Zoor Se Dovahruth
Twenty-one

-Dezro Haal-
Fate's Hand

Keeva sat in the dining hall the next morning, holding a cup of hot tea, the steam rolling off the surface and the image reminding her of dragon smoke after being belted from the belly of the beast. Keeva stared up from her cup to the window that looked up at the Lonely Mountain, as if it were a wonderfully framed oil painting behind a glass pane. To her, it was looming – almost teasing her with the knowledge that her end was in that mountain, sleeping on a bed of gold for all she knew.

Now that wasn't fair, she reminded herself. It wasn't really Smaug that was her end. In all technicalities the person to blame for her future demise was Fokeinvokul, even with all the pleasantries, affection and insistence that she was his child. But when she thought long and hard about what was considered right and wrong, sending your child in to do your dirty work didn't quite sound like a wonderful parent. Fokeinvokul was no father and she wasn't going to start believing him now.

But this is where her dilemma began. This is why she sat at this very table and tried her best to calm her restless soul with a cup of warm tea. The night before had not settled her spiritually and it clearly had not settle another's either, one whom she held close to her heart. In fact, he still lay asleep in her bed, the sheets draping at his waist, his clothes neatly folded at the end of her bed after she'd woken up and she promptly dressed herself – a soft smile upon her lips and a glow about her that one couldn't quite pin down the reason for. Oh- but Keeva knew and so did the sleeping dwarf in her bed.

When she thought back on it, she could still feel the searing heat of his lips on her skin and that tension building in the pit of her stomach when his hands would caress a particularly sensitive part of her skin, stroking and stroking until she was so wound up that the tension snapped like a well pressed spring in her stomach. Keeva shook her head quickly, her wild curls bouncing to and fro as she tried to clear her head of the images forming in her brain. She wasn't ashamed. No, she was very content. In fact, she was very happy because she was very set on the fact that she loved Fili.

But her dilemma was now also his … and Keeva, loving him as deeply as she did, didn't want to hurt Fili. She wanted him to be happy. And she was afraid her leaving would cause him grief.

Keeva took a sip of her tea and her eyes glared back up at the mountain. The sun was slowly rising in the sky, ensuring her that her time to contemplate was drawing to a close. But this didn't really bother her too much. Actually, there was one person she desperately wanted to talk to - well more like she needed to. Soon, Balin would join her company and she would be able to seek his council on something she sure needed counseling in.

Keeva thought back on the prophecy that Thranduil had spoken not so long ago - the one of the dragon child who saves the King. Keeva had repeated it to Balin, who seemed to know something about said prophecy. It dawned on her that perhaps this would be her answer to the dilemma at hand. She wanted to ensure the safety of her friends but also wanted to see that they were never hurt emotionally in the process. Perhaps this was just her way of verifying what needed to be done - what she knew needed to be done.

"What on earth," a humble cry came from behind her. "Now why would the pretty lass be up at such an hour? Don't you deserve to sleep in just this once, especially with all us rambunctious dwarves about?"

Keeva's lips turned up sweetly as her gaze swept over to Balin, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes but smiling all the more at the sight of his mistress companion. "Aye, but I have slept in. If I recall correctly, most everyone stayed up until the wee hours of the morn."

A chuckle filled the room with lighthearted warmth – a warmth that could keep any sort of cold away. Balin sat next to Keeva at the table and poured himself a cup of tea as well. His large hands warmed with the liquid and he sipped it hoping his stomach would feel the same. When Balin looked back up from his cup he noticed his mistress's distanced stare. She seemed troubled and Balin could only think to place one of his thick, rough and calloused hands on hers - staying her cup of tea from reaching her lips but also to bring her back to reality. Keeva gave a great heave from her lungs before giving a weak smile to Balin and then set her cup down. "Something's on your mind, lass."

