Am I a horrible person for asking for the sequel to Bride and Bridegroom? *headdesk* I love it so much, and I'm so excited for the sequel....
Hmm, so, are you sending me the title “Bride and Bridegroom” and asking for an excerpt from the (actually-in-progress) sequel, or are you sending me the title “Untitled Sequel to Bride and Bridegroom” and asking for an excerpt from the (probably-never-to-be-written) sequel to that? … EITHER WAY, here, have both.
From the sequel to Bride and Bridegroom:
"Ah, well, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Bofur says, brightening with relief. “No, of course there’s precedent for a kinless bride — if all their folk are away in the mines, say. Your friends can volunteer to help you, in their stead.”
"And it happens Fili and Kili have spoken for you," Bofur continues cheerfully over her.
Billa gapes at him, momentarily speechless, and then draws in a long breath in preparation for a tirade.
Unfortunately, it’s at that moment that there’s a pounding on the door and, from out in the courtyard, a bellow of, “Oi! Hand over our sister, you brute!”
“Sister?” Billa says, momentarily derailed — no matter how many times the princes point out that they are, strictly speaking, older than her, she still thinks of herself as old enough to be their mother — and then, “Oh, for… and I don’t get any say in this, either? In choosing who acts as my kin, I mean?”
Bofur actually shushes her, shooting a worried glance at the door. “Listen,” he says earnestly, “they’re doing you an honor — think of it, to be named kurdu-namad to the king’s own heirs!”
“Kurdu-nam— oh. Well… sister by choice, I suppose? Or sister of the heart, you might say.” He doesn’t sound especially confident in the translation, but then, he never does when she asks; dwarven language seems difficult to translate, and endearments, as she recalls from those nights in Lake-town, most difficult of all. All the same, it’s clearly a sweet thing to call someone, and she can’t help softening a bit; Bofur evidently notices, and adds, raising his voice over a renewed hammering at the door, “It’s an honor for them, too, you know, if you accept. And besides, could you really go out there and tell them you won’t have them as brothers? Think of their little faces.”
(This is a longer excerpt than I meant to post, but I had to start where I did or it wouldn't be clear what they were talking about and then I wanted to end it a paragraph or two earlier but could not convince myself to give up Bofur saying "Think of their little faces.")
And, if I ever wrote a third entry in the series, what it would be about: a marriage is arranged between one of the princes (probably Fili) and a nice young dwarf-lady from the Iron Hills, and we see how the bridal-kidnapping tradition plays out for them, being relative strangers who are on board with the idea of the marriage but still a bit shy about actually, like, talking to each other.
(I’ve also thought about writing a prequel about Dis’s courtship, but that one might be boringly similar to the original Bride and Bridegroom — a badass warrior-type dwarf and an equally-cool-but-much-less-warlike dwarf fall in love, act frankly ridiculous about each other, are awkward about courting, eventually the less-warlike one kidnaps the big bad warrior type and she has to negotiate a balance between “putting on a convincing show of escaping” and “not actually breaking my fiance’s arm”.)
