Chapter Three
The Royal Hall roared with laughter and excited chatter, the revelry well underway. Durin's Day was officially in two days' time, but it was never too early to begin the feasting and, of course, the drinking.
Kili found it easy to slide into the crowd, and if he hoped that the page tailing him would finally leave off, he was disappointed. The lad simply changed places with one of the others and trotted off to report, leaving Kili with a new minder. The lad looked at him levelly.
He thought briefly of ditching the boy…it wasn't as if he didn't know a hundred ways to shake an unwanted tail…but as he glanced around the crowded room he noticed who else was watching. Dwalin, from an honored place near the King's chair. Gloin, from within a circle of scholarly admirers near the roaring fireplace, and even old Dori, pretending to tempt a bevy of over-dressed ladies with a tray of delicacies from the table.
And then several off-duty Captains of the Watch were before him, offering Durin's Day greetings and bowing in respect, and Kili honored them with return bows, his courtly manners compelling him to ask about their families and compliment them before their peers. They beamed at him, and before long he was easily caught up in the chatter and jokes, allowing himself to be led further into the crowd for yet more introductions and greetings.
Skirfir, his young Lieutenant, brought a pair of frothing ales and with a word in the page's ear, relieved the young lad of his duty.
Kili had never been so happy to see his young protégé. He tapped flagons with the young archer and drank deeply with him.
"Have you seen Brunsder?" Kili asked when he'd drained his share, appreciatively wiping the froth from his upper lip with the back of his hand.
Skirfir nodded, last ale still in his mouth and struggling to keep up with his Prince. He raised his flagon in the direction of a knot of Firebeards gathered around a long table. Kili smiled and made a point of greeting the Blue Mountains' commander.
"All settled? Are your quarters to your liking?" Kili asked when he returned a hand-on-heart bow with the hardy Blue Mountain dwarf.
"Very much so, my Lord," Brunsder inclined his head. "After thirty-seven days on the road, rooms underground are a blessing from Mahal, lad."
Kili blinked. "Not your entire group in one place, I hope."
"Not at all." Brunsder assured him. "The trainees, of course, are with their crafts. I saw the healer trainees to their Hall myself—though I'm afraid they've been put straight to work." He nodded toward one of the trainees, dressed in healer blue with an emblem denoting Ered Luin still on her arm band.
"We've a bit more folk here than usual," Kili said. "That one seems to know her way around, at any rate."
"Aye," Brunsder nodded. "Four years away was not long enough for her to forget this place," he raised an eyebrow to acknowledge Erebor's significance to any dwarf.
Kili let himself be turned toward Brunsder's captains, exchanging yet more pleasantries and answering yet more questions. Skirfir kept Kili's flagon filled, and the young archer even managed to deter several giggling lasses and send them in the direction of the dessert table.
Kili snorted silently at the over-dressed flirts. If he was going to consider ladies, it was the young healer maiden who stood out in his mind—here on duty when by rights she should be allowed to enjoy a welcome home evening. He scanned the crowd for her, not seeing the lass anywhere. He wondered who her kin were and if she had joined them for the celebration.
And that's when he saw her again, bending to speak quietly to one of An's ladies in waiting, an older lass heavy with child.
There was definitely something about that lass and he found himself fascinated by the way she moved—fluid, easy...and with a cute, quirky swing of her hip now and then.
He watched her, unaware that young Skirfir followed his gaze to discover what had his commander's attention.
Kili couldn't take his eyes from her. That lass was no simpering wallflower like the highborn ladies. She was a lass with purpose, a lass with her own craft and skills. She understood duty and honor. So intent were his thoughts that he never realized how long his gaze stayed on her or that he smiled as he watched—she was there, adjusting the shawl of an old timer (again, the cute hip thing) and then across the way, making a polite bow to an older matron.
Then a plump silversmith stepped into his line of sight, bowing and introducing Kili to his son and daughter, the lass covered in so much silk that he couldn't tell her arms from her ruffles. He carefully hid his annoyance and bowed.
Much later, when it was time for the toasting, he stood at his brother's side and Kili dutifully raised his flagon and applauded Fili's words.
Finally, Fili raised his hands and invoked the traditional blessing on the gathering.
He spoke of Durin, eldest of the seven fathers, and of the vision of Durin's crown and seven stars reflected in the water of the Mirrormere. And Fili repeated the traditional phrases everyone expected to hear about Durin's people celebrating the beginning of the year according to the first day of the last new moon of autumn.
Then Fili, King of Erebor, spread his strong arms wide. "Allow me to welcome all of you to these days of thankfulness, good friends," he finished, his voice resonating in the great hall, lit softly by braziers reflecting the veins of gold in the stone. He ended with hand on heart as he spoke the customary words. "May Mahal keep you and mithril find you...mukhuh Mahal udnîn zu ra sanzigil umkhûh zu. And this year, of all years, may we prosper in peace and kinship."
The gathered crowd raised flagons in response, murmured happy replies, drank to the memory of Durin, and well-mannered applause broke out.
