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blankdblank · 4 years

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Next Caller Pt 40

A warm hand stroked your arm and inhaling sharply your eyes cracked open finding Thorin sitting beside you, “I am so sorry.” You shook your head grumbling softly to yourself rolling onto your back, “I promised you dinner.”

“You were tired. Didn’t want to wake you. Heard you snoring, hard shift?”

“More like hard people just off work and angry for a fix. Ought to ban anyone with a mood like that.” That had you giggling and sitting up, “I might scowl but I’m far from rude.”

“I’ll get up and be out in a minute,” he nodded and gave your leg a pat standing up heading to finish readying the table to grant you privacy.

A full change of clothes was followed by primping and out you went to join him. Closing your cardigan over your t shirt hoping it might be warmer after running out of sweaters you giggled seeing the hefty supply of food set out, “Spared no crumbs I see.”

Bashfully he chuckled replying, “Had to,”

“You didn’t. People get tired. Thank you, but you don’t have to make a feast if you sleep in.” You said sitting down accepting the mug of tea he handed you. “I mean it, thank you.”

“You are more than worth it.” He hummed back catching your flinching gaze, “You are.”

With a nod you replied, “I know, thank you, just, getting used to hearing people meaning it.” He looked you over and you said, “Some people just say it, it was hard, to say the least, growing up hearing you’re nothing without the clan, or even to it. I never wanted to prove them right. Part of how that me died I suppose when I got pulled out of that carrier.” Shaking your head you said, “Sorry, not trying to drop the mood.”

“You aren’t,” he said laying his hand over yours, “Talk to me, about anything. You are so strong, you even said you found a way to escape from where they kept you but they drugged you.”

With tears in your eyes you asked, “I said escape?”

Shaking his head he shifted on his seat to be closer to you, “No you said, end-, oh,” Moving onto your bench he let go of your hand to pull you into a hug, “I am so sorry,” pressing a kiss to the top of your head clutching you tightly to him in feeling a tear hitting his arm.

“There was a loose wall panel under my bunk, they found me chewing on a power cable. Jammed a stun rod in the back of my thigh.” Pulling back a bit you sniffled and he tenderly wiped your cheek, “I’m not like that now though, it, I was tired of suffering because of his name. And I changed my name,” looking up at him you said, “I don’t think I can say thank you enough for what your family has done for me. Even the ones I haven’t met.”

“You don’t have to thank us, any of us.”

“No, but,”

“But what?” he hummed out slightly concerned of the worry in your eyes as he stroked your cheek again with his thumb.

“I’m mentioning Durin’s Blering today.” Making him smirk, “I don’t, want you to be upset, or your family.”

“We love your show, your portrayal of Durin and our relatives. There have been portrayals of other favored Dwarves through history with exaggerated Blering or courting decisions. Blundrun of the Stoonefoot’s had five weddings in one adaptation on film. It’s all taken in good humor when done respectfully. The public isn’t meant to see the full details, it’s private.”

“Even if it involves a walrus?”

At that he laughed saying in a tap of his forehead to yours, “We will love it, and I can’t wait to hear how a walrus comes into play, nor will my family be upset. Now eat up. Big day ahead of you.” You nodded again and he eased back to get to eating the large meal.

“Don’t worry,” he said as you climbed into your car, “Be fearless Mafioso.” To yourself you giggled and were off to work while he inhaled and groaned stretching before driving off himself.

Truly you had faced harsh times and in clarifying the wording it settled in his mind just how much stronger you were for healing on that island prison and bursting free to toil until someone gave you a much needed hand up. You had ample reason to be concerned, it was a tender subject to broach, but with how greatly they loved your portrayal so far he had no doubts they would love to hear your thoughts on how mushy the ever bleeding heart of the teddy bear warrior could get. All the same he sent out a message to his elders who rippled it around with eager replies that they would tune in as they could. And parking in his spot he readied for his cousins to begin their questioning until your show kicked on.

The big show finally came. After leaving off that Durin was left aimlessly staring at the floor of his cabin hours till the door was broken in two and he was drug off in chains on the biggest cliffhanger since when Bunny was kidnapped for your listeners. Durin was refused and taken captive needing saving and healing for his badly breaking heart.

“She has stunning eyes you know.” Durin sighed out.

His captor rolled his eyes replying, “I thought if I got you drunk you’d shut up about her.”

“I had it all planned out,” Durin hiccupped and added after another groan from the captor, “Even hired a walrus to give her the spoon I’d chosen,” after a sniffle the King slurred out, “Same shade as her eyes!”

A thud was heard and a relieved sigh came from the captor, “Finally.”

Near to the end of the show after another odd detour of some random bystanders who watched Bunny storming in to rouse up Durin’s allies to fly off to battle for their King. Surely assuring the audience she did truly care for him in return and was taking her place she had said not to want as Queen and leader to his people a muffled explosion was heard and screams followed before a metal door was sent flying into a distant wall and Durin comes to, “BUNNY! You came for me!”

“No. You borrowed my pen. I came for my Twiggums. This is just a coincidence he happened to be with you.”

Song song like he replied, “You saved me,” Bunny sighed hoisting him up, “You missed me.”

“Back to your ship before your head gets any bigger. I came for my pen and found you by chance.”

Through the halls he was carried and his heart thundered as he slurred out dopily, “You brought my armies and allies. There’s a word for the one they would follow other than me you know.”

“Ya, bribed.”

“No,” he slurred, “My men are above reproach.”

Bunny pointed out a man with an arm full of trinkets he took from the captor’s Palace, “Clearly he’s here for the loot.”

“Norib only loots for a good cause and King, or, you know the word.” He teased.

Through the tea shop, while the story bantered on in the adamant refusals and skirting around the subject while Durin swooned more for his now certainly future bride. Along with Mal who was squealing behind her hands unable to help but blush and smile stupidly at how perfect it was leading to your propping up a notebook to keep from getting distracted by her reactions.

“For Mahal’s sake woman! Have pity on us and tell me if this is in the book!”

With a giggle you replied, “Second.”

“Ugh,” she groaned throwing her head back making you giggle again and guide her out through the halls to the garage again, “It’s going to be so hard to read from behind my pillow.”

“Oh trust me you will be squealing more than once I blushed through just writing half of it not even mentioning the editing.”

“I can’t imagine!” Her eyes scanned over your jacket you pulled back on making her smirk, “That is a male coat, you didn’t happen to steal Thorin’s coat?”

“No, he took me to his jacket place, helped me pick it out. It’s got soo many pockets!” You said showing her the pockets both outside and in appealing to your shared Hobbit love of pockets. “And it’s so fluffy inside!” Lowering your hand you lifted the mail bag you had been given.

“Well it looks amazing on you. Gives the illusion he might be coatless somewhere.”

You giggled back, “But we both know I can swim in his jackets.” Making her giggle too. “Need a ride?”

“No, Kili is picking me up, having a lunch date.”

“Ooh, nice, just the two of you?”

“Yes, apparently they convinced Frerin it would be less of a challenge to keep civilized one on one alternating dates.”

“Hmm.”

She let out a weak chuckle, “I know, but it gets me twice the dates this week so I’ll take what I can get.”

“Well I hope it gets easier down the line for you.”

“Oh it will. I am too determined to let it go otherwise.” Eagerly Kili was waiting and scooped her and BamBam up carrying them to his waiting car while you walked to yours you unlocked and with the mail in the trunk lowered into with a quick huff shaking your hands to get rid of the lingering tingles from your nerves at how it would go over.

“They have to get married!” You could hear the words being called across the buzzing shop making you peak inside only to have Balin inch in front of you and point to his left ushering you inside the office subtly. Curiously you popped in only to find the food but no Thorin. Walking around the table you sat on the couch only for you to hear, “You’re a Durin! What happens next! Don’t tell us he gets spurned again!”

Thorin gruffly replied back, “None of us know, our clan didn’t write it.”

“But you have to know something!” Was cut off as Thorin huffed entering and closing the office behind him. “Your lover is listed on the Bunny Show voicing it!”

Taking a moment to gather himself before turning around, “Sorry,” you muttered and he shook his head.

“Don’t you dare apologize. It’s a fabulous story. Mainly it’s dead silent so they can listen in then it just erupts afterwards, they’ll head out eventually when their mugs run out we’ve got a two refill limit.” Next to you he settled down comfortably with his leg against yours flashing you a comforting grin.

“Just don’t want you being harassed over it.”

“It’s not harassment. I take it as a point of pride that you are doing exceedingly well.” His smile split wider playfully as he rumbled, “And very nice touch on making him drunk ramble his plans out mournfully. Very true to his character. Gran messaged me she was on the edge of her seat and Gramps said she was giggling like crazy. Amad is curious to know how one could manage to hire a walrus to do their bidding.”

In a giggle as he uncovered and served the food you replied, “They are far more agreeable than elephant seals.” He looked you over and you added with a smirk, “I made allies to keep the crabs away.” Making him chuckle, “Besides they do love a good head rub. Once they see you won’t hurt their babies you’re free to graze through to see what they’re up to.”

