Here's, a short summer chapter that I hope will whet appetites, remind you dear readers that the story is still out there, and bring in more friends to enjoy the tale. Please review, and let me know that you all haven't taken a break from reading! And hey, southern hemisphere readers, how are you doing with the cold?

Chapter 32

"He's determined that you take your rightful places," Lord Kerba said, "and we can't hold him back forever. I suggest you both decide what you want with him and soon."

"So what do you think about Lord Dain, sister?" Frain asked. It was the day after Lord Kerba and his charming daughter came to visit, and brother and sister had postponed any discussion until both were better rested.

"I'm trying not to," she said with her eyes on the ceiling. He grimaced and leaned back against his mound of pillows.

"That's not helpful."

She sighed and rolled over to face him. The last thing she wanted to deal with was the blustering dwarf who would not leave well enough alone—leave them alone. His many notes lay unanswered on a night table, and Nella was forced to play messenger for all his mournful pleadings. Everyone was running interference for them, but Relianna and Frain knew that confrontation was coming and that everyone's efforts were only delaying the inevitable.

"I don't feel like I've had time to sort out my own thoughts," she said. Frain gave her his complete attention, as he always had, and she loved him for it. His blue eyes were wide and focused on her face like what she had to say might change the world. In her mind, whomever ended up with her brother would be a lucky lady indeed if only he would see that such a life was possible. "I was always attending Onkra and handling, um, other matters …"

"You mean recovering from terrible beatings?" asked Frain, his voice hard. "If I'm grateful to Lord Dain for anything, it's for sending Onkra to the dungeons. I'm sure that the Durins have contrived to make her stay as uncomfortable as possible, and I'm grateful for that as well."

Relianna smiled in spite of herself until she saw her brother's seething anger. "It's in the past, Frain, but I'm so muddled."

"It's understandable," he said. "He is our father, and he abandoned our mother, but he didn't know she had us, but he should have stood by her anyway, and then he didn't believe Thorin when he said that you were his daughter, but he killed Zozer and sent Onkra to the dungeons, and now he wants to see us to make amends and offer us our birthrights. Did I get all of it?"

"Yes," she said, "and I can't wrap my head around it just yet."

Frain said nothing but watched the pain twisting on Relianna's face. "Come here, sweetheart, and give your Bear a hug." She leaned into his open arms, and he held her close. "All will be well, but we are healers, and we did swear an oath to heal any ills, so far as it is in our power. Could that not also extend to sickness of the heart?"

He lifted her face, smiled into her reddened eyes, and kissed her cheek.

"You were always more soft-hearted than me," she said with a sniffle and wipe of her nose before she scrunched up her face. "Except where Onkra is concerned."

"Well," he replied, "there are limits. Besides, that's the only medicine that might—and I say might—cure her illness. But no, my life was different than yours. I had more freedom and less hardship .…"

"And mother was always careful to hide her sadness when she saw you since it wasn't as often as she liked."

"She didn't hide it as well as she thought," he said with a sad downturn of his mouth. They sat and said nothing while thinking through their memories. "So do we accept Lord Dain as our father with all that implies? Do we allow him to have his say and try to make amends?"

"I don't know," she replied, "but I think I want to go somewhere to sort this out for myself."

"Leave the infirmary?"

"Yes," she said. "I need to make up my mind away from everyone."

"Even from Thorin?"

She hesitated at that question. He would support whatever decision she made regarding Lord Dain. At least she hoped so. He wouldn't force his opinion on her. Even though Lord Dain was his cousin. She was almost sure he wouldn't.

"He wouldn't, Relianna," Frain said. "I know what you're thinking, and he loves you and will support whatever decision you make."

"Even so, Frain, I want to make it by myself," she said. "My whole life has been a lie, and the father I thought I had never existed. Ah! What a mess! I need to come to terms with that before I can think about Lord Dain."

Frain's face took on a somber cast, and his head dropped. "I know. That's a lot for anyone to sort through, but I can't leave here yet." A sound made them freeze. "Quick! They're coming! Close your eyes."

