A.N.: Helo, dearest readers, here goes a bit of happy things for our favourite idiots, before things go south again. Enjoy and review!
pallys d'Artagnan, Legolas is totally delighted by their courtship, but might see things under a different light; salwyn77 and Mizz Alec Volturi, you'll probably love this one even better; Celebrisilweth, our favourite dwarf will have more in his hands than he bargained for, have faith; Mustard Lady, Kíli will want to make them suffer even more, be warned; Jillian Baade, Kíli took so long to acknowledge his feelings, now he has to rush things for fear it will fade away; The Other Writer Girl, a dwarf may take his time to sort things in his heart, but once it's out, it's overpowering.
Welcome to the party, HobbitLover88, I'd love to hear from you!
Tilda felt dizzy, but it could be due to the lack of food, tiredness from the fight and the flight. She could, maybe, blame the excess of adrenaline in her system for how fast her heart was beating. Both things could be blamed on the stress she went through the last several hours. Yet she knew it would be lying to herself.
"What?"
The confusion, or rather, incredulity in her voice made Kíli flinch, afraid her reaction was one of rejection. He should have known better than to open up in front of the elf, he should have waited for a better occasion, he should…
His fear was squelched when his retreating hand was grabbed by hers. She brought their hands closer to her chest, and Kíli could almost feel her heart beating like an apoplectic butterfly.
"You're not mocking me?"
"Mock… Never!"
His indignant claim brought a wide smile to her lips. It reached her eyes, conceding some blue light to the darkening forest.
"We'll have to talk." Tilda stated the obvious.
"We will." He agreed, with a smile of his own.
"You'll have to, but I strongly suggest this talk waits a better place and moment." Intervened Legolas, stretching his wrists in Tilda's direction. "Also, I'd hope for a bit of picklocking before I take on my chaperone duties."
"Your chaperone duties?" Squeaked Kíli.
"Sure." Said Legolas, as Tilda retrieved the silver hairpin and started to work on the shackles. "Doesn't a proper courtship involve someone to grant certain boundaries are not trespassed, amongst Dwarrow? I'm sure it is the case amongst Men."
"Legolas, I don't believe it's really necessary…" Tilda tried to protest.
"What? Your father would have my liver with onions if he knew I was the only one close enough to be a chaperone and didn't take on the task. And what would the people of both your two kingdoms say? We're all allies, after all, even if my father must be reminded of it sometimes."
The woman and the dwarf exchanged a meaningful look and said as one:
"We'll have to talk."
"I thought that was already settled. Now, we must move. Night approaches, our enemies go stronger."
"Won't your trees help to conceal us?" Asked the Tilda.
The elf furrowed his brows, considering how to answer.
"The trees are not mine, they're their selves; some of them are my friends, or friends to some of my people, or to my father. But since the darkness began to spread, not all trees are themselves. Some of them… changed. Some are… beyond our reach."
Kíli considered it was far more interesting to talk about later and somewhere else, as was mentioned before things got weird.
"Our camp was ransacked, but we may find some furs and gear, maybe even some food. It was just north of the road, the orc camp was some miles south-west from it. If we're able to locate it…"
"Would it be a good move?" Questioned Tilda. "They know where our camp was, nothing prevents them from looking for us at the same site."
"Which takes us back to the same point, Legolas: would the trees help us?"
"The trees…" And here he stooped low on their branch to be heard only by his companions in fight. "Aren't trustworthy anymore. Not all of them. And you never know when a trustworthy tree shares classified information with a tree that isn't."
"So, we're in the dark?" Kíli enquired, aware of the double meaning reinforced by the waning light.
"Quite so."
"I vote for going back to the camp as soon as we may, then, see what can be salvaged, and find somewhere to hide for the night. No fire."
"Let us haste, then. Only… Tilda, can I have my hairpin back?"
After the energy spurt provided by the escapade, Legolas' health proved to be more damaged than he would like to let the others know. The equilibrium machine Kíli saw in action when the Company escaped from the dungeons inside barrels was wobbling, taking hold of branches for support when even himself, a dwarf, didn't need it. It was worrisome, and strange.
Tilda felt disquiet, every shadow a menace. Kíli's short legs didn't help, either. They had not walked a whole hour on the tree branches when it became clear they would have to change strategy.
"We must go down, before we fall to our deaths." Tilda stated, feeling defeated.
Slow and careful, they climbed down. The ground was wet, dew clinging from leaves, reminding them of how much they were thirsty.
"Through the underbrush." Whispered Legolas. "Less chance to be seen, by orc and spider alike."
"I didn't see any trace of spider when I came through the road, some weeks ago. I thought it was being kept clean."
"Aye, the road, it is. We're not on the path. The trees… are disturbed. All of them. And not only because of the fire."
