"He hates me," Dwala said, staring down at the dresses she was folding to put away too intently. Ila had not even begun to unpack her things, rather she had torn through her luggage that morning in an attempt to find something suitable for the day and made a huge mess.

"He does not hate you. I thought he hated me too, but now I don't think so…." Ila trailed off, thinking about how they had briefly argued in the baths that morning and discovered how they had misinterpreted each other at supper the night before.

"You are his betrothed….he is treating you better and better, as he should. I just wish I did not displease him so much…that I wasn't so clumsy…." Dwala sounded sadder and sadder the more she talked.

"You are not clumsy. Everyone has accidents." Ila wasn't sure how to make Dwala feel better. She secretly agreed with her that Thorin did not care for her. She had felt the tension in his muscles when Dwala caused the little book avalanche in the library and was close enough to see the anger in his eyes. Dwala had been trying his nerves all day though. He would grow to like her in time, she was sure.

"Besides, we have barely been in Erebor for an entire day. We have a lifetime for Thorin to come around." Ila encouraged her. "And…..I'm sure that he will arrange a proper marriage for you when the time is right."

Dwala reddened. "I don't want to marry Ila…I want to serve you for the rest of my life. And that will be enough for me." Dwala did not sound the least bit convincing. Dwala was shy and timid with males just like Ila was, but Ila had long accepted, even if secretly and as something that she did not think on, that it was her duty to marry someday. Dwala had come to no such acceptance, and all she had known since she came of age was that she was to wait on Ila. That had been enough for her, but Ila couldn't believe that Dwala didn't fancy the opposite sex. She just hadn't met the right dwarf yet. Seeing an opportunity to turn the conversation from Thorin, Ila set upon it.

"There are who knows how many dwarves in Erebor, surely someone here will do." Ila said mischievously.

Dwala was beyond embarrassed and kept her head down. "I told you I don't care about that. And I haven't been looking anyway….." Dwala still sounded unconvincing.

"Well, there is no earthly reason why being married would mean you couldn't still wait on me, I can't be that much trouble. We'll just have to find someone worthy of you." Ila said smiling and she too folded her clothes to put away.

Dwala had no remark to that and continued her folding and sorting.

"Are you going to change for supper?" Dwala asked?

"No, I don't want him to see my entire wardrobe in one week."

"Ha!" Dwala replied, looking around at all of her belongings. "Even with three wardrobe changes in a day, that would still take a while." Dwala said and sounded more like herself now. Ila smiled to hear it.

"Besides, I think, or at least I hope, that supper will be a more intimate and casual affair tonight. I don't think I can bear to eat while being on display again." Ila said.

"I'm sure you are right. And hopefully your intended will be nicer than he was last night." Dwala said.

They continued unpacking, sorting, folding, and putting everything away until it was time to freshen up for supper. Ila touched up the make-up around her eyes and made sure her hair was in place before they made their way down to the great hall. Much to Ila's delight, the main table was set with only a few places. Thorin had not yet arrived, but both of his nephews and the large, bald, and frightening looking dwarf were already seated. Supper had not yet been served as Thorin was not present, but those three were partaking of some ale already. They did not immediately see Ila as they were busy talking and enjoying their drinks, so Dwala cleared her throat. She could be very bold sometimes, despite how timid and shy she was deep down.

The scary looking one turned to see them and the other two's heads turned after his as they had to look behind them. Ila thought the scary one was about to yell at them his visage was so harsh that it could make orcs tremble, but instead he quickly rose to his feet to address her.

"Princess, I am Dwalin, at your service." He said with a short bow. He was practically Thorin's height and very much like him in build. He was dressed in dark earth tones with fur around his shoulders. Ila noticed he had tattoos on his hands and what she could see of his arms in addition to those on his bald head. His head and face had several battles scars, one particularly deep but old one cutting through his left eyebrow. And then there was his name, so close to her handmaiden's. And to Lord Balin. She wondered if they were kin, though they didn't exactly look alike. Their height difference was significant, and this one did not appear as old as Balin whose hair was almost white as snow.

Ila curtsied to Dwalin, "Pleased, sir." She replied, then turned slightly to introduce Dwala. Dwala said nothing, but she and Dwalin shared a wordless greeting of bows and curtsies. While the introductions had been made Fili and Kili rose from their seats to greet the newly arrived ladies properly. Fili actually extended his hand to take Ila's and place a chaste kiss on her knuckles. He was a very confident dwarf, much like his uncle, but he lacked the arrogance that seemed to just roll off of Thorin at times.

Kili on the other hand looked much less confident, and while he had been in the midst of laughing and talking loudly when they walked in, he was now subdued and a tiny bit uneasy. He did greet her respectfully but did not move to take her hand as his brother had. He looked so young and innocent, Ila wondered if he was not a year or two younger than her even.

