Nonnie, I am THRILLED TO BITS about them, and please let your imagination run riot!

My advice about writing Orla: she is a devoted mum, a loving wife and friend, a quiet-spoken Dwarrowdam of few words. If she has any particular fault, it is that she sometimes doesn’t speak up when she really REALLY should. 

She is incredibly slow to anger, and she seldom laughs. Her wit is very subtle and quiet also and tends to be delivered in a swift, soft blow, like a dagger entering, soundless and abrupt. She is a tremendous warrior, with all the perseverance and application to detail that this suggests, and she does not talk about her past often. She looks to the future, always always always. The past hurts. She had hopes and aspirations for a whole people, a whole nation, and she was betrayed. 

She isn’t one to dwell. She compartmentalises. She rebuilds. 

Dwalin sees her as the most miraculous and precious person he has ever met. He’s still baffled as to why a goddess in her prime is married to a battered, heartsore old soldier like him – but he’s eternally grateful. They have a whole language of silences between them; they can have entire conversations with a flat look and a twitched eyebrow. 

She is dear friends with Dis, Gloin, Dori and Thira. She finds Bofur slightly too much at times. She respected Dain, but wasn’t a big fan of pigs. She has a quiet pride in how much the Stonehelm has grown – but Bomfris’ undisciplined behaviour drives her up the wall. 

Her skin colour is part of her character. She’s black. I respectfully suggest that you mention it explicitly and plainly (no food metaphors!), and move on. 

Also importantly, she is also a person with ties and relationships and thoughts, (most of which she keeps to herself) and all of the above is needed to make her her. 

(if you are still uneasy or worried, check out the MANY MANY writing guides out there. There are roughly 10000+ for writing characters of colour).