Time for more fluff...and a tiny little bit of smut ;) But only a wee little bit...

Brann spend the next day on the training ground. She still hated weapons, but she trained for her physical strength and for her body. The weapons training made her feel stronger and confident. She was about to swirl the heavy dwarven sword around as she felt watched. Turning around, she gazed into the shadow behind the pillars, but she did not see anyone. Sighing, she grabbed another sword and continued her training. She liked to wield two swords at once, because a shield was too heavy and two swords gave her a feeling of balance. Brann smirked as she had to think about her nephews. Kili was very good with a bow and Fili had started to train with two swords, like his aunt. She had always thought that they would copy everything their uncle would do, but it had been her choice of weapons which had influenced the dwarflings more.

Suddenly a cold shiver ran down Branns spine and she lashed out in reflex. Thorin had once told her that such an instinct might save her in battle. But of course his wife would never ever take part in a battle. The iron of Branns sword clashed against another metal. Brann sucked in her breath as she looked right into lord Ahrans smug face.

"Queen under the mountain.' he greeted her. He had caught the blow with an iron bracelet around his lower arm.

'Lord Ahran." Brann stepped back immediately. She did not like the look he gave her. He reminded her a little bit of the ranger in Bree. Brann cursed under her breath and asked herself why she attracted such men.

'A woman like you should not fight like that.' Ahran stated arrogantly.

'And why is that?' Brann cocked an eyebrow at him.

'You have a husband who will protect you. At least I would, if you were my wife.' Ahran smirked at Branns frown.

'I do not need any protection in my husband's mountain.' Brann practically snarled. 'And I am capable of defending myself.'

Ahran looked at her in surprise. 'Would you honor me with a demonstration?'

Brann did not want to demonstrate anything, but the lords smug expression angered her. 'Fine.'

The queen of the Blue Mountains held up her swords and Ahran grabbed one of the blunt training swords. He would not make the first move, so Brann charged him. Her taking the first step seemed to surprise him and the lord of the Haradrim fell back. He had to duck as a powerful blow of both swords barely missed him.

'You fight as well as a man, queen.' he stated dryly and had to admit that the queen impressed him.

'I was about to say the same about you.' Brann remarked and made him laugh.

'What is going on here?' a deep and booming voice made Brann and Ahran jump. Thorin emerged from the shadows with his hand over the hilt of his sword. He looked furious and Brann winced.

'Lord Ahran joined me in combat training, my king.' Brann hoped that Thorin would not be mad at either of them. She had done nothing wrong, but she knew that Thorin was very possessive.

'You have a marvellous queen, king Thorin.' lord Ahran bowed at both, Thorin and Brann this time. 'Maybe I should return to my men. We will meet again in council, this afternoon.'

Thorin watched with a frown as Ahran walked back to the higher levels. As he turned back to his wife, the frown deepened.

'Oh, do not give me that look, Thorin.' Brann said and sheeted her swords.

'Did he do something to you?' Thorin asked and grabbed his wife by her arms, looking her up and down.

'No, he did not. As I said, he joined me in weapons training.' Brann assured him.

'You never let me train with you.' Thorin almost sounded hurt and Brann tilted her head at him.

'You have better things to do than that. More important things.' she winced as she saw Thorins thunderous expression.

'I have nothing better to do than teach my wife how to defend herself. You could just have asked.' Thorin looked so much like Kili in this moment that Brann could not be annoyed at his controlling manor. She grabbed his chin and pulled the king close for a kiss.

'Alright...then train me.' Branns chuckle died on her lips as her husband let go of his sword and pressed his lips onto hers.

'Amad, Adad!' Gwen greeted her mother and father as they returned to their chambers, both with a dreamy grin on their face. 'Cousin Fili and Kili will join us in the play for Durins Day!'

'But the play is supposed to be performed by dwarflings of your age, is it not?' Brann asked her daughter and Gwen chuckled.

'Fili and Kili caused a small fire in the lower kitchens.' Gwen grinned. 'Master Bombur lost his eyebrows as the frying pan caught fire! Thankfully not his wonderful beard!'

Thorin shook his head about his nephews mischief. It had to come to this one day. 'So Dis made them participate in your play as a punishment?' he asked and smirked at his daughters laughter.

