'Congratulations, my queen! And if I may add, it was about time!' lady Mya hugged Brann and chuckled at Branns blush.

'It wasn´t as if we were not trying.' she stated quietly and the two women burst into chuckles. 'As I went through my mood swings a month ago I was certain that I was pregnant, but I was not. I would be lying if I said that I wasn´t disappointed. Then I was afraid that it might never happen, since I am human and Thorin is a dwarf. But now that I think of it - why should it not have been possible?' Brann shook her head in embarassment. It was ignorant and stupid to believe that two people from different races could not become a child. 'I am glad to see that you are still here! Didn´t you want to leave for the Iron Hills?'

'Dain and I decided that we were of more use, here. With you and Thorin. Our kingdom is safe, we have loyal advisors and our head advisor is running the kingdom. He is Milas betrothed.' Mila was Myas oldest daughter and she had left for the Iron Hills a week ago, with half of the delegation, to take her parents place as ruler of the Iron Hills. Brann adored Dains family. Mya had become a close friend and her daughters and young Thorin were to become strong and confident rulers like their parents.

'Thank you.' Brann smiled at Mya warmly. 'It means alot to us that you stand at our side.'

'Our first demonstration of unity should take place this evening.' Mya told Brann. 'The celebration of Durins Day is an important one.'

Brann nodded and nervously placed her hand onto her stomach. This would be such an important evening and she hoped that she would get through it without vomitting. She reacted strongly to the smell of certain food and the smell of ale made her sick instantly. Mya noticed her worry and smirked.

'Don´t worry, if you get sick, then you get sick. There is nothing you can do about it.' Mya chuckled. 'Maybe you are lucky and throw up over lord Maras feet.'

Oin gave Brann a mixture of herbs and spice to chew in beforehand of the celebration. Brann chewed carefully and already felt how the herbs made her stomach feel at ease. Relieved and more relaxed she walked back to her chambers to dress for the formal occasion. She had invited Dis and Dwana over so that the ladies could get ready together. Dis was already fully dressed in a beautiful dark green gown and golden jewelry. Dwana wore a dark red gown with silver jewelry and Brann decided to go for a dark blue gown, matching Thorins royal tunic. Thorin had rebraided her hair in the morning, so that the braids and beads would shine in the queens hair and Brann had managed to braid his hair more professionally than she had expected herself.

'Good gracious, I should have prepared Fili and Kili together with us.' Dis sighed nervously. 'My father, Thorin and Dwalin will only make a mess.'

'They´ll manage, don´t worry.' Brann chuckled. Thrain had raised three dwarflings beeing Thorin, Frerin and Dis and she was sure that this had not been easy. In this moment the door burst open and Dis sons rushed in, followed by two very exhausted looking Durins. Dis looked over her sons for a moment and sighed in relief. Every piece of clothes was where it belonged and they were neat and clean.

'Ready?' Thrain grinned at his family and led them out of the royal wing.

In the throne room Thorin sat down on the throne and Thrain and Brann sat down at his right and left. Dis sat at her fathers side and Dwana beside Brann. Balin and Dwalin led the delegations into the throne room, beginning with lord Dain and his family. This first encounter was a friendly one, one to follow protocol, but the next delegation would be a bigger challenge. The next delegation was from Ered Luin and led by lord Mara and his wife Asif. They bowed before Thorin, but completely ignored Brann. Brann felt Thorin tremble slightly and quietly cleared her throat to calm him down. Thorin tried to hide his fury and welcomed the lord of Ered Luin in the Blue Mountains. A small delegation from the East also arrived, to the surprise of all. They had heard of the king and queen of the Blue Mountains and had taken the risk of the long journey to honor them. Their leader, an old dwarf from the clan of the Ironfoots and a distant relative of Dain, bowed before Thorin and Brann with outmost respect, much to the disdain of lord Mara and his wife.

A lord of every dwarven clan had arrived and bowed before the king and queen of the Blue Mountains in respect. Only few eyed Brann curiously and the queen could not deny to feel relieved anout the lack of hostility. She scolded herself for thinking that all dwarves were as ignorant and racist as lord Mara and his family.

After the dwarves came the delegations of men. Gondor, Rohan, Dunland, Tharbad and Bree. The son of the steward of Gondor, a young man named Denethor, bowed respectfully, as well as Thengel, king of Rohan. The men from Dunland were a wilder folk and showed less manners than their predecessors. The men from the seaport Tharbad seaked to establish new trading routes with the Blue Mountains and therefore tried to impress the royal couple of the Blue Mountains with an almost ridiculous display of their wealth, which in reality, was long gone. The mayor of Bree and a few of his councilmen had stepped forward behind the delegation from Tharbal and a gasp ran through their delegation as they recognised the former blacksmith and his wife. Struck speechless the mayor bowed before Thorin and Brann and fought for words.

