"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater." ~J.R.R Tolkien

Fíli didn't want to breathe for if he did the illusion he found himself in might shatter. But this was no illusion nor was it a vision conjured from his dreams; this was real and she was real. Sigrid had been the archer on Ravenhill, and better yet; she loved him.

Hidden within the shrouds of the crowd he listened to her voice and felt a blissful, weightless euphoria spread throughout his body as she spoke the words that gave wings to his dreams. He opened his mouth to call out to her; to announce his presence, to sweep her up into his arms and pledge his soul to hers forevermore. In that moment he felt as if he could touch the future he had envisioned at Thorin tale; the two of them living their lives side by side, happy and content, surrounded by family… and just like that, a different illusion was shattered and the words he had been about to call out to her died on his lips.

Suddenly there was a murmur amongst the crowd, heads swivelled in his direction and at some cue Fíli had missed the people of Dale seemed to shuffle aside. He found his place amongst them abruptly revealed until there he stood before Sigrid, his mind an abyss.

Sigrid felt as if each step towards Fíli spanned an age; she could hear the echo of each footfall on the dusty stone, could sense the anticipation of the crowd. Before the fires and the war an audience might have made her shrink away, but Sigrid was not the same girl she had once been, and so she fixed her eyes of Fíli and blocked out the rest of the world until finally she stood before him. And although there were a million things she needed to say and a thousand feelings she needed him to know, she had no idea where to begin. Still, his face remained undiscernible and void of the furious battle waging itself within, but then again, he had had many years to practice.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" She asked softly as her heart was beating raucously within her chest.

Fíli nodded slowly and Sigrid gratefully led them away from the disappointed crowds; this was not a conversation that either of them wanted to have under scrutiny.

Sigrid led them through passageways and around bends, not quite knowing where it was that she was headed but hoping that she would know when she found it. Hanging at her side her hands felt like useless weights and instinct bid her entwine them in his, but as sure as she was about the contents of her own heart, his was as yet unknown. But surely, she thought, he would not have agreed to come unless he had something of meaning to tell her?

They rounded another bend in the labyrinthine passageways of Dale and the remains of a grand water fountain came into view in the distance. It must have been the pride and joy of Dale before the desolation such was the intricate beauty of its design. At the centre of the fountain was a carven plinth and all around the plinth were carved the words and images of a tale one forgotten while atop it stood two stone figures, forever captured in the union of their embrace from which the water that had once sustained a city had flown. But now the fountain was baron and dry and a few of the survivors tinkered at its inner workings, oblivious to the presence of Sigrid and Fíli.

Half because this was as isolated as they had any hope of achieving without mutters of propriety and half because she couldn't stand the anticipation any longer Sigrid halted and turned to face Fíli, feeling her breath catch in her throat as she did.

With each step Fíli had been trying to wrangle his thoughts, and while at some intervals it seemed that he could spin her around that very instant and spill his heart as she had hers, at others the weight of truth kept him silent. Fíli knew with certainty that Sigrid loved fiercely with all of her heart; he had seen it that day on the Lake. That love for her family had driven her to bury away pain until it had nearly scorched her from within. But Sigrid had lost forever a part of her family and although she had claimed that she had saved Fíli out of love, that love had not overcome the blame she clearly possessed for him for his role in Tilda's death, and just as her love for her sister would never die so too he knew would the blame endure and destroy her very spirit if he remained in her life.

Sigrid waited with baited breath until finally it seemed that Fíli had decided what he wanted to say and he opened his mouth.

"Thank you, for saving my life that day on Ravenhill."

Sigrid brushed aside his thanks, not wanting to linger on memories of that day. She waited with baited breath, clearly he had heard enough to gather that she was the archer on Ravenhill, but the only knowledge she craved was to know was if he knew why she had done it.

Fíli sighed. "I understand it all now, I know why you blame me; that day when you chose to come and save my life, that was when Tilda lost hers. Tilda died so that I could live."

Sigrid was taken aback. "Well… yes, but that's not-" she made to protest but Fíli interrupted her before he could lose his conviction.

"But it is." And now he was fighting his every instinct, suppressing everything that told his to stop fighting, because Sigrid needed to hear this. "You have every right to blame me, you always have, ever since that night by the Lake; first for bringing the dragon upon your home and your people and then again for bringing war upon your family and destroying it in the process."

Sigrid felt a hollow growing dread in the pit of her stomach; the realisation that he was pushing her away just as she had that day atop the city wall. "But I don't blame you." She countered, silently begging him to see the truth of her words in her eyes. "Don't you know why I did it?" she whispered, thinking that if only she let the last of her armour fall that he might too relinquish his.

Fíli knew exactly why she had done it, and that was why what he had to do hurt so much. He could give her a barrage of reasons for why they weren't meant to be; the fact that he was a Dwarf and she was a Human, that he was the Thorin's heir and had a responsibility to continue the Durin legacy, or that his life would surpass hers and that the swiftness of her own mortality would rob her of so many of the treasures of their children's lives. But none of them compared to his true reason for denying the truth that her eyes sought to cleave from his heart. And although the thought threatened to sabotage his resolve, Fíli knew that to deny his feelings would leave her free to one day love another instead of being bound to a possibility of what could never be. He drew in a shuddering breath before responding, begging himself to believe that as much as this might hurt her now it was better for her in the long run.

