Warning: implied sexual content ahead.

X

Khurza.

So.

The young Dwarven girl lived.

Khurza didn't particularly care for miracles or magic. To her, Nadi's reincarnation was a professional discourtesy. And a hindrance. Death was supposed to be a non-negotiable matter. That's why Khurza liked it. And yet, somehow, Nadi had managed to strike a bargain with death. Khurza had never had to kill a person twice and was not pleased with Nadi having challenged this record.

And so she followed her day and night. Everywhere Nadi went, Khurza was close at her heels. She stared Nadi down as she ate her meals at the dinner table, stationed herself outside of the outhouses whenever Nadi went to relieve herself. She would have watched Nadi as she slept had not Kili barred her - with rather heated words - from the treasury room where they retired at night. Neither he nor his brother took very kindly to Khurza's decision to stay in Lake-town, but Nadi had been insistent. The poor, naive Dwarve had come to treat her as a sort of long-lost friend. As she would have it, Khurza's attempt at her execution had been the direct cause of all that had followed. Though Nadi tried to be brave with her appreciative attitude, Khurza could tell that she was frightened terribly of her. It was almost enough to make her pity the young thing.

Almost.

All Khurza wanted was to understand where, exactly, she had failed in killing Nadi so that when she did it again there would be no coming back. She made no obvious sign of accepting or declining Nadi's attempts at acquaintanceship, which the young Dwarve optimistically chose to see as friendly resignation. She went about her life happily oblivious to Khurza's malintent, even going so far as to cheerfully label her My Personal Executioner. Oh, the irony! While Nadi babbled away at the citizens of Lake-town and set about orchestrating a grand party for Fili, Khurza observed her closely, especially her neck. Once, she had become so impatient that she had dragged Nadi down to a cellar and pinned her against the wall.

"Oh," Nadi had choked beneath her grasp. "If you wanted to see, you could have just asked me!"

"Wha'?" Khurza had said. Nadi had pulled down her collar and lifted her head, exposing the pale track of brown circling her throat.

"Have no worries, friend!" Nadi had said. "You didn't miss your aim if that's what you were wondering. As a matter of fact, I commend you for your skill as an executioner. But…if you're hoping to find out why I came back from the dead, then I am sorry. I can not answer that."

Have no worries, friend! I commend you for your skill! I'm sorry!

Khurza could have bashed Nadi's skull into the wall for her dopey innocence. Indeed, she would have had done so had not several citizens burst into the cellar and peppered Nadi with questions about the party. Khurza had slunk back into the shadows and watched as they surrounded Nadi in an unintentionally protective circle. If there weren't so many of them, Khurza would have easily barreled past them and slammed the Dwarve's head upon the bricks until her scrawny neck snapped and they all screamed like children.

But that would have to wait.

Now, Khurza followed Nadi through a throng of people towards the grand bonfire upon the dock. It was the night of Fili's Crowning Celebration and all were in attendance. Khurza didn't care for parties or even the politics of the matter but Fili had caught her eye. The only time that she ever looked away from Nadi was whenever they passed him by. The looks that he responded with were scathing and, sometimes, intrigued.

"Aiiee," Nadi screamed and Khurza suddenly stumbled into her back. "What is that?"

Khurza looked to where she was pointing and realized that she had been talking about the caged dogs that were being unloaded from a boat.

"Ther'my 'ounds," Khurza said, the first words that she had spoken to Nadi in a few days.

"Your what?! Speak up, woman, I can not hear you!"

"That'scuz yer 'ands 'r on yer ears."

"That is because they're so loud! Are they hounds?"

"S'what I said."

"Never seen hounds like that before." Nadi glared over at the yapping beasts with suspicion. Khurza's dogs were snarling at each other and pawing anxiously at the steel bars of their entrapment. A man held his hands up to the cage and several dogs lunged at him at once, their cracked yellow teeth flashing in the moonlight.

"Do you keep them as pets?"

Khurza found this question too stupid to answer and instead walked over to the cage. She kneeled with a pained grunt before the bars and the dogs immediately cowered away in fear. "N'nali, Imwalle, Asm'ar, K'lashtar, Satir. Ain't eat no'in since I been gone." She reached in her pocket and withdrew a single slab of meat. The dogs were fixated immediately. They all watched in tense anticipation as she slid her hand between the bars again and dropped the food upon the floor of the cage. Then, when she stood up and had moved far enough away, they descended upon each other in madness and began to tear viciously at each other's necks. Khurza brushed her hand against her pants then, looking around, realized that she had lost sight of Nadi. People were careful to make a wide berth around her as she wandered the docks in search of the Dwarve.

