Disclaimer: The Hobbit and its characters do not belong to me.

AN: Thanks for the fun!

The Trouble with Soulmate Marks: a Hobbit fanfic

By Indygodusk

Chapter 17: Party Epilogue

Once Billa and Thorin stopped kissing and finally got down off of the table, all of their friends came up to congratulate them. Neither of them could stop smiling. Even when the humans and elves came over to give their best wishes, Thorin still kept smiling. Billa wasn't sure she'd ever seen his teeth exposed for so long. He'd probably have sore cheeks by the end of this. She knew she would.

Then Lumi and Dori came up to Thorin. "Felicitations, my King," Lumi said. She and Dori both exchanged friendly headbutts with Thorin. Billa surreptitiously slid back a step just in case they thought it proper to headbutt little hobbits too.

"Yes, congratulations on your bonding," said Golweneth where she stood hand in hand with Leitner. It looked like they'd decided to give things another try. Good for them. Billa wanted all of her friends to feel just as happy as she did at that moment.

Lumi looked curiously at Billa's soulmark and then over at Thorin. "I didn't know you had been blessed with a soulmark, my King. Congratulations on finding your One."

Thorin nodded. "I petitioned Mahal and he blessed me with a soulmark to find my Billa."

Several people looked at him in surprise at his open admission of having the third type of mark. However, no one immediately jumped to their feet shouting about bad luck, so Billa decided to just follow Thorin's lead and not worry about it. As ruler in his own mountain, he had the right to set the tone for how such soulmarks would be treated. No one could kick him out anymore. He was King. He was home.

"Well, brother, are you going to show it to us or not?" Dis interjected loudly with her hands on her hips. Laughing heartily, Thorin immediately shed his jacket, undid his collar, and pulled his shirt off over his head. The elves gaped in surprise as he easily stripped down to his low-slung pants and boots.

Golweneth and Tauriel in particular seemed completely nonplussed. "I thought it was sacred and secret and extremely private?" Tauriel said to her friend.

"Maybe it is different once one is bonded?" Golweneth replied hesitantly, looking over at Leitner, who shrugged and scratched his head.

Their confusion only got worse as Thorin climbed up onto a bench to more clearly display his mountain soulmark to the interested. As Thorin put his hands on his hips and turned back and forth to show off his mark, Billa felt simultaneously mortified and amused. Dwarves really did have no modesty.

All of the runes surrounding the mountain had disappeared. Billa supposed it didn't really matter that she never knew the riddle since she'd solved it somehow anyways, but it would always annoy her a little bit. How was she to write the story right if she couldn't explain the riddle to show just how clever she really was to solve it?

Just then, Kili and Fili finally made their way through the crowd to congratulate them. When Kili saw Billa, his gaze zeroed in on her exposed mark. "I knew it!" Kili crowed. "I knew Billa had a soulmark, I just didn't get a good look at her naked chest that day Fili and I saw her bathing in the river."

Thorin stopped preening and immediately skewered his nephews with an angry look. "What?"

"You did what?" Haeth seconded with a growl.

"How dare you peep on my wife!" Thorin said with outrage.

"It was an accidental peeping and we both apologized for it ages ago," Fili defended, surreptitiously trying to back up into the crowd.

"She forgave us! Besides, she's not really your wife yet," Kili said on autopilot. Tauriel slapped her forehead and took two giant steps backward, away from her husband.

Leaping off the bench with a roar, Thorin tackled Kili to the ground. Fili leapt to his brother's defense, but then Haeth walloped him on the ear for disrespecting a woman, and then Dis walloped Kili for disrespecting a friend. Rolling wildly, Kili almost escaped, but then Thorin grabbed his ankle at the last minute and pulled him back. Kili's out-flung arm tripped up Fili, who flailed and knocked over a tankard of beer onto Lumi's fancy silver dress.

