Chapter 29

Three months later, Kili, Lord of Ered Luin, woke in the pre-dawn hours as he always did. Long years of standing early morning watch meant he simply woke at the proper hour, fully alert.

Yet he was no longer a bachelor dwarf sleeping on a thin blanket in the guard barracks. He was snug under the covers next to his beautiful Lady Wife, tucked close with his arm around her.

His pregnant Lady Wife. The growing baby was apparent to him now, as he'd definitely noticed when he'd returned home late last night after many weeks away. Very soon her clothing would no longer conceal her thickening middle. The tiny lad who'd been so carefully tucked close for months was about to have his final growth spurt before birthing. These last months were when a dwarf lass' pregnancy finally became apparent, when she was less able to defend herself and needed her kin and kith close by.

He smiled as he recalled his first sight of her, rushing to meet him.

"Make way!" The calls of the newly formed King's Guard had echoed in the long, main concourse. Kili felt as battleworn as he looked, but they'd done their duty. The last of the Gundabad orcs were scoured from the northland, and it was heartwarming to see the clamor of dwarves coming out to welcome his returning warriors even as late as it was. Like Erebor's inner hub, Khelethur's cavernous underground concourse hosted much of the kingdom's social activity.

"Let me through!" He'd heard her voice before he'd seen her.

"Make way for the Queen!" It was Skirfir who'd called for this—and Kili blessed the lad.

And then he'd seen her: lifting her full skirts and rushing forward, eyes finding his.

He'd shrugged off his filthy leathers into someone's hands and surged forward, arms coming around her, his mouth finding hers in a kiss that must have looked like he was a parched lad gulping ale.

To the sounds of light applause and approving murmurs.

Her hands had framed his jaw, beautiful green eyes round with worry.

"All right? Nothing broken?"

He'd smiled at her and shook his head, only to have her pull away and latch onto Skirfir. "And you?" she said, none too gently testing the lad's arms and looking at him from shoulders to feet. "Mahal knows I've mended you more times than…"

Kili had grinned, realizing she was giving Skirf the public look-over in place of him, though he fully expected the same treatment in private.

"We're just filthy and in need of baths, love," he'd said.

She'd turned, her eyes moist with emotion and almost unforgiving of the long weeks away. "So the ravens say," she agreed. And then she was back in his arms, hugging him tightly. "I am so glad you're back…"

Kili had pressed his forehead to hers. "Sul ghelekh, Nÿr," he'd murmured, regretting her distress. "Everything is fine."

Now, thank Mahal, it was early morning and Nÿr was close beside him in their cozy bed, safe and warm. He reveled in the feeling of being sleepy and sated, pleased with himself for having provided her with proper appreciation. It had started when she'd whisked him down several corridors he didn't recognize, explaining that she'd finally settled on her choice of permanent quarters while he'd been away.

He'd hardly noticed. Bath, warm fire, lady wife. He wanted only those things and the time to pleasure her completely. He'd done a fair job of it in his opinion, and then they'd fallen deeply asleep. Now he was snug beside her as if they were a pair of nesting ravens.

Speaking of which, Kili realized, he needed to get himself up and find a place to speak with them.

In a bit, he told himself, unwilling to disturb Nÿr. He understood now that he could not have withstood the mounting worry of being away for even another day. It was the urrâk, he acknowledged; that infamous dwarfy need to bar the door and guard his family. His brother had warned him of this...and advised him not to fight it.

He could see Fili now, eyes somber, shaking his head. "King or not, it doesn't matter. There's no escaping it. The last six months or so—just take yourself into your mountain and hunker down. Trust me, you'll be nothing but a short-tempered tyrant otherwise."

Kili suppressed a smile. He'd seen his brother in that frame of mind and he'd rather not impose his worst irascible self on the people of Khelethur. Luckily, every dwarf with a son or daughter understood completely.

And somewhere in all of that...Durin's Day would arrive again. Kili tried not to dwell on it, but this year would tell them whether distance from Erebor would bring any respite from the long years of recurring sickness.

If he believed old Círdan the Shipwright, maybe so.

"Here's to many years of a peaceful life," Círdan had said on the night of that impromptu coronation at the border stones. He'd touched Kili's forehead in an elven blessing. "Be glad, my young friend. You will be well and whole for many years, my dear Son of Durin."

