Universe and non OCs belong to Peter Jackson and Tolkien.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

AMRALIME

Kili sat, frozen still, in the pool for a while longer. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel anymore. He missed the way things had been, only a few days ago. What had gone wrong that could possibly have put them at such odds? His mind replied, nothing. He hadn't done anything wrong. So why was she acting like he had?

"Master Kili?"

For half a second, his mind assumed the voice to be Gwen's. The image swept into his head that she had returned, to somehow clarify the situation.

These illusions shattered in a moment when Kili recognized that the voice was not, in fact, Gwen's. And that it was decidedly male.

He looked over his shoulder to see that Alabastrin had come out of the trees, illuminated faintly by the starlight. Kili nodded slightly. "Aye?"

"You have been gone for an hour," Alabastrin said, making his way a bit closer. "I wished to make sure you had not drowned."

"I hadn't," Kili returned, trying to keep any distress out of his tone. The last thing he needed was prying.

"You will catch a cold, if you stay in too long, you know. And you need rest."

Kili sank further into the water, entirely prepared to ignore the boy's words. He was likely three times Al's age. He was in no mood to be lectured by a child.

There was a faint shuffle, and Kili glanced back to see that Al had settled himself on the same rock as Gwen had sat on. Kili rolled his eyes to himself, sighing. What an annoying bastard. "I have not had the chance to speak to you about it," Al began. "But I assume that you have some questions about the other night?"

Kili frowned. "What—"

"The nightmares," Al explained, not needing to hear all of his question.

"Aye," Kili said, turning as he was filled with curiosity. "What was that?"

Al's eyes shifted from his hands, neatly folded in his lap, to the starry sky. "It is not too uncommon, especially in the past years, for things of that nature to occur. Nightmares of fire. Voices whispering tempting, unholy promises haunting whole groups, entire villages of people in the night."

Kili nodded slowly in understanding.

"In the east you see," Al explained, turning his face from the stars to be cast into shadow. "There is...some darkness spreading. I hear rumors of entire towns falling to madness. Entire peoples going south to heed the voices they heard in the night. But," he said, smiling slightly, as if assuring Kili. "Those are rumors. And rumors can be false."

"Aye," Kili agreed. "I hope they are."

As his mind shifted to that pain he'd felt and the darkness that had threatened to swallow him whole, he had trouble believing that these rumors were entirely false. Galadriel's voice echoed clearly in his head... An ancient, and terrible darkness. One that, unchecked, could destroy all that we have ever held dear.

He resisted the shiver than had run its fingers down his spine. And they were to travel, headfirst, into that shadow. Mahal help him.

"Is this really what brought you here to speak to me?" Kili asked, becoming painfully aware of the silence that had fallen between them.

"Indeed it is not," Alabastrin sighed, sitting back slightly. "Though I suspect you have an idea as to why I am here."

Kili shrugged, turning out to face the pool once again. The smooth, glassy black expanse of water was soothing. "I just don't see why you feel the need to involve yourself in all of...this. Us."

His "us" of course referred to him and Gwen.

Al's response came as a bit of a surprise to him. "To be honest with you, I understand it about as well as you do."

"...What?"

Al sighed. "Perhaps it is that I see you two as friends of mine. I understand that you do not see it the same way," he hurried to explain. Kili was in no rush to correct him in that respect. "But it has been long since I've had any company save those in this caravan. And I do not like to see anyone in so little harmony. Especially when I see that neither of you are made happy by this discord."

Kili snorted. "Don't be hasty, there. I am unhappy with the...discord. But I think she's quite alright having it this way."

"If you truly think that, then you do not know her half as well as even I do." Kili bristled slightly at that, but was unable to comment before Alabastrin continued, "She is not happy."

"She seems bloody fine to me," Kili shrugged. "If she's so unhappy, why would she do it in the first place?"

"That...is a question that I do not know the answer to."

Kili turned sharply. "Mahal, finally something that you don't know!"

Al closed his eyes at his bitter tone, sighing out a long breath. "Master Kili, my high levels of observational skill do not cause me to knowing everything. Nor," he began, not allowing Kili to scoff at him. "Have I ever tried to say that I know everything."

Kili rolled his eyes. "Don't have to say it to act like it."

"If you could please refrain from childish insults, I am trying to help you, Master Kili."

Kili almost smiled. He was finally cracking this boy's absurd calm. He huffed out a derisive laugh. "Bloody brilliant job you're doing, mate."

"I may not have the answers," he grit out. "But I have spoken to Gwen. And I know that for whatever reason she is alienating you, she is not happy about it."

"Fat lot of good that does me."

"I think that if you would speak to her—"

"You think I haven't tried that?" Kili spat. "I am not an idiot. I have tried everything I can think of to figure out what in Mahal's name I've done wrong, but she refuses to tell me."

"You haven't done anything wrong," Alabastrin protested, rubbing at the bridge of his nose.

"Then what has gone wrong?" He shot back. "Because if it wasn't me—"

"I just don't know!" Al snapped. "I really, honestly have no idea!"

"Then what are you doing here!?"

"I am trying to help you two HomKoklen!" Alabastrin broke off, spitting out a few more words in what sounded like Rhunish. Kili fell silent. Al rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands for a moment, before lifting his head to meet Kili's eyes. The usual knowing glint, the twinkle of knowledge gone from them. Kili had a strange feeling that he was seeing the real Alabastrin for the first time. "Master Kili, I tried to get her to speak to you. But you know her better than I. She is more stubborn than...well, she is very stubborn. She made many elaborate excuses. So I come to you, asking that you go to her."

Kili sighed, tipping his head back slightly, though he felt a bit bad for the boy. He was practically pleading. "She doesn't want to speak to me."

