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STARS AND HAMMERS

Rivendell and the Shire

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"Paint" Paper Kites


Tauriel was pouring over three books at once in the large study room when a voice pierced through her thoughts.

"Are you looking for something specific?" she'd heard, and it made her jump. Had she been so focused on her task that she hadn't heard the footsteps of another elf?

"Lindir, you startled me." Tauriel released a breath.

He raised a brow at her. "I consider that a compliment, to have snuck up on the Captain of King Thranduil's guard."

"Take it as you will, but that rank is not mine anymore." She held back a frustrated sigh. "And, yes, I am looking for something…" Tauriel hesitated a moment, wondering just how much information she was willing to give—and considering how her beloved would feel if she outright announced the gouge Kili was already so embarrassed about. But coming right to it, Tauriel simply said, "Morghul wounds."

Lindir did not look shocked, but he seemed to be scanning her face, his arms clasped behind his back as he came to stand beside the study table. "I can't be certain, but I don't think our library will help you much."

Trying to brush off her disappointment, Tauriel closed the three books and returned them to their shelves. "I had heard that your Master was a skilled healer—"

"I did not say Lord Elrond has never treated morghul poison; I only said that this library does not have what you are looking for. His private study-room has many medical tomes."

Relief washed through Tauriel's middle and she smiled. "May I speak with him?"

"Unfortunately, lady Tauriel," Lindir frowned, "He has already departed on a journey I cannot speak of and he does not mean to return for some time."

But Tauriel was undaunted. "Then perhaps Lord Elrond will not mind…"

Lindir held up a hand. "I am not permitted to enter his study without permission." And when Tauriel's face fell, he took a step toward her. "But I will write to my Master, if you are willing to wait for a reply."

"I cannot wait," Tauriel said, hoping Lindir didn't think her impatient. "The Prince and I are accompanying Master Baggins to the Shire. However, we will be passing by here to return to the Lonely Mountain sometime afterward. I wonder if we could impose on you once more when the time comes…"

"You are welcome to stay as long as you like and welcome to revisit whenever you please," Lindir said with a smile and a short bow.

It never ceased to impress Tauriel, the generosity these elves showed- so very different from her homeland, and the respect they showed even to her dwarf companion. By now they made it clear that they understood she and the Prince were romantically involved and they remained indifferent to the pairing. Indifference was more than Tauriel expected, anticipating the same censure as King Thranduil's subjects.

"You are too kind," Tauriel returned the bow.

Lindir's expression suddenly became concerned. "If it is not too personal a question, may I ask if it is you who suffers from a morghul wound?"

"No, it is not I," She answered, sitting down in a chair beside the study table as Lindir did the same. "It is someone dear to me, though I cannot say who. I treated the wound a year ago and it has yet to heal. We fear there may be lingering poison and I do not know how to counteract it."

Lindir nodded, fixing her with thoughtful eyes. "I am not as knowledgeable as my lord, but I have seen the difficulties of such injuries. The poison can increase over time and eventually overpower the victim if not properly treated."

While she did her best to not react too strongly, the thought of the poison consuming Kili was too much for Tauriel to contemplate without fear and Lindir pulled his chair closer to her.

"If this companion is as dear as you say, then the wound must be cleansed soon. I've no doubt Master Elrond will be able to heal it, but until then there are other things you can do."


"Arches" Agnes Obel


Kili and Bilbo were discussing their plans to head for the Shire the next morning when the dwarf caught sight of his red-headed lover approaching them.

"Tauriel," He smiled, taking her hand as she came to stand beside him.

The hobbit eyed the two of them with a warm smile before muttering something about having to finish his packing, making his way down the path. Kili very much doubted Bilbo had any packing to do, but he appreciated the moment alone.

"I have something for you," Tauriel was beaming. She held small cloth sack and led Kili back to their guest room, refusing to answer his questions until they were alone.

"What are you up to, schemer?" Kili raised a playful eyebrow at her. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he watched her kneel before him on the floor, tugging at his boots. Cocking his head sideways at her, he fixed her with smoldering eyes, twining a finger through her hair and resisting the urge to fling her onto the bed and crawl on top of her. If she wanted to take her time with him, he wouldn't resist.

A pleasant stab of anticipation ran through his limbs and it took a good amount of his willpower to keep himself still as she removed the other boot and started tugging on his pants. With the trousers on the floor, he couldn't help himself and, still sitting on the bed, pulled at her waist to bring her closer and covered her jawline in heated kisses.

"Rwalaer," Tauriel purred, gently pressing him away. Confusion poured like a bucket of cold water over his heated senses as she removed herself from him, taking out a packet of herbs and laying a warm, wet towel over the hole in his thigh.

