The rest of the day seemed to go by quickly once Dori arrived. Dori was fussy, but he was one of Frerin's best babysitters because he always knew exactly what to do and was very good with children. The only time Dori was a boring babysitter was when Mr. Balin came by and they made heart-eyes at each other. Either way he could usually distract Frerin enough that boring routines like washing up and getting dressed in formal clothing were managed with minimal fuss.

"There, now don't you look nice your highness?" Dori asked as he placed Frerin in front of a mirror. The young Prince was dressed in grey-green robes accented with white gold as a compliment to the traditional palettes of both Thorin's blue and silver and Bilbo's green and red. Not that they always wore those colours, but today's feast was a bit of a throwback to the Battle of the Five Armies. On his ankles and wrists he wore light bangles which were large enough that even if Frerin teethed on them he could not swallow them. On his head he wore a thin diadem that worked its way around his head in a series of up and down angles until meeting and suspending a diamond between the two sides at the center of his forehead. Frerin liked it because it was shiny! Adad got to wear crowns ALL the time and Papa wore one sometimes but Frerin never had one of his own before. It was light and was secure on his head so he could still look around. Dori said Adad made it for him extra special! Frerin loved his Adad very much.

"Now your highness, I am going to be bringing you to your parents very soon," Dori said while fussing with some details of the Prince's attire. "You must be very good tonight."
"I'll be good!" Frerin promised. He would be! If he cried too much Papa and Adad would immediately have Dori or someone put him to bed and he didn't want that. He wanted to spend time with his parents after not seeing them today, so he'd be on his very best behaviour.

As Dori carried him through the halls he stared at all the people. There were guards ahead of them clearing the way and even more guards behind them following. Frerin was used to seeing guards when he left home. Adad said they were there to protect Frerin while Papa said they were "overkill." Either way even as the guards moved them swiftly through the mountain Frerin could tell there were a lot more people bustling in the halls than usual. They also turned to stare at him as he passed but Frerin didn't mind because he was staring at them too.

Soon enough they entered a small room he knew to be near the throne room (which was where Adad did important work) and sure enough there was his parents!
"Papa!" Frerin screeched. "Adad!" Dori quickly passed Frerin off to his Dwarf father who nuzzled his little boy while Dori updated Bilbo on Frerin's mood and goings on. Satisfied, Dori was dismissed to allow the family some privacy for a few minutes.

"Khajimel, were you good today?" Thorin asked after rubbing his beard all over Frerin's face. Frerin always giggled when his Adad did that. He loved the feeling!

"I..Hmm.." The toddler paused. "I.. was sad!"

"Oh Frerin, whatever happened?" Thorin frowned deeply, brushing a finger gently along his son's cheek as though to wipe away past tears.

"He missed us," Bilbo interrupted. He slid in close to his husband and son, wrapping an arm around Thorin and playing with some of the jewels adorning the Dwobbit. "He had quite the tantrum when I went home for just a moment and had to leave again."

"Ah," Thorin nodded in understanding. "I do not blame you Khajimel, I would cry every time Papa left me if I were not the King." Bilbo snorted,

"A likely story, Thorin Oakenshield."

"Iz otay?" Frerin asked, staring up at his taller father whilst chewing on his fingers.

"Yes dear, it is only natural to be sad when the people we love aren't with us," Bilbo interjected. "Only sometimes when we are busy we must spend a little time apart because we are responsible."

"Yes, and we never need be apart for too long, I do not think any of us could bare it," Thorin agreed before blowing a raspberry into Frerin's chubby cheeks.

"Oh Thorin! His little crown is so cute," Bilbo notices once his son stops giggling like a tiny mad person at Thorin's attentions.

"Thank you, there are crowns for him that can fit him for when he grows a little in the family treasury, but usually when a Dwarfling is as small as he is they do not have the capability of being presented yet." Thorin explains tracing his craftsmanship on Frerin's head.

