A new chapter is coming! Here's a snippet to sweeten my apology for taking two years!
Life happened, you know? I got a new job, my grandmother died, got promoted, got really invested in fish and aquarium care, got myself a betta named Nermal. Got a dog, that was nice. But I'm back! I might not be a regular updater, but I will continue this as I have time. Massive thanks to those of you who have read, continued reading, checked in for updates, and reviewed. As a writer, you guys are the best motivation in the world!
Thorin bowed his head and swung the coat over his broad shoulders, leaving his old one hanging in place by the door. "I shall make it worth it, sister, for us all," he vowed. Dis sniffed once, and then marched out of the room. Thorin hung his head. "She does not want me taking her sons on our journey."
Helsinki slowly stepped forward, one hand keeping the pelt close around her neck. "She's a mum, Thorin. That's what mums do. They keep their children safe as long as they can, sometimes even longer," she told him, reaching out to stroke the fur of his new coat.
"Even if it keeps them from a greater purpose? Their fate? Their people's home?" asked Thorin, eyes boring into hers. Helsinki struggled to maintain eye contact, instead confusing on smoothing the fur on his lapel.
"Even if it breaks their dreams and ruins their life," Helsinki said quietly. "A mother is a mother forever, her children will always be her babies, no matter how big they get. She'll do anything to make sure she sees her grave before they see theirs."
Thorin's hands came up to grasp her fingers at the clasp of his coat, and in her surprise, Helsinki dropped her pelt and grabbed his hand back. His hands covered her own, dotted with roughened skin and old burn scars. Helsinki's own were by no means pretty, though milky pale and soft compared to Thorin's.
"I had not thought of that, of her as a mother instead of a princess," he admitted, quietly to the space between their bowed heads. That warmth, like syrupy safety was heating Helsinki's chilled limbs. "I shouldn't like to take her children from her, like their father before them."
Helsinki squeezed his hands. "They are old enough to make their own decisions, both stupid and serious, Thorin. That doesn't change how Dis feels, but it does mean that if they want to come with you, with us, that it's the right thing to let them."
"You are wiser than you look," Thorin hummed, squeezing her hands back and running his thumb over the back of her middle finger.
Helsinki frowned at him with a cocked eyebrow. "You should keep that in mind then," she told him. "I frequently employ my genius when it's least expected."
Thorin huffed a chuckle at her, staring down with something uncomfortably like fondness. "I shall keep an eye out for it."
There was a deep pause. Helsinki resumes petting the fur under her fingers whilst the other hand remains knotted with Thorin's. "Be safe, until I see you again," she said, barely managing a volume over a whisper.
Thorin's eyes sunk closed with a heavy breath. "I shall endeavor to do my best," he replied. "My coat is blessed with luck for safe travels and paths home, courtesy of my sister."
"Good. And if you die, I want this coat," Helsinki finds herself mumbling into the fur, having inched closed and closer to Thorin's chest.
Thankfully, the king didn't take it as a crass threat, but as the endearing joke Helsinki mostly meant it as. His chest rumbled under her ear. "You shall have it at the end of our quest then, for your own safe paths home."
Helsinki blinked away a sudden surge of tears. "I never thought I would have faith in a clothing item, but here I am," she laughed wetly, pulling away.
"'Tis the best of dwarven luck to receive a gift before a journey, especially one with runes for safe travels," Thorin says.
Helsinki prises her fingers from his coat and draws away, steadying herself with a breath. "I'll see you soon," she says like a promise.
"You will," Thorin replies with a finality like a confirmation.
And when the door closes behind him, Helsinki finds herself, of all places, holding on to hope.