"Tauriel, what—"

"Lindir gave me medicine for your wound."

Kili completely simmered down at the realization that she hadn't meant to have her way with him at all—but had intended from the start to prod his painful injury once more.

A frustrated growl erupted from his throat. "So you told him about this, did you?"

Tauriel kept her eyes on Kili's leg, pulling up the towel. "I didn't tell him that it was for you." Even though her face was blank, he could still see the signs that his accusation had been hurtful.

Kili shook his head and sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you're only trying to help." He shook his head again. "I don't know why I do that, I don't know what comes over me."

"You're in pain daily, I understand that. It could turn anyone into a grump."

"You, of all people, do not deserve my grumpiness." Kili muttered, clenching his jaw. "That hurts, what are you doing?"

Tauriel looked up with sympathetic eyes. Kili hated when she did that. Not because he hated her sympathy, but because it was always a prelude to something unpleasant that neither of them would enjoy.

"I have to press this in deep," She held out a mint-colored paste in a cup. "It's not going to be easy to take, but it should free you from pain for a week or so before I have to do it again. Much better than the herbs we've used every morning."

Kili couldn't help the shudder that ran through him and he rubbed his hands over his face. "And Lindir says that this will work? Tauriel, I trust you, but I obviously don't look forward to—"

"We have to try." Tauriel pleaded, setting down the cup of paste and taking his hands in hers. "I don't want to hurt you, but he says that if we don't care for this injury properly, the poison will increase and consume you in time. Lord Elrond can heal it fully, Lindir says, but we do not know when he will return…"

Kili nodded, clenching his eyes shut. "Just do it, then." Because his eyes were closed, he didn't see that Tauriel had leaned toward him, but he felt her press her lips against his and the hand smoothing over his hair. He grabbed with both hands at the base of her skull and pulled her closer with a strength he normally didn't use for fear of hurting her, but she didn't seem to object. The kiss was desperate, speaking his fear of the pain he knew would be close to unbearable.

Pressing his forehead against hers and taking a calming breath, he whispered, "I love you. I trust you. Let's just get this done and over with."

Tauriel nodded and immediately adopted a clinical expression. Taking up the cup and kneeling between his knees, Tauriel looked at the gaping hole in Kili's thigh and began smoothing the paste over the wound.

It was muddy and cold, causing Kili to shiver at the touch, but then it began to sting and he let out a hiss, clenching his fists against the blankets and sitting as still as he could manage while Tauriel used a small wooden tube to press the paste deeper into the wound.

"Gah!" He cried out, gritting his teeth and letting his head roll back, all of his efforts concentrated on keeping his leg from kicking out as Tauriel continued to work over the wound. It felt as though he were being stabbed by icicles, the cold burrowing into his inner muscles and causing him to shake. As much as he'd told himself he could handle it, his leg was screaming at him as painfully as it had during his first fever in Laketown.

"Stop." Kili moaned. "Please, stop—it's too much!"

"It's done," Tauriel held her hands up, but it continued to make him writhe and Kili felt something dripping down his calf. "Kili, open your eyes—look."

His own gasping breaths and grinding teeth were loud in his ears, but he craned his neck to look downward and realized that the mint-green of the paste was turning black and seeping out of him.

"It's drawing out the poison." Tauriel sighed in relief, using a cloth to wipe away the black line travelling down his leg from the weeping wound..

Kili's breathing was still heavy, but he admitted to himself that the stinging and coolness of the paste was lessening with each moment, until finally it was replaced with a warm, calming sensation that was almost pleasurable. He didn't care that his groan of relief was loud, and he fell backward on the bed, staring up at the ceiling and thanking Mahal that the searing agony was over.

He felt Tauriel wiping at the skin and wrapping his leg before her weight shifted the bed, coming to join him. Laying on her side and looking into his face, she looked hesitant to touch him.

"Better, melamin?" Her lips worked into a nervous smile.

Kili was somewhere between the waking world and sleep, his relief and sudden weightlessness causing him to close his eyes in contentment. "Mahal, yes." He scooted tiredly closer to her, burrowing into the warmth of her neck and resting a hand on her waist. "I didn't realize how much I was hurting until now."

The combing of her fingers through his hair threatened to finish his battle with consciousness, so soft and gentle was the sensation that ran all the way down his spine.

"You've been bearing it for so long, it must be a relief to live without it for a time." She whispered and he nodded in agreement, but the energy the nod required taxed his meager reserves and he heard himself softly snoring as his entire body relaxed and gave in to sweet sleep.


