And here's the last chapter. Like I said, the point of this short story was to present an alternate and happy ending for Fili. A quiet ending.
I hope you liked the story. And please review :)
Chapter 11
I recommend listening to Canon by Pachelbel for this chapter.
Inside the tent of the healers, there were too many bodies lying between life and death. All was quiet, the silence and the wind blowing outside the only remaining sounds besides the cries and sighs of the wounded or the dying.
So much misery, so much loss.
Kili could not understand. After the disaster in Lake Town, now this great battle had left so many dwarves, men and elves cold on the ground. He felt that the Quest had failed. It had brought them and everyone around them more sorrow than anything he had ever experienced in his life. A hard-learned lesson for a still young dwarf who could not have imagined in his naivety that this was the price to pay for reclaiming Erebor.
He had almost died at the hand of an orc that had him cornered on Ravenhill. Was it not for the swift intervention of Dwalin, charged to protect the King's nephews at all costs by the King, Kili would have died and failed to fulfil his promise to his mother. To return to her.
What a waste.
Thorin was dead, slain by the pale Orc. In a last to the death duel, the two arch enemies had finally killed each other. The king was resting inside the Mountain, waiting for his funeral rather than the long-awaited coronation he had longed for all his life.
When he had shaken away the gold sickness, Thorin had asked his nephews, kin and friends for forgiveness. He had told Kili and Fili in a tender manner how much he regretted his behaviour, unfit of a warrior, and that he loved them and would fight with the rest of his kin, leading the attack as any king should do. That was a small comfort for Kili that he had not parted with his uncle in anger.
A great warrior that had seen so much sorrow in his long life. That he would wait for almost two hundred years to claim a throne just to die on the threshold of a kingdom that was rightfully his. It was a serious tragedy and a terrible waste.
All the Company was gathered in a healing tent, full of sorrow but nonetheless happy to be alive and to spend a quiet time together after the storm. None of them wanted to stay inside Erebor for now. Too many fresh and unhappy memories.
Bilbo was back among his travelling companions. The hobbit was saddened and stunned by the battle and the turn of events. All of this felt suddenly much too big for him: seeing his friend Thorin die of his terrible wound, so much blood, so much violence. Never had Bilbo felt the need to be back at Bag End, in his armchair next to his fireplace, surrounded by the warm certainty that in the Shire, never anything unexcepted ever happened.
In a corner of the great tent, the frail body of Selis lay on a cot. She was covered by a blanket and on top by Fili's coat. Her face was pale but serene.
The Heir of Durin did not sleep, barely ate, but stood next to her for hours, hoping.
Gandalf had said that Selis was not dead. She was just very deeply asleep, and he did not know if she would wake up or fade. She was no longer the Nymph of the Wind. She lay between two worlds, her mind quiet at last. The voices in her heads had stopped, and her spirit was now bathed with quietness and silence.
Fili was fidgeting next to her, his heart crushed with anguish and uncertainty. The dark circles under his eyes betrayed his anxiety and despair.
It had been five days since the battle.
"You should go eat something, brother… sleep as well" Kili told him, patting his shoulder; his dark eyes concerned.
"I don't want to leave her side…" Fili croaked; his face strained.
"I will stay with her" his brother assured him, with a small smile.
Fili hesitated but he got up, his limbs feeling old, so terribly old and aching from not moving for so long. He kissed Selis on the forehead, caressed her cheek lovingly and reluctantly left the tent.
Kili sat in his place, watching the strange dark-blond haired woman who had captured his brother's heart and soul. She looked more normal now, more human. Still beautiful but more real. Her skin was less white, even if she was pale. She looked like any young woman asleep.
A few minutes later, Selis eventually stirred and opened her eyes slowly to look at Kili. She reached her small hand beneath the cover towards him. He looked up and felt an immense relief when he saw her eyes twinkling.
"I'm glad you're alive" her voice croaked, feeling slightly foreign and hoarse.
"I'm glad you're awake. Fili was out of his mind with worry" he told her, patting her small hand in his big ones.
Selis looked around her and saw everything in a new light. The air in her lungs felt different. Her feet were aching to walk. Her body was aching to move.
And she was so hungry that her stomach gurgled. She giggled faintly and blushed at the sound.
She was so alive. Human at last.
Kili smirked back at her, before rushing out of the tent calling loudly for his brother.
Snow was falling on the top of the Misty Mountains and the wind was cold. The sky was glowing with the harsh and blinding winter sun.
The small Company was leaving the white peaks behind them, riding on ponies, all heavily clothed to keep warm.
"I don't how you do it" Selis grumbled "My bottom feels so numb, I'm sure I'll never be able to feel it anymore. Nor could I ever stand properly after sitting on this pony all day!"
"I quite agree with you Miss Selis" Bilbo told her, still no very fond of riding himself.
They were going back to the Shire led by Gandalf. Bilbo was going home to his garden and his comfort at last, his head filled with happy and sorrowful memories. It had been such an adventure indeed!
The Ur Brothers were going back to Ered Luin with Fili and Kili. Bofur, Bombur and Bifur had never lived in Erebor before the Quest, and they did not like the atmosphere that clung to the place. They had not got along with the Iron Hills dwarves either.
The parting of the Company had been bitter indeed, not every dwarf pursuing the same goal now that the Quest had come to this sad ending with the death of their leader. They would nonetheless be forever bound by friendship and memories.
Not hesitating for long, Fili had renounced his claim to the throne of Erebor, accepting to lead the colony of Ered Luin instead. Kili had followed his brother without hesitation. The brothers had buried their uncle with a heavy heart and many regrets.
Dain would make a fine King under the Mountain.
Before dying, Thorin had finally seen some sense and told Bilbo that if more people valued the conform of home above gold, the world would be a much happier place.
Fili could not agree more with the last statement of his uncle, and it lifted a weight on his heart to know that his uncle had died with such calm and wise thoughts.
Nor Fili or Kili felt they owed anything to Erebor, this strange gigantic legendary kingdom. So, they were coming back to the place they had always called home: Ered Luin, the Blue Mountains.
After staying a week in Bag end, the dwarves had gained a few pounds but left with happy hearts and many promises to visit their hobbit friend very soon.
Kili would come back much sooner to visit a certain hobbit lass called Azalea Baggins, one of the many cousins of Bilbo, which was as kind and mischievous as the dark-haired dwarf.
Selis stood on the balcony of her bedroom inside Ered Luin, facing the green pine forest that lay just in front of the mountain.
It was dawn and, as usual for the past months since they were back, she was getting up before everyone else. She stood watching the wind shimmer in the trees and the mist lifting as the sun appeared. She sometimes wished she could still be able to fly bodyless between the branches, feeling the leaves caress her skin.
But she was so happy in Ered Luin.
Fili and her had been married three months ago in small ceremony surrounded by their close family and friends.
Selis was taking care of the crops and food supply of the colony, while Fili was ruling it. Life was simple and quiet. Life was good.
The Ur brothers were never far away. There was always one of Bombur's bairns trying to steal food from the kitchen or another to play with or console.
Selis turned back to face her bedroom and her sleeping husband. He looked so serene; his golden hair scattered on his pillow. There was nothing more she could wish for. Just to remain at his side forever, for all the time she had been granted on this earth.
She never regretted her choice. She could not have stayed away from Fili. Some encounters go so deep, that they have taken hold.
Selis went back to bury her body under the covers next to Fili, searching for his warmth. He stirred and smiled at her, reaching to kiss her. And more.
Home is where the heart is.
THE END