In Time

Chapter Thirty-Six

As the night wore on, and sleep evaded her, Amara decided to go for a walk through Erebor's halls. Little by little, the dwarves cleaned and polished and restored the damaged walls and she was fascinated by the runes carved into the marble throughout the city. It was a world so very different from the one she'd known, and she realized she still had so much to learn about Thorin and his people, and she wondered if those runes told the story of the Erebor dwarves.

She came up into the Great Hall, where she saw Thorin sitting before the fire, just staring into it. She paused. He just sat there, not moving. No one else was around, not even Thranduíl and she hoped that didn't mean something had gone wrong.

She took a deep breath as she came up up behind him to lean over and draped her arms about his shoulders. "Are you all right?"

He must have heard her, for he didn't start. Instead, he leaned against her. "I am tired, is what I am. I've about had enough of elves—present company excluded, of course." He tilted his head back to gaze up at her. "He brought your friend."

"Aiduin?"

He nodded. "I might have to toss him off the rampart. The first thing he did was ask about you."

"Well, I am not at all interested in seeing him." She smiled, nuzzling his furred cheek with her own. "Please don't toss him off the roof, though. He'd make a terrible mess when he hit the ground."

"I make no promises."

"Did Thranduíl give you any difficulty?"

"Surprisingly, no. To be honest, I think he fears his son is coming to care for Tauriel as well and with Kili wanting to ask for her hand, that means Thranduíl can breathe easily."

She gave him a squeeze, then stepped back. "Come along to bed, Thorin. You look exhausted."

"I will in a bit." He peered up at her. "Walk with me?"

"Walk where?"

"There is something thing I wish to show you." His chair, already rather rickety-looking, let out a loud creak as he shifted his weight to rise.

"Something to show me? What haven't I seen yet?"

"You'll see, if you come with me." He held out his hand to her and she laced her fingers with his to let him lead her back toward the main staircase. The sounds of the others faded as he led her down, to the same level as the throne room, only instead of going to the right, he led her to the left, into a smaller room, lined with shelves and on those shelves, stood chests of varying sizes.

"What is this?"

"Dwarves have mined this mountain since we settled it. And in doing so, amassed quite an assortment of different stones. Most are fashioned into pieces—some for us, for wives, sisters, mothers—but others we traded in Dale, with the Woodland Realm. These were kept separate from the treasure hoard, because these were the ones Thrór was willing to trade, while the rest was his because..." he hesitated, a sheepish smile coming to his lips, "well, you know why."

He brought one of the chests over to the table and lifted the lid of one chest to display a collection of crystal clear gems so clean and perfect, they threw off the light from the sconces without even being moved. "These are the stones Thranduíl lusts for above all others and this—" he lifted up the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen—"is the piece he covets most of all, the one that will be his come the morning and in return, Tauriel will be free to come here if she will have Kili. If she chooses not to... well... it will become a bit more complicated, so I'm hoping it doesn't come to that."

"Thorin, it is stunning." She reached out to catch it in her hand. It was the most delicate necklace she had ever seen, with diamonds as clear as stars sparkling in platinum, throwing off sparks of blue, purple, red, and white. She looked up, met his gaze. "This is the necklace you refused to part with before, isn't it?"