A RUMOR OF PEACE

          Standing just inside the doorway were several men, all but a few of them Durin's.  They stood shoulder to shoulder, forming a half-moon shape, all but four of them in the uniform of Counter-Intelligence.

          Harry and Roark immediately snapped to attention, saluting sharply as almost all of them outranked them.  "At ease, Lt. Roark, Lt. Hadrian." came the deep, if amused voice.

          They both relaxed immediately, warm smiles now lighting their faces, lips turning up into smiles of welcome as they looked at each of the group, pausing on their uncles, before turning their gazes to the man who had spoken.

          "Good morning, Lt. Colonel Aiden," Roark said as he stepped forward.  "Welcome to Aquaria."

          "Thank you, Rory.  Hello, Harry," he said with a warm look at his brother, which Roark saw Harry return.  "HADRIAN!  You DIDN'T!" he exclaimed as he recognized the look the two shared.

          Harry turned his head to meet his brother's eyes, his smile growing wider.  "Oh yes, I did."  Aiden had, in fact, been his first lover, their affair continuing on and off until Aiden and Morgan had begun to date, then marry three yahren {year} ago.  He chuckled as Roark shook his head.  "Where are the rest of you then?"

          "We sent them on to Colonial Headquarters.  They'll be waiting for us there."

          Harry nodded.  Twenty teams, which meant they now had forty men.  "Shall we head on over then?"

          "Yes, I think that would be a good idea," Aiden said as he looked between the brothers, realizing that Roark had just realized that he and Harry had been lovers for a brief time.  "From some of the things Logan and Kili have been telling us since they came home, we have quite a bit to discuss."

          "That we do," Roark said, looking over at the two in question.  One, he now noticed with a deep frown, had a white bandage peaking out of his uniform shirt.  "Ki, what--" 

          "What the FUCK happened to you?" Harry demanded as he too noticed the bandage and began to move toward him.

          "Not here," he told them easily, glancing back at the pale Port Manager, who was, even now, watching them with more interest than he ought.  "I'm fine.  We can discuss this when we get back to the office, 'kay?"  

           "Fine, but I suggest you all be prepared for an interrogation, as not one of you saw fit to call Fili, or any of the others for that matter, to inform them that Kili had been injured.  Then there is Severus--" Every single Durin went pale, and Roark grinned.

          No one tore the hide of a person better than Severus Prince Snape.  They all knew the consequences of not calling a family member when one of them was hurt, especially in a family as close as the Durin's were. 

          "Let's get ourselves moving, shall we, gentlemen?" he asked VERY cheerfully.

          "YOU, Roark Christopher Peverell Potter, are enjoying our discomfort at forgetting to call Fili and the others just a little too much."

          Laughter.  "Aren't I, though?  Come along.  Fi and the others are waiting for us."

          Several very reluctant nods.  "I'll be along in a moment, Aiden," Lt. Payton Durin spoke up, three of his brothers, Ethan, Colten, and Roan, as well as two cousins, Gwydion and Dante, stepped forward to join him.

          "Pay--" Harry began.

          Payton never once looked away from the Port Manager, who shifted nervously beneath the stares.  "Do go along, you two.  We just need a word or two with the Port Manager."

          "About our things, of course," Colten said, his tone cool.

          "I see," Roark said with a shake of his head, knowing very well what they REALLY intended to talk to him about.  Damned over-protective Durin's.  "Very well then, Logan, perhaps you ought to remain behind as well," 'hopefully to keep them out of trouble,' he thought, though given the look in his blue eyes, he doubted that would happen.  "You can show them to our office once you're finished here."

          "Will do, and by the by, Roark, we WILL be discussing your actions further later."

          "Oh YES, we most certainly will be," Kili said with a look of annoyance on his handsome face.

         "Roark," Harry looked at his brother, a dark brow raising, "just what did you do this time, brother mine?"

          DAMN!  Oh, he was in for it now.  Of course, he had known he would be if they ever found out it had been his hand in the arrangements to KEEP them off Aquaria, not that it had worked, as both were here again.  "Of course we will.  This way, everyone," he went on, leading them out of the office, but then he paused, looking back at the door worriedly as it hissed closed behind them.

          "I trust," he said, " that they won't hurt him TOO badly?"

          "Seriously, Roark?"

          He turned to look at him, meeting those aquamarine eyes.  "The reports, Robin," he said as his lips twitched.  "The reports would be a bitch to fill out, and besides, I REALLY don't have the time to be dealing with something so inconsequential."

         That brought a round of deep laughter from all of them.