Woo! Next chapter up so soon! And here is Violet's and Kili's reunion! I hope you enjoy it!
Review Responses;
pallysdeeks – Being a toad. . .first time I've heard that, but I have to agree with you on that one! Violet will be fine, don't worry about her. She and Kili will reunite in this chapter, hope you enjoy xx
Dinosaur Imperial Soldier – Violet does watch the burning of Laketown and as for the ravens, as you'll find out, she's too worried about Kili to think about them.
CrystalVixen93 – Thank you! Glad you love it so! Here's the next chapter for you! Xx
Reunion
In Laketown, Tauriel is standing outside of Bard's house, watching the sky ominously; with her elf-hearing, she can hear Smaug approaching and roaring. Suddenly, a huge shadow swoops overhead. Smaug has arrived.
Tauriel enters the house and prepares the dwarves and Bard's family to leave.
"We have no time. We must leave!"
"Get him up." Bofur says to Fili.
Fili instantly helps his brother to stand. "Come on, brother."
"Come on, come on! Let's go!"
"I'm fine - I can walk." Kili grumbles as he pulls away.
Tauriel helps Tilda with her coat. "As fast as you can."
Bain walks up to Tauriel. "We're not leaving. Not without our father."
"If you stay here, your sisters will die. Is that what your father would want?"
After a moment of them looking at each other, Bain sighs as he shakes his head before they all go down the stairs and get on a boat at the back of the house.
"Give me your hand." Fili says as he helps the girls.
"Come on, we gotta go!" Bofur exclaims.
"Quickly now! Hurry!" Tauriel calls as she gets on the boat and stands at the front.
"Kili, come on!" Fili yells out, said dwarf runs down and gets on the boat.
They set off down the canal, polling the boat through the floating chunks of ice. Smaug swoops low overhead, and the townspeople scream.
Smaug soars high above and away from the town, then turns and dives steeply toward the town, building up fire in his chest. As he gets over the town, he unleashes his flames, and he breathes his fire in a line all the way across the town. People scream and fall and die in the inferno. Smaug breathes fire over another section of the town; a man, on fire, falls out of his house and into the water.
"Look out!" Kili suddenly exclaims.
The small boat suddenly collides with the Master's boat, almost toppling them over. Tauriel holds her arm over the girls to keep them steady. Tauriel stares in disgust as she sees the Master's boat loaded with lots and lots of gold, not even bothering to help the people.
The dwarves manage to push their boat away and continue sailing down the river.
We have all gathered on Ravenhill as we watch the dragon attack Laketown, which now lights up the night with fire. I sit and watch the destruction, silent tears falling down my cheeks as I think about those innocent people who are dying because of what we have done. Bard tried to warn Thorin and the people of what would happen. . .we should have listened.
My thoughts also drift to our friends Bofur, Oin, Fili and. . .Kili. . .Kili is still down there injured as far as we know, he could easily be among the dead and this thought breaks my heart further.
"Poor souls." I hear Balin say from next to me as he and Bilbo are cleaning and wrapping my burn.
Tauriel hides the boat under an overhang until she sees that it's safe to go on. As they're traveling on, Bain suddenly shouts for his Da.
Looking up, they see Bard stood on the bell tower, firing arrows at the dragon.
"DA!" Tilda screams out.
As they all watch, Bard shoots yet another arrow, harmlessly hitting the dragon.
"He hit it! He hit the dragon!" Kili exclaims.
"No. . ." Tauriel says.
"He did! He hit his mark, I saw!"
"His arrows cannot pierce its hide; I fear nothing will."
Bain looks down disconsolately, then suddenly looks up and notices the state of the Master of Laketown, and below it, the boat in which he'd hidden the Black Arrow his father had asked him to keep safe. Bain's face turns to a determined look. As their boat passes under a hanging hook, Bain leaps up and grabs it, swinging clear of the boat. The others grab at him and miss, and they yell after him.
"What are you doing?!"
"Come back! Bain, come back!"
Bofur and Fili call out as they helplessly watch as Bain uses the hook and the crane it is attached to to swing to the dock, from where he runs toward the boat with the Black Arrow.