It was true, and worrisome. If they had taken the right direction, they should have crossed the road already, Kíli reckoned. Yet, atop the trees there was no way to measure the distance, not for him, and he knew they had taken longer than they would have walking on safe ground. Only, the ground wasn't safe.
They walked, or rather, draggled through the underbrush for about an hour or two more, trusting in Legolas sense of direction and Kíli's notion of where the camp was, or had been. When the elf stumbled and fell on his face it became clear no sense of direction was present. If he couldn't discern between up and down anymore, horizontal directions were a luxury he couldn't afford.
"Kíli, we can't go on." Tilda pleaded. "I can't see in the dark, Legolas is spent, and you…"
"I can see in the dark and I can carry him. You put your hand on my shoulder and I guide you. We must move."
The woman could hear the stubbornness dropping from his sweat, but she was a healer and used to deal with obdurate patients.
"Really? And what will I do when you drop from exhaustion too?"
"Keep watch".
"There's no sense in keeping watch if there's no way to wake up a warrior when something goes amiss."
"I'll stop before I'm spent."
"Oh, yes, you will, right now."
Kíli laid down Legolas back on the ground from where he had lifted him, this time face up, and crossed his arms, facing a very upset Tilda with her fists on her hips.
"I can't let the orcs get you again, Tilda. Do you… can you imagine how I felt when I got back to our camp and… and…" Kíli pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes, as if it could stop his tears. "I thought they killed you, Tilda! I just found out I love you and you were gone, how… how can I risk…"
It hit her. Tilda had been addressing her feelings for an interesting amount of time already, but if what he said was true, if he just unveiled his own feelings, it explained everything, from his strong reaction to their kiss to his stubbornness in keeping on to flee from the orcs when he was already stumbling on his own feet.
Slowly, as if trying to tame a wild fawn, she reached for his shoulders, coming close enough to kiss his forehead. A tiny sob escaped his lips, more a hiccup than a consistent sign of cry. Then the dam broke, and he embraced her fiercely, hiding his face in her shoulder and letting all his anguish wash down his cheeks.
It was unfair, Tilda thought, that she relished the strength in his arms to hold her yet didn't allow him to carry a fallen fellow; but the feel of his short beard, hoarse against her face, and the heath that emanated from him like a welcoming hearth in the middle of winter, sent all her judgment ability to Mordor, and she just allowed herself to enjoy the feeling, and everything it encompassed.
It wasn't clear who started the kiss, but it was plain that none of them wanted to stop it. Tilda carded his hair, massaging his scalp, unaware of how intimate that gesture was amongst his race. On his side, Kíli caressed her torso, her arms and back, anywhere his manners stated it was not too improper, sometimes loosing himself in touching her beardless face, so unlike a dwarrowdam yet so exciting. Yet, they had to breathe sometime, and they broke.
"I'm alive, Kíli. I'm here. And I intend to remain alive for a long time yet."
He cupped her face, lips trembling as he fought for words.
"Will… will you have me, then?"
She had no problem in finding her own words.
"That's what I wish. It is all my heart wants."
Legolas chose that moment to mumble something in his sleep, startling the couple. They looked back at each other, basking in their recently discovered joy.
"We must move our chaperone to somewhere safer."
"Agreed." Tilda moved to grab Legolas' feet as Kíli pulled under his arms. "By the way, what will we tell him? If he mentions us to Da…"
"…or to Thorin…" Kíli settled the elf against a tree, nestled by its roots, and sat on the ground beside him. "We can explain our plight and ask him for secrecy, but there is no warranty that he will agree."
Tilda sat down next to Kíli, leaning against his shoulder.
"No, but we have little other choice. Even if we leave him here, risking him to be found by the orcs, it would not make him forget that he saw us and what he heard."
"And we can't possibly kill him to erase evidence without being as evil as the orcs that imprisoned you."
"Kíli, that shouldn't even cross your mind!"
"Tilda, one sad thing I learned ruling Thorin's Halls is that, if you don't consider all alternatives, someone will, and will catch you unaware."
"Urgh, rulership sounds awful."
"Less than being forced into a political marriage."
"That won't happen, you know."
"No, it won't." He kissed her brow, clutching her closer.
"We'll have to count on Legolas' discretion, then."
"If he doesn't grant it, we'll just move further away. I won't lose what I took so long to find."
He kissed her lips again, softly now, the desperation of almost having lost her replaced by the warmth of her reciprocity. When they parted, Tilda had a cute little smile on her lips, and the explanation for it.
"I was right when I first saw you and the Company coming out of our toilet in Lake Town."
"About what?" He asked, curious. He was in pain when they reached Lake Town, feverish, and little did he recall from that day. Her reason to smile was made clear.
"Indeed you came to bring me luck."
