There were few people that Thorin Oakenshield trusted. He trusted his kin, but that was it. After losing the Lonely Mountain, the dwarves of Erebor were looked down upon by many races of Middle Earth and elves had a special place of distrust in Thor...
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Being king came with new responsibilities. Especially since Erebor had been abandoned for so long, and the Battle had taken place not long ago. Thorin found himself extremely busy.
To start, Erebor needed cleaning and rebuilding. Nearly all available dwarves were working on clearing stone and making things back to the way they were. Dwarves were slowly returning to the mountain, meaning that living spaces needed to be open and clean, as well as markets and other areas. Thankfully those that came were willing to help see Erebor returned to its former glory.
Then came the politics. Several days following the battle, Thorin worked on drafting a treaty with Thranduil and Bard. The three rulers agreed to become allies, since once their kingdoms were functional again, they would all benefit from one another. During these meetings, Bard tended to be the collected one of the rulers, but other mediators helped to resolve some tensions.
Thorin also made an effort to right the wrongs he had made. Gold was given to Bard so that the humans could begin rebuilding Dale and providing for themselves. The White Gems of Lasgalen were returned to Thranduil.
And Bard returned the Arkenstone.
When he had placed the stone on the table before them all, Thorin had tensed. He hadn't truly seen the Arkenstone in years, and there it was before him. He had shut his eyes after a minute and forced himself to look at Bard.
"Thank you," he had said.
Bard had nodded. Thranduil however had asked the question lingering in all of their minds:
"What will you do with it?" He then had added, "I would rather not repeat the events of the past."
Thorin agreed. He was going to strive to keep his promise, to not become his grandfather again, nor succumb to the dragon sickness again. So, he decided to return the Arkenstone to its place in the throne room. It would still serve as the king's jewel, but it would remain there.
Once the external politics were settled, Thorin found himself dealing with the internal politics involving those in Erebor. With Balin and Dwalin's help, Thorin put together a counsel to help manage those affairs. Several members of the counsel had been in his grandfather's counsel. The several new faces were dwarves that were well respected.
Soon enough, the counsel was meeting almost every day to sort out the necessary items. As things within Erebor began to settle with its reconstruction, the meetings would begin to become fewer during the following weeks.
It all was rather tedious. And exhausting.
And then there was recovery.
Amongst everything that Thorin had on his plate, he was still physically recovering from the battle. After almost three weeks, he was almost back to normal. The cuts and bruises he had sustained during the battle were gone. The only lingering pain was in his foot where he had been stabbed, and being on his feet for long periods of time did not do the wound much good. Oin was constantly nagging him to rest more.
