A/N: I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Here's the next chapter. It back tracks to Tauriel's POV from just before she wakes to Kili's kiss, to when she is taken from him. It then shifts to Kili's POV after he's left the council.
Some readers have voiced they think 22 years is too long. As I have discussed with them, and for the rest of you, I have based that on the geneology of Durin's line as well as what Tolkien himself wrote. Dwarfs don't marry until 90 on up, though it seems the maids marry as early as 80. Though on the geneology charts for the line of Durin there is a little more than 100 between parent and child indicating they marry at 100. I've decided given the evidence that they marry later in deference to Durin I, the only one of the Seven Fathers that did not have his wife beside him when he woke. He obviously had to find his wife before he could father his line.
Thank you for following, DarkDivine131 and for favoriting, Hirstonostore Onediel and AkyraSam.
Nen
Chapter 8
Tauriel felt as if she were floating as she became aware, a feeling of immense sadness surrounding her. It was grief and detachment. Meleth nîn, I am sorry. I did not wish for you to be in pain. As her awareness sharpened, she could feel Kíli's physical pain as well. The simple and necessary act of breathing produced a deep ache. His exertion made her feel like she was suffocating. She could feel his rising panic as he tried to force more air into his lungs. A desire to wrap him in her arms was overwhelming, but impossible.
What was it Eru said? She would sleep until Kíli woke her? Was that a small flash of happiness? Why did that cause his grief to well up? How long had she been asleep? She could not hear his words, but she knew he most have called her name, but what frightened him? Why could she not feel anything around her than what was Kíli?
Then his pains were gone from her. She felt heavy. She could hear people and animals moving about. Feel the scratchiness of Kíli's beard against her face and his soft lips against her own as he kissed her.
She pressed into his kiss, returning its gentleness. Then he broke it. She opened her eyes. Her sight was blurred, but even so, she knew that face framed with dark hair. "Kíli?"
"Amrâlimê," Kíli chocked out. She felt him pull her up into his strong arms. The sound of his beating heart filled her ears. The most beautiful sound she had ever heard.
His hair tickled her face as he leaned his forehead on hers. The last time he'd done that, she'd been unable to deny the depth of what she felt. That simple gesture had started what was to be their wedding, a deep and enduring bond. Does he know?
She could feel his tears drip onto her face and dampen her hair. "Amrâlimê, I know what that means now." She brushed away his tears with a caress.
He held her even tighter as he kissed her again, lingering and gentle. She could feel the bond between them as love and happiness flowed from him. His grief was still there, but not so achingly hopeless. She opened her heart to him, sending love and comfort as she fumbled with her new arms to return his embrace.
#
Most of the dwarves had disappeared into the mountain, all giving their King as much privacy as they could in such a tender moment.
She still could not make her new eyes focus as Kíli and one, a female, he kept calling Amad helped her to her feet. How was she now shorter than him? There was something she was forgetting in this.
Walking felt awkward, as she was not familiar with this new body. That was it; she would start life anew as one of Aulë's Children. "Kíli?"
"Hhhmm?" She could hear a hint of his resonate voice in that simple sound.
"How different am I? Tell me, please, I cannot see clearly."
He stopped and turned her towards him, his grip on her shoulders firm, but gentle. It was harder to see even the blur of contrast of his face now that they were inside the mountain. "It must be because your eyes are new. Mahal would not send you to me blind."
Her eyes closed as she felt him caress her face. He pressed a gentle kiss to each eyelid.
"You are as beautiful as ever. Your face is the one I know and love. You're shorter and thicker of body and limb. Slender and tall for a dwarrowdam though. Your hair is still its beautiful copper, and your eyes their same green." She felt him trace an ear. "Your ears, well, dwarven with a hint of point."
She could hear the same sense of wonder in his voice she had when he'd described the fire moon.
"Kíli, my Little Raven, the Council is expecting us."
Ah, the female dwarf. The term of endearment, it must be his mother. Of course, silly, amad is mother. Words and meanings floated through her mind. Mahal must have given her Khuzdal as he had the seven fathers; it was just still a jumble.
"Majesty, the Princess Dís is right."
Yes, and there is the other; the voice of the one that was helping Kíli walk. She had noticed her own stumbling was causing him difficulty.
