Chapter 7

Consciousness pulled Daesi's mind from dreams of endless plains, enchanting forests, and sparkling night skies. The familiar surroundings of stone walls and dim lighting awaited her when she lit the candle on her bedside table. Despite the cold nature the peoples of Middle Earth attributed to the dwarves, her room was full of comfortable furnishings. A fine spun rug of entwining swirls and filigree covered most of the space and several drawings of faraway places were hung on the walls. Since she was a child her favorite was one that depicted the Shire. Her father and Din often spoke fondly of the time they had spent there after Erebor had been reclaimed; of the kind people and of course of dear old Bilbo.

It had taken much convincing for Din to persuade Fili and especially Belmeana to allow Daesi to accompany Dwalin on his journey to the Glittering Caves and Ered Luin. Altogether it had taken almost a year and a half and in that time she had learned more about the world than during the entire 62 years she had spent in Erebor prior. And although she was overjoyed to once again be with her family, she longed to see more of the world.

Laughter echoed from the dining room, drawing her from her reverie. Familial love lightened her heart and she quickly rose to get dressed. After spending the past year and a half wearing trousers, she opted to avoid wearing skirts for a while yet so she slipped her nightdress off and pulled on a pair of trousers, a soft silken peach colored tunic and wrapped a matching flowing fabric around her middle that draped down her backside to emulate a skirt. After yanking a brush through her tangled red hair, she deemed herself presentable and scampered out to see her family.

The spacious dining room was well lit by sconces scattered about the walls. Three heads of blond hair swiveled at her entrance and Kili chortled. He, Fili, and Belmeana sat clustered at one end of the long table enjoying a lunch of roasted lamb, ham glazed with rich honey, a delicious smelling seasoned potato and garlic soup and enormous bread rolls.

"You finally decided to join us, then? It's midday!" Her brother teased.

"Oh, leave her be. She had a long journey and I can't imagine sleeping on the ground is very comfortable," Belmeana scolded. She returned to the hearty lunch she had no doubt prepared herself and skewered a piece of with her fork. Daesi sent Kili a snicker and he glowered down at the table. What had him so upset? Belmeana beamed and pulled her daughter into a side-embrace as she sat beside her.

"Do you have any plans for today?" Fili asked.

Daesi scoffed as she filled her plate with food. "Of course not, I've only just returned."

"I only ask because as of today the quarters Thorin has been preparing for himself and Din will be complete." An elated grin stretched across the little dwarf's face but, with a laugh, Fili held up a hand before she could squeal. "As you know, this means she will need to stay in her family quarters until the wedding can take place next week. You are probably the only person she would not thump over the head for going through certain belongings of hers and we need them moved to her new home."

"Of course I'll help."

Fili smiled. Finished with his lunch, he pushed away from the table to attend to his duties. As he passed her, he leaned down to kiss the top of her head but mussed her hair as he pulled away.

"Father!" she complained. He bellowed as he clumped away.

"If you don't get down from their, the guards will each have a heart attack," Kili prompted. Daesi ignored him and the half a dozen guards trailing behind them and continued to hop across the disconnected stones of the walkway railing as if they were stepping stones in a pond. Down below she could see dwarves working about the enormous forge like bees buzzing around a beehive. She actually knew what that meant now! Bees, that is. They were terrifying little creatures but watching them work was fascinating.

"So, are you going to tell me why you and mother are fighting? That is why you looked upset when she scolded you, is it not?"

A sign reverberated from deep inside Kili's throat. "She'll use any excuse to scold me. Any excuse to remind me she's angry."

Daesi frowned and hopped down to walk beside her brother, clasping her hands behind her back. "Why is she so angry with you?"

"Father has agreed to let me join our forces. Neither Mother nor Aunt Din are happy about it."

"Even Aunt Din is angry?"

His green eyes sunk to the floor to watch his feet as he marched. "I don't think she's angry, exactly, just sad. She tried to talk Father out of it. I understand why she wants to keep me safe but I've dreamt of leading an army ever since I was a small boy!"

"Give it time. You just need to show her that you're not a whelp anymore. Put those skills you've always showed me to use for a change."

He thumped her lightly on the shoulder. "And what about you? Did you practice at all on your journey?" He lowered his voice as he spoke so the guards would not hear.

The dwarf lass scoffed and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "As if I need practice to keep up with your lazy rump."

He reached over to pinch her arm and she danced away in a fit of giggles. Din's quarters were tucked in the east wing at the front end of the hold, close enough to the main gate that she would be able to respond should anything unfortunate happen that required her immediate attention. Her rooms were small. Daesi was certain she could fit the entirety of the space within her own bedroom. There was not even a table for eating! Din had never complained, however. More often than not she ate meals during her shift. On the nights where she watched the main gate she would have food brought to her. Otherwise she would usually try to find a spare few minutes whenever she had downtime from other duties like training new recruits or overseeing security matters around the hold. Her dainty living quarters were mostly used for sleeping.

A pile of empty crates cluttered the floor at the foot of the bed and Daesi busied herself by organizing her soon-to-be Aunt's belongings into them. As it was considered rude and inappropriate for a male dwarf who was neither directly related to or a spouse of Din to poke through her private things, even for such a task as packing, Kili had simply tagged along to keep his sister company and to catch up after their long separation. He flopped lazily into a chair in the corner and picked idly at his nails. While she worked he filled her in on the happenings around the keep in her absence. The scandals, those who had died of old age or accidents in forge. One of Daesi's friends, Tali, had even gotten married to a young guard named Relin! She would need to stop by their new home and congratulate them.

