Chapter Sixty-One: An Acceptable Extortion

"You're up to something."

"Almost always." She gathered up her net, happy to see that her past self had coiled it up properly to prevent any sort of snagging, and looped it over her shoulder. Fili stood to her left, yawning every so often and clutching a large scone in his hand. She discovered, very early on in their journey to Erebor, that he was not a morning person. He woke up, of course, and always seemed to have energy that abounded, but he was never happy about it. This morning, when she snuck into the spare room just before dawn and bent low over him, he greeted her with his same grumbling enthusiasm. She had never seen him dressed so casually, with no weapons but a knife on his belt and just a thin shirt on, but she found she liked it a great deal.

Despite the fact that she had woken him up at an ungodly hour, with nothing more than a few words about a favor as an explainer and a shoved scone in his hand, he had followed her without question.

"The sun isn't up, Emelia." He took a bite of the scone, crumbs sticking this his mustache braids, and fixed her with a very knowing look when she turned around. She was hopelessly transparent when it came to Fili. She thought it was what strengthened their friendship, but there were times, such as these, that she wished he couldn't see right through her.

"And yet, here you are." She dropped the net in her boat and turned back, hand hovering over the tether rope. "This isn't actually the main task for the day. But I need money, so I have to get some fish first."

He raised his eyebrows, a sleepy gesture that endeared her even further, and simply nodded, coming over to grab the rope. "If it is a question of money keeping me from being asleep right now, then I will gladly give you whatever you need."

"Not for this."

Money had never been a concern with Bilbo. Even when she tried to pay him, a few pieces of gold earned from her fishing at the very least, he steadfastly refused. She had taken to slipping them in with the rest of his coins, hopping that, in all his hobbit richness, and it was a lot of richness, he wouldn't notice. He did. Every time. While she had been embarrassed for a time, it had allowed her to build up a healthy stockpile of money.

But she was still a few coins shy.

Or fish. Whichever was more attractive, she would gladly spend it.

Such fine work was, after all, a specialty item, and it wasn't everyday that she asked the best blacksmith in town to make her a bead to propose with.

"You're absolutely up to something," He said again, holding out his free arm to help her into the boat. When she was securely inside, he unlooped the rope from around the tree and hopped in himself, rocking the boat only slightly, and sat down across from her. She smirked, handing him the oars as she kept stubbornly quiet. "Of all the times in your life to become quiet."

"Growth has to happen at some point, Fee."

"And this is the most opportune time?" He asked, taking the oars from her. It slipped into the water noiselessly as he began to pump his arms, the motion effortless as they glided across the water. She turned her back to him and started dropping the net in a line.

"I wanted to ask you something, before the others woke up," Emelia said, leaning over the side of the boat to keep her net in a line. "And it's sort of delicate, and maybe a little stupid, but mostly delicate."

"Kili seems to be the better choice."

"I can't really ask him advice on how to propose to him, now can I?" She braced herself for whatever reaction he might have, positive or negative, and let out a relieved breath when she saw the smile on his face.

"What have you got in mind?"

"I'm so glad you asked," She scooted closer until their knees were touching. "I've been reading a lot about the different peoples of Middle Earth. There's a whole lot about elves, perhaps too much, self-centered bastards, and how they go about marriage. Basically, they just bang it out," She paused at the confused look on his face and smirked, finding joy in the idea of teaching him, and Kili, a few more slang words. "Sorry. They have sex and that's it. Lifelong commitment."

"That's…"

"I know. Imagine staying a virgin all that time."

"I was going to say that I would have been married several times over, if dwarves held with such traditions." Emelia laughed out loud, hand gripping his knee to keep herself steady and from rocking the boat too much. But then, a thought occurred to her, fleeting at first, before it built in her mind and drowned everything else out. "Not Kili though," Fili said, reading the horror on her face.

"It doesn't matter anyway," Emelia said, pulling her hand back.

"But it does to you. I can see it all over your face."

"My face is too expressive. I've been working on it."

