You guys are the best! Many thanks again for brightening my days. Now let me ask you. Some writers update every month if that, and their stories are carefully thought out and crafted. Obviously, mine aren't. So what do you think is better for the readers? I enjoy writing, but I wonder if I could do better with more time and care. On the other hand, I don't want to wait to see what my characters are going to do!

Chapter 15

Fili and Kili stared at Relianna in dismay and threw disbelieving looks to each other. This is who their uncle was in love with? Wrinkling his nose like he was watching Princess Onkra eat, Kili shook his head slightly, and Fili nodded in agreement. They were not at all impressed. Her hair was a riot of color, not the rich red of dwarrowdams, and her face was lovely but too even in feature. Fili looked down and grimaced. The rest of her was unremarkable as well. She didn't have the impressive physique that their dwarrowdams possessed. For one thing, her breasts, though shapely, were small in comparison to the bountiful bosoms of dwarf women, and where were her hips? Did she not eat? That alone made them skeptical.

"Maybe Onkra eats all her food," Kili muttered into his brother's ear. "It's possible, you know. Poor thing looks half-starved."

Fili stood back and grasped his chin with his hand like he was examining an artwork.

"Aye, maybe," he whispered, "but that is how human women look. I'll grant that she's more curvaceous than most of them, but her waist! I could snap her in half with one hand. How could any dwarf find that appealing? Why choose a twig when you can have the whole tree?"

Kili's eyebrows went up, and the corners of his mouth pulled down.

"There's not even an armful there," he agreed. "Can she even breed, do you think?"

Fili wagged his head back and forth.

"Well, humans do you know, but I'm not sure she could carry a dwarfling. What is uncle thinking?"

What Thorin thought was patently clear. He chafed her hand gently and held her like gingerly like a delicate yet precious heirloom. Sitting silently, his eyes shone with the soft light of concern, and he pulled her close when her face registered Balin's words. No one had ever seen him act like that before.

"What did you just say?" she asked, staring at Balin like she had seen a specter on a foggy night. Thorin led her to one of the beds, and she sat down dumbly and stared at the floor. Closing her eyes tightly, she shook her head, and he urged her to lean against him.

"Lord Dain is my father? Lord Dain is my father? Oh Mahal, Princess Onkra is my sister?"

Balin nodded soberly. No one could deny the truth now. With her red hair, green eyes, and slimmer figure, she was a true mixture of her parents. Even Dwalin couldn't deny who stood before him, and he sighed heavily. He had hoped that Thorin was wrong, but her blood gave her away. Couplings between dwarves and humans were not only rare but deeply frowned on, and children of such unions were often shunned by both races unless they could pass as pure blood. Tamra's magnificent hair and eyes, along with her skills as a healer, afforded her some respect from the dwarves, but her despair at being pregnant was in large part because she knew how impossible life would be for her children without at least a marriage to legitimize them.

"Does he know?" she asked in a small voice. She turned to Thorin with her face a question, and he hesitated, not sure how she would take the news. Seeing his concern for her, she divined the answer.

"I see," she said, her voice steely, "so he seduced my mother and left her pregnant and alone. Huh, at least during my childhood I thought I had a father who loved me despite mother's blood. I guess we're both bastards."

Everyone's eyebrows shot up at her bitter words, and Thorin tried to put his arm around her, but she pushed him off and stood to face the others.

"I see your hesitation," she said, challenging each dwarf with her stance. "I disgust you. How dare you think that way when your kinsman seduced and abandoned my mother! Don't you ever tell me you're in the right when you can do a thing like that!" She laughed harshly. "And believe me Dain's not the only one. There's many a lord who's taken a lover only to cast her off when it was convenient!"

Then she snatched her veil and threw it over her head. With it on, she looked like any other servant.

"This is how I survived your scorn and contempt," she said, her words cutting like a sharpened blade. "Like mother, I lived my life in layers of clothes to disguise my shape. She loved her people, but they thought her good only for healing those with loathsome diseases. I did the same, but I couldn't countenance making my living by following contagion like a vulture hovering over a dying animal, so I sought honest work as a servant. Ha! Honest work only to beaten like a dog by your noble princess."

Throwing off Thorin's attempt to hold her back, she grabbed her skirts, and headed swiftly for the door. Gripping the frame, she turned back and shot them all a glare they could feel like hot coals through her veil.

