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It was probably a mistake from the start.
Nori should have known better than to relax so. Being wary and staying on his toes had served him well so far, and while he hadn't made it through life without a few scrapes, he had managed to avoid anything truly unfortunate. For someone in his position, that was more than many could claim. And since that policy had served him well, he should have stuck to it.
Well, he never claimed not to have made mistakes in his time. Anything but.
It was the Company, and the road, and the way the days seemed to blur together and the wariness of before melted away. Here he was, once a wanted criminal, joking about with the young princes or sharing a pipe with some of the king's cousins. It seemed almost unreal, sometimes, unlikely to be sure, and if he still sometimes chose to melt into the background when someone sufficiently important spoke up, well, his caution had served him well in the past.
If Ori could have stopped becoming such fast friends with the princes, that would have been a relief on his nerves, but he supposed there was no helping it. Ori was a promising young scribe, taught by old Balin himself, and they were all in that age where dwarves of their own age group seemed to be infinitely more desirable company than those older than him. Perhaps it was for the better, he told himself as he heard Ori laughing at something Fíli had said, his real laugh and not the nervous titters he sometimes turned to when he felt overwhelmed or intimidated. Perhaps at least one of them could build his life up proper from the start.
That wasn't the point, though. The point was, Nori relaxed, little by little, as their time on the road stretched on and on. He grew used to his companions, started to trust them like he trusted very few. And then one day, as they gathered around the campfire a bit earlier than usual, he agreed to dance.
This was met with teasing comments and jeers, many of the dwarves voicing their doubts about his skills. He'd avoided such displays earlier, years of avoiding attention still firmly set in his very bones. But this was the Company, these were people he trusted, and he had enough pride left to think that sometimes, it might be nice to be admired for something. So, instead of sitting back and letting others make fools of themselves, he borrowed a scarf from Ori and threw a wink at the fretting Dori and, as Bofur and Glóin and the princes started a bright, chanting rhythm, he began to dance.
He hadn't danced like this in years, not truly, but at one point the steps had been familiar enough that they were carved into his very bones. The knit scarf in his hands was no fine silken veil, the stomping feet and cheerful voices were no match for grand instruments and tinkling bells, but his body knew the movements his mind had long forgotten and for one brief moment he forgot himself, too.
Then his eyes met those of Dwalin, heavy and sharp on him, and he very nearly faltered.
He stopped his dance soon after that, ignoring the pleas for more, claiming he remembered no more steps and besides he was growing tired. They forgot him soon enough, in any case, as Bofur started some particularly filthy song that had Dori trying to cover Ori's ears and Ori trying to dodge him much to everyone's amusement, and nobody noticed as he stepped out of the firelight to calm himself down.
So he thought, anyway, until a hand closed around his arm.
He should have knifed the bastard then and there, should have cried out, should have done anything but let himself be tugged out of immediate earshot. But this was Dwalin, Dwalin the kingsguard, Captain Dwalin, and Nori was a thief. Nobody would have thought anything of his getting dragged off, except that he must have done something to earn it. He hadn't, not to his knowledge and not recently, but it wasn't like anyone was going to believe him.
"It was you." Dwalin's voice was rough as he finally spoke, his face far too close to Nori's own, his hand still tight around Nori's arm. "At that party, a few days before the dragon came. You were dancing there."
Nori remembered, oh, he remembered. He had been there to observe, to take part in the dance, just a few months shy of being granted his golden bells and allowed to take contracts. His mother had been contracted for the night, of course, as had Dori, they always were when something was happening and often even when nothing was, the beautiful Ris with their manners and poise, admired by all those around them. Nori had eagerly waited for his turn, for his chance for admiration and praise, taking his pick of the contracts offered like Dori had done before he'd worn his gold bells for a full year, because everyone wanted a Ri and few could afford them.
He remembered, though only after a moment, the sharp gaze of a young dwarf across the hall, gaze heated with want and helpless wishes. He had smirked then, he must have, because he was Nori after all and he could not meet a challenge and not smirk, and there had been a challenge in that gaze all right.
"You looked at me," he said, remembering that look. "You looked at me like you were a dwarf starving and I were a meal." It had seemed flattering, back then, amusing even, the young dwarf lusting after him of all people in the middle of a party full of beautiful people.
