Book Six: The Time After

Chapter Fifty One: Planning a Celebration

Notes: I decided that, in order to feel like I'm 100% done with the story, I want to upload this last book. This one consists of nine more chapters, most of it is fluff but there is conflict and more story as well. Enjoy!

"Damn, how are you so good at that?" I sighed, sprawled out on the bed.

Thorin smugly looked up to me from between my legs then sat up, both of us stark naked in the middle of the day. "A fun little talent, isn't it?" He leaned up and gave me a delicious kiss before getting out of the bed. "What are you up to for the rest of the day?"

I groaned, my arms feeling empty without him there. I rolled onto my stomach and pouted. "I'm meeting with Dis, Gen, and some other women to plan for the celebration. I don't know why everyone wants my opinion on these things, I only care if food and drink will be there."

He pulled his shirt over his head, covering up his tattoos I loved so much. "You know why they want your opinion, Lydia."

"Okay, I know why they want me there. I am not the person to care about details, Dis is so much better at making smart decisions and I feel silly trying to pretend I belong there." I held up my hand, knowing exactly what he was going to say. "I am not saying I don't belong amongst your people, trust me, I am more dwarf than hobbit on most days. I'm just saying I'm a simple person in comparison to the nobility here. I don't think in extravagance or glamor."

"That's why they need you, Love. My people are also simple and don't need all the craziness that my sister and the others will push for." He leaned down and kissed my forehead. "I will be doing my own planning for the celebration as well. Figuring out which allies we want to invite and such. I should still be done by dinner though."

I reached up and grabbed him by a braid decorated with silver and gold beads, "You will be done by dinner so I can return the favor you just did for me."

He lowered himself back down and kissed me again but on my lips. He reached into my hair and found my braid with matching beads, giving it a little tug. "Yes, my lady. I look forward to us continuing this later then."

We released each other and we both finished getting dressed again to finish our days. We always tried to see each other during the middle of the day since we didn't always get to start or end our days at the same time. Most of the time we had dinner together with the family, but as king that wasn't always guaranteed. I knew he was preparing his entire life to be king and he loved what he did for his people, so I couldn't be too disappointed when days came when we saw each other very little. By day, he belonged to Erebor, but at night he was all mine.

Thorin and I parted ways. He went to go meet with his advisors while I went to one of the planning rooms to meet with my own advisors of sorts.

The small room was filled with well dressed dwarvish women and my sister who oddly fit in with them pretty well, despite the fact she was not noble nor bearded. We had only been there for a couple months and she was so good at playing their game, saying enough to be interesting but not too much to be considered a gossip. I had always known Gen for being very emotion driven, she was like our sister Rose in that way, but as soon as she stepped into that room something in her head seemed to switch. She knew what kind of person she needed to be.

I was sort of jealous of how she seemed to just meld in with them, while I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb. I knew how to get along with people but it all felt very surface level. I didn't feel like I knew any of them, including Dis.

They all welcomed me warmly and chattered about how excited they were for the anniversary celebration.

We were in charge of planning out the food, entertainment, and decorations to celebrate a full year passing since the dwarves and I took back Erebor officially, which was when Smaug was killed and fell into the cold depths of Laketown. It was hard to believe a full year had passed even though it had certainly been the longest year of my life.

"I think we should hold it in the front chamber with the golden floor and decorate everything in gold!" one of the women suggested as we sat at a round table. We were all indulging in wine to keep the ideas flowing. "Everyone can wear gold as well!"

"Don't be so gaudy, Regina," Donia scoffed. She adjusted the fur around her neck and tossed her ginger hair over her shoulder. "I think this should be a red affair, very compelling if we were to incorporate gems into the centerpieces."

Dis shook her head, "No, no. We should do green for growth, emeralds for the nobility. If we do hold it in the front entrance the green and the gold will be brilliant." She turned her piercing eyes over to me. "Don't you think so too, Lydia?"

All of their eyes turned towards me and my spine stiffened. "Uh, well they all seem like very good ideas. This may be a dumb question, but do we need a color theme?"

Gen gasped, "Are you thinking of a bigger theme? Like masquerade? Or animals? Dis, you would look lovely dressed up like a raven."

The others clamored at that idea of a themed celebration. I raised my voice a little and said, "No, that's not what I meant." They quieted down and looked back at me. "I was asking why do we need a theme at all? This is a celebration for all of Erebor, does it matter what people are wearing and if it matches the decorations?"

They looked amongst each other, not sure how to respond.

Gen leaned towards me and asked, "If this was a party just for you, Lydia, what would you want it to be like?"

I tried to relax my shoulders. "Well…I think it would be great to have some members of the company to tell the story of what really happened. I'm sure so many rumors and misinformation went around. And I would want to have the humans from Laketown invited to the event as well, since they were the ones to take down Smaug. Then, as long as the food is good, the drink is plentiful, and the music plays late I think it will be a lot of fun for everyone."

Some of them nodded, liking some of the ideas I had suggested. I couldn't tell if they actually liked anything I said or if they were just trying to play nice with me because of the person I shared a bed with. I didn't know how Thorin could do it, never really knowing who was being truthful and honest. I tried to get to know these women between topics by asking them about their families but everything felt so superficial.

