This time, a request from melocets: how about an instance when Cathy wants something and Kate doesn't want her to have it and Cathy uses Thorin's weakness for her to get it, resulting in an angry Kate and Thorin in the dog house?

I hope it's everything you wanted it to be.

Enjoy!

Chapter 8

Manipulation

'And you promise you never will?' his daughter insisted. Shy she (Cathy) might be, but when she had her mind set on something, she was just her mother; not giving up until she had what she came for. Quite a feat for a six year old. And when Thorin found himself on the receiving end of her demands, she did get what she wanted. He'd better make sure that Thranduil did not find out how easily he could give in sometimes.

Duly Noted, Chapter 1: Disagreement

Erebor, late summer 2964 TA

Kate

Kate Andrews, formerly from England and currently Queen under the Mountain, was in a very bad mood. Aforementioned bad mood had very little do with Lady Nai and her annoying commentary from earlier that day, and everything with a lord from Dale who had done nothing but complain for the last fifteen minutes. So far she had managed to keep her face straight, resisting the urge to either laugh manically over this man's pathetic complaints or snap at him in a way that her children referred to as amad's run-and-hide voice. Either would have meant diplomatic disaster though, and that was the only thing that kept her from doing something she would surely regret later.

'I understand this is all very hard on you,' she said in her most soothing tone of voice, hands folded in her lap. 'But I am sure that there are more sides to this story.'

She had searching her memory trying to remember what she knew about this specimen and her brain had provided her with the name of Einar, one of the king of Dale's advisors, who had a lot of land south of that city in his possession. His current complaint was about the dwarf company he had signed a contract with for marble that was supposed to end up in the new house he was building. Now the dwarves were being "deliberately obstructive" he said and he wanted his marble right now.

'Your Majesty, the marble isn't there. It's as simple as that,' Einar insisted. 'I am sure you can set this right, as their queen.'

It was a mistake made very commonly among men; that just because she was of the same race as they were, she would side with them. Kate always felt the need to point out that she had married a dwarf for a reason and that if she had truly been wanting to side with their lot, she'd have stuck with them. The fact that she hadn't spoke volumes in her opinion, but clearly not in those the likes of which she now found herself talking to. With every passing year she understood better why Thorin wanted nothing to do with them.

Listen to yourself, girl. You're rather turning into a dwarf yourself, she thought. Well, that was the truth, she supposed. She had spent so long living among them that it was inevitable that she would feel sympathetic towards them, as she was now their queen. It didn't stop men from thinking what they wanted.

Truth was that they found her more approachable – certainly more reasonable – than the King under the Mountain. Another truth was that Thorin had run out of patience for men approximately a century, or more, ago, which was why they had come to the current arrangement. If something didn't need Thorin's urgent attention, she was to deal with the men, while he dealt with dwarvish envoys. The elvish delegates they received together. Elves were visitors both of them dreaded, and sharing the responsibility in dealing with them made the burden a bit lighter to bear. Shared troubles and all that stuff.

Today, Kate thought she'd rather be dealing with dwarves. Good grief, she'd even rather be talking to Lord Nali and his tiresome daughter than to be stuck in here listening to this whining. She knew the case. The leader of the dwarf company had explained the matter to her the previous day. Einar was supposed to pay three days ago, and he hadn't done so. He had been the one to breach the contract first, no matter what he was bleating now, that was the long and short of it.

'It will please you to hear that I have already talked to Regin, who, as you know, is the leader of the company you have signed a contract with. He told me that you were to deliver payment three days ago. He also told me that this payment has not been delivered, upon which he deemed it wiser to postpone delivery.' Kate knew where the sentiment was coming from. Dwarves were commonly known to be greedy and Einar would much rather see the product before he paid, whereas Regin was afraid he would not be given his due when he had delivered it, making him want to see gold first. Hence they had reached an impasse and neither party was satisfied. And Maker forbid that one of them bent their stiff necks first. If both of them stopped mistrusting the other, this was not necessary at all.

'My lady, I am sure you can understand…' Einar began. It didn't escape Kate's notice that all of a sudden he didn't call her Your Majesty anymore. And if he thought that was subtle, he'd have another thing coming.

'What I understand is that you are extremely distrustful,' she interrupted. One of the perks of being a queen was that she could do that without problems and consequences. 'You will be here at noon tomorrow, with your gold, and hand it over to Regin. He in turn will deliver you the marble and then it is yours to do with as you wish.'

Regin, who had been remarkably quiet for the duration of the audience, bowed slightly. 'As you wish,' he told her.

Einar was less easily satisfied. 'It was in the contract that the marble should be delivered to my home!'

'It was not Regin who violated the terms of the contract,' Kate pointedly reminded him. 'Quite frankly, you have entirely wasted my time today. This is my judgement, Lord Einar, and if it is not to your liking, you are welcome to find another supplier of marble, but I guarantee you that you won't find them any closer than the Iron Hills.' Her patience was rapidly running out now.