Nÿr had heard that with hope, and Kili wished to believe that the revered old Elf was correct. He just wanted—needed—the proof. But Durin's Day was not until the last full moon of autumn.

Safe in their cozy bed, Kili distracted himself by nuzzling Nÿr's ear, gently kissing her cheek. Her long, raven dark hair was loose, silky soft and curling gently...smelling faintly like balsa wood.

He approved.

And time would tell. First, their lad, due a little before Durin's Day. Then the answer to his problem with the morgul wound and dragon curse. In the meantime, life would go on. He had a kingdom to protect and even if he was settling in to stay at home for awhile, there was much to do.

It was an hour later when Nÿr stretched and greeted him with a sleepy kiss, rising to visit the bath again.

Kili joined her, and then dried himself off, finding his clothes and houseboots. "I need to find Corax and send him flying. I don't think anyone followed us in, but I want to be sure." He buckled his boots and then looked up at her. "Where have you been ravenspeaking?"

She smiled and held out a hand, her fresh-faced quirky smile lifting his heart. "Come, I'll show you."

"Good," he said. "Because I have no idea where we are," he laughed.

"We," Nÿr explained, leading him out of their bedchamber, a room that looked carved from solid stone. "Are in what used to be your Lady Mother's personal suite—so the chamberlains tell me."

Kili raised his eyebrows and looked around. Granite walls, blue tile, quartz lamps. It wasn't exactly familiar…though he didn't rightfully recall her personal chambers.

"We've put new carpets down," she said, leading him down a hallway to a stone door. "Most of the furnishings are entirely different." Then she smiled and held up a key, reminding him sharply of the one he'd given her almost a year ago, to a private study back in Erebor.

She unlocked the door and as it swung open, he blinked at the early morning light beyond: here rooms carved into solid rock met the wood and stone construction of a great lodge that extended into the deep, sheltered floor of a narrow forested valley.

"Oh, I remember this," he breathed, shouldering slowly past her. He saw that they were on a mezzanine overlooking a great room. Kili quickly found the stairway, held out a hand to her, and they went down. They came out at the north end of a room big enough to hold a hundred or more. He stopped, turning in place, looking at all the details from the lodgepole rafters high overhead to the smooth wooden floor underfoot.

"Now I remember…my mother would sit there and read…" He pointed vaguely to an enormous fireplace twice his height and the comfy leather chairs in front of it. High, multi-paned window panels marched down the east and west walls, ending in a six-sided sunroom with huge ironworked chandeliers above. At night, the lodge would sparkle like a mountain gem.

And like Erebor, there was opulence in every piece of the furnishings, complete with exquisite jeweled glass topping each window panel, shining with the colors of garnet, topaz, and emerald in decidedly dwarven designs.

Nÿr was smiling. "I have to confess…I've fallen in love with it…" she said. "I can't imagine living anywhere else. Do you like it?"

Kili could only nod as he looked around in stunned awe while she took herself to the huge fireplace, shaking out her hair.

Kili couldn't help himself. "Let me," he said, going to her, gently drawing her hair back and gathering it into three strands. In the warmth of the fire of their new home, he deftly formed the long, single braid she preferred, tying it off at the bottom with a bit of leather she handed him, the ends strung with silver beads.

As he'd done many times before after braiding her hair, he leaned forward and kissed her neck.

"Keep that up," she said, her voice husky. "And I'll have you back upstairs…"

He smiled and spun her around, planting a wet kiss on her lips and then taking her hand to pull her forward. "Ravens. Plenty of time for going back upstairs later."

The family quarters, he discovered, actually occupied the second and third stories of the lodge, and when Nÿr led him through glass paned doors, he saw they opened to a rooftop terrace overlooking the meadow and oaks outside.

"It's perfect!" he said, looking at the trees around them and the views to the granite cliffs high above. "The ravens must love it!"

"They do!" she laughed. "Lucky for us, most of the Erebor ravens have gone," Nÿr said. "I don't know how we'd have kept feeding them all. But I've counted about forty-seven still here." She brought Kili to a side railing. "It's a decent little flock, I think. Corax," she snorted, pointing into the branches of a large, grandfather oak. "Has been nest-building with a young hen. No idea yet whether they've got eggs up there."

