Dearest Readers,
Thank you all for reading this far into this wildly long story! While this is Part 2 of a 4 Part tale, I have to give all of you kuddos for sticking around. All of you give me so much inspiration and I am so glad your excitement is giving me the motivation to keep pushing forward!
This chapter- we delve deeper into Varis's background and finally learn who her mother really is, and just what her connection is to these dwarves.
And Persie gets practice in being a good listener.
XOXO Ally Layne.
---
The next morning I dressed into some of my training attire, and fisted the bottoms of the sleeves as I walked into Varis's chambers. She was already awake, and obviously had been for quite some time, if the small circles underneath her eyes were right.
My short, red-haired friend was pouring over piles of books while drinking a canteen of something I hoped was water. With Varis, sometimes it's hard to guess those things.
"Do you know about the battle with Sauron that started the Third Age?"
I stopped in my tracks, loosening my hands and crossing my arms at the odd question. "Only what Fin and Alma taught me over a year ago."
Varis nodded to herself as she read through the page. "The elves write that very few dwarves fought in the Last Alliance. Some even joined Sauron."
I pursed my lips. "It was called the Last Alliance of Elves and Men for a reason, I think."
She huffed out a breath. "I do not think that Dwarves have been given a fair bout in the history of the ages. We are a fine and hardy folk..." her eyes dazed slightly. "Even though we do not take to outsiders."
"Then how would the elves know anything about dwarves in the first place?" I questioned, moving over to her desk and closing the book she was diligently scowling over. "Varis, perhaps if you wish to learn about your people you shouldn't be looking at the words of others. Maybe you could speak with the King-"
"I could never do such a thing," she insisted, shaking her head stubbornly. "There was a reason why my family was removed from the mountains, and I will not force myself to be the object of ill deeds and rage from the past."
I tilted my head. "Is that why you lied about your origins? Even Goldilocks noticed, not that he's been noticing too much lately, but you know what I mean."
Varis looked up at me with a sheepish grin. "You caught that, did you?"
I sat myself down on the couch across from her and gestured to her. "You ought to let me in on why you lied, so I can make sure my dearest elf doesn't go about spreading rumors."
Her lips pursed in thought. "It is not a lovely tale."
I shrugged. "You know my own, so how could I ever judge you for yours?"
Her face started to pale slightly. "Maybe we should eat first, I do not think after this I will have much of an appetite at all."
My stomach squirmed at her warning. "Okay, we can do that."
Eventually, she was going to have to tell me something. I was okay with waiting only for so long, and Varis has hardly spoken about her past. After having breakfast delivered to us from the kitchens and eating just feet from each other in awkward silence, I had enough of the avoidance.
"Tell me what happened, or I will stick you with Riptide."
Varis blinked up at me from where she was nibbling on a piece of bacon that had long since gone cold. "Did you just threaten me?"
"Are you going to tell me what happened?"
She rolled her eyes. "I told you I would, did I not?"
"Then it's not a threat, just a warning."
She let out a faint huff. "How cordial of you. Most of the time you cut heads off first and warn them later."
I flipped my pen in my hand and watched as her eyes followed its every move. "You wanna tell me or am I going to have to fight you for it?"
She flopped back into her chair without her usual coordination and closed her eyes with a long, drawn-out sigh. I quietly watched as the burdens and exhaustion started to weigh down on her. "Very well. What I am about to tell you is a family secret that no one outside of these rooms should ever hear. I will just speak, and you must listen. This is not a story I wish to give many times."
I nodded, leaning forward in my chair and pocketing my pen so it wouldn't serve as a shiny distraction. "I can listen."
She cracked an eye open to look at me. "Can you?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Then why do I have to repeat myself to you more times than I could possibly count?"
I shrugged, furrowing my brow slightly in annoyance. "Maybe you need to learn how to count."
She let out another huff of air. "You are not helping, Persie."
"Sorry."
Varis nodded, let out another breath, and slowly clasped her hands together in her lap. "When I was a girl, my amad to me the truth of her life, or rather, the life she had before she met my father."
I blinked. "And what life was that?"
Her hands tightened and her knuckles turned white. "My amad, Maris, was the daughter of Náin, son of Grór, the founder of the Iron Hills."
I felt my head tilt in question.
"The Iron Hills are east of the Lonely Mountain, Erebor. Thorin Oakenshield, King Under the Mountain, is the dwarf we met last evening at dinner. He is one of Durin's folk. I am one of Durin's folk."
My eyebrows shot skyward. "Wait, what?"
She let out a huff of laughter. "It gets even better, Persie. My amad, Lady Maris of the Iron Hills, was set to be wed to Thorin, son of Thráin, son of Thrór, the King of Erebor."
I blinked again, in dead shock of everything I heard. "My gods."
Varis held up a hand to stop me. "But you must understand that she loved Thorin from the moment they lay eyes upon each other. It was destined since her birth, another tie between the clans of Durin- an alliance between the Iron Hills and Erebor that would make both Dwarven Halls the strongest in Middle Earth."