It was a statement - there was no question behind those words from Balin. He knew something was wrong and knowing her better than she realized, he got straight to the point. Keeva nodded in agreement, her lips pursing with the words fumbling around behind her teeth. "Back in the dungeons, you mentioned the tale of Glaurung's children, the Father of Dragons. I would like to hear more of this subject, if you would permit me?"

Balin didn't scold her, didn't tease her or lecture the young girl for such a tale that was not meant for the faint of heart, but then again his mistress was no fainting lady by any means. Balin instead refilled his cup for the long tale ahead. "Where to begin?" he inquired tapping his fingers to the cup, his eyes set on the liquid inside as if imagining the tale reflecting back at him. "It is said Glaurung was created in the dark pits of Angband by the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. He was spawned for many a destructive deeds and battles that lay planned by the Dark Lord. He, in no doubt, was a creature of ill will, dark and dangerous.

"It is said sometime after his first victory, Glaurung fathered a brood of lesser Dragons to follow him into battle. Of his children there were seven different branches that grew to be the strongest; fire, frost, blood, elder, ancient, revered, and the black.

"Smaug, being of the branch of fire drakes, was a descendant of Glaurung. It is even said some of the children had discovered how to travel through time and realms. I wonder sometimes if the dragons that plague your home of Skyrim had found their way through these means."

Keeva sat up then, her interest peaking at the mention of this strange magic, "It is said that dragons were the immortal children of the Dragon God of Time, Akatosh. But I wonder if this was one of the dragons in your tale that had discovered how to travel through time and realms."

"Aye, that would make sense," Balin agreed. "But the Wyrm of your realm seem to have harnessed and mastered a new kind of magic not even their first Father had imagined."

Balin remembered the display of magic Keeva had shown the company by saving Thorin's neck back in Goblin town. The magic had surprised them all, the sound, light, and what it had caused. They did not doubt their dragon huntress now.

"No matter what kind of drake anyone ran into, it is well known that none were or are good. But there was the prophecy of a frost drake and the mortal child he created from his blood. It is said that with this mortal the bad and the good would be tested. It would be proven with that child that not all dragons were evil and that this child would sacrifice their life for a King. Thranduil did not finish the tale for you, most elves don't care to remember it anyway because it holds no significance to them.

"Mortal blood shall be spilt for the open, soulless the dragon will be. Child of dragons has broken, the good shall forever reign free."

Keeva knew Balin had finished with his explanation then and it made her decision all the more final as she stared into the cup of tea wishing that what she knew had to be done wouldn't be so final. Balin cleared his throat once more, setting his cup down onto the table and resting his hands on his stomach, "I know it may sound a bit superstitious mistress, but coming from the people that I am, it is more of a saying than anything else: 'They say there is no light without dark, no good without evil, no male without female, no right without wrong. One cannot exist without the other.'"

Keeva looked up from her cup, her eyes glassy and swimming with many thoughts. Balin could see it all right there in those eyes, every thought, feeling, and decision that she'd made. He knew then that this would be it for her. There was no way he could persuade or come up with a better plan. She'd made the decision and the company would have to comply, whether they liked it or not. Keeva's lips parted, the words catching on her tongue before she let them spill out. She wanted to say this correctly, no hard feelings being brought about between them, "You must not tell them. Not even Fili."

"Mistress-"

"None of them, Balin," Keeva breathed, a single tear falling down her cheek. "They will try to stop me. But you understand. You know that he will tear everything apart once he gets what he wants. I have to stop him. It is not my prophecy to return home. Nor is it his. I will stop him."

"What will happen, Mistress?"

"Death," she whispered, "The only way to stop him is death. And if your saying is true, I would not be able to live without him, nor he without me."

Both remained quiet the rest of that murky morning, there tea becoming chill and the room utterly grey.

…

Fili sat up from his spot on his little one's bed, she was fast asleep again and he thanked Mahal in that silent moment that she was. He hadn't quite planned to tell her the tale this far through, for it was beginning to touch on a subject that Fili wasn't too sure the little girl was ready for. But now he had time to think it through, to plan out how he could go about explaining the end to this tale.