“I will pass that on.” He replied in a chuckle. “You ok?”

You nodded, “Yup, just have another bag of mail to sort when I get home. It’s picking up.”

“I bet. I could help if you like.”

“Only if you want to, gets a bit much sometimes. Sorting by state, county then dividing it even more by language as such. Though I can’t imagine the letters I will get from the Professors this time.”

“Professors?”

“All in good meaning, helping to correct tiny details I’ve exaggerated or tweaked. Always the thickest but they always praise heavily afterwards on my imagination.”

“Any hate mail?”

“Few, then there’s the ones from family. From the first couple weeks haven’t opened them.”

“Well if you want my clan to reply to the haters let us know. I know Dis could come up with some amazing replies.”

The thought made you giggle and reply, “Thank you, I will keep you posted on that. Mainly so far I’ve just replied to kids. Classes that have been listening or sending pictures and such. So sweet really. I have to think of a way to keep them all together. Might laminate them to make a book maybe with the letters.”

“That is a great idea.”

“I just can’t quite get through the more emotional ones yet. The ones where they share what the story has gotten them through, still not there yet I guess. Will be though someday maybe.”

From there on you chatted more about his seen reactions to your show brightening your mood again and shared more responding messages that came in from his clan leading to once the meal was through you leaned against his side scrolling through them until your alarm when he took your bag from your trunk to add to his. His busy task today had him smirking while you were off as he was joined by Dwalin, Balin and Frerin to head home to dump the bag out on the couch to get to sorting. Easily with the group together the task was underfoot when Thorin got up at the door bell ringing. An odd delivery of seven chests had him puzzled after having signed for them luring his cousins to the front hall where they were left.

Curiously he circled them and Balin asked, “Did Jaqi day she was expecting anything?”

“No,” Thorin replied, “So odd, who would send chests?” Looking at the delivery sheet he said, “Valinor, they’re from Valinor...”

Dwalin led the group on inspecting the seam and chuckled finding the hidden lock he unlocked with ease at solving the sliding puzzle and tilted his head seeing the pile of books inside. “Books..”

Thorin’s brows furrowed rapping one with a knuckle, “Not books.” Reaching down he made to lift one only for the top to lift revealing a gold clear wrapped pile of gold filling the disguised box. “Oh I know what this is, she said she also inherited chests from her clan of money.” Balin opened another seeing bound Elven bills with another of silver coins in the one beside that and copper beside that one above one filled entirely with emeralds with scattered more stones in other cases before they closed the trunk that locked again leaving them to look at one another and Frerin to say, “We didn’t open it.”

They all shook their heads, “Nope.”

Thorin grabbed one end as Frerin took the other, “Off to the storage room for now.”

Balin asked following with Dwalin helping to carry theirs, “Do you think they’re all full of funds?”

Thorin replied, “That’s what she said. Wasn’t keeping anything else from their estates. Lawyer Feanor had sent them out to her. Mentioned something about the funds weren’t initially added to her inheritance balance but had to be counted then sent.”

Frerin chuckled, “So she had billions cracked it down to millions and now has billions again. Marvelous.”

Thorin chuckled with the rest of them and replied as they settled the trunks down and turned to grab another set, “I’m certain she won’t share the sentiment.”

Dwalin hummed, “Just think, you could save a bundle on choosing stones, she’s already got them.”

Thorin smirked to himself and replied, “We will get to that eventually.”

The next to last had all four carrying it with the last absurdly light last one took two keep them from flinging it up into the ceiling for how light it was. “That was close.”

Balin smirked looking at the others and rumbled, “How much you want to wager this one’s got mithril in it.”

Thorin rumbled, “I’m not betting.”

Frerin retorted, “Spoil sport, no winnings for you then. Fifty silver.”

Dwalin scoffed, “60!” Making Thorin roll his eyes hearing them on the way to move it with the others how to bring it up when they saw you again to see who won or not on that chest and all the others on amounts and contents. Eventually getting back to and finishing the sorting before each splitting up wishing Thorin a good night.

One odd lengthy shift leaving you with a feeling you’d forgotten something ended with a quiet ride home as you retraced everything you had done until your realized you’d forgotten to take the second cupcake you had promised yourself to take from the dessert cart.

Backed into the garage it sealed and you turned off the car and climbed out to head inside leaving your shoes and coat by the door there. Passing the stack of mail on the table you caught Thorin nodding off at the table beside his spread making you chuckle and steal a picture before waking him to a peck on the cheek. “You’re tired.”

“No I’m not. Just, blinking, check.”

“Uh huh,” you giggled out and sat down, “Well once you’ve eaten off to bed with you to rest your blinking muscles.”

“How was work?”

“Good. Forgot to take my second cupcake at lunch though.”

“I have-,” he pointed at the kitchen making you reach over and pat his hand resting on the table.

“I’m good. This is good. Thank you. How was your work?”

“Good, got back, guys came over and you will be glad to know we have sorted your mail bag.”

“Aw, no wonder you’re so tired.”

“It didn’t take as long as it would seem to for a duffel of letters. Kept the schools separate for you and it’s all bound on the parlor table when you’re ready.”

“Thank you. Anything else interesting happen?”

“Oh, you got that delivery from Feanor.” That had you rolling your eyes and him smirking, “Figured you might not be pleased. All a decent weight except one.”

“Bound to have the mithril in it and shares of the mithril stocks they owned. Back in the high billions again, yay. Feanor is pleased though there was a trunk of paintings I said he could have, apparently a few splatters are ‘priceless’ he has the pleasure of handling the museums for those wonders on his own. At least my paintings are cute or realistic and not looking like road kill.” Making him chuckle again. His eyes met yours and brow twitched up at your lingering gaze his way, “You wouldn’t happen to have relatives in jewelry would you?”

A smirk tugged across his lips, “Of course I do.”

“Well, I might have some gems to unload.”

Lowly he chuckled, “You may want to inspect them first, just to be certain there aren’t any you might wish to keep. Other than that I am certain they would be glad to inspect your hoard.”

“Keep? Oh,” you said and he looked you over again, “You mean like for a ring.”

“Well it could be, unless your kin prefer to have the male design it.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever even considered getting jewelry before.”

“Then best hold on to those gems and I can have some design books sent over for you to browse through. Give you some ideas. If you like a certain style they have some imitation stone settings they could loan out for you to give a test run to see how you like it on you.”

“How do you choose?”

“When we get there hopefully you might have a few ideas of your own.”

“Bet you have fifty ideas already of your own.”

“You would lose that bet.” He hummed back, “Has to be special. Every Dwarf has hundreds of ideas growing up what they might design, but it’s always, different. Has to be. No rush, take your time.”

“Oh, um, how short notice could your builder relatives be called out?”

Smirking again he said, “Well they live two hours out, so, two hours at least. I did send an email when you mentioned ordering the shelving for your studio. They are going to add more built ins to my spare as well. Will they be here soon?”

“It should be here Monday, would have been Sunday but there was a delay.”

“I’ll let them know in the morning.”

“Thank you, and sorry.”

“No, trust me, you are not ready to meet them yet, they’re a bit, odd.”

“Unlike the rest of you,” Lowly he chuckled again smiling at you.

“Yes, best let us handle the build while you are at work. Frerin would be glad to help keep them in line, and away from your door hinges.”

“Door hinges?”

“They like to swap them in houses they don’t like, so the door swings the other way.”

“That’s such bad totems,”

He nodded, “Yes it is. Which is why we will be watching them.”

Once cleaned up you were off separately, him to bed and you into a nice warm shower. A bit stiff from the wet week your formerly knotted leg still gave you a bit of trouble today, less than it had for centuries but still not as good as it should be. You felt terrible thinking of asking Thorin if he had a relative who could help with rubbing or stabbing these cramps out. A bath would be best but you were too tired to soak safely so showered and dried you changed into some warm flannels glad you remembered to light the fire before hand so your room was nice and toasty when you climbed into bed smoothing a heating patch onto your hamstring. Sneering at first of the odd goopy feeling instantly warming up after rubbing the pad with your palms flattening them over your skin. Still into bed you wiggled settling under your covers closing your eyes hoping the pad wouldn’t be glued onto your leg like last time when you woke up.

Soundly you slept well into the morning, a glad thing for Thorin, who got called off to help his family with a few things and left you breakfast in the slow cooker. Waking to the alarm so you wouldn’t miss your appointment. And sure enough you woke to struggle the sheet off your leg you threw away muttering to yourself. Curiously seeing how much food he had used for the meal, once done and cleaned up, you got to searching your fridge to see what you might need. List in hand you went to change and made your way to your car post mail box trip to give the birds some more shredded mail to do with what they pleased.

