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The curse of the Durin’s lineage stretched beyond the time of the Dark Lord. For generations the line of Durin were known to have unusual sons; specifically the first born; to every other generation a child was born that was destined to live the life of a beast: half dwarf, half dragon.A monster of blood lust and gold sickness is what the legends spoke of, each dwarf born of the beast was said to lose his mind to the ravenous fire; decimating all who dared challenge him. Those were the exact tales Thrain Durin grew up with: tales of fear, cruelty, madness and death.Thrain never spoke of his grandfather or the curse, preferring to keep all of those curses and talk of darkness in the shadows of his mind. Not that it mattered, Thrain had heard the tales from other dwarflings or dwarves when they thought they were out of hearing range of the Durin family. Now that he had escaped the Grey Mountains he barely spoke of anything beyond his life here in Erebor and the Great Lonely Mountain.When Thrain had just turned one hundred and thirty. His father and a few loyal dwarves set out to forge their own kingdom. His father, having grown bored of his life in the Grey Mountains, feeling as if he'd learned all there was to rule a kingdom, and craving a sanctuary away from the rule of his father.It was a brave story of five dwarves: determined to build a kingdom of their own; with only their tools, thin sleeping cots, perseverance and meager scraps of food to see them through.Thrain took pride in his accomplishments, of course and he would talk of those days but mostly, he preferred to talk about his lovely wife: Marian, with whom he had fallen in love. She wasn't born into royalty nor had she come from a prestige family. The dwarrow had been but a simple farmer's daughter. Helping her father sell produce as well as the meats they butchered themselves.Before Laketown there had been only a few farms owned and run by dwarves and humans. It was a modest community that supported each other, trading wares and foods when need be.A little market had been set up by a few of the village dwarves, one in particular sold freshly butchered meats of cattle, swine and hens, for which Thrain and his company had been most gracious to purchase. It was a warm spring day when Thrain had met Marian. Thrain had been there for a few months but had never seen the lovely dwarrow before.She was a few inches shorter than Thrain, stocky but plump, thick long dark curls framed her broad shoulders, soft and downy patches of dark hair grew along her jaw, and she had the brightest blue eyes framed by dark lashes. Thrain had been smitten by her looks, of course. But conversing with her had made him fawn over her even more.Thrain knew she could tell he fancied her, it was hard not to when all he could do was stumble and fail to flirt with the beautiful lass. One day, the dwarrow decided to take pity on Thrain and his pathetic displays of flirtation, "My name's Marian, by the by. Just in case you was wonderin'" Marian stated with a soft and sweet voice.Thrain had nearly tripped over himself, his gaze glued dumbfoundedly to the dwarrow, not at all looking where he had been walking, almost dropping his freshly bought slabs of meat in the process."Oh! Yes, of course! I've been wondering myself what your name is. Good thing you know your name or we'd both be in trouble." Thrain chuckled awkwardly, nearly bumping into his friend Rowen, he jumped back a little when his friend gave Thrain an annoyed glare."Yes, I suppose'n we would. You do though, right? Know your name that is?" Marian snickered as she watched Thrain with laughter in her eyes."Ah, yes. I s'ppose one should know his own name, in cases such as this. When someone might be askin', which ye are." Thrain yelped when Rowan jabbed him in the arm, gesturing aggressively at Thrain. "Uh... Oh yes, well that bein' said 'n' all. Me name is Thrain!"Thrain smiled at awkwardly at Marian, to which the dwarrow huffed, looking down at her hands and shaking her head. "Well, Mr. Thrain it has certainly been entertainin' knowin' ye. Hopefully you'll survive long enough to come back around and see me again." Marian replied as she looked up at Thrain through her dark lashes. The dwarf chuckled, again, nodding his head in agreement before walking away.Thrain turned quickly to glare at Rowan, the two having a silent argument, gesturing awkwardly at least on Thrain's part since he was holding the meat, resolving to kick at Rowan while the other dwarf swore and dogded the kicks.Once Marian and Thrain had finally made their introductions, Thrain made a point to stop by the market whenever he had a moment away from working on the mountain to talk with Marian, the awkwardness had all but disappeared and Thrain had found peace in the small moments he spent with Marian.He enjoyed how easy it was to talk with her, to relax and not feel like the dwarrow was only laughing at his antics simply because he was someone that needed to be schmoozed and coddled simply because he was royalty. Marian didn't seem to mind telling him exactly how she felt or sharing her opinion on certain topics, especially touchy subjects that most people would be afraid of voicing. Thrain found her blunt and straightforward way of expressing herself to be quite refreshing.
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Thrain and his company had been working on the mountain for about a year and a half when Marian finally asked where he had come from and what he was doing there. He had suspected the question would be asked eventually, he had considered lying or at least omitting some information but decided that Marian deserved to know the truth, since it seemed she had been nothing but honest with him."I've come here with my company from the Grey Mountains. I've made plans to make a home else where and we decided that this mountain would be the best place to settle." He gestured to where the lonely mountain stood tall and proud, the top of the snow covered mountain partially covered by fog and clouds.Marian turned to look at the mountain, her face blank and not giving away much. "So you have come here to make a kingdom, then?" Marian asked, looking back at Thrain in question. Thrain shifted a little, his own questions forming in his mind.Marian chuckled, patting her hand on his knee, "In case that dense head of yours wasn't aware, I know who ye are. I know of the Grey Mountains and the king that lives there, I know of his son who took his own riches to run away in the night. I had my suspicions of who ye were but they weren't confirmed until ye told me yer name."Thrain stared at Marian, shock and bewilderment kept him silent for a moment as he processed the fact that Marian had known he was a prince the whole time, while Thrain had debated with himself on how he was going to tell Marian or if he should even tell her."So, this whole time ye knew I was royalty?" Thrain gazed at Marian with awed reverence. Her blue gaze sparkling in the sunshine as she laughed.Marian nodded, her smile soft and warm on her sweet face, "it appears that way."Thrain shook his head, laughing to himself, "and ye don't care? At least it seems like you don't. You certainly haven't treated me as such."Marian shrugged, "it seems like the point of caring has long since passed, you had been talkin' with me long before I knew who ye were and I hadn't been kissin' yer arse then, it didn't seem fittin' to start kiss yer arse now, would it?" she asked with a snarky grin.A slow smiled pulled on Thrain's lips, he couldn't help but be charmed by her honesty yet again.Everything about this dwarrow was authentic and true, he couldn't recall anyone apart from Balon and Fain having enough stone to speak so freely to his face and certainly no one from his past could have compared to her.He knew in that moment that he wanted to spend his life with this dwarrow, if she would have him.Thrain felt guilty though, with how much he had held back from Marian when she had been nothing but transparent with him but Marian hadn't seemed to care, her compassion on the matter was a salve to the worry he felt about his secrecy.With some things about his past out in the open, Thrain found it easier to talk about his life in the Grey Mountains. He talked about his childhood, what it was like living in the mountains, how constricting it was growing up with royalty breathing down his neck, even as a dwarfling he had felt stifled by obligation to the crown.Marian had listened with an open mind, asking questions about his responsibilities as a growing prince, Thrain spoke of the difficulties of growing up as an only child, though he had his best friend Balin and his cousin Dain. Marian had been especially intrigued with his life in the mountains as she had grew up in the valley.It wasn't unheard of for dwarves to not live in the mountains but it wasn't common either, the two had talked about their childhoods and listened in awe at how different their lives were.