A Dream of Elves and Green Woods

"Do you think she would have loved me?"

The sun was shining through the treetops, bathing the dwarf in warm rays of light. The grass on his back was soft and new, verdantly waving through the wind that wound down from the cloudless sky, temperate and mild. It cooled all that sweltered and heated that which was cold.

Kili rubbed his forehead and found his brow and skin devoid of the cold sweat he had lived with for days. The hand before him was peculiar. It didn't quite look like his, but it was, only it was missing the cuts and bruises that they always bore. Under his fingernails was immaculately clean and he found that when he moved it the feeling could only be described as new, like a freshly strung bow. Caught in his revery, another hand clasped his, holding it gently with elegant, thin fingers.

"Seron..." The voice was angelic, like hearing a harp for the first time in a world bereft of music. Somehow the dwarf understood it, and though he doubted he would be able to repeat it, the meaning was clear to him.
"Beloved. You called me beloved." A silly grin grew across Kili's face. The other replied with a throaty chuckle. The dwarf looked to his right and saw an elf. She the most beautiful elf he'd ever seen, with vibrant red locks, divinely sculpted features and eyes that drew his in. No, not just an elf, she was the most beautiful soul on the face of arda.
"Man ceril? What are you doing?" She laughed again. The sylvan elf held the dwarf's thicker, larger hand, separating the fingers and sliding hers along it, studying it slowly. Tauriel smirked excitedly and something told Kili that she was much happier than she led on. Elves, he thought, always behind one veil or another.

"I'm not awake, am I?"
"No, seron, but you are here. Is there some place you would rather be?" The woman's smile faded, but it still pulled at the corners of her mouth. Above them, the billowing treetops smoothed and all that could be heard was the sound of their breathing and the distant flowing of water. Kili's grasp wrapped around her taller body and held her other hand, clasped them both together, and pressed his forehead against them.
"Nowhere, my lady. There's nowhere I'd rather be."

"Kili."

The tall dwarf slowly opened his eyes, but they were already opened, weren't they? Now he found himself in a room, the same one that he had fallen asleep in. Rushing water and limpet waves filled the background, and the table creaked as he held his forehead once again, finding that his fever was all but gone.
"You were talking in your sleep, you know." Tilda, Bard's youngest daughter, said in a sing-song voice.
"Aye, it would have been a mite worrisome if'n ya didn't 'ave that dopey grin on yer face the 'ole time." Oin added, his beard tinted various colors by the poultices and ingredients that were arrayed on a familiar table not a few feet away. "Almost thought you'd stay that way!" The old dwarf laughed to himself before being joined by Tilda and Sigrid.

"Ah s-" Kili paused, but cut his sentence off with a groan. He'd tell the old fellow to stuff it another time. "Thank you, Oin. And you two as well."

Suddenly, the dwarf became very aware of the mess he'd made, seeing the pastes, ointments and half-burned leaves littering the floor around him. "And sorry for the trouble."
"Oh it was nothing, master Kili!" Sigrid stepped forward and curtsied.

That Bard sure had those girls brought up well.
"We didn't 'ave to do too much anyways! After that elf came and did her magic..." Oin raised an eyebrow at the flushed, young dwarf in front of him, "We just stayed with ya. And then ya just opened yer eyes."

Kili shot up from the table, but instantly regretted that decision. His still-healing joints were stiff and not as responsive as he'd liked, but they were much better than the day before. Yes, stiff was better than being coiled by a balrog's whip.
"Th-then who said my name?"
"Boy we've been saying yer name for the past few hours." Oin responded quizzically.
"No, no, just then." To which Oin shrugged, stroking his beard sagely and picked a few leaves of sage out of the tangled mess. Kili looked out the window, the edges bedewed with condensation and glistening in the moonlight, but Tauriel was long gone.