"Stop toying with my brother."

Tauriel glanced aside from the saddle girth she was tightening, her green eyes sharp, startled, and Fíli felt that his tone had been perhaps more hard than was necessary.

"Toying?" she echoed, her voice cracking just barely. "I do not mean..."

Fíli had never seen an elf truly at a loss for words as she clearly was, and to his surprise, he felt mildly guilty. Still he pressed on; protecting his little brother mattered more than sparing Tauriel's feelings.

"There are times you encourage him; I swear you do," he said. In the sennight since the battle, Fíli had been closely watching Tauriel's interactions with his brother, trying to understand what she thought of Kíli. "If you weren't flirting with him last night round the bonfire, I don't know what that was. But then there are times when you deliberately do not understand him. Before he left camp this morning, he tried to talk to you alone, but I saw how you wouldn't let him."

Fíli sighed and crossed his arms so that one hand rested on the knife hidden in his bracer. It was an instinctive action of his when he felt defensive.

"You must know how much Kíli admires you," Fíli said. Adores was the better word, of course, but saying that was exposing his little brother a great deal. "Do you think you can tease him like this and he won't get hurt? Tauriel, don't try to be kind to him. He sees more than just kindness, I assure you. If you see him only as a friend or a . . . a brief infatuation, you should leave him alone."

The elf stared at him, her lips slightly parted and her eyes wide. Her steed, entirely forgotten, shifted its weight and bumped against her shoulder, causing her to give a slight, graceful stumble to the side.

"Fíli, I—" she began, startled into speech. "I do care for your brother." Her face crimsoned at this admission, betraying the depth of feeling behind her simple words. "I don't want to hurt him. Indeed, that is why— I'm very sorry if I was wrong! I mean my attention honorably, but sometimes it is hard for me to remember that he is not yet fully grown."

"What?" Fíli blurted. This was not the excuse he had expected her to give. "Maybe to you he seems a child, but he is a full-grown dwarf. Old enough to fight for his homeland. Old enough to court a lass he cares for."

"Oh." She turned swiftly back to the horse, but Fíli caught the look of embarrassment on her face.

"You thought him a child?" Fíli prodded, already half offended on Kíli's behalf.

Tauriel stroked the horse's coat. "He does not seem a child to me. But I thought those without beards were accounted children among your people," she said.

A laugh burst from Fíli's throat, and in a moment all his frustration and resentment against Tauriel melted. "That's all?" he managed, still chuckling. "You thought he's too young to grow a beard?"

Tauriel's auburn head nodded, though she kept her eyes on the saddle she was adjusting once more.

"Oh, Kíli can grow a beautiful beard. Indeed, there was no small amount of mourning on his part when he had to trim it off before the Quest."

She turned to Fíli, curiosity bright in her lovely green eyes. "Why?"

Fíli smiled, amused by her eagerness. "You, of all people, should appreciate why an archer cannot wear long hair on his face."

"Of course." Her foolish expression said that she ought to have realized this herself. She stared thoughtfully at Fíli for an few long moments before finally saying, with the slightest hint of amused irony, "I will no longer toy with your brother."

Fíli felt his own face color now. "Forgive me for being so blunt. I thought—"

Tauriel flashed him a smile, as warm as the ones he had often seen her give Kíli. "Tis no matter. I am glad you spoke."

She sprang gracefully into the saddle and wheeled the horse, then looked down to Fíli again.

"Tell your brother I will speak to him when I return to Dale next month with more supplies," she said before she flicked the reigns and her horse sped off to follow the rest of the Elvenking's army back to Mirkwood.

Author's note:

I wrote this for Kiliel Week over on Tumblr. Humorously enough, Kili himself doesn't actually appear in it, but it contains two of my favorite Kiliel tropes: protective Fili and cultural misunderstandings.