"I know," Al admitted. "I know that well. But that does not mean that she does not need to talk to you." Al's eyes flickered over his face, and Kili could almost feel the boy reading into him like an open book. "It is a large thing to ask. I am asking for you to swallow all of your pride. I am asking you to pry into the heart of someone who only wants to be left alone. I am asking that you open yourself to more hurt than you have already felt. But..." his eyes came to a stop on Kili's. "We both know that you're going to do it."

Damn him.

Damn him to the depths of Khazad-dûm.

Of course...he wasn't wrong.

Kili started out of the water, towards his clothing on the shore. Silently, he dressed, only speaking to Alabastrin again a moment before he left. "You are involving yourself too heavily into very complicated affairs."

He could hear the smile on the boy's face. "I know."

Kili knew very well that there was no surrender in those words.

He found Gwen, back at the shelter, sitting up against a wall. If she heard him, she made no movement to show it, so he leaned against the door, calling out softly over the snores of the others. "Gwen."

After a moment, she lifted her head from her arms.

"Come on," Kili breathed, standing up from the door. "Outside."

She lifted her head further to meet his eyes. There was confusion in her gaze, which morphed into something akin to guilt after a few moments. She stood up resignedly, following him out the door. Kili lead them out past the trees, until the others were well out of earshot and they were surrounded by sand on all sides. It was a beautiful night. As always, the heat of the day had given away to chill breezes. The sky was crystal clear, boasting thousands of scattered stars, standing still and silent in the inky sky.

Finally, he turned, facing Gwen. "What happened?"

Her face was turned down, hidden by her hair. "Nothing happened."

Kili breathed out a long breath, closing his eyes to gather his thoughts before spitting out, "Gwen, if we are going to have this conversation, which we bloody are, there are going to have to be some rules set. First off, you're going to stop hiding and actually look me in the eyes." To punctuate this, he took a step forward, and reached past her hair to find her chin. He held her face in both of his hands then, lifting her eyes to his. He could feel her jaw gritting in frustration, but continued anyways. "Secondly, you are going to stop speaking bollocks." Her eyes glinted in annoyance. "So I'm going to ask again, Gwen. What happened?"

"Nothing that you did," she grit out, before reaching up, and smacking his hands away from her face.

"That's not what I was asking."

At least she had the mind to brush her hair out of her eyes so he could still see her face. "What happened was...it's something to do with me. It's my problem."

"It is not your problem," Kili shot back. "It became mine the moment you broke my heart because of it."

"Well, I'm sorry, alright?" she huffed. "Sorry for breaking your heart or whatever nonsense—"

He grabbed both of her shoulders hard, yanking her closer. "Nonsense!?" he repeated, hurt trickling into his tone. "Why are you trying to wound me?"

"I'm not," she argued, trying to shrug his grip away. "I'm just..." her eyes met his for a moment, and something broke. "I don't know alright? I don't know why I keep hurting you, when all I'm trying to do is what seems right!"

"In what world is ignoring me and making me a stranger right?"

"In the world where we never should have fallen in love in the first place!"

Kili let out a long breath at that, releasing her shoulders. So that was the problem here? In what way...hadn't they already resolved that? "I thought we'd decided—"

"We haven't 'decided' anything," she snapped. "Don't you remember? We decided that we loved each other, which is lovely and all except that it doesn't solve a single one of our problems!"

"Well neither does..." he indicated the space between them. The gap she'd forced. "This!"

"It might," she admitted, face dropping to the sand below. "In time."

Kili bit his tongue, clenching his fists hard, and merely spitting out, "Explain."

"I..." she tried to look him in the eyes but gave up after only a moment. "I figured that if I could push you far enough away, if I could make you a stranger, you'd...it would make our parting easier."

"You're wrong," he said simply. "You've forgotten to factor in that I love you."

She remained silent, her head bowed.

"And even though, at this point, I don't want to, I'm starting to think I'll always love you." What on Arda was he getting himself into? "So stop trying to decide things on your own, aye?" he settled a hand on her shoulder, but she still looked down. "Talk to me, so that we don't end up in a shouting match every time we try to figure something out. We're going to lose our minds elsewise."

She didn't move an inch, and Kili frowned slightly. He thought they were getting somewhere. "Do you understand?"

Suddenly, the breath was knocked out of his chest as Gwen's arms locked around his stomach, her head landing in the crook of his neck. He hardly had time to comprehend what was happening when she was choking out, "I'm sorry."

Gone was the derision of her earlier apology, instead her voice was trembling just as much as the rest of her. He softened into the embrace, bringing an arm to wrap about her waist, the other smoothing her hair. Again, she breathed, "Valar, Kili, I am so sorry."

"I know," he assured her, running his hand down the length of her back. "I love you," he murmured, as she seemed to sink even further into him.

There was a long pause before she asked, barely audible, "Why?"

A thousand snippets of thought flashed through his head. Her eyes—her smile—her hair—her arguments—her hands—her silly drunken dancing—her tears—her feet—her screams—

But all of those...Weren't right. They weren't why he loved her entirely. Finally, he smiled slightly, tightening his grip until he was positive neither of them could breathe properly. "If I had the answer to that question, I wouldn't be half as confused as I am, Amralime."

Before she could question him any further (because quite frankly, he was done with talking for the night) he planted a kiss on her temple. "We ought go back before we catch our death out here."

I actually ended up liking this chapter more than I thought I would. Alabastrin is an odd character, though fun to write. Honestly, I'm not even sure of his motives yet. He's very secretive. And it's a relief to have all the Gwen/Kili drama done (for now). Thank you to mysterious victoria, for her long time support of my stories, especially this one.

Review if you felt anything about this chapter at all! Y'all have no idea how much even one review makes my day. Love you all, and I'll see you next week!