"Every Age" Jose Gonzalez


Tauriel stayed where she was, laying on her side atop the plush bed and running her fingers through the hair of the sleeping dwarf who had burrowed until he was practically beneath her. His soft breaths were pleasant to listen to and the warmth of his body seemed to be returning to him quickly. She'd been concerned for him, at first, when the paste had made his whole body cold to the touch, but pressed against her in this fashion, she could feel each limb as it regained its heat.

Her fingers brushed against his ear and she tucked the hair behind it, looking at it with wonder in one of the rare moments that she had an opportunity—Kili was very self-conscious of his ears and she wondered if it had something to do with them being so round and large, while hers were so narrow and pointed. No matter what he thought of them, she considered them manly and adorable, if ever such a combination existed. She ran her finger along his earlobe, delighting in the stolen moment and wondering if the touch would wake him. But it didn't and Tauriel ran the pulp of her finger along the lines of the ear, left to her curiosity in peace.

That is, until he moaned in some sort of approval.

Tauriel paused for a moment, alarmed that she may have done something wrong, but his grip on her waist tightened and she felt the skin on her neck being kissed. Interested in provoking a stronger reaction, she rubbed more firmly against his earlobe and waited for a response. And, by the Valar, she got one.

A loud, sensuous moan left his lips along with a plea to be gentle. "You could finish me off with those ears, love."

But she didn't have time to learn just what he meant because his eyes opened and a lopsided grin widened on his lips, his energy returning with a fury while Tauriel found herself being pinned to the bed.

The elf was thrilled to note that Kili did not seem to be affected by pain as he had previously, and even more so that he was alive in a way he hadn't been before, proving his recovered strength through his heated kisses and strong movement. She couldn't remember having been so passionately coupled with him before.


"Black Flies" Ben Howard


It was another four days before they came to the edges of Hobbiton, but in that time, Bilbo had come to realize that something strange—though something strangely good—had come over Kili. The dwarf was chattering happily, in a way Bilbo hadn't seen since he first met the dwarf. Of course, Fili had been right alongside Kili that time, but Bilbo noted with relief that a heavy burden seemed to have lifted from the dwarf Prince's shoulders and saw, more than once, that even Tauriel seemed happier than she had been.

"I do have to apologize beforehand," Bilbo craned his neck to look up at the elf. "That while Kili and I have no trouble with it, you might consider the house a bit small."

Tauriel waved her hand at him. "That is of no concern to me, Master Baggins," she smiled. "If Mithrandir can fit inside your hovel, then so shall I. And I have heard that Bag End is very splendid, so I am glad that we have taken this chance to come with you."

"It is, indeed!" Bilbo found himself smiling so that his cheeks nearly hurt. "I have seen the legacies of great halls and treasures on my adventure, but I am happy to return to my own. And I daresay, we'll have an afternoon of…" Bilbo frowned, glancing at a hobbit that passed by them with some furniture. "That looks like my chair."

Another hobbit passed by with a similar chair. "And that one, too!"

"Master Baggins…" Tauriel shielded her eyes from the sun, but she looked out at something far away, which Bilbo obviously couldn't see because he wasn't as tall as she was, nor was he an elf. "… is this your house upon the hill?"

"Yes," Bilbo nodded, turning his head from her to the path and then back again. "What do you see?"

"A gathering," Tauriel bit her lip and looked down as though she were embarrassed. "I believe it is an auction."

"An auction!" The hobbit whirled around and darted up the path, pressing past the hobbits that walked away with his things and addressing the older gentleman who stood on Bilbo's porch behind a platform with a mallet.

"Stop!" Bilbo cried out. "I don't know what in the world has come in to your heads, but I demand you put my things back now!"

"Mr. Baggins?" Someone called out. "But you're dead!"

"I am most certainly not!" Bilbo shouted incredulously. "You can pinch me if you like, but this is no ghost standing before you. Who declared me dead?"

He looked out over the crowd and saw a dark brown curly head ducking behind a few others and knew immediately that it was Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.

"I'm afraid, sir," the auction-master looked at him crossly with his hands on his hips. "We'll need some proof to verify that you are who you say you are."

"Mahal's hammer!" Kili muttered from behind Bilbo. "I can vouch for this hobbit's identity—he has been traveling with the company of Thorin Oakenshield and is a personal friend of King Fili of Erebor."

"Ere-where?" The auctioneer crossed his arms. "I've never heard of such a place, nor do I know who these Thorn and King Filly people are."

Bilbo immediately paled, instinctively throwing an arm out to stop the affronted Kili from ascending the steps. "Kili," Bilbo whispered, turning to his friend. "They don't mean any offense, I swear. Please, let me handle this."

The angry dwarf's jaw clenched, but he nodded at Bilbo and took a step back, coming alongside Tauriel.