Crawling out of the bed, he padded back out of the room and headed down the hall to his own bed chambers. There, in the warmth of the blankets, Keeva was already asleep, the sands heavy in her tired eyes. He smiled fondly down at her, remembering the first time they'd really shared the night together, ultimately creating something a little more special and a bit of a surprise. He didn't regret that decision. He loved her with all his heart.

The memory of the first moment they'd been together was as clear as the night sky filled with stars and constellations - just as clear as the moment they shared their first kiss, or even the first time he'd set eyes on her. He could still feel the phantom effects of his heart pounding in his chest, her hands trembling, their breaths panting - an unbearable warmth on the most sensitive spots of skin. Even the sensation of their bodies finally coming together to a perfect rhythm, the sudden blinding and burning ecstasy that cried out on their lips. Oh yes, he would remember everything from that first night they shared together. The night Fili silently pledged himself to Keeva.

Fili slipped into the furs next to Keeva, hoping not to wake her from the throws of her dreams. But she rolled over, blinking the sleep out of her eyes and smiled fondly at the sight of her Little Lion Prince. "My, my – you're up late."

Fili leaned over top of Keeva – his elbow and hand helping him from squishing the tiny thing beneath him - and kissed her lightly. "She was stubborn. Something she gets from her mother."

"I'd be careful not to forget that you also played a part in her conception and should also take the blame for that stubbornness," Keeva teased, gripping the lapel of Fili's tunic and pulling him closer so that she could kiss him once more. Fili grinned like a mad man, "Aye, I still remember that night quite fondly."

"Oh do you?" Keeva asked, her brows shooting up to her hairline with mock surprise.

"Aye, I remember kissing your cheeks, to calm you from your thoughts of leaving," Fili began, just as he bent to kiss each cheek like he had the first time. "Then I kissed you here-" a kiss on the lips, starting out sweet and turning into something searing like fire before he moved to her jawline, "Then lower until your mind was only thinking of me and where my lips were moving…"

Fili trailed down her neck, stopping to nip at sensitive parts of Keeva's skin with his teeth. His pearly whites dragged on the soft supple tops of her breast after he'd pulled the cotton fabric away, and goosebumps broke out as a tingly sensation tickled deep in Keeva's core. Keeva's fingers tangled within Fili's gold tendrils and her grip tightened the further Fili traveled with his lips from her breasts to her navel and further and further south. Fili enjoyed every light tug on his scalp and even more so when she would use her nails in effect of his tongue finding the perfect spot.

"Fili-" she gasped, squirming beneath him and only making it easier for him to hold her down.

"Aye?" Fili cooed from between her legs, his cheeks flush but a smirk ever the more prominent as he kissed the inside of her thigh.

"You're a tease," she groaned, pulling him back up to kiss her with more need than want. Fili nodded after touching his forehead to hers, "You wouldn't have me any other way."

They were wordless after that, just panting and moaning. Every once in a while either one of them would say the others name just on the cusp of breaking. Fili set the pace as Keeva raised to meet him, their skin warm and slapping quietly with the crackling of the hearth fire. Keeva bit down on Fili's shoulder, the pace building that familiar coil of tension and the faster Fili went the harder her teeth came down on skin - leaving a more permanent mark. Fili hid his face in Keeva's neck, taking in the mint oil scent she'd bathed in, a fresh and intimate feeling built deep within the pit of his stomach.

Fili quickened his strokes, his mind almost drawing a blank but the single thought of this beautiful woman loving him in return sent him just over the edge. When they were both on the brink of jumping off that cliff, Keeva whimpered out his name and Fili followed down after her – the dwarvish name he'd given her falling off his lips so easily that he'd almost believed that was the name she was born with.

Keeva rolled over onto Fili's side as she looked up at him and kissed the corner of his lips, "I love you."

