Chapter Text
There was only the softness of the blankets and her face pressed into the furs. It was warm and nothing disturbed her sleep. Once or twice Billa wasn’t sure whether she was still dreaming or not. There was the sound of wood being stacked in a fireplace, and rustling of sheets and a soft voice telling her that they’d meet later.
When Billa finally woke up she was a little disoriented at first. The room was unfamiliar, and she couldn’t remember why there were so many furs and pillows on the bed.
“Are you awake?”
The memory of the previous night returned in the time it took Billa to turn her head and see Ori standing at the foot of the bed, pointedly looking away from her.
“Oh, yes of course,” Billa muttered, and made sure that she was covered to her neck. “Is it time to get up?”
The thought of going to her coronation made her nervous, but she would manage, just as anything else.
“Yes, Dori wanted me to bring you the dress. And then we will go to meet him, and he and Nori will help with your hair.”
He put down the clothes on the end of the bed, then stepped out of the door but still remained within earshot.
“He said you’d be here…”
Billa’s cheeks reddened and she quickly climbed out of bed, and towards the corner where a basin and some brushes had been placed.
“Oh? Did he now.”
“He said we shouldn’t stay up and wait for you. You missed out though, Dori is really annoyed about something Nori did, and now Nori is grounded.”
Billa pulled a comb through her curls, frowning at Ori chatting about it.
“How can Nori be grounded?”
“It just means that Dori won’t let him out of sight for a while, so he won’t run off to drink with the soldiers or spent the entire night outside. And Nori doesn’t want to fight so he resigned himself to it for now.”
Billa dunked cloth into the water and started washing herself quickly.
“Usually Nori just runs off if he wants to. I guess he’ll find himself some tiny place soon, somewhere nobody will bother him in once Erebor is settled again.”
The dress was easy to put on herself, it was simple, and only the materials and the layered textures on the outside made it look beautiful. The embroidery was in silver and one of the most delicate ones Billa had ever seen.
It was an ice blue material, with parts of the sleeves and around her waist set off by dark blue velvet, and it suited her very well.
“Are you done?” Ori asked, as he didn’t get any replies for a while.
He glanced into the room cautiously, smiling as he saw the dress on Billa.
“It is beautiful! Your brothers did a wonderful work with it!”
Ori tugged at the material, helping Billa to adjust it. Then he reached inside his coat and pulled out another bundle. As he unwrapped it Billa saw the glitter of the mail shirt Thorin had given her, cleaned and polished and beautiful and light as always.
“Here, put that on as well.”
Billa frowned and shook her head.
“Why not?”
“It’s armour, Ori. It’s lovely but do you really expect me to need armour at a coronation and wedding? It’s not a battle.”
Ori looked at her puzzled, as if he saw no connection between dressing for battle and putting on the mithril shirt. He did not put the shirt down, still holding it out to Billa, so she sighed, took it and carefully put it over her dress. It was a shame to hide most of Dori’s work that way, but the shirt was beautiful at least, and what was visible of the dress was very obviously still lovely to look at.
Once that was done Ori beamed at her and grabbed her wrist.
“Beautiful, but we need to go now! The coronation will start as soon as both you and Thorin are ready, and lets not make Mister Glóin win his bet in saying we’ll be late!”
He led her out of the halls and towards the gates, but instead of turning into the way that led directly to the main gate, Ori turned right. They didn’t go very far after that, and soon they were greeted by Ori’s brothers, as well as Bofur, Bombur and Bifur.
“You look lovely lass!” Bofur told her as soon as Billa was pushed into their middle.
Dori beamed in pride, and then he and Nori made her sit down on a stool.
“Let us take care of these curls then,” Dori said, before they set to work.
“What did you want to do?” Billa asked, now a little nervous. She wasn’t sure whether she really wanted to take part in such a public event with a hairstyle as complicated as Dori’s yet. She’d feel ridiculous.
“Just a few braids to keep your hair out of your face. It’s windy outside, and we don’t want to make a mess of this, do we now?”
Dori hummed cheerfully, though Nori seemed to be half pouting.
As they worked, Billa took the time to take in what the others were wearing. Bofur and Bombur had dressed themselves in armour similar to the one she had seen on them during the battle, only polished and much finer than that one.
Nori had done the same, only that his armour was a very light one, nearly non-existent compared to the heavy ones Dwarves seemed to favour, and though it was polished the dark metal did not shine as pretty as the others’. Dori had picked a fur coat and velvet, all looking very fine and making him seem very regal, but Billa caught a glimpse of polished chainmail even on him.