Making his way quickly up the steps, Bilbo came close to the auctioneer and pulled out the document Balin had made him sign to join the quest for Erebor. He cleared his throat as he held out the paper. "Listen, I know the outside world isn't very pressing to the Shire-folk, but this dwarf is a Prince, and if you don't address him as such, I'm afraid you're going to heap trouble on your own head."

The auction-master made no argument, looking over Bilbo's document and nodding at him before leaning around Bilbo to mutter an apology.

"It seems everything is in order here," the auction-master rubbed his hands together. "I declare the sale concluded."

"Concluded?" Bilbo didn't like the sound of that. "What about my things, what about the furniture that's already been sold off?"

"I'm afraid, my lad," The hobbit tipped his hat. "You'll have to see to that yourself. You can use our records to track everything down, but we, er… don't have the time."

Or the inclination, Bilbo thought bitterly. "Fine. Fine. Give me the list." He turned to his two companions, still standing at the gate.

"Mr. Baggins," Tauriel bit her lip, "I don't know what state your house is in, but we can easily find an inn if you would be inconvenienced by having guests—"

"We'll answer that question right now," Bilbo said determinedly, and once his front porch had finally emptied of strange hobbits, he stepped into the house and held his breath.

While it wasn't entirely emptied, Bilbo was surprised by just how much he seemed to be missing. It was a strange thing, but he'd never considered himself very wealthy and was just now realizing how much he'd truly had before. The blank emptiness of the hovel seemed… blaring.

"I'm sorry, Bilbo," he heard Tauriel say from behind and he woke from his staring gaze to find his feet had taken him past the front door to stand before his fireplace, the dwarf and elf standing cautiously in the doorway.

"It's… it's fine," Bilbo took in a deep breath. "I wanted to come home and now I'm here. It's just the things that are missing. They're just things." He seemed to be trying to convince himself of this and it was slowly working. "At least they left the portraits alone." Lifting a hand to right the picture frames above the mantle, Bilbo smiled. "I think… yes, I think it's going to be just fine."

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the acorn he'd taken from his stay at Beorn's house. It gave him comfort and he patted it gently. Turning to face his companions, he saw that Tauriel wore a proud smile, as though she admired the hobbit for turning his attention toward the good instead of dwelling on the bad.

Kili, however, looked incensed, and his hands were fists at his side, gripping and ungripping as though he wanted to strike out at something. "It isn't right." The dwarf shook his head. "You deserve a hero's welcome, and instead you return to thieves..." Kili looked out the front door. "I'll be back." When Tauriel called after him, he muttered something about taking a walk.

Bilbo shrugged and shook his head. "Tauriel, I wonder if I could ask you for a favor."

"Anything, Bilbo," she smiled, and he was relieved that she had forgotten to call him Mr. Baggins.

"Hobbits are fairly good with their hands when it comes to gardening," he said, stepping toward her and passing back onto his front porch. "but I'm sure elves are… well, fairly wonderful at planting things."

Tauriel ducked under the doorway before standing to her full height outside the short house.

"Would you help me with this?" He held up the acorn. "It's one of a kind, I'm afraid I don't have a second chance at tending to it properly, and I told someone…" His thoughts wandered to his last meeting with Thorin, and Bilbo's optimism shuddered under the weight of the sorrowful memory, but he forced a smile back onto his face. "… I promised someone I'd plant this in memory of them."

The she-elf's eyes brimmed with tears and Bilbo could not decide whether it was because she knew to whom he was referring or because she admired his efforts to begin his new life with a memorial to a friend.

"Master Baggins," She cocked her head at him. "I would be honored to be a part of that planting."


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Want a Kili and OC humorous parody? Try HOW TO WRECK A MARY SUE

Kili and Danika are tired of being pushed around in fan fiction stories and make a pact to defy writer's prompts, but do they have any idea what will happen if they don't play by the rules? Guest appearances from Luna Lovegood, The Doctor, Sherlock, and others!

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Want some Fili/OC romance/adventure? Try GOLD AND FIRE

Fili and Princess Nur of the Iron Hills marry in secret just before he leaves for Erebor, but what is a lonely wife to do while her husband is braving life and death for their future? Covers the Battle of Five Armies and afterward. Explanations for some of the actions within the movies as well as some behind the scenes! A sequel to GEMS AND POISON- the first big adventure of Fili and Kili!

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Want some Thorin/OC romance/angst? Try JEWELS AND DAGGERS

Just as Thorin becomes engaged to be married, the dragon attacks Erebor and all is thrown into chaos! Thieving men take captive some of the wandering dwarves- will Thorin, Frerin, and Dwalin be able to rescue the enslaved dwarves, including Runa, Thorin's beloved?