CHAPTER 51

By the time I had reached the sixth step, I could see the people within. Some clad richly, some in more simple clothes. All laughing or drinking ale or dancing in the center of the room. The dance was beautiful and quite complex. I had to smile at how refined it all seemed...at how I had spent so much time with a group of dwarves and still remained blind to such a great part of their culture.

And then I saw Bofur and Dwalin at a table, gabbing over mugs of ale, and I had to retreat a step in pure shock.

Tears sprang unbidden to my eyes and I brought a hand to my mouth.

Their faces had been in my thoughts for so long and now they were there, unaware of my presence. Bofur was wearing an even more preposterous hat and as for Dwalin, the fine clothing hadn't changed him in the slightest.

I pulled my hood low over my face and climbed the rest of the steps, eyes darting around the hall in search of more of my former traveling companions.

They were all there!

There was Fili, engaged in solemn conversation with Dain at a table on a raised dais. Even from all the way across the hall, I could see the change wrought in him over the months I'd been gone. His posture, normally that proud and confident dwarf in his prime, had changed. He seemed haggard, despite his pristine midnight blue tunic. Perhaps it would have been better to find him after the party. To meet him in private where I could explain things. That would have been the more tactful decision at any rate.

But I was here now, and I couldn't just walk away from him. Not again.

I tore my eyes away from him and saw Kili and Tauriel seated at the center of that high table. The former was grinning ear to ear and the latter laughing, presumably at whatever Kili had just whispered to her. Gloin was seated further down the table, holding an easy conversation with Oin and a pair that I recognized as Fili and Kili's parents. Nori, Ori and Bifur were dancing while Dori, Bombur, and Balin stood at a buffet table, tasting an array of little tea cakes that wouldn't have been out of place at a hobbit's party.

I couldn't stand it. Seeing all of them well. Tauriel, who I had only ever seen in warrior's garb now wore a dress in the rich fabrics of Erebor, although the cut remained that of an elven style. Kili, who I had last seen dead on the ground at Ravenhill, looked in excellent health. They all did.

Almost.

I took a deep breath to calm my thunderous heartbeat and headed for the high table, tact be damned.

"Who are you looking for, exactly?" asked a bright voice from behind me.

I turned to see its owner, a vision in a light blue dress, her golden waves falling loose down her back, save for the warriors braid at each temple.

Freya's eyes widened.

"Aria?" she asked, although she must've already suspected.

My stunned silence must've been reply enough, for she reached out and pushed the hood back from my face, glanced toward the high table, and glared at me.

"May we go someplace private?" she asked.

I opened my mouth to reply but before the words had left my lips Freya spun to my other side, linked her right arm through my left, and said "good. There's a storage room just off the hall."

And we were off, walking along the side of the room. When we reached the door to the storage room, Freya shoved me in and slammed the door behind us.

I barely had a chance to look around the room, lit only be a dim oil, before she wheeled to face me and spoke.

"Explain," she said, every word laced with a simmering rage that was both awe inspiring and terrifying to behold.

"Explain to me how you aren't dead and just why you choose now to come back here. You broke my brother's heart, you know. He still mourns you. After the battle, I didn't see him laugh or smile for anyone save for our mother, and even then he wasn't himself. Since he's returned from Ered Luin with our people, he hasn't seemed much better. And now, you've just waltzed into Kili's wedding without a scratch or a scrape on you and I'm willing to bet that you expect to be welcomed back with open arms."

I'd had enough. I needed to say something. Something to stop the tears in my eyes from falling. Tears at the thought of him miserable on my account.

"You think I chose that? I was taken straight to Valinor from Ravenhill and I've spent every second since then trying to get home."

Freya just stared at me for a moment, probably searching my face for any sign of a lie. The anger in her eyes finally began to cool and she said "how?"

"I was nearly spent, so my grandfather brought me back to Valinor. Once there, I was told I could not return to Middle Earth because it was not the land of my birth. In the beginning, my grandparents struggled to keep some of the other Valar from sending me back to my birthland. I wasn't told that I hadn't died on Ravenhill for months. Once I knew, I took a boat, sailed back to Middle Earth and trekked here alone."

