Chapter 1

In the first passing months of the return of dwarves to Erebor, life seemed a struggle. None that any good dwarf or dwarrowdam could not handle, mind you, but there was much to rebuild and more to clean. There were occasional rock falls above their heads and pesky small animals to shoo away. Some danger befell those who had to slip through the gold of the treasury to pack chests slowly, and those who must climb inside still warm forges to make sure they worked before relighting them, but there were more grateful and willing people than any other land.

It was also a sight to see when it was only the newly formed king's guard and the Company of Thorin who reclaimed Erebor who truly tidied the treasury. People would go and watch in hopes to sometimes glimpse the king himself, who'd sometimes come assist his friends or speak to them in quiet tones. Any man cleaning up that treasure was suddenly the most attractive man in all of Erebor, the Iron Hills, and the Blue Mountains put together.

Others, like Azel, had to pass this mob scene to live and did not care for the sight. She walked up into the massive treasury from the forges and needed to cross and go higher into the mountain to get to the small stone quarters of her home.

Nobody moved for her, nor should they. She was lower class, orphaned when she only had a mother to begin with, and half-breed to boot. Her friends were numbered, counted off on one hand with spare room, and while most weren't outwardly rude if they knew of her, they certainly didn't care to shift out of her way in the crowds.

The people were exceptionally thick today, which made hr frown. With no real choice, Azel looked out over the gold piles to see who was of interest – the king, his princes, or the rest of the company.

As her eyes scanned the piles, she heard a twinkling of gold coins cascading down, making her eyes snap to where everyone else was looking. Three dwarves were trying to move down the mounds, towards a little dwarfling. A little boy had somehow made his way down the tiers.

"How did he get down there?" One of the men on the piles called out. "Every step we take sends coin flying!"

"Hul! Come back up here to mommy!" A frightful dwarrowdam shouted.

Azel watched as two of the dwarves tried to move forward again, but their heavy booted feet made the mounds move, sending goblets and coins trickling away. The difference was obvious to her. The child had light feet.

There was no adult dwarf with such a trait.

Heart pumping, she threw off her heavy coats to be left in her light mining trousers and sleeveless tunic. Then, Azel kicked off her boots. She was the only lightfoot she knew, thanks to a father who was not dwarvish.

People watched in shock as she went out onto the piles of gold with her bare feet. She hoisted herself over the barrier to the lower levels once she got far enough in, sliding down the coin hillside but barely causing anything to move. The ones she touched did cascade, but only a foot or three like a short moving river. Slowing near the bottom, she pushed herself upright and balanced on the coin.

As she got to the right of the child, she noticed that there wasn't more than fifteen feet to the drop off. Her stomach was churning, but she took careful steps towards him. "Hey." She said gently.

He shifted his little body, hands by his mouth as he bashfully smiled at her. "Hi."

"It's Hul, right?" She asked gently, having remembered the mothers call. He gave a nod. "Your mother wants you, you know. Why don't you let me take you to her?"

"Shield!" He said too cheerfully, pointing the way that he'd been sloppily walking.

It was just a platter imbedded in the coin vertically, holding back piles. "We can get you a shield when you're with your mother." She stepped closer to him, putting her hand out to grab him.

"I want that one!" He disagreed excitedly, jogging off to get it.

"No!" Azel shouted and ran after him. She got to him a moment too late as he dislodged the platter wedged between treasure.

As coin began to slip away from underneath, the entire mountain of coin began to shift as though something were coming to life under it. Azel grabbed the boy in her arms, the platter bouncing down from his hands and hurling off the cliffside. She didn't know what else to do as she felt the coin behind her legs begin to push against her, so she sat down heavily with her back to the landslide and held Hul safely in a cage of her arms.

It hit full force, the cacophonous noise drowning out anything people may have been shouting, coin hurtling against her back and over her head like a wave. The child in her arms started to get antsy and afraid, but she had a vice-like grip on him to keep him from endangering himself further.