This elicited a lot of mumblings about how he hadn't meant it like that, but the glares he sent in her direction belied his polite words. And she didn't have any more patience to spare him, so she wrapped up the proceedings and, seeing that there were no others seeking either counsel or judgement, left. There would be paperwork aplenty – the stack on her desk was alarmingly high – and she was determined to deal with at least half of it before supper. Lufur, her bodyguard for the day, and generally one of her closest friends under the Mountain, almost had to run to keep up with her.

'And they say dwarves are stubborn,' he commented in his beard.

Kate laughed. 'And so they are, but it would seem that it is not purely a dwarvish trait at all. Mahal preserve us, I do hope we won't be seeing him again after tomorrow.'

'I'd take him over Lady Nai any day, though, my lady,' Lufur commented.

Kate had told him he was free to address her by her first name, the shortened version of it, but so far she had been entirely unsuccessful. True, he didn't call her Your Majesty anymore, but my lady was as far as the compromise went in his case. But coming from Lufur's mouth it sounded more like an endearment than a title.

'I'd take Thranduil over Lady Nai,' she pointed out.

They shared a laugh over that, which was the best thing they could do about it in the end. This was her life now and she had chosen it. It hardly seemed fair to complain. She was too old for that anyway. And so she took a deep breath when she found herself confronted with the enormous amount of work she had to do and set about it with a vengeance. Delaying was not going to help her and the sooner she got started, the sooner she was done.

Well, at least the kids were out of her hair for the day. Thoren and Duria were with their Aunt Dís on a trip to the Long Lake, Thráin had gone on a hunt with a couple of friends, Cathy was with Thora, the mother of Jack's friend Flói, while those two were probably running amok somewhere in the Mountain. But there were no officials staying at present, so there was only so much damage they could do.

She'd hardly finished that thought when the door was pushed open and Cathy came in. She had that shy little girl smile on her face that she always had when she wanted something.

'Hello, amad.'

The smile was so brilliant that Kate had to smile back. 'Hello, little miss. Where do you come from all of a sudden?'

'Mrs Thora had to go and "clear up Flói and Jack's mess",' she replied, imitating Thora's voice so well it was almost creepy.

Do I want to know what mess they got themselves into this time? Kate thought to herself. She came to the conclusion that she really didn't want to know. And here she was thinking that Thoren and Thráin had knack for trouble when they were a little younger. It would seem that Jack and Flói were in the process of out-doing them if only they could. She would have worked herself up over it, but she was too tired of all the business with Lord Einar and his marble to really do it. Anyway, Thora was dealing with matters already. Kate would just have to make sure she would take the boys to task next time when that time inevitably came around.

'Well, I'm a little busy, so if you can play quietly, you can stay here,' Kate said. No doubt that her daughter could manage that. Jack was loud enough for two, so Cathy compromised by being a sweet and rather shy girl.

She was not to be underestimated though. She could be devious if she so chose, and that smile predicted that she was about to ask a favour she knew she had very little chance of being granted. And true to expectations, Cathy's next words were a request. 'Can I go and play outside?'

Kate shook her head. 'Not on your own, dear one. We had an agreement.' Since the incident with the River Running two years ago, she would be a fool if she let her youngest out near that river on their own. She'd keep Thráin away as well, but she supposed he was old enough to know his own mind by now. It didn't mean she didn't worry, though.

Cathy's face fell and for a moment she frowned, apparently deep in thought, before brightening considerably. 'Can I go visit adad then?'

As far as Kate was aware, Thorin was taking a break from being king by retreating to the forge to do some work, before he felt compelled to pull out his own beard in exasperation over the latest matters at court. Cathy knew to stay away from the fire, and it was unlikely that Thorin would object to Cathy's presence; Kate had a lingering suspicion her husband would conquer kingdoms at her request, if such a request were ever made. Besides, she really needed to get some work done. 'Off you go,' she told her daughter. 'Tell him to be back in time for dinner. And to wash beforehand.'

Cathy was already off, radiant smile all over her face. A daddy's girl right there, Kate observed. Well, she wouldn't deny that right now that was exactly what she needed. With a heavy sigh she turned back to the details of the legal case of a theft. This was going to be a long, long afternoon.

Thorin

From time to time it had not been all that bad to be a blacksmith, Thorin observed. They had one huge advantage over kings; blacksmiths didn't have to put up with all that much paperwork. As king in exile he had been his people's leader, but that had not involved the ridiculous amounts of paperwork the crowned King under the Mountain had to put up with on a daily basis. Retreating to the forge had been one of his better ideas of late to be sure. His race was made to work, and although he would be the last one to claim that being king was not hard work, he gained almost no satisfaction from doing it, not the kind of satisfaction he got from really crafting things. That was what dwarves had been made for, and Thorin may have chosen an unconventional bride, but he remained a dwarf through and through.

