He walked around the table and stepped down from the dais, and made his way towards the centre of the hall. As they got closer, Fili could see in her hair dozens of tiny twinkling stars, wrought from mithril and white gems, and the cinch around her waist was a sash of the same design, clearly the painstaking work of master smiths at the height of their craft. But it was not Sigrid's beauty, or the gems in her hair or around her waist that caused the folk of the Mountain to murmur amongst themselves – it was a pendant hanging around Sigrid's neck, nestled close to her heart, a pendant also wrought of mithril and set with white gems, but not of a design of stars. It was Fili's emblem.

They met in the centre of the hall, and Fili took both of Sigrid's hands in his.

"Amrâlimê, you're a vision."

"It was Dis's idea," she replied, looking away from Fili's face briefly to smile at his mother.

"I wore these at my betrothal. They need to see daylight every hundred years or so," Dis laughed. "I had the pendant made years ago." She laid her palm on Fili's cheek. "A mother's hope for her son." Fili turned his head and kissed her hand.

"Thank you, Mother."

Dis grinned, her sunny eyes so like her son's. "Well, I've certainly made the entrance I was hoping for. The rest is up to you two," and she headed off through the crowd toward the honour table.

Fili gently touched the pendant lying on Sigrid's breast. "Wearing this is a message that you're betrothed to me. Everyone can see it." He looked around at the crowd, all eyes fixed upon them, and he was reminded of their supper just three nights ago, and he smiled. "Is the crowd bothering you? I could still order them all out, you know."

Sigrid's gaze never left Fili's eyes. "What crowd?" And she leaned in to kiss him.

The hall erupted with cheers, applause and the occasional good-natured catcall. They broke their kiss and looked around at the crowd, Sigrid abashed at the commotion, Fili with a huge grin. As the noise died down, he took her hand and led her back to the top of the hall, to their seats at the honour table. He settled her in, took his own seat, and leaned close to speak to her.

"Don't worry. It won't always be as bad as this."

"No, it's fine," she replied. "They're happy for you."

Fili cupped her cheek with his hand. "They're happy for us," he corrected. He helped them to food from the trays being passed along the table, then continued. "I've promised to play later on, and I want to dance with you, but then once everyone's had a few drinks, we might sneak away. What do you think? They'll never miss us."

"That sounds good," she laughed, then she stopped and tilted her head at him. "I didn't know you played?"

He grinned at her. "Fiddle." He leaned in close to her ear and lowered his voice. "You didn't expect to know everything about me after one night together, did you?" She laughed at his conspiratorial tone, but a rosy tinge still stole up her cheeks. He lifted his hand to caress it with his thumb, and his face turned serious. "You know my heart, Sigrid. The rest is just details."

She gazed at him with the soft loving look that he recalled from their breakfast in bed that morning, and he leaned across to steal a kiss. "Now stop looking at me like that, or this is going to be one very short feast."

The feast was as merry as the peoples of the three kingdoms had anticipated. Thorin briefly spoke to the crowd to thank them for their efforts over the past year, acknowledging the importance of the Mountain's alliances with Dale and the Woodland Realm, and proposed a toast to the memory of the fallen. He then surprised Fili by proposing another toast, to himself and Sigrid and their future health and happiness, and Fili was moved by the rarely-bestowed look of pride and affection in his uncle's eyes as he lifted his goblet to them both.

The crowd drank to them warmly, and began calling for a kiss, which Fili was only too happy to supply, taking Sigrid's face in both hands and kissing her soundly to renewed applause and cheers. The happy crowd then pushed the tables back, and settled in to the serious business of drinking and dancing. The band of pipers were joined by Bombur on the drum, who struck up a fast, infectious rhythm that had everyone tapping their feet or clapping along. Fili held his hand out to Sigird.

"Dance with me, my love?"

