I actually wanted to post this tomorrow, but I could not wait myself! I am so looking forward to your reactions! I hope you like! ;)

They arrived in the Blue Mountains two weeks later. Thorin was welcomed at the gates by Balin, who was happy to see his king back and healthy...and happy. The old dwarf saw the change in his young king and smiled as he saw the bond that had developped between him and his wife. So the stay in Bree had served its purpose.

Balin warmly smiled at Brann and bowed before his queen, a gesture that Brann still had to become accustomed at. But first she took his shoulders and hugged him firmly.

'Thank you, master Balin. For taking care of everything and for allowing us to...settle things.' Brann told Balin and blushed slightly as the dwarf smiled at her with a fatherly expression.

'A strong king and queen are essential for a kingdom, lassie. And your love makes you both even stronger than you have been before.' Balin bowed again and walked towards his brother and his niece. Dis, Fili and Kili joined Thorin and Brann as they entered the mountain. All the dwarves on their paths bowed before the royal family and Brann did feel strange, but not necessarily in a bad way. These were her people and she had earned their respects on the battlefield as a healer, although healers were usually not that high in the dwarves respects because they neglected their martial skills in favor of their healing skills. Brann could not even hold a sword. She was afraid that the dwarves would see less of a queen in her if she did not change anything about it. But her self-concept as a healer made her refuse anything that had to do with weapons or wielding one herself. She had her dagger for self protection and that should suffice. Nevertheless Brann realised that maybe one day she would have to change her mind about this.

On their way to the royal chambers they passed the corridors leading to the mines. Brann knew only little about the class of the miners. They cherished their crafts and many held them in higher regard than their fighting skills. Brann knew that the miners mostly had given up their martial skills in favor of mining the mountain. What she did not understand was the fact that the miners were incorporated in a lower social class than the rest of the dwarves. She talked to Thorin about it as they walked down to the royal wing.

'I still don´t fully understand the concept of the dwarven class system. I understand that warriors hold the top of the social classes, followed by the craftsmen and then the merchants and at last the miners. Which brings me to my question. Why is the social system build that way?' Brann looked at Thorin who watched his wifes mind at work.

'What do you mean, why?' he chuckled. 'It has always been that way. The warriors protect our wealth and our treasures, thats why they top all the others in the social classes.'

'Yes, but without the miners and the merchants you would have no wealth in the first place.' Brann stated and chuckled as she saw Thorin pause.

'Thats a point. I have never seen it that way before.' Thorin admitted and frowned.

'I am not saying that your social class system is a bad thing! I was just wondering.' Brann assured her husband and king and walked up to him to wrap her arms around his waist. 'And who am I to criticise your class system?'

'You are the queen.' Thorin answered in all honesty. 'You have the right to criticise everything. And you do have a valid point there. What do you suggest, then?'

'I do not suggest anything!' Brann was surprised at her husbands question. 'I was only wondering. Would a change of your social class system even change the thinking of the dwarves? Would they even approve? It would be a drastic change!'

'Actually Frerin and I have talked about the exact same issues back when we were young dwarves. He had wanted to change the social class if he had been the next in line to the throne.' Thorin told Brann and felt a sting in his heart at the loss of his beloved brother.

Brann smiled as she remembered Frerin. 'Why am I not surprised. Frerin was do down to earth and humble. To him everyone was equal.'

'And what am I?' Thorin asked Brann amused.

Brann only smirked. 'You are authoritarian, but in a good way. You use your power and position as the king to lead your people in every way. They look up to you and they respect you. There is nothing bad in that.' Brann cupped Thorins cheek with her small hand. 'Frerin was not the crown prince. He had the liberty to think as he did. Responsibility makes people see things from a different perspective.'

Thorin laid his forehead against Branns and closed his eyes, smilling. 'Don´t ever think that you cannot speak open and honest in my presence, my queen. As my wife I cherish your opinion above the ones of my council. Thats authoritarian, too, isn´t it?'

'Yes it is, but I love my authoritarian husband.' Brann whispered and smiled against his lips as they crushed upon hers in a fierce kiss.

'And I love you, my queen.' Thorin mumbled and smiled as Brann chuckled as he lifted her up into his arms.

They arrived in their chambers in no time and Thorin kicked the door close with his foot.

'So? I am not your woman anymore?' Brann teased him and shrieked as he unceremoniously dropped her onto the bed and lunged after her. That night they had no need to keep quiet due to cracking beds or thin walls.

