Chapter 1
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine!
A/N: Hello All! Welcome to the new tale! This is very firmly set in AU! Territory, and is the sequel to Erebor Reclaimed, Book One: When Comes the Dawn. I'll try to make this one readable for those of you who haven't read When Comes the Dawn, but you might get more out of it if you check out that story first.
To my readers jumping over from Dawn, welcome back! Hope this lives up to expectations!
"Inikhdê" is Khuzdul for "return to me" and is the word that Kili's mother Dis carved into the runestone she gave him before he left Ered Luin. In this tale, we see the new Prince of Erebor's journey to make good on that promise he made nearly a year prior.
As always, crazy huge thanks to summerald, Princess Quill, Violet Brock, and all of you who review and support my writing! I can't express it enough. Oh, and Eruwaedhiel95, here you go, dear.
Enjoy!
To the Lady Dis, Daughter of Thrain, Princess of Erebor, Greetings!
I pray this letter finds you in good health and cheer. You have no doubt heard the tidings of our Company, that Smaug the Dragon is dead and Erebor reclaimed by the Heirs of Durin; and that I, your loving son Fíli, reign as King Under the Mountain.
I do not know what you have been told regarding our success here, Mother, but I wish to inform you myself that my Royal Brother and I are both well and healthy, thanks to the efforts of many; but not least of all our dear Deorynn Lelaenil. It is my desire that you meet the lass, as your youngest son has fallen quite in love with her and they wish to be married. She is brave, Mother, and kind and intelligent; everything you taught us to look for in a wife, so I cannot begrudge Kíli's good fortune in finding her.
I also hope that however you received the news of Uncle Thorin's death, it was not too harsh and you have been given opportunity to grieve properly. We miss him terribly, Kíli and I, but were there when he passed; Mister Dwalin helped escort him to the Halls of Mandos, and it was as peaceful a departure from this world as I suppose could be expected. I wish one of us could've been there for you, though, for the news must have been bitter indeed to a beloved sister.
As to happier matters, it is my pleasure to notify you that Erebor is sending an Honor Guard to escort you here, along with any of the Blue Mountain settlement that wish to relocate to Erebor. The guard will be led by your Royal Son Kíli, and is scheduled to arrive in Ered Luin around the first of March. Please have the caravan ready at that time.
It is with a heart full of love and eagerness to see you, I remain,
Your Son,
Fíli
Post Script: Hello, Mother! We miss you horribly, and I cannot wait to fulfil my promise to you by returning to your loving embrace at the beginning of spring! Be safe, stay strong, and we love you! -Kíli
"Mahal, Fíli, you sound like Mister Balin in that letter," Kíli laughed. "Mum's going to slap you upside the head with it when I bring her back here."
Fíli grimaced. "I know, I know. Balin helped me compose it; says as it's an official letter from the King of Erebor to the Princess, it ought to read officially. I had to fight him to get in that bit about Uncle."
"Lands sakes, Fee, she's our mother!"
"That's what I said!"
Kíli grinned. "Well. If you want to write her something less…stuffy…I'll happily take it to her myself when we go."
Fíli's face brightened. "Really? Thank you, nadadith!" He clapped Kíli on the shoulder with a laugh that quickly turned into a groan. "Now it's back to missives, proposals, treaties, and official letters—most of which are congratulations and requests to visit—and honestly, Kee, I am not nearly so ready for this as I thought I was…"
"That's what you got me and Mister Balin for!" Kíli said cheerfully, hugging his brother round the shoulders. Fíli cocked his eyebrow, and Kíli laughed out loud. "What?"
Fíli just ruffled his hair in a most un-kingly fashion.
Deorynn Lelaenil, former wanderer and intended of Prince Kíli, was walking rather more quickly than was strictly proper through the halls of Erebor. A few stopped and stared, but Lady Deorynn was not the most conventional of future princesses, and most of them were slowly growing used to her oddities. Things like wearing leggings and tunics—men's gear—much of the time, especially while working, hunting, or riding; which she did much more often than a Lady ought. She was not crass or overtly-masculine, by any means, and knew how to conduct herself during Court functions and the like; she just wasn't much concerned with what the elder dwarves called 'feminine propriety.'
And so she cantered down the hallway, calling out when she finally saw her Prince.
"Kíli!" He turned and smiled, and when she reached him, she grabbed him by the lapels and hissed, "We need to talk."
He didn't protest—much—just let her lead him into a nearby chamber. The guards to the King's Study snickered to each other.
