A/N: Here it is, the final installment. Enjoy. (The tradition descriptions are mine).
Disclaimer: I still don't own or profit from Middle Earth.
Epilogue
Erda, her two friends, and their mothers sit patiently in one of the rooms inside the mountain hall in Ered Luin. They are waiting for a meeting regarding the upcoming Ghiluz Durin festivities, the girls nearly jumping off their seats in excitement.
Being part of this program is such an honor and not every young dwarrow gets to take part. For families of high standing, participation in these ceremonies serves as a coming of age ritual. Traditionally dwarrow lasses are highly prized and protected and this is their formal presentation to the community of Erid Luin. Arguably, this is not celebrated by the other clans, but was adopted after the extensive loss of life at Azanulbizar which left many as orphans and prompted the need to promote marriage and childbearing. Like many things to the Erebor exiles, this was just another adaptation to ensure survival.
These families have been looking forward to the celebration for months, planning and preparing, sewing new clothes; and now, each girl has received a personal invitation from Lady Dis to attend a special meeting. The room is abuzz with their frenzied conversation.
All noise ceases and eyes turn towards the opening door as Lady Dis glides into the room. She wears a rich dress of Durin blue, the bodice accented with a raven embroidered in silver thread. Her dark hair is immaculately plaited with the prominent royal braids and offset by a thin silver fillet band. There is no mistaking that this is a princess of the line of Durin.
Around the table eyes widen as they look at each other, and even though, the dwarrow of this village seldom stand on formality, they find themselves automatically rising to greet the princess. This is not the Dis they pass in the market, nor see in the forge. No, this is the princess in all of her royalty, even if she is wearing every showy piece she owns in exile; and still it would be considered beneath her in the Halls of Erebor. She dresses this elaborately only for high state occasions like visiting royalty or important celebrations. The dwarrow in the room are suitably impressed to be sitting at the same table, mingling with royalty; and they preen at their uncommon good fortune.
Lady Dis looks slowly around the room, meeting each female eye to eye, her face betraying nothing. Much planning has gone into arranging this particular meeting which started with an innocent question asked of her oldest son by a jovial toy-maker. The question had led to a story of how said toy-maker had overheard, in the market, some lasses disparaging the youngest heir of Durin. And thus, Fili, Dis, and Thorin had all become aware of the perpetrators' identities without Kili's having to name them.
Finally Dis addresses those assembled, her mouth curling into a grin.
"As you all know, it is an impressive honor to be chosen for a part in the Ghiluz Durin Ceremony. It is an awesome responsibility here in Ered Luin among the exiled Dwarrow. She pauses long enough for the gravity of her comment to sink in.
"Those chosen must demonstrate the characteristics of loyalty, honor, and a willing heart," once again she pauses watching the looks of anticipation and pride around the table. No doubt these three are expecting even greater accolades.
"Thus it saddens me to inform you that your recent behavior has disqualified you from participating," Dis pronounces. The room is eerily quiet.
The three girls stare in disbelief as if they have misunderstood. For another moment no one speaks. Then Erda's mother finds her voice.
"Lady Dis, excuse me; but did I hear you say that the girls will not be participating in the celebration program?" She must have misheard.
Dis fixes her with the icy blue Durin stare, "I spoke plainly enough, did I not?"
Now the room erupts in a cacophony of voices all competing at once.
"What?"..."Why?"..."How?"..."No!"..."You can't."
"Oh, but I can," Dis flashes a confident smile as her voice slices icily through the chaos.
"But why? Why would you say we can't be in it?" Erda cries out stamping her foot as tears spring to her eyes.
"As I said," Dis holds her gaze. "Your own actions have disqualified you."
"What do you mean? How? What did we do?" one of the other girls whines.
"That is ridiculous. Our daughters behavior is beyond reproach," the second girl's mother accuses haughtily.
"Since when did lying maliciously and spreading unfounded rumors qualify as honor?" Dis counters looking pointedly at the three girls, one after the other.
The girls stare in shock not even understanding the accusations. They begin talking among themselves.
"Surely you are mistaken, Lady Dis." One mother offers.
Erda's mother rises to her feet, her face livid. "How dare you accuse..."
"Enough!" Dis slams her hand on the table. "Sit down."
Everyone stops speaking and quickly complies, turning to face the irate princess.
"Now that I have your attention," Dis's voice returns to normal. Again she fixes Erda with her penetrating gaze. "Do you deny that the three of you stood at a crossroad in the market and showed blatant disrespect for me, my brother, and my son?"