Through town you drove remembering just where the parking lot for your nail salon was angled off this road. Close to the strip of stores but requiring its own little lot that more than once while on foot you had avoided falling off the sudden end of the curb into traffic. Easier than you had assumed you took the turn and found a spot in view of most seats you might be settled into and out you climbed to walk inside. Brushing your hair out of your face you flashed a grin to the woman blindly passing you on her way out of the shop over a foot too tall to notice your face anyways. Past her a scattered ripple of upward glances and lingering registering of who had just entered the shop were taken before those with clients got back to work and you turned to the counter.

“Miss Pear, welcome back,” she glanced to the side saying after seeing who was available, “Kovu is prepping your chair now. Would you like a beverage, or we have some whale shaped crackers if you need a snack.”

“No thank you, just had breakfast.”

With a nod she turned guiding you back to the station meant for you with the smallest chair available, “Kindly follow me.” Behind her you kept your eyes on her back until her step aside bringing the Dwobbit into view used to tending to your nails who flashed you his same kind smile. “Are you ready Kovu for Miss Pear?”

Kovu replied, “Of course, we have a lovely glittery mint shade for your toes if you are willing. Our Forest green was out.”

“Sure, sounds pretty.” The woman turned to head back to the door as it opened bringing more clients with it. Slipping out of your shoes and socks you accepted his hand to climb up onto the chair settling your bag on the chair beside you taking notice of the whispers of your name in trying to focus on his steps after you had settled your feet into the soaking tub.

“Now everybody by now has been raving about the new show featured on Bombadil Streaming,” The voice echoed through the shop and your eyes turned to the source of it, the flat screen on the far wall. “The show, is phenomenal, to say the least, we could spend all day praising it, however the one really making headlines lately, is none other than Creator, Animator and Voice Artist, Jaqi Pear. Who, for those of you don’t know, happens to be among the cast of the Voice Actors on the Bunny Show. If you have been living under a rock the show mainly centers around Bunny and her good friend Countess Beatrice, all of this leading up to several ties to the Durin clan, including Durin the Deathless himself.

Now all of that would be stunning enough, only, we have it on good authority now with actual pictures circulating of Miss Pear, a visit to the Findis hotel, was spotted among some posted pictures in their lobby of their latest family retreat. Obviously with a show centering the head of their clan they would be close, however we have been digging and recently a purchase was made by Miss Pear from a reputable dealership for a vehicle with another customer having heard Frerin Durin claiming Miss Pear as his sister.”

The second anchor let out a squeal and the third woman at the table excitedly said while the first let out an excited squeak herself, “Now, either Miss Pear has been secretly adopted as a member of the clan, or rather more titillating has managed to snag the heart of the only brother Frerin has, Thorin Durin.”

The second said, “Now Thorin is older, and for the past decade has co owned a tea and herb shop with two of his cousins, which has picked up in business and become quite the spot to sit out the Bunny show with a hot cup. Not to mention this new social handle building the press for the shop from someone called the MugMafioso exploring new drink blends from their shop. From what we can tell unlike his younger brother tries to remain rather mum on relationships if he has been having any. So this is very big if they are together.”

The first said, “And their sister, the only other option here isn’t one, because she has been blissfully wed to Vili Findis for decades now.”

The third said, “Now there isn’t much to be found on Miss Pear, past scattered jobs, performances with her Maiar performer and Master singing stone piano crafter maternal grandmother Sophie. With whom she was recorded performing with on disc,” she said lifting the cd she showed off, “I played it four times, I still have chills thinking about it.”

The second said as you noticed a few of the workers wondering if they should change the channel from the corner of your vision, “Clearly Miss Pear is talented, though there is little to no information of her past her immigration here on the grounds of her retiring from service.” Anxiously you wet your lips and your fingers folded together on your lap seeing papers being looked at by the First woman. “Now that is mainly due to the fact that she has changed her name.” By her tone she was reluctantly inching up to just who you used to be.

The first said in turning over the page saying, “Clearly since she has chosen a public profession we are honoring her choice to privacy on her other relations, whom even her grandmother has been respectfully mum on while sharing that she has children and grandchildren. Just like we assume her parents and siblings are of Miss Pear.”

The pair around her smiled again in their solidarity in choosing not to let that painful cat out of the bag and the third said, “When time comes for public announcements of courtship respectable bonds by two respectable clans no doubt will be made. From our digging Miss Pear has quite a lucrative line herself and very well could be with her current shows the higher earner in the relationship, which is quite stunning seeing how successful we all know the Durin clan to be greatly clearing any worries that fund seeking would be the reasoning behind it.”

The woman from the door was at your side again and you flashed her a grin trying to pretend you didn’t just flinch when Kovu had moved to your second foot to trim the cuticles as you usually did making him smirk at the clearly Elven trait on your sensitive partially Hobbit feet. “Hi,”

“Hello, Miss Pear, we could change the channel if you wished for us to.”

You shook your head saying, “No, it’s alright. Actually I haven’t been seeing much of the gossip lately. I have two jobs so I don’t get much tv time. Mainly stick to court shows.”

“Two jobs?” She asked curious about how that fit with the well circulated gossip you were from money.

“Have to bankroll your dreams somehow.” Making her chuckle at your giggled reply clearly meaning like most Dwarven clans you have been earning your rights to family funds as their heirs normally do.

Stepping back she stated, “If you change your mind just let me know.” Readying to rush over and greet the newest arrivals.

Looking down to Kovu you said, “I will stop flinching one day.”

After a chuckle he said, “No sooner would you stop being Hobbit. It is a welcome reaction.”

Looking up again as they had delved into the rites your clan would be possibly publicly present for you heard, “There is ample chance to get to know her clan while the pressing matters are ironed out. For now the pair seem to have managed to keep a low profile. And the Durin clan especially is not sharing anything, even a confirmation of the bond. In fact they are sharing little to do with Miss Pear beyond Frerin’s statement and the response from Thror himself on their approval and finding the Bunny Show a quite enjoyable tale involving their clan name that has in fact been formerly sent for approval years prior for clearance in using the name.”

The third said, “Which, the Durins own Venture Publishing, so that only gives hints that there very could well be a book in the works with whomever is behind this marvelous story.”

Biting your lip at the start of the lower leg massage you looked down hearing Kovu saying, “Your leg seems a bit looser than before in our past appointment.”

“Went to a hotel spa on a trip to Rohan, they said it was a Mburr knot.”

“Ohh, nasty things.”

“Feels looser, rain just tightened it up a bit again.”

“They do tend to take time to loosen fully. Working on your feet for hours does not help either.”

“Does help creativity though.” Making him chuckle to himself.

“True, absent hands often equal empty minds.”

A rinse of your legs came before he patted them dry with a towel down to your feet he massaged then set up to be painted. A clip on light helped to seal in the paint and he said, “For your nails we have your usual forest green powder. Don’t fret about that. Just the toes are different this time.”

“Either way, your work is lovely.”

“Might I ask, why green?”

“Pears are green. Plus, I spent decades by the sea, couldn’t go straight for blue. Red was too common a color, same as yellow or orange. Thought of purple a bit, but I heard it fades too quickly.”

Kovu said as you glanced up at the screen with the trio again now trying to guess what sort of woman you would be and how you might bring new things to the clan far more flashy than you truly were, “Wouldn’t know a brush from a clipper those three. These years I’ve known you that clan would be lucky to have you, funds or not. Kindness and bringers of hope are never without value no matter the lineage. Durins could always use more Hobbit blood too,” making you giggle to yourself.

“I think a great deal of clans could.” You replied making him chuckle to himself and help you down after removing the cover and adding the offered slippers. Carrying your shoes and socks he showed you to the nail stand where he set up his supplies allowing your nails to soak off.

To the topic of bringing up the differences between the brothers ending in an argument on which you should have chosen the channel was changed as you giggled to the beard, no beard argument as well as Frerin’s shorter hair to his ears against Thorin’s long ponytail to his shoulder blades. Both commenting to your possible race if choosing them on appearance alone with Thorin clearly the more attached to traditional Dwarven appearance. Which changing the channel only led to a debate on how your bond to Thranduil and his clan would affect their racing rivalry clearly being brought up to the pair at races. Once finished however you adjusted the ends of your shorts once your socks and shoes were added again on the walk to the counter where Kovu rang you up and escorted you to the door he opened for you giving you a nice send off.

Shortly you were parked at the store and joining the other random shoppers to the self opening doors. Grabbing a cart along the way you made your way inside to start gathering what was needed. A pause however was taken at a pass from one end of the store to the other on the paint aisle. To your cart you added a small can of chalkboard paint making you smirk on your way to the art supplies. Lost to your focus on one end an elated squeal from the other turned your head to the group of teens who snapped a picture of you then darted off after squealing, “Love the show!”

Nodding to yourself you continued to shop flashing quick grins to any who seemed to be looking your way a bit too long until you had paid and loaded up your trunk after having been vented to by both the woman behind and in front of you in line on their love of your shows. Though neither was speaking of the same show making it a tad confusing for you to keep up with the both of them for the walk out of the store and nearly halfway to your car.

Straight to the kitchen it all went and you put it away and brought a paint brush to paint over a risen section on cabinet. From the handle you hung a small bag for the chalk. “Painting?”

