Story [Rings of Power] Two Were One (Durin/Disa Oneshot for OTP Challenge #27)

Title: Two were One

Author: devilinthedetails

Fandom: Rings of Power

Genre: Romance; Fluff; Mush; Family

Characters: Durin; Disa

Summary: Durin, Disa, and the love that makes two one.

Author’s Note: Written for the OTP Challenge #27: Love Poems by Women Roulette. My assigned love poem was Anne Bradstreet’s sweet “To My Dear and Loving Husband.” Lines appearing in italics and parentheses are borrowed from that poem. I take no credit for the poem.

Durin and Disa were some of my favorite parts from Rings of Power, so this is my tribute to them and their relationship.

Two were One

(If ever two were one, then surely we.)

“My father and mother loved each other so much it was like the two of them were one,” Durin told Disa when they courted. Strolling through a garden of stalagmites that were not just the usual pearl white but ranged in hue from soft honey to the red of blood and rare meat cooked the way Durin preferred it. The colors leached from the soil many meters above the cavern. Dripped down by water. “As a wee lad growing up, I thought they had the perfect love for one another.”

So perfect, so fused together, Disa thought, that when Durin’s mother had died, his father had never entirely recovered. Remaining harder like a rock that could not be cut by any pick-ax. Becoming more distant and aloof even with his heir. It was not easy to be the half left behind. The half that didn’t die but went on living a grim half-life.

She didn’t say any of this. Not wanting to hurt Durin. Never wanting to hurt Durin. Wanting to do anything but hurt Durin.

Durin went on. Filling the silence between them with a voice that echoed off the stalagmites fountaining from the cavern’s high ceiling. “They were each other’s equals and most trusted confidants. I always hoped it would be the same with any woman I married and me. That the two of us would be one. Helping and supporting one another all the days of our lives.”

That had sounded very romantic to Disa’s ears. Though not as romantic as when Durin, months later, knelt before her in that same stalagmite garden, offering her a gleaming gold ring with a single, embedded and radiant diamond. A diamond that sparkled like the sunlight she had never seen was whispered to shine on the blue lakes above their deep mountain home.

Kneeling before her, he asked her to be his bride. To become one with her. She answered by yanking him to his feet. Then pressing her lips against his. An ardent assent that did not require any further articulation or translation.

When their kiss finally ended, Durin slipped the ring over her finger with his shaking ones. Then pulled a matching ring from his pocket. Guiding it onto his finger with marginally more grace than he had shown placing her ring on her. Remarking with ruddy cheeks as he did so, “I crafted these rings myself from gold and diamonds dug from the same mine. I forged them in the same fire from the same tools. So the two would truly be as one. Just like I want us to be.”

“You’ve talked for too long.” Disa grabbed his beard. Dragged him down so his lips were locked on hers again. “It’s time for more kissing and less talking.”

They would have all their lives together to kiss and talk, Disa had noted with inward giddiness on that day he proposed to her in that stalagmite garden where they had taken some of their first tentative courtship strolls.

It was in that stalagmite garden too that Disa, covering the womb where a little heart beat inside her and small feet would soon be kicking in a tantrum if the child she had created with Durin inherited his fiery temper, told her husband that she was pregnant. That the two of them had become one in the most profound way possible. That a child would soon be born as an embodiment of their love.

It was there that Durin hugged her to his chest when she shared this happy revelation with him. Promising over the hammering of his heart that he would be the best father in dwarven history.

It was there that Disa, cupping his bearded cheek, assured him that she didn’t doubt that.

(If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.)

“I feel so loved with meat on my table when I come home,” Durin boomed as he carved with flashing silver knives into the rosemary-and-thyme-encrusted roast lamb Disa had made for their supper. Lamb roasted to the point of charring. Far beyond the rare favored by Durin because it was the first meal she had prepared for him, and she was nervous about undercooking the meat. Poisoning her husband by mistake. Thus securing herself an ignominious place of prominence in dwarven songs of tragedy and woe for at least a century or two after her own demise.

“You should.” Disa looked at him with love and laughter in her candlelit eyes. Glad that he could understand the charred and overcooked lamb as an expression of her love. Her desire to have him fed as soon as he walked through the door of their home. “Because if ever a man was loved by his wife, it is you.”

“I know.” Durin forked a mound of lamb onto her plate and then piled a matching mountain onto his own platter.

They ate the charred, overcooked lamb together. Pretending that it tasted delicious. That a dwarven wife had never roasted a better lamb. In pretending together, they made it so. Forging their own reality together. Proving that love was the only seasoning and cooking they needed in their lives. All they needed for everything–no matter how burned–to taste wonderful and succulent on their tongues.

(If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.)