"Don't bother to try to find me," she said, her voice laced with scorn. "I relieve you of that distasteful chore." Then she turned to Thorin, who reached out for her, determined not to let her leave, and her breath caught in her throat. He gripped her shoulders and tried to reason with her, to get her to listen to him. She didn't answer, and he pulled the back of her head forward, so he could lean his forehead against hers. Her tears left wet splotches on her veil.

"Did you forget the promise I made to you?" he asked as he lifted her chin with his finger and carefully stroked it. "I wish you no different than you are, and I say again that I will stand by you no matter what comes."

Her chest rose and fell with uneven breaths and small gasps as she fought not to cry. Though she never said so, it was clear that she loved their king dearly. Pulling him to her, she let him fold her in his arms and hold her so close that they melded together. He tugged at her veil until it slid to the floor and wove his fingers into her hair. She whimpered out her pain and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm so tired, Thorin," she mumbled softly, "so tired of running and hiding and not belonging anywhere."

He rocked her like a babe and kissed her hair gently.

"Hush, Relianna, this will be your home, and my people will accept you. I will see to that."

Slowly, she picked herself up off him, held his cheeks, and gazed into his eyes sadly. He quickly took her hand and kissed it. Then she looked at Fili, Kili, and Dwalin and saw their astonished faces. Rubbing one eye with back of her hand, she turned to him wearily.

"Your best friends and kin don't think me worthy, my lord, and they are the ones who love you most. If they won't give me a chance, what makes you think your people would?"

Bending to the floor, she picked up her veil and shook it out. Then she pulled it on and arranged it around her carefully. Dipping into a graceful curtsy, she kept her eyes on the floor like a well-trained servant. Turning to Oin and Nella, she curtsied again. Thorin exhaled in consternation, but she took one step back.

"Thank you, my lord," she said, her voice breaking, "thank you for the happiest day of my life."

Then she turned and fled. She was already down the corridor and almost out into the main hall before he could stop her. He went after her, but two dwarves rounded the corner. She dodged nimbly around them, but he did not. They bowed hastily, and he waved his hand for them to move aside, but it was too late, and she lost herself in the crowds beyond. He scanned them until he realized that as soon as she joined the many other veiled maids in green, she simply walked away with them. Pounding his fist against the wall, he cursed loudly. Then he turned and walked back to the others with grim determination.

"What did she see on your faces that made her run?" he asked with forced calm.

Balin faced him, but the others dropped their eyes. Finally, Fili blew out his breath and looked his uncle in the eye.

"She looks more human than dwarf in some ways, and it surprised us is all."

"Surprised?" he countered with deadly quiet. He put his bunched fists on his hips and leaned forward slightly in challenge.

"She's not what we expected."

"I see."

Fili threw a glance to Dwalin, silently begging to step in. The old warrior huffed and worked his jaw before he stepped up to speak his mind. The crown prince relaxed and stood closer to his brother for support.

"Durin's beard, Thorin, of course we're not pleased with this, but I don't blame the lass. She can't help what she is."

"And just what is she?"

Suddenly, the ground beneath them threatened to cave if their next words weren't very, very careful. Balin studied his brother and the princes, sighed deeply, and glanced up at the ceiling, seemingly in prayer. Folding his arms across his chest in expectation of more doubts, Thorin waited silently, his blinking eyes his only movement.

"She's just as beautiful as her mother, Thorin," Balin said wistfully. The others wisely held their tongues. "Regardless of her blood, Tamra was kind, patient, and loving. When I took ill during a trip to the Iron Hills, she treated me like I was the most important person in her life and took such good care of me, that I left better than I came. I've never known anyone like her, and I can well believe what Dain felt and what you feel for Relianna."

Thorin relaxed slightly and nodded his approval. Tears gathered in his eyes. Balin acknowledged him and went on.

"However, we have our prejudices, laddie, one of which being that dwarves of mixed race are unacceptable. You as king know this better than most. She may be all that her mother was, but that won't be enough for our people to take her to heart."

Thorin absorbed Balin's words like a blow, and he crumpled and fell into a chair. The others sat around him. No one knew what to say next. Thorin looked off with his fist under his chin while the rest waited uneasily.

"She's what I want," he said firmly. "I won't do what Dain did and give her my love but not my hand. He told me to change all this, and I will."

"How?" Kili asked.

Sitting up with a new resolve, he steepled his index fingers against his mouth.

"First, we need to make sure she's protected. Then I will challenge Dain on the field of honor and force him to accept her. That will turn the tide in my favor."

The others chorused their disapproval, but he dismissed their concerns. Instead, he sent them out in pairs to find her, and he headed to Dain's guest quarters where he was intercepted by a servant.

