The Last Goodbye

By: Hogwartswonderland

Elwll looked up at her husband lovingly as they strolled along the outskirts of the Dwarven village that was located in the just outside the Blue Mountains. It was early in the morning- much like the one when they first met- and not many people were out, most preferring to stay and enjoy the comfort of their warm beds. Elwll would have liked to be one of those many people but this was the last time she would get to spend alone time with her husband before his departure for Erebor. It was a long journey, and the entirety their marriage (which was only a month) was spent preparing for it, leaving little time for the newlywedded couple to spend together. She desperately wished she could convince her husband not to go on the quest, but she knew it was impossible. While her husband was a level-headed dwarf, he still had an adventurous spirit and could be stubborn at times. Although, she must admit that his stubbornness works to his advantage in certain situations. If Fili wasn't so stubborn, then he would have given up when Elwll turned down his advances the first few times- therefore meaning that they would have never courted, let alone get married. Thinking about their courtship made Elwll forget about her husband's departure and put a smile on her face.

"What are you smiling at, Elwll?" Fili asked his wife, hoping to bask in the glow of her attention for a few moments longer. Despite the brave and eager façade he has put up for his wife and mother, Fili was reluctant to leave his home in the Blue Mountains to join his Uncle's quest to reclaim Erebor. He genuinely believes that the Blue Mountains could be a good home, a strong Dwarven kingdom, if they just put the work into it. Alas, with his younger brother Kili opting to join, and being a prince and his Uncle's heir to the throne, it was Fili's duty to participate in taking back the lonely mountain.

"Oh, nothing," Elwll answered airily. "I was just remembering how excited you were when we finally began courting."

Fili chuckled as he too remembered the moment his stubborn wife agreed to the courtship. About 10 years ago, when they were still working on establishing a home here, Elwll arrived with her family, traveling all the way from the Iron Hills. Upon their first meeting Fili knew that she was his one. Not only was she beautiful with her thick ruby red hair and sideburns and eyes as green as emeralds, she proved to be a tough lass. After all, not many people can say they have bested Dwalin! While it took a little longer from her to realize that she felt the same, it was a joyous moment when she identified him as her one in front of the entire market! He knew that it would be a memory that he would frequently replay in his mind as he made the journey to Erebor, with nothing but his younger brother, Uncle Thorin, and ten other dwarves to keep him company.

"I will miss you, Fili" Elwll tells her husband just as the come upon the entrance of the inside of the Blue Mountains, suddenly somber. Princess Dis, Fili's mother, and his younger brother were waiting close by with two ponies prepped with rations and supplies. They were polite enough to give them a chance to talk, but Elwll struggled to say the words that she needed to say. How could she say goodbye so soon? She comes from a family of jewelers and craftsman, not warriors. She has never had to say goodbye to someone she loves like this.

Fili looked at his wife in sadness upon hearing her words. "I will miss you as well," he said before kissing her softly. It was a long kiss full of love that was only broken when both husband and wife heard Kili shouting for them to break it up and that it was time to go.

Again, both looked at each other with expressions filled with both melancholy and love. They kissed again for one final time before Fili walked towards his brother and mounted upon his pony. Only a small crowd had gathered, which consisted of their friends and their mother. Elwll joined her mother-in-law in the crowd as the brothers rode off into the blinding sun and uncertain future.

"Will he-they- be alright?" Elwll asked Dis.

Dis, sister of Thorin and daughter of Thrain, glanced at the young dwarven woman. The look on her daughter-in-laws face was identical to Dis's when she waved her husband off to battle for the first (and last) time. "With where they are traveling, it is uncertain. My boys are strong like their father, uncle, and grandfather, but you never know when it will be your last goodbye."

As it turned out, that was in fact the last goodbye that both mother and wife would say to Fili. A little a year after their departure, Dwalin and his brother Balin arrived with the eight other dwarves in the company arrived. Normally after such an important quest there would be a celebration and a jovial spirit to match, especially since word had reached both Dwarrowdams that Smaug had perished and Erebor was free, but the absence of the sons of Durin spoke volumes. There was nothing to celebrate when the King Under the Mountain and both Princes were dead. That night, in the comfort of the chambers Elwll and Fili, Dis and Elwll told the tale of Thorin Oakenshield, master bowman Kili, and lionhearted Fili to infants Ciri and Frerin, the last of line of Durin.