I let out a breath. "So what happened? Why isn't... I mean, why did she- well, you know?"
"Not become wed to Thorin Oakenshield?" She ran a hand down her face, which was far paler than normal. "She fell pregnant with me. It was a complete disaster-"
"But how did- I mean, didn't she love Thorin?"
Varis swallowed. "You... you would know what happened. She was... taken advantage of by my birth father, and when it became discovered that she was unfaithful..."
My mouth dropped open. "Everything was called off?"
She nodded. "She was shamed and forced from the mountain. Luckily, one of her greatest friends left with her and posed as her husband until his death. They never consummated their marriage, as her heart never gave itself to another. Thorin Oakenshield stole my mother's heart and broke it because he refused to listen to the truth, Persie. I prayed to Mahal I would never have to meet him, but Mahal forbid here he is."
I nodded slowly. "Here he is."
She let out another long, drawn-out sigh. "But Valar help me, I want to help them."
I let my head fall back onto the seat. "Gods help you, alright." But something about what she said, and how she said it made me pause. "What do you mean, help them?"
Varis's lips twisted into a crooked grin as she grabbed one of the books from her desk, opened to a marked page, and handed it over to me.
It was a map of Middle Earth.
And there, circled in ink, was a solitary mountain in the middle of flatlands. And it read: "The Lonely Mountain?"
Her smile widened, eyes twinkling in glee. "Erebor."
I took a moment to think about what she was showing me, or rather, why she was showing this particular map in the first place.
Nothing really clicked.
"So... why Erebor?" I slowly asked, folding the book closed and handing it back to her awkwardly. "Are you planning on going there or something?"
The look Varis shot me was equivalent to either a bitch slap or a facepalm, but I didn't know what she had planned. "Erebor was ransacked by the Dragon, Smaug, 171 years ago. My amad was a young dwarrowdam at the time, and told the story of what happened from Thorin's account many times over."
"I never heard of that, before."
Varis shrugged. "You live among elves, Persie. It is not surprising you do not hear of dwarrow history, especially those that are most recent."
I lifted a brow. "171 years is recent?"
"Thorin Oakenshield survived Smaug, and I bet my ax he is now on a journey to take it back."
I felt my mouth drop open for the second time this morning.
"And I want to join them."
The dwarf didn't even give me time to recover from the first mic drop, how in Hades am I supposed to deal with this?
"Also, Persie... I would like for you to join me."
I let out a sigh.
I was never going to get a break, was I?
---
After sitting in another awkward silence as I could not gather my wits to give her an answer, she finally stood up from her seat and looked me in the eye.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have spoken so quickly, of course you would prefer to stay here in these halls after everything you've been through... please do act as though I had never asked, that was not something I should have ever asked of you-"
"I'll think about it," I cut her off.
It was definitely worth seeing her eyes bug out of their sockets in surprise. "What-you... why?"
I held in my snickers, trying to make myself seem as serious as possible. It was obvious that dealing with a dragon is dangerous, but let's be honest- I've met plenty of dragons before. Kind of.
"Because you're my friend. And sure, I've been through a few rough patches, but what can I say- I'm experienced." I eyed her up and down. "And you clearly are not."
She scowled. "Not everyone is prophesied to save the world many times over, Persie."
I grinned. "And don't I know it." My grin waned a bit before I continued, "But before I give you a real answer, I will have to do some thinking about it first. I can't just dive headfirst into trouble anymore-"
Varis rolled her eyes. "Then what about-"
"Okay, okay, I'm trying to be better about these things," I admitted. "But I doubt Glorfindel is going to like this one bit."
She crossed her arms. "It is not as if he has been treating you right lately. Perhaps you should go if only to spite him."
I tilted my head. "That's not a bad idea."
Varis let out a peal of laughter. "Fine, Persie. You can think about it, but do find a better reason than that, please. It would not be well to start an adventure with vengeance the only thing on your mind."
I shrugged. "I've done it before."
She let out a sigh. "Just do not do it again."
I nodded, feeling myself shift underneath me after having been sitting for so long. I could use a good outlet, maybe a good spar to clear my head.
"Let us go to the training grounds," Varis told me, moving to grab some of her weapons she kept in her rooms. "You look like you could use some clashing of weapons to think."
I grinned. "Great minds think alike, Varis-dear."
She pushed me out the door and started to march us through the halls. "You shall never call me that again. I am not some young-"
"Vari-dear-"
"Persie, will you please-"
"Vari-boo-"
"Mahal save me-"
"Boo-boo-"
"Mahal help me, I will shove my ax so far up your-"
Little did we know, we were so caught up in our bickering that we didn't see any of the handmaidens giving us the warning eyes, telling us to not go any further.
We walked through another doorway and into another courtyard, gods this palace was filled with those things- something about elves and their ties with nature...
"Ah-hem."
Varis and I stopped simultaneously in our tracks and turned around to see where the cough had come from.
And there, standing in the fountains, was a bunch of dwarves as naked as the day they shot out of their mothers.
"Dear Mahal."
"What the fu-"