Balin opened the door a crack to reveal Relianna and Frain curled on their cots with blankets up to their shoulders. "They're sleeping, Dain. Do you want me to wake them, so you can assuage your guilt?"

"I don't like your tone."

"No, I didn't suppose you would," Balin said. "Ah, brother! Come to take a shift?"

Dwalin gave Nella a smile and his brother a nod before taking his turn in front of the door and folding his arms over his chest. Dain was incensed after hearing of Lord Kerba's visit yesterday.

"If they're well enough to see Kerba, who's nothing to them, they're well enough to see me," he said. "I'm their father!"

"Since when?" Dwalin asked. Dain drew back at his words, his nose wrinkling in offense, but Dwalin stood his ground and matched glare for glare. "Don't think I'm letting you in there to wake them up."

"What would you do to stop me?"

Dwalin grinned and lifted his chest. "We're in the infirmary, so try me if you want to make use of it."

Their loud words did not wake up brother and sister since they weren't asleep to begin with.

"Reli?"

"Yes, Frain?" She opened one eye. "Is the door shut?"

He nodded and rose up on his elbow to listen in on Dwalin's stolid defense of them. The Lord of the Iron Hills had a lilting voice that rose and fell with every blast of anger, but Dwalin's voice never changed its pitch or volume. Word for word, he batted down Dain's arguments for admittance.

"And to think that he didn't like you at first, Reli," Frain whispered. She snorted with delight after another one of Dwalin's barbs hit the mark. Lord Dain stormed out of the door shouting that he was going to speak to Thorin about this outrage.

"He didn't at first, but mostly because he was worried about Thorin. It was understandable, I suppose. I could have been a fortune hunter."

"You? Hardly," Frain said while trying to picture that scenario. After only a moment of imagining, he blinked away the thought. "Thorin not getting what he wanted should have convinced them of that straight away." He paused at her coy smile. "He didn't, did he? Reli? Relianna, answer me." She held her hands over her mouth, and her eyes danced with mirth while she struggled not to laugh at his brotherly indignation.

"Of course not," she said, "but he was quite persuasive." Frain pulled a face and lowered himself back on the cushions degree by degree so as not to jar his head.

"I'll bet he was."

The door opened again, and Balin poked his head in.

"Coast is clear, you two, if you want to move about." Relianna nodded, but Frain waved his hand.

"I'm not up to it just yet," he said. He shook his head at her questioning look. "I'm still too unsteady on my feet, love, and with my nausea, I'd have to walk around with a bucket in hand."

She sat on the edge of his bed, and he put his arm above his head. "I don't like this, Frain," she said. "This is taking far longer than the other times." Picking up her hand, he interlaced their fingers and rubbed his against hers.

"I know, but I was a child then and closer to the ground," he said. Leaning forward, she kissed him on his damp brow. "You're still too pale," she said, "and you're not eating. Brother, you need to force yourself or you'll not recover. You know this as well as me."

He nodded and sagged into the bed.

"I know," he said, "but I'm drinking at least. How's my head?"

She turned his head to one side and felt through his hair. It was so thick that she almost had to dig her way through. Turning aside section after section, she found the edges of the dark bruise. She took care not to tug on his hair or press against his skin. Even so, he winced every so often.

"Sorry," she said, "I'm being as gentle as I can."

"I know," he said through a tight mouth. "How bad is it still?"

She examined the back of his neck and was pleased to see that there was no new bruising, but the swelling still hadn't gone down.

"The bleeding has stopped at least," she said with a decisive nod. Her probing reawakened his pain though, and he screwed his eyes shut and lay on his side.

"But?"

"But the bruise hasn't broken up yet."

He tapped the back of his head gingerly, and his face turned gray. "That enough, Frain," and she called over her shoulder for Bemma, asking her to make up another dose of his medicine and a painkiller.

