Enjoy this Kili POV and in case you were wondering, Ursbund translates into Fire-head. :)
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The youngest son of Dis now found himself hobbling along the Far East corridor, propping up one of the newest members of the Privileged upon his broad shoulders; her neck snapping back suddenly every time she threatened to fall over, her feet trudging alongside him sluggishly.
The walk from the Thorin's corridor had been a very long, very awkward and very silent ordeal. It seemed like every single person within the palace walls had crawled out of their holes to come steal a peek at the girl who had spat on the King – as if though she were some sort of exotic animal they would only ever get to lay eyes upon once before it was put down.
Kili pondered the thought for a moment. Perhaps they did believe that Thorin would kill the girl for her insolence, to make an example of her in front of the people of Erebor and New Dale. Although highly uncommon, only ever happening once before, she certainly would not be the first Privileged to be publicly executed for her actions.
The young Prince reluctantly remembered the very first Ibùjab; it had been years since his uncle had reclaimed the ancient halls of Durin's folk, but back then his kin had only recently been made fully aware of his dragon sickness. His uncle had always been the slightly brooding introvert, and so no one had noticed his slow break down in mental capacity until his greed had completely consumed him.
Even then, if they had realized the extent to which Thorin had transformed, they would have never allowed the commencement of the first Selection, among many other things. But as it were, Kili along with many others thought it would be a good idea to appease him - lest they make the sickness worse. In addition, many had hoped that among the female company, the King would find a new companion; a lover and friend to help him lift the sick spell of gold that had been left to fester in his mind since she had died.
Nevertheless, Kili, his brother and the rest of the King's advisors had let Thorin select his 10 new companions, hand chosen by his kin as the fairest and most desirable in all of Rhovanion. The Privileged had first been named as such in regards to their allowance inside the great Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor; it was considered an honour to partake in the customs and traditions of the Dwarves, to listen and learn the secret language of Khuzdul.
It was only of late that the King had twisted its meaning to infer that the women were privileged to serve him.
Among those first ten women who had volunteered their company to Thorin, one named Letha had started giving a few gold pieces to the children of New Dale who came to the palace to trade apples for figs every week. Unfortunately, the King caught her one day rummaging through his room for a few spare coins and had labelled the woman a traitorous thief in an instant.
Kili would never forget the way her golden locks fluttered in the wind as her body hung, limp and lifeless, suspended by a fraying rope from the Kingdom's gates to warn any others foolish enough to steal from Durin's folk.
But the young dwarf was not going to let anything of the sort happen again, he had been young and naive then, blindly following orders in hopes that one day Thorin would wake and return to the former quiet, yet loyal and steadfast uncle he had once been. However, no longer did Kili hold on to that hope, finding it to be nothing more than a fruitless dream which only made his heart break ten times harder when he looked into the cold, cloudy eyes which no longer belonged to the man he had once loved as a father.
"Kili?" Briseis brought the young dwarf completely to his senses, shoving all thoughts of King Thorin aside as he gazed up towards the girl.
She had turned her head in the direction of the King's nephew, her expression was groggy and her eye lids seemed heavy.
Kili frowned as he continued to look up at her, his brown brows furrowing with worry; the bruise covered almost half of her forehead and was a violent shade of purple, the swollen skin was surrounding a shallow cut which a stream of blood had oozed from.
It would be a miracle if she didn't have some kind of concussion.
The young dwarf examined her pretty face when he noticed discolouration just under her cheekbone, her otherwise perfect complexion marred by the slight shade of brown that had appeared where Thorin had first slapped her.
Kili had not been present to witness what the girl had done to her uncle in front of the entire crowd, but Thorin's nephew greatly admired her for it. Most of the subjects of Erebor did too as a matter of fact, which was another reason why they had all been clamouring to catch a glimpse of her. It had been a long while since anyone stood up against the Dwarf King, and Briseis' small act gave Kili a sense of courage and... Dare he say it, hope.