Bilbo was also wearing a crown Thorin made for him, and it was his favourite one. Thorin had made a handful for him since they were married, but the first crown was always the one Bilbo chose when he had the option. Thorin made it during the long winter following the reclamation of Erebor, still recovering from injury and not having enough resources to begin rebuilding Erebor meant that Thorin had a lot of time to work at his forge. For the first crown Thorin thought long and hard about what would suit Bilbo, he also made the crown to match Bilbo's wedding ring. It was light, he knew that Hobbit skulls were not so thick as Dwarrow's and so made sure that its opulence would not be a burden, but would be as comfortable as a crown could be. It was gold, and although there were similar geometric shapes that existed in Thorin's primary crown, Bilbo's was much thinner and circled his head almost delicately. In the center of his forehead lay a single jewel- the final piece of the Arkenstone. Thorin would have been glad to have hidden the damned thing and returned it to the earth, but at Gandalf's insistence he had kept it, if only to ensure that his rule over the mountain was secure as the Arkenstone was a big part of his family's legacy.

He was uneasy though, worried about dragon sickness. It wasn't until Bilbo changed his mind and interpreted Thorin's ability to look upon the Arkenstone without succumbing to dark thoughts as his triumph over his illness. It was such a pretty thing and it did mean so much to him for so long that Bilbo thought it would be a shame to destroy it. Thorin compromised by infusing a piece of the Arkenstone with Bilbo's crown- his own way of saying that Bilbo was his strength to rule. Also it helped dissuade critics of Thorin and Biblo (what few there were). As soon as they saw Bilbo's crown they knew the little Hobbit was indeed the most powerful man in the mountain.

Thorin himself was wearing his very traditional royal garb. Dark blue dominated by heavy bronze accents in repeating chevron patterns, though his overall outfit is less heavy than when he is in his armour. The fur trim more for show than for warmth. His crown looked like a tower, with parts framing his face with onyx plating as well as four upward peaks atop his head. Overall Thorin is looking very majestic and also very dwarvish.

"Adad iz pretty!" Frerin chirps while grabbing Thorin's wrist.

"Yes dear, Adad made a very pretty crown for you." Bilbo smiles dotingly at both his son and husband.

"Thank you, Frerin, for your kind analysis."

"Your majesties, the guests have entered the throne room," Balin announces as he enters.

"Ah," Bilbo says nodding at Balin in acknowledgement before redirecting his attention to Frerin. "Now listen, Frerin. You are going to have to be very good tonight."

"I can be good!"

"Yes, of course you can," Bilbo agreed. "You will get to have lots of food but if you get grumpy someone will take you home."

"I'll be good!" Frerin didn't want to go home if Adad and Papa weren't there. He wanted the food!

"I know you will," Thorin said. "Adad and Papa have to be very important tonight so try to be quiet when we are talking, ok?" A pause. "And don't speak any of Adad's language either- not in front of any non-dwarf that isn't Papa, that's the most important rule."

"Otay!"

Adad carried him into the throne room where in his big booming "I am being a King" voice he said some things about alliances and survival and battle and anniversaries. Boring things that Frerin didn't care about so he used the opportunity to look at the crowd. Rather than the usual Dwarrow there were tall people! His family was standing above them on the throne but he could see Dwalin in the crowd and he was standing next to a man who was taller than him! THEN next to THAT man was a blonde elf who was even taller! He was glad that Adad was the one holding him or Frerin would feel impossibly small.

"…My husband King Consort Bilbo Baggins and I would like to present to you our son Prince Frerin II." Frerin! He was Frerin! And there was lots of clapping as Adad shifted him so that he was looking at the crowd. Everyone seemed happy so he clapped too!

"And now, for the feast."

Adad and Papa led everyone from the throne room to the banquet hall where hundreds of plates and utensils were laid perfectly down. Frerin could see servants waiting along the sides of the hall and he could even smell the far away roast meats and other tasty things.