Turning at Thorin’s voice you said, “Chalk board, for shopping lists. Since we mainly meet up at meals.”

“Clever,”

Looking him over the plotting grin inching across his lips had your brow twitch up, “What are you up to?”

“Well, felt bad, missing breakfast and all, so we are having dinner, at a place I know you will enjoy with Mal, the boys, Frerin, Dwalin and Bilbo.”

“Ok, should I change?”

“You look perfect,” you nodded and left the brush you’d cleaned on the edge of the sink to air dry after having put the paint away in the garage. “That was a brilliant idea.”

“Well I have plenty left over, thought I might add some on my sisters’ closet doors.”

“Sounds good,” to the garage he led you helping you into your jacket outside, “I’ll drive.”

“You got a package earlier,” you said when he joined you inside his car luring his eyes to you again and his dopey grin out seeing you in your adorably oversized coat reminding him of his first stolen peck on your cheek making him ache to steal another. “From Diaa and Niro looks like.”

“Ah, more pictures sounds like. Those can wait. For now, focus on dinner.” His hand reached over once he’d hit the button to close the garage behind you, “Have some fun.” Right over your hand laying on your lap his folded and for the brief drive you noticed a group of familiar cars joining you to the ax throwing eatery.

Excitedly you joined the others in grouping up beside your parked cars, his hand folded in yours again with fingers interlocked and as you walked inside the curious ravens back at home peered up at the new addition to the kitchen. Though it was Kuu who realized what it was leading to Belly leading the others in pulling out the chalk to scribble notes across the now dried board.

Around the hand carved tables in the cabin like dining section you all enjoyed your hearty suppers and lost to giggles you took your post dessert stop in the ax throwing half ignorant of the diners across the way stealing pictures of you all. Between the identical brothers a series of skeptical shots were taken as to which you were linked to until between rounds Thorin draped around your back pressing kisses to your cheek and forehead, abandoning you shortly for his turns then returning until yours to hold you again. Briefly the spies did however stop over asking for pictures and autographs.

Widely Frerin grinned greeting the ladies who commented on every stitch of him trying to flatter up a compliment in return through the signing then they asked, “Could we get a picture, with Miss Pear too?” Frerin glanced your way seeing you shifting in Thorin’s hold and the woman asked, “Celebrating something? Engagement perhaps?”

Her friend said, “Got to be nice, find yourself on a show about the Durins and land yourself a Durin to boot.”

Awkwardly you let out a breath trying to chuckle and Frerin said, “Just supper, though like a sister already, we couldn’t ask for a more talented person to man a show involving our clan.” Easing his arm around your shoulders keeping you close to his side lessening your contact with the trio folding around you both as Bilbo took the picture. Across the same receipts you signed J Pear inside a small pear making Frerin smirk seeing it next to his own with a tiny ghost doodle from the ghosts that used to be all across his first racing car he still loved to draw hinting to his roots. The cuddling didn’t go unnoticed and by morning was full spin in the media about the fated match yet to be confirmed by the Durin clan, the elders of which were uncertain if they should confirm anything just yet.

Pt 41

#Thorin x Reader OC #Hobbit #lotr #Tea Shop AU #Fili/Kili x OC Mal

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d3-iseefire · 5 years

Text

Princess of Shadow Chapter 2

Master Chapter List: https://d3-iseefire.tumblr.com/post/187613581372/princess-of-shadow-master-list

Link To My Other Stories: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ISeeFire/works

Thorin was in a particularly bad mood.

As he'd been irritable since the start of this whole thing, Frerin felt he could be excused for not immediately noticing.

“Problem?” he asked in what he hoped was a mild voice as he dropped onto the bench where Thorin sat aggressively cleaning his weapons. It was a long running joke that the shine of Thorin’s blades were directly tied to his mood. The cleaner they were the fouler his temperament.

Currently, they shone brighter than Frerin had ever seen them.

Thorin’s eyes cut toward his and then, with a violent motion, he yanked a crumpled paper from his inner coat pocket and thrust it out toward Frerin. “A raven arrived this morning with this.”

Frerin took the paper with trepidation. Not all the ravens of Erebor had gone into exile, and what few had weren't all that willing to place themselves in danger. For one to brave a battlefield meant it was news that couldn’t wait.

Frerin steeled himself and spread the paper out on his knee. Whatever it was, he told himself, he’d handle it. Mahal knew he'd handled worse over the last winter. His eyes scanned the words on the page, and a mixture of relief and sadness washed over him. Relief that the news wasn't actually bad, and sadness that it spoke of loss all the same.

“Congratulations." He handed the paper back and Thorin shoved it roughly inside his jacket. He placed his sword across his knees and stared out unseeing into the camp laid out about them.

“I missed the birth of my son.” His voice was hoarse, and his lips twisted with a grimace. “Was it worth it?”

“You know it was.” Frerin rested his hands on his knees and dug his fingers into the worn fabric of his trousers. His eyes went to several dwarves walking past and he could see their clothing was no better than his own. They were a patchwork army, filled with mismatched armor, faded and torn clothing, and inferior weapons. The siege equipment belonged to the elves, the tents to the Men of Dale. “There was no other choice. Even if the cold hadn't forced our hand, your son deserves better. They all do.”

Thorin had hesitated when Gandalf had urged them to retake Erebor, but Jayde hadn't. Frerin could still see his brother's wife, hand resting on her swollen stomach and voice barely wavering as she'd announced that of course Thorin had to go. "Have you told Vili or Kili yet?"

"No." A slight, wry smile pulled at Thorin's lips for a moment. "I'm still trying to decide whether or not to tell Dis about Kili's injury."

Frerin suppressed a shudder. The fight over whether one, or both, of his nephews could come had been legendary. Dis had been adamant against it, while her sons had been just as passionately in favor.

Frerin had been dragged into it entirely against his will. He'd been born late in his parents' lives, long after his siblings, and was only a handful of years older than Fili and Kili. Other than it creating a relationship that was closer to siblings than uncle and nephews, it had never really been something he gave much thought to.

Or at least he hadn't until his sister tried to insist her sons were far too young to go to war. Frerin had no choice but to take their side, since arguing with Dis would have been arguing against himself as well.

He'd have taken their side regardless, not that he was stupid enough to tell his sister that. Fili and Kili were adults, as much as Dis sometimes struggled to see it, and had as much right to fight as anyone else.

In the end, it had been Thorin who'd intervened and managed to reach a compromise. Fili stayed behind to lead Ered Luin while Dis supported Jayde in her final stages of pregnancy. Vili and Kili had gone and Dis had personally threatened the three of them if anything happened to her youngest son.

"I wouldn't mention it," he said now. "You'll write that Kili was grazed by an arrow and she'll decide--"

"That he must have lost an arm and I'm minimizing it," Thorin said with a chuckle. "You're right. We can let Vili tell her when she arrives."

"Perks of her being married," Frerin agreed cheerfully. Thorin's eyes went toward the mountain and Frerin's good mood sobered a bit. "Maybe we should try breaching it," he suggested with hesitation. "There can't be many left capable of putting up much fight."

"None of them were capable of putting up much fight," Thorin said in irritation. "We should have done this years ago." He was silent for a few moments, contemplating, and then finally shook his head. "No, we've lost enough. I won't lose more to impatience. We can wait a little longer."

Frerin clasped his brother on the shoulder. "And that's why you are, and will be, a great king."

Thorin sent him a tight grin and returned to cleaning his weapons. Frerin settled in next to him, rested his hands in his lap, and studied the mountain. It was only a matter of time. Until then, the least he could do was ensure his brother didn't inadvertently start an entirely different war with the elves or men while he was in a poor mood.

***

Bilba sat quietly while Josie worked on her hair. The routine could take an hour or longer and that wasn't adding in the time it took to do her clothes, jewelry and makeup. According to her grandfather, princesses had two purposes. Gaining favor or alliances and looking pretty at court. Another of his possessions he trotted out to show off before sending her away to her room again the way a child might replace a toy on a shelf once they were done with it.

Bilba was always miserable. She had to wear layers worth of underclothing in addition to corsets and stays and whatever her grandfather thought could force her body into the perfect form. Over all that went heavy velvet or silk dresses dripping with pounds of gems that made her feel as if someone were constantly pressing down on her shoulders.

She was grateful for the warmth in winter but in the summer the heat she was forced to endure had caused her to faint more than once. Carrying a small pouch of smelling salts helped, but there was still a widespread belief in the mountain that she suffered from a weak constitution.

“There we go, Your Highness.” Josie stood back and clasped her hands in front of her. “What do you think?”

Bilba forced a weak smile at the other woman. Josie had taken Bilba's hair, which usually fell to her waist in a thick mass of chestnut waves, and painstakingly curled it. She'd then worked it into an elaborate braid that wound along the side of her head, and over her shoulder. The entire length of it was studded with diamonds, emeralds and rubies.

