There and Back Again

Chapter Twenty: The Future Queen

With the twins' busy with their governess for the morning, Thalia found herself with a lot of time on her hands and she was often unsure what she should be doing; she did not have an official role in court yet. 

Dís was often busy running the royal household and Thalia could not recall seeing Thorin during the day since he was usually busy with council meetings and ruling the mountain; it would not be until that evening that she would see him again. 

This left Thalia with time to explore Erebor and she had found herself growing close with Bora, who acted not just as her guide during this time but as someone that she could trust. 

In the beginning Thalia had been a little unsure about Bora, almost convinced that her words would be reported back to someone else if she said the wrong thing. 

However as Dis had continued to send more ladies her way, stating that as the future Queen that Thalia needed a household that represented her status within the mountain, Thalia had found herself looking more to Bora for her companionship. 

The market that was situated at the entrance of the mountain and that was where Thalia found herself that morning, she was slowly adjusting to the fact that everyone that she passed would stop and stare for a moment. 

Her engagement to Thorin had been rather welcomed within the mountain and there really had not been any opposition that Thalia had heard of; though she suspected that if there had been then no one would dare tell her. 

"What do you think about this?" Bora asked stopping at one of the fabric stall that they were passing, she was trying to help Thalia find some fabric for her wedding dress since she had not liked any that Lady Dís had shown her. 

The market was rather busy that day and Bora was a little nervous about how many people were around them; she would not be much help if there came an attack on her lady from an unknown source. 

Bora had never been particularly good when it came to fighting, her skills lay in sewing and the occasional healing; she was not going to be much use if they were attacked and she knew that she would have to at least try.

"It's very pretty," Thalia noted stepping forward and admiring the bronze-coloured material that Bora was looking at; it was something different and she could not help but admire it and ponder what she could use it for. 

Her wardrobe and that of the twins was quickly expanding and Thalia was eager to put her own twists on the gowns that Dis had set up for her; she wanted things to be comfortable to her and practical. 

"You should get it," Bora encouraged knowing that even if Thalia did not decide to use it for a dress than it would still make a beautiful dress anyway; she would be the talk of the court in something like that. 

Many of the ladies watched their future Queen, they would follow her example in hopes of appeasing the royal family and Thalia had yet to truly make her own mark on the court. 

Thalia nodded her head, she was still a little wary when it came to paying for things and she felt awkward carrying around the money that Thorin had given her. 

She was rather used to earning her own and Thalia was not sure if she would ever get used to the fact that she was just being handed things instead of working for it; though she knew that once she had duties of her own that would change. 

Bora smiled pleased as she watched Thalia buy the fabric, she was sure that it would look perfect and they would be able to make a beautiful dress out of it between them. 

Once Thalia had paid for the material, the two started to walk back the way that they had come; they had spent most of the morning walking around and it was slowly approaching lunch-time.