Tauriel stops the others from going for him. "Leave him! We cannot go back!"
"Bain!" Tilda cries once more before leaving him behind.
After what feels like an age, but could possibly be a few minutes, I watch as Smaug flies into the air and watch as he falls, not flies or swoops down, but fall. The sound of Smaug hitting the ground echoes throughout the land, and the ground shakes beneath us. The others all jump up in surprise.
"What was that? What happened?" Ori asks.
"It fell. I saw it." Bilbo replies as he stands next to me.
The others join us as we all peer out at the town in the early morning light.
"It's dead. Smaug is dead!"
"By my beard! I think he's right! Look there! The ravens of Erebor are returning to the mountain!" Gloin calls out.
Looking up, we see several birds can be seen cawing and approaching the Lonely Mountain.
"Aye - Word will spread. Before long every soul in Middle-earth will know - The dragon is dead!" Balin cheers, the others joining him, their joyful voices filling the air.
I do not join in their celebrating. . .how can I when it's not clear if the others made it. Closing my hand around Kili's rune stone, which Balin gave back, I hold it close to my chest, right where my heart is and close my eyes as another tear falls.
"Kili. . .please be alive. . .return to me soon, my love. . ." I say to myself.
Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I look up to see Bilbo standing behind me, a small smile on his face.
"He'll be back soon, you'll see. Him and the others. They'll come back to us."
I give him a small smile and squeeze his hand before looking back to Laketown for a while. We soon return to the mountain and begin by clearing a room for our use.
For the next few days we stay inside the mountain, doing what we can to make it somewhat livable for us. We have still not hear anything about the others, whether or not they survived and the more time that passes without us knowing, drives me further and further into thinking that maybe they didn't survive after all. . .
On the fifth day after Smaug's defeat, I return to the mountain from filling up our water-skins at the nearby river. Dwalin offered to accompany me, but I needed some time alone, which he thankfully gave to me. For the past few days, I have tried not to think about Kili much, but no matter what I do, he still comes into my thoughts.
As I walk through the halls, I hear the sounds of laughing and cheering from our room, I don't think much of it, thinking Bilbo has cracked another joke to try to lift up our moods, bless the hobbit. Not paying attention to what's around me, I walk into the room with my head lowered.
"Violet!" a familiar voice calls out.
I snap my head up and eyes go wide as I see the one dwarf I've been wanting to see for almost a week.
The morning after Smaug's death, the people of Laketown have gathered on the banks of the lake and are trying to salvage what they can. People are screaming and crying, and some of the wooden things are on fire. There are dead bodies washed up on the shore. Alfrid comes crawling up out of the water, screaming.
"Will somebody help me? HELP!"
He clambers over a dead body, only to realize that the person is still alive. Alfrid rolls over him into the water, screaming.
"HELP!"
Meanwhile, some of the survivors begin helping each other and salvaging whatever supplies they can. Tauriel, Sigrid, and Tilda walk about, looking for Bard, the children shouting for him. Alfrid screams up into the sky.
"WHY ME?"
There is still screaming and crying all about, as people pull the bodies of their loved ones out of the water and onto the shore. The dwarves, Oin, Bofur, and Fili, grab a boat and begin to push it out into the water. Kili approaches Tauriel.
"Tauriel."
"Kili, come on! We're leaving." Fili calls out.
"Just give me a minute!"
"They are your people, you must go." Tauriel says to him.
Kili nods. "Yes, and I will. But first, I just want to thank you, for saving my life. Without you. . .I would no doubt be dead right now."
Tauriel smiles. "You are welcome. I did not want to think of Violet being alone without you."
Kili grins at the thought of his beloved in the mountain. "Violet. . .she likes you, you know? I heard you both talking in the dungeons. I can tell she thinks of you as a close friend to her."
"As I do her."
Kili nods with a smile. "Once this is all over, I'll make sure you receive some compensation for saving my life and helping us get away from the dragon."