'Mayor of Bree, welcome in the Blue Mountains.' Thorin helped him out and bought him some time. 'May you receive the same hospitality as we received as the guest of your town.'

Growing pale the mayor of Bree nodded and mumbled a polite reply before turning to the rest of the delegations.

'King and lords, dear friends, my kin - I welcome you to the Blue Mountains!' Thorin had stood up from his throne an adressed the room with a thunderous voice. 'I fell honored that so many of you found their way into my humble halls and decided to celebrate this important day with us. May this day strengthen old bonds and form new ones!'

The room disrupted with applause and for the first time Brann saw Thorin as the majestic king he was and not as her husband. He owned the whole room and the people inside of it. Even the dwarves from Ered Luin seemed to have forgotten their hostility and applauded.

'But - as it is custom with my people, we will continue diplomatic relations over dinner and ale!' Thorin continued and soon the delegations moved over to the great hall, which had been prepared under the lead of Dis and Brann. Bombur had prepared a massive buffet and countless barrels of ale had been brought up to the hall. The delegation stared at the hall in awe as they entered. Dis and Brann had decorated the ceiling with flowing white drapes and had clad the pillars in white fabric. Huge silver vases with white flowers stood on the tables and the light of hundreds of slim candles enlightened the great hall.

'It looks like the snow queen blew up.' Dwalin remarked dryly and received a hidden punch by Dis. Brann only grinned at the captain of the guard.

'It looks beautiful!' lady Mya exclaimed. Her husband and her son looked as if everything looked the same as usual.

But apparently the regale look of the great hall appealed the guests and the celebration started without hesitation. Thorin and Brann walked over to the delegation of Bree where they were overwhelmed by various apologies and also allegations about why they had not revealed their true identity to the men of Bree.

'We did not visit Bree as the king and queen of the Blue Mountains, my lord.' Brann tried to assure the mayor. 'We came to your town as a dwarven blacksmith and his healer wife. No more, no less. And our stay was wonderful, but for the unfortunate incident with the ranger, which was not your fault.'

'Then why were you in Bree?' one of younger councilmembers wanted to know.

'This, young man, is none of your business.' Thorin grumbled and earned a scolding but yet loving look from Brann. 'Excuse me.'

As her husband left Brann turned back to the young man. 'What my husband meant to say was that we had our private reasons to stay in Bree. It served its purpose. But before I forget - have my husbands weapons helped you in the fight against the orcs?'

'They have indeed, very much.' the mayor answered. 'We could not have asked for better weapons. Yet, we are desperately in need of men who can wield them properly. A young ranger named Aragorn came to Bree with a few of his men. A dark young fellow, but he is a fierce fighter. But still, the few rangers are not enough. Our townsmen are craftsmen and merchants, no warriors. And it seems as if the orcs become more every day.'

'I understand.' Brann nodded. 'Maybe today we will be able to form a strong bond of trade, as well as an alliance against the foul goblins and orcs.'

'The dwarves of Ered Luin have always hidden inside of their mountains instead of fighting the orc filth.' another coucilman of Bree remarked. 'We do not await any help from them.'

'I see.' Brann could not say that she was surprised. 'The dwarves of the Blue Mountains are not as many as in Ered Luin, but I am sure that we will find a way which benefits all.'

'A very intriguing idea, queen Brann.' the mayor of Bree nodded. 'I guess we will have a very eventful evening today, then.'

'I am sure of it.' Brann smiled and eyed the delegation from Tharbad. 'If you gentlemen will excuse me, I will welcome the other delegations.'

The men of Bree bowed as Brann walked away and looked after the young queen in awe. She was a different person from the woman they had met in Bree, the timid and quite young healer. But she had managed to make quite an impression and the men of Bree started to engage into conversations with the other delegations of men remembering Branns words.

Meanwhile, Brann had reached the delegation from Tharbad. 'My lords, welcome to the Blue Mountains.'

'Queen Brann, it is a pleasure to finally meet you.' the head of delegation exclaimed. 'The tale of your marriage to a dwarf king has reached our ears last year and I have to say that we were all very surprised. Never before has a human captured a dwarven heart.'

'There is a first time for everything, my lord.' Brann smiled and searched for Thorin in the great hall. She found him with the delegation from the east and smiled at him lovingly.

'Indeed.' the head of the Tharbad delegation smiled at the obvious love between the king and queen. 'Such love is rare and beautiful. Cherish it as long as it lasts.'