We finished the session by deciding that performers would be hired to reenact moments from the journey and I would be in charge of trying to convince Thorin to invite the humans to the event. They decided a theme was very necessary and having it based on 'jewel tones' so that everyone should be able to find something to wear. We would still have to get together again to discuss the menu for the evening but for the most part the other duties were distributed between all of us.

I thanked everyone for their hard work and help on this big project. I then left the room as quickly as I could without it looking like I was running away. As soon as I was in the hall, I took a relieving breath and weight lifted off me.

"Lydia, wait up!" I looked over my shoulder, straightening my spine again. When I realized it was just Gen, I relaxed again and turned towards her. She took my arm and we continued walking down the hall. She said, "I need to tell you something and you need to promise to hear me out because you know that I don't bullshit you."

"Ugh, I have a bad feeling about this."

"Promise!"

"Fine, fine. Go ahead."

"You need to try being less intimidating." I immediately looked at her confused but she held up her hands in innocence. "Obviously Dis and I don't think you're intimidating, but remember that all these women know about you is that you fought your way across the continent, faced a dragon, and are the love of their king. You terrify them."

I reflect for a moment. "I…guess I didn't realize that's how they saw me. What do I even do to fix that?"

"You want my opinion?" I nodded. "Get these women wonderfully and belligerently drunk. Dish with them a little bit, talk some shit, complain about how stinky Thorin's feet are, relate to them a little bit."

"Is that what you do? Drink with them and talk about Fili's feet?"

Her face started turning colors before she crossed her arms. "Fili and I are not together nor would I tell them anything about Fili at this point. Besides, they aren't intimidated by me. To them, I'm a little nobody that rode on my sister's coat tales to be there. They like me though, because I act like a real person around them and I think my honesty entertains them. They're really interesting women if you're able to break down that wall."

"I'll try, I really will. I don't want to feel like I'm up on a pedestal," I nodded. "What is the latest with Fili anyway? You are both horribly annoying when you're around each other so I hope you've figured something out."

"Aren't we allowed to just be enjoying each other's company?" she asked, unable to shake the red shade off her face.

"I thought you said you won't bullshit me," I said, giving her a teasing smile. "Come on, it's not like I'm going to go running off to tell Thorin or Dis."

She cocked an eyebrow at me. "You wouldn't tell Thorin? Really?"

"As long as you're not plotting to kill his nephew he doesn't need to know."

She hesitated for a moment and looked around to make sure there's no one nearby. "Alright…to be honest I don't know what to do with Fili right now."

"What do you mean?"

"We have kissed but we haven't gone any farther than that." I shoved her playfully and she couldn't wipe the smile off her face if she tried. "They've been absolutely incredible as well. But I think we haven't gone any further than that because we don't know what we want with each other. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, I get it. If it were up to you, what would you want? Something casual?" She pressed her lips together and my eyes grew. "No? I wouldn't have thought you'd be interested in anything more after how things went with Oliver."

"I should be done with relationships for life, I'm not good at them. Never have been. I'm a selfish and stubborn woman that starts fights because I think it's fun to argue and yell and make them apologize. I…I have no business sniffing around someone like Fili but…" Her shoulders dropped and she sighed, slowing her pace. "You're right about Barclay women ruining the men they're with. I really don't want to ruin him, Lydia."

Oh shit, she really likes him.

She had been downplaying it since I woke up in Erebor, saying they were just having fun and enjoying the casualness and lack of commitment as they got to know each other better. If I didn't know her I could have believed it, she was freshly separated from her husband after all, but she was acting much different than the relationships I had seen her in, in the past. Certainly she would flirt and be a tease with anyone, but I had witnessed some softer moments that most people would assume she wasn't capable of.

If I had noticed all of that, I was dying to know what they were like in private. I didn't want to push too hard though, that always ended badly with Genevive. I wanted to make sure she wasn't afraid to go to me, when things did happen. But that didn't change the fact that I wanted to know as much about this development as possible.

"You're not going to 'ruin' him, Genevive," I said reassuringly with a smile. "If things are meant to be then things will progress as they're supposed to. I'm sure he doesn't want to screw things up as much as you don't want to."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because if I found out that he broke your heart I would hunt him down, even if he is Thorin's heir. I'm still your sister and he knows that I would act that way." I gave her a smug smile. "And I know how Fili is, you're something different to him."

She chuckled and shook her head. "Sometimes there is no doubt we're related and that should scare you."

"Oh I wake up screaming every night. It haunts me!" I squeezed her arm and she rolled her eyes, knowing I was joking. "You know what my love life used to look like so take it from me, everything is different when you actually like the person. Don't compare anything to Oliver because how things were with him might as well have been on a different continent. You know how to be a good person Gen, though you might not like to admit it."

"Ugh, when did you become so sappy, Lydia?" She pressed her lips together and averted her eyes so I knew what I said did actually touch her. "I guess we will just…see?"

"I guess we will. Unless you want me to talk to him for you?"

"Over my dead body!" she scoffed.