Durins Day was upon them faster than the blink of an eye. Thorin and Brann had invited the delegation from the Haradrim to join them on Durins Day. Lord Ahran had new found respect for Brann after their skirmish and did not longer ignore her anymore. He watched her when he thought that neither Thorin nor Brann were looking, but of course Thorin noticed. His posessivness caused Dis to invite the three princesses for sleepovers more often, since the passionate and often not so quiet lovemaking of their parents was nothing for small dwarfling's ears. Brann did not complain and enjoyed her husbands rough hands on her skin and his lips on hers while he took her. But he was not the only one claiming the body of the other. The morning of Durins Day, Brann awoke before Thorin and decided to wake her husband.

Thorin awoke with his wife straddling his hips and pulling the sheets over them.

'My love...' Thorin whispered hoarsely. 'Our daughters are in their rooms.'

'Then we will have to be very quiet.' Brann smirked and bit her bottom lip as she felt Thorins manhood twitch against her thighs. She began to move her hips against her husbands erection and chuckled at his gasps.

Brann let her hands wander over Thorins chest and played with the collar of his tunic, while Thorins breath came out in erratic pants. Even after all these years, her husband's body was a pleasure to look at. Brann loved the toned muscle, the tick hair and warm skin. She would never grow tired to look at him. Thorin smiled as he saw the look in his wife's eyes.

'Kili always looks that way when he looks at chocolate.' he teased her and laughed at her blush.

'You are way better than chocolate.' now it was Branns turn to tease and she playfully began biting her way down Thorins neck to his nipples. Thorin fought back a growl as Branns teeth closed over his nipple. He tried to roll over, but Brann took his wrists and pinned them down beside Thorins head. Thorin could have easily freed himself of his wife's grip, but he liked it when she took over command over their lovemaking. His head fell down onto the pillows as Brann rubbed her core against his hard erection and moaned quietly as her tongue trailed over his chest and his collarbones.

'Mahal, woman, do not tease me that way.' he begged, but Brann only chuckled.

'This is my revenge for you calling me woman again.' she stated, started licking her way up his jaw and nibbled his sensitive ears.

Thorin arched his back and opened his mouth in a silent cry, fighting not to utter a sound.

'Shhhh...' Brann whispered in his ear and grinned against the shell of his ear. 'This time I will have you breathless and panting below me.'

The queen of the Blue Mountains nuzzled her nose against her husband's bigger one and kissed his lips while she started to pull up her dress from between her and Thorin. As their skin touched Thorin could feel her wetness against him and growled deeply. Brann tilted her hip and made him slip into her hot core. Both moaned quietly as they became one and slowly Brann began to move with torturing rolls of her hips.

'Mahal, you are killing me.' Thorin whispered and fought the urge to groan in his pleasure.

Brann rolled her hips in sensual circles and clenched around her husband now and then, making him grab her hips and leaving bruises. Thorin could not help but look up at the beautiful woman riding him. Brann was arching her back and bit her lips in pleasure, leaving Thorin to the sight of her barely covered breasts and her long waving hair, both bouncing up and down with her movements. Thorin could have watched his wife ride him all day, but he felt his release near. He did not want to finish without her, so he moved his fingers to the small pearl between her legs and started stroking.

Branns mouth opened in a silent cry as she stumbled over the edge together with Thorin. They rode out their orgasms and moaned into each others mouths. Thorin felt as if bathing in dragon fire. Branns hot skin on his, him still being fully clothed, the sheets covering them both and the aftermath of his climax made him sweat.

'You...I am melting!' Thorin exclaimed and made Brann laugh. He hissed as Brann pulled away from him as their daughters steps echoed on the stone floor. The queen threw the sheet over her husband and jumped up with a last blink back to the bed. Thorin growled into the pillows as he heard his daughters giggle and his wife laugh in the nearby rooms. He would have a stupid dreamy grin on his face all day, he knew it.

'It is a song of men.' Dis told lord Ahran. 'It is called "You are my sunshine". Personally I do not really understand why sunshine makes men happy, but apparently it works.'

'I could not live without the warm caress of the sun on my skin.' Ahran looked up to the cold ceiling of the mountain. 'But I guess these are simply the few but dinstinct differences between our people.'

Dis nodded in agreement as they sat down beside Thorin and Brann who were already watching the stage. Brann was holding Belladonna who had closed her hands around one of her father's braids. As she began chewing on Thorins marriage bead, the king and queen could only chuckle. Their attention shifted to the stage as the curtains dropped and a line of dwarflings came onto the stage. Dis gasped as she saw her sons. The dwarflings were dressed as sunflowers. They word green trousers and green tunics and a yellow ring of flower petals around their faces. They all looked adorable, but Fili and Kili were older than the rest and therefore taller. The two dwarves in their puberty looked as if they wanted to die right there and right now.