Only Bifur and Ori hadn’t picked that, Bifur dressed in his preferred leather outfit and Ori wrapped in scarves and a warm cloak. Perhaps it was tradition to wear the best armour if you were a warrior? That way Billa didn’t feel quite as out of place with the mithril shirt as she had before seeing this.
Once Billa’s hair was done, Dori and Nori stepped back, and smiled at her. They had braided the hair on the sides of her head to lie tight against her scalp, but they still had left her curls free to bounce about her shoulders.
“You look very much like a Queen,” Dori told her, and then Bifur stepped up and gently wrapped a dark blue cloak with fur lining around her shoulders, and Nori fastened a brooch over her chest.
“Are you ready?”
Billa smiled gratefully and nodded. Dori tugged a little at the coat, to make sure it was truly covering her, and then he and Bifur stood on either side of her and started walking towards the gates.
The first she saw was the glittering white of the snowy fields all around the mountain. It looked beautiful in its purity, covering the ash of the desolation and the battle, and in the winter day all even looked as if nothing bad had ever happened.
Rows of warriors stood on the grounds before the gates, impressive in their order and with their armour gleaming prettily in the sun. The first time Billa had seen them, it was right before a battle, and they had looked fearsome and impressive, though now the army spoke of glory and strength.
She could see Men, and Elves, a little further back and there were few of them, closer to the gates but also standing at the very side. All were looking towards her, and there were trumpets blowing a crisp and clear sound, announcing that both the King and Queen had now arrived.
A little walkway had been prepared and decorated with banners, leading down to a pedestal just high enough for everyone to see.
Balin stood closest, smiling up at Billa as she was led down, wearing a thick fur coat and copper chains around his neck and over his shoulders, holding some parchments in his hands. Dáin was beside him, wearing his regalia of a lord of the Iron Hills, and by his side stood the rest of the company, on a place of honour.
Billa came closer and each step made her more nervous, though it wasn’t bad at all. Before her were her friends, and that was calming enough, and her husband awaited her.
When they stepped onto the platform, Bifur and Dori moved away from her, joining the company and leaving her to cross the distance towards Thorin on her own.
Balin and Dáin smiled at her, a mischievous twinkle in their eyes, and Dwalin, who stood closest, bowed his head as she walked by.
And Thorin…
He had never looked as radiant as today, she thought, as her husband King smiled and reached out with one hand. All decked in furs and an armour that seemed simple, as his last had been, but shone and was decorated in the most intricate engravings and decked with tiny blue and white jewels.
Billa’s hand felt small as she placed it into Thorin’s rough one, slid over calloused skin and polished rings and squeezed slightly.
“My lord husband,” she said, smiling, and curtsied.
Thorin’s lips twitched, and he bowed deeply before her, for all to see.
“Queen of my heart,” he replied.
The musicians ended their tune with one last bright sound, and then Balin stepped before the Dwarf King and the Hobbit Burglar, and started his speech.
Billa had promised herself that she would listen, that Balin’s speech had been made for her after all. Her hand was still in Thorin’s and he was smiling down on her. She smiled back and then turned to glance at the company, see the joy in their faces and their happiness that the quest now truly was completed.
As her eyes skimmed over each of them, she noticed something gleaming in the sun above them. Not knowing what it was, Billa raised her head and look up towards where the stone had been craved into walls and beautiful designs centuries ago.
What she saw wasn’t the green rock everything was decorated in though, but a wall of silver and white light, sparkling in the rising winter sun.
At first Billa couldn’t quite understand what it was, and then she saw that it was ice. A solid layer covered the walls and the carved stone warriors. All of it had been cut and broken just so that the sunlight would catch and reflect at random points. None of it looked as if it had been done like the fine and neatly cut gems Billa had seen before, but it seemed like the only purpose had been to make it shine.
She knew that she must be gaping, and she felt Thorin’s hands tug on hers lightly.
“Do you like it?” he whispered quietly enough to not be heard, and for nobody to see how he was speaking.
Billa glanced from him to the wall of light and then back to him.
“Is that… You did this?”
“Not me. I simply ordered for the ice to be made beautiful, should it be possible. We have no ribbons but I thought this would be good as well?”
Billa stared at his clear blue eyes watching her, then she let out a small laugh and a puff of white cloud of air.
“It is beautiful,” she sighed, and couldn’t help but glance back at it more than at was going on with her own wedding and coronation.
