**Welcome to story number six in my post-LOTR AU! These tales follow the course of a single year from one Durin's Day to the next. In a nutshell, King Fili rules in Erebor, his young son Fjalar is prince-in-training, and Prince Kili has recently wed his intended, the Lady Nÿr.

While this work can stand alone, reading the prequels will probably help at this point! All feedback welcome, even if you're coming late to the story. A quick review or a PM will do! Mahal's blessing...and enjoy! -Summer**

Chapter One

"Levender, son of Tormund. At your service." The envoy, dressed in formal robes, bowed deeply.

"Kili, Prince and Commander of Erebor, at yours and your family's," Kili replied, bowing in turn as was proper. The envoy was somewhere near a hundred, Kili figured; much younger than most of the Blue Mountains' representatives he'd met over the years.

The lad bowed again, this time hand on heart. "I am the Assistant Secretary to the Ruling Council, Blue Mountains Territory," he supplied. "Here on diplomatic duty."

Kili nodded. "You are here to see my brother," Kili held out a hand to show him from the Reception Room to the King's Chambers.

"No, My Lord," Levender didn't move. "I'm here to see you. It is our hope to become a Kingdom once again."

Kili dropped his hand. Oh.

This.

Mahal….so soon? It made him suddenly on edge, like he wanted to roar his denial of the responsibility despite his promises to his brother. It's not even Durin's Day yet…! Why now, already?

But he held himself still and nodded. "I see. What is it I can do for you?"

Levender smiled nervously. "It's more…what can I do for you? I'm here to help you prepare for…" he suddenly paled.

"My impending journey to Khelethur," Kili finished for him, realizing he was glowering at the lad but not caring.

"Yes," Levender explained, standing straighter, as if steeling himself. "Help with arrangements, formalities, legal matters, anything I can…"

Kili found himself narrowing his eyes, considering the lad. "Axe or sword?"

A lesser dwarf would have quailed at this question from a Son of Durin and Commander of Erebor, but Levender looked him in the eye.

"Pen."

Kili raised an eyebrow.

They considered each other for a long moment.

Then Kili cracked a smile, liking the lad's candor. This was no stuffy oldtimer. He patted the lad's arm. "Good answer, Levender. You remind me of my cousin Balin…and I apologize for my ill manners."

"Lev," the lad said, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Pardon?"

"Call me Lev," he shrugged. "Shorter. Cuts to the chase. And either one, actually. Sword or axe…I'm handy enough with either to get the job done if you don't expect true art."

"Duly noted." Kili found himself grinning in spite of himself. Mahal, young Lev was just cheeky enough to be interesting.

"My father was actually a third cousin to yours," Lev added. "Cousin's-son to Gunnvald Kingfather."

Kili blinked. He rarely heard his father's name mentioned. "King what?"

"Kingfather. Your Lady Mother had it etched on his grave when your brother was crowned King of Erebor." Lev slowed, then looked contrite. "You didn't know?"

"I've not been back since then," Kili murmured. "No."

Mahal, and Lev was a cousin? Not a Durin cousin, mind, but his father's cousin. He suddenly realized he knew next to nothing about his real father. He recalled Thorin, the one who'd really raised him—and raised him by way of warrior training started young.

"I don't recall him at all, to be honest," Kili said.

Lev smiled gently and shrugged. "No one expects you would. My grand-da says you were just a wee bairn when he died in battle." Lev looked somber, then held up a finger and fished in his pocket. "The family sends this." He handed over what looked like a notebook.

Kili accepted it, then opened it to find it wasn't a book but a closable frame that held two portraits. One was his mother, sister to Thorin Oakenshield. One look at her and it was clear from which side of the family Kili had gotten his dark hair and brown eyes.

But the other was a portrait he'd never seen.

His first reaction was that it was Fili.

But it wasn't. "Is this our father?" he asked.

Lev nodded.

Kili could barely take in the details. Fili's nose and eyes…

"My brother named his second child after him," Kili said, staring at the face that was so like Fili's that it was a bit of a shock. "Gunnar. We call him Gunz…"

Lev nodded. "Aye. They called your Da that…and be happy your mother didn't saddle you with a name like Kilivald."

