On her first full day as a new resident of Erebor, the only thing Briella really wanted to do was to get her new room in Thorin's castle in order, not expecting when she opened her jewellery bag to find one of Arwen's most precious pieces with a note attached to it. Sitting on the edge of the plush bed, her hair falling around her face, Briella gently took the piece of paper off the item it was attached to and she read it carefully, knowing that Arwen was far more advanced in the Elven language than what she had been.
Briella,
Even though it saddens me greatly to let you go so soon after your meeting King Thorin; it pleases me just as much to see you with someone so worthy and deserving of you. It is clear to anyone who sees it just how much he is in love with you and while you may not see it yet; I gently urge that you do give him a chance; it will turn out to be the best thing you've done. I give you one of my Evening Star necklaces to remember Rivendell by as long as you agree to visit.
Arwen
Even though she didn't mean to, Briella felt a few tears falling down her pale rose cheeks and quickly wiped them away with the hem of a dress sitting beside her. Undoing the clasp with her fingernails, it was easier to slip it around her neck and reclasp it than she had thought, pulling her hair out of the way so that it did not get caught, making sure she wore it where it could be seen very easily because she wanted everyone to know that she was more than welcome to go back to Rivendell at any time she so desired.
Her first night at dinner with Thorin, his family and some of the higher-scale dwarves wasn't half as daunting as she had thought it was going to be, and she certainly caught Thorin's attention wearing a red and gold gown that covered her from the neck to the floor, ending at the wrists to make dinner a great deal easier and her hair had been styled so that Thorin would have been forgiven thinking he was still back at Rivendell with Arwen sitting next to him as he would have sat closer to Elrond at such a time than she did.
The last thing Briella was expecting was for Thorin to personally escort her back to the room she'd been given upon her arrival that day and it was as they stood at the door that Thorin asked if they may begin the process of officially courting, knowing that anyone being courted by the King was not to be messed with as there would be guards watching even at not-so-discreet distances just to esnure the potential Queen's safety at all times and despite her surprise at his request, Briella found herself quite readily accepting, feeling as if Thorin was it for her.
"I don't think I've ever met anyone as sweet or as kind to me as Thorin" Briella confided in Gandalf as the wizard made one of his visits to Erebor, wandering through the palace gardens where she knew she was being watched. "Indeed he does seem to have changed quite a bit since reclaiming the Lonely Mountain away from that awful dragon" agreed Gandalf, "And even more so since he first set eyes on you Briella; it is you who has softened the heart that many had once thought to be as impenetrable as iron and he loves you very much".
Hearing the 'l' word normally would have sent Briella heading for the hills back to Rivendell from her current location, but because it was Thorin Oakenshield they were talking about, she felt no desire to run and hide from it. Instead she openly embraced what Gandalf had said to her because she felt the same way about him, even if she dared not say it to anyone before she had the chance to say it to him first, believing that Thorin was the one who should hear how she felt first, then the rest of the Palace and then Middle Earth.
In spite of himself, it seemed as though Gandalf was fast becoming a trusted confidante of the new arrived woman who may one day be the Queen of the Dwarves, and because Thorin had learned he could trust the wizard to make appropriate decisions during their quest to reclaim their home, the King saw no reason why it couldn't continue, and it warmed his heart immensely to see how well she was getting on with Fill's young children, further proof that when the time came for the two of them, there would be no better mother for his children than Briella.
Nobody but Arwen really knew about it but Briella was still a virgin, a maid, and she was determined to remain that way until there was a gold ring on her finger signifying that she was a married woman before she would let anyone touch her in that particular way and yet it seemed she was finding it difficult to maintain her determination whenever she was alone with Thorin, there was just something about the dwarf king that made her resolve weaken even if it was just a little bit, and she finally decided that she could be waiting no longer.
Lady Galadriel on the other hand wasn't as old-fashioned as Arwen, believing that when two were as deeply in love as Briella and Thorin, nothing should impede the progress of their relationship, but now all she had to do was convince Thorin that it was what she really wanted of him, of the two of them, and only then was she sure that he would consent to it as willingly as she, somehow sensing that Thorin was the last man in all of Middle Earth to force himself onto someone, especially when it was made clear that they were not interested.