Scowling, she jumped up and punched, but Fili ducked too quickly. Instead, her fist hit Dis in the eye. Dis' head snapped back, but a split second later she turned and kicked Lumi in the chest, sending the woman crashing onto the table and scattering plates and cups everywhere. Dori jumped up to defend his love, the people at the table jumped up yelling at being covered in food, and suddenly the entire hall descended into a brawl.

"If you aren't going to join in on the fun, you might want to take cover under one of the tables," Tosi called over her shoulder to Billa. Then she leapt into the fight with a whoop, kicking a dwarf in the face who was about to slam a plate over the head of her husband. Billa quickly took her advice and scampered back to a table against the nearest wall.

Suddenly Balin appeared by her side and gave her a sideways smile. "This is what brings the most shine to a dwarf's life," he said with satisfaction as they both turned to look at Thorin, "fighting, food, friendship, music, and love."

Looking up, Thorin met Billa's eyes across the hall and smiled dopily. She blew him a kiss that had his eyes crinkling with happiness. A split second later, he disappeared as Bofur leapt at him with a flying tackle, taking him to the floor. Thorin threw him off to the side, but before he could get up Dwalin wrestled him back down and grabbed his elbow in an arm bar.

Then Prince Legolas unexpectedly came flying through the air. He twisted midair to land on a nearby table in a crouch. Jumping to the floor, he grinned fiercely. "Forget diplomacy. I'm done being gentle," he called as he bounced off a keg of ale, the shoulders of two different dwarves, and King Bard's head before dropping onto Gimli's back like a load of bricks.

From beneath the table at Billa's side, Tauriel unexpectedly rolled out and popped to her feet, startling the hobbit. "I didn't know we could join in the fight too," she said with a toothy grin. "I see several dwarves that I've been dying for the excuse to hit. Excuse me," then she leapt into the fray. Despite her tall height versus the majority of the brawlers, Tauriel quickly disappeared in the chaos.

Shaking her head, Billa crunched into a carrot stick and tried to find Thorin again. A gap in the fighting finally showed him still grappling on the floor with Dwalin. Refusing to submit, Thorin twisted to the side and grabbed Dwalin's head between his legs, flipping the dwarf head over heels onto his back.

Picking up a scone from the fresh tray at her side, Billa dropped down and crawled underneath the table. She found Golweneth and Leitner sitting there sharing a plate of food and critiquing the fighting. The new elf introduced himself before adding, "I'm trying to convince Legolas, Tauriel, and her dwarf to come and play with me and the Rangers for a while. I've heard that you hold a lot of sway around here, if you could put in a good word for me to help things along."

"Ridiculous flattery with get you nowhere with me," she rolled her eyes, "but I have to ask, why only those three?" Billa cast a look over at Golweneth, who also looked curious about his answer.

"I have hopes that Golweneth will choose me on my own merit, but honesty compels me to admit that I probably could use all the help I can get when it comes to my Lady." Lifting their clasped hands, Leitner placed a soft kiss at the base of her thumb and then looked up into Golweneth's amused face. "I'll also admit that I'm hoping to use Tauriel and Legolas as bargaining chips to convince her to come with me. We desperately need someone like Golweneth to help manage things over there."

The female elf raised one eyebrow, "Oh, is that why you want me to come? To help manage things?"

"I want you to come because I love you and feel empty without you by my side," he stated with stark honesty, then he cleared his throat and added with forced levity, "and you'd get to manage me along with the rest of them. That could be fun." Heart in his eyes, he stared into her face. Billa kept still, feeling uncomfortably like she was intruding on a private moment.

"There are people I need to speak to before I can give you a full answer," Golweneth said softly, "but the answer isn't no." Then she gave him a shy smile.

Suddenly a full plate came skittering across the floor, fetching up against Leitner's leg and breaking the moment. Picking it up, he cleared his throat and turned to Billa with a smile. "See, I knew your influence would help me out. As a reward, would you like some cookies?" He offered her the plate. She couldn't help but laugh.