"She'll be right in," Relianna said. "The herbs are already ground." She watched a little smile form. "So brother, so do you have any feelings for Bemma? Beyond gratitude, I mean?" His little smile faded.

"You know such a thing's impossible, so I'd rather you not bring it up." She shook her head and leaned in to fill his view. Opening his eyes, he flinched away. "Why would anyone want a bleeder? She's seen me at my worst. Would she want this for the rest of her life? She does what she does out of kindness, and I'm not interested in pity. You know I'm not." Relianna smirked at his refusal to see what was becoming more and more apparent.

"Why don't you ask her?" She grinned at his flabbergasted expression. "Why don't you? Scared, Frain? You like her, don't you? Don't forget that I can read you too." His head dropped on his chest.

"I don't know what I feel, Relianna," he said, shaking his head at her skeptical expression. "I choose not to dwell on it."

Bemma knocked on the door, interrupting their discussion, and Relianna waved her in with exaggerated cheerfulness while Frain groaned and tossed an exasperated glance at his sister.

"Did you add the sedative along with the pain killer?" Relianna asked. Bemma nodded and turned to Frain. His face was turned aside, so he missed Bemma's subtle efforts to steel herself before she went up to him. However, Relianna didn't miss a thing and hoped that her brother might one day soon be happy in love.

"No, no more sedatives," he said, but both women knew that his protests were only a façade and that he was growing more fatigued by the second.

"Can you manage … Frain, or do you need help?" Bemma asked. Relianna heard the ever-so-slight quaver in her voice and hid a smile. He tried to hold the glass steady, but his hand shook, so Bemma once again lifted his head to help him get it down. After he emptied the glass, he turned to his sister.

"Go, Relianna, go find some peace. I'll handle things here." He lifted one corner of his mouth at her concern for him. "I can manage." His eyes fell next on her friend. "Relianna needs to think through all that's happened, Bemma," he said. His voice was soft and even affectionate, and she blushed at his use of her name. "Help her get somewhere safe, then let me know where she is. Do you want Thorin to know where you are, sweetheart?"

After a moment, Relianna shook her head. "I need to be alone, but not for long, I hope."

"That'll hurt him," he said, "You know it will, but I'll do my best to explain. He'll search for you, you know that, so go now. He's not due to come for some hours yet."

The women nodded, and Relianna asked for her maid's dress. "Get some of our friends, Bem, and I'll walk out with them. They'll never think to count us."

Bemma nodded, and Frain smiled and closed his eyes. "She deserves peace in her life," he said in a sleepy voice. Soon, he drifted off to sleep, and a few locks dropped near his mouth. Without thinking, Bemma smoothed his hair away from his face. Her fingers stayed in his long curls much longer than they needed to.

"Do you like him, Bem?" Relianna asked. Her friend jerked her hands out of Frain's hair, struggling to extricate golden strands that caught on her fingers. She flushed a deep red and kept her eyes on his face before she turned to face Relianna.

"I don't allow myself to think on that, Relianna," she said, almost repeating Frain's words. "He's a prince and far beyond me."

"He may not choose that, Bem. Right now he's a healer and that's all."

"Even so, he's not for the likes of me. Mahal, Reli, look at him! He's the most beautiful dwarf I've ever seen. I get goosebumps just looking at him, and when he smiles at me I forget to breathe. Even if he wasn't, he's brave, loyal, and loving. Who could want for more? You've heard the maids, and I've heard everyone else. He's the talk of Erebor. What would he want with me?"

Relianna patted the chair next to Frain, and Bemma sat down reluctantly.

"That's the same thing I thought about Thorin at one time, and now look at me," she said. "You could have the same. I'd like that. We could be sisters then as well as friends." They turned to watch Frain sleep, and Bemma once again touched the golden hair that streamed over the pillows.

Perhaps some of you are disappointed that Thorin and Dain and perhaps Frain don't get into it in this chapter, but in the next sparks will fly and flames will rise! Of what kind, passion or anger, who can tell? Stay tuned, and please review!