"Menu zirup men," he whispered, placing his lips to her forehead as he pulled her tighter to him.

They were quiet for some time after they let themselves come down from their high. Keeva played with the braids of his hair and Fili thought long and hard of the recent day's events. "I don't think I can finish the story for her."

The statement had come abruptly but Keeva was not surprised, nor had she any doubt that this moment would have gone any other way. "I know," she said quietly, grasping one of Fili's broad hands and kissing the top of it. "Only if she asks you, you will. I give you my consent to do so."

Fili nodded, hoping their little girl would just forget the whole tale in due time but he knew much better. She would beg him, plea with him and Fili would comply. What he dreaded though was how his little girl would interpret the ending. In all accounts of the tale the ending was much too complicated for a young little child to understand. Fili kissed the top of Keeva's head before he found the lids of his eyes growing heavy, the weight of his thoughts bringing him down into the arms of sleep, "I promise."

…

For a desperately drawn out week, Fili was able to avoid the subject of Keeva's tale. Even with the help of Keeva and their guests - Balin, Ori, and Oin – Fili was able to prepare himself for the finale bits of their tale as well as how his little girl will take the end. But the day came, her little blue eyes peered up at him with desperation and Fili had to come to her aid.

Setting his little girl in her bed, her curly gold locks fanning out around her head as if she were a golden dove descending from the sun above. He brushed a few strands behind her ear and kissed her head gently. She didn't miss a beat, "Why have you been avoiding me, 'adad?"

Fili cringed just a little within himself, groaning into the pillow next to his little girl's head. She quietly giggled in jest of her father's pain, "Why do you think?"

She was quiet for a moment, all seriousness now fluttering across her features, "Because you are afraid to tell me the truth of Monah?"

"And what truth would that be?" Fili asked, unsure whether his little girl had put two and two together, but she was smart, which was most unfortunate for Fili, "That she is dead. That you, and Monah, Uncle Kili and Great Uncle Thorin… Balin, Ori, and Oin. Me?"

Fili stared at her in astonishment. He hadn't even come out right with the truth and she had figured it all out, "You?"

"Am I not? Why would I be here if I wasn't?" she asked. Fili looked over her quietly, a sudden fear tearing through him with the fact that his little girl was already growing up to fast, that the child in her was fading.

"But you are alive," Fili stated quietly. She looked at him with wide eyes and Fili stopped her questioning to finally let the rest of his tale explain, "Shall I continue the tale so that you may understand why?"

She nodded quickly, her eyes remaining round and wide, "Continue, please!"

Fili nodded quietly, taking his daughter's hand in his and kissing it lightly, "Keeva continued on with the company as if the fact of her fate weighed nothing on her shoulders…

Keeva traveled the network of docks that made up Esgaroth, the stench of fish filled the air like a muggy afternoon in the summer months of Skyrim, but the air was chilled here and ice floated in the water to remind its tenants that winter was coming. Keeva paid no heed to any distractions around her, deciding instead to focus on the task at hand. Coming upon the home just across the water way, Keeva cleared her throat and gathered up her courage as she traveled the docks, climbed the slightly large stairs, and rapped on the door with her mitted hand. The knock was muffled only a little by the fabric but the inhabitants in the home heard it all the same. A few heavily booted steps sounded on the other side of the door and before Keeva could turn around and sprint away as the courage in her heart drained away, the door flew open and the tall, dark haired man, whom she'd had exchanged a few choice words with earlier that week, stared down at her, his eyes squinting with a new found judgment.

"What do you want?" he asked - the anger still on the edge of his words. Keeva winced and bowed her head out of respect, "I came to apologies for what I had said to you."

"Doesn't matter now, hmm?" Bard asked her, his eyes shifting in the direction of the Master's house where Keeva's friends slept sound with bellies full of food and goblets brimming with ale. "You got what you wanted and everyone is on your side now."