Now and then she thought she could see patterns in the light. Here it seemed like it was flowers spreading over one of the warrior’s stone faces, there the way the light broke around one of the pillars it looked like branches and a tree growing in the ice.
“And thus, I give you Thorin II, King of Erebor and Heir of Durin, highest Lord amongst the Longbeards! And I give you Billa Baggins, Queen of the Lonely Mountain and Child of the kindly West, Lady of Durin’s folk and Dwarf friend!”
Billa nearly startled at the loud proclamation, and there was a loud cheer going through the ranks, and cries of ‘aye’. Balin turned to Thorin and fixed a brooch on his furs quickly, then Thorin stepped closer to Billa and slipped something on her hand while Balin gestured to someone behind them.
“The Consort’s ring,” Thorin said, gently wrapping his fingers around hers. “Not a symbol of power, but rather a symbol of marrying into our line. I had it fitted for you.”
Billa glanced down at it. On her middle finger there was a broad band of silver, with carvings and a faint glimmer of blue visible through the cracks of the edged in rune. On her little finger there was a smaller band, two intertwined metals, silver and copper, with little gems set over where fine chains connected both rings in a way that would not bother her in hand movements.
Before she could thank him for it, Balin arrived, and he held a crown in his hands. It was massive and dark, polished to a gleam and Billa could see the symbols that looked like ravens in flights she had seen all around Erebor worked into it. Thorin bowed his head and let the old advisor place it on his brow.
Billa’s cheeks nearly hurt from all the smiling she was doing, but she could not help it. She was glad that Thorin had lived to see this day, glad that the mountain and its people had their King and a home. Most of all she was glad that Thorin was alive with her, her husband and dear friend.
The yells from the Dwarves were near deafening once Thorin stood straight, and turned to face them with his crown on his head, the first King to wear Erebor’s crown for a century.
Thorin raised his hand and shouted something in the language of Dwarves, earning him even louder yelling from the army. Then he turned to the Hobbit and the noise ebbed off once more.
“And now,” he said, loud and clear for everyone to hear each word “I would honour my Lady, my Queen and the hero without whom we would not stand here today.”
“It is my honour to be the one to place the crown of Erebor upon the brow of my beloved and the Queen of my people.”
Billa felt a blush creep into her cheeks, and she chuckled nervously. Everyone was silent and their eyes were fixed on just her now, she could tell. She tried not to fidget under so much attention, and wished that she wouldn’t do something embarrassing, like stumble or flinch under the weight of the crown. She could only hope that the Consort’s wasn’t as big and heavy as the King’s looked.
But when Fíli stepped up slowly and carefully taking his steps, he was holding a thin wooden casket, that wasn’t deep enough for such a crown.
Thorin lifted something out of it gently, and then he turned to Billa.
She gasped when she saw it.
Where Thorin’s crown was dark and massive, this one was made of light metals and looked near fragile. The main shapes were just as Thorin’s, but everything was thinner, and there were tiny treads of silver winding themselves through everything, and white gems were assembled so that they reminded Billa of snowflakes or flowers.
Chains hung from that crown, their links tapping together and making a soft clanging sound as Thorin moved it. If Billa hadn’t know better she might have called the crown’s design near Elvish, but it did fit with everything the Dwarves were wearing, and it was like a Hobbit maid might choose to wear as well, even if it was to pompous for any occasion Billa might think of for the Shire.
Then, a coronation was not something that happened among Hobbits much after all.
Thorin’s hands where gentle as they placed the crown on Billa’s head, and adjusted the chains so that they were laid out over her curls and trailed over her back.
“This crown I made with my own hands, and only the Hobbit Lady, Consort of Thorin Oakenshield may ever wear it!”
And then he bowed down to her and the clamour rose, louder than before, with the clatter of shields being smashed against the hard ground and it took Billa several moments to realize that they were calling her name, praising her as the Queen.
It was all so unreal, the shouts, their gleaming armour and the light of the ice behind her, the cheering of her friends, the soft ringing of her crown and the crisp winter air all about them. For a few moments Billa felt as if her head was spinning, and then Thorin was there.
“My Queen, my beloved,” he said and smiled.
Billa’s eyes flickered over to where the Men stood, for a moment, and they too were cheering her, and even the Elves seemed to be. For one second Billa thought that she saw Gandalf, too far away to be sure, but he was smiling at her, and in the next moment she lost him out of sight and just focused on Thorin.
“My King,” she replied, and he grinned down at her and with the lights and the cheers all around them Billa stood on her toes, curled her arms around Thorin’s neck and kissed him.