A dwarf crashed back into the table, sending carrot sticks and scones flinging around the table edges like hail around an umbrella. The dwarf quickly righted himself and rejoined the fray. "Thank you," Billa said once it got quiet enough to talk again, taking two cookies as she settled back against the wall, grateful for the shelter of the table.

Two tables over, a few members of the orchestra had barricaded themselves inside three overturned tables and started playing music again. Across the hall, groups of dwarves stopped their brawling, threw arms around each other's shoulders, and began singing and swaying along to the songs. After happily consuming her first apple pecan cookie, she couldn't help but look around and agree with Balin. "I'm not really a fan of fighting," Billa said to her fellow spectators, "but food, friendship, music, and love really do bring the most shine to a person's life."

Seconds later, a still shirtless Thorin dived under their table with four sloshing mugs clutched in his hands. "That was fun," he said, "but I missed you, agyâdê. Let's celebrate our impending nuptials and six children, shall we?" He ignored her look as he passed out the mugs, seemingly too cheery to even mind drinking with elves.

Clinking their mugs together in a toast, the four drank deeply and then settled back to enjoy the rest of the party. After a few minutes the fighting died down to a few small, isolated pockets. Most of the dwarves had all returned to eating or joined in on the singing. Soon Tauriel and Kili crawled in under their table, followed by Dis and Haeth. They sported a variety of new bruises, but also seemed very pleased with themselves.

"This is silly. Why don't we all just sit out on a bench together?" Haeth grumbled.

"Oh, hush," Dis scolded, pushing him against the wall so she could sit between his legs and wrap his hands around her waist.

Sending her friends a happy smile, Billa leaned her head against Thorin's shoulder and opened their mark just a bit so they could both bask in the glow of shared contentment. Life was good. Despite the trouble with soulmate marks, it had all turned out for the best in the end. Tomorrow Billa had an urgent wedding to plan and a life to start living with her new soulmate. She also wanted to check on her tomato plants again. She had a feeling that this year's crop was going to be special. Until then though, she'd eat another cookie, wrap her arm around her soulmate, and bask in the happiness of a full belly, a full heart, and a full soul.

THE END!

AN: I had so much fun writing this story. Please let me know your thoughts on the story and on the casting using my tumblr. Was the tumblr useful or fun for you? I know I had a lot of fun posting to it. Feel free to send me any unresolved questions and I'll try to answer them if I can. Thanks for reading!

Agyâdê = my happiness

Complete Story Cast

Billa = Minnie Driver

Dwarves

Thorin = Richard Armitage

Dis (Thorin's sister and mother of Fili & Kili) = Lucy Lawless

Haeth (Dis's husband and father of Fili & Kili) = Vin Diesel

Tosi (Gloin's wife and mother of Gimli) = Emily Blunt

Young Gimli (dwarf, son of Gloin and Tosi) = Taylor Lautner

Forin (dwarven guard, 2nd cousin to Balin and Dwalin, younger brother of Borin) = the rapper Common, aka Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr.

Borin (dwarven guard, 2nd cousin to Balin and Dwalin, older brother of Forin, suspicious) = Idris Elba

Lumi (dwarven female courting with Dori) = Melissa McCarthy

Dina (ancient dwarven scholar, married a human) = real life couple Deborra-Lee Furness and Hugh Jackman

Elves

Golweneth (means wise female, elf in charge of the kitchens) = Mira Furlan

Leitner (Elf living with the Dunedain Rangers, romantic history with Golweneth) = Bruce Boxleitner (because I luv Babylon 5!)

Lhénith (means Thread Sister, female elven healer, married to Nestor) = Madeleine Stowe

Nestor (Elf, means healer, married to Lhénith) = Daniel Day-Lewis

Mírdan (means jewel smith, elf kitchen assistant) = Jewel Staite

Asindar (elf in kitchen) = Tom Felton

Penchanar (elf, means tale brother) = Tom Hiddleston

Lifar (the janitor elf) = model Bartek Borowiec

Hiwon (means sticky male, elf with keys) = Johnny Depp

Parvel (means book female, elven scholar who knows dwarven runes) = Emma Watson