Daesi filled the first two crates with Din's clothing and set them aside so she would remember to have them delivered to Bofur's rooms. Otherwise, Din would have nothing to wear over the next week. The sappy romantic in her also convinced her to sneakily tuck the drawn portrait of Thorin inside so that Din would still be able to see him while they spent the week apart. They had spent enough time away from each other, already. Next she packed up the books, and various scrolls and maps Din had collected over the years. Her veritable collection of weapons, Dwarven, Elven, and even Orcish, was more difficult. In the end the lass individually wrapped the half a dozen swords and knives stashed about the room in linen and then bundled them together with thick twine.

"Jorthin?" She called out to the door. One of the guards marched into the room and pressed his right fist to his chest in proper solute. His bushy black beard reached below his belt and his brown eyes appeared beady behind his bushy brows.

"Yes, Lady Daesi?"

"Could you please have your men carry these three crates to the quarters Master Thorin has prepared? And these two here need to be brought to Master Bofur's family rooms."

Jorthin nodded and turned to the door. "I'm sure you heard that, laddies. Get in here and help me transport these crates!" He ordered. Daesi grinned as the five other guards sauntered in and scooped the crates up as if they were full of pillows. Jorrin himself carried the bundle of weaponry. As they filed out, Daesi searched about the room to be certain she had not left anything. She even went so far as to check between the frame of the bed and the mattress to be certain no more knives had been hidden there. There had been three already.

"Do Father and Mother know that you keep a dagger in your bed as well?" Kili asked from his chair.

"Of course they do. They do no know of the sword Aunt Din passed down to me, though." Fili had allowed Kili to train her only so she would be capable of defending herself. Neither her father, mother, or even Din would approve of her using her skills for anything else. Like fun, for instance. Unlike her brother who had journeyed to Ered Luin several times before the war, Daesi had been stashed away for most of her life to keep her safe from such things as abductions for ransom. Until her trip with Dwalin, she had not actually stepped outside of Erebor.

"You know, you never told me why Din decided to let you go on your journey."

Daesi chuckled. "She says she was my age when she started to get restless. She did not want me to feel cooped up." The lass straightened, having found nothing more in the mattress, and pulled her wavy red hair over her shoulder to pull it off of her sweaty neck. She turned to her brother as a gust of wind swirled behind her so roughly that she was sent careening several feet away and landed poorly on the floor with a surprised yelp. The agonized cries of an injured man filled the small space and she faintly heard Kili swear. Back beside the bed, two elves had appeared out of thin air! One, with dark hair and sad blue eyes, was knelt beside his injured companion on the floor. The injured elf's mousy brown hair and pale skin were drenched in sweat. At first glance it appeared that he had his injured arm tucked underneath the other, but in fact his right arm appeared have been cut off just above the elbow! Linen wrappings that had been hastily applied were coming loose and the wound had bled through.

The girl gaped stupidly until she heard Kili draw his sword and hurried to her feet. Once she was there, however, she was uncertain what to do next. Kili leveled his sword on the elves, standing protectively in front of her.

"What is the meaning of this?" He demanded.

The dark haired elf looked up at them in apprehension. "Where are we?" He asked. He then muttered something in Elvish to his friend. Through the elf's strangled cries, she gathered the word "Erebor" and the dark haired elf's eyes widened. He spoke again but the injured elf seemed to ignore him and instead looked to the dwarves.

"Find Din! Tell her they know!"

The wedding was in a week. Din and Thorin would not see each other again until then and custom dictated that neither do any work during this waiting time so Guardsman Orthis had stepped in as temporary Guard Captain. In the meantime, Din was to remain in her family's halls. It had only been a couple of hours and she was bored out of her skull. She was lounging on a couch while Bombur snored in a large chair beside her. He had fallen asleep some time ago and she did not have the heart to wake him for conversation. Not for the first time, she debating committing her journeys to paper, but she did not possess Bilbo's skill for words. Not to mention her penmanship was illegible. She dropped the idea and pushed herself into a seated position on the couch.

"Ah-ah, what do you think you're doing?" Thes frowned at her from the doorway to the kitchen. She had started preparations for lunch.

"I'm only going to look for a book to read, mother." Din strolled to one of Bombur's bookcases and thumbed through his collection. In the distance, she heard someone shouting through the halls and peeked at the door curiously. Even Thes popped her head out of the kitchen once more. As the voice grew closer, Din recognized her name and hurried forward. The door was thrown open and Daesi sprinted inside. The lass's features were so flushed that even her freckles were hidden.

"I did not know what else to do!" she said breathlessly. "Two elves appeared in your room and one of them is badly injured. He keeps insisting that we find you and tell you that "they know". Din gasped.

"Stay here. I will send guards to escort you back to your family rooms." She held up a hand to stop the girl's refusal. " This is no time for arguing."

Back in her private quarters, Din found Kili with half a dozen guards all pointing swords or bows at a pair of elves by her bed. Her eye was drawn immediately to her friend and more importantly to his amputated arm. It had likely been cut off to disarm him. A dark haired elf was kneeling at his side. The Elvish he was muttering indicated he was casting some sort of magic, likely of the healing variety.

"Lower your weapons, I know him." She pushed her way through the small crowd and knelt at Arthenon's other side. "What happened to you?"

His features were contorted in a pained grimace, his hair clung to the sweaty sheen of his skin, which was paler than it should have been. "I'm sorry. They have not been fooled. And now they know where you are. I'm so sorry . . ."

Din shook her head and grasped the one hand he had left. "Don't be. You have put yourself under far more risk than I ever had the right to ask. And who are this?"

"His name is Maglor."

Din felt her face go slack. "M-Maglor?" She sputtered quietly. The dark haired elf stopped muttering and his blue eyes moved to her. "Wasn't one of Fëanor sons named Maglor?"

Maglor glanced up wearily. "Yes."