There was an awkward pause now and Ila felt as though she should say something since her arrival had interrupted their conversation. Looking to Fili and Kili, she said, "I saw the two of you practicing in the arena today, his majesty took me there on my tour of the palace." Ila said.

Dwalin made a face that said he was surprised that Thorin had taken her on a tour and Fili smiled widely.

"Oh? And how did you find us? Do you feel more or less safe here after observing our skill?"

Ila giggled. "I feel very safe, thank you Prince Fili."

"You don't need to call him prince-," Came a familiar baritone from behind them. Ila turned as they all did to see Thorin had arrived with Lord Balin at his side. Ila curtsied to Thorin and felt the now familiar butterflies stir in her stomach.

"—he will be your nephew soon and he will call you queen," Thorin finished but with a quick smile at Fili before devoting his full attention to Ila. She could tell that he was just teasing his nephew. She'd heard the two were very close to their uncle. Thorin took Ila's hand and led her to her seat which was to his right as he sat at the head of the table. He pulled her seat out for her and Ila tried again to smile at him with her eyes as she looked up at him. His face was its usual unreadable self but she thought the gesture was sweet. She forced herself to stop staring just in time to notice that Dwalin had pulled out Dwala's seat for her. Dwala had been so surprised that she froze for a moment, then remembered herself and sat down quickly. She blushed and Ila smiled under her veil. She was glad someone was being nice to her finally.

Dwalin took the seat to Thorin's left and Balin sat next to him. Fili sat next to Balin and Kili took the seat opposite him next to Dwala. Lord Balin smiled warmly at Ila and greeted her now that he had the chance.

"Princess Ila, I hope you are finding your new home to your liking so far." He said.

"I am indeed, Lord Balin. Everyone has been extraordinarily kind and I want for nothing." Ila answered enthusiastically.

"Excellent. I see you have met my little brother," Balin said looking at Dwalin. Ila had only half expected as much, as they were so incredibly different. The fact that he referred to the comparatively giant dwarf next to him as his little brother made her laugh.

"Younger brother…" Dwalin corrected but Ila could instantly tell that the two were close.

"….and the better looking brother at that." Dwalin finished.

"Yes, younger brothers generally are the more attractive ones," Kili finally spoke up. This produced a snort from Fili who was busy taking a large gulp of ale. Ila giggled and Thorin smirked.

Thorin turned to Ila, "Now that all the fighting is done they have nothing to do but bicker like a bunch of old women."

Ila laughed as Thorin continued. "I suppose I will have to find them all wives so that they will have something to occupy their time."

Kili nearly choked on the ale he was drinking and Balin laughed heartily. "I am too old for such, but the rest of the lads would do well to find themselves as husbands."

"And what would I do with a wife?" Dwalin asked.

"Hmpf! What would a wife do with you, you mean!" Balin immediately shot back and even Thorin laughed that time. Ila felt like that was a relatively rare sight, but an irresistible one.

The food came out then and was laid across the table for them. Other dwarves tended to their drinks, Thorin having an ale himself but Ila and Dwala only partook in water. Ila favored wine if she was going to drink alcohol, but did not want to ask for it. She was still getting her bearings and did not want to seem demanding yet in any way. When she was queen it would be different. But she was still adjusting to her new role and wanted only to seem grateful to Thorin.

Eating with the veil on was a particularly difficult and annoying task. She found that she was generally grateful for it but eating was the one exception. She had to carefully lift her veil and bring modest bites of food under it to her mouth. That meant she had to eat everything with utensils, no picking up a drumstick or piece of bread to bite into. Less than a month and she would be rid of this irritating piece of fabric forever.

As dinner progressed, Ila mostly just listened to the men make conversation. Dwala did not utter a peep the entire time, but rather ate slowly and modestly as her lady had to. Dwala didn't have to, but Ila felt part of her eating slowly and studying her food was saving her from having to talk. The men largely discussed the restoration of Erebor and what they wanted to do or what was left to do. Ila listened intently, wanting to learn as much about her new home as possible. She noticed that Kili did not speak as much as the others and thought perhaps he was just naturally not as talkative. She accidentally caught his eye more than once and he quickly averted his gaze each time. Perhaps he disapproved of her, but it was not matter. Ila only cared what Thorin thought. Kili perplexed her a bit, but he was young, so young that he had only black scruff where a beard would have been. As long as they managed to be cordial with each other that is all that mattered.

Ila turned her attention back to Thorin, letting herself indulge in his handsome face as his attention was on Dwalin at the moment. He felt her stare and met her eyes. Ila held it for a moment, then averted her eyes briefly before meeting his gaze again. Ila blinked innocently once or twice, batting her long eyelashes. Thorin's intense gaze was fixed on her hazel eyes, so much that he didn't even hear Fili when he was talking to him.