Bombur would say that it was partially because of Papa that Erebor's food was the best! Papa liked a lot of different types of food that weren't typical in Dwarvish diet, but since people had been living among men for so long they brought back lots of recipes and made them better. Papa also taught Bombur recipes from the Shire which quickly became favourites in Erebor. This feast was going to be the best!

Adad and Papa stood at the front table which is where the royal family sat, beside Adad was Irak'amad (or "Auntie" as he should call her in Westron) and Fíli and Kíli. Beside them were Oin, Gloin, Auntie Imli, and cousin Gimli. Balin, Dwalin, and Ori were on Papa's side and the rest of the company sat very close to the front as well. The other people at the front must also be very important! Frerin recognized Bard and his children, he was a King! Frerin could tell by his crown. There was an elf in silver robes who had a crown that looked like branches, he must be a King too! Dain was also there, but Frerin was used to seeing Adad's cousin so he only waved in recognition.

When there were people standing at every seat Adad said,

"Let the feast begin!" He then sat down and placed Frerin in a high seat between him and Papa at the very center of the table so he could see everything. This was the perfect opportunity! He could watch a whole buncha different people eat! Once Adad and Papa sat down everyone else got to sit down because Papa told him once that a King in his own halls always had "press-i-dent."

As soon as everyone sat down, the food came in. Frerin was so excited! It smelled really good and while Papa and Adad chatted with King Bard and King Elf (there was even a Prince? Prince Legolas! Gimli kept on glaring at him) Frerin was almost distracted from his mission. It had been so long since he last ate. Probably three whole hours!

The first course placed in front of him was a hearty stew. There were carrots and potatoes and venison and Frerin could SMELL the perfect way it was spiced. There was also a dinner roll that Papa opened for Frerin as Adad secured a bib on Frerin so he wouldn't mess up his pretty clothes.

Soup was easy and he was SO hungry that he immediately got to work on gnawing on the bread roll and getting down some of the stew. Papa or Adad would wipe his face of crumbs or soup every so often while they spoke with their guests.

"Trade is proceeding well, I assume?" Adad asked Bard.

"Well? I'm having to turn some caravans away, they charge too much for sub-standard product thinking because we have gold we'll settle for any old thing." The King of Dale explained.

"Ah, good. If there's one thing we should be able to count on it's quality. What about Lake Town's fish…" Frerin stopped paying attention to what Adad said and instead focused on what Bard was eating. Now that he himself had some food it was much easier to focus on everyone else.

Turns out Men don't eat as much as Hobbits OR Dwarrow! Well, some do. Waaay down the feast table he could see a few rounder Men who were already done with their soup and rolls, but for the most part the Dwarrow were eating at a much faster clip, even knowing there were more courses coming. Bard ate decently, but he was slowing down. His children also ate at different rates. Sigrid was rather demure, eating slowly and not taking in a lot of bread. Tilda ate quickly, but she was chatting with Nori, Bofur, Bifur amiably. Bain was eating a lot! Papa said he was a teenage boy and was nearing his majority (which seemed really early to Adad for some reason) and so he was growing and needed food. Tilda and Sigrid did eat a lot less than Bard and Bain though- did human ladies need less food? He had never noticed before. There weren't many Dwarf ladies in the mountain but the ones that Frerin DID know ate just as much. Dís could out-eat Adad if she wanted to!

"Well, darling, I think you have more stew on you than in you," Papa said, wiping the final bits of stew from Frerin's face.

"I' waz tasty!" Frerin replied, somewhat sad that there was no more soup in his little bowl.

"Yes, I think now is time for more. Don't you agree, Thorin?" Adad nodded and hit a knife along the metal of his mug of ale which rang a pure tone and quieted down the people around them.

"Before our next course, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone coming. If not for the cooperation of everyone in this room…" Again, another boring speech. Adad had to make a LOT of boring speeches and that sounded like the worst part of being King. Papa said Adad was good at it, though. Frerin couldn't care less, one day it would be Fíli's job to make speeches! Frerin was glad he wasn't the one who had to be King one day.