Freya crossed her arms and stared at me. I waited with baited breath for her reply.

"Dain asked Fili to be his second in command before he went to Ered Luin. He left before he could formally accept the position. He will do that tonight. Go to him then, I beg you. Fix. What. Is. Broken."

She wasn't begging me. No, I saw the command in her eyes. Whatever fear I felt at having to explain my absence to those I loved disappeared. Her resolve was infectious. In fact, I was beginning to think it a crime that a queen could not rule Erebor.

"I shall welcome you as a sister but first I want my brother back."

"Of course," I said. I inclined my head to her and cleared my throat.

With that, she relaxed her posture and turned for the door.

"Freya."

She looked over her shoulder.

"I am sorry. I would never have chosen this."

"But you did," she said, shaking her head.

"You chose to bring Kili back and for that I am grateful."

It was only then that I understood the price I had paid for saving Kili's life. It had not been my life alone. No, I had taken a part of Fili with me, and now I had to give it back. After so many years of being passed off by my parents, it had been a struggle to believe that someone could love me like he did. And I hated the thought that because of that love, I hadn't been the only member of his family who had missed his laugh all these months.

But I had the power to change that, so I said, "It was the least I could do after everything your brothers did for me."

A gleam entered her eyes as she beckoned me towards the door.

"That being said, I still intend to punish you for the months of waiting, whether you were responsible for them or not."

"Punish me?" I asked as she opened the door.

"Yes. I'm going to formally introduce you to my parents."

I cringed.

"How much do they know?" I asked.

"About you? Oh, they know that you're Fili's wife. They know you saved both their sons from an unavoidable death and they know that you have a tendency to spit on dwarvish traditions."

I raised a brow at the last statement.

She chuckled as we linked arms and began the walk across the hall. I had to stare at her, for it was as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The weight, I realized, of knowing that her brother had never truly returned to her.

She began to elaborate on my disregard for tradition.

"According to Kili, you traveled alone until you met up with the company, blackmailed the rightful King Under the Mountain, you prefer a fully grown horse to a pony, and you wear your wedding band on your left-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the music stopped and Dain stood.

The crowd hushed and the King Under the Mountain spoke.

"I would like to give my congratulations, once again, to my kinsman. May his union bring both he and his wife joy and may it strengthen ties that have been for too long neglected."

"I think he almost gagged, just now," I whispered to Freya, who smiled and nodded. Indeed, Dain didn't seem pleased at all with the new bond between his people and their woodland neighbors.

Dain went on to tell the gathering of his gladness at the safe return of their people from the settlement of Ered Luin.

"As I understand, this safe return is owed to the outstanding leadership of Prince Fili, here," he said, gesturing to where Fili sat.

"Prince?" I asked.

"He abdicated the throne, not the title that is his by right of birth," said Freya.

"These reports only stand to prove that I could not find a better right hand in this mountain. Do you accept the appointment, Fili son of Findrir?" Dain asked, turning to Fili.

"Rather eloquent tonight, isn't he?" I said.

Freya had to stifle a laugh.

"He told Ori what he wanted to say. Ori wrote the statement," she said, her voice barely audible over the crowd's applause. Fili had accepted.

I had a clear view of him from where I stood. He nodded his thanks to Dain as the King clapped him on the shoulder.

He didn't smile.

The guests were quick to form a receiving line and Dain and Fili stepped down from the dais to greet each one.

"Glad I'm not in his boots. He's going to have to listen to over two hundred people tell him they're at his service. Come on, we're getting in line," said Freya.

"I'm cutting," I said after we took our places near the back of the line. It stretched all the way to the door and I didn't want to wait while every other guest in attendance bowed or got down on one knee to tell my husband they were at his service.

"You're what?" Freya asked.

"Cutting. Moving ahead in the line," I said.

"Oh no you're not," said Freya, linking arms with me.

"Just wait."

So I did. I waited as the receiving line shortened. As we were able to move closer and closer to Fili.