"Don't," Fili said, staring at her with all the affection in the world. "Our childhood was difficult. Kili has a more favorable view of it, and Uncle Thorin and how we were raised for that matter, but it was not easy as it should have been. Ori was our only friend for much of our early years. You're the first friend I have had in a long time that is not related to me, or a fried of my Uncle. From the moment we met, you have never looked at me and tried to hide what you are feeling. It would be a shame to start now."

"To be fair, I'm trying my darndest to be related to you as soon as possible." He reached forward and grabbed the hand she pulled back, drawing it to him and squeezing it. "I want you to know something, Fee. On Ravenhill…"

"Emelia, it isn't important." He squeezed her hand tighter, fingers brushing against the scar on her palm.

"It is to me. You're the first friend I've had in a long time too and when that happened, when I saw your face, when I saw what I did to you with my stupidity," She paused again, struggling to piece together the words.

"Well that bollocks and you know it."

"Excuse me, I'm trying to pour my heart out to you."

"And I'm telling you its bollocks. We both decided on that plan, foolish and ill-conceived as it was, and we both hold the same blame. Your hand was crushed." To make a point, he flipped her hand over. The shiny skin of the scar caught in the dim light of early morning as she pulled it back, tucking it away in the folds of her summer skirt and hiding it from view.

"A brain is a bit more important than a hand. What with one being necessary for survival and the other being, by design, a duplicate and therefore entirely expendable."

"If a brain is so necessary for survival, then how do you explain elves and their disturbing longevity?"

"You're trying to change the subject with humor and it won't work." Her other hand, moving of its own accord, reached towards his face. The scar was quite visible, cutting through his eyebrow, the corner of his eye, and down to the middle of his nose, and entirely unavoidable. The tip of her finger touched just above his eyebrow, hesitating for a moment, before it trailed downwards, down the length of the scar and to the tip of his nose, before she pulled back. "Do you have any lingering pain?"

"Some. I have the occasional headache and words slip away from me when I'm not concentrating, but I think we've been quite lucky, all things considered."

"We?"

"Yes, we. Only luck could have saved your hand after a foolish dwarf, convinced of the ingenuity of his plan to collapse a building to kill a few orcs and goblins, so callously decided to crush it under so much stone."

Her appreciation for him swelled, filling her chest with affection and love to the point that it pushed out whatever lingering guilt she might have felt. It was her fault. But it was also his. As a duo they had been so incredibly stupid, so devoid of logic and a strong understanding of physics, it was almost laughable. But they had lived and they were here now, together, and meant to be plotting how she was going to pull off her proposal, so she reached into her skirt, fishing around until she found the small pocket she had requested the seamstress add, and pulled out the small piece of parchment.

"In my reading I saw that dwarves use beads and braids to express how they feel about another person," She said, laying out the piece of paper in front of her. He visibly relaxed, seemingly grateful for the change of subject, and leaned forward. "There was a lot written in Khuzdul that I couldn't translate, but I was able to find a few sources on dwarvish clans."

"I take it this is for clan Kinsington Montgomery?" Fili asked, turning the paper around to get a better look at the sketch.

Despite having ample time to hone her skills, the ability to draw what was in her head had eluded her. Still, the drawing was passable and she was certain the blacksmith had done more with less. It had taken several tries to get it right the night before, the pile of smudgy mistakes littering her bedroom floor was a testament to that, but she thought she finally had settled on a design that captured the essence of her 'clan'. Two fish, each chasing each other, wrapped around the small bead. Between them, she drew 'K.M.', in what she hoped was accurate dwarvish script.

"I'm hoping that I'm not breaking about a million rules with this," She finally said, looking up from the paper to see what he thought.

"You most certainly are," He said, folding it up and handing it back to her. "But not the ones he will care about."

"Where I'm from, men usually have to ask permission from the woman's father to marry her. Then, if the father says yes, or sometimes even if he doesn't, the man proposes with a ring." Emelia took the paper back and tucked it securely in the pocket of her skirt. "It's old fashioned, but people still do it. Women do propose, though, so I thought I might take after my feminist foremothers and do something bold."

"Dwarves do not hold to such strict gender roles."

"So he won't be upset about me stealing his thunder?"

"If the end result is you marrying him, I do not think he will care in the slightest."