Tauriel shakes her head. "I require nothing. All that I ask, is you take care of Violet. She might put on a strong face, but I think beneath that, she's more vulnerable than she thinks."
Kili smiles wide. "Now that, I can do. I promise, I'll take good care of her." he looks back to the others who are ready to go before turning back to the elf. "I have to go. Take care of yourself, Tauriel."
Tauriel smiles. "And you."
Kili smile as he turns and gets into the boat, the four of them sailing across the lake.
Once they leave the boat, it takes the four dwarrow a few days walking until they finally reach the mountain. As they approach the gates, they stop in shock and fear as they see the destruction caused by Smaug as he smashed through the front gate to fly out of the mountain. They look at each other, then run into the halls of Erebor. Bofur calls out, his voice echoing in the silence.
"Hello! Bombur? Bifur? Anybody?" Bofur calls out.
[They clamber through the halls, looking for their kin. As they run down a staircase, Bilbo runs up toward them from another part of the city, calling out.
"WAIT! WAIT!"
"It's Bilbo! He's alive!" Oin exclaims in relief.
"Stop! Stop! Stop!"
They meet each other in a corridor.
"You need to leave. We all need to leave."
"We only just got here?!" Bofur points out.
"I have tried talking to him, but he won't listen."
"What do you mean, laddie?" Oin asks.
"THORIN." Bilbo shouts, causing the dwarves to jump. "Thorin. Thorin. He's been out there for days. He doesn't sleep. He barely eats. He's not been himself - not at all. It's this - It's this place. I think a sickness lies on it."
As Bilbo speaks, Fili looks past him and sees something that causes him to wrinkle his face in alarm.
"Sickness? What kind of sickness?" Kili asks, keeping his gaze on his brother.
Fili, not saying anything, walks past the group and starts heading further down into Erebor, looking at something.
"Fili. Fili. Fili!" Bilbo calls after him as he and the others follow.
As they continue heading down, a golden light begins to be visible on the walls. They round a corner, and stop short at the sight of Smaug's treasure, heaped so high over the floor of the cavern that the ground is barely visible. As they stare, they see Thorin, dressed in ornate robes and covered in jewelry, stride slowly out of a doorway. Thorin begins speaking softly, apparently to himself. He looks strange, almost possessed, and the dwarves look at him in surprise.
"Gold - Gold beyond measure. Beyond sorrow and grief."
Thorin looks up and sees the others standing there. Fili looks to his uncle in dismay, not recognising the dwarf at all now and fear instantly fills him as he remembers the stories from his childhood.
"Behold - the great treasure hoard of Thror."
He suddenly flings something high into the air to where the dwarves are standing on a stairwell landing, and Fili catches it. It is a giant blood-red jewel.
"Welcome, my sister's sons, to the kingdom of EREBOR."
The newly-come dwarves enter the room where the other dwarves are.
"Balin!" Bofur calls out, seeing him and Dwalin sitting at a table.
Balin and Dwalin spin around, and seeing the four dwarves immediately jump up, cheering as they embrace them.
"Kili!" Nori yells out as he jumps down the stairs and hugging the young dwarf
Bombur rushes forward and hugs his brother Bofur. "Bombur!"
Bifur also joins in the embrace as Oin and Gloin reunite with each other.
Once Kili pulls away from the dwarves, he looks around the room but doesn't see Violet.
"Where's Violet?" he asks.
"She went to get some water, she'll be back soon." Dwalin explains, a rare smile on his face.
Kili nods as he chats with the others for a while, until he hears her footsteps along with the chain attached to her wrist. Smiling, he looks to the doorway and sees her walking around the corner, several water-skins in either hand and her head lowered. He instantly worries as she looks pale, paler than he's ever seen her and looks to have lost some weight since the last time they were together. He also spies a bandage on her leg.
"Violet!"
He watches as her head snaps up, her eyes going wide as they land on him.
"K-Kili. . ."
He's here. . .he's finally here and alive!
Letting out a choked sob, I drop the skins and run to him, we meet in the middle as he rushes to me, wrapping his arms around my waist as he lifts me from the ground. I wrap my own arms and legs around him as I hold him tight, my head in his shoulder as I sob in relief.