"Grund, I am in no mood to hurry. Why does anyone bother with 'My King' or 'Majesty' when I seem to be ordered about at their whim?"
She could hear the indignant tone in his voice as well as wheezing as he breathed. "Kíli, are y-"
"That will change at your coronation." A sigh from, Grund, was it? "Mind your breathing. It won't do to have you under Óin's care in your rooms during the feast tonight."
"You must be his body servant. Grund, did he call you?"
"Yes, Milady."
"Tauriel!"
"What?"
"Why would you ask such a thing?"
She had to laugh at his exasperation. "I have lived in a Royal court before, oh King Under the Mountain. It is useful to know who is always near to you."
#
When they arrived at the door, her sight was beginning clear. The images were still fuzzy but no longer just smears of color and contrast.
There appeared to be four dwarrow, no, what was it he'd called her? Ah, dwarrowdam, two dwarrow and two dwarrowdams waiting.
"Majesty." One of the maids bowed to him, and then turned to Dís, "Milady." Another bow. She then turned to face Tauriel. "This must be Lady Tauriel, Milord Erlic has instructed us to gather her and prepare her for tonight."
"Prepare her? For what?"
The two maids, a guard close behind each, separated her from Kíli and his mother. Two more guards entered from a hall so they surrounded her and the maids. Kíli and Dís had both stepped back in what Tauriel realized was an automatic response to some social protocol.
She could hear Kíli as they guided her away from him. "Amad? Why has he taken her? I've just got her back!"
#
Kíli left the council both relieved and annoyed. Relieved the council chose his Tauriel to be his bride, annoyed he wouldn't have her alone by his side for many years to come.
Two chaperones. Was his reputation really that ba- "Uuuhhhhnn."
"What is it my Little Raven?"
"Am I really that untrustworthy around a maid?"
"Just how did you end up wed to an elf at age 77," She cuffed his ear.
"Ow! Amad, I'm not a dwarfling anymore."
"Don't whine like one then," she sighed. "Kíli, you weren't even old enough to wed, and still aren't. By Mahal's beard, you have to be the most promiscuous dwarf ever. Given how Elves marry, how else could you end up married underage to one?"
He stopped short his eyes wide. "Amad, here in the halls?" He motioned around him. "Wouldn't this be better in private?"
"You started this conversation." She gave him a stern look. "It isn't like no one knows, now is it? By feast time the gossip of the Kingdom will have made its way around to those who don't."
"You're upset with me, Amad." Kíli cast his eyes at the floor and walked past her. "And at the feast, they will see her presented to me for consideration. A formality really, there is no one else I would choose."
"Of course I am upset with you." She grabbed his arm. "How many lectures did both your Uncle and Balin have to give you about bedding maids? Look where it led?"
"I was already in love with her, when she chose to gift me with herself." He closed his eyes. "Don't make it sound like I was just tumbling a willing barmaid." His vision blurred as his breathing became labored. "Ser…ious…ly, A…mad my h…alls are n…ot for dis…cus…sing who m…ay or m…ay not h…ave been i…in my b…ed or wh…en."
Grund moved up closer and slid in next to him for support, forcing him fully upright. "Milady, shall we continue?"
"Does this happen often?"
Kíli could hear the concern in his mother's voice. "Aye."
"Milady, he has only been up and around a month. He's getting better."
Kíli gave his mother a reassuring smile as he regained his breath. "Sûlindiel, the Elven healer that removed the damaged part of my lung, said it will take time. She's pleased with my progress; enough that when Thranduil leaves after my coronation she'll be following this time."
"Kíli. I'm sorry, Little Raven. I jus...By Mahal, the two of you must truly love each other for him to have blessed you so." She shook her head. "I just never imagined you wedding an elf."
Kíli snorted. "It is evident no one thought I would wed at all."
Grund held the door to the King's apartments open for them.
"Why do you say that," she asked as she stepped into the rooms that once belonged to her Grandfather.
Kíli followed and soon collapsed into a large chair by the hearth. "I was not given my Presentation Day until last night, a little over eight years overdue."
Grund slid the ottoman under his feet and went to brew tea.
"No maid in Ered Luin accepted a request for a dance or walk with me."