Once inside, Ryn shoved an official-looking document at his chest.
"What is this?"
He did not look surprised. "It is a notice—a rather confidential notice, given to you as a courtesy, I might add—of who I have selected to ride to Ered Luin with me next week."
"Yes," she stated, pacing before him like an agitated lioness. "And whose name is conspicuously missing from that list?"
Kíli cocked an eyebrow. "I assume you mean yours."
"You assume nothing," she hissed. "We talked about this, Kíli, I'm coming with you."
"Ryn, we talked but we never agreed. You cannot come, it is not proper and it is dangerous."
She looked affronted. "Neither of those reasons is good enough! I care not if it is improper, and you treat me as if I'm some delicate court lass! Let me remind you that I—"
"—survived in the wild, alone, for fifty years, with no help, no family, and no friends; yes, I remember," Kíli sighed. "But you're not that girl anymore."
"I'm certainly not the one you are trying to turn me into!" she protested. "The prim and proper princess who needs help from her handmaidens to dress, bathe, and ready herself for the day—who does that?—who never speaks unless spoken to, who minds her place and her—"
"—Now hold on!" It was Kíli's turn to shout. "I never tried to turn you into that! You're the most opinionated, independent, stubborn woman I know; and I wouldn't have you any other way, Ryn." He tried for a more tender tack, reaching out to stroke her cheek. "You know that, idúzhib. I don't want to change you; I only want to keep you safe. And keep the courtiers off my back."
She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Kíli, the courtiers already have plenty to talk about, what's one more thing? And I appreciate your concern, but you can't keep me locked up in this mountain for the rest of my life! Please, my love: let me come with you."
She held his gaze and adopted what Kíli privately called her "lost puppy look".
Blasted woman. She knows I can't resist her when she's like this.
"We both figured that's what you'd say," Fíli interjected. Ryn looked shocked, then embarrassed as she realized belatedly the chamber she'd pulled Kíli into was actually Fíli's study. She wanted to slap that smug grin off his face, but remembered in time that he was Fíli her King, not Fíli her Friend.
So she curtseyed instead.
"My Lord, I am sorry—"
He chuckled. "Ryn, don't bother. We both know you're itching to unleash that sharp tongue on me as well as my brother, just as you would've on the road."
"Yes, before you were the King Under the Mountain," she muttered, and he frowned.
"I am still Fíli."
She let the point pass. "Then Fíli, you should know I—"
"—I do," he interrupted her again. Kíli nearly laughed aloud at the look on her face. Fíli was continuing, "Kíli and I agreed you would not be left behind, though we had to suggest it, just to say we did. Therefore, you will be added to the list; after all, we both know you're perfectly capable of going along, and might even save a life or two on the trip. But to shut up the advisors and courtiers, you'll have to take a handmaiden along."
This time Kíli did laugh, unable to contain his mirth at the half-shocked, half-disgusted look on his beloved's face.
She did not find this amusing.
"A handmaiden? Are you serious?"
Fíli was fighting a smile of his own. "Unfortunately, yes. They'll still whine, but it'll all be much more proper if you have a lady's maid along with you. You are at liberty to choose your own, though, neither Kíli nor I are idiotic enough to try to make that decision for you."
Ryn was still looking rather stunned when Kíli took her hand. She looked up at him, eyes wide.
"I want you to come," he said with a smile. "Dangerous or not. So choose a handmaiden, my love, and start packing; because we're going to Ered Luin next week. Together."
She nodded slowly and left the room without so much as a word to Fíli, who waited until she had left the room before he burst out laughing.
"Oh brother, did you see her face?"
"Raela!" Ryn called when she reached her chambers again. She had just left the lass when she stormed out to see Kíli, so she wouldn't have gone far.
"Here, my lady, what can I do for you?" Ryn smiled when she turned to her favorite lady's maid.
Raela had been one of the first lasses to relocate to Erebor from the Iron Hills. She was a little older than Ryn, poor and without connections; but a hard worker, strong and intelligent. She was quiet, except when propriety was breached—and then she could lecture with the best of them, Ryn knew. Raela's dark hair and gray eyes framed a sweet face that loved to smile more than frown, and she served her mistress with intense loyalty—so much so that the other maids had learned to hush their gossip about Ryn around her, because she would quickly set straight anyone who spoke against Lady Deorynn.
