Spring had finally come to Dale and Erebor. The snows had begun to melt off of all the passages marking the route to the cities and trade had begun again. With the trade had come reconstruction for the city of Dale, the winter had been harsh after the battle which meant there had been little time to rebuild the city after the Battle of Five Armies as they were calling it. Between trying to heal those wounded in the fire and those wounded in the following battle there had been little time for other things before winter was upon them and the city was forced to patch up stores and salvageable homes for shelter from the cold. However with the return of Spring the dwarves had finally returned from the mountain now that passage was clear and had begun to help the men reforge the crumbling city of Dale that Sigrid now found herself the princess of.
Sigrid felt that she had adjusted into the roll of princess fairly well, helping her father with receiving visitors and townsfolk, but still taking time to spend with her siblings and take care of them, needing to retain some sense of normalcy after so much change and chaos. It was on one of these dewey spring mornings that Sigrid was rushing through the market trying to bring Tilda her forgotten notebook for her lessons when she found herself quite turned around with all the new construction of the market place that had been taking place. As she looked about trying to find her bearings she caught a glimpse of a familiar blond head gleaming in the early sun light with the usual brunette beside him, Fíli and Kíli. Sigrid quickly hiked up her skirts and rushed over to the dwarrows.
"Good morning Prince Fíli, Prince Kíli," she said curtseying to the boys as she tried to catch her breath. Fíli's head snapped up as he turned around to greet her, smacking Kíli across the back of his head as he did so. His smiled a dimpled smirk at her and bowed his head in respect to her.
"Lady Sigrid,it is good to see you well," Fíli said his dimples sinking further in as his smile widened. Sigrid found her face warming as his blue gaze focused on her.
"It is good to see you up and healed, and helping," said Sigrid softly as she let herself be captured by Fíli's cerulean eyes. She herself had been there helping Oin in the healing tents after the battle and had a hand in making sure the princes and their uncle survived their grievous wounds. It had taken weeks after they had been brought down from Ravenhill for them to be stable enough to move into the mountain. This was the first time since winter had passed that Sigrid had seen the princes's.
"Aye it is good to be healed," Kíli said grinning, "where is Tilda?" he asked as he looked around as if he should find her Sigrid's shadow.
"Oh she is off in lessons, I must confess I came here to ask your way to the school house. The market has been changing rapidly in the days since your party has arrived," Sigrid said with a red face. Both of the princes laughed and bowed at the waist.
"Why of course my lady! Fíli- "and Kíli" at your service, they said in unison as the bowed before Sigrid. Sigridd laughed a little to herself at their antics as she linked her arm through each of their elbows they had offered upon standing straight back up.
"Why are you headed to find the princess Tilda? Are you going to join her for lessons too?" Kíli asked as the steered Sigrid down a steep left turn from the center of the market place. The turn had been hidden by the scaffolding needed to fix the front and roof of a building, she would never have noticed it if they had not been here.
"No not at all, I thankfully do not have to take school lessons, just etiquette. But Tilda left her journal for lessons on the table this morning so I thought to take it to her, never thinking that I wold get so turned around," Sigrid said as Fíli snorted a little.
"Not your fault lass, if I hadn't spent all day there I would never be able to figure out which way to go by the afternoon it changes so rapidly," he said in a placating tone of voice as he patted her arm. Sigrid felt a little better after hearing this, it meant she wan't the only one getting turned around.
"But the progress is coming along good, have you been here since the spring thaw?" Sigrid asked him curiously. She hadn't expected to find the young heirs here helping to rebuild and didn't recall seeing them when she had welcomed the throng of dwarves that had come down from the mountain after spring had come.
"No Fí and I had to do some formal ceremonies as everyone came from Ered Luin. And we had to receive our tongue lashing from our mum," Kíli said sheepishly with a impish grin on his face.
"She was rather upset at our "reckless" behavior during the battle, luckily we survived our wounds so there wasn't as much yelling as there could have been. Uncle however got an earful about keeping ones nephews out of harm," Fíli said with a smirk. Sigrid found herself smiling back at him in spite of the dark memories of the two of them after the Battle of Five Armies struggling to survive their wounds. It had taken well into the beginning of winter before either prince had been well enough to be moved, especially the golden one on her right arm.
"Here we are!" Kíli said cheerful as ever, never one to focus on the negative. "Perhaps I should go in, give the young princess a little surprise," he continued on with a wink as he slid into the building with Tilda's notebook that he had somehow slid out of Sigrid's hand.
"He tries not to focus on it. Well that and the fact that uncle has forbidden the- Tauriel from being with him in the mountain for a time," Fíli said no doubt catching the lingering shadows that had been in Sigrid's gaze.
"How do you deal with it, all the new responsibilities and memories of how it use to be?" Sigrid asked him softly as she gazed into his sky blue eyes. Fíli folded her arm up into the crook of his elbow and lead her further along the path not waiting on his brother to return.
"I take moments to myself or with Kíli to escape, play my fiddle, or smoke my pipe," he said softly, the dimple ever present in his soft smile. Sigrid found herself charmed by it and the way his soft braids and hair swayed against the side of her sleeve, his shoulder brushing with hers as his warm fingers held her hand in place.
"The fiddle? Oh you must play for me while you are here," Sigrid said teasingly as she saw the frozen lake water approaching her vision as they headed to the abandoned fish market. She hadn't been down this way since before winter but saw that it was still deserted due to its unfixed state and still frozen lake. While much of the area had been stabilized to prevent collapses there had been no construction started this far down, with the lake still frozen Sigrid's father King Bard had thought it more pertinent to fix the market first as they had much time before lake trade would begin again.
"Oh we certainly could," Said Fíli his mustache braids swinging bringing Sigrid out of her thoughts and back on to him.
"Does it bother you?" Fíli asked as he caught the expression on her face.
"No not at all. I've not been down here since before winter is all. IT's changed a bit,"
Sigrid replied softly as she smiled at him. He lead her over to a dry cracked stone fountain and sat them down, and they sat silently enjoying the quiet away from the clanking of the city.
"Has the transition been hard for you?" Fíli said softly after a moment, breaking the comfortable silence. Sigrid turned to face him and found his handsome face open and eyes softly gazing at her.
"Just a bit, I mean things are nicer now but I hardly know what to do with myself all day. Princess' shouldn't do this or you have servants to do those things for you now Sigrid. I'm supposed to behave and hold myself to these standards like I haven't been the poorest peasant for my entire life," Sigrid huffed out and then looked ashamed after she said it realizing who this was.
"I'm sorry Fíli I'm sure you have much more pressure on you than I do," she said sheepishly. Fíli merely laughed shaking his head.
"No please, we are equals Princess Sigrid," he said with a wink. "Besides I feel much as you do. I always knew what I was but I never expected it to happen. Now that it has though I still try to make sure that as I become the Prince and eventual King under the mountain that I am still me. That underneath it all I can still be just Fíli as I was raised in Ered Luin."
"Well just Fíli I think that you and Kíli should come and dine with Bain, Tilda and I tonight in our dinning hall. Since we have a hole separate on form da' now," Sigrid said with an eye roll and a smile.
"Why of course," Fíli said with a small bow at the waist. As his mustache braids swung with his smile Sigrid thought that at this moment this was what she would replace her dark memories of the healing tent with. This was how he should always look, handsome, golden, swinging mustache braids, and fitted leathers.