"Uncle? Did you hear me?" Fili repeated himself.

Thorin snapped out of it and focused on his nephew, addressing the comment he had made which Ila had not heard. She'd been too busy drowning in those light blue orbs.

Ila decided that she had finished eating and folded her hands primly in her lap to continue listening to the conversation. Thorin had been much more attentive tonight, glancing at her regularly and taking time to explain anything to her that he thought she wouldn't know or understand that came up in the talk about Erebor. Balin was a good teacher as well, and Ila had figured as much. The two of them were the most attentive to her but Dwalin made conversation freely as well. It was the nephews who made sure they were respectful and kept their comments to her to a minimum, especially Kili.

"Are we boring you yet princess? You've been awfully quiet" Balin asked when all the plates and what little that was left of supper was cleared away.

Thorin also noticed Ila had been rather quiet and looked at her to see how she answered.

"Oh no, Lord Balin. I am just trying to take it all in. I have learned a great deal tonight just by listening to your dinner conversation." She answered him.

"Don't worry about learning everything just yet, rather you should be enjoying yourself." Balin said and Dwalin immediately followed him with "Yes, you have less than a month before you'll be married to this one, lass," and everyone laughed at that. Even Thorin smirked at his friend but Ila thought better of herself than to laugh with them.

"Don't listen to him, I'll have him married shortly himself. And woe unto that maiden…." Thorin said.

Fili and Kili laughed at that and Thorin just smiled, looking again at Ila. He saw her hand in her lap and wanted very much to reach down and lay his over it. No one else would be able to see, but he feared it might be too soon for such an intimate gesture. He remembered how soft her skin was from that morning and wanted desperately to feel it again. He did not want to rush anything however. This was completely uncharted territory for him and he wasn't sure how things were supposed to proceed exactly. And there was hardly anyone he could ask. Such a thing was not something his father or grandfather had ever discussed with him. He was still a young dwarf when Erebor was taken by Smaug, and while it was expected that he would marry one day it was far enough in the future that none of them had concerned themselves with how it would ultimately proceed.

As far as any courtship was concerned, there were so few females then and now that Thorin had not truly ever fancied one. He had seen some relatively attractive ones but they were always taken, naturally. Any attractive female among dwarves didn't remain single long, the only reason Ila had is because she was a princess and her father was waiting for the proper match to present itself.

Even with the glimpse of Ila having been so very brief that morning, Thorin could see clearly that Ila was the most beautiful dwarf he had ever seen. He had heard the beautiful daughter of the Iron Hills mentioned in passing before, but he had not dared imagine that his intended was that beautiful. Upon seeing that and just how agreeable towards him she seemed to be, Thorin decided that he wanted very much to try for a relationship with her. Had he experienced no attraction or emotion regarding her, or if she had made her disdain for him and the match known, he had already decided that their union would be a political and ceremonial one only. Erebor was huge and it would be too easy to have a wife that he never had to see if they didn't like each other. That is truly what Thorin had prepared himself for. He was old enough to be her father and imagined that she was less than thrilled by being forced to marry an old dwarf she had never met, even if that did mean she got to be a queen. Luckily, that appeared not to be the case.

Thorin had a thought then, one that he was unsure about and would need to consider further, but it was the only one that held any promise if he was to win Ila. He could not and would not trust the opinion of any of his companions when it came to females, since they had generally as little experience as he did. The thought of asking Dwalin for advice on women was hilarious and Thorin pushed it from his mind after chuckling internally. No, there was only one dwarf he could ask, but he did not to disturb her to do so.

Dis, Thorin's sister, had never recovered from what their family had suffered. The loss of their father, grandfather, their brother and her husband had been too much for her heart to bear. Fili and Kili were the only things that had kept her from wasting away. They had been so young when they lost their father, Dis had forced herself to remain strong for them and Thorin knew had they not existed Dis would have followed their loved ones to the grave out of sheer grief. Even now that Erebor had been reclaimed Dis was little comforted. Rather, she seemed worse in some ways. She was not like Thorin, yearning for years to reclaim what was theirs. Erebor was full of ghosts to her, and she had drawn into herself and remained secluded most of the time now. Thorin had tried to persuade her to greet Ila formally with the rest of the family when she arrived but Dis did not like crowds anymore. Nor did she take any of her meals outside of her quarters. Thorin had stopped arguing with her and only tried to make her as comfortable as possible. He did not want to bother her with something that she would likely find so trivial, but he wanted to do this right with Ila, and he needed a female's advice. He decided to visit his sister on the matter very soon.

Thorin looked at Ila and realized that she was growing tired. Though all he could see were her eyes, they appeared tired and he could tell she yawned once or twice.

"My intended has had a long day, am I mistaken in that she would like to retire?" Thorin asked.

