A Stark Predicament

Chapter 66 The Council Continues

Thorin's appearance did not go unnoticed by Dis, she could only guess what led to Thorin's disheveled look. Had he no shame, did he have to flaunt his escapades with the girl in front of the whole council? But as she looks around it seemed that most of the council was completely oblivious to Thorin's lunch activities, save some of the Company. The more she thought of it, the more Dis disliked the girl. Soon the meeting had begun again, this afternoon they were to discuss some of the projects that need to get underway. Starting with the clean up of all the filth that Smaug left behind. They would also check the corridors to see which ones were still safe and which one needed to be repaired. The tapestries in the Gallery of the Kings needed to be mended as well.

"Since Bofur will be helping Bombur this week with the food inventory, I will have Dwalin in charge of building a proper gate, I want this project to begin today and for it to be finished as soon as possible. Also, Dwalin, you and I have some personal to talk about in private." Thorin announces.

"I also want Fili to go to Dale with a contract for King Bard to have 40 of our best Stonemasons to help with the rebuilding of Dale. We must also begin to think about trying to get a trade agreement with the Elves of Mirkwood."

Once again there was an uproar from those on the council, many of them felt it was unnecessary to begin trade with those tree huggers. They didn't want to have dealing with the vile creatures that abandoned their people when they needed help the most.

"Thorin, you can not be serious, how can you want to trade with the very elves that betrayed us in our hour of need?" Garond questioned

"We have no other choice, Garond, we need to make a treaty with the Elves of Mirkwood in order use the Elven road. We need to get through in order to begin our true trade with the Elves of Rivendell and perhaps the Hobbits of the Shire."

Dis nearly spit out the water he was drinking when he heard Thorin's plans.

"The Elves of Rivendell, Brother! That's almost as bad as the Mirkwood Elves. What is your insistence with trading with Elves?"

"I have long since lost my hatred and prejudice against the Elves, though I still dislike Thranduil, I hold no ill will towards the Elves of Rivendell. Alina made me see that I should not judge an entire race by the actions of a few. I now realize that had the Elves of Rivendell known of our troubles, they would have helped us as they did during the Battle of the Five Armies."

This news was quite surprising to the Dis and the other council members, they had yet to hear who else besides the outsiders from another world had participated in the battle. Dis was especially curious to know more details.

"Who else was involved in this battle besides your humans, Thorin?"

"Thorin glared at Dis, "There were the men from Dale, Beorn the skin changer, the eagles of Galadriel, The Elves of Mirkwood, the Elves of Rivendell, and the Elves of Lothlorien."

At the mention of the Elves of Lothlorien Dis gasped, she knew exactly how far Lothlorien was from Erebor, how could they have arrived in time.

"How is that possible, Thorin, how could Rivendell and Lothlorien have arrived in time for the battle?"

Thorin gets this proud look on his face, "Alina talked to Lord Elrond before we left Rivendell and asked him to come for the battle and told him exactly when to arrive. From there he contacted the Lady Galadriel and she sent her army."

"And how did the girl know when the battle would begin?"

"I have already explained that, she had documentation from her own world that showed what would happen." Thorin explained with an exasperated sigh.