Kili looked, spotted the neat structure of sticks and twigs the size of large soup pot, and suppressed his grin.

"King and Queen with a flock of birds," he said, squeezing her hand. He looked up to the sky above, the last of the morning stars still overhead, and he marveled at the outline of the high cliffs that surrounded the hidden valley. Nÿr stood close, one arm coming around his waist.

"I barely remember being a child in this place, so many years ago," he murmured. Such innocent lads, he recalled of himself and his brother.

And Fili wanted to return...to give over his crown to his son and come back to this place.

As you wish, nadad, Kili said silently to the last bright star overhead, wondering if his brother was standing on Ravenhill and seeing the same star.

At the sound of someone new clearing his throat, Kili glanced around to see Skirfir, smartly dressed in his new Commander of the King's Guard uniform, efficiently bringing stout mugs of hot bark tea.

"Thank you, lad," Kili said, accepting his mug. Skirfir made a formal bow as Nÿr nodded thanks for hers.

"Skirf," Kili groaned, reaching out to put his hand on the lad's shoulder and pull him close. "Leave off. You are still my ushmar...my battle son." He shook his head at his young fosterling, now a dwarf come-of-age. "Promise me you will dispense with the formalities?"

Skirfir looked shy, then nodded. Kili touched foreheads briefly, then looked at Skirfir's empty hands.

"And bring your own tea when you bring ours?"

"Yes." Skirf looked slightly embarrassed, but pleased.

"Did you meet your new page?" Kili asked.

"First thing this morning," Skirfir smiled. "Serious young lad."

Kili smiled, too. That sounded like Skirf himself, a few years back. Truth was, Skirf had more responsibility now—so they'd arranged for Dag, one of Bofur's distant cousins, to sign on as page for him. The lad showed promise, but like all youngsters, needed training and direction. Kili felt better knowing Skirf was establishing himself.

His moment with his grown-up fosterling was interrupted then by a loud and demanding quork.

Kili turned in time to raise an arm to Corax and greet him. Nÿr stepped away, offering her arm to another, younger bird.

"Fly high? Fly high?" Corax asked him, nibbling on his shirt. "Fly high for Raven King?"

"Yes," Kili confirmed, recognizing his new name and the term that meant the ravens would ascend to the high cliffs and scout the security of the valley. "Smart bird, Corax," he crooned his praise and Corax accepted it imperiously proud. He eyed Kili and then launched himself skyward, calling for others to follow.

Kili, Nÿr, and Skirfir watched the big corvids streak skyward. The morning light warmed the granite cliffs, revealing long veils of falling water, the sound of raven calls echoing off the high cliffs.

"I thought I would feel out of place here," Skirfir murmured with awe in his voice as he watched them fly. "But somehow I really don't." He smiled at Kili and Nÿr. "And this...it's the most beautiful spot ever. I can't believe you grew up here," he said to Kili.

Kili huffed. "I grew up," he said. "In the trainee quarters—away south," he waved in the general direction. "I only lived here 'til I was about Gunz's age. My uncle moved us off to training when we were still very young."

Nÿr shook her head. "Gunz is too young for training."

"I agree." Kili sipped his hot tea. "But before that time, Fili and I ranged over every inch of this valley…" He looked around at the meadows, the groves beyond, and the place where the icy river cut a path. "We were always hunting and having adventures." He smiled sadly. That had been many years ago. Then he took Nÿr's hand again and brightened, arching an eyebrow at Skirf. "Hope you're ready for that with our lad…"

Skirfir grinned. "Looking forward to it."


Later that day, Kili stood before his council inside the sumptuous wood and blue stone Council Chambers and announced his impending sequestration to his advisors. The newly re-furbished Chamber featured (to his surprise) a new Royal Emblem designed just for him: sword, ravens, and a stag-head shield complete with antlers...thanks to that impromptu appearance of the seven-point buck at his coronation.

"I wish to thank all of you," he said to the dwarves at the table. "For your steadfast support during these last three months of battle operations." He bowed to them. Fact was, he'd neglected his advisors. He'd charged in after the coronation on the field of battle and then charged out again, spending his first months as King chasing down goblins and especially tracking down that splinter band of battle-hardened Gundabad orcs.