The jewels matched the velvet, emerald gown Josie had already helped her get on. It was practically dripping with jewels and brocade, particularly along the off the shoulder neckline. The edges of the stones irritated her skin and she was forever fighting the urge to adjust it in a futile attempt to find some semblance of relief.

She glanced at her reflection in the mirror and hid a frown at the makeup Josie had put on that made her appear years older.

She barely recognized herself.

In the main hall leading to the dining room there were portraits depicting past kings and queens of Erebor. All were dressed in their finery and posed perfectly, the absolute definition of royalty. The paintings were all Bilba really knew about them. She didn't know their personalities or what their hobbies had been. She couldn't say if they'd feared the dark or if they would sometimes sneak to the kitchens to get a snack in the middle of the night. They were simply royals, flat images on canvas with the person behind the title long lost to history.

It was how Bilba often thought of herself after Josie got done with her. She was a princess, a living portrait walking about the palace. She doubted anyone could name her favorite color if asked, or state what her opinions were on living in the mountain, or even what made her laugh.

Sometimes, Bilba was afraid she didn't know the answers to those questions herself.

"It looks wonderful, Josie," she said quietly. She kept her voice soft and modulated, devoid of anything resembling a personality. Proper according to her grandfather.

She turned to leave, slow and graceful so that the earrings dangling from her ears barely twitched where the tips brushed her shoulders.

Josie rushed ahead of her to open the door and Bilba put her shoulders back, straightened, and raised her chin. Her stomach twisted and she resisted the urge to wring her hands together with nerves.

Josie gasped suddenly and clapped her hands to her mouth. "Oh, my gosh, I forgot your tiara!"

Bilba's eyes widened fractionally. She had several tiaras, and quite a few circlets, all of which were quite heavy and very uncomfortable. They also needed to be woven into her hair, usually near the beginning of the process, not the end and certainly not after.

"That's quite all right, Josie," she said, trying to hide the sense of panic at having to undergo the process all over again. "I'm sure grandfather won't mind."

He most certainly would mind, but Bilba was hoping he'd be too preoccupied with the ongoing siege to notice.

Josie frowned. "I don't know. I could probably do it quick."

Bilba had no desire to sit in that chair again for any length of time so she simply smiled and started toward the door. "I'd be late. You know how my grandfather feels about me being late."

Josie grimaced. "True." She pulled the door open with flourish and grinned. "Have a good day, Your Highness."

"Thank you, Josie." Bilba let out a slow breath, arranged her hands in front of her waist and glided out of the room.

Well, glided as much as one could glide when one could not, in fact, float and had to rely on their feet. The action required a surprising amount of control in her legs and usually left them stiff and cramping.

The corridor outside her room was cold, and shadowed. The dwarves had been careful in their design of the mountain, placing the living areas in locations that allowed windows and balconies to let in natural light. For the rest of the mountain they had cut shafts fitted with perfectly cut and polished stones capable of refracting light in a multitude of directions.

Together, in what must have been a masterful feat of engineering and design, they provided light and fresh air to nearly every part of the mountain save the mines where lanterns and other methods had been used.

It was one of the many things the hobbits had taken for granted. Over the years many of the shafts had become blocked or occluded. No one know exactly how to clear the shafts, or replace damaged or missing stones, which had left large sections of the mountain shadowed or in near total darkness.

Bilba had never entirely understood the dwarven resistance to helping keep the mountain in repair, or why they'd left in the first place. Certainly, having a hobbit in charge rather than a dwarf must have been rankling to some, but surely it had been better than what they'd had before?

By all accounts Durin had been a brute and his son little better. Were the dwarves just so xenophobic that they couldn't stand the thought of a non-dwarf on the throne no matter that it was a significant improvement? Every one of them had left and, since then, not a single dwarf had willingly set foot in Erebor even when offered significant amounts of money for needed repairs.

A noble and his wife rounded the corner toward her and Bilba gave a slow nod of the head in greeting. They returned it but, just as they passed, she saw both their faces twist in derision. Her stomach twisted inside her and she clasped her hands together until the knuckles shone white.

She didn't know what she was doing wrong. Usually when she passed she'd get vague nods or greetings but, since the war had started and especially since the siege, she was increasingly getting snide comments, looks of disgust or outright cuts.

She'd tried harder, sat longer in that stupid chair, allowed Josie even more liberty with her hair and clothing, worked harder on the pleasant smiles and pleasantries her grandfather insisted were proper for a princess. Still the slights continued and, if anything, grew worse.

Nothing she did seemed to matter, and she couldn't even ask because, as her grandfather liked to say, a princess was primarily to be seen, not heard. Unless she were making simple greetings or directly responding to a question posed to her, in as succinct a manner as possible, she was to remain quiet.

The only times she'd ever broken that rule had been with Sigrid, who insisted it was idiotic, and, to a lesser amount, Legolas. She'd trusted them and look where that had led. Perhaps, had she kept her mouth shut as her grandfather had taught her to do they wouldn't have betrayed her. At the very least she wouldn't have the sick feeling in her stomach as she recalled the times she'd opened up to them. All the things she'd said, and all only to now realize how they must have been silently mocking her the entire time.

The doors to the dining room loomed ahead and Bilba's spirits flagged further. Her grandfather's favorite pastime during meals was to watch her and criticize her every movement. From the way she held her spoon to questioning her weight, nothing was off limits to him and it was all generally done in front of whatever councilmembers or lords he'd invited to dine that day.

He'd begun to ignore her somewhat since the Durins had arrived, but she still faced each meal with trepidation that this time would be when he took notice of her again and started up the endless critique. There had been several times she'd been driven close to tears. Sometimes she had the suspicion that was what her grandfather wanted, a game he was playing or a test of some kind.

The guards in front of the door leaned over in concert, grabbed the handles and pulled them open. Bilba took a deep breath, tried to center herself and then swept into the room exactly as she'd been taught to do.

It took her all of ten seconds to realize the room was empty.

Her footsteps stumbled to a stop and her eyes widened. Usually, when she walked into the dining room it'd be to the sight of the massive table near to groaning under the weight of food piled upon it. Servers would be darting about filling the plates and goblets of her grandfather and councilors, and the delicious smells from the multitude of dishes would have her stomach growling in a most un-princess like way.

Today, there was nothing. No sign of her grandfather, or any councilors, no food set out on the table, not even the musicians her grandfather insisted on having in the back corner to play serene melodies while he discussed politics.

Bilba turned toward the doors, but the guards had shut them behind her, leaving her alone in a giant, cavernous room. She'd never realized just how cavernous until this very minute when she was in it alone with nothing but her own silence for company.

She knew she wasn't late. Had something come up? There'd been no sign of panic or rush in those she'd passed in the corridors, and no one had come to her room to alert her to anything.

A shiver ran over her and, since there was no one to see, she crossed her arms over her chest and began to chew nervously on her lower lip.

Her eyes went back to the table again and, this time, lit upon the fact that it wasn't quite as empty as she'd first thought. There was a piece of paper, folded in two, sitting on a small tray at her customary spot. She hadn't immediately noticed it as her eyes had gone naturally to where her grandfather and his councilors usually sat, and not to her seat at the far end of the table.

Bilba tried to swallow down a suddenly dry throat. Dread settled over her and she could feel her body growing tense. Digging her fingers into her arms, she forced herself to take a step, and then another one and another. It seemed to take ages to get there and, once she had, she regretted it not taking longer still.

She picked up the letter with the tips of two, shaking fingers and, before she could talk herself out of it, opened it in a quick motion.

The first few words had her breath freezing in her lungs, while the rest caused her to sink into a chair as her legs buckled beneath her.

On the page the words seemed to burn into her eyes, and she swore she could almost hear her grandfather’s voice.

The mountain is lost.

You will delay the fall as long as possible to allow Erebor's court to retreat to a safe harbor. You will keep your silence on the manner of our escape so that we may use it in the future when we return to take back what is ours.

You will not fail me.

Bilba read them again, and again after that. She closed her eyes, opened them again, and pinched herself, doing everything and anything in her power to wake up, or to somehow, someway make the words change. Go away. Be something different than what they were.

But no matter how hard she tried to convince herself she was asleep, or how much she wished for things to change, the truth remained stubborn and unyielding.

Her grandfather was gone, and with him most, if not all the council.

Her grandfather had just effectively declared her Queen, which meant the only thing standing between the wolves gathered at Erebor’s gates and those hiding within...was her.

#Hobbit #The Hobbit #LOTR #Lord of the Rings #writing #my writing #fanfic #fanfiction #Female Bilbo #Frerin #Thorin #Erebor #Fantasy #Adventure #angst #romance

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blankdblank · 4 years

Text

Next Caller Pt 27

@c-s-stars, helped me with these collages since i am not able to make them. Sorry for making you wait so long. :D

Saturday morning, post fist bump to shoulder awkward goodbye from you to your Cuddle Monster the night before, you were underwear clad prepping of your hair for the day ahead. Braiding up the upper half of your hair into a long woven pattern secured with hidden pins you moved onto pulling your strapless dress on over your corset, making sure to use pins to keep it in place even with the tight hidden zipper on the side. Tall heels were next so you wouldn’t have to fidget with them underneath your cape, the lovely pair stirring a smirk across your lips at seeing how nice they looked and how comfortable they were.

