Chapter 13 - The Value of Plants

Frerin returned home early with his purse heavier than it had ever been before.

Partly because he could function with far less food than he was comfortable making Kíli deal with as well as the shifts of power in the lands of men.

Goods were more expensive, and labour, which meant, for once, things had gone in Frerin's favour being one of very few dwarrow willing to work in the shipyards.

Frerin came home to an ax at his throat. Huffing, Frerin pushed Dwalin's blade away, "I know I don't qualify for a guard, but I would appreciate you not beheading me."

Dwalin glowered, "I would appreciate you knocking."

"Uncle Frerin!" Kíli called, pushing passed Dwalin to give him a hug.

Frerin had rarely been parted from his nephew, and until he had the dwarfling wrapped in his arms, he didn't realise how much he had missed him.

Not that Kíli was a child anymore, but there seemed to be a lighter air in the room.

Kissing the top of his head, Frerin looked up and snagged his youngest sister-son into the hug as well.

Fíli still didn't seem sure of his welcome, but he had at least relaxed enough to soak in the physical touch.

Dís tackled the three of them, and it took a true act of balance to not fall as Frerin found himself holding up the other three.

He lost it a moment later and they all fell with several grunts.

Kíli and Fíli began giggling madly.

Frerin couldn't breathe yet he couldn't help but smile.

Dís had proved herself an excellent mother in bringing both her sons out of their shells.

For the first time since the attack, Frerin truly felt as if he were home.

It took some time before they were all sitting around the table for dinner.

"Any word from Thorin?" Frerin asked.

Dís rolled his eyes, "Of course not. The dwarf has never met a raven."

"The Rangers say he's been adopted by a clan of hobbits," Balin said. "Not a whisper of trouble. Which I'm relieved to hear, he deserved a break."

Frerin could have made a joke, but he wasn't wrong. Sailors were a rough sort of people, but they weren't as bad or unworldly as men in villages. Thorin had certainly faced the worst of humiliations and labours from men since the dragon out of the three of them.

It was part of the reason Dís never complained about taking on the political work.

Thorin had shouldered so much as Thrain descended into madness before the attempt to reclaim Moria.

"Speaking of which," Frerin said, rising from his seat. "I brought back presents."

From his luggage, he pulled three packs.

The largest he gave to Kíli, a bundle of smooth and beautiful variety of driftwood. The longer pieces he had sold at a surprisingly high price on his way back from the gulf. To Dís, he gave a bag of sea glass and a roll of twine.

And to Fíli he gave a pack of pearlicent shell shards and semi-precious stones he had found on shore.

Frerin grinned at the chorus of thank yous.

Let's see what Thorin brought back with him.

oOo

Thorin arrived home three weeks after Frerin when the first snow flurries blanketed from the clouds. He was pleased at the smiles he received on coming home, more so at the ease, Fíli and Kíli had with each other. They seemed back in sync.

Dís was a bit wide eyed at the food he brought back with him.

"How much did this cost you?" Dís asked.

"A door fix and a new light post," he answered.

"What?"

He smiled, "They paid me with coin for my goods, they traded me for skills for things I bought from them."

Dís blinked, "I think I like these hobbits."

"I know I do," Thorin said. "If they had been our neighbours, we wouldn't have starved when the dragon came."

Dís raised a brow at the remark but said, "You look good. Like you've had meals and bathed on occasion."

"They welcomed me into their home," Thorin said.

Dís lowered her voice as Thorin cut vegetables and she started the stew, "How much did you make?"

He told her the sum.

She gaped at him, "That's seven times what Frerin made."

"I didn't pay for boarding at all," he said.

She shook her head, braids swinging, "Save the rest of the stories for the boys."

Thorin smiled, inclining his head.

He felt well of body and mind. No matter what this winter brought, he knew he had done the best he could for his family and people.

oOo

Fíli nearly spat his drink, "Did you say Bilbo Baggins?"

Thorin nodded with a smile, "Do you know him?"

Fíli bit his lip but affirmed, "He's close will Estel. He is probably the only hobbit in the Shire who has travelled beyond Bree."

"He did seem rather worldly compared to the others, though not the most adventurous," Thorin said, going on about his story speaking of Fíli's cousins and old friends.

When his Dah said a dwarf had come from Ered Luin, he had failed to mention that Thorin had moved in with them.

Also, it seemed that neither Dah nor his Uncle Thorin realised his connection to them.

Fíli grew more concerned as Thorin continued to tell his tales of the Shire.

Hobbits did not move.

Yet what Thorin was describing was all the hobbits east of the Brandywine moving west.

Things must be bad to prompt such a change. No wonder they had asked for a dwarf to be in the markets.

Fíli didn't say much for the rest of dinner and excused himself as soon as was polite.

And of course his brother noticed.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Fíli insisted.

"Do you not like hobbits?"