Kili couldn't help but laugh at that one. "Mahal, yes!" He closed the frame and held it between his hands a moment, almost reverently. He felt suddenly humbled by this gift and he met Lev's merry eyes more honestly this time.

"My lady wife is on duty in the delivery ward until midnight," he said. "I was headed for dinner with the miner lads. Care to join me?"

Lev cocked his head. "Miners are the bread and butter of the Blue Mountains. I'd be right at home."

The next day Kili made a beeline for his brother's royal study.

"Did you know?"

Fili looked up from his desk with a half-annoyed expression. "Know what? Be less random, Kili."

"Envoy from the Blue Mountains. Here. Last night."

Fili frowned and poked his pen into the inkwell. "I didn't know about last night, but it's not hard to put two and two together here. They've been waiting for months for you to say yes…and you finally did."

"Less than a month ago."

"Strike while the iron is hot. Better take that one to heart. Kings need that kind of act now savvy. What did you think of him?"

Kili shrugged. "Likable enough…but that's not the point."

They looked at each other. Fili wanted him to be free…but Kili still felt like he was being sent away. Why do I suddenly feel like the little brother getting left out again?

Fili stood and came to stand in front of him. "I need you to do this," he said softly. "For me, Kili. Do it for me."

Kili wanted to have one last fit of temper, one last moment of defiant refusal.

But one look at his brother and he couldn't.

Fili reached out and pulled him close, hugging tight. "In truth, I can't imagine not having you here," he said. "And it's going to make me miserable. But it will help, knowing you're there and making a new place for us. A few years apart, and then we'll be together again. Do you understand?"

No," Kili said petulantly. "And yes." He let the tension out of his shoulders. "It's just…"

"One week from Durin's Day," Fili finished for him. Then his voice got softer. "You're just worried ahead of time. I am too, Kee."

Kili wanted to shake his head and deny that worry over his curse and whether it was still with him or not was any kind of issue.

But it was. Fili knew him too well.

"What if it's not over? How can I go to them, knowing I carry this evil thing…?" Kili shook his head.

"It's an evil thing that makes you sick once a year. It doesn't make YOU evil."

Kili stared at him. "It makes me open to it…the dragon…" He shook his head.

"Dragon's gone."

"That stupid Tyrfing Sword…"

"Sword's gone."

Kili sighed, exasperated.

Fili put his hands on his brother's arms. "You have Nÿr, who is not about to let anything happen to you."

Kili let his breath out. "She's pregnant." Another cause for worry.

"With the Blue Mountains heir and future King." Fili smiled slowly, as if immensely proud of himself. "Look, you're not going alone. You know I'll release Skirf into your service. Start thinking about who else you want to take. The way to settle your nerves," Fili said firmly. "Is to start planning how to make it work."

He stepped back then.

"Start as you mean to go on, Kili. Go talk to the chamberlains about a state dinner to welcome this," he looked blankly at Kili, realizing he hadn't heard the envoy's name.

"Levender."

"Levender," Fili repeated. "And then set up a meeting with him—we can talk to him together about how to proceed. I can do that much with you—I promise."

Kili nodded.

Fili walked to a bookcase, pulled off a large volume, and brought it back. "If you have trouble sleeping, I recommend this one," he put the tome in Kili's hands.

Kili looked at the tooled leather cover. "A Treatise on the Judicial Proceedings of the Blue Mountains Territory with a Historical Perspective on the Litigation concerning Mining Rights and Familial Precedence," Kili read aloud. He looked up at his brother in despair.

"Boring as hell," Fili stated. Then he looked Kili in the eye. "But that's no excuse for not knowing it."

Kili was searching for a good comeback line when Fili's Clerk of Office stepped in.

"My Lord," the Clerk bowed his head quickly. "We have a Man at the gate requesting an audience."

"From Dale?" Fili asked. Thursdays were set aside for Erebor-Dale relations. It was not Thursday.

"No, my Lord. He identifies himself as one of the Dunedain…sent by King Elessar."

The brothers shared a look of surprise. This was unexpected.

"Show him to the Reception Room," Fili replied, hand on heart. "We'll be right there."

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