On top of your head you added the feather topped golden leaf band forming a mini crown you pinned in place before moving onto your cape. The golden layer of feathers laid over the white swan feather cape reaching your hips secured with a single strap around your neck. Exhaling sharply you moved onto your makeup next. A simple stripe of gold across your face in a mask coating from eyebrows to just under your eyes stretching from ear to ear once you added the facial primer. Primer for your lips came next for your black glittery lipstick to finish off the look and just in time for you to pace in your living room when you had assured you had all you needed in your hidden pockets of your dress.

Fidgeting with your golden leaf accented arm bands you answered the doorbell trying not to worry about what the hell your Cuddle Monster would be wearing. Opening your door you couldn’t help but smirk seeing Mal with her hair pulled back underneath a flower circlet with flower pins in her hair matching the flowers on the wrist bands covering most of her forearms on pale green vines and the green fishnet flower coated stockings under her gladiator sandals. Her silver corset topped tutu-like skirted dress accented with pink, yellow and red flowers matching the shades in her fake wings strapped to her dress. “I told you mine would look-,”

Open mouthed she took in your look and replied, “You look stunning. No one else could pull off the feathered fairy like you.” Shifting on her feet she asked, “Are those real wings?”

You shook your head, “Just a cape with real feathers, more fancy dress than festival outside of the makeup.”

“Speaking of which, where did you get that lipstick? It was all gone when I went, wanted this rouge-,” the honk of the horn had you giggle and step out behind her drawing her eye to your shoes, “Again with those shoes, kill me now, I love your friends, how do I get them to buy me shoes like that?”

“I’m certain if you mention to the boys your taste they would certainly start to fill your collection.” Locking your door to join her with skirt folded in your fingers lifting it just a bit higher on your path to the car with the burly bright red bearded silvery maroon haired Dwarf at the wheel while his dark haired Hobbit wife with silver streaks in her tight pulled back curls took pictures of you both together. Like Mal she was dressed but in a longer silvery green flower embroidered dress with a cape surely embroidered with folded wings chosen over the strap on pair like Mal’s. Her father wearing brown and golden layers from his trousers, folded over boots, tunic and pirate like jacket to go with the bear mask.

Climbing in you said, “Mr Ganir, Mrs Clover, you look incredible.”

Lowly he chuckled and said, “And you are beyond words our dear girl. Beyond words.”

Clover giggled and in sharing your nerves with Mal you reached over folding your hand around hers on the seat between you hers tightened around the fingers on as her mother said, “Come on, before we miss it all you old flatterer you.” Making him chuckle and shift gears to head to the festival. Joining the lines of cars you found your way to the very same place in the heart of the city. The squared off Grand Palace Theatre in white and blue surrounded by immaculate gardens with swirling patterns of hedges around copper pathways leading to each entrance. Through which you would be party to several shows to pay tribute to various figures and creatures of old and several food and stands of trade woven through the inner gardens laid out inside the Theatre’s courtyards within the square layout.

Parked in one of the many garages around it you joined the group in exiting the car and flashed grins to the parents who nestled you and their girl between them proudly as they always had since meeting you. Mal seemed to have ample friends from her other job at the shelter but it seemed you were the one she chose to enforce her friendship upon at the station, no matter how willing countless others had been to have earned her favor over exhausted frazzled little you. Far beyond distracted to think of making friends while keeping your head above water, only to realize you did have just a hint more time to make a bigger effort for a new friend.

“And just where are we meeting the Durins in all this?” You asked.

Mal replied, “Next to the Bird display, apparently they assumed it would be the least crowded spot.”

“Oh ya, Bird display, what Dwarf could ever want to be seen near that.” Making the trio chuckle around you while you turned your head to glance at a group staring and whispering about your costume. Looking back forward again you inhaled deeply taking hold of your skirt again in eyeing the cobbled copper path to keep from stumbling in the change from concrete to that. Bodies folded around your group and again Mal’s hand folded in yours for the woven path.

At least until you spotted the first lion mask in a trio of blondes including Vili and Fili with Kili and his wolf mask. Next to various lions and fairies from the Findis clan that was available to attend. All in pirate like outfits in their clan colors. Under Vili’s arm stood Dis in a strapless black and orange flowing dress with a dramatic butterfly wing painted cape and a headdress with butterflies floating around her braided bun coating in silver glitter matching her silver glittery painted on mask.

Dwalin in a boar’s mask stood beside Bilbo with a chipmunk outfit matching Frodo’s he seemed to love and had chosen. Balin and his wife were sheep along with their little girl as a goat propped on Balin’s hip. Frerin in his badger mask stood between his parents Dis and Thrain, with grey ram masks and horn headdresses in similar blue and gold accented gown and jacketed outfits, and his brother Thorin similarly dressed but with a black battle ram mask with horns secured by the braids in his hair.

A wide grin slid across Frerin’s lips in spotting you had him tapping the chest of his brother while readying his phone. The single moment of shock when eyes shifted to your group captured in a picture only deepening your adopted brother’s expression. Fili and Kili inhaled deeply shifting on their feet grinning to Mal between stolen glances a her parents while Dis, Vili and their families readied to greet their hopefully one day in laws.

The distance was closed and in an awkward moment of silence you stepped closer at Frodo’s reach for you, “Feathers!”

In a giggle you let him inspect your cloak you brought closer to his reach and you said looking at Dis in her glance your way, “Um, Dis and Vili, Findis, these are Ganir and Clover Mereng,”

A subtle shift of Ganir’s feet had you halfway rolling your eyes in his creeping grin at your accent having you pronounce his clan name like the dance over its true hard g at the end after the forget-ably silent n. The clan name Took Mal preferred using over Mereng for being teased by others saying it like meringue in school. Playfully he rumbled, “Always makes me want to dance that accent of yours.” His eyes shifted to Dis and Vili for the trading of pleasantries after you had so rightly broken the silence. Though when he stepped forward to greet the boys he said, “And you must be the lads attempting to court our Malachite.” His eyes looked them over and he said, “Call me Bubbles.”

You giggled as Mal said in the parting of the boys’ lips, “Adad!”

At which he chuckled and said, “Just giving them a good ribbing.” He flashed her a wink, “I am allowed you know.”

Frerin subtly snapped a picture of you and while Thorin kept staring at you his brother whispered to you softly until Ganir asked, “And who might you be staring at our honorary Stonefoot so long.”

Curiously you looked his way and said, “I’m a bit too light to be called stone anything.”

Clover giggled saying, “All the same, nearly kin.”

Mal said, “Thorin bought her that necklace Adad.” Making you give her a pointed gaze earning a shrug from her in return.

Thorin shifted on his feet finally looking to the Dwarf now posing as your protector as well, “Well it seems I have three suitors to inspect.” At that your voice cracked trying to argue while Thorin’s eyes in a glance your way flinched wider a moment.

Clover patted her husband’s arm saying, “Ganir is jesting, we know well enough her kin initiate courtship with granting nicknames and vying for a blush out of the males. And here she has been silent about the young fellow.” Dwalin and Balin both bit their lips to keep from beaming dumbly at their cousin who had missed that fact.

Again Thorin was staring at you in both confusion and a glimmer of hope while Mal burst into giggles at the boys’ hushed compliments on her outfit making Ganir turn his focus back to the boys as you turned hearing, “There you are.” Glorfindel and Ecthellion both in fox masks complete with ears and clipped on tails visible under their jackets and sideways capes covering one of their shoulders.

Both leaned in giving you hugs and pecks on your cheeks with Thranduil and Legolas behind them claiming their own turn before looking over Frerin and the boys. Though in Gloin’s trot over excusing himself for being late with the Dam you imagined to be Gorgo as a mountain lion between the pair of mountain goats. Her eyes scanned over you and Mal hopefully before being unable to help but ask, “Is Bunny enjoying her day off?”

Mal forced a grin and said, “Pretty sure, she’s around, somewhere.”

Gorgo looked at you asking, “I heard we have you to thank for putting the show on air.”

“Well, five hours of dead air or hop in the seat no one else wanted, not a hard decision.”

She smirked saying, “Still, with a story like that, should have taken so long to rehearse-,”

Ecthellion broke off her moment to say, “I thought I recognized that voice, Miss Gorgo, I am Ecthellion.”

Her lips split into a wide grin and she said, “Yes, it is nice to have a face with a voice. You’ve known Miss Pear long?”

He said, “Since we were children. Even longer than Glori has known her. Though not as long as Thran has known her.”

Thorin broke the conversation saying, “We should head in.” Stealing a glance your way finding you already looking at him for the first time since Ganir had made his courting comment.

