Chapter II

Written for the Secret Lesbians Kiliel Week hosted on tumblr by hobbithelltrashsquad.

Day 2 - Cultural Differences.

A/N Now, when I wrote the first chapter of this fic it was supposed to be a one-shot, but during a very productive Sunday which I had planned to dedicate to my ongoing wip fics, my muse decided it would be awesome to continue the fluffy one-shot I wrote for Day 1.

So it appears this whole fic is becoming a multichapter thingy. At this point I think at least one more Day of the Secret Lesbians Week will be featured in this fic, maybe even two...

The moonlight fell on Kíli's closed eyelids, painting the Princess' skin in a soft whiteness, broken every now and then by the dark tendrils of her hair as they fell over her forehead. Tauriel brushed them gently away, eliciting a sigh from Kíli's slightly parted lips. Her long-lashed eyelids slowly began to lift, revealing her big dark eyes. She blinked sleepily and Tauriel felt a smile pull at her lips.

They were lying on the draughty attic of the abandoned house they had claimed as their own, Kíli's thick sturdy cloak sprawled on the stone floor underneath them while her own had been cast over them to shield their bodies from the waning chill of the last days of winter which. Shifting her legs so her booted feet tangled with Kíli's own, Tauriel turned her gazed to the patch of sky above them. The starlit sky was glimmering in all its beauty, singing with the distant memories which tangled with the ones they were making, soft and precious beyond measure, and she felt her heart hum with a peace like she had never felt before.

Kíli's calloused fingers were intertwined with her own, smaller but strong in their grip. Stalwart like her Dwarrowdam and Tauriel's eyes tore from the silvery starlight to gaze down at Kíli. She felt a smile tug at her lips while her heart expanded inside her chest, brimming with love. And she struggled still to believe she had been allowed this blessing, the precious gift of finding her, of holding her close to her fast-beating heart, counting each moment together as the miracle it was. She sighed softly, looking at her pale skin, stark against the darkness of her hair. And her eyes, wide and full of life in that moment, ephemeral as it was. She closed her eyes, trying not to dwell on the future.

Immortality had never seemed a burden to her. Not until she had laid eyes on Kíli, struggling against that giant spider in Mirkwood's underbrush. Tauriel had not realised it in the frenzy of the moment, but her heart had been lost the moment their eyes had met and the world had suddenly seemed duller whenever Kíli was not around. She could not bear thinking how it would all one day end. Thinking how brief their time together would be and how many ages of the world she would have to see, carrying only the memory of Kíli within her heart, bright like starlight.

And she had almost been denied even that. When she remembered they had walked so close to the edge of the precipice, so dangerously close to losing one another before they had even been allowed a chance, her heart clenched within her breast and she tightened her grip on Kíli's smaller body, burying her head in her dark locks while the memories of that battle coursed through her mind. The clash of steel against steel, the guttural snarls of their foes. And the fear, the horrible fear which had gripped the very marrow of her being at the sight of Kíli single-handedly attacking that giant Gundabad Orc.

It had been that soul-shattering terror which had made Tauriel lift her body – in spite of all the biting aches which had torn her flesh at every painful step she had taken – and blindly throw herself into the fray, unthinking, unfeeling, filled only with the knowledge that Kíli had hadto live. That nothing in the world would have been right had she lost her then. They had fought viciously, but with every dodged blow Tauriel had known it had been a forlorn hope. Had Legolas failed to come to their aid, Tauriel knew they would have both died, and the memory made her shudder lightly, burying her nose in Kíli's hair and inhaling the smell of damp stone and metal that was her.

"Tauriel?" Kíli's voice made her lift her head from her mane and she saw her large dark eyes filled with concern.

"It's nothing meleth nín." she replied softly, brushing away another lock that had stubbornly fallen over her bearded cheek.

"You look terribly pensive." Kíli told her cheekily and she chuckled lightly, feeling her tension dissipate in the wake of Kíli's light-heartedness.

She tangled a strand of Kíli's hair around her finger, toying with it while the ripples of mirth still reverberated within her, reminding her Kíli was here with her, alive and beautiful with her wild mane of untameable hair. She ran her fingers through it, feeling its texture against her skin.

"I would love to braid your hair." she said absent-mindedly, closing her eyes as she tried to picture her Dwarrowdam with a set of Elven braids.

A pair of simple braids, tangling her hair from her temples to the back, pulling back the same strands of hair Kíli usually bound back with her metal clasp. Tauriel could see it in her mind's eye clearly. And her fingers moved unconsciously, combing through her locks. She loved Kíli's hair, it was soft and strong at the same time. Much like Kíli herself, she thought with a smile, opening her eyes.

Only to meet Kíli's startled stare.

"You want to braid my hair?" Kíli breathed, disbelief dripping from every word and Tauriel found herself inclining her head with a frown even as she told her

"Is... is there something wrong in that?" hair-braiding was a normal enough practice amongst her kin and Tauriel had seen the Dwarves wear elaborate braids in their hair and beards, so she did not understand.

"No, there is nothing wrong with that." Kíli replied seriously, fixing her with and unreadable look in her brown eyes, then she added "But only family braids each other's hair."

"Oh." she exclaimed "I didn't..."

"If you braided my hair" Kíli continued, her eyes boring into hers "it would mean you wish to pledge yourself to me."

And Tauriel inhaled, feeling something sing within her as she gazed at the earnest expression on her Dwarrowdam's face. To pledge herself to her. To Kíli, who was so beautiful, so full of life and energy, bursting with joy at the smallest things. Whose eyes would so often sparkle with barely concealed mischief and her smile... Her smile was like a ray of sunlight breaking through a skyful of thunderclouds, like the warmth of sweet mead in the winter chill, like the brightest starlight, mesmerising in its beauty.

"Meleth nín." she whispered wide-eyed "There is nothing I would wish better than joining you in body and soul for what brief years the Valar may give us."

Kíli stared at her, eyes wide and filled with a mixture of joy and disbelief Tauriel felt her heart flutter like the beating of a thousand wings in the summer breeze. She raised her body until she was kneeling by Kíli's side

"I would braid your hair, Kíli of Erebor." she said solemnly "If you would have me."

And Kíli lay still for a breathless moment, merely looking at her in wonderment, before her lips moved in a tentative smile which soon grew into a wide grin. She scrambled up, throwing her arms around her and capturing Tauriel's lips in a kiss which held all the answers to the mysteries of the world, all the notes and tunes of the Song within the taste of her lips and the warmth of her breath.

"Yes." she exclaimed when they drew apart "Yes, Tauriel. I would have you. Now. Tomorrow. Forever."