"Good," She said. "Now, let's get this done. I've got a surly blacksmith to extort when we're done."

"Ghoff, you cheap bastard, you cannot possibly think this is fair," Emelia seethed, holding up the wobbly hook like it personally offended her. Because it did. It offended her mightily that, after doing business with the hobbit for eight whole months, he still thought that was remotely acceptable to give her a shoddy hook. Ghoff peered up from his worktable, face covered in soot, and simply stared at her, eyes bouncing from her to Fili and back again.

"Is he here to intimidate me?" Ghoff asked, hardly bothered by the idea if he was. He eyed Fili for a moment, seemingly unconcerned by the clear size difference between them, before he turned back to Emelia, eyebrows raised. "Now, come off it. That is my best work."

"If this is your best work, then you should close up shop right now."

"Cheek."

"Absolutely bloody cheek, and it's what you deserve," She said, setting the hook down between them and crossing her arms. "Now, I've come with a proposition that I think is fair. If you say yes, we can forget this whole unfortunate affair and move on with our lives."

"It's almost closin' time, Emelia."

"I'll be quick." Spying an overturned bucket by the door, she turned her back to him and went to grab it, ignoring the several years of dirt layers and the crusty bugs littered around. Flipping it over, she sat down and stared at him, mouth set in what she hoped was a serious line, and waited for him to feel just the slightest bit uncomfortable before she spoke again. "So, I'm getting married."

"Is this the unfortunate one?" He gestured, not unkindly, to Fili with a gnarled thumb.

"No. This is his brother." Ghoff's eyebrows, bushy and bright white, raised just a fraction of an inch. "He's a dwarf, as you have probably guessed, and therefore that comes with a few different traditions."

"This is not quick, Emelia."

"I'm going to propose to him," She said, unable to keep the smile of her face. She did not expect any sort of ovation or congratulations, but she was pleasantly surprised when his eyebrows rose even further and his mouth quirked into what could be generously interpreted as a slight smile. "And to do that, I need a bead."

"A bead?"

"Yes, a bead. Keep up." She leaned forward and picked up the hook, holding it up between them and turning it to the side. "This is embarrassing for you, Ghoff, truly embarrassing, and I would hate for word to get out that people should go to Poppy for their needs."

"You know as well as I that Poppy Proudfoot has no respect for metallurgy."

"I know, Ghoff. Trust me, I know. But Bilbo, weird though he may be, is quite the gossip. All it takes is one little whisper to Lobelia from him and suddenly everything's coming up Poppy."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't I?" She leaned even closer. She kept her gaze firm, hard like diamond, and unyielding, until he finally let out a long-suffering sigh and nodded. "I always knew you were a man of upstanding character."

"Yes, yes. Let's get on with it. I want to get to the Green Dragon at some point tonight."

"Then you better get to work. I'll give you 500 fish and 10 gold pieces to finish it tonight."

"What is the rush, Emelia? Afraid your chap might have some regrets if you give him too long to think?" Ghoff asked, taking the paper she held out to him and moving to his tools.

"No. I've just waited long enough. I'm not going to go another day without being with the man I love."

Hobbiton was a flurry of activity and Kili was certain he had never seen anything so satisfying. It was a reminder, one of many he had already experienced and one of many to come, that he was alive and well and back with the love of his life.

Well, not currently.

But he was certain Emelia was in the general area. She and Fili had left well before dawn that morning with nothing more than a few whispered words about having some work to do. She pressed a kiss to his forehead and the warmth had been enough to sustain him for most of the day, but he found himself getting antsy with each passing moment that she was away from him. She would be back before supper, he had been assured, and so he was left with nothing else to do but follow Bilbo has he did his weekly shop.

Dwalin had followed as well, although with a much lower level of enthusiasm, and was currently being stared at by pair of bawdy hobbit lasses, each clearly quite taken with his tattoos, muscles, and surly demeanor.

"-ome pork for dinner, perhaps?" Bilbo asked, coming up beside Kili's elbow.

"You know us, Bilbo, we have never been very particular about what we eat."