Once Adad finished his speech to more applause, the second course came. Mmmmm, this one smelled like meat! Frerin was right, once the servers came in with huge dishes of all kinds of meat. He could see a whole boar with an apple in its mouth, poultry, venison, beef, and other things he didn't even know! There were lots of roasted vegetables too: carrots, beets, cauliflower, parsnips, potatoes, yams, corn, cucumber, zuchini, peppers, and more! It was very colourful.

Once a new plate was put in front of Frerin Adad cut up some meat into tiny pieces. Frerin could sort of use forks but he preferred grabbing his food if he was able to, it made eating a lot more fun! Today though he was trying to use his fork like a big boy to stab at the cubes of meat and vegetables in front of him.

For this course he turned his attention to the Elves. Fíli and Kíli were talking to their red-haired Elf friend Tauriel. Frerin decided she was very pretty and a lot warmer than the other elves he saw. The King in particular seemed very distant even as he was talking with Papa, he was also drinking a LOT of wine. Frerin decided King Thranduil was Weird. He couldn't even pronounce his name! He tried, it came out like "Thwandull" and no one knew what he was talking about so they just ignored him. Frerin decided he was also weird because he was barely eating anything! He would eat only a little bit at a time and then pat his mouth with a napkin- and then drink more wine! Eating was not a chore, it was a pleasure, and Frerin didn't trust people who didn't like to eat.

"Look at him Thorin, he learned this from you."
"Nonsense, Ghivashel, our boy just has good instincts."

Frerin decided he liked Prince Legolas though! He had spent the entire night talking with Gimli. They also seemed to be outdoing each other in every aspect, whether it was how much they ate, drank, or argued. Frerin though it was very much like the way Dwalin and Adad spoke to each other and so he had decided that they were Best Friends. Only Best Friends got to talk to each other like that! He would assume they were fighting if they didn't laugh so much.

Before he knew it another course was delivered, this time with music accompaniment. Frerin LOVED music and he really loved Dwarf music! Papa said Adad's singing was what won him over in the first time and Frerin agreed, Adad's lullabies were the best thing and made him feel SO warm and protected, it was always easy to fall asleep!

But- wait! Some of the elves weren't eating meat! Frerin had noticed something odd the last course but he hadn't quite figured it out. But this course (filled with a large variety of savoury dishes, more veggies, some fruit, and pastries) made it more apparent that some of the elves seemed to be only eating the non-meat. Were they allergic? Did they not like the taste? Impossible, meat was so tasty.

"Papa!" Frerin demanded. Papa looked away from the elf King whose stealy gaze snapped to the young Dwobbit.

"We musn't interrupt, Frerin." Bilbo said, Frerin nodded because he agreed but he NEEDED to know. King Elf would have to understand!

"Ya bu-" Frerin paused and point at some of the dark haired elves. "No eat animals?" He asked.

"Oh!" Papa exclaimed. "No sweetling, they don't. They are vegetarians, which means they never eat meat."

"Ve-ggie-tare-ian," Frerin tried out the new word. "Not Owi?"
"No, the opposite of Ori I would say," Papa agreed.

"Your son is very curious," King Elf said to Papa.

"He is."

"He looks very much like you and Thorin," commented Thwandull.

"Oh, well, you know. Dis was more than happy to be the surrogate." Which wasn't true AT ALL, but no one out of the mountain was supposed to know how Frerin became Frerin! He didn't like that people weren't supposed to know that he was Adad's and Papa's, but so long as everyone closest to his family knew it was a-okay.

Finally the last course of dessert was served. Frerin's tummy was so so full but there was ALWAYS room for dessert! He was getting very sleepy, but he would persevere until the end!

"We got your favourite, Frerin." Adad said. That meant…

"Cheesecake?" Frerin asked excitedly. Drizzled with blackberry syrup with a moist crust? Yay!