Their first meeting had been rather embarrassing for her part, Ryn remembered. She had just finished a hard day's work out in the slushy snow, clearing debris from before the Great Gate. Some old dwarf lord had fussed at her for laboring outside with the men all day, and she was tired, cold, and hungry when she entered her chambers.
She'd nearly screamed when she'd realized someone else was in there already.
Raela had curtseyed with a little smile. "Raela of the Iron Hills, at your service."
Forcing herself not to stare at the shorter dwarf lass, Ryn had inclined her head. "Deorynn, of Nowhere In Particular, at yours."
Instead of that introduction meeting with a scowl of disapproval, as Ryn had expected, she was pleased to hear the lass laugh; a soft chuckle that immediately endeared Ryn to her. "And now we're both of Erebor, my Lady," Raela had responded, "and I'm your new handmaiden."
"Oh."
"Have you ever had a handmaiden?"
Ryn blinked, and then felt a laugh of her own escape. "Until six months ago, I lived completely alone, on the road, without so much as a friend to my name. So no, I've never had a handmaiden."
The lass had gone on to explain just what her duties were; some of them (like bathing) Ryn had dismissed entirely, while some of them (repairing clothing and helping her into those impossible dresses she had to wear to Court) she was grateful for.
Raela had been such a refreshing change from the giggling, whispering girls that served as maids in the King's Halls, and Ryn was grateful for her friendship and her expertise in all things court-related.
So when Fíli had said she needed a handmaiden to come along to Ered Luin, there had never really been any other choice, for Ryn's part.
"Raela, how do you feel about adventures?"
That evening, a feast was held in Erebor's Great Hall, in honor of the party leaving for Ered Luin in a few days, as well as to celebrate the last of the debris in the main living and working areas of the mountain being finally cleared, after nine weeks of hard work.
He watched the King laughing with his brother, the hobbit that had wintered with them in Erebor, and that half-blooded bastard almost-princess. The lass really was quite pretty, if you could ignore the lack of facial hair and what it meant. He grimaced. Perhaps when this was all over, his Lord would allow him to take her for himself, just for a little while before he killed her. She would be vulnerable enough, with her Intended gone to Ered Luin.
He grinned, careful to keep it light to avoid drawing any attention to himself amongst his comrades here.
Ryn lay beside Kíli that night, trying to catch her breath as every nerve ending tingled in the aftermath of their…activities. She giggled a little, burrowing into his heaving side as he stroked her hair.
He tugged on one of her courtship braids, worn visibly with a chain of mithril and tiny diamonds woven into them now that they were engaged, and she was immediately taken back to the day he had gifted her with the lovely jewelry.
It was the morning of the Winter Solstice, and far too cold to be outside watching the sunrise; though she was anyway, the cold air refreshing after a night of swirling terrors in her dreams. The eastern watch post provided a magnificent view in the mornings, when the sun rose bright and fierce over the plains to the east of the Lonely Mountain; and there were no guards assigned to this post yet, as the watch schedule (among other things) was still being developed three weeks after the Battle of Five Armies.
She was singing to herself, allowing the cheery tune to chase away whatever of the nightmares the sunshine and frigid wind left behind, when a hand slipped into hers. She turned, only slightly alarmed—no one knew to find her here except her beloved—and smiled when she saw him, hair mussed and sleep still in his eyes. She rose on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek, but the sneaky blighter turned his head and caught her lips with his own instead. Ryn chuckled into his mouth, not at all displeased by the attention, and let her kiss go tender.
He pulled away a moment later, holding something that sparkled in the early morning sun. Ryn blinked, intrigued.
"What is it?"
He held it out, his open palm revealing that it was two chains of sparkling mithril and diamonds, the kind dwarf women braided into their hair.
"I want to re-do your braids," Kíli murmured.
She knew what that meant.
"You what?"
He grinned. "I want to braid these into your hair, if you'll allow it. The mithril is indestructible, like our love, and the diamonds reflect your beauty…please Ryn, will you have me? Will you grow old with me and bear my children? Will you bind yourself to me and walk through this life with me by your side? Marry me, Ryn, please say you will…"
He was interrupted by her lips on his, her tears against his cheeks.
"Yes."
The memory of it had her smiling like an idiot and kissing Kíli's damp chest below her cheek. He moaned.
"Woman, you have to stop, I'm exhausted."
She laughed. "Sorry, love, I was just remembering Winter Solstice."
"Mmmm," he smiled. "The best moment of my entire life so far."
She nuzzled his nose to cover the choke of tears in her eyes.
"Mine too."