'Tired, are we?' Dis grinned as Brann came over to her chambers for breakfast. Thorin had left early that morning to preside over the council. Brann looked tired, but happy and Dis knew exactly that her brother was sitting at the head of the coucils table fighting his dreamy grin. At least he had Balin who could wake him up from his daydreams when it was necessary.

'Exhausted.' Brann grinned and tried to keep a straight face as she saw Fili and Kili storm into the room.

'If you keep it up you will have a dwarfling on your own very soon.' Dis blinked at her sister in law and laughed at her shocked expression.

'If she keeps up what?' Fili asked instantly and Brann sent Dis a look of reproach.

In the meantime Thorin had less fun than his wife. In the six months of his absence the council had refrained from taking any decisions and overflowed him with petitions and contracts. Especially the dwarves of the Ered Luin demanded his attention. The neighbouring kingdom made demands and claims that Thorin could only reject due to the fact that the dwarves from the Blue Mountains had grown prosperous, wealthy and powerful in the last years. Nevertheless the dwarf kingdoms needed alliances and trade to form a strong bond against any peril from the outside. The seven dwarven kingdoms were strongly decimated with the loss of Erebor, Moria, and the threatened Red Mountains. Erebor had been lost to a dragon, Moria to orcs and goblins and the Red Mountains had to fight the Easterlings from Rhûn. The Grey Mountains, Ered Mithrin, had been abandonned and the only dwarven fortresses left were the Iron Hills and the Blue Mountains.

Thorin had a safe alliance with his cousin Dain from the Iron Hills and his support in all things. The dwarves from Ered Luin were a different matter. Several dwarven lords shared the reign over various clans and because of that they had a certain amount of liberties face to face with Thorin although Thorin was a king. A king in exile. Thorin was of Durin´s Folk and that alone made him superior to the dwarf lords, but Thorins people were relatively new to the Blue Mountains and had to settle down first. Though the biggest part was already done, Thorins reign was still unfirm and there was alot of work to be done.

The dwarves of the Blue Mountains did feel a change in their royalties behaviour. Thorin and Brann could and would not hide their feelings for each other and the dwarves were happy to see their king and queen strong in every aspect of their rule. Most of them had accepted Brann and respected her as their queen. Only a few dwarves from different clans dared to openly defy Branns position. Days after Thorins and Branns return the council decided to submit the old proposal to Thorin to take a female dwarf from Ered Luin as a second wife again. Lady Daras father himself proposed it to Thorin, fully aware of the thunderous expression Thorin wore at that topic. Thorin was close to exploding and have the councildwarfs head for disrespecting Branns position as the queen as Balin interupted the discussion and tried to put oil on troubled water. The old advisor finally managed to shift the delicate topic into a later council meeting and planned to first talk to Thorin about this in private. As if all of this was no bad enough, the arrival of lady Dara at the very same day made things worse. Completely ignorant of her last parting from Thorin she rushed over to the king and pressed herself against him in a fierce embrace. Thorin was completely dumbfounded by her actions and just stood there, petrified. This was the moment Brann entered the hall. She immediately recognised the female dwarf hugging her husband and her expression grew thunderous. If the situation was not that dangerous Balin would have laughed at her expression, which ressembled Thorins so much.

'Lady Dara, what a pleasant surprise.' Brann clenched her teeth.

'Queen Brann.' Dara had the courtesy to bow and let go of Thorin as she faced the furious queen.

Thorin stood between the two females, wincing at their ice cold glares and looked somewhat overstrained. He finally cleared his throat and adressed Dara.

'Would you excuse us, my queen and I will retire to dinner.' Thorin managed to say and Dara bowed wordlessly. As Thorin turned around and walked away at Branns side he could feel his wife shake of fury. Softly he took his hand and flinched as she tore it away. Before they entered the dining hall Thorin pulled Brann with him and tried to talk to her between two pillars.

'Brann...' he started but he didn´t get far.

'Don´t Brann me!' Brann snarled. 'What is she doing here? And why the in the name of Mordor is she touching you?!'

'I do not know why she is here.' Thorin tried to assure his wife. Of course he knew that Dara was there to wait for his decision to take her as his second wife, although he would never agree to that. But Thorin looked at his wife and saw the fury in her eyes and felt the fear in her heart. They had grown close in Bree and they loved each other, but Thorin could not tell Brann about the councils proposal. He would never agree to it and therefore there was no reason to tell Brann about it and he did not want to hurt her. Brann was already insecure about the dwarves liking and accepting her, if she knew that they proposed a dwarven partner to the king to keep the line of Durin pure Brann would not take it well. 'Please, Brann. You have nothing to worry about. I do not care for lady Dara and I was about to push her away as you came in.' Oh dear, that sounded lame even in his ears.

