The Heart of a Lion

Prologue

                                                                               Prologue

“Let go!” A scream echoed through the home, alerting the woman who was standing near the window. She turned, her fear for her daughter quickly changing into a wide smile as her son came rushing through the room. He was carrying his sister over his shoulder, yelling triumphantly while she beat on his back to try and get him to release her. “Mother! Tell Bari to let me go!”

“Torina is right. It is not proper, my son. She is thirty-five years old, not twenty...” Their mother scolded softly, an eyebrow raising sternly. Her children may have looked like simple teenagers, but because of who their parents were, they were older than human children. Half Dwarf children were rare enough, but as their mother was a member of the Dúnedain, the children were blessed with a longer lifespan. The children were known as Umli, a half-breed between dwarves and men.

“No, it's not that! It's not fair...he did not give me advance warning to properly defend myself! He cheated!” The young woman huffed as she tried kicking her way out of the situation. With a small laugh, Bari released her gently back onto her feet and opened his arms, to which she immediately ran into for a tight hug. “Welcome home, brother...I've missed you!” Their mother, Lindris, stared at them for a moment and waited for her daughter to let go of him before moving towards him and enfolding him in a hug of her own. 

“It is good to have you home, Bari,” she gave him a chaste kiss on his forehead. “How was the hunt?”

“Nothing much to report. Two deer and a few rabbits at the beginning. The past five days were uneventful though, so we turned around and came back home,” he told his mother with a shrug on his broad shoulders.

“Well, you made it back just in time. One of your father's oldest and dearest friends is coming to visit as he passes through.”

“Will this friend be staying with us?” Bari asked with a warm smile at his excited sister, who adored having guests come to their home and doted terribly on them from the moment they arrived to the moment they left. She was such a kindhearted soul, never one to turn away someone in need, and tried to make everyone around her happy, just like her mother. And if her family or friends were offended in any way, she was fiercely protective over them, which was exactly like her father. It was wonderful to see the best of both parents combined in his younger sister. She was growing into a wonderful woman.

“Who is it, Mother?” Torina asked with a curious sparkle in her blue eyes as she turned to her.

“Come sit, my children.” She waited until they were both seated in front of her before speaking again. “Remember the stories I told you of the Lonely Mountain? About kings and princes and magnificent gold...”

“And the desolation of Smaug the Terrible. He destroyed the kingdom of Erebor, the home of father's kin,” Torina finished for her and nodded with a proud smile, glad that she remembered so much of her mother's teachings. She could never forget the sadness in her father's eyes whenever he spoke of his lost home or the frown on her mother's soft features as she spoke of the firestorm in Dale. 

“The dwarves lost so much that day...” Lindris drifted off in gloomy thought, prompting her children to glance at each other.

“Mum...” Bari spoke softly. “Who is this visitor?” 

“Hmm? Oh, yes. Right...I am sorry. He grew up with your father when they lived in Erebor, during the time I lived in Dale with my family. After the dragon attacked and I lost my family, I relocated to Ered Luin, as did most of the dwarves of Erebor and humans from Dale. In Ered Luin, your father and I met and fell in love. I met his kin and friends soon after.” Her children listened intently, especially the hopeless romantic Torina, who adored hearing the love story of her parents. “The dwarves did not approve much of me at first. A Dúnedain and a Dwarf...it was not a normal union by any means.”