Chapter Text
When Bilbo had agreed to stay in Erebor at least for the winter and help the dwarves get started on rebuilding everything, he somehow hadn't expected that there would be any sort of formalities happening.
He wasn't sure why he hadn't expected it, really. Sure, their numbers were still small, but it was hardly just the Company anymore, with more immigrants from Iron Hills arriving all the time, all eager to swear loyalty to Thorin in exchange for being part of the restoration of Erebor. And really, even back during the journey when everything had been quite informal as they were united in their shared misery on the road, people had still been a bit more reserved around Thorin. Of course it should not have been a surprise that people were actually treating Thorin as the king he was, and not just the leader of a ragtag bunch of hopeless dreamers.
He had to admit that the first time he had seen Thorin clad in all his best robes after the battle he'd very nearly ducked for cover. Only upon seeing the confusion and hurt on Thorin's face as he backed away had he known that this wasn't the result of gold madness but something else entirely. People expected it, Thorin had explained to him, he was the king and they wanted to see him as such. However, he hadn't seemed any happier about it than Bilbo was, and didn't wear the outfit aside from actual formal appearances.
Well. It was hardly a surprise that Bilbo wasn't the only one with bad memories about Thorin's kingly madness.
The shock of it was somewhat alleviated by the sight of Fíli and Kíli in equally rich clothes, clad in velvet and leather and fur and as eager about it as a faunt with a new waistcoat. It was really quite sweet, the enthusiasm with which they showed Bilbo their new royal garb, while also finally driving home that he did indeed spend most of his time in rather noble company. He had never been quite able to forget Thorin's position, no matter how annoyed or frustrated he might have been with the great king at times, but the rest of the Company had always been just, well, the Company. He'd seen them take piss breaks and heard them snore in the night, and Fíli and Kíli in particular often reminded him of unruly little cousins more than anything. Sure their clothes were of slightly better make than those of some other members of their group, as far as Bilbo could judge such things anyway, and he'd been told that their weapons were very well crafted indeed, but he'd never thought much on it. They were Fíli and Kíli, the two rascals, and he wouldn't have thought twice about pinching their big round ears if they thought to get near a pie before it was done cooling down.
Now, however, he was standing in the throne room and watching the proceedings, saw Fíli standing next to the throne looking actually serious once with his hair neatly braided and gold and gems glinting in it, and found it quite hard to make that image fit with the one he'd built on the road. Even Kíli was relatively serious, standing among those of the Company who were present. Almost everyone seemed to be here today, for all that Bilbo knew — if only in the most vague sense — that this was not nearly always the case. Thorin's court days were usually short and easily concluded, without anything for him to actually do aside from perhaps one or two rather simple cases that really didn't need the attention of the king, but according to Thorin it was all important to the morale and thus he sat court without fail three times a week. Besides Fíli one or two members of the Company were often there to watch the proceedings, Bilbo himself had done so a couple of times, but today just about everyone but the brothers Ri seemed to be present. That was odd, really, considering Dori had been the one who had all but insisted Bilbo should attend today.
Luckily, he didn't have to wait for too long to get his answers. As usual, there was nothing of much importance, except the fact that the King Under the Mountain was there for everyone to see and admire, which Thorin assured Bilbo was the important part. They had just finished dealing with the second and last matter of the day — a very simple case of dispute over living arrangements, which really shouldn't have required the king's attention, but then Bilbo suspected it wouldn't have been very impressive for Thorin to simply sit there without doing a thing — when Balin cleared his throat just as Thorin was about to declare the open court over.
"Actually, Your Majesty, there is another matter that has been brought to your attention." Balin stroked his beard, and Bilbo could have sworn he was hiding a smile. "Would you hear it?"
Thorin frowned, just a little, but then nodded. "Right. Let me hear it."