She took his hand and he led her out to the floor. It was a circle dance, the kind with lots of clapping, and he would have much preferred a partnered dance that would have allowed him to hold her close, but he felt compensated by watching the joy on her face as she danced, dissolving into peals of laughter every so often when she turned the wrong way or missed a step. He reluctantly gave her up to Thorin for the next dance, standing up next to her with Tilda as his partner, and he and Tilda were very amused to watch Sigrid trying to dodge Thorin's long locks of hair, which threatened to hit her in the face every time Thorin spun around. Her father claimed Sigrid for the third dance, while Fili stood up with his mother, and then, just as he thought his opportunity to take her in his arms had come, he was called upon to join the musicians.

Kili joined him with his own fiddle as Fili was tuning up. He glanced around briefly to check that everyone was ready, then nodded a fast beat to the band and they began another sharp, driving dance tune, the brothers wielding their fiddle bows with as much dexterity as they did their weapons. Fili looked around for Sigrid as he played, and saw her standing on the edge of the dance floor, watching him with a rapt expression of delight on her face, clapping along with the rhythm. He grinned across the dancers at her, buoyed by her admiration and approval, but his smile lessened a degree when he saw a dwarf he didn't know approach her and try to engage her in conversation. He was relieved to see Bofur claim her hand and start trying to teach her his own eccentric version of a jig, and when he looked again for the unknown dwarf, he had disappeared into the crowd.

Fili played two more dances with the band, his eyes on Sigrid as she danced first with Balin and then with Oin. As the second tune finished and the audience clapped, Fili dropped his fiddle back into its case and clapped Kili on the shoulder. "That's it for me, Kili. You keep going. I'm going to dance with my lady." Kili grinned at him, and turned to nod the band straight in to the next tune. Fili threaded his way through the dancers to Sigrid, and slipped his arm around her.

"My turn," he murmured, and led her to the floor. She put her arms around his neck as he encircled her waist, and they swayed together slowly, despite the lively beat that Kili had set and the energetic dancers whirling all around them.

"That was wonderful," she said. "I loved it. You're very good." Then her smile broadened into a grin. "Is there anything you can't do?"

He looked at her in silence for a moment, feeling uncharacteristically bashful at her generous praise, but he glossed over his emotional reaction with an impish grin. "Thank you, love. I might not have begrudged all those hours of practise Mother forced on me, if I'd known how handy it would be later on for wooing a certain bargeman's daughter."

She laughed and leaned in for a kiss. "Well, it's more effective for wooing purposes than Bofur's dancing, that's for sure. Consider me wooed." She stopped, and her brow contracted in a slight frown. "Speaking of Bofur… Fili, did you see that dwarf who was talking to me before? He said he had something important to say to me, but he ran off as soon as Bofur came over. It was very odd."

Fili's eyes narrowed as he bristled at the thought of the unknown dwarf hassling Sigrid. "I did see that. I don't know who it was, he's not from the Mountain. Are you all right?"

Sigrid nodded, surprised at the question. "I'm fine. It was just strange, that's all."

A drunken lecher? A robber trying to steal his mother's jewellery? Not knowing anything for certain, Fili decided to downplay the incident. "It was probably one of Dain's people with too many ales under his belt, thinking he'd try it on with the most beautiful woman in the room," he said, smiling. He drew her closer, determining to follow it up later and find out who it was, but wanting to put it out of his mind for the moment. As he turned them gently in their slow swaying movements, he gradually came around to face the musicians, and he glanced up at them. He rolled his eyes when he saw what was happening amongst them. "Oh no. Look, Thorin's getting his harp out. Trust me, that's our cue to get out of here."

They made their way back to the honour table. Fili grabbed his coat from his chair and threw it around Sigrid's shoulders, then picked up two goblets from the table and stuffed them into pockets in the coat. He took a flagon of wine in one hand, and Sigrid's hand in the other, and together they wound their way through the masses of people, out of the hall.