Now, standing apart from the rest of the Company, just poor little criminal him and the king's trusted guard eyeing him with those same hungry eyes, it was not amusing in the least.
Nori stepped back, more on instinct than any conscious decision, only for Dwalin's hand to tighten around his arm some more. Now, Nori was no weakling, but he didn't have Dori's beastly strength, and he knew there was no escaping from that grip. "You never said anything." Dwalin's voice was low, almost a growl, and Nori shivered despite himself. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"And what was I supposed to say? Oh, I actually apprenticed with a guild once, I haven't spent all my life thieving and lying?" Nori glared at Dwalin, though he suspected it had little effect. "Or are you going to accuse me of being a wretched thief when I had an alternative? Because if so, you are more stupid than I thought. I never even got my golden bells, sold my silver ones years and years ago, when all else was gone and we still needed food. No one would give us contracts in exile, anyway, they had no coin for the luxury of a companion, and by the time things were more stable the young ones had been poisoned by those around us, thought they knew better than their ancestors what was and wasn't honourable." He swallowed, thinking of the names his mother had born in her last years, his beautiful mother who had once been the brightest jewel of her guild, slated to become a Guildmaster and hold a seat in the king's council. "You think I want to be called a whore when I never even took a contract?"
Dwalin frowned, his expression shifting into something Nori couldn't quite read. "Any who would call you that have no honour themselves."
Nori couldn't help it, had never been able to help it, his tongue had always been as capable of getting him into trouble as it was of getting him out of it. "Grand words from one from one who's taken me apart from my company to hold me against my will," he spat. "In old Erebor the Guildmaster would have already had your beard for setting your hands on me without my permission, but I suppose Thorin would be more permissive of his dear guard dog."
Dwalin let go of him as though burned, stepping back with a stunned look. "No, I — no!" Nori wasn't sure he had ever seen such shock on the guard's face. "That's — I would never!"
"Would you not?" Nori rubbed his arm where Dwalin had grasped him, probably making more of a show of it than was entirely necessary. "You held onto me, demanded things of me, looked at me as though I'm some prize to be claimed, and my wishes be damned! What am I supposed to think, but that you mean to take now what you could not then?"
For a second it seemed like Dwalin might protest, the first hints of anger already showing on his face, but then he sighed. "I suppose I can't blame you for that," he said, sounding morose. "I acted wrong. Sorry."
Nori blinked. "Wait. Did you just apologise? To me?" That… didn't seem right. "You've never apologised for being rough when tossing me into a cell."
"There's a grand difference between doing my job and acting as though I plan to commit a crime. Besides, you're a member of the Company. Whatever our past may be, I'm supposed to treat you with the same respect I would anyone else in our group. I failed to do that, and for that, I must apologise." Dwalin's fists clenched at his sides, his gaze not quite meeting Nori's. "If you wish to ask for a punishment, I will not deny the charges."
"I'm more interested in an explanation." Because he had no idea what in Mahal's name was going on here, anymore. "If you weren't trying to force yourself on me," did Dwalin just wince? "then what were you on about? Is it that much of a shock that I haven't been a faithless thief all my life?"
"No, that's not it." Dwalin sighed. "I… back then, I dreamed of you." Well. That wasn't what he had expected. "Before the dragon came, and after, too. Years later I would sometimes wonder what happened to you, what might have been different if Smaug never came." He paused, finally looking Nori in the eye. "I wondered what I would do if I found you again, if you had survived."
"Well, we know the answer to that, don't we?" No, he wasn't going to just let that go. "You arrested me. Not my favourite way of getting attention from big strong dwarves, if you must know."
"To be fair, you had been stealing. And I didn't know it was you, besides. You looked quite different then from the night of the party."
"And if you had recognised me? Would that have made any difference?" It was a ridiculous question, of course. Dwalin was all honour and propriety, there was no way he would have let some long-forgotten admiration stay his hand.
Dwalin did not respond, and that silence was an answer Nori had never expected.
"You must be joking." No, Nori was not going to believe this, not so easily.
"I've dreamed of the sound of your bells ever since old Erebor. I'm not so firm in my faith in myself to think I would not have been swayed."
"Missed opportunity for me, then." Though not one he was going to forget easily. "And what do you plan to do now, then, when you know the truth and I'm not up for arrest for once?"
