Kili wakes in the middle of the following morning, just as Bombur, Gloin and Bifur are entering the mounting with the ponies and the supplies. The ruined gardens of Dale have yielded a brilliant harvest and as long as the food is stored correctly and eaten sensibly they should have enough added to their preserved supplies to make it until Dain arrives with his soldiers and supplies of his own. It is obvious that Kili's gift is still very drained, though he jokingly tells Fili that he might actually manage to light a candle without incinerating it entirely now. This, Billana has learnt, is a long running joke about his gift. Kili is powerful, insanely so, but it means that the more gentle magics that are common in the less gifted elude him.
Although Kili has woken, and is apparently none the worse for wear, Thorin remains unconscious for several more days. He stirs occasionally, and mumbles in his sleep. Given that Fili, Kili and Balin are all still drained it is agreed that they avoid the treasury until it can be checked for magical traps. That is something that only Kili has the strength to accomplish and after seeing the dragon casting spells powerful enough to challenge even those as gifted as Thorin, Balin and Fili the others are reluctant to risk that he may have left a curse upon the gold. Instead their focus turns to exploration, with Balin and Ori holed up in the great library as soon as they find a way in trying to find an answer to Thorin's condition. Billan splits her time between following the princes, Nori and Dwalin, and helping Oin tend to Thorin. Fili and Kili also spend some time in the library, she knows that they have been working on some project or another for some time, and when she is not with any of the others she is usually on the wall keeping watch as Bofur, Bifur and Dori shore up their defences. That had been something she would never have considered until Kili had, somewhat sheepishly, admitted that even if he couldn't be completely certain about where he had been attempting to send Smaug, there was the distinct possibility that he may have left the dragon's head in Mirkwood. This, Billana knows, means that there is a chance there will soon be a large number of very annoyed elves on their doorstep.
As if they needed more problems.
With the treasury off limits until they are able to work out whether there is a curse upon the gold, the question of what to do with the decomposing dragon has to be laid to one side. While it is true that they will have to do something about the carcass sooner rather than later, there is little to be done while Kili is still recovering. Their explorations teach Billana a great deal about what life in Erebor must have been like. There are vast open caverns where the market places can be found, three of them, and each is set around a vast fountain of silver and glowing stone statues which leave her quite breathless with wonder. The largest of the markets, and consequently the largest fountain that she sees, is near enough to the gates that it must have been a hub of activity for both those inside and outside the mountain. There are the charred remains of stalls everywhere, some surrounded by piles of dirt that is the long decayed remains of food that has rotted away to what is likely to be prime compost and she makes a note of it for later. The lands around the mountain will need all the help they can get to be truly fertile and prosperous once more. She may be a wild mage, but she is also a hobbit and if there is one thing that all hobbits excel at it is gardening.
She is looking through the remains of what once might have been a toy shop in one of the smaller market places when Fili and Kili find her. They have wide grins on their faces and seem to be bouncing with excitement. Had they been one of the hobbit lads that she had grown up with Billana would be wary of them now, but as it is she knows that even when they are playing jokes they would never seek to harm or humiliate her. Being able to trust them is the greatest gift that they could have given her and she doesn't think that they will ever truly know or understand that.
"We've got something to show you," Kili says. "And we think you'll love it."
"We hope you'll love it," Fili corrects. "And there's two things that we want to show you." She raises an eyebrow and he winks at her. "Maybe later," he promises, holding his hand out to her.
She takes it, following them willingly when Kili comes to her other side. Neither gives any hint where they are taking her, she only knows that she is moving further away from the more familiar areas around the marketplaces and deeper into the mountain. The corridors here are richly carved and decorated, mosaics of precious gems can be seen depicting dwarf tales and legends and she would wonder how these were missed by Smaug except that the corridors here had narrowed enough at one point that there is no chance Smaug would have made it into this part of the mountain. Heavy wooden doors block entrances to what she assumes must be vast apartments at regular intervals on both sides. She has noticed that while shops may form separate buildings with workshops and living quarters, and that guild halls have been constructed, most of the population seemed to have been housed in long corridors of apartments of varying sizes. The large intervals between these heavy doors has to indicate that the spaces behind them are vast.
Finally, the three of them reach a door that has obviously been opened recently, footprints in the dust on the floor show that it has been entered frequently although she has no idea why they would.
"Our grandmother didn't make it out of the mountain," Fili tells her, "according to Balin, these were the quarters she shared with our grandfather and our mother and uncles when they were children." She tilts her head but follows him inside.