Close enough to hear his voice. He thanked each guest politely as they congratulated him and offered him their service, but there was no joy in his voice, no laughter. Just that core sense of duty that he'd always possessed.

It was then that my thoughts turned to the night before the battle. We had both been exhausted and near sleep. I remembered clinging to consciousness only because I knew that once sleep claimed me, I might never have another moment like this: My head resting on Fili's shoulder, his arm around me, completely at peace.

"Aria?" he'd asked.

"Awake."

"I think I've spent too much time thinking about tomorrow," he said.

"I've been thinking about tomorrow for the past four years, your response is normal," I murmured.

I felt his laugh rumble through his chest and I pressed closer to him.

"I mean, I've been so fixated on the worst possible outcome that I haven't looked past that. Not until now," he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my eyelids heavy as I tried to stay awake.

"Only that if we win, if we make it through tomorrow, I'm ready for the future. For whatever the world throws our way next."

"Why the sudden interest in the future?" asked, finally letting my eyelids remain shut.

"Because I'll have the honor of making that future alongside you," he said. My eyes had flown open, an idea striking me.

"I love you," I'd said.

For all those months spent in Valinor and on the journey home, I'd clung to the smile in his voice as he'd said "and I you."

As soon as he'd fallen completely asleep, I'd slipped out of bed, found my dress, and slipped out of our room and into the library. It was there I'd written him a letter. Just in case he had to build his future alone. My last thought before climbing back into bed nearly a half hour later was that I hoped he'd never read it.

The prince standing just a few dwarves ahead of me had read that letter. He'd read it and for the past year he'd had to come to terms with the fact that he'd have a chance to build that improbable future...and he'd have to do it alone.

Would he resent me for that? For the months I had made him wait without hope.

Freya must've seen my facial expression because she leaned over to me and said, "earlier you used a term, cutting, yes?"

I nodded.

"Well, I'm doing that. Stay here," she said and proceeded to step out of line and pass the three dwarves that remained between Fili and me.

So much for waiting our turn.

"You're important again," she proclaimed, clasping his forearm.

"Frey, I lead all of Ered Luin across Middle Earth. That was important," he said, returning the gesture. A warrior's greeting.

His voice was strained and I hated the words as much as I loved the one who spoke them. I knew him better than to believe his humor was genuine. Not when he'd been so reserved around the other guests. No, the quip was for Freya, to assure her that he was alright.

Ahead, Freya stepped to Fili's side to allow the next guest forward.

And then the next.

Just as the third and final guest was stepping away from Fili, Freya said something to him about Kili and Tauriel and he turned to look at the high table.

"Congratulations on your appointment," I said, unable to mask the joy in my tone.

"Thank you," he said, still looking at the high table.

Fine. If he wanted to pay attention to the high table than I was going to continue to play the congratulatory guest.

I smiled and dropped onto one knee, bowing my head.

When I spoke, I laced my voice with laughter and sarcasm.

"And I am forever at your service, oh Great Prince," I said, exaggerating each word more than the last.

"What," Fili said, his voice sharp. He recognized me. I heard rather than saw him turn to face me.

I raised my head, heart a thunderous beat in my chest, to look right into his Durin blue eyes.

"I said, I am forever at your service, oh Great Prince."

I didn't try to hide the grin that spread across my face as I looked into his.

"I heard...I heard what you said." His voice was breathless, his eyes wide and searching.

I saw them there- the words that he couldn't speak.

You're here.

Is this possible?

How?

He reached for my hand, his fingers steady as he held them out for me to take.

I couldn't say the same for my own but as I took his hand, the warmth of it was oh so familiar I that laughed aloud, stood, and threw my arms around his neck, hugging him as tight as I dared.

After a moment's pause, he did the same.

For a moment, all I could think to do was stand there and hold him and breath in his familiar scent.

Tears of joy sprang to my eyes and I didn't care who heard me cry.

"Are you real?" he said, his words low, meant for my ears alone.

I nodded and laughed through my tears. His only response was to hug me tighter.