"You saved me because it was the right thing to do, and because you are an inherently good person who can't watch others suffer."

Sigrid let the words collide painfully with her but she would not let herself be fooled by their meaning, not when she could see the agonised omission in his eyes. She knew that look on him well; he had worn it beside the Lake. But for the life of her she could not think what selfless urge he might be fighting now that made him so determined to deny himself. But she would not relent until he let himself be unburdened of it, just as had happened at the lake, and so she stood her ground, stubbornly resolved that if he would not fight for himself then she would do it for him.

"When we were on Ravenhill you asked me why I kept saving you, don't you remember what I said?" she challenged, folding her arms.

Fíli blinked and it took him a moment to remember that when she had appeared to him after his fall she had not been a vision. He remembered the sound of her voice calling him back to earth, her hand as his cheek, her breath on his face…

"You said it was because I showed you how to save yourself." He breathed.

She nodded, stepping forwards to place her hand again against his check as if to remind him and Fíli cursed himself for instinctively closing his eyes and leaning into the familiar warmth of her touch.

"and because I'm not ready to let you go." She finished in a whisper.

He knew now that he had lost the fight to hide the truth of his affection and it was pointless to keep denying it. But if anything giving into those feeling only strengthened his resolve not to sacrifice her future happiness for his own selfish desires, and he knew now that had tell her the true reason why they could have no future, he owed her that much. He opened his eyes and gently reached to take the hand away from his check and clasp it in his own.

"Sigrid," He looked into her face and steeled himself to break the heart of the one he loved, and so his own heart. "We might have a few years of happiness but no matter how you feel for me now, you will slowly begin to resent me." Sigrid let out a noise of descent but he ploughed on. "Your love your sister will never dim and as more time goes by and the yearning grows you will realize what a poor exchange you made, and then, rightly so, you will come to despise me for it. You can't see it now but slowly, bit by bit, it will eat away at you from within and I cannot stand by while you destroy yourself for me."

Fíli hated himself for being the cause of her tears and he wanted so desperately to wipe them away but he knew that it would only do her more harm than good and so he watched them fall, feeling his heart breaking from within the cage of his chest.

Sigrid brushed furiously at the tears that had begun to fall unbidden from her eyes and felt an anger grow within her, anger at him for what he said now, and anger at herself for words that had already passed and could not be retrieved.

"But I don't blame you!" she cried out, not caring if her voice carried over to where the group survivors worked on the fountain. "What I said at the City Wall; I said to myself, not to you! I did make a choice at Ravenhill and maybe for a moment, just for one moment when I couldn't breathe because it was all too much, maybe then I saw it as a sacrifice but not anymore." It was strange maybe that in fighting for him she was able to free herself from the words that had tormented her mind. She knew that the scars from their shackles would linger but in that moment, beyond the anger, she wanted to laugh at the joy of having shaken them off and then to cry at the exquisite tragedy that the bond she shared with Fíli was built on shared scars.

"Sigrid-" Fíli tried to placate her but Sigrid would not be stopped.

"No! Don't you try to tell me that I will be better off without you because we both know that's a lie, and it's not for you to decide. I get to choose my fate and I chose you! I know how I feel when I'm with you; I know that I don't feel so alone anymore, and I know that somehow, in all this chaos and pain, that you and I were meant to find each other, and I know that you feel it too. But what I don't know is why you won't let yourself be happy." Sigrid balled her fists up and thumped them against his chest, biting back angry sobs. "Why do you have to be such a martyr?"

Fíli felt his own blood begin to boil; couldn't she see that what he was trying to do would only save them from heartache in the future? "I'm no more a martyr than you are!" he burst out. "Why can't you see that this is best for both of us?"

"Because it's not." Sigrid said stubbornly and part of him wanted to laugh at her petulance but he had to hold his ground and it was hard enough to fight his own instincts when she fought alongside them

"Well it is." In anguish he pulled his fingers roughly though his tangles of hair. "Even if it is not blame that turns your heart then it will be regret. Sigrid, I don't want to fight you anymore. For selfish reason or for selfless reasons we would only destroy each other. We're already doing it now." And there was such resigned sadness in his voice as the future he feared began to materialise before his eyes.

Sigrid knew that he was lying but that wasn't what made her give in. It was that he could keep fighting despite everything; that he could want so strongly not to love her, not to open himself up to the possibly of what they might be; that was what finally made her stop protesting.

"You truly believe that my heart can be so easily turned." Sigrid said, so sadly and laced with such resignation that it tore at his insides.

"Only by virtue of its capacity to love."