Fíli snorted, "Of course not, they're hobbits. It's hard to fit in there but I have no doubts that Uncle was treated as an honoured guests."

"But you're upset," Kíli insisted.

"It doesn't matter."

"Of course it does."

"It doesn't."

"It does."

"Kíli!"

"Fíli," his brother said with a smirk.

Fíli fell back on his bed with a huff, "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"Is this something about the letters you've been writing?" Kíli asked. "Dwalin said you gave a message to a magpie. Men don't use magpies."

Fíli sighed, keeping secrets from his brother was impossible.

If the stuff his brother couldn't possibly guess at, he knew to question.

He wasn't ready to tell his amad, but he wanted, no needed, to tell his brother. But Amad couldn't know.

He looked up to his older brother, then to the door.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes," Kíli said without hesitation.

"Even from Amad, and Uncle Frerin and Thorin?"

Worry clear in his eyes, Kíli nodded.

"You promise?"

"Yes, I promise. Now why are you so upset by hobbits."

"Bilbo Baggins is my father."

Kíli scoffed, "Our father is not a hobbit."

"Not our father, mine, the one who saved me from the dwarf who kidnapped me."

"Oh…"

"I didn't completely lie though. I've been and I have trained in Rohan, I just wasn't raised there."

Kíli was quiet for a long time before flopping down beside him. "What was it like being raised by hobbits?"

"It was fine, until it wasn't. It's complicated."

"I'll listen."

And Fíli knew he would.

"Bilbo was the best father a faunt could wish for."

"You miss him, them, don't you?"

"No," Fíli lied.

"You don't have to do that," Kíli said. "You don't have to hide, not from me.

Fíli closed his eyes, "I miss what could have been. Ten years of living in the Shire and I had been more or less accepted. But then we travelled to see Bilbo's cousins in the east and being so close to Bree, well, there were human children playing with the hobbit faunts."

Kílis face softened with understanding. "Amad never let me near humans when I was younger."

"Yeah well, hobbits don't have such bad relations with them. Least not with children. They are far more wary of big folk's adults. But the human kids saw that I was different and they faked an injury when the hobbits' backs were turned and blamed it on me. It spread like wildfire that I had attacked a child and would have maimed a hobbitling if the human child hadn't stopped me."

Kíli winced. "I'm sorry. If it matters, that's not uncommon between humans and dwarrow. It's why Uncle hates working with them and the necessity of our people working for them. It was different when we traded with them in Erebor, when they came to us for talents and goods, not us to them for coin."

"At the time, I was terrified. I thought they would send me back to the Blue Mountains."

Kíli flinched.

"In my defence, I thought you and Amad were dead."

"I'm sorry you feared your own people so, I'm sorry you had reason to."

"You should tell Amad."

Fíli shook his head, "I can't."

"Why not?"

He sighed, "Because Bilbo is the son of an elf lord."

"What?" Kíli asked, sitting up to look down at him.

"Bilbo is the son of an elf lord," he repeated.

"How is that possible?"

Fíli couldn't help the sardonic smile, "Do you really need me to explain planting season? You know you're the older one righ–"

"I mean, I didn't think an elf would lower themselves."

Fíli frowned, "Hobbits aren't less than. Besides, my dah is only part elf not really half. But he has the spark, so he was claimed as a true son, like Lord Elrond is called a half-elf when both his parents were elves."

"Why can't you tell Amad?"

Fíli met his gaze, "What will they think when they learn my swordmaster was an elf?"

Kíli paled and laid back down beside him.

He didn't answer for a long time and that was answer enough for Fíli.

oOo

Kíli had grown up hearing the stories of elves. How the woodland elves had betrayed them.

It wasn't so much that Uncle Thorin hated them as a race, he thought them super sillilious but if he learned that an elf had raised him?

"Did they– did the elves purposely keep you away from us?"

"Bilbo didn't," his little brother said. "But the elves did."

Kíli fisted his hands. "I do not think it will matter."

"But you don't know?" Fíli countered.

Kíli bit his lip. They were already in bad standing with elves.

"If it got out, if it became common knowledge… Can you speak it?"

"Speak what?" Fíli asked.

"Elvish?"

"I can speak and write Sindarin and I'm not terrible in the eastern dialects."

Kíli swore silently, "You have to get better at Khuzdul."

"Why? Why is that most important to you in all this?"

"Because it shouldn't matter that the elves helped raise you, they also protected you. But you're a prince and it might matter. Elvish politics hasn't really been a part of my training overly much because of where the Blue Mountains are."

"I hear a but coming."

Kíli sighed "But, it will matter, I know it will matter that you can speak their language and not ours. That will matter to our people."

"And I have a hard enough time fitting in as it is."

Kíli frowned. There was too much bite in that phrase. "Did something happen?"

"No," he said too quickly before his shoulders rounded. "Absolutely nothing."