"Yes, only the best for my son," Thorin proclaimed proudly. Papa rolled his eyes but smiled anyways.

When the dessert came Frerin stuffed a spoonful into his face right away and mmmm, just as tasty as he remembered! He was sort of sad, because he had been paying so much attention to what other people were eating he hadn't been enjoying his own food as much as he could have! No more! Dessert was Frerin's time. Smacking around the soft cake in his mouth and washing it down with cold milk from his non-spilling cup was the best time he had had all day.

But he was getting very sleepy, and as the people around him drank more they seemed to be getting louder and louder which made him grumpy as his eyes tried to close but he couldn't as every time Dain's loud laugh or the sound of a harp in the distance startled him awake. Noticing this, Bilbo shared a look with Thorin who nodded and stood.

"As this is a banquet in celebration of my son, I'm afraid our little Prince is quite tired now and we must retire. Still, stay as long as you like, there will be plenty of drink and more food if required. On behalf of Prince Frerin and my family, I bid you good-night."

Papa removed Frerin's bib while Adad picked him up and lifted him to the King's shoulder. By sleepy instinct Frerin wrapped his arms and legs loosely around his father though he knew Adad would never drop him. Papa and Adad then left the banquet hall to the sound of even more applause (why did everyone like clapping so much?) and made their way home. The halls were quiet unlike earlier, and only the steps of the guards and Papa and Adad talking to each other broke the silence. Frerin dozed the entire way back but woke once they entered their quarters.

"Buh wai'!" Frerin shouted sleepily. "Jouwnal!"

"Journal?" Bilbo asked, confused. He would fill out his journal, but not until he and Thorin had put their baby to bed.

"Noooo, I haff ta fill out my jouwnal!" Frerin protested. "Else fowget"

"You mean your scroll, Khajimel?" Adad asked, Frerin nodded enthusiastically. "Ok, fill out your journal and then bedtime."
"Otay!" Adad let him down at his play area at the toddler-sized desk where his scroll which he had started lay still. Taking another crayon he began his entry:

"The Eating Habits Of the People Of Middle Earth:

Observations by Middle Earth's Only Dwobbit, Prince Frerin"

Third Age 2949 Autumn

Dear Journal,

Today I have learned many things about the people around me. I have noticed that even within one race there can be many different ways people can eat! I have learned that Men and Elves do NOT eat more than Dwarrow and Hobbits, though bigger Men can catch up. Ladies appear to eat less compared to their male counterparts but more evidence is needed to come to a conclusion.

Elves, although pretty, do not eat much and therefore it is questionable whether they should be trusted. Adad approves of this observation but Papa does not, so again, more evidence is needed.

As for Dwarrow, it turns out that Dwalin actually likes vegetables! I saw him eat all the greens that Ori would not eat, though Ori seemed to try more vegetables than before and seemed to like a lot! Not any of the green stuff, but the other things. Balin also ended up moving seats to sit next to Dori and they drank a lot together which means that Dori is going to be very boring since Balin will probably visit more when Dori babysits.

As a final point, Dear Journal, I must confess that although all of this is very interesting I have come to a conclusion. It doesn't matter how other people eat because ultimately me enjoying my food is the MOST important thing in the whole wide world. I know I would feel different if Papa didn't also eat this way, but so long as Adad keeps us company I am perfectly fine. Life is too short to not enjoy eating yummy foods! Maybe that's why Elves don't eat as much? They live too long? Oh well!

Good night, Journal.

Love,

Prince Frerin II, Son of Thorin II Oakenshield and Bilbo Baggins, Dwobbit Under the Mountain.

"Oh Khajimel, that is a very impressive purple unicorn fighting a giant," Thorin commented.
"Indeed, I really like your use of colour sweetling. But now it's time for bed!"

Frerin slumped, looking at his journal.

One day his parents would understand, and one day he'd learn how to write!