Their journey had taken them several days, but they had made it at last to Gondor.
The markets surrounding the great city itself, just outside of the walls were larger than expected. Yet they consisted of small open tents that were clearly erected each day the vendor attended, and it was easy to imagine these sellers did not attend market daily. There were fishermen, small vegetable sellers, tailors, vendors of trinkets and little toy makers.
"I will buy some carrots and oats for the ponies perhaps, they have had little rest or grazing for some time," Balin suggested as Thorin stood by the animals while they drank from a water trough. Both ponies certainly looked a little leaner for their journey.
"Aye, this is a good idea," Thorin replied eyeing the animals closely. He was still uncertain about what he intended to do next. He was not even sure she was here. And he certainly had no intention of making the steward aware that she had run away, particularly if Ecthelion himself didn't know. "We will have to rest here and move on if they are not here."
"Perhaps we could find a quiet inn laddie?" Balin nodded in agreement. He was simply tired and would like a comfortable bed and hot bath to recover after their ordeal of the recent travel, sleeping on the ground and having to wash away their horrific encounter in a cold stream. He could only hope that his brother had caught up with them now in order to protect the lass and children from whatever perils there might lay along their journeys. "There is no need to announce ourselves unless we find the lass, or that we are recognized.
"Aye." Thorin replied without thinking. The markets and all the people were drawing his gaze, in some secret hope that he would spot her. He wasn't sure she would be able to hide so easily here...
...
"How have we evaded interest all this time, lord Thorongil?" She whispered as they walked through the market.
"Oh we are most certainly being watched, my Queen," the ranger gave her a sidelong glance. "Ecthelion, for all his charms has had several men following us for days now: he does not entirely trust us, and he does not wish any harm to come upon the King of Erebor's Consort. It is a great responsibility to host not just a queen but also their heirs. And we are no longer within the walls of Minas Tirith."
His warning made her think a little.
"Do you not see the palace up there and feel a calling?" She wondered out loud.
"There is much strife that continues here in Gondor like in Rohan, my lady," Thorongil replied bitterly. "When the people are suffering, it is hollow to sit upon a throne, particularly one as useless as this."
"Then let's do something about it..." She suddenly looked around and spotted a seller with some trinkets that contained sea shells. Quickly she walked over and began to look at his items. There were ornaments, hanging chimes, bracelets and other items made of shell and wood. "These are beautiful. Do you craft them yourself?"
"Aye, my lady...by the grace of the Great Ulmo," The man at the stall was thin and tanned and observed her with curiosity. "Choose anything you wish my lady. It is my gift..."
"That is kind, but I would insist on paying," she smiled, surprised at his generosity.
"I could not ask the Queen of Erebor to pay!" He was surprised at her offer. "Word has spread of your visit here...and no doubt there will be more sellers travelling to the markets. If you accepted something from one of our stalls, many others would buy similar items!"
"Then I must ask, do you live by the coast? Your craft must involve finding the perfect shells and driftwood as much as it does putting it together. They are all so beautiful and unique..."
"That is a most generous compliment, your highness!" He smiled looking at his work with pride. "I used to once. But our village was raided by the Corsairs and burnt down. We were all lucky to escape with our lives. We have had to rebuild further in land. It makes it harder to find what I need now. And we are all much more weary of venturing near the coast frequently. So we do not get to sell here in the market as often. I am fortunate to have picked today."
"Do you know of other merchants affected?" Thorongil stepped in now.
"Aye, my lord, the fish monger once brought his catch in every three or four days. He now manages once a week if he feels brave enough. His bairns all suffer from hunger often for that reason," the man looked over at a stall nearby. "But his village was a little further south and not everyone there was lucky. The Corsairs made away with a few young lads and lasses after their raid and a few people paid with their lives."
"Did you seek an audience with Lord Ecthelion?"
"He will have his general or another Lord stand in his place when we finally meet with them. And they will offer us a few coins. But not enough to rebuild our homes and not enough to buy weapons. We want safety, which they cannot afford us." The man spoke bitterly. "We have lost our way of life because of the trouble from the Corsairs. These are but a few of the pains I speak of. There was a woman who would farm sea greens by the coast. She and her husband had created shallow pools for the tide to enter, it would provide us with greens and even crabs. The Corsairs destroyed her farms -"
"We are taking up the attention of the guards, my Lady," Thorongil interrupted her quietly as he briefly looked over his shoulder at the large armoured guards who were walking over.
She quickly reached into her hidden coat pocket and pulled out two bags of gold coins.