As she had expected, the apartments are large, the door opens straight into a family room which still houses the dusty remains of several couches, armchairs and tables. To either side she can see doors that must lead to bedrooms and private studies, but it is the two doors opposite that catch her attention, through one she can see a spacious kitchen and the other she can see a second sitting room. Neither of these are lit with mage lamps as this main room is. The two rooms that she can see are lit with daylight.
"Go and see," Kili tells her, "it's perfectly sound."
She does as he says, hurrying forward to find large, many panelled windows that run from floor to ceiling, heavy shutters folded carefully on either side. There are wide doors in the same design and she tests a handle, delighted to find them open. The cold of the north hits her as soon as she steps outside, but she doesn't care as she feels the sun on her face for the first time in days. This open area is too large to be called a courtyard, yet the mountain rises up all around her, far higher on one side than the others. It is a garden, she realises, with several trees around the edges, raised beds beside walkways and a delicate silver fountain in the centre.
"How did you find this?" She asks, amazed that such a space exists.
"We were looking for somewhere to hide the Arkenstone," Fili replies, "just until Kili recovers enough of his gift to be sure that it won't hurt anyone. What do you think?"
"It's beautiful," she breathes, and it will be once it has been properly taken care of. This isn't an artificial hollow in the mountain, the irregular edges tells even her that much, although the shallow sides show signs of once having had a wall or fence around them. The dwarves have obviously taken full advantage of it, however, and turned it into a feature for the wealthy among them to enjoy on the rare occasion they might wish to be outside.
"We thought, perhaps," Kili says as he wraps his arms around her from behind, his head resting on top of hers, "that you would like these apartments. It won't take much to make them liveable, and I remember you saying how much you love the feel of the sun and miss the open air." She had said something to that effect in Mirkwood, she had simply never expected him to remember. She draws a shuddering breath. "What's wrong?" He asks in alarm.
"I just-" she isn't sure how to put what she is thinking into words, isn't sure how to tell him how amazed she is that he listened to her and remembered, doesn't know how to show how grateful she is that they even thought of her. "Isn't it a bit big for just one little hobbit?"
"All the apartments in this wing open up onto the garden," Fili assures her, "and there are several that are smaller if you would prefer, however-"
"We were hoping that we would be living with you," Kili cuts in. "We want to marry you, Billana," he assures her. "We were going to wait longer to ask, but with Thorin still unconscious and my declaration when we killed Smaug we thought we had better talk about it sooner."
"You really want to marry me?" She asks in disbelief, glancing at Fili beside her.
"Why wouldn't we?" Fili replies. Kili is still holding her and his arms go marginally tighter around her waist. "Kili's declaration certainly brought it forwards, but we always intended to ask." He reaches to tuck a curl behind her ears. "We've missed out a lot of the traditional steps of dwarven courting, from what Balin has told me I suspect that we have gone about this in more of the hobbit way of things."
"And given that you're a hobbit, that's the way it should be," Kili adds firmly. "Our people put a lot in demonstrations of craft and prowess in battle when courting, even though we all know that as soon as we fall in love that's the end of it."
"I think I've seen a great deal of what you can both do, in and out of battle," Billana smiles. "None of it just in a training ring either." Fili huffs.
"I can agree with that," he replies. "If you aren't ready, Kitten, you just need to say."
As it happens, she is ready, she was ready the moment she allowed them to claim her in the way reserved for husbands to claim their wives while they were in Laketown. She chose them then, although by then she doesn't think she could have refused them anything that they might have asked of her.
"Of course I want to marry you both," she tells them. She now knows more clearly than ever that she could never have chosen between them. "As if either of you could have doubted that."
"Thank Mahal for that," Kili breathes. "Would you be very upset if we did it now with only the Company present and Ori officiating?" He continues.
"Why do we need to rush?" She asks, not because she wants to put it off, just because their desire for haste is concerning. "Don't you want to have your mother and friends here?"
"Amad would insist on a big ceremony," Fili admits. "Neither of us wants to go through the chaos and scrutiny that would come with a proper royal wedding. Particularly if we haven't managed to work out what's wrong with Thorin. A coronation would be more than enough for any of us, and we know you well enough to know that being watched by hundreds of eyes while we complete the ceremony would make you uncomfortable."
"If it's just because of me-" she starts to object and she falls silent when Fili shakes his head.
"Neither of us particularly likes being the focus of attention at these things," Kili assures her. "We would much rather a quiet, private wedding with the Company as witness."
"I'd like that too," Billana agrees.
The joy in their expressions, when they both come to stand in front of her, is so heartfelt that she wishes she could find a way to put it there every day.
A.N: Were they supposed to ask her yet? No. Have I given up on getting them all to behave and do as they are told? Yes. At this point I'm just rolling with it.