"It's okay now, Vi. . .I'm here." Kili soothes as he rubs my back.
After a few moments, he sets me on the ground and I instantly place my hands on his cheeks and through his hair, just making sure this isn't a dream. Kili's hands go onto the sides of my neck, his thumbs reaching up to wipe the tears from my face.
"Kili. . .you're back. . ."
He smiles that breath taking smile that usually has me weak at the knees.
"I told you I would return to you, did I not, amralime?"
I look to him in slight confusion, a smile still on my face. "I don't know what that means."
His smile gets wider as he leans his face closer. "I think you do."
I let out a giggle before he presses his lips against mine, his stubble tickling my face. I smile as I kiss him back, my hands going around his neck as I feel one of his slide down to my lower back to hold me close. I just sigh into the kiss, my heart and soul feeling so much lighter than it has the past week or so without him. Just know he's right by me is enough for me to feel safe once again.
Hearing someone clearing their throat, we break apart and I instantly blush as I see the others watching us. I bury my face into Kili's shoulder, I completely forgot they were still in the room with us.
"What exactly is going on here?" Dori asks, looking at us in disapproval.
I also forgot that Dori is an old fashioned dwarf, who does everything the proper way. . .proper way for dwarves at least.
"What does it look like, you dolt? They're kissing!" Nori says.
"I can see that, you idiot." Dori counters as he slaps Nori upside the head. "What I want to know is, why are they kissing?"
Kili clears his throat. "Well, I am kissing Violet, because she is my One."
That sentence is enough to have the others staring at us in shock and surprise, all except Balin and Bilbo, who already knew and are smiling, along with Fili who I am guessing also knew. Kili must have told him at some point, which I knew he would and can't exactly hold it against him.
"W-What did ye say lad? Violet is your. . .One?" Gloin asks.
Kili nods. "Yes. I realised it at Beorn's and talked to her about it. We decided to wait until we reclaimed Erebor before we officially started courting and I could give her a braid, which I suppose I can now."
I smile at him. Having been informed long before about the significance of braids and hair among dwarves, I honestly can't wait until I receive my first braid.
"And what does the lassie have to say?" Oin asks.
I just smile wide. "I may not know fully about the concept of Ones at the moment, but I can gather they're the alternative to the Soul Mates we develop. And I can honestly say that I know Kili is my Soul Mate."
"And him being a Prince won't have anything to do with it?" Dwalin asks.
Balin glares at his brother and slaps his arm at the question, but I stop Balin. I can understand his question. Women would say they like a Prince or a King just to gain control and higher standing. So, obviously I'm not offended by such a question.
I shake my head. "Prince. Miner. Fisherman. I do not care. He could have no craft and live in the middle of nowhere like Papa and I do and I would not care. I love Kili with all of my heart and soul, no matter what or who he is."
Kili smiles as he pulls me into him, kissing my head just before the others start cheering and embrace us, each of them giving us their congratulations. Once it's Fili's turn, I throw my arms around him and hold him close, just as relieved to see him alive as I am for Kili.
"Congratulations, namad." Fili says as he holds me.
"Namad. . .what does it mean?"
Fili pulls away and smiles. "It means, sister."
I smile wide at this, happy he thinks of me as his sister, as I think of him as brother.
"What is brother in your language?"
"Nadad. Or, for me, sannadad. Which is perfect brother."
I laugh at this, as do those that hear.
"Perfectly annoying brother, more like." Kili laughs as he wraps his arm around me.
I just smile and lean into Kili as I watch everyone talking again as if we haven't been separated for over a week or as if a dragon didn't destroy half of Laketown. It's at this point I realise that I may have lost most of my family before, and obviously I will never forget them, or abandon Papa, but I have found a new family in this group of dwarves, and I could not be any happier.
Well, there we have it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please keep leaving your lovely reviews, love hearing from every one of you!
Translations;
Amralime – My love
Namad – Sister
Nadad – Brother
Sannadad – Perfect brother