Finally, she spotted the girl making her way toward Fili and Kili. The two Dwarves sat close to each other beneath a banner being lifted by several women of Lake-Town. A group of children ran past her, screaming over the music and throwing small poppers at each other's feet. Khurza mentally mapped out the lines of veins beating beneath their necks and the most vulnerable parts of their body. One swift strike to each and she could have them dead in an instant if she so chose.

But it was Nadi that she wanted. Fili looked up and held her eye as she made her slow, laborious approach. The others hadn't yet noticed. Her eyes shifted to Nadi's back again and she pictured the meaty structures of musculature running through the small woman's body. One well-placed stab and drag would be detrimental, sure. But, as she was beginning to realize, Nadi's death would require special attention. Basic precautions would not suffice. If she wanted to do away with Nadi completely then she'd have to mangle her - completely destroy her body so that it could not rejuvenate itself at all. Every bone would have to be broken, every ligament torn.

She tightened her hand over the handle of her hammer as she approached, careful to maintain her balance even though the right side of her body was weak.

Yes, she decided, she would have to do irreparable damage. And when that was done, she would deliver Nadi's body back to Thorin - cold, just as she had promised.

X

Kili.

Either Kili was giddy with excitement or he was already stone-cold drunk, he couldn't be sure. He sat with his knees pressed against Fili's outer thigh and his hands balled tight beneath his chin. There before him sat his brother - no, not just his brother: the new Master of Lake-town. Kili felt so flushed with pride as he watched Fili attempt to settle a makeshift crowd upon his head. Both the crown and the clothes that he wore had been cast-offs from the original Master, sewn and rehemmed to a perfect fit. He truly looked like a king - albeit, a miniature one in comparison to his subjects. But Kili was in awe of him nonetheless. The thought of Fili one day becoming a king had always made Kili jealous. And yet seeing his brother sitting there in red velvet robes and high, smart boots was nothing short of amazing. If Fili's burdens were Kili's too, then so were his successes.

Besides, Kili knew deep down in his heart that sovereignty was not for him. He didn't want it. It sounded a bit too boring. He'd rather be out roaming the world with a pretty woman by his side. The words responsibility and accountability only ever served to make him roll his eyes. In any case, dressing the part of a royal was not his style. Let Fili don the garish reds and blues of his status.

"What?" Kili asked as the crown slipped a few inches down Fili's forehead. "Not a good fit?"

"Dare I wonder if that question is multi-layered," Fili muttered as he pushed the crown back up with his finger. The people around them were laughing and already dancing drunk with their arms linked around the bonfire. Nadi had insisted that they scour their homes for every wine bottle, festive shirt, and delicacy that they could find. A party is no good if you don't regret it in the morning, she had told them. And, with the extravagance of the entire affair, most of them would probably wake up sick, drunk, and missing their clothes the next day. The sense of relief that had settled around the town was as intoxicating as the brandy in the mugs that they waved at the moon.

"Well, I only mean to say that you have big shoes to fill." Fili gave him his signature exasperated look and Kili laughed. "And, yes - that was multi-layered."

"Are you implying that I'm not man enough?"

"Man enough? Yes." Kili said. "Big enough? No. Is that why you haven't settled down with a woman in all of these years? Having trouble filling those big shoes?"

"You really think that because you're my brother I won't hang you out to dry, out there in the fields?"

Kili folded his arms behind his head and leaned back with a grin. "I'd like to see you try."

"Mmm, that can be arranged," Fili said, taking a surreptitious swig from a flask.

Kili chuckled again and took a long, luxurious swallow from the flask that Fili had handed back to him. Yes, he could feel it in his blood now. He had long ago left behind Tipsy Territory and was quickly approaching the Dangerous Drunk arena. His limbs felt leaden as he sat forward again and buried his face in his hands with a laugh.

"Agh," he said, testing out the weight of his own tongue. There was thunder in his veins that was making him restless. If he didn't do something with his body soon, then he would explode. But there was something that he needed to get across to Fili. He had realized it ever since he had seen Nadi's glorious rise from the dead.

"I've been thinking-" he started with some difficulty.

"Don't do that. You'll hurt yourself."

"Bastard," Kili said with a playful shove of his shoulders. Fili wiped his ringed hands across his beard, an awful attempt at hiding his smile.

"If I'm a bastard, then what does that make you, dear brother?"

