Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author Note: Because everyone has to live and be ridiculous together ;) Title is a lift from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER

Kili could hear her voice, he was sure of it. His heart beat a little bit faster – he thought that was impossible considering how fast it'd been beating since he'd been reunited with her but no, there was still faster to come. Fili was laughing because he knew but he wasn't saying anything and Kili wasn't running though he wanted to be because he was aware, despite his consuming focus on seeing Tauriel again, that there were many Men and Women staring at them, peering out of half-built houses, lining the uneven streets. They likely hadn't seen a Dwarf since the Battle. They must have heard about the doors of the Mountain locking, Uncle Thorin's behaviour.

Kili had his sword, bow and quiver with him, Fili always carried knives. A fight with the people they were hoping to create an alliance with wouldn't be good. Everyone stared, many frowned and looking angry, but no one confronted them, no one threw anything. Kili knew, because he knew Fili's body language, that his brother was keeping a careful eye on the people of Dale too as they moved through the city towards the large building that housed King Bard and his family. And his Guard Captain.

Kili's pace quickened to match his heartbeat now and he felt Fili remain in step with him. He pushed aside thoughts of Men and his Uncle, one hand was always on his bow but his focus was absolute. He could hear Tauriel.

At King Bard's house, the door was guarded. The Men were not armoured but they held short blades and did not hold them as though they were afraid to use them. Someone had been teaching the Men of Dale, Tauriel perhaps? Kili did not wipe away his smile as he spoke.

"We're to see King Bard. Crown Princes Kili."

"And Fili, of Erebor."

Neither Man looked surprised though their grip on their blades increased. One, with hostile eyes and a thin angry mouth, addressed the brothers.

"Our King says you're to meet him and his family behind."

He nodded towards the house. Behind the house. Kili affected a quick bow. "My thanks."

"And mine."

The brothers set off together, Kili aware again of the eyes on him, even as he was surer than ever that he could hear Tauriel. She was near. Fili was laughing again as they turned a corner and reached the back of the building. There a fence almost upright and a door and beyond that a large mostly-sunlit area of stone and mortar, scrubbed clean and with a large table shaded by the upper floor of the house. There was the sound of Tauriel again and there she was, talking close with Tilda, the most openly expressive Kili had ever seen her. Bain was there too but Kili was fixated on Tauriel, on how her hair seemed to glow so red under the warm sun, how gracefully she moved, how beautiful she looked in every changing moment, how-.

"King Bard," Fili said loudly, stepping on Kili's foot.

It jerked Kili right out of his consuming musings and he almost cursed but Fili, dipping low into a bow, swiftly dug an elbow into Kili's ribs to prevent it. Kili swallowed the resulting pain noisily; he'd pay Fili back later, tell Dwalin Fili needed more sword practice, that one of Bard's children had beaten him with a blade.

Tauriel was looking at him now, she must have been aware of him before, she was always so vigilant. Now her eyes were large, glad and amused and Kili was smiling too and Fili was shifting, about to step on his foot again so Kili tore his gaze away to find King Bard sat at the table, a tankard of something in his hand. He looked different somehow. His legs were stretched out in front of him, as though to take in the sun, and he looked at his two youngest children with fondness forming a quiet smile on his face.

Kili smiled at that – his mum was going to get on well with King Bard. Which, once he was awake, was going to make Uncle Thorin's head explode.

What would his mum think of Tauriel? She'd been...quiet about Tauriel so far. Quiet and like she was waiting, which had made Fili laugh privately, just between him and Kili. When their mum and Tauriel met, well, Kili wanted it to go well. Yes, Tauriel was an Elf but she was so...so wonderful, she was everything to him. He'd wander from the Mountain for her, now that Fili was wearing the crown. Kili turned to look at his love again, her red hair and smile filling his vision, right up until Fili said

"And King Thranduil."

All Kili's thoughts were violently doused. King Thranduil, who had banished Tauriel, who decided to leave the Dwarves and Men to die at Orc hands, who had locked the Company away. Furious, Kili's hand went to his sword pommel but Fili smacked it away smoothly. Kili was tense with rage but could see now, how had he missed it, that King Thranduil, of all people, was also sat at King Bard's table.

Not only that, he was sat beside King Bard, wearing breeches with a filmy long-sleeved top that was laced at the neck and wrists, all made out of material that glinted richly under the sun. There was a pair of well-tooled leather boots on the stone paving close to his bare feet – bare feet – and some kind of jewellery worn around his head, not a crown but threads designed like flowering vines only they were metal and weren't slipping an inch. Was this King Thranduil relaxing? Why was he relaxing here?

Kili cast another glance towards his love but she didn't seem even troubled by her former liege's presence. In fact, she was clearly happy with Tilda and Bain. What was happening here?

"My lords," Kili said at last, too late he knew but he bowed anyway in time with Fili.

"The Princes Under the Mountain," was King Thranduil's mocking reply, wearing an expression that made Kili want to reach for his bow immediately.

King Bard nodded at them though, "You're welcome here, my lords. There's food enough for you to join us at dinner, if you care to."

Was the Elf King staying? Truly, why was he here in the first place? Many Elves had remained at the base of the Mountain, yes, as their numbers healed and mourned, but this, this had not been reported, not even by spies that worked for Nori. How had King Thranduil avoided them? What had he done to them? Kili glared, King Thranduil looked even less impressed and even more mocking somehow though his expression hadn't moved. How did he do that?