"You won't believe," I said at last, "how hard it is to get out of Valinor."

He pulled back, just enough to look into my eyes.

Disbelief still radiated from him as he said, "it's impossible to leave Valinor once..."

Once you're dead. His eyes said all too plainly.

"Well then it's a good thing I never died," I said, lowering my voice to a whisper, "apparently I'm immortal. You know, unkillable."

Fili smiled, his eyes now alight.

"I know what immortal means, smart aleck."

As I leaned in closer to him, I said,"That's certainly not a Middle Earthen name to call someone."

"You won't believe this," he said, "but last year I was at dinner with a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, and I met a lady from a different world. She was always saying things like that."

"She sounds like trouble."

His low laugh was a brush of warm air against my lips. "You have no idea."

And then his lips were on mine and he was pulling us closer together with one hand and burying the other in the hair at the nape of my neck. There was a year of missing and wanting and regretting in that kiss. But also a promise for the future. A promise that this was not our end. A promise that this was only our beginning. I could have stayed there forever, secure in his arms, his lips soft against mine. But outside, outside our little piece of time and space was a ballroom full of dwarves.

I gasped and my eyes flew open. I pulled no more than an inch or two away and looked up into his eyes.

"I think the entire room is watching us," I whispered.

"I don't care," Fili said and he leaned in to kiss me again.

"You might not care but I certainly do," said Kili, who had left his spot at the table and was now standing, arms crossed, a few feet away from us.

"If you don't stop, I will tell Dwalin to physically eject the both of you from this hall," he said. Practically the same thing he'd said when he'd caught us in Thranduil's dungeons.

Fili and I broke apart altogether and turned as one to face the younger prince, our hands still intertwined.

"How is it that every single time we try to get a moment to ourselves, you show up?" he asked.

"Not every time," Kili said, that classic grin of his turned mischievous, "I left you completely alone on your wedding night."

"As well you should've," Fili said, glancing to me and then back to his brother.

"Actually," I said, "I was very disappointed you didn't come by to bang me over the head with a pillow as a wake-up call."

Kili laughed, surely remembering the many times that had happened during our journey to Erebor.

"I would've done just that, but Fili would've banged me over the head with one of his fighting axes."

"Pity, that would've been amusing," I said and Kili closed the gap between us and hugged me.

When we pulled apart, the rest of the company was around us and Dwalin was shouting for the other guests to return to their merrymaking.

Then, I was hit with a multitude of pats on the back and hugs and handshakes and I was asked to tell the company how it was that I walked among them. So, I revealed the truth of my identity and of how I left Valinor.

The truth I had wanted to reveal to them for months.

All of it.

And then Dain was asking for someone to explain to him who in Durin's name I was.

I said my name was Aria, that I was at his service, and that had been the one to write him the warning note that summoned his army to Erebor.

"So you're Aria," said a voice from behind me. Female. And at its sound, the entire company fell silent.

Oh, great.

It was Dis standing behind me.

Princess of Erebor.

Descendant of Durin.

Lady of Ered Luin.

Fili's mother.

"Yes," I said and I let go of Fili's hand and turned to face her.

She was beautiful, dark-haired and blue-eyed like Thorin. Her regal air commanded respect from all whose eyes met her's.

A princess in every sense of the word.

She turned to Fili and raised an eyebrow.

What was wrong? I had been respectful, had I not?

My face was burning with embarrassment before Fili nodded to his mother once and Dis's posture relaxed. She extended a forearm towards me and I grasped it.

"A warriors greeting?" I asked.

"For all you did for this mountain and those who dwell within it."

I bowed my head in thanks as she released my arm. But then she was embracing me and I found myself utterly bewildered by the familiar gesture until she said, "and for what you did for my sons."

I returned the embrace.

It wasn't long before I was introduced to Findrir, who I liked enormously, and Gloin's wife Denola. She was a gentle female with a clever streak that was hard to ignore. Not at all the dwarrowdam I'd pictured when Gloin had bragged about her many virtues. Within ten minutes of meeting her, she'd offered me cooking lessons and Dwalin had told me that he'd pay me to except them.