"I-I think I need to sit down," she said so brokenly that Kili could almost hear the dizziness in her voice. The young dwarf slowly helped her towards the side of the corridor, carefully holding onto her as though she was going to fall apart at any moment. She hit her back against the wall and slid down the smooth stone plane, landing with a small thump on the cold ground.
Briseis breathed heavily for a few seconds, her arms hanging limp at her sides and eyes shut beneath her long, thick lashes.
The dwarf quickly shrugged off his cloak and tucked it as best he could under her chin and over her shoulders. The girl's eyes re-opened, widening slightly as she was perhaps mildly startled at having Kili's concerned face only a few inches away from her own.
"Are you feeling better?" He asked, not bothering to move away from her as he scrutinized her bruised feminine features. She was so fragile, the King's nephew was astounded that Thorin had not broken her in half yet.
She looked at him for a second and nodded slightly.
"Can you find me Helfalas and a sprig of Thala, please" Briseis said, her breath slowly returning to normal as she gazed at him. Kili felt a look of confusion creep upon his dark features as he began to mentally check over every herb Oin had ever told him about, failing to recall anything named Thala. Clearly the girl read his expression and began to elaborate. "Small, bright blue flowers that usually grow in sets of three."
And for some reason the young dwarf waved his hand in front of him, batting at the air dismissively, "Ha! You think I don't know what Thala is?" He said, struggling with the pronunciation of the th- as his tongue attempted to dance around his audible mistake. His feathery eyebrows were raised and his forehead wrinkled in mock outrage as he gradually felt his ears grow hot at the look of sheer confusion Briseis was giving him. He had no idea why had just lied, so naturally he went on babbling, trying to redeem himself for seeming previously unknowledgeable. "I love Thala. I could go on for days about Thala - I used to eat Thala for breakfast," Kili said finally, trying to put on the best look of nonchalance he could muster while at the same time trying to ignore the feeling of warmth which had spread from his ears to his face as he had continued speaking.
Briseis' grey eyes were wide as she tried to stare at him seriously, but her full lips began to twitch slightly at the evident burning in his cheeks. Finally she began to laugh, quickly raising a hand to cover her mouth as she stared at him in amused bewilderment.
"I'm sorry, did you hit your head on something as well, or have you been smoking some wonky pipe weed?"
Kili would have wholeheartedly laughed at her response, but he had been distracted by the sound of her laughter, taken aback at how well smiling seemed to suit her face - and how horribly the small act of joviality clashed with her bruises.
The girl's smile instantly faltered when she saw the young dwarf's solemn expression and she cast her biting grey eyes down. "I did not mean to offend you," she mumbled somewhat annoyed as she began to fiddle with the fringe on his cloak.
He mentally kicked himself for allowing his emotions to be read so easily on his face, smiling widely to make up for his previous behaviour. " I only just recalled a few important documents I neglected to sign last night- that's all." Kili said earnestly, giving Briseis a gentle, crooked smile. He wanted more than anything for her to laugh once more, but it seemed as though he had inadvertently ruined what little mirth she had been able to muster.
"Helfalas and –"
"Trala- you don't need to remind me twice!" Kili cut in, still smiling perhaps a bit too eagerly as he jumped up. He was momentarily confused by the wry smile curling up on her lips, but he ignored it and bounded towards one of the vast pantries in the East Hall.
Upon stepping across the threshold of the door, the young dwarf let out an overwhelming sigh at the sight of hundreds upon hundreds of barrels filled with food, herbs and spices stacked up to the seemingly limitless ceiling.
Kili had apparently forgotten how immense their hoards of food were, as his olive brown eyes swept across the drab stone room which smelt strongly of cinnamon and cardamom.
Thankfully there seemed to be some sort of method to the madness as he noticed the face of each barrel had been haphazardly labelled with black paint, some of the letters peeling and chipping off the splintered wood.
It took the dwarf a few moments to find the first plant, the initial certh on the barrel had been completely scratched off, but Kili was still able to make out -haghol nanging or "Blue flower" in common tongue.
