The Fifteenth Member (Thorin Oakenshield/OFC)

Chaper 62

The feeling of perfection didn't last. Wani was nearing her due date and she was in worse condition than I had been in, despite the differences in our pregnancies. She was only six months along and yet she had been confined to bed already. Tauriel and Kili had gotten married, the ceremony had been rather small at Tauriel's request, as she did not want the news to reach her sister, but with all the excitement going on in the kingdom, the two of them decided to wait before they tried for a child. On top of that, Thorin and I were spending every second possible planning for the recognition feast. The invitations had been taken care of but the great hall, the ceremonial hall that hadn't been used since before Smaug, was being renovated for the occasion. Only the most important of events happened in there, not even the marriage and coronation of the King and Queen. Already, we had gotten replies from every kingdom we had sent an invitation to, as well as those who did not belong to a kingdom. Everyone from Gondor to the northern Rangers, Rohan to Rivendell, and of course, all of the dwarves had consented to make the journey to meet the first triplets ever born in Middle Earth. In fact, the whole situation was so stressful, nightly triplet duty was being passed from Thorin and I, to Tauriel and Kili, to Fili and Wani, and to Dis. The reason being whoever was on duty was lucky to get three hours of sleep. When one woke up and started crying for whatever reason, so would the other two, and it would always take ages to get them all back to sleep.

Our troubles only seemed to be multiplying as we received word that goblins were causing trouble in Moria. Not all of the dwarves from the Blue Mountains had returned to Erebor. A good portion of them had journeyed to the Mines of Moria instead, hoping to reestablish the kingdom and with the threat of Azog out of the way as well as no resistance from the supposed goblin population, they had succeeded. But now there was trouble once more and I had heard rumors that Thorin was planning to lead the army there after the feast. I had been meaning to ask him but I never got the chance anymore. I always forgot to ask on the rare occasions that we worked together, I always fell asleep before he came back and woke up after he left on the other days as well.

But time passed fast and before I knew it, it was the night of the ball and Eleanor had recruited some of her friends from Dale to help me get ready, as all the others had their own outfits to worry about. My dress wasn't custom made this time, Thorin had pulled out some of his mother's old clothes and had Eleanor make adjustment to a blue dress that went nicely with my crown. Since the ceremony wasn't about me, I was allowed to have a simple curled hairstyle for once.

I didn't see Thorin that day until right before our entrance into the ceremonial hall. I had made sure to walk around in there a bit as it was being decorated so I wouldn't look shocked when I went in.

"Are you ready for this?" He handed me Thrain.

"Not at all. I've never been in front of this many people before."

"But not all of the attention will be on you. I think that evens it out, no?"

"I suppose." I muttered as the doors were open and the throng of noise fell silent. Unlike our wedding, no one stood as we walked in with the triplets, nor was there music on the air. I could clearly hear both of our footsteps and that did nothing for my nerves. There was already food on the tables but it was untouched and as soon as Thorin and I sat down, everyone else stood up and came to pay their respects.

About an hour later, I had never been gladder that no responsibility fell to the queen. I could literally sit there, eat, and not pay attention to who was in front of us and it would seem normal. So after a few minutes, that was exactly what I did. I only really paid attention when there was someone important in front of us, aside from Thranduil, he was just downright snarky and borderline insulting. It wasn't I heard a very chillingly familiar voice that I started paying attention to who was talking.