I became so wrapped up in conversation that I forgot I hadn't eaten since breakfast. That is until my stomach growled loudly.

"Visit the dessert table with me?" Fili asked in a tone only I could hear.

We excused ourselves from the group of dwarves and walked arm in arm across the room.

"What do you think of them, my family," he said.

I shook my head in amazement.

"Your family is...they're amazing. Freya and I work well together and I think I will enjoy getting to know your parents."

"I know my ammad can be somewhat abrupt. I assure you she means well," Fili said.

"Abrupt? Yes, but you didn't need to tell me she means well, it's obvious."

"How so?"

"Well," I paused, searching for an example, "she smiles when your father tells a joke...even if she tells him it isn't humorous. It's obvious she loves him."

I couldn't help but think of my own parents. How different Dis and Findrir were. How lucky Fili, Kili, and Freya were.

Fili must have seen the look on my face because he said "they're yours too, you know," and he brushed a finger over the ring on my hand.

As soon as Fili and I made it back to the high table, Dain called him off to discuss the matter of his new position. As I took a seat beside Kili and Tauriel, I wished to join him - for a purpose.

A shiver ran down my spine as I recalled that I did have a purpose. My task was, perhaps, a higher one than any in this mountain. For while the dwarves were to rule and manage, I was to watch and wait.

For a time would come when I would be called upon to do so much more.

When his brother was out of sight, Kili's face sobered.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"I did that to you," he said.

I furrowed my brow and took a good look at Kili. There I beheld remorse and grief and some self-loathing that I had never, never seen in him before.

"No, you did not," I assured him.

He frowned.

"Aria, they told me everything," he said.

"What? They told you that you were gravely injured and that I healed you? Because that's what I recall."

"Don't," he said, "don't try to make it sound like anything other than what it was. They told me that I was dead, Aria. Dead. My heart stopped beating long before you found me on...on that hill."

He couldn't say the name. He wouldn't speak the word Ravenhill. Not after he'd lost Thorin in that place.

As I stared into those pained brown eyes, I realized that it was not just for Thorin's sake tthathe refused to speak the name of that hill...it was for my sake too.

"And I felt it," he went on. "I felt myself leave my body. I stayed close by but I certainly wasn't alive. And from what I heard, you were near blacking out yourself. You knew I was gone, too. You had no business deciding to heal me."

"Kili-" I cut in.

"No," he stopped me, "You knew you were trading your life for mine, so why did you do it?"

He was angry. I'd never seen him this angry before. Not at me.

My own temper rose to meet his but I hushed my voice so only he and Tauriel could hear.

"Because one day, when I was fourteen, I watched you and Fili die."

He froze. Whether it was at the bluntness in my words or the sharpness in my tone, I didn't care. I kept going.

"And I saw it so many times after that. And I wept for you. For both of you. I thought you were fictional. Just characters from a story. But I cried for you and wished that somehow I could change what I saw. And when I came here, to your world, and realized that I could see you and talk to you and be a part of your story, I also realized that you were actually going to die. For months I traveled with you and every day I was reminded that you were going to die. So yeah, when I got the chance to change that ending I did it and damned the consequences."

Utter silence reigned.

I just looked at Kili.

And he looked at me.

We said nothing for a while.

"You carried that for all those years?" he asked.

Something in his expression made me regret my tone.

I just nodded.

Tauriel, who had remained silent until that point said, "you saw everything?"

"I did."

"Thank you," she said, taking Kili's hand in her's.

And when she did, I gasped.

"That's exquisite," I said as I beheld the ring on her right finger. A many faceted diamond flanked by two tiny sapphires in a setting of delicate gold.

She smiled fondly at the ring.

"To remind me of the stars in the night sky," she said.

I looked at Kili and raised an eyebrow.

"Not bad, little brother. Not bad at all," I said.

"Excuse me? You're nineteen," Kili said.

"Twenty," I countered, "and married to your elder brother."

