While Thorin was waiting for Bard's answer, he decided to call his council together to inform the remaining council members of what was going on. The remaining members of his council were very enthusiastic over the whole plan. It was at that moment that Roarc's son flew into the council room and landed on Thorin's shoulder. Bowing his head the raven held out his foot to Thorin so he could take Bard's letter. Thorin takes the letter and begins to read it, a smile creeps over his face.
"Gentlemen, the people of Dale have agreed to help us with our venture. I shall inform my queen and her brother so they can make preparations for the spring. Until then, there is a great deal of work that needs to be done before that can happen. The pens, stables, barns and coops need to be made to house the livestock, and farming implements need to be made."
"We will get started on it right away, my King." Storond tells Thorin.
Thorin leaves the council room in order to inform Alina of Bard's decision. They end up meeting each other in the hallway as she is on her way to the council room.
"My Love, I have received word from Bard that his people have accepted and are willing to help us." Thorin informs his mate.
"That's great, Tony and I have already begun making room for the refrigerator and freezer. Tony went home to get the Arc Reactor, the cables and the wiring needed to plug in the appliances. I would assume that he is also going to bring the freezer and the refrigerator at the same time. Once that is set up, we'll go ahead and stock it for the winter."
Thorin nods, "Very well, and now that Bard and his people have agreed, the orders have gone out to begin building the farming implements. When shall we head to Hobbiton to discuss our plans with the Hobbits?"
"Whenever you want, I would actually like to wait for Tony, I think he might like to go with us to the Shire." Alina tells her husband.
"Very well, I shall make the necessary arrangements with Balin. I shall have him oversee everything while we are away."
A few hours later, Tony shows up in his Iron Man suit pushing the freezer through the Portal while another Iron Man suit pushes the refrigerator through. He had JARVIS open the portal directly in the kitchen to make it easier to transport the appliances. Stepping out of his suit, Tony got to work setting up the Arc Reactor then he began to run the wiring and the insulation for the freezer and refrigerator.
Bombur, being the helpful soul that he is, comes up to Tony to ask if there was anything he could do to help.
"Nope, just keep the others out of my way for a while. When I'm finished I'll show you how it works." Tony informs Bombur.
"Thank you, Master Tony, and since I can not help you in this endeavor, I shall have a meal prepared for you.
Tony chuckles, "Just Tony, that master stuff sounds weird. And that would be great Bombur, thank you."
An hour later, Tony has everything hooked up and the Industrial freezer and walk in refrigerator are up and running.
"JARVIS, call my sister and the king so they can come see this."
**Right away sir.**
Thorin and Alina were in Balin's office talking to him about the running of the mountain while Thorin was away.
"We shall only be gone for a few days, I wish to show Alina the Shire after we speak with Bilbo. Winter has not yet descended on the Shire." Thorin informs Balin.
"That should be fine, Thorin, may I suggest that you also leave Fili here, so he can get the feel of ruling while you are away." Balin suggests.
"That is a wonderful idea, Balin, Fili needs some experience with the day to day running of the mountain." Thorin turns to Alina, "I assume that Logan will be joining us as well?"
"I would think so, I'm sure Dwalin isn't going to want you going without a guard either. And I was thinking of asking Tony if he wanted to bring Pepper along so she could see something of Middle Earth."
As they were making plans, the Iron man suit that has been following Thorin around since the assassination attempt steps into the room.
**Excuse the interruption, your majesty, but Mr. Stark requests yours and Miss. Stark's presence in the kitchen. Mr. Stark has finished installing the appliances.**
Thorin turns towards JARVIS, "Alright, inform my brother - in - law that we shall be there shortly."
JARVIS bows and leaves the room.
Thorin takes Alina's hand and together they make their way towards the kitchen. when they get there they see Tony sitting on a stool eating what looks like roast venison and drinking Elven wine and talking to Bombur.
"Man, Bombur, you really know how to cook. You know I have had venison before cooked by some of the best chefs in the world, but it has never tasted this good before." Tony tells Bombur.