"Speak for yourself, lad," Dwalin said, eyeing the two hobbits. When caught staring, they giggled and turned away and Dwalin was left with a very self-satisfied look on his face.

"Then do you have any suggestions?" Bilbo turned to Dwalin and raised his eyebrows.

"No."

"Then don't complain."

"Mr. Baggins, good evening!"A portly hobbit waved at Bilbo from behind a large stalled covered in blankets. Red ones, blue ones, even ones adorned with every color under the rainbow, all hand sewn and sporting different patterns. Despite the fact that it was the busiest stall in the market, the vendor still managed to make his way over to them."Where is your charming new companion?"

"Fishing. As always," Bilbo said, smiling at the other man. But the gesture was guarded, as if he knew where this conversation was likely to go and was not keen to see it through to the end. "She should be joining us soon enough."

"Should we be expecting wedding bells, then? My wife and I have a blanket made special for you, just waiting for the day when you finally ask her."

If it were possible to choke on nothing, Kili achieved it in that moment.

Despite the fact that he knew it was impossible, knew it as well as he knew anything in fact, he couldn't stop himself from glaring at the hobbit with ferocity. Bilbo could feel the heat of his gaze and promptly panicked, bumbling and spluttering as Kili rounded on him and Dwalin laughed in the background.

"Oh no, I could ne..."

"Have I misunderstood?"

"In every way possible, yes." Bilbo was particularly pale as he spoke, eyes darting between Kili and the merchant. "Syrus, allow me to introduce Kili son of Mirwi, Emelia's…" He trailed off, unable to summon the correct word. Syrus was able to glean the meaning, however, and immediately realized his mistake.

"Forgive me, I did not..."

"What are the blankets used for?" Kili asked, taking mercy on the two hobbits.

"Shire tradition," Syrus said. He seemed to welcome the opportunity to explain. He gestured for Kili to follow him back to the stall, arms spread out wide. He grabbed a green blanket adorned with bright purple flowers and twisted yellow vines. "They bring good fortune and fertility to every happy new couple."

"I was not aware hobbits needed aid in their fertility," Dwalin said. He looked down at the blanket and grimaced, perhaps at the thought of what the blanket was meant to induce, and turned away, finding a sudden keen interest in the large stall of dried meat several paces down. As was likely to hold his attention much longer.

But not Kili.

"How much?"

"Pardon?"

"How much for one of your blankets?"

Syrus seemed to realize he was gawping after several long moments. He closed his mouth and nodded, bending down to pull out a leather-bound booklet. "Well, depending on the sizing and intricacy of the pattern, about thirty gold pieces."

"Wonderful." Kili searched around in his pockets until he found his small pouch of coins. He counted them out before dropping them on the stall. "I want something blue and covered in fish, with a great mountain in the background."

"Kee!"

"How long until it's finished?"

"End of the week, my good dwarf."

"I look forward to seeing it," Kili said, turning around to smile brightly at Emelia.

She was cutting her way through the crowd of people, Fili following close behind her. She had a large grin on her face, despite the fact that she was covered in sweat, and she practically threw herself at him once she was close enough to. Her dress was covered in water and dirt, but he did not care in the slightest. He was perfectly content to have her pressed against him no matter her state. He felt her nose and lips touch his neck, as she always seemed to do, and shuddered when a feather light kiss brushed against his skin. Unperturbed by the crowd of onlookers, he pushed her back just enough to kiss her properly, as she should always be kissed, and didn't pull back until it became hard for them both to breathe.

"Sorry I was gone all day," She said as she pulled back, cheeks flushed.

"Did you finish what you needed to?"

"And then some."

"Good. Then we can go home." His hand moved down to hers as they started to walk out of the small market. Fili went to Dwalin and pulled him away from the meat stall, leaning over to say something to him that caused the older dwarf to laugh out loud.

"Well, actually, I was hoping I could convince you to join me on a walk. Just me and you," She said, popping up on her toes to whisper in his ear. He suppressed a shudder, feeling warmth pool deep in his stomach. He was reminded of the night before, how she felt sitting on his lap and how soft the skin had been under her shift, and he nodded in earnest. Kili knew he didn't need to feel so desperate to be alone with her, that a lifetime of such moments now lay in front of them, but he missed her so immensely, so completely and totally, that he couldn't help but grasp at every little thing she offered.

