No story is ever complete. It is told, re-told, heard and reheard. It is a living thing that grows and changes with the telling and the hearing. Because there were so many requests, I am re-visiting the trio, one last time. Thank you and blessing to all who encouraged me, hung in there with me to the bitter end, and all who took a chance on me and the vision I had for this story.
Returning to Erebor took a further two days after the siblings left the shelter of their elven tent. Gili's pain had subsided as soon as the bond with her brothers was complete. She ceased to bleed and her scent faded until her next flowering where it would call only to Fili and Kili. She ran to her uncle and king, throwing herself into his arms and begging his forgiveness which he gave before she could even ask.
She rode a pony between her brothers all the way to the front gates of the Lonely Mountain. Dis had been alerted to the return of the princess by the time they reached Dale and greeted her prodigal daughter with open arms and many tears. Each member of her family the matriarch held in turn, shifting at last to Thorin. Her eyes shone with unshed tears as she looked up at him, her thanks so evident on her face. "You…you will not separate them, brother?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"No, dearest," Thorin assured his sister, the one most precious to his heart. "They are bound, azyungal. They will not be leaving you again."
Dis' eyes snapped up to her brother's face upon hearing his words. "Azyun…?" her voice trailed off, for she could not begin to hope that she had heard him right.
"We have much of which to speak, sweet sister," Thorin said as he tucked her under his arm next to his heart and turned to enter the mountain followed by his heirs. They were safe. They were all safe and now would begin the work of seeing to it that their people accepted the bonding of their future king to his kin.
That had been nearly a year ago. As soon as Gili was taken to Oin to be cared for, her ankle tended, and her mother satisfied that she was truly healthy, Balin had set to work researching any precedent for the union of Thorin's heirs, should one be needed. An announcement was made that the siblings were bonded before Mahal. Gili would be wed to Fili and when it came time for the young prince to rule over his people as king, it would be with his queen and his consort at his side. The people cheered and the official bonding ceremony was attended by all, including envoys of men, elves and the dwarves who lived outside of Erebor in the Iron Hills, Blue Mountains and Moria.
Fili and Kili were pacing now, every few moments seeking out each other for a touch or gaze that would comfort them as they listened to their One screaming in the next room. It took the combined force of Thorin and Dwalin both to keep them from running to her. Thorin had made certain to check Fili over thoroughly for the usual weapons he kept stored in his various clothing, and even some of the not-so-usual weapons that might possibly have found their way upon his person today. "You mother is with her, my sister-sons," Thorin said, "as well as Oin. She is in good hands."
The princes still paced, Fili looking decidedly more guilty with every scream, Kili more frightened. Finally, they stood facing each other, foreheads pressed tightly together, fingers laced, hands clasped. "What have I done?" Fili whispered over and over. "How could I have…"
"Shhh, beloved," Kili whispered in return. "Just breathe with me. You've done naught but your duty, beloved, nothing but show your love for our One."
Their bonding had, in fact, resulted in Gili's pregnancy. It was almost unheard of for a female dwarf, especially one as young as Gili, to become pregnant during her first flowering. But from her untimely, difficult birth, to her familial bonding, there had never been anything typical about the Little Mouse of Erebor. It was certainly considered a gift from Mahal when a female dwarf conceived and carried a babe to term, resulting in a live birth. So when Gili's screams ceased and another tinier bellowing took her place, the brothers beamed at each other and embraced.
Dis poked her head out of the birthing room, her face aglow, her smile beaming brightly, to bring the news the assembly had waited for the past day and a half. "Erebor has a new golden prince," she smiled at Fili who looked like he would have hit his knees had it not been for Kili's arms around him so tightly. "He is beautiful, Fili, and…" Dis' words cut off abruptly as Gili screamed again, a shrill, blood-curdling cry that swept Dis back into the room followed closely by Fili and Kili. This time neither Thorin nor Dwalin dared to hold them back, nor did they try, for they followed as well.
Fili and Kili ran to either side of Gili's bed, clutching at her hands as Oin pulled another pink, squalling, wriggling bundle from her body. "Twins," Oin announced. "A prince and a princess."
"A blessing from Mahal, surely," Balin said with reverence. For never before had any female dwarf been delivered of more than one babe at a time. "This union is most certainly blessed."
"Wezli and Wenli," Gili whispered as she gazed with such love upon the tiny, mewling balls of life that she had nurtured within her body for the last year. Her brothers looked at her with such awe but no one questioned the names she had chosen for her children.
They had been named for the little orc to whom she owed her life, the same little orc who had given his life for hers, Weznuk. One of the only things she had kept from her ordeal was the bone Weznuk had given her to defend herself, the bone he had pulled from his own flesh to cut through the tent that had been her prison. Gili had carved it with lovely runes of blessing and figures which represented her loves. She had worn it round her neck since her return and now she honored the little lost orc in the only way she could. She lived each day to its fullest and gave her people a new generation of heirs.
The lives of the trio continued and time passed as it always does. Thorin had admitted his love for their mother and she had admitted that she had always known. Though she had cared deeply for the father of her children she had never allowed a bond to form with him for Thorin was always her One. When Dis passed away from illness a short decade after the birth of her twin grandchildren, Thorin followed her shortly after, refusing to be parted again from his One. They were returned to the stone and rested together, mourned by their people, remembered always by their family and friends.
Fili was crowned King Under the Mountain. With Gili his Queen and Kili their Prince Consort, the three ruled the dwarves of Middle-earth for almost two centuries. The kingdom knew peace and prosperity under their reign and it was truly a golden age for their people.
When Gili finally reached the end of her long life, she lay upon the bed she had shared with her beloved brothers for more than two hundred years. She looked up into eyes that had grown dim with age, but they had never shown more brightly as they gazed upon her now. The deep blue of one set had faded and lightened with the passing of each year. The inky depths of the other lighter now too. But they gazed with the love she had cherished and was loathe to leave behind. "I will be waiting, my loves," she whispered as she gently squeezed their hands. "Mine…"
"Ours," they replied. When she closed her eyes and breathed her last, her children cried for they knew their fathers would not be long behind her. A love as strong as theirs would not be denied, even for stone. The story of the trio was written by Mahal long before their births and told by countless generations long after their deaths. Kings and queens came and went who all owed their lives and their reign to a trio of dwarfling who stood up for a bond and one little orc who found redemption in love.