"Stop acting like such a bloody stain on my family name, for one." First an apology and now self-awareness from Dwalin! Truly it was a day of miracles. "I was surprised, not that it excuses my actions. Now, I know you are right. I had no right to demand answers from you, or blame you for not telling me what was never my business. Your past is your past, and not mine to know, and my attraction gives me no rights."
"For once, wise words from you." And he really should have known better than to antagonise Dwalin so, but he just couldn't help it. "So, what? You're just going to pretend you didn't just act like an ogre over some half-forgotten memory?"
"Unless you wish to have me punished, yes. I won't bother you over this, now or later." Dwalin paused. "Though I would be a fool to claim I am not attracted to you, then or now."
"Riiiight." Nori stepped back. "This is getting a bit too personal for my tastes. There any more yelling you'd like to do, or can I get back? My brothers will have noted me gone by now, and believe me, you will not want to cause Dori to worry any more than he usually does."
Dwalin didn't say anything, perhaps embarrassed by his unexpected confession, which Nori took as a sign that he could leave. Before he had made it far, though, he heard Dwalin speak up again. "Nori."
"Aye?" He turned to look. Dwalin hadn't moved toward him, standing still in the shadows, but his gaze was heavy once again.
"If anyone touches you against your will — even if it's me, even if it's one of the princes — you tell Thorin, and he'll damn well cut the stones off the culprit himself." Dwalin's eyes were sincere, in the way only those of an utterly honest dwarf could be. "Thorin is the most honourable dwarf I have ever known, clearly more so than I can claim to be, to have frightened you so. If anyone in his Company stooped so low, he would rip out his own beard before he let the crime go unpunished, no matter who the culprit, no matter who the victim."
"I'll keep that in mind." It still seemed unlikely, but if Dwalin could apologise to him, perhaps the world had become strange enough that this claim could be true, too. "Oh, and Dwalin?"
"Aye?" Dwalin's voice was rough, low, but not threatening. Not now.
"If you actually want some results, you might want to work on your wooing technique." With that, he slipped away, intent on joining the camp circle and reassuring his brothers before it was time to sleep.
Of course, he didn't quite make it that far when he very nearly ran into Thorin bloody Oakenshield himself. The king was standing in the dark some ways away from where Nori and Dwalin had been — close enough to have heard damn near everything, Nori realised in a flash — with his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
"Everything all right?" Thorin's eyes were unreadable, even for Nori's senses. He couldn't tell what the king was thinking, one way or another.
"No problems here, Your Majesty." It did cross his mind to test Dwalin's theory, to make a complaint against him, to see how the king would act. However, not even his curiosity and wariness would convince him it was a good idea. Dwalin had not actually done anything worse than frighten him, after all, and while he might now act almost civilised, Nori probably shouldn't antagonise him any more than was necessary.
"Dwalin is right, you know." Thorin's voice was low, his eyes fixed somewhere in the darkness beyond Nori's shoulder, but it was clear enough he was speaking to Nori. "If anyone in this Company hurts you, or any other companion of ours, I will see them punished to the full extent of the law. I do not care if they are kith or kin; if they bring such dishonour to my family, they do not deserve my protection."
Nori did not swallow, he absolutely didn't, and if his voice was rougher than usual as he spoke, that was due to the night air, that was all. "I'll keep that in mind, Your Majesty."
"Good." Thorin nodded. "Now, go. I think your brothers are missing you, and I need to have a talk with Dwalin." Something in his voice as he said "talk" made Nori think of a parent preparing to scold a naughty child.
Truly, a night for miracles.
It took him a while to assure his brothers everything was fine, but eventually they seemed to believe him. It was around then that Thorin and Dwalin returned to the camp, the latter looking even more chastised than before, and Thorin's order brought an end to the still ongoing cheer and song as everyone prepared to rest. Dwalin did not look at him, which seemed even more pointed than the staring, but Nori supposed it was his attempt at being more respectful for a change.
If Dwalin seemed to act more considerate since then, well, Nori was hardly going to complain. He wasn't just going to believe in his sincerity right away, though.
And if during their last night in Laketown he did not exactly go to bed alone, well, just because there was no contract or payment didn't mean he didn't get anything out of it.