"Now that I'm back, my Lady Wife and I—if you will humor me—will be entering urrâk."

There were several raised eyebrows and a few gasps, but Brunsmund, bless him, set the tone by stretching his arms wide and breaking into a great smile.

"A bairn! She is expecting!" He looked around, beaming with happiness and the others nodded.

"Yes," Kili answered, feeling himself at once shy and defensive about the matter. "These things happen…" he said apologetically. To his relief, his entire council was smiling and chuckling with good-natured pride.

"A King and an heir!" Old Rieth's hands shook as he raised them in a gesture of blessing. "Our future is well secured," he said with pride, as if he were the lucky grandfather. "And the line of Durin endures…"

Yes, Kili thought. Morgul wounds, dragon curses, and all.

Brunsmund took matters in hand, nodding to the others. "Not a father among us who doesn't understand, laddie. We will protect your privacy to the fullest." He'd bowed and the dwarves inside the Council Chamber broke into nods of determined agreement and approving murmurs.

With that business out of the way, Kili went on to assure them that he'd be keeping regular hours here in his chamber, that the business of Khelethur's court would keep going. Then he approved several appropriations for expenditures supporting the defense and maintenance of the Kingdom and its many outposts. The last was a agreement for the institution of regular, fresh food deliveries from the Shire.

With that complete, Kili joined his lady wife in presiding over a special ceremony.

Nori, member of Thorin Oakenshield's original company, lingered for thirty-seven days after being rescued from the goblin blockade before he'd succumbed to the poison that had damaged his mind.

Kili had been off chasing down goblins on the stormy night when Nori had finally passed. He regretted not being there.

"He wouldn't have known you," Nÿr tried to comfort him. "He didn't even know Bofur. He went in his sleep, on solid stone." She referred, of course, to the dwarven belief that dying upon solid stone speeded one's passage to the Halls of Mandos.

So it was up to him, as Lofn's King and cousin, to preside over a special ceremony, a serious matter which would also serve as a send-off of sorts. Lofn, it was decided, would be traveling to Erebor to take up residence near her half-brothers and her elderly Uncle Dori.

But not before things were fully settled.

Kili took himself to the Blue Room, a crystalline ceremonial chamber off of Khelethur's main Concourse, not unlike the seven-sided balcony on the seventh level of Erebor's Hub. Inside, Fria and Lofn knelt before an eternal flame, the symbol of a fallen warrior. Behind them stood Nÿr, her hands soothing the roundness of the little one in her womb.

Kili went to her, kissed her in greeting, and then took in the scene. He was about to do for Lofn and Fria what his cousin Dwalin had once done for him and Skirfir…Fili having been laid low at the time by a nearly deadly spear thrust to his hip.

It was called the Ushmar, if you were a lad. Ushmatha, for a lass.

Kili took his place before the two lasses, silent in their contemplation. Fria and Lofn had been sitting an hour of shivoth for Lofn's father...for Nori, gone these past two weeks.

"Zabirakhajimuhazu…it is time." Kili said, putting his fist over his heart to begin the formalities.

Fria, experienced battle commander of Erebor, and Lofn, young under-age Daughter of Durin, both looked up.

Together, they placed hands on hearts and replied in one voice. "Medrûnat."

The ceremony was simple. Kili smiled at Lofn, checking to see that she was ready. Nÿr had taken great pains to be sure that this was Lofn's Choice, and thus assured, he was determined to see it done.

"We are here today to affirm the safety and care of Lofn, Daughter of Nori and Eila. Fria, Commander of the Erebor Guard, stands for young Lofn as Ushmatha."

Kili couldn't help hearing the echo of Dwalin's voice: Kili, commander of the Erebor Guard, stands for young Skirfir as Ushmad.

"Young Lofn," he went on. "If you accept this warrior as ushmatha, you have only to light the seven candles."

Lofn looked at him, her expression serious. Timidly, she reached for the slender piece of oak that would serve as a lighter. Then, with a look of determination that Kili found at once endearing and heartbreaking, she gripped the oak and lit the end by holding it into the eternal flame. Before her sat seven candles on a curved holder made from a barrel stave.