Erda's face paled as she opens her mouth several times much like a fish gasping out of water. Finally she manages, "I...we..." she looks pleadingly to her mother for help.
The Dwarrowdams remain quiet, finally realizing the import of Dis's words.
When her mother provides no aid, Erda looks to her co-conspirators. They, too, remain silent, perhaps hoping that Erda will take all the blame for them.
"Well?" Erda's head turns to glare at her mum's question. "Can you explain of what Lady Dis speaks?"
'I guess she means when we were talking about Kili in the market," Erda manages, sniffling and dropping her eyes to the table with the realization that she has little option but to confess.
"I didn't know anyone was listening to us," Erda's voice is tinged with anger, as if the fault rests with whoever had eavesdropped on their conversation.
"At least not until you saw Kili looking at you," Dis counters the false explanation.
"No, we didn't," splutters a second girl desperately. "We really didn't know he was there."
"That's right," the third girl adds indignantly. "He was hiding down the street."
Dis exhales slowly, shaking her head at the girls' continuing efforts to shift blame away from themselves.
"What part of sitting on a fence rail eating an apple tart constitutes hiding?" the princess counters.
The girl's look at each other, eyes wide, realizing that Lady Dis is somehow aware of all that had happened.
Dis places her hands on the table. "Enough, lasses. I know the story..."
The second girl turns to Erda, her eyes ablaze, snapping, "I knew that brat would tell."
Dis fixes her with an icy glare. "No. As deeply as your words hurt Kili, he refused to name who was responsible. Your conversation was overheard by a merchant, who informed us."
The dwarrow-lasses refuse to look at either the princess or their mothers.
Now Dis turns her attention to the mothers. "I want you to understand just what they said because they claimed to hear some of it from their parents."
The mothers shifts uncomfortably not wishing to be drawn into this whole mess.
Dis plows on. "Aside from the obvious comments about Kili's physical build, lack of beard, and his choice of the bow, they called him half-elf, an insult that by default erroneously impacts my reputation. They discussed that he would never be chosen and how no one would accept him as a leader. Finally they said that my brother should not have let him live when he was born."
The room is silent when Dis finishes her exposition.
"Lady Dis," Erda's mother began shakily, "We did not know. Please forgive our daughter's rash behavior. I assure you they will apologize to your son immediately."
The other dwarrowdams hastily add their own protestations of innocence.
"Your ignorance does not excuse their behavior. And your daughters will not speak to either of my sons; they have said quite enough already." Dis practically spits the words. "I fear our exile has diluted our once high expectations for our daughters. In Erebor three lasses of your daughters' ages would not have wandered the merchant stalls unchaperoned." She looks each of the mothers squarely in the eyes before continuing. "Nor would they publicly dare to so impugn the reputation of a prince of Durin." Dis pauses for effect
"As I said at the beginning, you will not be participating in the Durin's Day Celebration. Nor do I expect to see you attending. You may use the time to reflect on how your thoughtless words impact others," Dis admonishes the girls before her.
Turning to their mothers, she continues, "I would deem it wise for you to discuss this unfortunate incident with your husbands. And you might want to consider the things you speak around your children, knowing that they may well be aired in public,... and that there are dwarves here that support the line of Durin."
Stiffly Dis rises, quickly followed by the remaining dwarrowdams. Dis walks to the door before tuning. "I trust this matter is closed and you will heed my warnings...I am sure none of you wishes to deal with Prince Thorin.
And with those final remarks, Dis exits the room. Once outside the mountain hall, she pauses long enough to take several deep breaths to compose herself. She is not used to playing the princess role like this, and for a brief time she can sympathize with the burden her dear brother shoulders every day. But now, she needs to get home where she has a mischievous imp, no longer confined to bed, but still homebound. She smiles, shaking her head and wonders just how much damage Kili could have done in her absence.
FINIS
A/N: Ghiluz Durin = Durin's Day (from The Dwarrow Scholar's website, an excellent reference).
Sorry to all who wanted to "rip those girls' hair out"; just imagine that's what their parents did to them at home. Let me know what you think by reviewing. Thanks to all who have read, reviewed, favorited, and followed. Thanks for all your encouraging comments, I truly appreciate them. Many thanks to my long-time writing buddy and Beta for this fic, BlueGnomeAlaska.
QUESTION? The next story "Death and Life" will start towards the end of the first week of October. It is 1 story with 2 sides. Do you prefer 2 long (4000+ words) or more smaller chapters within the 2 divisions? Let me know in a review or PM me.