Author's note: I've had this chapter written since yesterday. I was gonna wait a week, but I thought you guys deserved a late Christmas gift. ;D Enjoy, and I always love the reviews! Can't believe I've gotten some already. You guys are amazing. x Also, don't be afraid to post what you hope to see in this. I might take it into consideration since I don't have all the kinks worked out yet. c: Just sayin'!


Kili woke some time later. It was still night out, but he woke to the sound of his brother's violent coughing. He felt like he had been kicked by a horse, and his brain throbbed painfully against his skull to the beat of his heart. He groaned, running his hand over his face, and he forced himself off the cot that he had spent who knows how long on.

"Fili," he whispered, his voice still somewhat hoarse from the amount of time he had spent not speaking. His brother was still coughing, and Kili couldn't tell in the darkness if Fili was conscious or not. He trudged over to the torches, lighting them and then filling a small wooden bowl with water. He could hear the stirrings of guard outside the door of the tent, but he ignored him. He needed to take care of his brother, like he had done for Kili all their years of living.

Once he drew near his brother, he saw him stirr. His head was now bandaged, and he could see other multiple cuts and bruises that littered the young dwarf's arms and legs. He was only clothed in what they all wore on their armor, and his hair was slick with sweat.

"Kili?" Fili's voice was barely above a whisper, and Kili's heart beat rapidly against his chest. He couldn't bear it if his brother passed now. They did everything together; it had always been that way. No, he couldn't allow his brother to die. Not without joining him.

"Shh. You're going to be okay." Kili slipped his hand under his brother's head, lifting it at the same time he lowered the bowl to Fili's parched lips, which started to drink the water as greedily as Kili himself had done earlier that evening. His brother didn't say anything more, just finished the water and then fell back into a state of unconsciousness.

"You shouldn't be up and walking." Tauriel's voice sounded behind him, causing him to flinch and then tense, instinctively trying to grab at a sword that wasn't at his hip. He quickly realized that he wasn't being attacked, and he bent down to pick the bowl that had fallen from his grasp in the misunderstanding.

"I have to take care of him," he said simply, limping slightly to fill the bowl once more with water, intending to wash Fili's face free of the grime of war, like Tauriel had gone for Kili earlier. Tauriel's fingers clamped down on his wrist as he reached for the basin, however, and Kili glanced up at Tauriel, eyes flashing irritably.

"Let go. I need to care for my brother." He tried to speak with conviction, to make the elf understand just why he needed to do this, but she didn't appear to understand. She kept her hand wrapped around his wrist, keeping him from the water, and just stared at him until he grew uncomfortable and looked at his feet. He knew of the intensity of elves, but it had been a foreign concept to him until he laid his eyes on those of Rivendell. The emotion was almost nonexistent amongst dwarves.

"I'm sure your brother would be giving you all kinds of trouble if he knew you were up and about when you weren't supposed to be, am I right?" The she-elf's words caused the young dwarf to pause, and he scowled but relented, handing the bowl over to Tauriel. She took it, her face crumbling into something more relaxed, and then lead him over to his cot.

His brother started to mutter in his sleep, and Kili swallowed roughly, his grief threatening to pool over. He was surprised the other dwarves hadn't come to see them yet. He would imagine that they'd want to know they were okay. Then again, perhaps no one had survived. Tauriel had said that the dwarves had taken heavy casualties. The thought made Kili feel exceptionally sick to his stomach, so he locked it away in the recesses of his mind.

"Now, you're going to sit there, and you're going to tell me about your home." Tauriel's lovely voice brought him out of the painful haze he seemed to be stuck in, and he slightly shook his head, clearing his thoughts as he looked at her.

"What?" He asked. He had understood the question, but hadn't understood her intent. Why would an elf care about where he had come from? "The blue mountains aren't my home," he told her truthfully. He had lived there most of his life. Yet, it had never felt quite like home to him. He and Fili had grown up on stories about Erebor from his uncle, and yet, he had never been in its halls.

"I want you to tell me of Erebor. I want you to tell me why it is so important that you had to awaken a sleeping dragon fiercely guarding its treasure and kill it in order to reclaim it." The she-elf seemed genuinely interested, and she pulled up a chair so that she could sit next to his bed and listen. It was then that Kili noted just how beautiful the elf was.

And so he did just what he asked. He told her all about the stories he had grown up on. Told her the stories that had decided his fate in joining the Company when he learned they were going to reclaim their home. "I'm of Durin's folk. Besides this being my home, I felt like it was something I had to do. Besides, Fili was going and there's no way he could be going anywhere without me." Kili turned to catch the gaze of Tauriel, who was smiling faintly. "Why does Starlight smile?" He asked, mirroring Tauriel and grinning crookedly. He could almost forget that his uncle was dead and that his brother could very well be following. Almost.

"You and your brother are strange. I've never seen siblings act so fondly around each other. Elves don't have siblings similar in age very often. Did you know that? Perhaps that is why. Us elves are a slow growing race, so elf children are rare." She slowly fell into silence, her eyes shifting through memories of her life. "Now, tell me about Fili. What sort of trouble did he get you in when you were younger?" The she-elf leaned her head against the palm of her hand, staring at the young dwarf sideways as she prepared to listen to whatever story he was going to tell her. It made Kili slightly uneasy. No one had ever treated him so kindly, except for his mother. He didn't expect it to come from anyone, much less an elf. Much less a woman.

"It was more the other way around, if I'm honest. One time, I was being bullied for not having the 'proper dwarvish beard'," he held up fingers around the last part of the sentence, "and we got in so much trouble for coming home, bloodied and bruised for defending my honor." Kili laughed from the memory, wincing as the action caused pain to radiate through his bruised body. Tauriel opened her mouth to speak again, but Kili held his hand up, shaking his head slightly.

"I want you to talk about the stars some more," he admitted quietly. He remembered his time in Mirkwood. He remembered her telling him that the stars were a symbol of hope and memory. It was something he desperately needed right now.

Tauriel's mouth was slow to close, and she stared at him for a moment, deep in thought. When she opened her mouth again, it was to do just what he asked.


Author's note: Guh. I wanna post this right now. D; I figure spacing them out will be a good idea though...gives time for readers to squirm and all that good jazz. c; - This was written when I was gonna wait a week to post it. Lucky you guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next one we'll probably find out Fili's fate, as well as the other dwarves. ;D Remember to review. xox