"Lis-ten," Kili hissed. "I've been thinking about the…the portent. The one about the blood in the water and the crows in the sky. And I've realized something…turn your eye to the wayward crows, that herald the warrior in deathly throes. Fili. Nadi died, do you understand? She died a warrior's death. Her very throat was slit, my brother!"

"Hm," Fili grunted noncommittally. The topic was obviously one that brought him great discomfort, and yet Kili pressed on. He dropped his hand on Fili's shoulder hard enough to make him buckle.

"You don't understand," Kili said, unable to keep the frantic excitement out of his voice. "All along, we thought that we would be the ones to die! And of course, we thought that - we're warriors. But we completely forgot about Nadi. She's as much a warrior as we are. Her death fulfilled the portent!"

"So what are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is this-" Kili leaned into him and Fili winced at his alcohol-tinged breath. "We have nothing to worry about anymore. Her sacrifice didn't just make you king, Fili, it…broke this damned hold that the portent has had over us. We no longer have to worry about it, as it has been fulfilled. She lives, we live, and we will all continue to live for many, many years to come! In fact, we may just live long enough to find you a woman…or, perhaps, that's thinking too far ahead?"

Fili said nothing. At first, Kili just assumed that he was so moved by this revelation that he was at loss for words, and he was on the verge of a well-deserved self-congratulatory moment. But then, he realized that his brother was staring at something over his shoulder. Whatever - or whoever it was - had obviously made quite an impression, one that Fili was not strong enough to fight. Kili turned around and saw Nadi approaching with the damnable wench Khurza trailing behind her. It would only occur to him much later that it had been Khurza that Fili was staring so hungrily at, not Nadi. Kili took an angry swig from the flask and then pointed it at Khurza.

"You'd do best to keep her away from me," he warned Nadi. "I'm not overly fond of beastly overly-tall women who try to kill my friends. Khakhuf inbarathrag, kakhafu durh 'umalul sakh mi mê-"

"O-kay. Settle down, brother," Fili said with a nudge but Kili was on a roll. He held Khurza's eye obstinately as he continued to mutter in Khuzdul.

"Nî durzumêzu kehaf ma zamahkekhemfi ai-hu. Ma kasakhbimî lebal-"

"Wha' is he sayin'?" Khurza grumbled darkly. Nadi gave an obviously fake laugh and quickly waved her hands between them.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. He is merely expressing his appreciation for all that you've done for me. After all, you were the one who brought upon my rebirth. Right, friend?" Nadi smacked Khurza's bottom and the woman jumped. "Right?!"

"Sakhgirambî azafr khâga gamil. You may have Nadi fooled, but you cannot fool me." Kili stood up, drained the last of the brandy in the flask, and promptly spit it between Khurza's boots. Then, he reached back and slid his shirt off with one hand. "I cannot stop you from taking part in the festivities, but I'd suggest you stay close to her," he warned in a calm voice as he wrapped the torn cloth around the tip of a polished wooden staff. "If I catch you alone, I might just be tempted to slit your neck, too. Heh. Who knows what I'll do now that I'm drunk, you cowish harridan."

With that, he leveraged the staff against his shoulders and turned on his heel. He had said all that he had needed to say, and judging by the shocked silence behind him, his message had been received. But he would not let Khurza's presence sour his mood. That night, he was not only celebrating his brother's crowning but his beloved's reincarnation as well. He had much to be grateful for.

"Behold!" He called in a grand voice as he approached the bonfire. He turned and stared at Nadi from across the way. "Behold! The Defier of Death! The Master of Miracles! Shamukh, Nadi: the Woman Reborn! Tonight we celebrate her honor, as well as my brother's! Allow me to sear in your mind this very moment with a little display that I like to call Dragon's Breath!"

He turned towards the bonfire and dipped the swaddled end of the staff into the flames. Then, he grabbed the mug of brandy held out to him and filled his cheeks to near bursting. The women around him were spellbound by his bare chest and sweaty hair as he swished the alcohol around his mouth. Then, he held the flaming bundle to his lips, took a deep breath in, and spewed a strong stream of alcohol across the flames. The crowd screamed and fell back as a burst of fire uncoiled from his staff and flushed through the air. If they were offended by the ironic name of the trick, they soon forgot. Kili took another sip, crossed the fire with his stream, and stood back as the flames squirmed around him. Then, he plucked another torch from the ground and began to spin them both around his chest - faster and faster until it looked as if he was a flickering sculpture surrounded by wheels of flame. The music resumed and the people began to crowd around him, renewed and invigorated by his youthful charm and impressive displays. But he paid them no attention. His mind was pleasantly blank as he twirled and ducked and jumped around the flames.