Straight to the steps you followed the crowds and when Frodo asked him a question his head turned granting others a chance to split your group. The Durins and the Merengs along with the Findis continued on while Thranduil kept his hand on your back guiding you after them ensuring you at least got into the same show they were being ushered to. In the crowds however familiar copper and cocoa skinned Elves with snow like hair tied back with various paint sprays and glitters added under their bird costumes had Thorin looking around for you.

Inside the theater for the first show their group took up a large section and more scattered through the crowds of the familiarly featured Elves all taking notice of your entrance to claim the section across the row from theirs had him on edge. Subtle taps however of your fingers to your chest easily mistaken first as a nervous fidget of your necklace when he noticed you spotting one couple especially near the far wall only to have the motion mirrored by them and every other one you locked eyes with. It was a hello, a very distant hello from cousins to one another that the men around you granted nods of their heads in the distance in their own greeting to mask just who their focus might have been on. Clearly not to you the visually anonymous one on the group of very public figures stirring whispers since their arrivals.

With a quick grin you settled down and crossed your legs eyeing Thorin as he sat down stealing another glance your way with a quick grin of his own. Silently hating that there was a spot between you. The show however began and off the lap behind you a little girl on the lap of another assumed relative with deep cocoa skin and glowing swirling clan markers across her skin that dimmed in her child’s escape had him shifting to see where she was going. Teetering around the chair you were in she planted her hands on your knee and across your cheeks swirls matching the pairs’ faintly began to shimmer in the dip of your hands you lift, turn and plop her on your lap widening her grin. Around her middle your arms settled and the girl eased back comfortably while her mother leaned forward. Her fingertips settled on the back of your chair and in the backwards tilt of your forehead it met hers in a trading of whispered Vanyar greetings before turning your attention to the show again.

From children opening with a song and dance that branched into a tale of old you nuzzled and whispered to the child in your arms that stirred more than a few glances from the Durins your way along with Mal when Fili and Kili traded whispers about it. Moving to the next show in the theater over you then had two toddlers come over with that woman now mingled in your group. Thorin had the seat beside you but couldn’t help but chuckle at the pair of boys clambering over him to get to you as their parent grinned in the aisle watching you tap foreheads and noses with the pair between pecks on their foreheads between their eyes after their tight hugs before clambering back to head to the next show.

More and more of your braver relatives milled in and out claiming their own focus for brief snippets of time with the same woman at your side until the second show when her daughter got fussy and she was off to go browse the shops then head home. Bitter sweetly each Durin looking on got to see your scattered family and the lingering fear of remaining too close for too long all coming to greet them wish you a nice festival.

Three shows came then a round of food carts you all sampled and between the groups you were told what each was and chose accordingly slyly passing off your samples to others who volunteered for the seconds to keep from insulting anyone. Two more shows came and then you were freed to the inner courtyards for browsing stalls and various mini shows. Off in their own world it seemed the future in laws were settling to learning one another keeping you to your friends, Thorin and Frerin, the brothers who refused to abandon your side once your family had seemed to all have slipped out again as soon as they could have been noticed.

As the sun was setting Thorin’s hand folded in silent warning around yours breaking your focus from the cart to draw your eyes to him that only snapped up in the shot of a firework into the air that then exploded lighting the sky in silver. Leaving the crowds filing closer to the stage you had missed being assembled along the far wall. Another show began and from the massive group of all the children in all the shows who were there to present the subject of their wish for protection Thorin grinned along with you while they held up their pictures of bunnies they hooked to floating lanterns they let free. The action making Mal shift closer to you to rub your arm in a silent but proud moment shared with your friends and Thorin all in on the truth.

From there the wishes were open for everyone while the fireworks and final musical and dance filled acts blending into a parade started up. Freed to mill about again you lingered around until Mal’s yawn had her parents calling an end to the night taking them past the wishing booth. Lowly in a bend forward Ecthellion said they would take you home freeing you to keep browsing. Tightly Mal hugged you good night while making sure to keep hold of her ribbon she had been given from one of the silent judges grading each type of fairy and animal costume present.

While Mal’s ribbon had come in her reach for the bag holding her new charms for her charm necklace the boys picked for her to be draped over her arm in the fleeing of the judge. Yours came in the reach for your cup of blue raspberry shaved ice Glori had pointed you to for a cup of kiwi for himself that had your head turning feeling something touching your ear. In a chuckle Legolas pulled the ribbon off your head as Frerin called a Khuzdul comment at the giant squirrel costumed Dwarf that had you hugging eyeing the second ribbon gifted to you that way for this costume. “I get that I’m short but my head?”

You turned at deep chuckles finding Thorin scowling at his ribbon having been hung from the adorable ridge under his Battle Ram nose on his mask enabling better breathing and eating for him. Runoff his head when he removed it he said, “I saw your bracelet I know where you work!” To the now cackling raccoon costumed Dwarf rushing back to the crowds.

Rolling his eyes he muttered while Balin chuckled out, “Hey you won again for Battle Rams.”

Thorin grumbled back, “I’m the only Battle Ram.”

Dwalin pointed, “Not true, oh wait he’s a sheep. Never mind. Still a win though.”

“You know what you gotta do?”

Lowly he rumbled back playfully, “If you bleat at me I’m walking home.”

As if on cue Balin’s daughter gave off an adorable bleat making you giggle and him chuckle with his family as Balin said, “That was a very good bleat Billi.”

Under various colored flashes of light you felt the bag from your t shirt you had chosen getting heavier from gifts from your friends to the wall of wishes on your way out. Entire sections were dedicated to various people with an entire chunck of the wall coated in runes of the names of characters from your show mirroring the names they had written to add to the fire pits and small lanterns for each child. Inhaling steadily seeing that others had written down nicknames and that Thorin had tried to subtly write out ‘Mafioso’ on the wall after having written it down in his slip now burning you smirked and wrote down on the paper then wall what the boys them repeated, “Cuddle Monster?” That sent ripples of the nickname through the Durins wondering who it was while Frerin smirked taking his own guess by your faint blush.

That had their uncle turning around and a stolen stick of your tongue at him he shook his head and turned around to wait on you while your friends all copied down their remaining parents names, each having lost one. They were all their children had left of the once vast clans and while you ached to add your mother’s name right then you were wishing more that Thorin was doing well and had a good night after having ran into his ex the day before. His family was nice and again for the walk out you eyed all the dancing costumed people all the way through the street back to the garage the Elves parked in across from the one the Dwarves had used. Waves and brief hugs later you could hear Dwalin calling out, “Get some sleep and relax this weekend.”

Giggling to yourself you turned away keeping at Thranduil’s side looping your arm around his and leaning against his arm making him ask, “Tired?”

“Not really. I had fun, you?”

He nodded and said, “It was nice to finally see Marya and Ringwe in person.”

To yourself you giggled saying, “Yes, Ringwe’s gotten so big, and the twins too. For how long our childhoods last it goes by so fast.”

Making him chuckle and pat his hand on his son’s shoulder on his right guiding him through the first turn to the lift while he uploaded his photos from the night. Trying not to be too obvious I’m pulling the note up from his phone to search for the username he spotted on young Gimli’s phone screen at their having shared pictures from the last year from their pages including a picture surprisingly they were both in. He had partially gotten distracted when his cousin Tauriel had shown up late in one of the second round of shows showing off her latest bout of carvings on her next gallery show coming up.

“Big plans tonight?” He asked lowly.

“I kind of want to dig into that bag of fan mail.”

Glorfindel chuckled, “Good, I think I spotted some addressed in crayon, no doubt some classes have been rooting for Bunny all along.”

The first of a long string of messages to come in the new friendship had Gimli distracted while Gloin glanced at his wife asking, “Something wrong My Love?”

Gorgo replied unpursing her lips, “She has a bunny tattooed on her foot.”

Gloin glanced at her again, “Who?”

“Miss Pear. She has a Bunny on the top of one of her feet. I was looking at her shoes and I noticed it.”

Gloin replied, “Ah,”

Gorgo, “She has that tattoo, she works on the show, it can’t be coincidence. You said she writes-.”

Gloin, “I can see where you are going, My Love. However, you stated Bunny wished to have anonymous publishings.”

“I’m not going to out her. Just, if it is her I could get the draft so much easier.”

“I understand that, but don’t you have to wait on the ad first? That was the deal to see how it faired and then an advance settled to schedule a hand off of the draft?”

“Before I left the office we had 3 million and counting responses and 5 million clicks on the sneak preview sketch of the Countess Ecthellion gave us.”

Gloin nodded, “Ah yes, and Dwalin mentioned something about a round of stickers available soon for the station for the show.”

Gorgo, “How much?”

Gloin chuckled replying, “I doubt they wouldn’t have a supply for us seeing as it’s our clan.”

She nodded, “Right. Plus I suppose they would always have a supply for the cast to have as well. We could at least get a sneak peak.” Gorgo paused then said, “Still don’t know why Thorin stopped me from asking questions about the show.”