"Here, before they get us to move on. Take these, I am sorry that I have no more on me; take some for your family and give some to those who you can and think may need it..." She quickly passed it on before the guards got closer.
The man stood frozen at first unable to move, when she pushed the coins into his hands.
"We will find a way to help you." Thorongil spoke low.
"Thank you your grace and your lordship. May the Great Ones protect and bless you and your family -"
Thorongil grabbed her arm to alert her to the incoming guards, readying himself for a fight, when a sudden bustle of people passed between them holding the guards at bay from moving further.
He took the chance to move her swiftly through the marketplace. But they could now see another pair of men, dressed in leather moving through the crowd towards them.
"Have you got your short sword?"
"No...but why would they harm me...am I not under Ecthelion's protection..?"
"Perhaps they will blame the Corsairs," Thorongil looked genuinely worried. "These two look like mercenaries. Just be ready for a fight -"
"This way for a nice dress, my lady," a woman once again stepped in and interrupted them. She was dressed in a beautiful velvet coat with her blonde hair pinned up neatly. "Perhaps you may like a beautiful frock coat for the ball...? This way your highness..."
She urged again, almost dragging them, but it seemed to stop the men in their tracks.
"I promise we will look after you, just as well as the seamstress within the city walls..." The woman almost pulled them along disappearing inside a tent.
Shobha looked over at Thorongil who simply nodded and gestured with his head to follow.
Ducking under the flap of the large tent they found a group of seamstresses looking up at them from their padded cushions on the floor where they worked under a large well lit chandelier of lamps. This was not a mere make shift tent, it was a well set up shop!
"I thought you may require some assistance, my Queen..." A familiar voice from behind the tent flap made them both turn around.
The well cloaked figure let down the tent and moved over to lower the cloak of his hood.
"Lord Imli!" She smiled, overjoyed to see his familiar face so far from what was once her home in Erebor. Unable to control herself, she ran over to him and threw her arms around him in an embrace. "I am so glad to see you!"
"The pleasure of seeing you, my lady, is entirely all mine, I assure you," the young lord smiled blushing, permitting himself a moment to inhale the familiar floral fragrance that always remained etched in his mind ever since that first day when he had kissed her. In that moment he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist, gently pressing her frame to his. And he remained there, in the moment until he was interrupted by Thorongil clearing his throat politely as she too began to feel the lengthy nature of his embrace.
"My Lord Imli," Thorongil rolled his eyes at his dwarven friend's open yearning over his Queen. He reached over and patted Imli fondly on the back as the dwarf gently released the small woman. "We are most glad to see you."
"But how did you know I was even here...?" She asked still surprised.
"When news of your so called absence at court in Erebor was being speculated over, I arranged for some of my petty dwarves to find you...in truth Lady Aida was attempting to spread a rumour that our King had sent you away in favour of taking a mistress. So I was worried about you. And when I wrote to Lady Mara, and she replied to say that you were well but she could offer no more, I imagined that you had chosen to leave..." He observed her carefully with his blue eyes, assessing for any signs of truth to his deductions. "As it turns out, you are very well known and loved by the petty dwarves. And as soon as your arrival here was spotted, word was sent out to me and I set off right away, in case you were in need of any assistance."
He wanted to say that his petty dwarves had also reported that she travelled alone without the King. And that worried him. But he held his tongue on that.
"And when I was gravely injured, I told you once, anything you need of me, I would do." He repeated, this time quietly.
"We are most grateful for your prompt arrival, Imli," Thorongil smiled, parting him again on the shoulder. "But how did you manage to carry out the interception as you did?"
"Ah well, I had some assistance: our seamstress has many who owe her small favours and, I invested in her many moons ago upon my travels," Imli smiled. "It pays to dress well and look after those who keep us well-dressed, my Lord Thorongil!"
Imli flashed a cheeky smile and winked at the ranger, his youthful face framed with his chestnut hair and handsome features evident at that point. It was certainly true that Imli was always immaculately dressed. But unlike many wealthy noble dwarves, he had used his wealth over the years to heavily invest in many others and their crafts. It had won him many supporters.
"I also had some assistance from Nori, who helped to coordinate the groups of people..." Imli turned to look back at the tent flap and like clockwork the dwarf known best for his spy craft popped his head through the tent flaps and nodded.
"Nori is here...?!" She asked surprised.
"Aye, but he has not yet shared any of your whereabouts with Erebor yet..." Imli whispered back.
"I also know that those two goons were mercenaries..." The woman who had first pulled them over spoke up now from where she stood tidying up some material. "And we can't have you coming to harm here, your highness. Not after what you are doing to help our people..."