And it helped that he wasn't just crafting anymore to just survive, and he wasn't making things for men only to be dismissed when they turned up their nose at work finer than they ever had any hopes of making. Those times were long behind him. Now he could make things of beauty again, and no man would dream of turning his nose up at it now. Not that it mattered; he couldn't stand the sight of them at the best of times, his own wife being the exception to the rule. It was one of the reasons why Kate was the one to go and deal with their mannish visitors.

'Hello, adad!' A cheerful voice made him turn around. Cathy hands were clasped behind her back so that she would not burn herself on anything, the way Thorin had told her to do whenever she came visiting the forge. She unleashed her most brilliant smile on her father, the one Kate claimed transformed him into a marshmallow instantly.

'What are you doing here?' Thorin asked, wiping his hands on a nearby cloth. 'Mrs Thora grown tired of you?'

His youngest shook her head, bright red curls whipping her face with the force of it. 'Mrs Thora had to get Jack and Flói out of trouble,' she announced with a childish disdain that told the King under the Mountain she did not particularly care for her brother's antics. Thorin could hardly blame her for that. He loved his children unconditionally, but Jack had been a troublemaker from the moment he figured out how to walk and started pushing things off tables, like bottles filled with ink and the like. It was hardly a surprise that he and his close friend had gotten themselves in trouble again. He could only hope that it wasn't the kind of trouble that required royal intervention.

'What'd they do this time?' he asked. Thank the Maker for Thora, though. She had a wise head on his shoulders, and no doubt she'd lecture the lads on their behaviour as soon as she laid eyes on them.

Cathy shrugged. 'Don't know. Mr Lothar wouldn't say.'

Thorin inwardly groaned. Lothar was a guardsman, making Jack's offence probably a little bit bigger than just an unauthorised trip to the food stores.

Before he could think any longer about Jack, his twin demanded his attention again. 'Amad sent me,' she informed him. 'She said you should be back before dinner.' The smile became almost cheeky as she added her mother's words, the exact phrasing too, if Thorin knew his wife at all: 'And to wash beforehand.'

'Did she say that, eh?' He had to smile; the corners of his mouth curled up of their own volition. 'You delivered your message well then, didn't you?'

The smile only widened. 'Can I go and play outside?'

A slight frown crept onto his forehead. 'You know you're not supposed to. Besides, your amad would have both our heads.' And it was an agreement he wholly supported. He had forgotten none of the fear that had gripped his heart when he had been thinking that three of his children had drowned in the River Running. It was not a feeling he would willingly risk again.

Cathy tilted her head and blinked at him, silently pleading with him in addition to her verbal plea. 'Please, adad? I'll promise to stay away from the water. Pleasepleasepleaseplease?'

Kate would call him a marshmallow – whatever that was supposed to be – tell him that he gave in way too easily and was she really to do all the raising by her own only to have him ruining her good work again? Then again, Cathy never got into trouble. It would seem that even though his male offspring had made him go grey, he somehow never really had to worry about what his daughters were up to, although he still had his doubts about that Narvi lad Duria seemed so taken in with.

Before he could change his mind again, he nodded. 'Very well. But only if you do stay very far away from the water,' he added in a probably vain attempt to appear as if he was at least the one in charge here. King under the Mountain he may be, known for his skills in battle and for his terrifying scowl, but when it came to his youngest daughter, Kate's assessment was probably spot on.

'Thank you!' Cathy rushed forward, hugged him and pressed a kiss against his beard, since she was still too small to reach his face. He meant to lift her up, but she was gone already. A small part of his mind told him that he had made a very unwise decision. It was the very same part of his mind that warned him to arm himself when coming into contact with orcs, but Cathy was hardly going to run into orcs; the area was safe. Thorin himself had made sure of that. And surely she would keep her word that she would stay away from the water. She was half a dwarf, and dwarves were known for honouring their agreements. The thought that he may have been guilty of violating his agreement with his wife was one he conveniently banished to the back of his mind.

The day passed quickly and without other interferences, for which Thorin was grateful. Tomorrow he would face another day of court again, and all the paperwork that came with it. He didn't hate it, not strictly speaking. He had fought too hard for it to be able to resent being king, a true King under the Mountain and not a king in exile. He had done right by his people and that was something he could never regret.

Kate was still frowning at the papers that were stacked on her desk in their living quarters when he came in. 'Anything of interest?' he asked.

'Nice to see you too,' Kate retorted, sending him a mocking glance. 'And no, there's nothing that can't wait until after dinner.' She only then seemed to realise something and she frowned, the frown that usually meant she was seeing right through some scheme of Thranduil and she didn't like what she found. 'Where's Cathy? I thought she said that she was going to visit you for a bit?'