Brann focused back onto the man as she heard the sad tone in his voice. She took a closer look at the men from Tharbad and noticed that they were all tired and unhealthy. Their skin was pale and grey and they had dark shadows under their eyes. Tharbad was a seaport, a very important one at that, but the downside of a seaport was that deceases and illness spread over such towns first. Brann healer instincts kicked in before she knew it.

'Are you and your men not well?' Brann worried for the men, but instantly another worry stung in her heart. The worry for her unborn baby.

'We are only tired, queen Brann.' the lord of Tharbad assured her. 'We had to fight pirates from our port and half our city guards was sick from the flue. It was a hard week.'

'We feel honored that you decided to visit us after all.' Brann said politely, but then quickly excused herself and moved to the delegation from Rohan and Gondor. The men from Rohan were very polite, but distant at first and the men from Gondor were arrogant and proud. Denethor seemed to not understand that Brann had chosen a dwarven husband over a man. Brann needed all her willpower to stay polite. Denethor irritated her. He was very goodlooking and he knew it. And apparently he thought that women were all charmed by his looks, because he started flirting with Brann although she did not give him any attention. Thengel watch in amusement as Denethor managed to scare the queen of the dwarves away with his "charm". The king of Rohan respected Thorin and Brann for their relationship, he knew that it could not be easy. He managed to catch up with Brann a few moments later.

'Queen Brann, may I have a word with you?' Thengel asked quietly. As Brann nodded and smiled he continued. 'I apologise for my friend, Denethor. Sometimes he is too sure of himself.'

'Thats quite alright, king Thengel. No need to apologise.' Brann stated and she meant it. Denethors flirting had been harmless and no comparison to the rangers behaviour back in Bree. 'No harm was done.'

'Dwarves are very posessive, but I am sure that you know that.' Thengel smirked. 'I do not want Denethor to cause trouble between you and your husband.'

'Do not worry, king Thengel.' Brann assured him and took a closer look at the young king. It seemed to her that many kings of Middle Earth were younger than they should be. Which meant that the kings tended to die early and their sons had to take over sooner than expected. Same with Thorin, although he had been lucky and his father had come back to him. 'We feel honored by your presence and the presence of Gondors leader.'

'To be honest, my visit does have a political purpose.' Thengel remarked. 'The lands of the Rohirrim have been swarmed with orcs lately. The war between the orcs and dwarves have drawn them to the lands of men. They could not defeat the dwarves and now they have come into our lands. I am here to ask for king Thorins support in that matter.'

Brann sighed deeply. Thorin would be the last to deny them any help, but the dwarves of the Blue Mountains were not in the position to share out their soldiers in the lands of men. But she could also understand king Thengels position.

'I am not sure if my husband can support you with troops, but I am sure that support of another kind might be appreciated?' Brann asked evasively. 'And it would be the councils duty to decide, not my husbands alone.'

'That is understood, queen Brann.' king Thengel smiled. 'The dwarves are wise in their use of councils. Although it does slow some processes down. May I ask - are you part of the council?'

'No, I am not.' Brann answered and frowned. 'I do not think any queen of the dwarves has ever been part of their councils before. But Thorins sister lady Dis sometimes takes the head of the council when my husband is away. She is a fierce dwarf and she is respected amongst her kin and beyond.'

'I want to be perfectly honest with you, queen Brann.' Thengel stated. 'As the news of your marriage to Thorin Oakenshield spread, most had no understanding for such a pairing. My own council waited for the Blue Mountains to errupt in chaos and resistance against a human queen. Never before we had heard of a dwarf who had taken a wife from a different race and now the king of Durins Folk chose a woman from the race of men. As we learned that you had been accepted by king Thorins people my council was eager to use the "human influence" in the Blue Mountains to our favor, but now after what I have witnessed I think this would be a futile idea.'

'And why is that, king Thengel?' Brann was surprised by the kings honesty.

'Forgive me for being so bold, but the love between you is obvious, as is your unity. King Thorin is very lucky to have found a wife like you and I am sure that he would not have found his perfect match within his own people.' Thengel smiled. 'You do not have a sister, by any chance?'

His question caused Brann to laugh merrily. She talked to Thengel for a while longer before she joined Dis at the royal table. Thorin was still standing with the dwarves of Ered Luin, which made Brann frown.

'What is it, sister?' Dis asked as she saw Branns frown.

'Thorin only speaks to the dwarves.' Brann remarked. 'And I have only talked to the delegation of men. This will look as if we can´t handle the race of the other.'

Dis understood the dilemma and stood up determinately. 'You are right. We still have a couple of moments before dinner will be ready. I will go over to the men and you can join Thorin or speak to the delegation from the east.'

The two women stood up and walked over to the delegations, starting conversation.