AN: Second chapter! Like I said, I'm not exactly sure where this is headed yet, but I just wanted to further explore interracial relationships in Middle Earth, and I wanted to delve deeper in Tauriel's character and explore various cultures' beliefs about the afterlife. Read and review! Thank you everyone! :)

While Kili's body was not quite yet cool, and the last weak rays of the sun were fading from the sky, Fili, King under the Mountain, came to Tauriel. Upon entering the room, he took note of her face and said, "He is already gone."

"Yes, my lord. I am sorry you were not called earlier, Fili." Tauriel spoke gravely, and lifted her tearstained face to look at him.

Fili, old and frail, hobbled over to the bedside of his younger brother whom he had now outlived. "Farewell, my brother," he whispered. "May we meet again soon in the Halls of Waiting."

Then he looked up to Tauriel, and asked gently, "My lady, what will you now do?" and her face crumpled, and Fili held her as she wept.

"Was this how it felt," she said tearfully, "when you lost Sigrid?"

Fili released her from his embrace, and she could see the pain in his eyes remembering scores of years ago when he had lived happily with his wife, a daughter of Men. He nodded slowly. "It felt like this."

"And how did you go on?" she asked carefully.

Fili sighed. "I had my children, and my brother, and my friends," he said, "and… I never stopped hoping."

"For what?"

"For something beyond this life. For… a heaven, or another life, or another chance. I don't know exactly what, but…"

"But…" Tauriel started, "do not dwarves wait in the Halls of Mahal after their death, and Men and Elves wait in the Halls of Mandos?"

"It is said," began Fili. "But then again, it has also been said by the ancient prophets that a battle will come, the Dagor Dagorath, the battle to end all battles. It will destroy Arda itself, and a time will come when it is the dwarves who will rebuild it. And how can we rebuild Arda when we are with our Maker in his halls?"

"You believe that… someday, the dead will be released?"

Fili smiled. "My dear, even Morgoth himself will be released someday at the Dagor Dagorath. Someday, all that is good will conquer all that is evil, and the peoples of Middle-Earth may all be blessed with eternal life, and live together in harmony."

Fili and Tauriel were quiet for a long time, in thoughts and dreams of the bleak-looking future, searching for shreds of hope that they could hold onto, desperately awaiting the day when all would be set right. Fili broke the silence by saying, "Soon, I too will go to my fathers. Tauriel, I would have you be with your people when that time comes. I wish not to bring you any more grief."

"You would have me leave you?" Tauriel looked shocked.

"It might make it easier-"

"Fili, you are my king, my friend, and my brother through marriage. I consider you as a blood brother, and while you yet draw breath, I will not leave you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. I will not leave you."

Fili looked up at her in surprise, and he smiled, saying, "I thought Kili was mad at first, but he certainly picked a good one."

Some months passed, and time went on, and Fili's eldest son continued his royal education as he prepared to succeed his father. Without his younger brother by his side, Fili weakened steadily. Tauriel was with him every day, hoping each day would not be the last. She felt as though she could not bear to lose Fili too. He had lived for over eight score years, though, which she knew was a great age for a dwarf. Still it seemed cruelly short to her, an Elf almost 800 years old, and still considered young to her people. Yes, Tauriel knew about death, and understood it, but to her it seemed utterly unnatural and unjust. Why should she be granted eternal life, simply because of who she was born to be? What good would it do her, to live forever but to be lonely?

Tauriel thought often about these sorts of things, and wondered if different races had not been intended to intermarry. Perhaps the Valar had not meant for this to happen. Tauriel wondered if she had done something wrong, falling in love with a dwarf. Perhaps her grief was her punishment, an eternity of sadness her payment for six score years of bliss. Still, she could not say that she would have done anything differently. The sadness, sharp and painful though it was, was somehow bittersweet: it marked the happiness she had once had. If she had had to choose between living with Kili and losing him, or never even meeting him at all, she would always choose Kili.