"Princess Onkra says it's most urgent that she see you, Your Highness."

Up until that point, he had dodged or refused all requests. However, the timing of this one awoke a new fear in him, and he walked quickly to her chambers, wondering if it wasn't a coincidence. After he was announced, he strode into her receiving room where she waited with two maids, neither of them Relianna.

"My lord," she said triumphantly, "you've come at last. I have been most anxious to spend time with you. I feel that it will be rewarding to both of us."

He nodded and approached her carefully. Once again, something in her tone alerted him to danger, although he knew that she couldn't physically harm him. That is, unless she fell on him.

"Oh my," she said sarcastically, her sweet façade dropping like the curtain from a window, "so grave you are. Perhaps I can amuse you with the tale I wanted to tell. I find it most humorous. Oh, do be seated. Biscuits?"

He shook his head and clasped his hands behind his back.

"I prefer to stand, my lady," he said in a neutral tone. Irritation flashed across her face, but she waved her fat fingers to dismiss her maids. Then she trained her eyes on his face. Folded slits faced off against cold, blue eyes.

"As you will. Now to start. Once, not so long ago, very foolish lord fell in love with a mixed blood."

Thorin's face turned dark, but he kept himself in hand, knowing now what was coming. The veins in his neck bulged, and his jaw clenched until it ached, but outwardly he looked nonchalant.

"Throwing away all honor, he bedded his mistress, who bore his bastard. He believed her lies that the rat died in her womb, and he later wed a noble dwarrowdam. She loved him, but he spurned her, preferring the attentions of his whore. The lady died after giving birth to their only child, a child he could hardly bear to look at. Outraged by his treatment of her, the lady's family poisoned the whore when she returned to see her lover. Meanwhile, they searched for the bastard until by luck it unknowingly came to work as a servant."

Pursing his lips casually, Thorin relaxed his stance and gazed at her with studied boredom.

"Very interesting," he said, "and what do you mean by telling me this?"

She smiled with gratification and popped a biscuit in her mouth while watching him all the while. He was indeed a master player, but she knew she had backed the king into the corner. Once he lost his queen, she would win.

Dunking another biscuit into her tea, she took a deep breath and wriggled in excitement.

"Oh, I simply wondered why father's bastard fascinates you."

Thorin didn't move, but his expression said everything. Despite a flash of fear at his reaction, Onkra sat securely in self-righteous triumph. So there was someone watching, he realized, and Relianna must have suspected. All at once, he feared for her. Someone who killed her mother wouldn't hesitate to take her life once the opportunity presented itself. Her mother and grandfather were perhaps only one step ahead of assassins for the whole of her life.

"So what stopped your family from killing her when they had the chance?" he asked as calmly as he could manage.

She grinned in appreciation of his skill. He had out-maneuvered her for the moment, but she was sure she'd have her victory when all was said and done. She had planned for this moment for a very long time.

"You know the old phrase 'keep your friends close but you enemies closer'?" she replied.

He snorted in contempt and turned his face away. Thinking back, his decision to hide her with Oin probably saved her life. A cold stab of fear twisted his gut. Soon, if not already, those who wanted her dead would find her.

"You beat your own sister?" he asked, his voice rising.

At that, all pretense fell away, and she screamed from her seat.

"With pleasure! That bitch should never have been born! Soon Cousin Zozer will finish what he started so long ago. I'm only sorry you found out. Beating that skinny back was a rare treat."

Thorin paled. Zozer was widely known as a clanless dwarf who relentlessly tracked his targets. He rarely missed those he hunted, and being nondescript, he easily melted into the background. Dain would never have married Onkra's mother if he knew of that connection.

"So you're related to Zozer the shadow assassin?" Thorin shot back. "I'm not surprised." He eyed her with obvious disgust. "It may take some time, but we'll find him," he said with a confidence he didn't feel.

She crushed several biscuits in each hand so enraged was she, but he grinned wolfishly and flicked his fingers at her.

"But you, you're a rare sight. A dwarrowdam so hideous that you sicken those around you."

In response, she held out her arms and let the fat hang from her like sails.

"You think this is by accident? No, my good cousin"—she spat the word—"I couldn't beautiful, so I chose to be supremely ugly. No one loved me, and no one ever would, so I cursed the world and made it suffer. I worked at it for years, cultivating a perfect image. Tell me, how many names do you remember of those who came? Hmmm? Insipid wenches who all look the same, but I, I am unique. My name will live on while those pampered princesses fade into obscurity. I am Onkra, a masterpiece of ugliness that no one will forget!"

