The Epic Love Story Begins

Lexi opened her eyes to find her head still pillowed on Fíli's leg, his arm draped loosely over her while he slept propped up against the stone alcove. Kíli dozed against the wall near her feet.

Lexi took the moment to do a thorough inventory of both her feelings and his face.

Lexi had feelings for this dwarf, that was undeniable. Best described as raw sort of attraction, if she was being honest. What else could it be? She barely knew him. It was so different to what she'd experienced before. She'd been physically attracted to people. She'd been intellectually attracted to people. She'd had attraction grow slowly, over time, as she grew to know people's kindness, humour and wit. What she had no experience with was this sort of all-encompassing, all consuming attraction. She wanted to learn everything about him. She wanted him to tell her everything about his life to this point. She wanted to watch him train with his weapons, joke with his brother, gather wood for the fire. She wanted to watch him live his life. Now and for always. She wanted to live it with him. It was weird.

She also wanted to crawl into his lap, straddle him and kiss him until they couldn't breathe.

Lexi puffed out a small breath. Time to haul in her thoughts a bit.

She examined his face.

It was a handsome face. Short beard but a long moustache with beaded ends. The sides of his hair held a couple of braids each side, ending with the same bead pattern. Lexi wondered about those beads and their significance. She glanced at Kíli, who didn't seem to have any, and back to Fíli who had several. Were they personally significant? Culturally significant? Most of the other dwarves seem to have some. Her eyes travelled up to his wavy long blond hair, framing his face. Strong nose. Unremarkable mouth.

His eyes opened. They stared at each other for a moment.

Then he leaned over and kissed her.

She kissed him back with everything she was worth.

It was like the universe exploded. She saw stars, or maybe she felts stars, or maybe she heard stars. She had never felt anything as good as his mouth on hers.

He broke the kiss and sat back. Her hand dropped from his face (when did it get there?). His hand remained on hers (when did it get there?).

He looked slightly breathless. She was sure she looked like she'd been hit by a truck.

She took back the thought about an unremarkable mouth.

His thumb stroked her cheek.

"We will talk." His voice was wonderful. She swore she could feel her pupils dilating even further.

She nodded, not trusting her voice.

Sitting up, she wriggled out of her bedroll, rolled it up and headed towards Bertha with it.

She attached it and rummaged in her pack for her mug and bowl that she'd need for breakfast.

She looked back towards Fíli and Kíli whose heads were bent together in what looked to be another intense conversation. They both looked up at her.

Fíli looked calm, like he was at peace with some decision he'd made. He smiled at her. She could feel an unstoppable smile start on her lips and realized she felt at peace too, maybe for the first time ever.

Kíli's eyes twinkled.


On that day's ride, Lexi spend most of her time talking to Bilbo, Bofur and Òin.

Bilbo needed a friend to fret to after hearing the orcs the night before. He explained that he always knew orcs were real, obviously, but he had never expected to see any first hand. Lexi sympathized. She knew what it was like to live in peace and for death and violence to be an abstract concept, until it wasn't. She let him talk about it until it seemed he'd come to terms that they might see and orc eventually. After that, he seemed to turn inwards and Lexi knew it was time to leave him to his own thoughts for a bit.

Bofur she found to be cheery and fun to talk to. She was also interested, through him, in his brother Bifur. Apparently, Bifur only spoke Khuzdul, the dwarven tongue. Lexi, of course, was interested in learning it and so took to asking Bofur to translate what Bifur had just said to develop a frame of reference. She tried asking Bofur about individual words, like she had a Revendell learning Sindarin, but he would just change the topic. He didn't seem interested in helping her learn it further. So she decided to keep learning it by simply asking him to translate what Bifur was saying. She already picked up a few phrases.

She thought it would be a nice surprise for Fíli if she just started talking in Khuzdul one day.

With Òin, she discussed healing. Many of the treatments they discussed were similar, but he did know some herbs and procedures that she did not and she knew some that were new to him. If either saw some useful foliage in their travels, they would investigate together and discuss the properties and uses and gather if needed. Lexi would never be a great warrior, but she could assist with healing arts if needed.

She avoided Thorin as much as possible. She found him intimidating. It didn't help that if he did happen to look her way, he seemed annoyed at her presence.

She couldn't blame him.

Even though Gandalf had insisted her company was vital, she didn't feel like she really had all that much to contribute. At least from Thorin's viewpoint. The promise that she might read a map for him one day, didn't really seem all that impressive. So, she just avoided him.

She had noticed that he seemed somewhat partial to Fíli and Kíli and wondered about it. Maybe it was because they were younger than the others. She wondered what he would think of the relationship that had roared to life between herself and Fíli. Maybe he wouldn't care or notice at all. After all, her had much bigger priorities.

Lexi was still figuring out the familial relationships between the dwarves. She started to associate the similar naming to family groups, but was still working all the different families out.

Over the course of the day, Lexi noticed that Fíli was never far away. When she moved up to talk to the next dwarf, Fíli moved up as well. If she dropped back, he'd move back. He wasn't right beside her, but he was always in proximity. She liked that.


When Thorin called camp for the night, he also assigned duties to all the dwarves. No one would ever dare to try to assign the wizard a task, so Gandalf did as he pleased. Thorin ignored Lexi and Bilbo, so they generally pitched in where they could and often one of the dwarves would ask for their help. Lexi thought it was more out of pity than needing them, but she'd take what she could get.