Kíli decided that was something he needed to handle if he could just figure out what that 'nothing' was.

oOo

Thorin decided to wait to give Oin the haul Bilbo had given him.

Oin was in a lull which was good because he had brought Kíli, Nori, and Ori with him. Balin was playing babysitter to them while Dwalin was with Dís, Frerin, and Fíli.

Oin glared at them, but he didn't bark to send them off because of that lull. Instead, he greeted them with a grunt after he did a visual check that none of them were injured.

"I have a gift for you," Thorin said, pulling the basket bag that Bilbo had given him over his shoulder and placing it gently on Oin's desk.

Bilbo had insisted that a soft bag wasn't enough to carry the glass bottles and jars in.

Oin leaned back in his chair behind his desk, a silent, Go ahead, impress me.

Smirking, Thorin pulled out the first bag, "Mr. Baggins said this one was for general use."

Oin leaned forward at the clink of glass.

"This one is for bairns," Thorin said and then pulled out the largest bag, "And this one is for the dams."

Oin was silent as he methodically checked over the clearly labelled jars.

Thorin passed him the catalogue book Bilbo had given him with the ingredients, warnings, and treatment uses for each of his products.

"Oin?" Thorin asked as he saw the healer's hand begin to shake.

"You– how much did you– Thorin, I can't repay you for any of this. I can't believe you were able to afford it all," Oin said, as he picked out a jar of some thick balm and popped the lid off it to give it a whiff. "You got this from elves? They typically label their jars in their own language, not common."

"I traded for them," Thorin said. "The hobbit I was staying with made them himself. He grew most of the ingredients in his own garden."

Oin carefully recapped the jar and leafed through the catalogue.

"Oin?" Balin asked, rounding the table to place a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Oin shook his head, quickly putting down the book to wipe at his eyes.

Thorin was shocked when he realised the healer was crying. Thorin shared a worried look with Balin.

Oin kept shaking his head, "You don't understand what this means for us. Thorin, what could you possibly have traded for this?'

"I made him a new set of gardening tools and forged him a new pan."

Oin huffed a laugh then repeated, "You have no idea– Thorin, you have no idea what this means for us. Do you know how many of our dams will survive the winter with these? How many of our pebbles?"
Thorin felt his heart pick up speed, "What?"

Oin held up a jar, "This can slow bleeding. These are nutrients we can give our bearers, these are nutrients to give to infants, nutrients that are essential for the health of the mother and child. Nutrients that mitigate a lack of fresh food. Things we can mix with cow or goat milk if our dams aren't able to produce enough milk themselves for the little ones.

"This," he held up a large bottle. "This, can prevent a patient from going into shock after an injury or during a surgery."

He held up another bottle, "This is a disinfectant I can put into a puncture wound or use during surgery. Thorin, this will save lives."

Picking back up the catalogue, he went on, "If we could set up a long-term trade with this Master Baggins, I could– I would trade much."

Balin squeezed his shoulder, Oin patted his hand and actually smiled.

Kíli was staring at all the things on the table, "I didn't know plants could do all that."

Oin laughed, "Aye, it's the problem with the races being segregated and why elves and men get so far ahead in the world. Dwarves value and have mastered mining, mechanical invention, and weapon making, but we ourselves are not truly made of stone. We are as flesh and blood as them, and growing things need other growing things to sustain themselves."

Thorin felt his jaw tick, "In my father's absence, Dís and I lead, and we value life over wealth. I will see what we can do to maintain a consistent trade with Mister Baggins."

Balin ran a hand over the cover of the book written by Bilbo, "I have an idea to start."

"Really?" Kíli asked.

Balin nodded, "Books take quite some time to write. My apprentice," and here he smiled at Ori, "can certainly make a few copies of this book."

Ori nodded, "I can do that."

"How is that helpful for Mr. Baggins?" Kíli asked.

"It means he can give more to other healers without having to worry that they won't understand how they are meant to be used," Oin explained. "This book is incredibly valuable even without the medicine. It's not exactly an instruction manual, but if you know how to create these, with the ingredients list, it's priceless. In a way, without the measurements included it discourages someone from experimenting themselves. It's not as simple as mixing leaves."

"I can do it," Ori said.

Oin looked up at Thorin, "Thank you, my prince. This gift… it lessens my fear of the winter."

Thorin inclined his head, vowing to himself that he would prioritise keeping his healer stores stocked.

It was not a difficult promise, not when it meant he would see his One again.

In the end, it was no difficulty at all as Bilbo's generosity knew few bounds and his extended family who moved in with, rather made the potions and healing herbs a family business.

Hobbits, as the Blue Mountains soon learned, were quite industrious as dwarves, though their generosity far exceeded any other of the free peoples of Arda.

oOo

Kíli knew his brother. As he knew there was a reason he didn't come to the healer's ward with him.

