Thorin wanted to hate him. From the colour of his hair to the shade of his hair and the timbre of his voice he was the spitting image of his father. It wasn't hard to picture him instead of Thranduil on that elk or on the throne in Mirkwood where he would be one day. The same arrogance, the same greediness coursed through his veins. Thorin could picture it so easily: a cold look above sneering lips, the curl of a smug smile.

Then he heard Kili laugh, loudly, openly, unashamed. The ropey scar along the side of his face twisted like a snake on his face, pulled painfully at the skin on his cheeks and around his eyes but for once he didn't wince. His dark eyes glittered in the firelight and for a moment they were young eyes again, filled with an unbroken spirit.

Then he looked away from Legolas and his expression sobered like a shadow falling over his face and Thorin could almost see the grief for Fili, for a world without constant pain, for the sacrifices he had to make cloud him like a swarm of pestilent flies.

"Melamin." To Thorin even the language sounded strange and unpleasant but for Kili Legolas voice was like a raft saving him from drowning in his own thoughts.

He might not be able to forgive Thranduil, might hate him more than he ever hated Smaug but Legolas might become the only elf Thorin would ever accept. With Kili he had found the only path that remained to Thorin's heart these days.

He had been wary of him, outright hostile and suspicious at the start but Legolas had never let it stop him from loving Kili, from caring for him and drawing him out of the shell he retreated into too easily and too deeply.

It pained him to admit it but without Legolas he would have lost Kili as surely as he had lost Fili and Thorin knew that he would have not lived in this case either. Dwarves might be sturdier than elves or men but no one could recover from a broken heart.

Thorin watched Legolas whisper something into Kili's ear and Kili smiled, sweetly and warmly and Thorin looked away. This was a moment he wasn't meant to witness. It was accompanied by Kili caressing Legolas' cheek and their hands tangling on the table.

One persistent doubt remained that all of this was just part of an elaborate ruse but since Legolas was the only one who could make Kili laugh anymore or smile as he had done before the battle, Thorin was willing to give him the benefit of doubt and the hope that his affection was as sincere as it seemed to be.