Balin made a gesture, and a guard by the main door opened it. The open court was held in a slightly smaller hall than the grand throne room, one that was nevertheless better equipped to hold a number of people without anyone actually being in danger of getting knocked off a ledge somewhere. This meant that the walk from the door to the throne was not all that long, and Bilbo recognised the approaching people as soon as they stepped in.
It was the brothers Ri. Well, more specifically, it was Ori, with Dori and Nori following him close behind. Ori seemed a bit tense as he walked up to the throne, but also determined. All three were in their best clothes, hair and beard neatly combed and fastened with expensive-looking beads and clasps. Bilbo had heard others mention that the brothers were all actually considered quite handsome by dwarven standards, and it was really quite easy to believe that now, seeing the way their small audience of a few dozen dwarves besides the Company seemed to all be watching the procession with interest.
The three came to a halt some ways from the throne. Thorin lifted his eyebrows, but his voice was perfectly level as he spoke. "Who are you, and what's the matter you bring before me?" And really, this was just silly, probably everyone in the mountain knew perfectly well who the three were. They were all members of the Company, after all.
"I am Ori, son of Vuori, at your service, Your Majesty. These are my brothers, Dori and Nori." Ori bowed low, then straightened himself. "I come here today to make known my offer of courtship to Fíli, son of Dís. Because his mother is not here, and you are his closest older kin, I bring my offer to you in her stead."
Bilbo gasped despite himself. That had certainly not been what he'd have expected! Most of the audience was shocked as well, if the sudden wave of murmurs was anything to go by. If Thorin was surprised, he hid it well. Fíli's eyes, on the other hand, flew wide as he stared at Ori as though he'd never seen the young scribe before. Ori kept his eyes on Thorin, standing as straight and tall as his small form would allow. Well, small for a dwarf anyway, he still rather towered over Bilbo, but that was beside the point.
"I see." Thorin nodded slowly. "And do you have a gift to go with the offer?"
"I do." Ori nodded at Nori, who stepped forward, producing a neatly wrapped package from somewhere on his person. He handed it to Ori, who in turn passed it to Thorin. Thorin opened the package very carefully, drawing out what seemed to be a knitted scarf. As he held it up for everyone to see, Bilbo's eyes caught the light glinting off something small within the fabric.
"Oh," murmured Bofur by Bilbo's side. "That's clever, that is."
"What is?" Bilbo frowned, trying to peer at the scarf. Was there something he was missing? Or was the scarf itself somehow significant? It made sense as a gift, Ori could often be seen knitting, but if there was some significance to such an accessory Bilbo did not know it.
"It's the gems, you see." Bofur gestured toward the scarf, where Bilbo could indeed see jewels caught in the fabric. He supposed they were beads added during the knitting process, as it seemed the most sensible way of adding such things. "Their names, the first letters, they spell out Fíli's name. Fire opal, iolite, and lapis lazuli. Very clever of the lad."
"Indeed." Glóin stroked his beard, nodding in approval. "Very good luck, I would say."
Bilbo was not even going to question how Bofur could tell the gemstones for certain even though he couldn't have gotten a close look at any point. There was another matter, though, which he felt more comfortable addressing. "Why would that be good luck, then?"
"The first courting gift must always have the name of the recipient, you see, to show that you made it for them and didn't just grab something you already had at hand. The actual gift doesn't really matter, not what it is or how expensive it is, as long as you made it yourself and it's got their name in it somehow."
"Except it's good luck if you can do that without actually writing the name." Kíli was grinning openly, arms crossed over his chest as though he were watching a show. "Shouldn't go around putting other people's names on things all willy-nilly, after all."
"You knew about this." As had quite a few other members of the Company, judging by the fact that most of them seemed to be smiling and chuckling rather than in any way surprised.
Kíli's grin grew wider, making him look more like a little child playing dress-up in expensive clothes than an actual respectable prince of Durin in his formal court outfit. "Of course I did! Been waiting for him to get on with it for a while now. I know he's been eyeing Fíli for ages now, it's about time something happened."