Gloin chuckled, “Probably because it’s a day of relaxing. And in crowds like that no telling who’s listening in for secrets when they hear the girls work on that show.”

“True.” She said then sighed leaning her head back making him chuckle and reach over to take hold of her hand he lifted to kiss then kept hold of on the arm rest between them.

Tucked safely in the back seat you listened to Glori and Echo chatting in the front seat while you sat between Thranduil and Legolas, both immersed in their phones for the dragging ride back to your place. By the end of which Thranduil had finished details for the next press event he had and he grinned at you saying, “Sorry, they keep trying to involve foxes in my press shows. Post one picture of my fox footie pajamas and now it’s a thing.”

You giggled and Echo asked, “So, do we get a tour at least?”

You nodded and said, “Sure, not much to show in most rooms still.”

Thranduil said, “There is nothing wrong with that.”

Glorfindel, “And we won’t linger too long, have to get these angels back to our place for their beauty sleep.” You giggled in Thranduil’s fake laugh, “Plus we get to hear about the ad in the morning and discuss the advance for securing a read of your book.”

“It doesn’t have to be huge.”

Echtellion, “The basic would be at least 15k, the very least, that was where they started in mentioning it the other day.”

“So that’s, how does that work for when the book comes out exactly?”

Ecthellion replied, “That means for the first 15k in book sales the Publishers get that. And from there you start to earn your 48 from each book.”

Thranduil said, “Only 300 books to pay back the advance, not bad, if we get everyone in our circle and just a few from the Durins with the rest of their kin surely granting you a huge bump on their own before others could even get their hands on it.”

Glorfindel, “Hopefully Gorgo will calm down once she gets to read the book.”

Legolas glanced up, “She did seem a bit intent on learning secrets.”

“Well, she has been waiting five years. I mean, I doubt she’d spread it around,”

Glorfindel, “Still, out in the open like that. It’s a good thing Thorin stopped her.”

Thranduil, “I doubt he would wait much longer to offer courtship.” Rolling your eyes in parking in the driveway you slid out of the car behind the smirking blonde offering his hand to keep you from getting caught on your skirt and help you up to your feet again. “Welcome home, I love it already.”

You giggled and led the group up to your door stirring up curious glances from your returning neighbors who all settled for their own comfort that they were all relatives due to your Elf ears noticed by others. Inside you went and excitedly they took in each detail they could including those you had on the sketches for each room with ample adoring comments for each including for the furniture waiting to be painted showing you had been using your time off well and keeping busy. The greenhouse especially halting them in their tracks, first by your plants and hard work on the incredible fountain then by your birds all excitedly taking you the details of your costumes. Tight hugs later and back to the car they went wishing you a nice weekend leaving you to head to your bedroom.

Headdress first you removed that and then washed off your makeup. Strolling into your closet you removed your bracelets you put back with your few pieces of costume jewelry. Reaching up you removed and hung up your cape then reached down to unzip your dress you hung up as well. Switching from your corset to a comfy bra you looked down at your heels and pouted a moment then decided to pull on some comfy shorts and a tank top keeping them on a bit longer. For a moment you paused remembering where you put the bag you went to fetch it and bring it to your bed along with an empty trunk of shelves from your pantry things you opened allowing the cubes to rise up to a couple inches away from the ceiling.

Opening the bag you dumped it out onto the bed a quarter of the way and started to eye the envelopes and gave off a soft sigh, “Ok, runes first.” By the return address you separated out the ones with Dwarf Runes laying them on one shelf filling each box, two shelves down you started to fill with Hobbit Rune letters and the few Elven ones you added three shelves down from there. More and more you sorted through the rest of the bag then looked up at the final results seeing the Dwarf shelves packed with a pile on your bed still.

Pulling those back out a cubby at a time you sorted by which Dwarven Kingdom they came from and from there got to dividing the majority from Erebor into different counties. In the mix you smirked seeing common names you eased together when dividing them up alphabetically in each county. Skipping those from the other countries you moved onto the Hobbit letters and sorted those by where they were from, sorting those from Erebor even more down to alphabetically as well.

The last portion for Elven letters didn’t take long at all with those you recognized to be from friends of your father’s clan you set in a cubby on their own on the very bottom shelf. Sitting on your bed you opened the first one and the first few you skimmed through noticing it was all criticisms on your show and how irritating it was to have another tale about the Durins while great Elf clans were being ignored entirely. Clearly from before your latest shows adding more in. Those you set aside with the downright hate mail being put back into their envelopes you put into another pile all its own. All of which you sorted onto the same shelf in different cubbies.

By the time you got up to pull out one of the Dwarf countries outside of Erebor you couldn’t help but giggle at the handful of History Professors and enthusiasts critiquing your story while also praising the plot that in no way followed true history that had you barefoot and cross legged on your bed reading their thick packs of letters. All around positive but ready to stick up for the great clan’s history that you put in their own pile. A few nearly had you in tears you would save to finish for later as it delved into issues the writer was dealing with that somehow the story had helped them with. Hate mail was separated and the rest seemed mostly positive with a few collections of kids in between who had sent pictures or had mini requests or questions that you set aside to answer later.

Jumping from Dwarf territories to Hobbit ones you steadily got to the Erebor letters and started to work your way through it. More and more assumptions were made with hopes for possible future books only added to your hopes that the book would go well. The closer you got to Durin clan members the thicker the letters got with more than half with family attachments to certain events you had mentioned. In the mingled clan lines you couldn’t help but giggle finding letters from Gorgo, three to be exact, with two from Dain mentioning their wish to speak with you that you set aside for its own box. Fully sorted you sat back eyeing the now sorted mail and let out a deep breath wondering if this week would bring more or less mail.

Out of bed you climbed and added it to your study then went back to bed switching on a film to hopefully distract you from blushing so madly remembering what Mal’s father had shared about nicknames and the goal of earning a blush that had Thorin staring at you so intently. You had flirted, you had tried and it would be a lie that even with clashing cultures making him ignorant to your tries he had still turned you down seeming to wish to be nothing but a friend and bad influence on your pocket book.

“An offer of courtship! Mug Dealer! All this time!” Stripping down Thorin spoke through the walls to his brother while the boys stripped to their waists and had collapsed into deep sleep leaving Frerin smirking as his brother had just found out what was so obvious.

“Come on now, you knew!”

“Obviously I turned her down! Obviously or I would have had to have missed some clear markers that we’re courting? What if we are?! If I did?!” Thorin walked wide eyed and shirtless into the doorway after having dropped his boots and socks in his closet to stare at his brother, “What if I’ve missed steps?!”

Frerin smirked at him pulling off his boots he’d just unlaced, “You haven’t, because you aren’t courting. You have however spooned and she trusts you. It was obvious she liked you, that she was flirting and you did in return. She likes you and is wearing your token openly. Clearly she’s not quite the best with courting either, at least ours, don’t-,”

“Don’t tell me not to worry. She has half a house and tons of birds to take care of and hatchlings coming soon, including possibly Roac’s one day.”

Frerin stood crossing to his brother resting his hands on his shoulders, “Breathe, step one, take Roac over tomorrow, she’s got two weeks left on leave, find the time to tell her how you feel. She’s family, even if it takes longer than her leave, it’s a big step to court again. We all know the lows you got to before she strolled in for tea, you are happy with her, she’s happy with you, be happy.” Turning his brother around he said, “Now, let me help you with your horns so you can sleep and take Roac over tomorrow without being moody from staying up and brooding all night.”

“I-,”

“Are brooding and worrying about a woman who is already head over heels about you but just as timid in snagging you against your will as you’ve been convincing yourself you are with her.” He said undoing the braided lower half and working one side at a time to help remove the horns he left on his brother’s dresser. With a nudge he guided Thorin back to his own room saying, “Bed, Rin.” Thorin huffed and Frerin said, “If I don’t hear snoring in ten minutes I will come in here and snuggle with you until you go to sleep.”

To himself Thorin rumbled, “Oh ya, now I’m scared.”

“I heard that,” Frerin called back while Thorin undid and dropped his pants in the dark room at his younger brother cutting the lights off on him. Shutting his own off he went to plop on his own bed and hug his pillow listening for snoring with a smirk spreading at remembering you and Thorin writing out each other’s nicknames on the wall of wishes, a great sign for courting pairs to do that, especially before courting has officially begun.

Snores soon came through the wall and lasted for hours until an early morning shower led to lengthy primping for the Dwarf wondering if it would be too early to head over. Finding your number in his phone he gave you a call, biting his lip he waited through the rings and heard your waking grumble, “Morning Cuddle Monster.”

Instantly he was smirking remembering the morning waking up with you in Helms Deep. “Morning, I didn’t wake you did I?”

“No.” Again you sighed clearly shifting from under your covers to sit up, “Been up.”

Near to a hum he asked, “So not too early for me to drop by with Roac?”

“No,” you sighed out, “You and Roac are welcome whenever. I’ll be here.”

Pt 28

#Thorin x Reader OC #Fili/Kili x OC Mal #Hobbit #lotr

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