'Sure.' Brann sighed and tried to turn away, but Thorin stopped her.

'Don´t you trust me?' he asked her and knew that he had no right to ask her that since he had already betrayed her once. But as Brann looked at him her eyes were warm and loving.

'Of course I trust you.' she insisted. 'But I do not trust her. And I do not want her to be near you.' After a longer pause Brann smiled sheepishly. 'You are not the only posessive one around here.'

Thorin let out a relieved smile and took his wife into his arms. 'Maybe we should skip dinner and come right to the posessive part?'

Brann playfully squirmed in his arms, but did not resist. She would not let the blasted lady dwarf ruin her evening with her beloved husband.

But the peace only lasted till the next morning. Thorin and Brann had breakfast in bed, habit they had started to follow since they were back from Bree. Even Brann had to admit that it was very enticing when servants brought the food to their chambers and they could indulge it in bed.

After breakfast Thorin went to the council and Brann decided to visit Dwana. She had not seen the young dwarf for a long time and she missed her. Brann did not even know what Dwana was doing now that she was in the Blue Mountains. Dwalin was back to his duties as captain of the guard and Dwana must have felt somewhat lonely. But before Brann could reach the wing where Dwana lived she bumped into the one and only dwarf which she did not wish to see.

'Good morning, my queen.' lady Dara smiled deceptively.

'Lady Dara.' Brann answered coldly. She was about to ignore the dwarf and walk around her as she heard her sneer.

'You are probably wondering why I am here?' Dara asked and grinned from one ear to the other.

'I do not care for your presence, lady Dara.' Brann shrugged her shoulders. 'Whatever your expectations may be, I do not care.'

'Oh, they are not only my expectations, your highness.' Dara smiled sweetly. 'Haven´t you heard yet? The council has proposed to king Thorin that he shall take a dwarven woman as his second wife. But I am sure that your husband informed you of that?'

Brann felt a sharp pain in her stomach and tried to hide her shock from Dara, but the dwarf had already seen the flash of pain in Branns eyes and smirked wickedly.

'Why should my husband need a second wife?' Brann asked coldly.

'You cannot expect that a child of yours will ever become the heir to the line of Durin?' Dara asked tauntingly. 'A child from a king of Durins folk and a woman from the race of men. Impossible. Durins blood needs to be kept pure.'

'The council expects Thorin to take a sceond wife to father an heir?' Brann wanted to make sure that she heard her right.

'Indeed. And I am the chosen one. I will carry Thorins heir. I will carry your husbands heir.' Dara had moved closer to Brann and whispered the last sentence into her ear. She could not see that Branns eyes widened in shock and disbelief. But Dara also did not see the cold fury which rose inside of Brann and the determined look on Branns face.

In her arrogance Dara had completely underestimated Branns fury. Suddenly she felt Branns fist in her hair, grabbing a big streak. Dara shrieked in surprise and pain as Brann started to pull her towards the gates. Dara tried to get away from Branns grasp, but in her anger Brann held the dwarfs hair in an iron grip. On their way to the gates many dwarves could not hide their surprise to see their queen drag a female dwarf out of the mountain by her hair. But most of them smiled in amusement.

As she reached the gates of the dwarven city Brann nodded to the gate´s guards, walked a few paces until she was definetly out of the city and hauled lady Dara out by her hair. Dara sighed in relief as Brann iron grip was off her scalp and glared at Brann furiously. She felt embarassed to be dragged out by the human queen.

'How dare you?' she shrieked in an high pitched voice. 'You have no right!'

'I have the only right!' Brann said quietly. 'I am the queen of the Blue Mountains and I will not watch some floozy throw herself at my husband.'

Dara was about to say something, but the guards had arrived and stood awaiting Branns commands.

'If lady Dara should dare walking back through those gates, please inform me personally.' Brann told the guards. 'I will escort her back to the gates myself then.' Turning towards Dara Brann whispered. 'And the next time you will lose more than a streak of your beautiful hair.'

The dwarf guards nodded and glared dangerously at Dara, who could not believe what Brann had done.

'Why you filthy human...' Daras ranting was cut short by a dwarf coming up the gates from behind her.

'Mylady dwarf, I do not know who raised you, but you should show more respect towards the queen.' the grey haired dwarf scolded her. He had a long grey beard and only one eye. He looked familiar to Brann, but she could not say why. Before she could adress her new guests properly the guards all fell to their knees.

'Hail Thrain, son of Thror!' they called out and Brann paled.

Before her stood Thrain, Thorins father. He had returned from the dead.