That night, he would not worry. All he wanted to do was dance.

After all, he had much to be grateful for.

X

Nadi.

"Well…"

Nadi watched Kili walk away towards the bonfire. The insults that he had lobbed at Khurza truly were impressive, and she loved him all the more for it. As they all watched, Kili lit the top end of his staff on fire and spewed a stream of alcohol across it, causing the flames to elongate and dance in the air. Nadi had seen Kili practice fire-dancing before but had never seen him perform in earnest. Now, he bent backward and twirled the lit staff in front of his chest in time with the music. She could tell by his movements that he was severely drunk, and yet completely in control of his body as he ducked and spun beneath the fire-lit staff. A group of children ran up to him and began to jump around in excitement as he danced in time with the heavy drum beats and wild horns. His movements were fluid and easy, his face set in concentration as he slid his hips back and forth like a dancing piper as the children pranced around him.

She could have never loved him more.

"There he is," she whispered to herself as she watched Kili's hair swing about his handsome face. Khurza folded her long legs in and leaned back into the shadows. Her one good eye glowed like a silver coin in the dark. Nadi put her hand on her stomach and ran her thumb along her shirt as she watched Kili dance. "That's the father of my child. Look at him, Fili. Isn't he wonderful?"

"I suppose he's tolerable with a few drinks in him," Fili acquiesced, lightly. The sound of a flute rose above the cacophony. Kili cried out in feral pleasure as he threw his head back and tossed his hands in the air in time with the trilling rhythm.

"More than tolerable," she said dreamily. "He's...perfect."

"I suddenly feel as if my lunch is trying to make a grand reappearance," Fili gave a dramatic gag which Nadi promptly ignored. "Already, you've forgotten what I've told you."

"Then was it really worth remembering?"

From the corner of her eye, she saw Fili frown as he attempted to press his crown back into place. "Your demise will come in the form of his juvenile charm. Do not let him break you."

"Um…" Nadi watched as two women approached Kili, placed a kiss on both sides of his cheek, and ran away giggling. "Perhaps it is too late. My mother said that such an ordeal would mature me, after all. I need him."

"Oh yes," Fili said with a derisive laugh. "You need the man whom you cannot even reveal your pregnancy to."

"Do not attempt to understand my reasoning-"

"What I understand is that you're trying to build a foundation upon a rickety structure. You need stability, Nadi. My brother is not stable."

"Who is, in this wild world?"

Fili fell silent. I am, his silence said. But Nadi, in her exuberant and excitable youth, was not able to interpret his sudden quietness. Off to the side, Khurza lit a pipe. The firelight briefly lit her face before all fell dark around her. Fili sighed and leaned back against the wall. They both watched Kili dancing around the bonfire, thinking their separate thoughts until finally, Fili spoke again.

"How did you find out?" He asked. "About the pregnancy, I mean."

"Thranduil brought the matter to my attention."

"You trust the words of Mirkwood Elves?" Fili laughed. "If they had told you that you were a headless, prancing pony, would you have believed that, too?"

"I know intuitively that they are right."

"Dare I argue with a woman's intuition! But, I guess what I mean to say is...you've shown no signs. There hasn't been any…" Fili gestured helplessly at her stomach as he struggled to find the right word. "Swelling. Or morning sickness, that I know of. They say that pregnancy gives a woman a dewy glow but - pardon me saying this - you've only grown darker by the day."

Nadi shrugged this away with an unoffended yawn. "I must be early on."

"Uh-huh," Fili said. Khurza muttered something under her breath and then laughed. Fili watched her for a long time before turning his attention back to Nadi again. "Thing is," he started slowly. The sound of Khurza's laugh had caught him off guard. "The journey back to the mountain took us a year - a year in which you and Kili barely spoke. But I guess words aren't needed to create a child, not when you're in a hurry." This got no rise out of her, and she could tell that her unaffected expression irked him.

"Anyway," Fili said, bracing his wrists along his knees and leaning forward. "Bilbo told me that you had started a habit of tying your mouth shut at night during the journey. He said that it was to stop you from screaming. I guess ol' Kili's aim is still true, even when he's not firing arrows-"

Nadi reared up suddenly and turned to face him. He had finally managed to get under her skin. He could see it in her face even though she was trying to repress it. "I do not know what has brought upon this change in your character, but you've become as prickly as a rose thorn lately." Her voice shook slightly as she spoke but still, she held his eye. "Understand that the only reason I don't spit in your damned face is because I have faith that you will return to the gentleman that you once were. But, if you choose to continue with your vulgarity and insinuations, you will push those who love you away. And you will find yourself alone in a crowd of people who only ever lust after your power. Find yourself, Fili, before you fuck everything over."

