She had disappeared near the end of her pregnancy. Being pregnant wasn’t her favorite thing in the world, and the idea of giving birth where anyone was likely to find her (even Warship) was something she liked even less. So she disappeared to her own little hiding place, not quite in the Chamber but close enough, and spent some time to herself.
By the time she comes back, the boy at her side is walking reasonably well (wobbly yes, but he typically doesn’t seem to fall much). He looked unmistakably like his father – all black and stoic and not even remotely like her. But she didn’t care what the boy looked like – just that he was healthy and strong and strangely, hers. But then again, she had always promised herself she’d be a better parent to her own children than Rodrik had to her. Even if her children served the same purpose she had.
She leads him back over the border of the Chamber and into the pine forests, that were finally beginning to look more like trees and less like ashy sentinels. “This is the Chamber, Erebor,” she says, looking down at the boy and moving slowly so he can keep up. “You are a prince here.” A meaningless title perhaps, as princess had once been for her. But still, there was something to being royalty.
They keep moving through the kingdom until the read the heart – the literal heart of the Chamber. Despite the hardened lava that covers part of the area, she can still fee the thump thump, thump thump beneath her feet, and she wonders briefly what became of her panther man. “Feel that?” she asks him, though she does not explain yet. Perhaps when he was slightly older – not because she will ever shelter him, but because she’s not entirely sure he can understand now. He’s a smart boy, but he’s still a child.
She lets out a call for the kingdom then. There aren’t many of them, but still, they had not met since she took over the throne a year ago. But for so much of that year it had been just Warship and herself, and a thousand trips to the field. But the field was empty more often than it wasn’t. But they would rebuild. They would survive this lull and come out stronger for it. But it was time that everyone else threw themselves into the work as well.
By the time she comes back, the boy at her side is walking reasonably well (wobbly yes, but he typically doesn’t seem to fall much). He looked unmistakably like his father – all black and stoic and not even remotely like her. But she didn’t care what the boy looked like – just that he was healthy and strong and strangely, hers. But then again, she had always promised herself she’d be a better parent to her own children than Rodrik had to her. Even if her children served the same purpose she had.
She leads him back over the border of the Chamber and into the pine forests, that were finally beginning to look more like trees and less like ashy sentinels. “This is the Chamber, Erebor,” she says, looking down at the boy and moving slowly so he can keep up. “You are a prince here.” A meaningless title perhaps, as princess had once been for her. But still, there was something to being royalty.
They keep moving through the kingdom until the read the heart – the literal heart of the Chamber. Despite the hardened lava that covers part of the area, she can still fee the thump thump, thump thump beneath her feet, and she wonders briefly what became of her panther man. “Feel that?” she asks him, though she does not explain yet. Perhaps when he was slightly older – not because she will ever shelter him, but because she’s not entirely sure he can understand now. He’s a smart boy, but he’s still a child.
She lets out a call for the kingdom then. There aren’t many of them, but still, they had not met since she took over the throne a year ago. But for so much of that year it had been just Warship and herself, and a thousand trips to the field. But the field was empty more often than it wasn’t. But they would rebuild. They would survive this lull and come out stronger for it. But it was time that everyone else threw themselves into the work as well.
straia
queen of the chamber