'By Durin, they are sooooooo cute!' Dis had to choke her laughter behind both her hands. Thorin managed to keep a straight face and Brann did not even bother to cover her grin.

Then the dwarflings began to sing:

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,

you make me happy, when skies are grey,

you never know, dear,

how much I love you,

so please don't take my sunshine away.

Dis nearly died of laughter as her boys started singing and dancing with the smaller dwarflings. Thorin and Brann tried to hide their laughter and lord Ahran watched in amusement.

'Do you really think that this will keep them from causing mayhem?' Ahran blinked at Dis.

'No.' Dis chuckled and shook her head. 'But at long as the only damage are the burned eyebrows of our cook, I can live with it.'

Later that evening, the dwarflings took a bath in the thermal caves of the Blue Mountains. Fili and Kili watched over their royal cousins while some male dwarflings tried to woo them. As one of them came too close to Zial, Kili rushed between them and gave the boy a piece of his mind. As a reward, Zial gave him a slap against the back of his head.

'How dare you?' she snarled. 'I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!'

'Uncle Thorin told us to...' Kili started but Zial glared at him.

'What did adad tell you?' she grinded her teeth. 'Are you his eyes and ears? Will you inform him of everyone of my steps?'

Kili pulled up his shoulders. 'Fine. Go and learn for youself that dwarves are scum.' Kili pouted and retreated back to his brother.

'Smooth, little brother.' Fili smirked. Kili only glared daggers at him and crossed his arms over his chest. In this moment the dwarfling who had talked to Zial returned to his person of interest and Kili stiffed. He watched the dwarfling move closer and closer towards his cousin and took a deep breath. Before Fili could stop him, Kili dove down into the water and swam to Zials aid. Fili watched in amusement as the boy close to Zial jumped and shrieked in a high pitched sound. He held his bottom and shouted SNAKE! causing everyone to flee out of the water. Kili emerged from the water beside Fili and began to spit and curse.

As another boy approached Gwen, Fili grinned at Kili who only shook his head. 'Do not look at me, I will not bite anymore butts.'

'We need to lock our daughters into their rooms.' Thorin informed Brann as they were ready to go to bed.

'Why is that?' Brann looked at her husband in surprise.

'Kili told me that one of the dwarflings from the play tried to woo Zial.' Thorin grumbled and frowned at his wife's laugh. 'That is not funny! Our daughters are growing up!'

'Yes, they are, my dear husband.' Brann teased him. 'And there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Did you seriously make your nephews watch out for them? No wonder Zial was mad at you today.'

Zial had stormed into her room and had slammed the door as she and Gwen had come back from the caves. She had only glared at her father and had not come to dinner.

'There is alot I can do about it.' Thorin growled. 'They are way to young to have any interest in dwarves.'

'If they are only a tiny little bit like you, forbidding them to meet other dwarves will only push them further.' Bran scolded her husband. She was about to scold him further, but Gwens little voice made both turn around.

'Gimli asked me if I could show him some of my books tomorrow.' Gwen told them shyly. 'Please, adad, can I go? We will meet in the library with Ori. He is the apprentice of the scribe. Can I go?'

Thorin was about to say over my dead body, as Brann laid her fingers over his mouth and kept it shut. He only mumbled against her fingers and his eyes widened in shock as he heard Branns answer.

'Of course, my little gem.' Brann smiled at her daughter. 'Why don't you show him your book of ancient dwarven history? Maybe that will be of interest to the young dwarf.'

Of course, Brann knew that Gimli was not the least interested in books and the book about ancient history was by far the most boring one. If Gimli was truly interested in her daughter, he would suffer through it. If not, he would leave early. Brann hissed as Thorin bit into her fingers. Before he could say something against her previous answer, she quickly grabbed a small chunk of bread from the dinner table and shoved it into Thorins mouth. A muffled sound passed the kings lips and Brann chuckled.

'Have fun tomorrow, my gem.' she stated sweetly and Gwen ran over to them and hugged them.

'Thank you amad, thank you adad!' the little princess skipped back to her room and Brann could not hold back her laughter.

'Mmmmppphhhh...' Thorin swallowed hastily and nearly chocked on the bread. 'Are you insane, woman?'

'Do not worry, husband.' Brann smiled at him. 'Trust your daughter. She knows what is right and wrong. And Gimli is a nice young dwarf. He is honorable and I know that you trust his father alot. So why not him?'

Thorin frowned and grumbled into his beard. 'Fine.' he growled and Brann smirked at his pout. 'But I suggest that you always have some bread ready to shut me up in the future. Dear Durin, I am going to get fat.'