Quickly, she brought the lit wood to the first candle.

"I light the first candle for my father, for Nori the Miner, member of the company of Thorin Oakenshield."

The candle lit. She moved her light to the second.

"I light the second candle for my mother, Eila of Duillond, who died before I knew her."

And they watched as she went on, her child's voice small but determined. She lit the third and fourth candles for two sets of grandparents, whom she'd also never known.

Then she lit the fifth candle for the ravens who had heard her cries for help, and Kili looked bleakly at Nÿr, his vision going blurry.

The sixth she lit for Nÿr, her cousin who had heard the call and tried to save her father.

And then Lofn turned her young face to Fria, the battle commander who'd pulled her from the squalor of a blockaded encampment and refused to put her down.

"I light the last candle for you," Lofn's eyes were solemn as she looked at the warrior lass. "And my Choice for ushmatha, Fria...Commander of the Erebor Guard."

The candle lit, Lofn added her lighter stick to the Eternal Flame, and then Fria held her arms out and Lofn leaned into the embrace, touching foreheads with the older lass.

Kili swallowed and had to clear his throat.

Two hours later, after signing the formalities and sharing a hearty meal and toasting to safe travels, Fria and Lofn joined an honor escort of Grey Havens elves. They were off—joining Círdan on a voyage to Minas Tirith, and from there, would travel north to Erebor.

When they were gone, Nÿr finally buried her face his shoulder and cried. Kili knew better than to offer words. He simply pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. He knew she wished she could have saved Nori. That they somehow could have dodged the distraction of Levender…not been attacked by crebain, wargs, and a gaurhoth…or not needed to stay so long in Rivendell while Embur and Bofur recovered from wounds.

But things happened as they did, Kili knew. And dwarves endured.

Though no one ever said they did it without tears or heartbreak. He let Nÿr cry herself out, then kissed her on the forehead, walked her home in silence, and closed the doors behind them.

In the months that followed, they had nothing but good news from both Lofn on her journey and from Fili back in Erebor...and they enjoyed a particularly warm and beautiful summer in Khelethur.

For years afterward, people said that a new King in Khelethur had brought back the blue skies to Ered Luin, that the mines were more productive, that the food from the Shire made them all fat and healthy again, and everyone marveled at their King and his young lady wife as her pregnancy progressed. She was a happy young mother-to-be, fresh-faced and smiling, and they enjoyed seeing her out and about. That their Lord Kili found her adorable was evident, and they loved nothing more than to see the two of them taking a stroll down the Concourse on market day. Their Lord King stayed appropriately close to her, offered his hand when needed, and was cheerfully careful of her increasing lack of balance as the growing baby made it harder for her to get around.

In June, Khelethur hosted a week-long midsummer festival and the grounds around the lodge were full of visitors from the outlying settlements, camping outside like Fili's hurmelgang travelers. It was a tradition from the distant past, fondly remembered by the oldest elders even though Kili only had a vague memory of such an event. Kili and Nÿr limited their contact with the wider crowd (they were urrâk after all and everyone knew it), but they mingled as they could. There was ale, wild pig roasted on outdoor spits, contests for the children, and a visit from a small contingent of hobbit lads led by Peregrin Took himself. Kili had climbed the heights with a small escort one afternoon just to view the glowing party from a raven's eye view after sunset, the lodge and forest looking like a large illuminated firefly nestled in the trees.

His father's cousin Ulf had surprised him with the building of a great bonfire on the clifftops. At midnight, the lights of Khelethur below were dimmed and to Kili's complete, awestruck surprise, his Firebeard cousins shoved the entire bonfire off the heights, sending it streaming to the bottom, scattering harmlessly over a dry rockfall below. From the lodge, Nÿr reported that the Firebeard Fall, as it was apparently named, actually looked like a long, red glowing waterfall cascading down the cliff face. Pippin declared it the rival of Gandalf's fireworks.

Kili had to ask for a repeat the following night just so he could see it from below. No one objected and his Firebeard cousins claimed success.

