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Chapter 14

Fili and Kili, along with Dwalin, Balin, and Dain lounged in the Durin family dining room munching on leftovers from the feast. Those in the know tossed theories back and forth about what was happening and what would happen between Thorin and his lady. Dain listened with surprised interest. He knew that Thorin despised the council's degree and that no one, including his Onkra, met with his approval. That truth didn't surprise him and, in fact, he was secretly relieved that his daughter wasn't in the running. What she would do with power and almost unlimited resources chilled his blood.

"So Thorin's found someone after all, has he?" he asked after wiping his mouth on his sleeve. Grease left a stain on the tooled, brown leather. "Who is the lucky lass?"

Balin cleared his throat. They had forgotten Dain in their midst, and the conversation ended awkwardly. As if planned, they dug into the food on their plates with renewed enthusiasm. He wasn't fooled. Folding his arms over his barrel chest, he kicked back in his chair, determined to wait them out.

"Well?" he asked with his brows raised. He eyed each one, but they didn't meet his gaze. After an uncomfortable pause, Dwalin shrugged and gestured to Balin. The old dwarf sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Aye, well, it seems, ahem, that our good king's enamored of Onkra's lady-in-waiting," he said with resignation. It was going to come out soon enough anyway if Thorin had his way.

Dain blinked, and chair fell forward with a loud thud. He gaze unfocused as though he was running through all his interactions with Thorin to find a cause for his cousin's madness. He couldn't find one and then he steepled his hands over his nose and rubbed it.

"Is he daft?" he asked looking at each of them in turn. "Of course, I won't hold this against him, but that'll not hold for the other clans. Is he touched in the head? He's declaring war!"

Dwalin tossed a disgruntled glance to his kinsmen. "Aye, that's what I told him, but he's determined."

Dain looked at the others and, one by one, their heads dropped. That thought had never really been an issue since the mystery writer's identity was unknown, but now his comments made painful sense.

"You don't see eye to eye, do you?," he said. He shook his head disbelievingly. "Why can't he enjoy the lass's favors without declaring himself. Did any of you not tell him that?"

Balin smacked his lips softly and blew his breath out his mouth.

"We didn't dare," he said. "Thorin doesn't think that way, Dain. If he loves her, there's only one choice as far as he's concerned."

The Lord of the Iron Hills leaned forward and spread his hands on the gray, granite table.

"Now see here," he started. "What say she's a fortune hunter wanting to elevate her station. I'll wager that such a lass would do most anything to rise from maid to queen. For all we know, she may have seduced him to gain an advantage. Do we really want to let him spend himself on a wench who'd be satisfied with much less?"

Balin winced at Dain's words but defended his king's choice.

"She's not a fortune hunter," he said firmly, "and at great risk she helped other noble-borns who were forced to come," and he shared about Lady Meera and Princess Faltha. Dain wasn't impressed.

"So the lass has one virtue," he argued, "so what? She may feel sorry for the poor lambs, but I'll be bound she also was trying to get rid of the competition. Ah, she's clever, I'll give her that, but it doesn't change that my cousin's entangled with a trollop who'd spread her legs for anyone who can help her."

The others looked pained but couldn't dismiss the possibility that he was right.

Suddenly, the door flew open, and Thorin stood there blowing out breath through his nose like a snorting bull. His face was taut with fury and his expression as dark as the thunderclouds that had passed over the mountain. All looked toward him with sober faces, and his narrowed eyes fell on his cousin. Without a word, he stormed over and grabbed Dain by his leather collar. With one hand, he hauled his cousin up out of his chair and threw him against the wall. The back of Dain's head slammed into stone with a loud crack. The others jumped to their feet in horror and yelled out.

"No!"

"Uncle, wha …?"

"Have you gone insane?"

"Uncle, stop!"

The King of Erebor held Dain by the neck against the wall, one hand pressing on his windpipe, and the other holding his dagger at his throat.

"Th-Th-Thor …" Dain croaked, his face red and hot, but Thorin only squeezed harder, and Dain gasped and retched. Dwalin, Fili, and Kili rushed to pull him off, but Thorin yelled, "Don't move!" and they stopped. He leaned in close.

"How could you, cousin?" he whispered in Dain's ear with his blade hovering under his chin. His face was rigid with rage. "How could you cast off your daughter and treat her that way? Did you let them talk you into that as well?"

Dain's green eyes grew round in shock and confusion.

"Onkra?" he choked out.