"Ah. Is that quite appropriate, though?"
Now, he was met by confused gazes from all around. "Why wouldn't it be?" Bofur asked, sounding genuinely puzzled. "Because they're both lads? I mean, I know some people of other races are opposed to that sort of thing, but you've never blinked an eye at Dwalin and Nori being involved."
"No, nothing like that!" Bilbo waved a hand, hoping to quickly banish any such suspicions. "I've no problem with that sort of thing! Just… Fíli's a prince, right? And I know Ori's one of the company and somehow related to the royal line and everything, but he's still, well, not a noble. Is it appropriate for him to just ask to court the crown prince? Don't you dwarves have a lot of ceremony and such about hierarchies?"
"Well, yes, of course, but that hardly matters in courting!" Kíli still looked slightly baffled. "And Ori asking to court him is the only way it could happen! It's not like Fíli can go ask Ori himself, you know."
"And why not?" He was going to get a headache, Bilbo just knew it.
"Because we do care about hierarchy very much." Glóin shrugged. "However much we love our formalities, any dwarf is free to marry any other, rank or status be damned. However, it wouldn't do for someone to use their position to coerce another into courting. So, if two dwarves are of different standing, the lower one must make the offer."
"That… sounds sensible, I guess." Bilbo looked over to the throne, where Fíli had apparently joined Thorin in their inspection of the scarf, the two of them going over what seemed to be every last stitch. Ori stood patiently before them, and if he was nervous about the results of whatever examination was going on, he didn't show it. Dori and Nori stood at his either shoulder, neither moving at all as they waited. "And this gift and inspection, and involving their families? Is that also a rule?"
"That's tradition more than rule, but very important, indeed." Bofur tugged at one of his pigtails. "If the person you're courting has living family, you should make your offer through their parents or other appropriate kin, or a friend if they're the head of their household. They don't actually get to do the approving or rejecting, that's for the dwarf themselves to do, but they should be aware at least. Dori and Nori weren't really required, but it's a nice touch. Shows that they won't be giving Fíli any trouble."
"And the gift has to be examined closely, or it'd be a grave insult. It's a good sign, really, they could only refuse to inspect it if Fíli planned to reject the offer." Kíli did not seem too worried about that happening, though. "If he accepted without studying the gift, that'd say he expects it to be flawed so he's pretending there's no reason to reject it, and that'd be an insult indeed. It's not that they doubt Ori's skill, rather they know it's going to be good so they can accept it properly."
Bilbo was about to say something about dwarves being overly complicated and difficult, but just then Fíli murmured something to Thorin, then stepped back. Thorin nodded, and turned his gaze from the scarf to Ori. "Your gift has been accepted, and your offer with it," he said, and Bilbo could practically feel the wave of relief flowing through the Company. "Know that you are expected to present your next gift exactly a month from now."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Ori bowed again, then turned and walked away, Dori and Nori following him. For a moment, the entire throne room seemed to be quiet.
The moment the brothers Ri disappeared through a door, everyone seemed to burst into action at once. The audience was talking openly now, and the Company seemed even louder despite their clearly inferior numbers. There were shouts and laughs and coin purses exchanged, and Kíli rushed forward to hug his brother, not caring one bit that they were still technically in the middle of a very official court meeting. Even Thorin relaxed a little on his throne, smiling as he looked at his nephews, Kíli grinning and laughing and Fíli looking a little dazed still.
As Bilbo was looking at Thorin to see his reaction, Thorin seemed to notice his attention, or else turned towards him by coincidence. Either way, their eyes met briefly, and Bilbo saw Thorin's lips twitching into a little smile. He managed one in turn. Sure, he was still a bit confused, and he certainly thought dwarves were keeping with their tendency to make everything far more complicated than it needed to be, but he was genuinely happy for the boys.
Of course, this was before he knew just how complicated dwarves could make a simple matter of courtship.