It got to heavy on her back and she felt them began to slide forward. Azel made a split second decision. She pushed up out of the coins and turned, thankful of the dwarves that had been trying to rescue the child being somewhat close. As she tossed Hul towards one of them, she only stayed vertical long enough to see the kid caught before she was washed away off the edge of the chasm.

With only luck and a little strength did she manage to grab the edge of the cliff, the coin there unmoving as treasure piled over it, giving her enough space to not be pummelled by precious metal. Now, she could hear the screaming over the coin. Azel didn't hear a word, though, just the pitch, trying to save herself. Traversing over the sharp and rough rock, she made herself move out of the onslaught of gold, her body not registering in the moment that her feet were being cut by improper footholds and her left hand had caught a knife on the ledge that someone forged.

She found a space large enough to pull herself up just as the sound of coin-fall was lessening. There was shouting and cheer for a moment, before the avalanche stopped and she started walking back up the piles. Then, silence. Absolutely not a sound was made as she left her bloody footprints on the coin. They probably realized who they were cheering for – a lowlife like her.

Azel was unphased. She ignored as two dwarves came to help her up onto the higher level, shrugging them off, following the path cleared back to her things. With her bleeding hand, she picked up her boot, the other swiping up her heavy coats. She walked off, leaving deep red pooling footprints as she did.

King Thorin and his entire company had witnessed. It'd even been his nephews who'd tried to help the woman, not that'd she'd noticed or cared. As she cleared the room, Thorin's rage caught up with him after the shock of the incident.

"This gold has caused our people enough trouble these months!" He decreed for all to hear. Over the months, chest after chest of coin and jewels were saved in another place, more than enough, so he had little care for what was left. "I will have any volunteers to clear it! Chests may remain, and those willing to help may fill their pockets and purses, but the rest goes over the cliffside!"

As the people erupted in chatter and whispers, some beginning to prod at the treasure while others left to spread the news, Thorin turned to his friends. "Does anyone know that woman?" He asked towards Balin.

"No, I can't say that we do." And nobody contradicted the white haired dwarf.

"We can find out." Fili claimed, volunteering himself and his brother. Thorin gave a nod, so they walked off to do just that, asking the lingering crowds.

Back in her home, Azel sat in a dusty arm chair and had her feet in a bowl of warm water, washing them and her hand. As she wrapped her hand, there was a knock on her thick iron-enforced wooden doors. In no place to get up, she called "Come in!"

Two plump, lightly bearded woman came in. Her dear friends Cecla and Miwren. "Azel! We heard what happened." Cecla worried over her, sitting on the unused ottoman by her knees.

"The king is in an uproar. He has everyone pushing the gold right off the cliff." Miwren pulled over a chair, taking the wrappings from Azel's hands to do the job right. Thankfully, because Azel was having so much trouble wrapping her own hand that the bandages were loose and twisted.

"And the princes were asking about you." Cecla spoke in a much more serious tone. "They want to know who you are. We didn't know what to say when they came up to us, so we just ran off."

That made the injured girl shake her head. "You two are being ridiculous. Are the royals all you're going to talk about?" She used.

"No!" Cecla claimed. "You almost died! What were you thinking?"

"The boy would have died, Cecla." Azel reminded her. "I'm the only lightfoot in Erebor. Nobody else would have made it!"

Miwren also seemed slightly disagreeing. "Well, you're also smarter than all in Erebor. Couldn't you suggest tossing a rope?"

Azel knew it was just their friendship that had them bartering off a boy's life even when all turned out fine, so she didn't fight it. "Yes, I could have, if I'd thought of it. Maybe you're the smartest dwarrowdam in Erebor, Miwren." She said, wincing as the woman tied off her bandage tightly.

"Well, it's only a matter of time before the princes find your name." Miwren said. "I don't know what you have to speak for, but they were asking everyone. Half of the Blue Mountains know you and they may already have your name."

"Half the Blue Mountains know me as the bastard smelter." Azel reminded them. "That does not mean they know my name. And I am not worried. If I did something wrong, they can shove it right up their–"

"Azel! That's the royal family you speak ill of." Cecla cut her off. She grabbed the spare cloth and ripped more wrappings. "Now, feet, little miss."