"We owe you for your help, miss." Thorongil replied, bowing his head.
"This is Miss Seren," Imli introduced.
"Lord Imli is the reason I have all this," she gestured at her whole tent and workers. "He believed in me, and looked after me when no one else did..."
The familiarity with which she spoke of him, made it evident that they had clearly shared an intimate relationship at one point in their lives. It made Shobha wonder why they had not remained together. Or why Imli had not taken a wife. Afterall he was handsome, funny, kind and generous.
"I am not sure how I can repay you, Miss Seren?" Shobha too bowed her head. Anyone that could have won Imli's heart at any point, could only be special.
Seren smiled softly as she tucked several strands of her blonde hair behind her ears, clearly thinking.
"You could wear one of my dresses to the great spring feast...instead of that stuffy old tailor's clothes in there...?" She suggested with a smile. "It would certainly help business. And we could spice things up a little: I have some delicious fabrics from the east that would look beautiful against your skin..."
"Deal." Shobha nodded with a smile.
"We would have it ready in no time. But I would need to measure you, your highness," she walked over, clearly thinking of what she was going to dress the woman in before then gesturing at the dwarf and man that stood by her. "But I would have to do that without these two's prying, perverted eyes!"
She chuckled at her own bawdy joke.
"This one in particular, I can see would love to watch!" She tutted in jest at Imli as she walked Shobha away further into the tent and behind a screen.
...
As Thorin stood by their ponies, his eyes were drawn to a crowd that seemed to gather out of no where. It was unusual for crowds to move in such an organised manner. And he could see a pair of men, clad in traveling leathers who struggled to get into the crowd. It all appeared very odd. Quickly he checked that both ponies were securely tethered near the trough and moved to get a better view.
But just as the crowd had gathered it seemed to move in a strange manner with the two men almost following and then suddenly dissipate.
He has never witnessed anything like it, and he had seen plenty of menfolk gathering before.
It appeared that he too was not alone in his observation. The two men appeared to be left bewildered by the sudden dissipation. They looked all about the market place frantically as if they had lost someone. At first they lingered for a while and then they seemed to move on further away.
In the meantime his eyes were drawn to the figure of what he imagined was a well cloaked dwarf that disappeared around a large stall set up from a robust tent that was well covered. As he moved to follow the dwarf had disappeared completely.
There was only one dwarf who was that skilled that he knew of that could do that! Nori! Then as he continued to watch he spotted the tent flaps move slightly and a tall figure of a man emerge from within.
Thorin blinked several times as he was taken by surprise with what he spotted to be none other than Thorongil! He hadn't expected King Thengel's advisor to have travelled out to Gondor so soon, particularly not when they suffered so many attacks in Rohan recently.
Suddenly his mind began to race as he thought of the last time he had seen the young ranger. He had set off just before dusk. No other wagons had departed that afternoon from Erebor and even Thorongil had only left out of necessity to deliver the weapons fast to Rohan!
And that very day he had fallen into a foul mood with her, and decided to spend a few hours late into the night with Dwalin...
His heart began to beat faster as he began to recall further how he had then arrived that very night to find her gone!
As he stared daggers at the young man who looked around with his hand on the pommel of his sword, Thorin could feel the anger rise within him as the realisation began to dawn on him.
All this time he had wondered who she had trusted enough to travel with. Who would have been proficient enough to offer protection to her, the children and Lola, who clearly had loyally run off with her!
If indeed Thorongil was trusted to Thengel, why would he be here in Gondor now?! And standing outside a large stall, which he imagined was the tent of a skilled seamstress, as if he were standing guard! What or WHO was he guarding?!
And then the man turned and ducked back inside!
He was sure now that she was either within that tent, or here in Gondor! After all his hospitality towards this stranger, and his generosity in his very Halls and within the Royal Wing, no less, how could he have betrayed him so terribly in absconding with his wife and children?!
Thorin began to walk across towards the large stall. He would we damned if he allowed such betrayal and intended to demand answers from this young ranger...
...
Dear All,
Thank you to those of you who are continuing to read - and welcome to anyone new to this story (a sequel to 'Thorin's Fate').
So this fall out between Thorin and Shobha is something that I always intended, because I think they were always going to have that bump in the road after when Arun developed his gifts from Ulmo as he grew older. But the extent to which they have fallen out was not something that I quite planned - it just ended up coming out like this as I put down the words.
So let me know your thoughts as to how you would like this to go...should they forgive each other easily - has she 'betrayed him' too much...has he been too cold and overreacting towards her... I am interested to hear your thoughts...
Otherwise, hope you enjoy xx