarven culture?'

Brann shook her head. Frerin had told her some things about the dwarven culture, but had left out such intimate things.

'Its a very intimate gesture.' Thorin explained. 'And its an erogenous zone, too.'

He smirked as he saw Brann blush, but then it was his turn to turn pink as Brann moved closer and kissed him on the cheek. Slowly Brann nuzzled the line of his beard with her nose and Thorin felt hot shivers run down his spine. As Branns nose reached his chin he gently lifted hers and paused as his lips were nearly touching hers. Her lips were slightly parted as Thorin lowered his lips on hers and kissed her softly. He had never kissed like that before, his lips only put slight pressure on hers and their lips being their only body parts touching. Thorin then moved his hand over her cheeks and her throat, sliding to the back of her neck pulling her closer.

Brann practically melted away under Thorins hand and lips. It was her secind kiss ever and she had never imagined it being so sweet and soft. It painfully reminded her of her kiss with Frerin on the battlefields, but she tried to concentrate on the present. Frerin had been gentle and soft, but she had never expected such a sweetness from Thorin whom she had expected to be rough and hard. She moved her hands against his chest and relished the strong and muscular body and its warmth. As Thorin gently rolled her over and leaned over her his hair fell over their faces like curtains. Brann gently tucked his hair away from his face, which made Thorin break the kiss. They stayed close, piercing blue eyes meeting warm brown ones, their noses nearly touching.

Thorin needed all his willpower to restrain himself from going any further. Brann lips were red and slightly swollen from their kiss and her breath went fast and erratic. As she pulled his hair away Thorin paused, but Brann smiled.

'I want to see your face.' she whispered and Thorins eyes widened in surprise and joy. They lay down together, facing each other, only their hands touching. Thorin fell asleep long after Brann had drifted away to sleep. Both were smiling as they closed their eyes.