The argument continued until Fili returned with more dinner for the both of us and ended the fight by saying that since I was only Kili's sister by my marriage to him, the privilege of his birth order was extended to me.

"I am more than five hundred years old," said Tauriel, "Do you mean to tell me that I should call a twenty year old my elder sister?"

Fili, who was chewing a mouthful of roast pork, nodded politely, swallowed, and told Tauriel that her superb intellect more than made up for Kili's lack of it.

Tauriel, to her credit, didn't miss a beat in saying "That is high praise, considering that Kili possesses twice your intelect, Fili."

Fili just mouthed the words twice your intellect and looked at me, eyebrows raised.

"I'm not backing you up on this one, I think she's right," I said and laughed at the look of utter betrayal on his handsome face.

"Why didn't your parents come with us?" I asked Fili as we walked behind the falls, arm in arm, on our way home.

"Oh, they think this place is too removed from the city. They live close to Dain."

"And Freya?"

"Bought her own set of apartments and is living independently," Fili said.

That bit of information didn't surprise me in the least.

"And you don't think it's too quiet? Too removed?" I asked, silently begging him to say no.

"I've been away, so I don't really know. But with you there, no, it won't be too quiet. That is, if you want to stay here," he said as we walked beneath the stone arches and neared the door to the mansion.

"I love this house. The library especially," I said as Fili produced a key from the inside of his jacket.

"The library is yours," he said, "consider it an incredibly late wedding gift."

I beamed. Because I'd have traded all the gold in Erebor for that library. Now I just had to learn to read the runes in which so many of the books were written.

"Hang on a moment," Fili said as he unlocked the door, "how did you get in? Those clothes were in a trunk in our bedroom."

As he let us into the house, I explained just how I'd gotten into the house earlier. By the time I told him that I could change my shape at will, we had climbed the staircase and reached the second floor landing.

"Aria," Fili said in a honeyed voice, "what would I have to do to get you to use that shape shifting ability to scare the living daylights out of Kili?"

I turned and leaned up to kiss him once, twice, thrice, before opening the door to our bedroom and heading inside.

"I have a few ideas," I said, and I smiled when I heard the door shut behind him.

When I awoke the next morning, in a real bed, in my own home, with Fili's sleeping figure beside me, I thought I was dreaming.

In fact, I pinched myself a good four times before Fili woke up and asked what I was doing.

When we finally got up and dressed, Fili went down stairs to brew some tea and I poked my head into the library.

The late summer sun shone down through the shafts in the ceiling and walls, warming the rich carpets and the oversized armchairs. I sat down in the chair I'd seen in that far away dream and leaned my head back to look up at the floor to ceiling shelves stacked end to end with books.

I noticed one, a couple of shelves up, that looked out of place. It was smaller, the binding a kin to that of earthen books.

I stood, crossed to the shelf and retrieved it. As soon as I saw the cover, I smiled.

"Don't know what possessed me to put that in here," Fili said, entering the room with an ale mug in each hand.

"Couldn't find any tea cups," he said, noticing my attention to the mugs.

"Anyway, after the battle, I just thought you would've liked it to be here," Fili said and shrugged.

"Romeo and Juliet," I read aloud. "A beautiful and tragic tale that ends in sorrow no matter how many times you read it."

Fili set the mugs down on the table and came to look over my shoulder.

He hugged me from behind and said into my ear "a good thing that story is nothing like ours."

I studdied the book, ripped and frayed, stained on every visible surface. Not so different from our own misadventures.

But the end, oh how different that end was.

So I nodded my agreement and said "a good thing indeed."

THE END

Yes, sadly that was the final chapter of the story. This was the first writing project I've ever attempted so though it took a while, I'm glad we got there in the end. I wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed the story and I'm glad that you guys enjoyed it!

Some of you guys have asked if there will be a sequel. The simple answer is yes! I don't know when I'll be publishing it but it is on the horizon.

Finally, I would love if you could drop a review telling me what you thought of the ending or the story overall. The ones I have received so far have just made my day!

Thank you all for everything,

ElvesofErebor