Sigrid was becoming more familiar with the corridors and stairs of the Mountain, and recognised the way up to the top of the great gate long before they stepped out into the night. The wind was stronger this evening, colder. The gown she was wearing was beautiful, but it was thin, and she burrowed gratefully into Fili's coat. It smelled like him, spicy and male, and she brought the lining close to her face to surround herself with his scent, and breathed it in. She watched him from deep inside his coat as he placed the flagon on the parapet, but when he turned to her to retrieve the goblets he'd placed in the coat pockets, he noticed what she was doing and stopped.

"Are you all right, love? It's not too cold up here?"

She dropped the fabric from her face with a start, half guilt and half mischief.

"No, it's fine. It's… your coat. I…" She hesitated, reluctant to own up. "I like the way it smells."

He raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Really? What does it smell like?"

She squirmed, smiling, caught by his direct question. "It smells like… you."

He gave a soft affectionate laugh and cupped her face with his hand. "Well, feel free to borrow it any time, love. But you have me right here, you know." He pulled the goblets out of the pockets and poured them both a drink, then swung up onto the parapet and held his hand out to her just as he had three nights ago, his smile all blue eyes and dimples. She didn't hesitate this time, taking his hand with an answering grin of her own and climbing up beside him, her trust in him outweighing her fear, but as she settled herself on the edge, she still kept her eyes on the horizon rather than the dizzying view straight down. He put his arm around her and drew her close, then turned and reached for the goblets, handing one to her.

They sat together in silence, looking at the stars, the quiet splashing of the falls below the only sound being carried to them on the breeze. An owl hooted in the distance.

"Did you hear that?" Fili murmured. "Brown owl."

Sigrid took a sip of wine. "There are hardly any lights in Dale tonight."

"Everyone's here for the feast."

Sigrid stared out at the few scattered lights marking Dale in the darkness, and sighed. "I need to go back there soon." She leaned her head against Fili's. "I don't want to leave you."

He turned and kissed her hair, and whispered, "So don't leave. Stay here with me."

"I do so much in Dale, Fili. I can't just walk away from it, as much as I want to. I need to find people to take over my tasks."

It was Fili's turn to sigh. "I know you do, love. I'm being selfish. How much time will it take?"

"I don't know. A week, maybe?"

"And then what? Will you come back to me? Mother's keen to have you stay here. She wants to start showing you the ways of the Mountain and our people right away."

Sigrid arched an eyebrow and smiled. "Oh, well, if your mother's keen…"

Fili laughed and gave her a squeeze. "I am too, more than I can say. But it's up to you, beloved. If you would like to call my chamber your home, it's yours. If you'd rather stay in Dale, then it just means my pony will be getting more exercise than she's been used to." He took a sip of wine. "It's not something you have to worry about right now, though. For now, let's just relax and enjoy the moment."

She smiled, and gave him a little nudge with her elbow. "Don't you ever worry about anything?"

He sipped his wine and thought for a moment, taking her question seriously. "I worry about the people I love, like Kili, and Thorin, and you, if they are in pain, or in danger. Other than that, I don't see the point, especially if it's something outside my control."

She sighed again. "I envy you that. I seem to be always worried about something or other."

Fili reached for her goblet and placed it on the stone beside him, then set his own down next to it, and turned towards her. "Then let me help you take your mind off it," he said softly. He slowly tilted her face to him, and kissed her tenderly. "I wanted so much to do that when we were here the other night," he whispered.

"Mmm, I wish you had," she replied. He turned more fully towards her, and kissed her again more deeply, and she slid her hand into his hair and kissed him back, savouring the taste and warmth of his lips.

She closed her eyes as he started pressing butterfly kisses down her neck, the sensation enhanced by the soft brushing of his braids against her skin. "You stop worrying when I hold you in my arms. I can see it on your face. I can feel it," he murmured against her throat. He kissed his way back up and claimed her lips again for another slow, lingering kiss. Sigrid sensed his surprise when she broke the kiss and pulled back.

"Fili."

"What is it, love?"

She looked into his eyes, her hand caressing his cheek. "Let's go home."