Bombur blushes at the compliment, "Thank you, Tony, it is a pleasure to cook for you."
Thorin and Alina look at each other and smile, they were glad that Tony was enjoying his food. Tony and Bombur continue talking, so Thorin clears his throat to get their attention.
"Thorin, Honey Bunny, I'm glad you're here. Let me go ahead and show you the appliances." Tony says as he begins to get off his stool.
"No, no you finish your meal then show us." Alina tells her brother.
Tony smiles and finishes what little he had left on his plate. He dabs his mouth then sets the napkin down. He jumps off the stool and saunters up to Alina and Thorin.
"Okay so it everything is good to go, I have installed the mini Arc reactor to power both the fridge and the freezer, but there is still enough power to add more appliances if you want. The freezer is already stocked with enough frozen meat to last for at least a year if not more. And the fridge is stocked with fresh vegetables, meats and grain. This will only last a few weeks until it spoils, but all you have to do is move the frozen items to the fridge so they'll thaw. Would you like to look inside, come on Bombur you should see this too."
Tony opens the freezer door with a flourish and walks in, Thorin and Bombur were not expecting it to be as cold as it was. Tony reaches for the wall and flips on the light, showing rows and rows of sides of frozen beef, pork, turkeys, chickens, fish, venison and any other types of meat that could be thought of. Bombur walks around taking stock of all that was in there, looking around in awe. Never in his life had he seen so much food in on place. He notices that there are packages stacked in the corner of the freezer and asks Tony what they are.
"Oh, that, I bought some frozen vegetables as well, just in case, they taste pretty much the same you just have to thaw them out."
Bombur nods. After that they go into the refrigerator and see that there are already racks of thawed out sides of meat, fresh vegetables and grains. There are also dozens and dozens of eggs, butter, cheese, sausage links and all sorts of other foods.
Once they all looked around, Tony informs Thorin that he already has an inventory of everything that is in both appliances and exactly it should be divided with Dale, given the size of the city. Thorin accepts the information from Tony and inspects it, then hands it to Bombur.
"Bombur, see that this exact amount is rationed out to Dale on a monthly basis, have Gloin and Bifur help you with the counting. Once it is all sorted out send a raven to king Bard so he can assemble a delegation to come retrieve their supplies."
"Yes, my King" Bombur says with a bow, then leave. He will come back later to get supplies to begin dinner."
Thorin turns to Tony and pulls him into a hug, "Thank you, Brother, for all of your help. You will never know how much I appreciate all of the hard work you and my queen are doing for my people."
Tony pats him on the back, "It's no problem, Thorin, you're my brother and by extension these are my people too. And Starks always look out for their own, right, Sis?"
"Right, Bro, now the next thing we were going to discuss with you is if you would like to go to the Shire with Thorin and me, we were thinking that now would be a good time to talk to Bilbo and see if he can persuade any of the Hobbits to move to the mountain, if only for a little while. I get the feeling that some of the Tooks will come along and maybe some other families."
Tony smirks, "Yeah, I can totally see some Took families moving to the mountain."
Thorin looks at them with a puzzled look, "Why would you say that?"
"My dear, Thorin, haven't you heard the saying?" Alina asks.
"What saying?"
Tony and Alina look at each other, "Fool of a Took!" They say in unison.
Thorin laughs. "No I have not."
"Oh, well, it's very famous in the Shire, I'm sure you'll hear it quite often when we go visit." Tony says.
"So then you're going?"
"Hell, yeah, Honey Bunny, I'd love to see the Shire, maybe I'll take Pepper."
"Good, because I was going to ask you if you wanted to invite her along anyway."
"See, see, great minds think alike, I'll just head home and ask her. I'm sure she'll be thrilled. When did you want to go?"
Thorin rubs his chin and thinks for a moment, "Would a few days give you enough time to get things in order, Tony?"
"Yeah, sure, then Pepper and I will be back in three days."
"Alright, then in three days we travel to the Shire." Thorin says.
And with that, an excited Tony says his goodbyes and rushes through the portal. He can't wait to tell Pepper about going to the Shire, she's going to faint.