He snatched up the rickety old step ladder and kicked it to the other side of the room, mounting the object and balancing on the top most step with one foot before it had even steadied.
The young dwarf smirked triumphantly; it had been quite some time since he'd last been able to use his agility in combat. The lack of war was obviously not something to complain about, however Kili missed the adrenaline, the insecurity and thrill of battle. He made a mental note to ask his brother for a round of drills in the garden tonight - It was a bit of fun they were both long overdue for. The thought of potentially seeing the scowl lift from Fili's brow put a wistful smile on his younger brother's face.
Kili tried to be hasty, reaching into the barrel and grabbing a handful of the flowers, barely noticing their beautiful and delicate petals as he hopped down from the steps, making sure that this was the Thala which Briseis had been speaking of. Quickly satisfied, his eyes immediately scanned the sea of wooden capsules until he spotted runes which spelt out Baraz pthun – or quite literally "Red Leaf".
The prince had seen plenty of Helfalas before, however he did not know they had any medicinal properties. Kili found himself idly wondering where Briseis had learnt her seemingly vast knowledge of medicine from, since she was far too young to be a Healer. All of the ones Kili had ever seen looked like Oin, whether or not they were male or female.
Deciding this was not the time to worry about such things, he shrugged his shoulders, grabbed the old step ladder and propped it up beneath the barrel.
He only had to climb a few steps before he was able to reach the lid and wedge it open. A satisfying pop followed and the dwarf peeked inside before wrinkling his nose in disgust. The smell of damp and mould assaulting his nostrils before he could hastily scoop up a handful of leaves and slam the lid back into place.
Snorting in an effort to get rid of the lingering smell, Kili inspected the plants in his hand closely, making sure that they were not riddled with disease or rotten.
The scarlet red colour of the foliage caused an unexpected ache in his heart so suddenly and forcefully that the dwarf found himself trying to swallow back a thick ball of emotion that seemed to have lodged in his throat.
And then something happened which the youngest son of Dis had not allowed himself to experience for many years, fearing that it would only cause him more misery than solace.
A vision of his Ursbund, as he had so fondly liked to call her, swam in front of his eyes. Nothing more to him than a fleeting mirage of water to a thirsty traveller who had spent far too long in the desert.
But then he blinked and as though she had stepped out from one of the barrels, she was there in front of him – her long, scarlet locks as fiery and bright as the very leaves he held in his hand, her smooth angular face and always playful smirk set firmly in place as the pain in Kili's heart grew sharper. Thin, finely arched eyebrows cocked mischievously as she looked at him from under glimmering lashes, her dark, smoky green eyes beckoning him to come closer.
For a second she parted her perfect lips as though to speak to him, but no words came out of her mouth. And at that moment Kili realized with a wave of devastation that he had long forgotten the sound of her voice.
"Tauriel?"
The dwarf poured all the years of heartache and depression, of long lonely nights and endless, empty days into her name at that moment and the sound which escaped his throat was little more than a choked gasp; half a plea for her to stay with him, half a desperate attempt to hear an answer from the woman who had stolen his heart so long ago.
Kili's eyes began to sting and his Ursbund tilted her head slightly while she faintly pursed her lips, giving him a disapproving look as if to wordlessly admonish him for his yet un-spilt tears.
He had seen the same look from her many times before – when he reached over to grab her hand in mock innocence, or when he stole a kiss (or three) in front of the rest of the company. It had always been her own little way to let him know he was acting foolishly, and the accuracy of her expression now surprised the prince. So much so that he smiled stupidly at her, as if she had indeed caught him doing something foolish.
The tears which had been brimming over his eyelids now rolled unchecked down his cheeks and into his slight beard.
Tauriel turned away from him, her hair shining like dragon fire, lithe legs and slim waist just as beautiful as they'd been the first day he laid eyes on her.
Performing painful flops in his chest, Kili's heart threatened to break free from his ribcage as she turned to give him one last playful look over her shoulder before she winked and disappeared into thin air, leaving the young dwarf to drown in his newly awakened sorrow as Briseis watched him silently from the door.