Ila hoped she hadn't seemed disinterested but she was very tired. She hadn't completely recovered from her journey from the Iron Hills yet.

"I am only a little tired, your majesty." She returned.

"And bored from all these old men talking I am sure." Balin added.

"Come, I'll escort you back to your rooms." Thorin said rising and Ila rose with him followed by everyone else at the table. Ila saw Dwala blushing again and made a mental note to ask her why at the next possible opportunity.

Thorin held out his arm which Ila took after bidding everyone else farewell. Dwala fell in obediently behind them. They walked in silence, which was beginning to feel more natural and less forced between the two of them. Still, Thorin wanted to say something, anything to hear her voice again.

"I hope our ramblings were not too boring for you, princess. I am afraid we were about to put you to sleep." He said with eyes facing forward.

"Oh, no. Not at all. I enjoy hearing you speak…" Ila said without even thinking. She immediately flushed red and realized how that sounded.

"I mean, I enjoyed the conversation. It was very informative." She corrected herself but saw the corners of Thorin's mouth tug upwards and almost into a smile.

"I am glad then." He replied and again they found themselves walking in silence. He really was going to have to consult his sister, and soon Thorin thought. He had less than a month to figure women out, if that was even possible.

They finally came to the base of the royal staircase and Thorin turned to face her, Ila letting her arm slip out of his.

"I enjoyed our day together, Princess Ila. I hope that you sleep well." Thorin said kindly, eyeing her hand and contemplating taking it to kiss yet again.

"I enjoyed it as well, thank you for my tour as I know you have much more important things to attend to than me." She replied.

"It was my pleasure," Thorin answered with a little smile, which she thought was probably a great smile for him, and he gently lifted her right hand with his and brought it to his lips. He pressed his mouth into her skin, his beard rough but not at all an unpleasant sensation. It actually sent shivers all over her and Ila wondered what lips would feel like elsewhere on her body.

Thorin let his lips linger a moment longer than he should, then broke the kiss and returned her hand to her.

"Goodnight, princess." Thorin said lowly and Ila almost whispered back, "Goodnight, my king."

My king. Thorin got a shiver of his own. He allowed himself one last look and then turned to go back to the great hall. He was too excited by their exchange and having touched her to sleep and would need some more ale to assist him in that. Ila and Dwala made their way to her chamber after Ila stood for a moment watching him go. He was impossibly majestic even from behind, she thought.

As they entered her room, Ila sighed loudly and collapsed on her back on the bed, arms stretched out after she tore her veil off and cast it aside on the bed. She closed her eyes and was more tired than she had realized until this moment. She heard Dwala moving about the room.

"Come now, you can't sleep in your finery again. You'll feel better if you take all of that off anyway." She said and Ila knew she was right but didn't want to get up. As such, Dwala simply began to pull garments and jewels off of her where she lay, Ila limp like a corpse and letting her do it.

"He's growing on you isn't he, the king?" Dwala asked.

Ila could not suppress a smile. "I suppose," she said with her eyes still shut.

"He seems more agreeable today. Are you sure that nothing happened in the baths this morning while I was gone?"

Ila blushed. "No, he saw nothing." she answered, determined to say as little as possible on the subject.

"But you must have seen something. I mean, I would have seen everything when he got out to leave had I not averted my eyes…Is our king proportionate?" Dwala asked slowly.

"DWALA!" Ila's eyes shot open in surprise and Dwala giggled.

"I know, I'm sorry. And I'd really rather not know for the record."

Ila didn't answer, but thought of his perfect and sculpted body as it sank into the water with her. The rippling abs that gave way to a patch of black curls and his manhood. His proportionate manhood that should frighten her, and it did. But it also excited her in ways she didn't even understand yet. The sight of him made something in her stomach tighten and her blood course quickly through her veins. It made her short of breath and lightheaded. His touch tonight, that of his hands and lips, was all she could think of. She barely even registered that Dwala practically had her stripped naked now.

"Some help, please?" Dwala asked and Ila sat up to pull the white sleeping gown over her head and flop back down on the bed.

"At least get under the covers? It gets cold under the mountain at night." Dwala said and Ila summoned her last bit of strength to get under the heavy blankets and let Dwala tuck her in. Smiling, she said, "You take such good care of me."

"That is my job, princess."

"Being my companion is your job. You're all I have now you know."

Dwala smiled sweetly at Ila. "I'm not all you have. You're about to have a great deal."

"And so will you." Ila said, so sleepy now she couldn't even hold her eyes open. Dwala smiled again and got up to leave. Ila didn't even hear the door close behind her. She was slipping into a deep and restful sleep, filled with dreams of her future husband.

AN: To the reviewer who called out my spelling error, thank you. Spell check doesn't exactly catch everything, and well, spelling is certainly not my strong suit.

Thanks again for all the kind reviews! You guys are awesome!