That night, Thorin tasked Fíli and Kíli to stock up on firewood for the night. Bombur had enough to start cooking, but as the nights continued to get cooler, they needed enough to last throughout the night. Lexi was very dutiful in helping to stock firewood. She'd come to learn that dwarves and hobbits were used to a cooler climate and while they were generally comfortable, she was always very cold. She didn't like being cold.

Fíli gestured for Lexi to follow them into the woods. She stretched and then traipsed after them. After a few minutes, the brothers stopped and Lexi caught up to them.

Kíli smiled at her and then his brother. "I'm going to go off, over there," he waved vaguely off to his right, "to gather the firewood. I'll meet you back at the campsite." He clapped Fíli on the back and then, astonishingly to Lexi, leaned in and kissed her forehead. Then he strolled off.

Lexi and Fíli watched him go for a few seconds, and then Fíli picked up her hand and led her towards a fallen log. Impulsively, Lexi brought Fíli's hand to her lips and kissed it. It just felt right.

He turned and looked at her.

She blushed.

He chuckled low in his throat and Lexi thought that there was no more beautiful sound.

Fíli sat down, straddling the log. Lexi did the same, facing him and close enough so their knees would touch. Fíli picked up both her hands and held them in his.

"Alexandra Archer, from a far-away foreign land, lost daughter, lost sister," he started out "All dwarves are born missing half their soul. Because of that, dwarves spend their lives filling their missing half with their passions. Great warriors with many battles will die with a whole soul. Smiths who create masterpieces from the fruits of the earth will die with a whole soul. A fulfilled soul is called an 'Âlimê'. It's what every dwarf aspires to. This is why our home is so important to us, because it is hard to achieve Âlimê when you are outcasts and wanderers." He paused.

'This is fascinating'. Thought Lexi, enthralled with the romance of the idea.

Fíli released one of her hands and cupped her face. "The rarest, and most precious form of Âlimê though, is when you find another…" He hesitated here, searching for the right word. "…person, who is the physical form of Âlimê. Your Amrâlimê. Your other half. Together, forever, you are whole."

Lexi drew a deep breath, trying to reconcile the feelings she was having with the word Fíli was saying to her.

Fíli brought up his other hand to cup the other side of her face, staring deeply into her eyes.

"You are my Amrâlimê."

Lexi's brain went into overdrive. Several thoughts fought for precedence.

Was she dreaming? No!

How could this be possible when she wasn't a Dwarrowdam? Her mind left that one alone.

Did she feel that way? How could she? She barely knew him.

He was a dwarf. She was man. He was a warrior. She was a scholar. He belonged to people who lived inside mountains. Deep inside. She lived outside, her whole life.

Dwarves would never accept her. They'd be like Thorin who obviously thought she was worthless.

What would Bilbo think? What would Gandalf say? Lord Elrond had always say she could go back to Rivendell. What would he think of this?

It was impossible. It was...

"Yes." She whispered.

Because it was true.

She felt it the truth of it throughout every fibre of her being. She was complete in a way with him that she was never before and would never be without him.

Lexi didn't know how it was true, just that is was.

Fíli leaned in an rested his forehead against hers. Lexi let out a deep breath and then started to laugh and cry. She was so happy.

Fíli leaned back, and looked somewhat amused at her cross purposes reaction.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She laugh/cried. "I'm just so, relieved." Relieved!? Did she just say that?

He produced a bead between his fingers. It matched the ones on his beard and braids.

"To make it official, may I braid this into your hair? It tells all who see it that we are one soul combined. That you are my Amrâlimê, and I am yours."

Lexi nodded. Wiping away her tears, she got up and turned around so her back was to him.

He produced a brush from somewhere on his person and began to unbraid her current style and comb it out.

As he worked, he started to drop featherweight kisses around her neck. She felt like she was pooling into liquid. He captured a section of her hair and slowly started braiding it down, finally attaching his bead on the end.

It was done. She was his and he was hers. Amrâlimê.

Fíli climbed off the log and then helped her off. He stood in front of her and fingered the bead in her hair.

And then he kissed her.

It was a sweet kiss. Soft and lingering.

Lexi responded in kind.

Then the kiss turned hungry, harder and more passionate. His hand flowed through her hair.

Lexi responded in kind.

She could do this forever.

Finally, they broke apart, panting. Aroused.

He took her hand and they headed back towards camp.

Lexi was a little nervous about the company noticing her hair. Bilbo and Gandalf might not grasp the significance, but she was sure the dwarves would. It was still sinking in, the magnitude of what she'd done. She'd pledged her life to Fíli; and his to her. She had no doubts, it was the right thing, the only thing, she could've done. The only thing she wanted to do.

But she was still nervous.

She took courage from Fíli, who walked with complete and utter self-assurance back into the camp.

As they reached area where the most of the company had gathered, the scene before them unfolded like a strange real-world diorama.

All the dwarves, almost in unison, turned to look at them. Most of their faces were studiously neutral.

Bofur's eyes had a friendly glint, as did Bifur's and Bombur's.

Ori looked scared.

Dwalin looked angry.

Bilbo looked confused.

Gandalf sat smoking his pipe, looking like he didn't even know or care what was going on.

Lexi snuck a look at Fíli. He surveyed the camp and he looked…proud. He looked back at her and smiled. A normal, everyday, smile. She took courage from that.

They both looked to Kíli, who was standing next to Thorin.

Kíli was not smiling and Thorin's face looked thunderous.

"Nephew! What have you done?"

Lexi's eyes went wide and her heart skipped a beat. Her head whipped towards Fíli. A single statement fell from her stunned lips.

"Nephew!"