With the blessing concluded, Kili smiled as party goers turned to embrace their kith and kin, and Fili's eyes met his.
"Well done," Kili said, pulling his brother into a warrior's embrace. "You grace these halls with honor, nadad."
Fili slapped him on the back and grinned. "I'm just glad to see you finally joined us."
Kili laughed, knowing how important it was for the visitors and the people of Erebor to see the King and his brother together.
Then Fili's hand was hard on the back of his head, pulling him close enough to touch foreheads. "Maybe this is the year that it's over," he whispered fiercely.
Kili felt a stab of dread in his heart. "Maybe," he murmured. One hand found Fili's and gripped tightly. Yet in his heart he held no hope of that. Eighty-one years of living with a curse—with the pain and agony of it—had taught him to endure it and not wish for impossible things.
He heard Fili's sigh as they stepped back.
They looked at each other and Fili nodded once.
And then old Dori was there, begging leave to introduce a Stiffbeard noble and Kili stepped away to accept a bid for attention from one of the Erebor merchant families. They had a young lad of age to begin warrior training and Kili approved.
"We'll begin a new class this spring," he said to the likely fellow. "We can use more hefty lads like you. Be sure to answer the call when the recruitment begins."
The lad looked stunned and his proud father beamed.
Quite some time later Kili turned from a formal toast with masters from the stonesmith's guild to find himself face to face with a startled trainee, very nearly knocking her over. It stopped him in his tracks.
It was the lass from Ered Luin, her bright eyes wide, her expression suddenly blank.
She bowed her head. "My lord, I apologize." Her cheeks flushed.
"For what?" He'd had enough ale by now to feel blissfully chatty with anyone. For some unexplained reason, he had the sudden urge to pull her close and kiss her ear. Just there. After all, it was a party and her ear looked so pretty without the over-done decorations of the older ladies. Just a little dash of star-white gems...it was perfect.
Then he looked away, his brain whirling. There was nothing appropriate or honorable about that impulse. The ale is getting to you, he chided himself, and Skirfir was suddenly nowhere in sight and unlikely to rescue him.
When he looked back, the healer Hrae had stepped to the trainee's side, saving them both from further awkwardness.
Behind him, he heard a familiar voice: his sister-by-marriage, the Lady An, Queen of Erebor.
"Well, little brother, I hear you brokered a successful peace accord in the nursery," An's voice was light and carried good humor.
"He did indeed, My Lady," Hrae smiled.
Next to her, the poor healer trainee sunk to a full court curtsey before her Queen.
"Ah, my Ladies, now look what you've done." Kili smiled at his brother's wife.
An handed the poor girl up.
"The nursery was indeed a challenge," Kili said, providing a distraction while the poor lass gathered herself. "But our good healer Hrae provided aid to the wounded after the cease fire." He inclined his head to the elder healer, hand over his heart.
Hrae graced him with a tilted head. "Allow me to introduce you to one of our own, recently returned." She had an arm around the shocked girl's shoulders, older healer to younger.
"May I introduce Nÿr, a lass of Dale who trained in Erebor."
And Kili instantly recognized what the vagueness of that introduction really meant—that the lass had no surviving family. It was unfortunately an all too common story among Erebor's younger dwarves—one he knew his brother hoped to change. No wonder she's working on a night when everyone else is with kin, Kili realized.
Lady An looked at him with expectation in her eyes. Hrae nodded and excused herself to follow a beckoning page.
"You are recently back from Ered Luin," Kili remarked to the lass.
She nodded, looking half paralyzed.
Kili chided himself and recalled his manners. He reached gently for the young healer's hand and bowed, letting his lips barely touch the back of her fingers. "Kili," he said. "At your service."
She had long fingers for a dwarf. It made him smile.
"Nÿr, my Lord Prince, at yours and your family's." She said it formally, but he liked her voice. Warm and soft.
"His name is Kili," Lady An said to the young healer, laughing gently. "Just Kili." With a certain nod and a wink, she patted her husband's brother on the arm before she let someone pull her away.
Kili gave Lady An a nod of respect and when he looked back, the healer apprentice had gone—now ten feet away on the arm of a grandmotherly lady who fanned florid cheeks.
He turned to find old Dwalin watching him and covered his unsettled feelings by raising his flagon and joining the senior dwarf, electing to distract the wiley oldtimer by soliciting advice about the increasing rockfalls on the western terrace.
A/N Hello! Welcome to the party! Drop a note and say hi... Adding a shout out to my beta reader Jessie152 ! Hand on Heart Mellon! Also to PhoenixAsphodel for pointing out that Brunsder makes a "fresh" appearance in story 6 as if we never met him before…when of course he's right here in story one. (Facepalm.) I will adjust Story 6. (Or is it possible that "Brunsder" is just the dwarf equivalent of a really common name like John? lol.) In any case, I will correct that and thanks for the heads up! Finally YAY for Melisande and Lady Elainee - feeling honored that you guys have checked in. All of these friends also have stories here on FanFiction-check them out!