She turned away from him with a magnificent twirl and made her way to the bonfire. His gaze was like two heated needles piercing the back of her neck, but she didn't care. Now that he was in the possession of the Arkenstone, he would either float to greatness or sink beneath the weight of his newfound power. But she would manage - she always had. She had come back from the dead, for goodness sake. Her new world was filled with so much potential and beauty. And his petty shifts in attitudes could not change that.

X

Fili.

He watched her walking away, her words ringing in his ear. Everything that she had said felt like a slap in his face. Never had she spoken so harshly to him before, and her transparency about her feelings forced him to consider the fact that he may have been unkind.

Or maybe that was wrong - maybe he had become too easily cowed by her persuasion. After all, he had been so easily bent beneath her will when she pressed him to become the new master of Lake-town. He'd have to be stronger going forward. He was tired of playing the part of a humble, patient servant to the people around him. If she was so easily offended by his words, then so be it. More problems beneath her belt, not his.

And yet, as he watched her walk towards the bonfire, he couldn't shake the feeling of shame from his shoulders. Nadi had always been a dear friend but now something was different. Watching her walk away brought upon him an uncomfortable sense of foreboding as if she was walking away from him for the final time. Something had changed between them all - Fili, Kili, and Nadi. Maybe they had all just grown up, or maybe it was the fact that Nadi and Kili had become so unified by her pregnancy that Fili was merely a cast-off in their world.

A side dish at the dinner table. The crickety third wheel on a barrow. A soaring bird out of sync with its brethren.

He stood up and turned away. He did not want to see Nadi walking toward Kili. He did not want to see the moment that Kili would hold his arms out to her and pull her into a lover's embrace. He did not want to see them standing toe-to-toe, reveling in each other's presence as the children danced around them. A terrible and bottomless anger flushed through him, for he knew that their infatuation for each other overshadowed his pitiable, private feelings. There was nothing for him to do but stare at the wall before him and try to ignore the heat rising in his chest at the thought of Kili and Nadi holding each other close, laughing…laughing at him, probably.

But he couldn't stand there forever, lest he appeared like a thoughtless lunatic in front of all the others. A group of men had gathered around a table dragged out from someone's home. They laughed raucously and tossed jokes at one another, as men often did. It would have made the most sense for Fili to join them, but he did not trust him. Not yet. He understood that, even though they had accepted him as their king, they did not accept them as one of their own. Fili hadn't won them over with reason or appeal, they had only submitted themselves to him because of Nadi's trickery with the stone. He could sense them casting surreptitious glances his way and muttering their observations with snide smiles. No, he couldn't join them.

And as to the women of Lake-town - well, he couldn't rightfully decipher their feelings on the matter. They had come to treat him with courteous respect, but they maintained their distance. They passed by him in gaggles of twos and threes, their arms interlinked and eyes averted in his presence. He would have liked to ask one of them to dance, but none of them seemed particularly interested in him. Several had their arms wound about the shoulders of their husbands - the ones that remained - and were enjoying their private, romantic moments near the bonfire.

And, lastly, he couldn't find a friend among the citizens of Ironhaven. Attempts at conversation with them were fruitless and frustrating. They kept their thoughts to themselves and toiled obsessively at his beckoning. His greetings were often met with blank stares and unblinking eyes as if he was some strange, exotic beast that had somehow learned to speak.

So who did that leave him with? No one.

He forced himself to turn around and witness the party that was supposed to have been held in his honor. Except, he didn't feel any such honor. He felt lonely and frustrated and stupid. Alone in a crowd of people who would only ever lust after his power, as Nadi had so aptly put it. It was like he was a child all over again, silently yearning for the attention and love that his mother had reigned so freely upon Kili. There was no reason for him to be there anymore. Everybody had either forgotten about him or simply didn't care about his presence anymore. It was an awful feeling that he would never be able to shake.