He was also observant enough to notice the dwarrowdam who was Oin's apprentice flee the moment Kíli walked into the room.

Subtleness had its place.

Kíli took the direct root though, stepping in front of the dam while the others were busy unpacking the jars for Oin.

She startled.

"Hi, I'm Prince Kíli," he said brightly.

She visablied swallowed.

She was beautiful. Young, but not so much younger than Fíli.

"Hello," she said giving an awkward curtsy. "I'm Sonna, Apprentice to Healer Oin."

No familiar title.

Interesting.

"I heard you met my brother," he said.

She flinched.

Kíli smiled in victory, he had a good guess as to what had happened.

oOo

Sonna was having heart palpitations when she was cornered in the hall outside the healer's wing. She tried to make excuses only to be struck with a rather rude question.

"Is my brother your One?"

Mahal's furry balls!

She flushed, attempting to tame her tongue, "How– How dare you?"

"He already asked to court you, didn't he? But you turned him down, why? Did he offend you? You know he was separated from our culture for decades. You shouldn't judge him for things he doesn't know."

"He didn't offend me," she snapped.

Kíli grinned, "So he is your One."

She turned away from him, "My prince, you should not be asking me this."

"He's my little brother, I can have Captain Dwalin or my uncles ask if you prefer. I promise to leave my mother out of it though. You're welcome."

Sonna turned back to level him with her fiercest glare at him, "Do not threaten me."

Far from being scared away, Kíli stepped closer. "What did he do? Did he hurt you?"

"No! How– how could you even ask that!? He's the kindest dwarf I've ever met!"

The dark haired Prince smiled, "So you like."

Heart pounding, she forgot both their stations and shoved him, "What do you want?"

The crowned prince was thankfully not offended, "I want to know what he did that you won't talk to him despite making eyes at him whenever his back is turned."

She tugged on her hair, "If I tell you will you leave?"

"Maybe."

"He gave me flowers."

Kíli's look softened. "Admittedly, not very princely, but my brother values flowers, he would value you. It wasn't meant as an insult."

The first gift was always something of value if you believed them to be your One.

It was akin to saying, I would risk my heart and I would bet my future that our lives would be better together.

The second gift was more intimate and sentimental, once you got to know one another.

"He told me they were medical ingredients when I turned him down."

The older prince seemed amused by this, "Well, at least he didn't ask for them back."

"They were not courting gifts."

"My brother grew up as a common blacksmith in a quaint village shoeing horses, Amad hasn't taught him how to court. It was a sign of his affection for you."

"Well, he should move on. Because I'm not good enough for him."

"But he's good enough for you?"

"No! He's too good for me! I'm a nobody."

"You're a healer, a dwarrowdam, and most likely his One. I'd say that makes you someone rather important."

"I'm a daughter of a dishonoured criminal."

Prince Kíli cocked his head, "Do you know why dwarrowdams don't take their father's name and why, my mother being a princess, means my brother and I use her name and not our father's?"

"Tradition."

"Yes, tradition. Because a dwarrowdam sets the rules, she names the children, she determines how their children will be raised."

"My mother left me."

"And that was her choice," Kíli said.

"Yet apparently it's not my choice to turn down your brother."

"Of course it is. But not everyone finds their One's. It's not as common as anyone wishes it were. I'll respect your wishes, Sonna, apprentice of Healer Oin, but if your wish is to be with my brother and it's his title holding you back, then I'm telling you, as his kin, that you would be welcomed with open arms into our family."

"I doubt your mother would feel the same," Sonna scoffed.

Kíli arched a brow, "My father was a blind cook who King Thrain hated. Enough so that my Ri uncles were never formally acknowledged in court. But Prince Thorin supported his sister and there is no one who would doubt how much my mother loved my father."

"I am not brave enough nor good enough for Prince Fíli and I will not humiliate either of us by encouraging his affections."

"Is he or is he not your One?"

"I don't know," she lied.

Kíli paused, looking into her eyes, waiting for her to say more.

She didn't.

"Maybe you're right," Kíli said finally. "My brother deserves someone who isn't too cowardly to fight for him. Not even to try."

Sonna fisted her hands, "You don't understand. If it didn't work, then my life would be ruined."

Kíli snorted. "You're the one with the power, Sonna. I do apologize for overstepping. Good day."

Sonna watched the prince leave, her heart sinking.

She reached into her pocket where she had preserved one of the purple blooms in glass. Glass was not expensive though the craftsman had laughed at her request.

To dwarrow, flowers meant nothing, but to Sonna the asters had meant everything.

She told herself it would be okay, that it would be fine, that she would be fine.

Still, she held onto that bloom like a balm to her heart. Maybe in another life, her soul would be complete.

In another life, she would be deserving. Then, they might find each other again.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, are you okay with more tangents, sloths, or feedback pretty please?