As the summer changed to autumn, the people of Khelethur could see that the Lady Nÿr's final weeks of pregnancy were nigh, and it seemed the entire city waited with barely suppressed excitement (and the usual amount of worry) as the birthing day came ever closer.

Kili himself struggled to find the balance between constant vigilance and reasonable concern.

Poor Skirfir tolerated his increased need for sword practice, and Kili decided that the reasons for urrâk were not only very real, but a tradition that had probably saved the lives of hundreds of innocent dwarves over the years. He was beset by all manner of ridiculous over-protective urges (including the installation of new door locks throughout the family suite) and the sudden illogical desire to shoot an arrow straight through any stranger who annoyed him. All this was countered only by the fact that Nÿr herself was the very picture of peace and serenity. As a healer, she knew what what she was doing, after all.

His lifelines though all of this were Corax and his ravens, who kept him informed of everything that moved within fifty leagues of the hidden valley, and they told him exactly when Fili departed Erebor, updated him on Fili's progress along the newly opened Northern Pass, and finally brought him news of his brother's impending arrival.

He was more than willing to ride out with Skirfir that one cold Autumn morning, taking ponies to the southern end of the Khelethur Valley along the icy river. There had been two inches of early snow overnight, turning the river stones into little white hummocks and thoroughly frosting the firs and pines. The early morning sun lit the northern cliff faces, making them glow with yellow-orange light while the southern walls of the valley remained shadow-blue.

"King! King!" Corax flew overhead, swooping past, wheeling around and making another pass. "King! King! King!"

"How far off?" Kili called after him, annoyed that the message was maddeningly raven-vague.

"There," Skirfir pointed.

Kili turned, eyes going where Skirf pointed.

About a quarter league off, a small party of dwarves and men approached, steam rising off their ponies and horses. An excited fair of ravens flocked in wild displays of both speed and aerial agility.

Across the meadow, a sunny-haired traveler hallooed them, waving his arm. Beside him, a smaller sunny-haired lad with a blue hood whooped.

Ered Luin's King stared and sat sword-straight in his saddle and lifted his arm in welcome, getting the first view of his nadad for the first time in months.

"Fili…" he whispered, eyes wide.


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**A/N: Thank you for reading! As always, please leave a note or PM and let me know what you think! One more chapter in the hopper...you guessed it...it's the baby news!

Huge thanks as always to BlueRiverSteel, Cassandrala, and Jessie152. I wanted to get this sort of fluffy chapter right and they held my feet to the fire.

If you haven't seen it before, check out the art/photos that inspire me as I write, posted on my Pinterest page. Google "summer alden pinterest" and it will come up. It's the Durin's Day page. Also a shout out to those of you who "like" items when I post 'em...I guess you know what's coming when you see new art showing up. ;-P

If you've seen the page, you'll know my inspiration for the valley of Khelethur is Yosemite, here in California. I'm just barely old enough to remember camping in Yosemite in the summer and sitting out with my grandmother to see the firefalls, the bonfire that was pushed off Glacier Point. The practice is no more, but it seemed an entirely dwarfy thing to do once a year and fitting for the Firebeards.

If you want the reference, the music while I wrote: O by Coldplay. (Thanks to Cassandrala!)

Huge thanks to all of you for readying—you're fab. Love to all.**

Mahal's blessings,

-Summer

(PS...I'm thoroughly wild about Aidan Turner's new series Poldark...if you want my secret sauce for how to view it in the US, PM me.)

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Khuzdul translations:

Sul ghelekh = everything is fine

urrâk = hiding/sequestration. The last months of pregnancy when (if they can) the parents stay close to home for safety and protection. Expectant dwarf mothers are nesting; expectant dwarf fathers, if they are home, are notoriously over-protective.

ushmar/ushmatha = guardian (masculine/feminine); refers to the tradition of one warrior fostering the offspring of another warrior, particularly when the parent's death was witnessed or attended on the field of battle. Children older than twenty are allowed some choice in the matter. Reference to Kili/Skirfir is in Warhammers, chapter 3, last scene.

Zabirakhajimuhazu = with your permission (formal)

Medrûnat = proceed (formal.)

hurmelgang = honor journey between Erebor and the Iron Hills, commemorating the evacuation of children and families just before the Great War. From Kinseekers, Ch. 3.