His mother remained silent.
"You had to have noticed, Amad."
"Aye. A royal line in exile doesn't make nobles fall over themselves for a match. They thought it enough they had Fíli. Had Thorin not named you boys his heirs, not even he would have had his day."
"They would've let the line die with us?"
She nodded. "As to your difficulty in catching a maid's eye on your own...that, my son is your own doing. Your pranks on the maids when you were children were no help. A few have yet to forgive you for having to be shaved bald."
"I didn't know it would ruin their hair," he mumbled.
"Your tendency to tumble barmaids, as you put it, of the daughters of men." She looked at him scolding. "If you'd been half as cleaver as you thought in keeping it secret you wouldn't have been lectured about it."
"It was only three times I was lectured, it was only one lass." He scowled. "I don't suppose the fact I was drunk and she was offering to teach me the mystery and charm of maids the first makes any difference?"
She raised an eyebrow. "No. What excuse for the other two times?"
"Cleverer than you know; it was more than three." He gave her a sheepish grin. "Honestly, Amad? It felt good and I enjoyed her company." He sighed and shrugged. "She was a comely lass, who alas, turned out to have several lovers."
"Had we not lost our home, had you been born into proper Dwarven society rather than in exile, you would not have had those indiscretions."
"Perhaps." He looked at his mother. "Were you Presented mother?"
"No. My adad was missing, and Thorin too busy to stand for him. So, like a common dwarrowdam, I chose a promising bachelor on my own terms. Jory was newly arrived to our settlement. He was an Erebor dwarf, just one that had ended up with one of the other wandering groups. He had learned a respectable trade as a silversmith, even if it had been in a city of Men."
"That is the other problem, isn't Amad? I didn't pick a respectable trade." He stared into the flames.
"A hunter? Necessary and expected skill, but not thought highly of in a dwarrow mate when it is a trade. Though in exile, it should've. Caravan guard? Good experience for a warrior, not for a husband. No, Little Raven, dwarrowdams want a husband that will be home to protect and provide for them, not one they see for a few days a year if they are lucky and likely to leave them widowed young."
He let his heavy lids close, drifting off to sleep the stresses of the day winning out. "If I had not been born in exile, I wouldn't exist," he mumbled.
#
Tauriel's vision had fully recovered by the time she was ushered into a set of rooms with her new protectors around her. Why had Kíli let them take her? He'd sounded upset about it, but had stepped aside as they separated her from him.
An older dwarrowdam in fine clothing approached her as she the door shut behind them. "Oh, Erlic was right you are quite exotically lovely and such a young dwarrowdam. She circled around coming to stand before her. "Old enough for a proper Presentation yet not old enough to be without a family to protect you."
"I am perfectly capable of protecting myself; I was a Captain of King Thranduil's guard."
"A fine Queen you'll make our King, a warrior yourself," the older dam smiled, "You are an elf no longer, my child, yes about sixty or so I'd say, like Lord Hagen's Cami, barely old enough to be presented to him for Consideration. It is well, the Sons of Durin marry later, or you would not be old enough when he is of age."
"Kíli is already my husband."
"Ah, child. As my husband said to me briefly before heading to council, 'The lad wed an elf. She died. Mahal has sent her back as a dwarrowdam. I will see him wed her proper this time. The lad has said he would've courted her proper had he known.'"
"If he did not know. How is it known he wed me?" Tauriel arched an eyebrow.
"It is said the Elf Prince, seeking an honorable burial for the body you once had, figured out you had wed and informed him." She smiled. "That is past now, dear. Erlic is certain we can get you named our daughter so you may be Presented to our young King."
"Why do I have to be presented to him? I already know him?"
"There is much you need to learn Tauriel. You cannot wed him if you are not Presented proper and go through the Courtship rituals. Not with him promising to wed who the Council chose."
Tauriel looked at the older dam, her eyes wide.
"Don't panic child. Erlic wouldn't be adopting you, if he was not going to support you both in this. No one would normally force a choice on any dwarrow, especially not one widowed, if Kíli not made his promise so to keep his crown. Our people do not wed again."
"Do I call you amad then?"
"Aye, daughter, you do." She smiled. "You should know my name as well, Miri."
