Chapter Text
The gold stretched all around them like an endless sea; avalanches came sliding down ever so often when the old piles couldn’t bear the weight of the metal coins and trinkets anymore and their echoes could be heard even where no fire shone. The overbearing presence of the gold was so strong that Nori could barely even feel it anymore. Used to be his senses were so finely honed that he could pick out the one true coin among a pile of fool’s gold, but now he was too numb to feel anything for it. It was as if someone had robbed the sound or sight from him.
“I don’t like this,” Nori whispered, his hand twitching nervously in his lap where he sat. The other was still, calmed by Dwalin’s rough one holding it, as the warrior slipped another beautiful ring on his finger.
Dwalin was good at telling what would suit him, and he was picky in what he would adorn Nori with, even if Nori himself barely paid any attention to it.
“Everyone’s getting… stuck on this treasure. They’re hoarding and we’re not safe to enjoy anything yet. Something is wrong, it just feels so off.”
The weight of an emerald and gold necklace settled on Nori’s chest as he spoke in his worry; thinking back to how everyone in the company was hoarding something, their hands deep in the treasure that they fought so hard for, the treasure that was now theirs, and that was reclaimed for their people.
Nori couldn’t, much as he wanted to feel at ease.
It was too much to steal, and he knew he couldn’t go stuff it in his pockets and admire it on himself either, as there was nowhere to run. This was too much gold, too much treasure to just be touched by a lowly thief as him. It couldn’t possibly belong to him, and once the true owner came back and saw him with it, he would be done for quicker than he could explain that he had never meant to-
The sharp buzz of amethyst and gold against his finger tore Nori out of his spiralling thoughts. As numb as he was to the mass of treasure around them now, he could still pick out jewels as this like faint stars in a dark cloudy night.
Slowly he turned his eyes until they met Dwalin’s, shining with the reflection of the riches around them. There were rings on each of his fingers now, and bracelets on his wrists, and Dwalin already had a circlet in his hand to add to that. There was nothing Dwalin had picked out for himself yet.
“What are you doing,” Nori asked, tired and already feeling his heart think just as his skin adjusted to the gems on his fingers.
“Handpicking a treasure for you,” Dwalin said, and his voice was so deep and rough that Nori felt shivers run down his spine. “To stand out.”
“Why. There’s so much, who cares, we need to think of other things now. Nothing stands out here.”
“You do, don’t you? One always has to adorn their treasure with suitable riches to make it shine more and emphasize its importance.”
The way Dwalin’s eyes crinkled in a smile was the same way that usually filled Nori with comfort and peace, and for the first time in his life all it did was make him feel like he was all alone in a desolate wasteland, with no help in sight.
He didn’t protest when the next ring was slipped on his finger.