Summary: The dwarves had few females among them, even fewer female warriors. When Smaug took Erebor, many dwarves died. On that day, the few females who survived had a choice to make: remain within their domestic duties as best they could, or learn to fight. Herein is told the tale of Lina Firehammer who changed her life, and that of a king.
Lina was born as all female dwarves were, quietly and without a great deal of fuss. Her parents did not throw a celebration as they might have had she been a male. It was enough of a disappointment to her parents that they had a female child born to them, but even more that she was their firstborn. Even worse, her birth had been so rigorous for her mother that her mother would never again be able to conceive. With Lina's birth, all hopes for the continuation of her father's line had ended. No son would ever bring honor to the family, and no child's lineage would include the name of Lina's father.
So the young dwarven girl was born into the world a bitter disappointment and most unwanted.
Her father, whose name has long since been forgotten, indulged in his natural desire for alcohol far beyond the bounds of reason. In his most lucid moments, he was indifferent to Lina's existence at best, bitter and harsh at worst. However, when the strong dwarven ales had their hold on him, he was intolerable. Dwarves outside his household mocked him for his drunkenness, his pugnacity that led him to lose more than one fight he had instigated. Those dwarves on the outside never saw the horrors he was capable of while drunk. The true nature of his anger and rage has never fully come to light as none will give utterance to them. All any dwarf outside the household saw was the proud nature of his wife and daughter, who stubbornly insisted that frequently cuts, burns, and bruises were received in performing their domestic duties. If anyone suspected any culprit other than the one accused, they never brought it up.
Lina's mother, a quiet creature of lowly origins, was called Lorina. Despite her disappointment that her only child was a female, Lorina loved her daughter more than her own life. More than once a dwarf had noted that a slash that begun on Lina's body ended on Lorina's, as if the elder female had interrupted whatever event had caused her daughter injury. As her daughter grew, Lorina took great pains to teach her daughter the finest crafting skills she could manage, scrounging together what treasure she could to pay a master craftswoman to teach Lina her art. In this way, she ensured that her daughter would always have a skill to support herself, even if no dwarven man ever claimed her as his bride, something that, though rare, could and did occur if the girl's father was of little consequence.
When Lina was still in her minority, she gained fame within the markets of Erebor and Dale for her skill with all manner of craft. Her embroidered garments and tapestries were sought after by the wealthy of both folk. Her pottery was simple, but so elegant that it was said King Thror's favorite ale mug had been fashioned by Lina's hand. Every female, on her wedding day, wore a circlet of intricately interwoven metal bands created by Lina to hold her hair and veil in place. Though, of course, no great honor was ever given her publicly, but the esteem in which the people of Erebor and Dale held the young craftswoman kept her family in food and clothes while her father squandered what money she could not keep from him.
As for Lina, Lina was not shy. Oh no, far from it! She had inherited none of her mother's meekness and all of her father's hot temper. However, she had learned her mother's patience and rigid self-control at a very early age. Lina had discovered while still very young that it did not go well for her when she gave voice to her feelings, whether good or bad, before her father. With her emotions kept rigidly in check, Lina appeared to many of the dwarves to be unfeeling, and, therefore, unnatural. While revered for her skills with needle and thread, clay and slip, and metal and stone, she was shut out from most of dwarven society. Being neither male nor wealthy, Lina had no place among the respectable dwarves of Erebor.
And thus begins the tale of Lina Firehammer.