There and Back Again

Chapter Seventeen: Council Meeting

Tapping his fingers on the table, Thorin could not wait for his meeting to be over and he could leave once he signed the few parchments that Balin had for him. 

Thorin had cancelled most of his afternoon meetings and he had hoped to get away early from this one so that he could prepare himself for what was to come. 

Today was the day that he would meet the twins for the very first time and Thorin did not want anything to interrupt his meeting with them; he wanted them to get to know him as himself not a King. 

It was the reason that he had been delayed from meeting them since he could not get away from his duties without people getting suspicious. 

The twins were only six and Thorin did not think he could bare it if they were to bow down to him or fear him because of who he was; he had no idea what would happen when they saw him. 

It did help that his sister and her sons had met with the twins briefly when they had first arrived in the mountain; Thorin had not wanted to just drop in on them when they were settling in. 

The meeting that he was currently in seemed to drag on for hours and Thorin wished that they would just get to the point; he had heard enough from the patrols about the increasing presence of orcs and such that had been appearing near their boarders. 

He wished that Gloin would have arrived back from the summit in better condition, he had staggered in days ago looking like he had fought death itself before be rushed to the healer's chambers to recover. 

 Gloin had not sent much information back in his letters afraid that enemies might get a hold of them; he had only sent information that was deemed okay enough to travel via letter back to the mountain. 

Thorin leant back in his chair while one of the many dwarves in his council talked about what was happening; it was all the same thing and he hoped that they would be done soon. 

He was barely listening as it was and the sooner that it was over, the sooner that he could get to meeting the twins for the very first time. 

Balin was sat on his right and looked just as bored as Thorin was, neither of them saw why the meeting seemed to be dragging on for such a long time; they had discussed all that needed to be discussed and now it seemed rather pointless like the other council members were beating around the bush about something.

"I think that's everything for today," Balin announced putting an end to the meeting before someone fell asleep, there truly was not news that they had not heard before and he was sure that it could wait until tomorrow. 

Thorin sighed in relief and moved to get to his feet before he realised that everyone had paused to look at one of the lords that sat on the council that had not moved to leave like everyone else. 

Staring at the dwarf in question, Balin wondered just why he could not mind his own business; it was no secret that the dwarf had hoped his daughter would catch Thorin's attention and become his Queen in time. 

If anyone was going to cause trouble for Thorin's plans then it would be this dwarf and Balin would not be surprised if he pushed his own daughter as an alternative. 

"Is there a problem Lord Khîm?" Thorin asked wanting to get a move on, he did not see what could be so important that it had not been mentioned at the start of the meeting nor why the dwarf had waited until now to speak. 

He was rather impatient and he was growing tired of the delays that were keeping him from his other plans; it was starting to grate on his nerves. 

Balin sat back down in his own seat, he wished that he had been able to talk to Thorin about this before it was dropped on him; he had hoped to discover how Lord Khîm on had found out but he had not had the chance.