"Our thanks," Fili answered smoothly, a hand pressed to his chest as he bowed his head in gratitude.

Kili nodded his head too, still too slow, still too confused. Was King Bard friends with King Thranduil? They'd possessed an alliance before but the Elf King had always look down on all outside the Elf race. Yet here he was, bare-footed, beside King Bard.

Tilda rushed over, holding one of Tauriel's long-bladed daggers. She was holding it tightly in a small hand, her grip very correct for such a young girl. How old had Tauriel been, how small, when she had first started learning her blades? There was so much Kili wanted to know.

But for now he was distracted by how easily and close Tilda stood to King Thranduil, seeming unafraid and unintimidated by such a grand stuck-up guest, who was...not sneering or acting like she was an annoyance. Instead King Thranduil inspected her grip and nodded, congratulating her on the progress.

"Soon you will be more accomplished than your brother," he concluded.

"No, she won't," Bain protested fromwhere Tauriel was correcting his foot stance.

Tilda and King Thranduil exchanged very alike expressions, it was unnerving, and Tilda pressed against him, talking so quietly, apparently not wanting to be overheard though Kili tried to listen, and King Thranduil was nodding and listening attentively. It was a remarkably intimate moment, like they knew each other well, like Tilda knew it was more than okay for her to stand close to an Elf that had always acted as though no one was fit to breathe his air.

What was going on? Kili shook his head. For some reason, Fili didn't seem surprised. Instead he was looking towards the house as King Bard's eldest, Sigrid, emerged, wearing a wide pretty smile and a well-patched apron over her dress.

"My lords, it's good to see again," she said genuinely, dropping into a quick curtsey.

"Princess," Fili replied, with a small smile like he was sharing a joke.

It was a joke that Sigrid apparently understood because her smile grew and her gaze lingered, no, roamed over him for a moment before she turned to her father.

"The food is almost ready and then there's an audience waiting after, with the Kelly family over the boundry grievance."

King Bard nodded though his expression became more familiar and solemn. Fili reacted the same way to some of the audiences he had to hold in the Mountain. Kili didn't blame him, they were the bread-and-meat of being a King; solving the people's problems. Kili didn't escape them either; he had to sit with Fili, as his right-hand, his mind struggling to concentrate when there was Tauriel to think of. Now Fili was approaching Sigrid and offering his arm.

"The Company send their greetings, Bofur's hoping you'll hear him sing soon," he told her, clearly intending for the others to hear, maybe especially King Bard. "And Dori wants to talk about the mending and weaving guild."

This was a conversation with a beginning that Kili had somehow missed. His brother had talked with Sigrid before, plainly, and in detail. And the Company too? Sigrid was smiling and asking about one of Bombur's recipes, the apple and cheese pie. What was going on? It was as though Kili had missed days and no one else had.

Fili turned to him, his face a mass of absolute amusement, and tilted his head in a way that said you're a blind idiot, brother. Kili looked back – bugger off, you've been keeping secrets – to which Fili's snort meant I told you again and again, and again, remember two days ago?

No, he hadn't. He'd...then Kili thought, they'd been digging through letters Fili had lately received as Crown Prince and Kili had been occupied by a turn of phrase on a page in front of him that'd made him think of Tauriel and how she had spoken to him and how he'd longed to hear her once more and...and Fili had been talking and Kili had missed it. As Balin had always scolded him for during lessons.

Well, everyone knew that. So he twisted his mouth at Fili – you should have said it again. Fili shook his head – Mum said you'd deserve this.

Mum knew? That Fili and Sigrid had been talking to each other and that Fili had been using that smile on her? That Sigrid was at ease with him, taking his arm? That King Thranduil was a close aquaintaince of King Bard's family, even a friend? And was that King Thranduil's foot, still bare, touching King Bard's ankle?!

Suddenly Tauriel was before him, a smile on her face, no less mocking than the moment in which they had first met. She smelled like mayflowers and bees' wax and the sweat of sparring, or maybe watching the children. Was that a punishment, somehow wrought by King Thranduil? Only she'd looked so content with them and she was glancing away at Bain with an expression that Kili couldn't read at all but that he wanted to know every inch of.

Tauriel was there, she was right there, that was all that mattered. Kili felt steady once more, anchored and still, like the moment before he loosed an arrow, everything narrowing to that second, that shot. She was there and she was looking at him again and in one hand, he realised belatedly, she was holding his rune stone.

"We have much to talk about," she stated.

Her mouth twitched. Oh, so she was amused too. Kili would get Fili back later, and the others, who hadn't said a word to him about any of this, only the way Fili raised his eyebrows clearly said that they'd all had conversations about this – Fili, Sigrid, King Thranduil, King Bard – and Kili had been there, only he hadn't been listening.

Well, there had been other things to think of and pay attention to. Like when he'd next see Tauriel, like how she had looked shooting arrows, the story of her aiming one at her King, the moonlight quality of her skin, how she'd talked about the world beyond Mirkwood, the unyielding way she'd cut through Orcs, how she'd moved...

Tauriel's mouth was twitching even more now and Kili had a sudden suspicion that King Thranduil was likely looking even more annoying than usual. He didn't check.

"We do," he said at last, in reply, fervently, ignoring the sounds of Fili's amusement behind him. He'd gesture rudely if he wasn't in the presence of children and their father. "Is there somewhere we can shoot?"

Tauriel's answering agreeing smile, the sweep of her eyelashes, the banner of her hair, the sheer contentment of her, so close to him, drowned out everything else, always.

-the end