And so he nodded, mesmerized by the way the late afternoon sun was hitting her hair and lighting up her face.

"Lead the way."

Emelia took him to her favorite spot in the Shire.

It was an isolated hill, overlooking the river she liked to fish in and the largest field of barley. It was yellow right now and practically glowed, like a field of gold laid out at their feet and waiting for them to dive in and lose themselves. He sat down first and pulled her between his legs, her elbows propped up on his knees as they sat in silence. It was of the heavy sort and she could feel the possibilities of all it brought with it.

It was so simple, the happiness she felt sitting between his legs as they watched the sun slip lower in the sky. So simple and earnest and pure and the only thing she had wanted for so long that she could practically taste it on her tongue.

But she could also taste her own apprehension, and the single tiny little bead in her pocket suddenly felt like a thousand.

She cleared her throat around turned around, locking her legs over his hips and scooting closer to him so their torsos were as close as possible without sinking into one.

"So," She started, losing her nerve at the sight of him in the setting sun.

Emelia didn't want to be dramatic, but seeing him there, bathed in gold and looking at her like she was the only thing in the world that mattered, froze the words in her mouth.

But she had to get them out eventually.

She had to let him know how she felt about him, so she cleared her throat and began again, trying to build an artificial confidence that would carry her through to the end. "So."

"So."

"I had an ulterior motive for dragging you here."

"'Drag' is a bit of an overstatement. I seem to recall following after you quite willingly."

"Do you remember how we talked about getting married, way back on the side of the mountain and before everything went to shit? Before Balin," She paused, feeling her throat tightening up. "Well, you know. Before everything. You said you wanted to marry me and I hope you meant it because the idea stuck with me."

"Em…"

"No, wait. I want to finish, or else I'm going to lose my nerve because of how hot you look." She scooted a bit closer, right hand finding purchase on the back of his neck. "I thought that you died, so I stopped hoping for this kind of happiness. I thought I could find some for myself, maybe, somewhere, someday, but it wouldn't be full. I wouldn't be full, because as much as I like to think I'm a strong enough person to live with myself and by myself the rest of my life, it would never be the same without you. I love you. I love who you are, and how you think, and how you smell, and how you love me so much it makes my head spin. You make me feel powerful and appreciated and smart and like I'm not just some dumb girl from Alaska who doesn't know a damn thing about this world. You make me feel like the luckiest girl in the fucking world because you picked me. At least, I hope you still pick me. Because I pick you. And I'm sorry if I'm starting to ramble because I had a speech planned out in my mind and that's now officially out the window…"

"Emelia, breathe."

"Kee, will you marry me?"

She fished out the bead from her pocket and held it out to him, fingers shaking so hard she was afraid she might drop it.

He stared at it, mouth pursed and eyebrows furrowed. "Well this is awkward."

"Oh my god, are you about to say no?"

"What, Mahal no." His hand dropped from her waist and dipping into his pocket, disappearing until he found what he was looking for and pulled it out.

A delicate ring, silver and spindly and clearly made from the finest material.

"I spoke to Bard about how humans court each other. Rings are exchanged, vows are said, it's all very formal, but I thought, seeing as how the only woman I'll ever love is a human, I might give it a try."

"Is that for me?" She breathed, feeling tears welling up against her will.

"If you'll have me?"

"I did ask you first."

Kili smiled, dimples and all, and leaned forward to kiss her. His hand, the one not holding the ring, quickly found its way into her hair and tangled itself there hard enough that she let out a soft gasp. "Yes," He said against her mouth, kissing her with just a bit more enthusiasm than before.

"Yes."

She felt him slip the ring on her finger, too distracted by his kiss to look down and see what it was like on her. But she knew how it felt. She knew it was like a piece falling into place, locking her down and anchoring her to the dwarf in front of her. Forever. They had forever. It wasn't long enough, nothing ever would be, but it was a start and it was more than enough for her.

We stan a happy couple.