Thorin stared at her for a moment and then laughed heartily. She tried not to show it, but it unnerved her more than his anger.

"No," he said, "you're just an angry, spiteful child who wants to punish the world for the actions of one dwarf." He stood in front of her and leaned forward. "Even if you weren't blessed with beauty, you could have been loved for a kind heart. Relianna is generous and good because that's who she chose to be, and I don't care where she comes from. But you, I pity you."

For a moment, she fell silent while she thought through his words, and he saw a slight softening, a slight lightening of her spirit. Staring at him puzzled, she looked lost without her burning resentment. Then her face turned red, and she screamed like a loon in the night.

"I hate you! I hate all of you!" She threw biscuits at him, but they fell at his feet. "You think her honorable, but she traveled with her lover for years before she came to the Iron Hills. Now get out! I don't care if you're king. You're no better than my so-called father. Get out before I tell all of Erebor that you hurt me!"

He turned on his heel.

"No one would ever believe you, " he said over his shoulder, and he strolled to the door in deliberate insult. Standing in the entrance, he ran his eyes over her and smirked. "And those who might would cheer."

The four dwarves fanned out to find Relianna with Balin and Dwalin heading to the maids' quarters, thinking that she might hide herself among them, and Fili and Kili searching all the outdoor gardens, knowing that she loved being outside. They found her sitting mostly hidden in a secluded arbor in the spring garden.

"We came to say we're sorry," Fili said contritely. Kili looked pained and nodded at his brother's words. "We never meant to hurt you, and we don't care anymore what others think. You must be wonderful for uncle to love you, and you deserve a chance to prove it."

She looked up in amazement. Sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest, she pulled off her veil to appraise them and their words. They smiled apologetically, and though cautious at first, she hesitantly returned their smile. Feeling that all was resolved, they budged her over and plopped themselves down on either side. She found their expressions of utter relief endearing.

"I'll wager that your guilt was heavy to bear," she said dryly.

They raised their brows and chuckled with her.

"I admit that you surprised us, and old ways of thinking are hard to change," Fili said, "but it's more important that uncle's happy, and perhaps it's time to change those notions."

"Aye," Kili said. "I'd rather have a fun aunt who loves my uncle than a sour princess who cares only that she's queen. We know what you did for Lady Meera and Princess Faltha, and that took courage. That shows noble blood more than appearance."

She smirked and lifted one brow.

"So you think me ugly then?"

They blanched.

"Well, uh, not as such," Kili stuttered. "But we thought that maybe Onkra ate all your food, and you just needed fattening up a bit."

She gasped and broke into peals of laughter while the brothers grinned sheepishly. Then she grew thoughtful.

"There may be something to that," she said. "I've never had enough food to fill my stomach. I suppose a few good meals might help."

That was all she needed to say for the princes to grab her under her arms and announce that they were heading to the dining hall. Once outside, they told a guard to find Dwalin, Balin, and the king. Then they regaled her ears with descriptions of her next 10 meals.

"Easy now," she said after hearing about the various puddings, roasts, and platters available. "I'll have to take it slowly at first."

After getting word, Thorin headed to the dining hall and saw Fili and Kili holding forks stacked with an apple dessert and trying to feed her at the same time. Every time she opened her mouth to say something, a fork was shoved in.

"Enough! Enough!" she said, her voice muffled by cheeks full of apple crisp. "Mahal above, do you want to choke me?"

After swallowing the big lump, she looked up and saw Thorin standing there in thankful relief. She rose from her place and hurried toward him while he rounded the table.

"Sweet Relianna," he said hoarsely, "don't ever do that again." He grabbed her and ran his fingers through her hair and over her cheeks. Then he softly kissed her cheeks over and over until Fili cleared his throat. Instead of stopping, he held her face and kissed her full on the lips.

"I think that's our cue to leave," Kili said, and they shooed each other out the door.

Thorin picked her up in his arms and sat down in his chair with her on his lap. He kissed her fervently, and she clung to him.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," she said as she stroked his face, "but I just couldn't bear their condemnation."

He nodded with his head down. All he cared about was that he had her safe. A small voice asking if what Onkra said was true was pushed far down in his heart.

Please review, oh , and I want to write a story where all the male romantic leads of The Hobbit and LOTR meet to discuss the clichés they're subjected to, so if you know of obnoxious clichés, send them my way!