“He made her so happy,” Durin murmured in her ear as they stood before the portraits of his parents in the royal gallery. She could see the joy, more precious and radiant than any gold or silver, written all over the face of Durin’s mother. Glimpse the love and laughter shining like diamonds in firelight in the bright gaze of Durin’s mother. “He was determined to shower her in his love. To give her everything she desired. To fulfill all her wishes. Turn all her dreams into living, breathing reality.”

“She does look very happy,” Disa allowed. Because it was a truth–painted forever into the dead queen’s portrait–that nobody could deny. “But she can’t be as happy as I am.”

“No?” Durin lifted an eyebrow copper as the curls he had inherited from his mother and father. “Why?”

“Because.” Disa elbowed him in the ribs. Both amused and irritated by his eternal obtuseness. “There was never a woman so happy in her man as I am.”

“Then you are too easily made happy.” Durin’s cheeks flushed crimson as his curling head of hair. As his beard.

“I am,” Disa agreed. Shifting her elbow away from his ribs. Entwining it with his. So that her elbow encircled his. Claiming his as forever hers. “Isn’t that the secret to happiness in this ever-changing, inconstant world?”

(I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold
Or all the riches the East doth hold.)

Early on in their marriage, Durin would return from the mines with luxurious gifts he had dug from the earth for her. Necklaces, rings, and bracelets wrought from silver and gold. Studded with glittering gemstones.

“My bracelets would cover me to my elbows.” Disa waved a dramatic arm about one evening as he pushed another piece of new jewelry up her wrist. “The weight of my necklaces would strangle me if I wore them all at once. As to my rings, well, I have more rings than I’ve got fingers thanks to the excesses of your generosity.”

“How else am I to show my love for my beautiful wife than by lavishing her with gifts of shining gold, silver, and jewels?” Durin appeared baffled by her unexpected response to the tribute he had brought home for her that evening.

“With kisses.” Disa planted a kiss on Durin’s furrowed forehead. Erasing the confused crease there. Another on each cheek. A final, lingering one on his lips red as his beard. “Lots of kisses. I prize your love and kisses more than any of the riches you can dig up in your precious mines.”

(My love is such that rivers cannot quench.)

“My love for you is like this waterfall,” Durin told her as they stood on mossy green stones in the mist cast by a roaring, frothing white waterfall cascading down the mountain. Plunging into the dark chasms of its fathomless depths. “Always churning. Forever flowing.”

“That’s interesting.” Disa blazed a trail of kisses along her husband’s neck. “My love–my desire–for you is like a thirst that cannot be quenched by any racing river or roaring waterfall. It’s like a flame that can never be snuffed out. That will burn into eternity.”

“Let me try to quench this thirst.” Durin clasped the back of her head. Fingers coiling through her thick, black hair. Bringing her to his lips for a deep kiss that left her breathless but still yearning for him. “Snuff this flame.”

(Then while we live, in love let’s so persevere
That when we live no more, we may live ever.)

“Elves are immortal unless they are slain in battle or sail to Valinor,” Durin mused when they were alone together. Curled up against each other’s warmth beneath their blankets as they lay in their bed with the candles blown out on the night after Durin had been reunited with Elrond. After Elrond had dined at their table at her urging and Durin–also by her determined nudging–had been reconciled with his estranged elven friend. “Blessed with such long lives that twenty years is but an eyeblink to them. Twenty years in which we fall in love. Marry. Have two children to fill our home with their endless, infernal squabbling.”

“The elves don’t have children easily or often, do they?” Disa remembered the stories she had heard about this sorrow of the elves. How rarely they had offspring of their own. How prized and therefore doted upon children were among them.

“They don’t.” Durin grunted in agreement. “It’s perhaps the curse they bear–the price they pay–for their immortality.”

“It’s only different types of immortality for us and the elves, my dear.” Disa clutched Durin’s hand in the dark. Savoring the feeling of his skin on hers. The heat and strength of his body. A body she could not imagine going cold and frail. “We will live on after our death through our children, their children, and their children’s children on into eternity. That is our immortality. Our forever.”

 

Aww, nice! You did a great job transforming the imagery of the Bradstreet poem here, and you really made it a perfect fit for the Dwarves. You really made the scenery come alive: I could see all the gold and jewels, the stalagmites, the waterfall, and the blushing that matches the beard color, and even smell the lamb! (I have to say that recipe still sounds tasty— @pronker it's my favorite red meat, too!) Thanks for contributing this beautifully fluffy piece to the challenge! <3

 

@pronker, thank you so much for reading and commenting! I'm so glad that you found this to be a lovely and fluffy story since that was exactly the vibe I was hoping to achieve with this piece. The meal Disa prepared did sound so delicious to me as I was writing it, even though it was charred, and I am sure that next time she makes it for Durin, it will not get so burned. I've always loved lamb ever since I was little so I just couldn't resist having that be the cut of meat that Disa prepares for her husband as they are settling into married life. The line about pretending and making it so was one of my favorites in this story so I am so pleased it was a highlight for you and that you felt it was a nice turn of phrase with great wisdom behind it. If you do decide to watch the series, I hope you will enjoy it and that you will love the romance between Durin and Disa as much as I did