"No!" Thorin hissed, and a sound of disgust rumbled in his throat. "Relianna, your daughter with Tamra. Was she part of the price you had to pay?"

His cousin turned as pale as Thorin had been earlier.

"Price? No, no, Tamra lost our bairn," his whispered, his eyes filling with tears. "I never would have allowed ... but she lost ... my babe." He wrenched neck and took in a long, shuddering breath. Thorin stared at him for a minute, sheathed his dagger, and released him. Dain slid to the ground coughing and holding his throat. The others stared at the two of them, not sure what to do or make of the situation.

"She deceived you then," Thorin said, the force of his words sending flecks of spit out between his teeth. "Your daughter with her is here serving Onkra as her lady-in-waiting."

The room exploded with gasps and cries. It seemed too outlandish to be believed. Balin alone kept his head.

"Tamra, daughter of Tobrin, your court healer?" he asked. "I remember her. One of the most beautiful dwarrowdams I'd ever seen, although she was unfortunate to have the blood of men in her family. Such a shame. She would have married well otherwise."

The two cousins faced off with Thorin seething and Dain bewildered. He ran his hand over his head and muttered under his breath.

"It can't be, it just can't be."

He began pacing back and forth, becoming more and more agitated.

"It's truth, cousin," Thorin said, obviously trying to calm his anger by clenching and unclenching his fists. "She has Tamra's face and curly hair and your eyes." Dain's boots hit the ground harder and harder until he finally turned on his cousin who stood with his legs apart and battle ready.

"No!" Dain shouted. "She wouldn't do that to me! We kept no secrets! She wouldn't hide my babe from me!"

Thorin refused to back down.

"But she wasn't always with you, was she? She concealed her pregnancy and tried killed herself in despair. My mother found her by the river outside the Iron Hills where she went to drown herself and saved her life. Later, she adopted Relianna into our clan because she knew once she saw her that she was your child."

Dain cried out and put his fists to his ears. The others turned to each other and tried to fit the puzzle pieces together but struggled to believe something so far-fetched. That Dain would not know, that Queen Relia would have saved Tamra's life, that she would then adopt the baby girl that Thorin would later fall in love with seemed the stuff of fairy tales. It couldn't all be true, yet both Dain and Thorin looked completely convinced of their facts and in the right. Such a situation between dwarves rarely ended well.

"No! Tisn't true. How dare you throw my words back at me! I trusted you, cousin, and this is how you repay me?"

Thorin threw out his chest and roared in anger.

"Do I look like I'm in jest?" he snapped. "Your daughter is beaten weekly by that monstrosity you call kin."

Dain covered his face with his hands, and his breath puffed between his fingers. After muttering into his hands and dripping a few tears on the ground, he dropped his hands and drew himself up stiffly. His face twisted with disdain.

"The lass has played you for a fool," he said in a frosty tone. "What did she do, cousin? Let you take her between the hedgerows then make you hear her tale of woe?"

His words hit too close to the truth, and Thorin lunged at him. The two slammed together like rams locking horns, and the others rushed to pull them apart. Fili and Kili grabbed Dain, and Dwalin and Balin pulled Thorin back by his arms. Both kings strained and struggled to free themselves.

"Enough!" Balin said while still gripping Thorin's arm and shoulder. "This isn't getting us any closer to the truth. You need to meet her, Dain, and decide for yourself."

The Lord of the Iron Hills pulled against his captors and his eyes filled with contempt. Once Fili and Kili let go, he rolled his shoulders to shrug his robes back into place. Then he faced Thorin with studied indifference.

"I'll forgive you, cousin, for losing your head," he said with cold eyes. "The wench obviously caught your eye with her charms. I'm surprised you fell for it, but perhaps she knows enough to make it stick, so I'll overlook your madness—this time." Then his gaze turned hard. "But if you ever think to speak of it again, I'll meet you on the field of honor with a sharp ax." Turning on his heel, he strode out the door with his head held high and slammed it behind him. No one spoke.

"Laddie," Balin ventured after a minute, "is it possible that …?"

"No."

"She could have learned a few things from the maids. They have plenty of time to gossip."

"No."

"Think on it, laddie," he said, "it might be possible .…"

"No, it isn't," Thorin replied, accentuating each word.

Kili's voice broke in.

"Why do you think so, Uncle?" he asked timidly. "What did she tell you?"