With jealousy at their skill, Azel let her friends take care of her sore and cut feet, an amused smile on her face. "And what of the treasury?" She asked as she thought of it.

"They've collected hundreds of chests these months, so surely they moved them to a new treasury." Cecla answered. "I hear that the space will now be turned into a larger open market. A rail will be erected thanks to you, I'm sure."

"Then my near death has done dome good. The market now is drudgery to go through."

"Don't joke." Cecla gave her a sharp look. Azel just smiled.

It did take a stretch of time to find the name of the woman who saved the little boy. Two days, in fact. People knew of her and had words to say. Such as her parentage, her silent attitude, with the clashing opinion from some that she was a great woman even if only half dwarrowdam, and that she worked down at the furnaces, sticking her arm into them to move coals. That it was all she was good for with her skinny arms.

When Fili and Kili went to the furnaces to find her, she was not working but they did finally catch her name and which quarter she lived in. With that, they were able to go to Thorin. Everyone's homes were assigned and written down when there were enough tidied and furnished to move into. It was easy to notice that she was amongst the least well-to-do dwarves in the entire kingdom.

A knock sounded on her door not four hours after they knew of her place. Not that Azel knew what the meaning of the knock was. She'd not gone down to the furnaces during the following days because her feet would twinge with pain at every step and her cut hand would be a bother as well as slightly dangerous to try and work with. She moved from her stew at the table by the hearth and opened it, thinking it'd be a friend. Instead there were two guards holding a small chest.

"Miss Azel. This king sends his regards as well as this small prize for your good deeds." One of the dwarves spoke with shocking formality despite an accent thick as Lord Dain's.

Offense bubbled up in her. "I don't want it. Take it back." She said, beginning to close her doors.

A heavy boot stopped her. "It is gold, my Lady. There's no merit in refusing some wealth."

"I didn't earn it." She opposed.

The second guard said, "King Thorin witnessed you save the child and believes you deserve a prize. It didn't need to be earned."

Taking matters into her own hands as they refused to take it back, she let her irritation drive her. Taking the chest, she pushed past the guards and started down the hall. Azel was strong willed. She sometimes was too opinionated and acted in odd ways due to impulses that did not go away. If she were to stop and think even five minutes, she'd know it was a bad idea.

But she didn't stop. She went through the Gallery of the Kings and out to the main hall where the throne of Thorin sat. Taking no notice that he had a nephew at either elbow, talking to them, Azel stormed up the stairs to the right of him, cracking open the chest.

In a swift motion she'd lifted it, pouring the gold coins out onto Thorin's lap, and then tossed the chest away. As she turned to storm away, the sound of gold falling from the lap of the enraged king gave away that he was standing.

"What is the meaning of this?" He bellowed, any and all dwarves in the hall turning to see, including Azel. Coins littered the throne and the steps.

She didn't feel guilt, just snapping out, "A prize is for pompous champions in a fool's game, not for those who have a little tact." The fire in his eyes was matched in her own.

Despite wearing breeches and boots rather than a dwarrowdam's dress and shoes, she mimed a curtsy. "My King." She said slightly bitter, dismissing herself.

Not a word was said in the hall. Thorin watched her go and didn't feel shamed. It was a bold act, but it showed he had subjects that cared for more than money, and that while he'd been generous she was bold enough to refuse it, even if her methods were sharp and troubled.

"Uncle." Fili said as Thorin calmly sat back down. "Would you not see her in irons?"

"Whatever for?" He asked, ignoring the pressure of the few coins lingering on his seat. "It was rude, but you will learn to take pride in people like her."

"How so?" Kili asked, appalled. "She just threw your gold back in your face, in front of others."

"So I should be embarrassed that she refused a reward for saving a child out of her own good will?" He questioned, making them see his point. "Many will cause scenes, but that is a scene I can handle. Besides, I will still reward her."

That made Fili lift a brow at the man. "I don't think you will get another chance. She clearly has a temper."

"Easily. Raise her wages for a time. She may not even notice."