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha As always, thank you so much for reading and for your kind words! Writing these scenes between Durin and Disa and trying to capture their love and the beauty of their surroundings was a joy, and I am so happy you felt I was able to set the scenes so wonderfully and make the dialogue so loving and yummy. Durin and Disa were one of my favorite parts of Rings of Power so it was a real treat for me to dedicate this as a tribute to them and their heartwarming romance. And I was truly thrilled when I received this poem for the OTP challenge because it has been a favorite of mine ever since high school English lessons. It just seems to capture the nature of love so beautifully that it was a pleasure to compose a piece inspired by it

@earlybird-obi-wan Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! Writing these scenes set in the dwarven caves was very interesting and not my typical setting at all so I'm thrilled that you found them lovely and that you appreciated how I could weave together the poem with Disa and Durin's unfolding love story because I wanted to do this poem and Durin and Disa's love justice

@Findswoman Thank you so much for reading, commenting, and for the wonderful challenge that inspired this story!I loved the imagery of the Bradstreet poem and it made me think of dwarves so I just had to take advantage of the opportunity to celebrate Durin and Disa's love. The gold and jewels seemed like such a part of dwarven culture that I very much wanted to capture their sparkle and shine in this fic so it is awesome to hear that you could truly visualize them in this story. I find stalagmites so beautiful that it was nice to be able to make them an integral part of the scenery in this story, and I have a special affection for waterfalls so being able to integrate them into Durin and Disa's love story was fantastic for me. I absolutely couldn't resist having fun with poor Durin's blushing matching his beard color The lamb recipe made my mouth water as I wrote it and I like to imagine that next time Disa won't burn it quite so badly! I'm so glad that you enjoyed this fluffy piece, and thank you again for the delightful challenge that inspired it!

@Vialco Thank you so much for reading and for the thoughtful comment! You highlighted one of my favorite sections and one of the parts that moved me the most as I wrote this story so that makes me so excited and proud. Disa definitely stole my heart in the Rings of Power series and really elevated every scene she was in. Disa is indeed very wise to realize that despite their sparkle gold and jewels are cold and lifeless, while love for another person will always be warm and alive. So Disa is wise to choose love for Durin over any gold or jewels dug up in the mines. Durin and Disa's relationship was one of the best parts of Rings of Power for me so I am super pleased you felt I did their romance justice here. And nothing could be more flattering than hearing that I have an elegant writing style and that my writing conveyed a deep knowledge of Middle Earth. I have a deep respect for Tolkien and so it was an honor for me to write something set in the Middle Earth he created! Thank you again for reading and for the kind words!

 

@Chyntuck Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I'm so glad that you loved this piece, because I really wanted to do Durin, Disa, and their wonderful relationship justice in this fic! Durin and Disa were two of my absolute favorite characters from the Rings of Power show. The mix of their dwarf bluntness with their humor and obvious love for each other just won my heart super quickly, and I was smitten with them as a couple from their very first interaction with each other

I am so flattered that this was exactly as you imagined them as well. I spent awhile trying to craft the perfect first sentence to this story, and I'm super happy that you appreciated that transition from sublime beauty to the raw, red details of food. I can't imagine Disa ever being the sort of dwarf to be shy or demure, and in my mind her fearlessness when it comes to being forthright is one of the hundreds of reasons why Durin loves her. So I wanted to show how forthright and unconcerned with shyness or flattery Disa was from the start of her courtship and relationship with Durin. And I am so glad that choice worked for you!

That Durin line you quoted was one of my favorites in this story, so I am so pleased that it was a moving one for you as well. One thing I appreciated about the show was the emphasis on the relationship of the Dwarves to their mining (and the metals, gems, and other resources they discover through mining) so I wanted that relationship to be a consistent element interwoven into my fic. And I'm so happy all those details resonated with you and added to the story for you!

And I could simply not resist the mush of having love be all the seasoning they need in their lives

The musings about elves and immortality and dwarves and their progeny were very poignant for me to explore at the end. One aspect of the show that I found interesting was that difference between how Elrond perceived time (it not being a big deal for him to go over a decade without seeing or speaking with a particular friend--probably because elves change so little in that time) while for Durin it was an insult for a friend not to make contact in that amount of time. Because big changes occur in that span of time for a dwarf such as his marriage to Disa and the birth of their two children. So I couldn't resist expanding on that thread especially since my assigned poem had those connections to eternity which seemed to invite such contemplation.

I really loved Disa's strength as a character, and it was such a delight to explore and celebrate that strength of character and her relationship to Durin in this fic!

Thank you again for reading and for the kind words I will treasure like gold mines