Thorin shook his head in frustration. "It all makes sense. Everything she said makes sense, and she's no fortune hunter. If she were …." He stumbled over his words. "If she were, she would have let me take her in the hedgerows. Mahal knows I wanted to."

Fili's eyes bulged, and Kili's mouth hung open. They had never ever heard their uncle talk like that before. Dwalin pursed his lips, and Balin sighed.

"Well," he said, "there's no help for it then. We need to meet her."

Words poured out of Thorin as he shared what Relianna had told him while they headed to the infirmary. It was clear that he was deeply in love, and his nephews and friends hoped dearly for his sake that she was truly who he said. That, of course, would bring up other troubling issues but, for now, they only wanted to know that their king hadn't give his heart in vain.

"So, laddie," Balin said, "you told her you loved her, aye?" Now he wasn't sure his suggestion was a good one, and he looked over his shoulder to see Dwalin's disapproving stare. "And she told you she loved you?"

Thorin faltered in his stride. She never did, but he didn't doubt her affection. Then again, she didn't say she loved him. Perhaps her affection was only a childhood fantasy. She said she had loved him as a child. He touched his lips. She certainly kissed him with enough passion to persuade, but her words said something else. That she wanted to meet him to see if he measured up to her expectations gave him pause. Perhaps she only kissed him to see what it was like. Perhaps she went along with his thoughts and plans because she felt she couldn't refuse a king.

Gloomy thoughts filled his mind as he walked down the corridor to the infirmary. He opened the door and saw Oin and Nella rolling bandages. Relianna wasn't there. His heart started pounding and he scanned the room wanting evidence that she wasn't a figment of his imagination. The others looked over and around him, each with his own image of what he would find. None of their imaginings held an easy answer to the new rift between cousins. Some wanted this Relianna to be an easily dismissed fortune hunter, although they cringed at what that discovery would do to Thorin. On the other hand, if she was who he claimed, that would create a tangle that no one knew how to undo.

"Where is she?" he asked Oin.

The faithful old healer tilted his head toward a door.

"I decided to keep her hidden since we've had a number of visitors trying to find her," he said with a significant look at Thorin who frowned.

"Who wants to know?"

Oin lowered his voice.

"Princess Onkra sent servants all around Erebor looking for her. When they came here, I told them that she had fallen ill and needed treatment. Oh, but that wasn't good enough, and the princess demanded that I tell her what happened and treat her in her presence. I refused and then a healer came to the door offering his services. Maybe she sent him to find out what was going on. Sneaky as a rat, she is."

Thorin turned to the others and arched a brow. No maid would ever generate such a stir. Balin stroked his beard and nodded at the door. The time for truth had come.

"Can we see her now?" he asked.

The others moved closer, but Oin blocked their way.

"She came here in a right mess," he said. "What happened?"

Thorin waved his comments away. He had to know. They had to see. He felt like he couldn't take a deep breath until he was vindicated. He was right; he knew he was.

"We will see her now," he commanded.

Oin hesitated but a jerk of Thorin's chin sent him to the door. He shuffled forward and rapped lightly on the door.

"Someone to see you, lassie," he said kindly. "Can you come on out?" He stepped away, and the knob turned. The door opened slowly and Relianna came into view. She wore her veil, but all could hear her sniffling. Thorin braced himself and walked up to her, his heart glowing in spite of his doubts. He tried to take her hands, but she drew back.

"Why were you so angry?' she asked, not willing to step into the room. "I don't understand. Why did you mention my father? Is it because I have no, no ...?" She could not get out the next word but instead put her hands over her face under her veil and sobbed. Thorin stepped up and embraced her tenderly while murmuring endearments and soothing words. It took some time before she softened in his arms. Balin thought that if she was play-acting, she was the best he'd ever seen. Dwalin shifted his feet while Fili and Kili looked on with rapt attention. Thorin lifted her head with his finger and nodded.

"All is well," he said. "Please believe I was not upset with you." He turned to introduce the others. "These are my nephews and closest friends," She curtsied gracefully after a last hiccuping sniffle. "Relianna, I know this is untoward, but I ask that you take off your veil."

She gasped and stepped back, but he took her hand and nodded. With one hand, she slowly pulled off her veil. Her red-gold curls fell all around her, and her green eyes were bright with tears. Fili and Kili moved their assessing eyes down her body and blinked at her trim waist.

"Durin's beard!" Dwalin said.

Fili and Kili stood staring.

Balin nodded sadly.

"It's true then. She's the daughter of Tamra and Dain. What have we gotten ourselves into?"

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