Hours after his kin had left and he'd insisted on helping to hand out a meager meal to the Men now ensconced in the old City Hall, Kili slipped out of the building to find his elf maiden. He'd seen her leave earlier, and before anyone could offer her food, so he was mildly surprised to see that Tauriel hadn't gone far. She stood like a sentinel in the middle of the lane that passed between buildings; her back was to him and the burnished copper of her hair was a stark contrast against the white of the snow. Though the trees of her homeland weren't visible from where they stood, Kili suspected that her gaze was turned in the direction of Mirkwood. The dwarf prince's heart ached to think of what Tauriel had given up, and all that she had received in return: the threat of starvation and freezing to death in the night. Worse than that, even, was the knowledge that he had played a part in reducing her to such circumstances.

Kili had been raised knowing that Erebor was his birthright, as it was his brother's and his uncle's as well. He had been taught that the mountain that now stood not far off was theirs even though it had been lost to them, and yet it was a loss that Kili had never felt. Not truly. Erebor was home in words only and had been little more than a pipe dream in the back of his mind for most of his life. Even now it did not feel like home to him. Tauriel, though … Tauriel had lived all of her long years within the borders of Mirkwood. She had known nothing of the world beyond her trees, and now she was being forced to live in it.

There were not many things in the world that Kili would be willing to give up his chance for a future with Tauriel for, but looking at her now as she stood so silent and resolute amidst the half-ruined buildings of a decaying city of Men, he knew that her happiness was one of them; perhaps the only one, really.

The price for Erebor had been so high, and paid by so many people … Thorin would sneer at him and scorn him, but Kili wasn't convinced that it was worth it.

Kili barely heard the crunch of his boots over the snow as he approached her. The dark swirl of his thoughts weighed on him. He loved Tauriel and he had cost her everything; saving his life had taken her from her home and all of her kin, forever. And forever meant something very different to those races who actually stood to live that long.

"What has happened to make you scowl so?" Tauriel murmured softly.

Night had begun to fall some minutes ago and Kili had been glaring down at the snow, and so it took his eyes a few seconds to find and trace the lines of her face. Such a strange face in the eyes of his people, and yet he loved it so.

"I have ruined your life."

Tauriel's eyes widened in shock and no small amount of consternation. She might have laughed if Kili's face hadn't been so drawn and unhappy, his gaze dark and heavy on her face. There was no humor in his words.

Kili missed her look of shock and continued on. "I have doomed you to an eternity without your kin and away from your home. And there's nothing I can do about it, either, I can't replace what you've lost. You've saved my life time and again, and it's all I can do to make sure you don't freeze to death."

By this time the dwarf had driven himself to quite the state of agitation. He paced a line out into the snow in front of Tauriel and then stopped to draw in several deep breaths before turning around and making his way back to her.

"Truly, Tauriel, I would give up that mountain and every piece of gold in it if it meant you could go home again. You'd be there now, warm and safe with the people you love, if only our company had never passed through your forest."

"I do miss my forest," Tauriel answered after some moments. "But I do not regret the choices I made that took me from it. You mustn't think me doomed, meleth nin, for I do not feel it. I feel as though I am part of the world for the first time in six hundred years. You have brought new meaning and new challenges to my life, Kili, and I would rather freeze here with you than spend an eternity warm and alone in the halls of my kin."

Tauriel moved over the snow and lifted her hands to frame his face. Kili's cheeks were warm beneath her hands, but he didn't seem to mind the coolness of her fingers.

"I only want to see you happy," Kili said softly as he circled her wrists with his hands.

Tauriel kissed him, just a quick peck on the lips, and said, "Good. Then come with me."

She led him through the town and up into the space that she had chosen to make a home. Kili listened as the elleth told him of her plans and how she envisioned the area taking shape, and when she was done he pulled her over to the wall furthest away from the snow and sat down. He beckoned for her to lie down; when she did and her head was resting in his lap, Kili started to brush out the long locks of her hair with his fingers as he told her about the restoration efforts in Erebor.

They stayed that way until the sun rose.