He muttered something about needing to catch up on his rest, but no one heard him. He was careful to keep his eyes lowered to the docks as he shuffled back to the Master's quarters. Though he couldn't see her, he heard Nadi give a joyous laugh and wondered what stupid, vulgar thing Kili had said to make her laugh in that way. The music and chatter began to fade away behind him as he entered the lonelier avenues, and soon all was silent save for the whisperings of the water as he climbed the steps to his room. The inside of his chamber was comfortably quiet and empty. Though he had made certain renovations, traces of the town's previous Master were everywhere: a brush with red strands strung through its prongs, a portrait of the man in question hung above the bed, a sheaf of papers signed off with a flamboyant signature.

His crown began to slip off his head and for some reason, this enraged him severely. He tore it from his head and flung it with full force at the opposite wall. There truly was nothing more useless than a crown in an empty room. He stood there for a moment, breathing heavily as he stared at the garish adornment. Then, feeling suddenly weak, he took a long swallow from the crystal glass on the desk and wandered over to the expansive bed. The thick fur covers were mercifully cool as he slid his palm appreciatively along them. With any luck, he'd be able to obtain a full night's rest. Sleep had eluded him with avid persistence, often leaving him alone with his thoughts of Thorin and the betrayal that he had dealt him. No corner of the big, green earth could shield him from his uncle's shadow and influence. It was yet another weight that he would have to carry on his own.

He lit the lamp above the bed and fell back upon the pillows with a comforted sigh. The sounds of the party still floated through the window and he considered getting up to close it when suddenly his door creaked open. He sat up, alarmed, and watched as a tall figure shuffled into the room and closed the door behind them.

"Who goes there," he asked and then said in surprise. "Oh. It's you."

Khurza stood in front of the closed door, the light from his lamp bouncing across her face. As he watched with some confusion and trepidation, she took off her hat and began to remove her gloves.

"I see," he said. The rib bones strung before her chest rattled as she removed them and began to unbutton her shirt. "Have you come to kill me, too?"

She said nothing to this. In the following silence that made his heart beat tenfold, she reached back with her good arm and slipped her shirt away from her head. He fell back into his pillows, struck dumb by the sight of her long, lithe abdomen and small breasts. But above all - her powerful silence and creeping aura - it was the sight of her heavily inked torso that gave him pause. There, tattooed along her tanned skin, were the twisted visages of men and women captured in deathly throes. The inking started at her waist and rose in expert, graceful black curves along her chest and bare shoulders. He had never seen anything like it before, and he could only watch in amazement as she approached him slowly, the right side of her body drooped slightly and she shuffled towards him.

"What-" he said in confusion as she unwound a pile of rope from his desk and snapped it between her hands. Then, without so much of a warning, she lowered herself onto his bed and crawled hand over knee towards him. The deadset look in her eye hypnotized him, and he offered no fight as she raised his hands and tied his wrists to the headboard. It was only when she tightened them with a swift snap did he cry out in pain.

"Wh-what do you want from me?" He asked her. She leaned into him, her long body draped over his, and simply stared into his face. There was something distinctly beautiful about her glacier-white irises and taught cheeks. He had never noticed it before but, then again, he had never actually seen her up close. Swiftly, she undid the buttons of his shirt and pushed the fabric aside. The palm of her hand was rough but so very warm as she spread her fingers out possessively along his skin. And then she trailed her hand down, curiously, towards the top of his pants. The following touch was so unexpected and gentle that he immediately tensed himself against the binds and gave a soft, involuntary cry.

"Been'a lon' time?" she asked in her curiously euphonious drawl and he nodded, much against his will.

"Aye…" he said breathily, his voice catching in a stutter. "Such a very, very long time."

And it had been. Fili couldn't remember the last time that he had been touched by a woman. The unexpected intimacy was enough to push him to the verge of tears. A single, wet track rolled along his cheek and she tilted her head.

"Po' thang," she said as he dipped his head and clenched his teeth. "'M gonna hafta unwin' you."

"Aye. Yes," he said, nodding quickly. "Yes, yes, yes - anything. Please. I am begging you."

She snickered. "I like da way you beg. Watch me. Kee' yer eyes on me."

He knew what that what they did that night was wrong, that his intimate engagement with Khurza was a flagrant disrespect to the fact that she had attempted to murder Nadi. But he couldn't help himself, not even when Khurza took control of him and transformed him into a pawn for her own wicked and private gain. Kili may have had Nadi, but Fili had this moment and he would not waste it with regrets or second thoughts. It was what he was owed. It was what he deserved.

The night went on. His mind was torn between the two women: little, traitorous Nadi and the full-grown, devious Khurza. The latter won out and soon Fili could think of nothing, absolutely nothing at all, as Khurza broke him down and built him up again. It was the sort of night that would change him forever-

-and not for the best.