Keeva nodded, her guilt filling her to the brim as Bard went on and on. Why on earth had she come here? Oh, right, "Please, let me explain."

"You've done enough explaining," Bard spat back ready to slam the door in her face. But Keeva placed her booted foot in the doorway to stop it and forcing Bard to open it again. Keeva peered up at the man this time with determination, "You will listen."

…

Thorin stood upon the threshold to the Master's house watching Keeva cross the town's center and heading back toward her company's leader. Her eyes rose to meet Thorin's stormy greys with some surprise. He wondered lightly if Keeva even considered that anyone in the company would have noted her absence. He had of course, the others Thorin could say did. But Thorin had and Keeva could see in that glance that Thorin was suspicious of her whereabouts. He wasn't necessarily angry with her but merely curious. In the time that they had been separated, Keeva had managed to spend some time in Esgaroth before the company and he didn't doubt that she had made some acquaintances while here.

"And where have you been off to so early this morning?" Thorin asked light heartily, a soft smile easing on his lips to welcome her back. She let her defenses drop, he could see it in her eyes, and she smiled back at him with little effort, "Oh, aye, early for you."

Her jest was her attempt to avoid the question at hand and this put a small worry in the back of Thorin's head. "Come, are the other's awake? I talked to Balin this morning, but he seemed to dose of into another nap after we had some tea together."

"Mmm-" Thorin answered distractedly, staring at Keeva's boots that tracked in a slight sheen, fish oil? That wasn't really of any substance to tell him of her whereabouts, the entire town smelled of fish oil. "Aye, they're up and stuffing their bellies."

"Good, they'll need to gather up their strength before we head for the mountain," she giggled lightly, her eyes shining with mirth as she turned to look back at Thorin. There was also a light there, a little sparkle, like star light on a cloudless night as they twinkled and dances around the sky, "There's something different."

Thorin reached out to tuck the braid Fili had created in Keeva's hair behind her ear and stopped at the bead. He thumbed it for a second thinking about where his nephew had been last night after Keeva had departed for the evening. Curiously, Thorin edge of a subject he hadn't brought up in a long while. "Has he confessed?"

"Confessed?" Keeva asked, a little bit of concern edging on the question. Thorin only nodded, his face giving no emotion away, "Aye, that he wishes to pledge himself."

"Pl-Pledge?" Keeva's eyes grew wide, almost like huge seas filled with so much energy and life. "No, he'd made no mention last night when he-"

"Ah, and there it is," Thorin chuckled, now smiling, "That's all I wanted to know."

Keeva's lovely cheeks couldn't have blushed any deeper, nearly the shade of apples ready to be picked. Thorin took Keeva by the shoulders and brought his lips to her forehead, "There is no one better for Fili than you. You must take care of each other now, understand? It is a rare union for a dwarf to find someone to spend their life with, so rare."

Keeva's eyes became glassy as they brimmed with tears. When they rolled down her cheeks, Thorin brushed them away with his thumb, "You are family now. You are of Durin's folk. And we'll make it official after Smaug is destroyed, I promise."

Keeva's tears continued to fall. Thorin wasn't sure if they were of the happy sort or of another emotion. Either way, Thorin pulled Keeva's into his arms and embraced her tightly, she hiding her face in his silly large garments and he pressing his lips to her fiery locks on the top of her little head.

…

A/N: I'm really sorry about not updating so often. I'm trying hard to gain some motivation to finish this but I find myself lacking every day I get home from work, both mentally and physically exhausted. I love my job but dear god – I may actually lose my hands at this rate. I'll put my best foot forward on this though. I've a general direction with this story and would like to finally see it finished. I've even had an idea that would branch off this story and start a new one after this is finished. I'll tell you my idea if any of you are interested, just let me know and I'll write up a brief summary in the next chapter. But until then, it's my little secret to keep. Thanks again.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit or Elder Scrolls. Any character that is not familiar is of my own creation.