Maybe that part of his mind that had warned him about not sending Cathy to play outside had not been so mistaken after all…

Cathy

Cathy loved it outside. She'd loved it for as long as she could remember, so it may well be counted as forever. True, she loved being under the Mountain as well. She liked to feel of the carven stone underneath her fingertips and the precious gems catching the light and sending it around the halls in beams of red, green and gold. But there was something about grass underneath bare feet and sunlight on her face. She could keep it up for hours; running around outside the gates, pretending she was reliving her parents' adventures all by herself. It was for sure that they had not spent all their lives being in Erebor, so there was no reason why she should. Her adad used to say that it was because she was fragile – a word Cathy did not quite understand yet, but that seemed to mean that she would get hurt as soon as she put as much as a toe outside the main gate – and her mother just said that it was because she said so.

But she was outside now, imagining the place to be full of elves for her to outwit. It was a game she sometimes played with Jack and Flói, although they always wanted her to play the elf, because she looked more like them, or so Flói claimed with that annoying smile of his.

'Well, at least I'm smarter than you,' she always retorted. And she was. Whereas Jack and Flói struggled with their school work, she excelled, and that was something to take pride in.

And this was a game she was good at, and even better at when there were no actual elves – or her brother and his friend, who could be just as annoying, if not worse – around, so that she could pretend she was really, really good at this.

She kept it up until strong hands picked her up and a low voice announced: 'It seems I caught a little elfling outside my gates!'

Cathy laughed and instinctively kicked, but her adad was not one for letting go. 'I'm not an elf!' she protested indignantly. 'I'm running from elves.'

'Ah, is that it?' he asked, putting her back on the ground. 'In that case we should probably run from them together, before they find us.'

Cathy arched an eyebrow. 'Amad says you don't run from anyone. Ever.' Truth be told, amad always said that adad could be very frightening as well, but she hadn't seen any evidence of that for as long as she was alive. Sometimes she did wonder where those stories about her father slaying orcs came from. Her father was much too kind to slay anyone, even orcs. Still, both her parents insisted the tales were true. Of course, they could be exaggerating. Her school master himself said that most tales were slightly exaggerated.

'Let me tell you a secret, little princess,' he said, sitting on the grass, pulling her down with him. 'Your amad is very right, but sometimes it's wiser to keep out of a person's way, when they're angry, so as to avoid an unnecessary fight.'

Cathy frowned. 'But that's running away.'

'It's a strategic retreat,' the King under the Mountain corrected. 'That's just good battle sense. You'll learn that when you're a little bit older.'

Cathy was really growing tired of all the adults telling her that, and quite frankly, she didn't think her father was particularly fearsome, but she agreed with her mother that he in general didn't run away from things, or made a so-called "strategic retreat." She was cleverer than to believe all that. 'Did you and amad fight?' she asked hesitantly. She remembered them doing that once and it had frightened her a little.

'I told you,' her father said. 'We don't fight. It was a disagreement. And we have to be very nice to her for a day or two.' He stared down at her. 'And you shouldn't disobey your mother's orders, lass. You're far too young to have all that dragon's cunning about you.'

Cathy frowned. 'You're not angry?' She was aware that she had possibly done something that was not very nice, but then, her mother hadn't forbidden her to ask her father the same question she'd asked her, so it didn't really count as misbehaviour, did it?

He gave her a stern glance. 'Don't do it again,' he told her. 'Now, I believe I have a little elfling to catch.'

It took her a few moments to grasp what he meant and then she was up, squealing in delight as she ran away, her father chasing after her.

Kate

Unknown to father and daughter, there was someone watching the game from a window with fond exasperation. Kate, Queen under the Mountain, may have made a bit of a scene before she sent her husband out to make sure Cathy didn't do herself a harm – 'If you gave her permission to play outside, you'd better bloody well make sure that nothing happens to her yourself!' – but that was wholly justified, she told herself. They had an agreement, and even though it was sometimes endearing to see, how she was to raise her daughter if he gave in to her every whim – 'Honestly, Thorin, all it takes for her is to smile and bat her eyes and you're practically putty in her little hands!' – she would like to know. Of course girl children were rarer, more treasured among dwarves, but honestly, did he really have to let her get her way about every little thing – 'How is she supposed to learn the meaning of the word no if you never say it to her?' – every single day?

Still, at the end of the day, she was just happy to have this life, to have them. She only had to remember how very easily things might have turned out different to remember that being grateful for what she had was not such a bad thing at all.

She might however postpone telling that to Thorin for another hour or two.

Coming up next, a request from uno mega for a piece about what happened with Kate's family while she was on the quest. It might be a while until it's done, but it's coming.

Please review? I'd always like to hear what you guys are thinking. And as always, requests are welcome.