Neither of them spoke, each loving the other more for all that they would not let it show, and yet bitterly hating each other in the same breath. The silence stretched between them, filled with all that had been said and so much more that had not. It draped them like a fog until finally Fíli broke it, casting feebly about for anything, anything but what needed to be said.

"Why do they work to fix that fountain, are there not more necessary things that need to be mended?" But for all his years of masking emotion Sigrid saw right through him, as she always had, and her response was withering.

"That fountain helps run the water supply of Dale; if it doesn't run then we have to fetch water from the river, so yes, it is crucial."

Fíli nodded, not meeting her eyes. He needed to end this now, to leave her behind before he definitely did more harm than good, but he didn't know how to say goodbye. So he took the weak option and said nothing, bowing deeply to her and with one last look that he vowed to cherish forevermore, Fíli tore himself away and began to make his way back home, a home that could now never house his heart.

Sigrid turned away furiously fighting back bitter tears, hating him for only seeing what might stand between them.

And so they both walked away, Fíli towards the north and Sigrid to the south.

Then a shout came, not from either Fíli or Sigrid but from the men who had been working at the fountain in the distance. Finally, after so many years of being barren it began to fill with cool clear liquid, jets began to gush from the mouths of the figures and the workers danced beneath the streams, laughing and splashing each other as the grime of soot, dust, and ash were washed away.

Fíli turned at the sounds and as he did the broken arrow he wore as a talisman swung and fell heavily against his chest. He reached up to catch it and as his fingers brushed the crimson feathers he was reminded of what it had meant; not only a second chance at life for him and his kin, but also the knowledge of what he wanted from such a life. And even though he hadn't known it had been she who had shot the arrow, everything had always come back to Sigrid. Suddenly he wondered what he was doing with his second chance. He had gone on a quest to reclaim a homeland but now, when all that stood before him in the heart of another he had turned away. He had stood within halls filled with all manner of riches and yet none of it compared to the treasure of loving her and being loved by her in return, but still he was walking away. Why; why when life had proved time and time again that it was so brutally short was he prepared to live a life of mere existence without her? What was the point in giving up the fight for hope before he had begun? Of course this didn't make his worries any less valid, all I meant was that they would have to brave more uncertain paths in the future, but why should that mean that the path shouldn't be taken? That was what she had been saying; not that these obstacles didn't matter but that they would be worth it. He felt hope glow within him, the same hope he had found in the memory of her spirit in the days after they had reclaimed Erebor when all hope seemed forgotten. So when she turned to face him all the reasons he had for denying his love seemed insignificant and once again he found himself falling for her eyes, dropping all his masks and walls, just as he had done every time she pierced his soul.

At once he began to stride urgently towards her and Sigrid met him halfway.

Fíli spoke first. "There's something I have to tell you."

Sigrid made to open her mouth but Fíli put a gentle finger to her lips and rushed to speak before she could rebuff him.

"Sigrid," he said, his voice shaking with long suppressed emotion. "I've been a fool. I was terrified that what we share would be poisoned by loss; I thought that the same pain and love that brought us together would only tear us apart. But I see now that we can take it; the good and the bad, we can endure it all because we would have it together! I'm not saying that your grief is over or that I could ever replace what you have lost, but I will pledge my life to help you carry it as you do mine. And I'm sorry that I forgot that. I'm sorry I forgot that you are stronger than I will ever be. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you and I don't just mean because of what you did at Ravenhill. You stood before me that night at the Lake and your courage and strength inspired me, and at the time I couldn't understand where that came from, only that with something greater than I could ever hope to understand that I needed it; that I needed you. It wasn't until the world had stolen nearly everything away from you that I truly understood that it was all from you; that it was all utterly you and I loved you all the more for that strength, so much so that it became my own. Sigrid, I know that I have done nothing but give your reasons to doubt when all you have ever done is give me reasons to hope but," and he held up the arrow at his chest. "the archer who shot this arrow is my match in every way, please say I haven't lost her?"

Sigrid gently took the finger that still lingered at her mouth and held his hand tightly in hers, pressing them together over his chest where they could feel the frantic bearing of his heart.

"You will never lose me." She whispered. "That night at the lake you found me; you made me pull down barriers and open myself up to the all the world's pain because you showed me the promise of its joy, you inspired me. And you know what, that would have been enough because in that moment you had my heart, but you didn't stop there. You ignited my soul; made it burn with love and grief and so much hope; hope that everything would be okay, that even when all seemed lost that there was something good worth fighting for. And I guess I wanted to say that it was all me; to say that I'm enough to sustain me. But that wouldn't be the whole truth and I can admit that now because I don't want just enough. Maybe some people are fine with enough, but I'm not. And you know what, and I think that's strength in itself; to want something better and to put all your hope on the line and just go for it." Sigrid drew a deep breath and looked into his eyes. "I love you Fíli, with all my heart I love you and I'm in love with you. I don't care about the rest of it; I don't care about what the future might hold because with you I won't be facing it alone. And I know I haven't known you for very long, but even then I already know that to spend my forever with you would be more than enough."

He reached up to run his free hand through her hair and with hers she caught it there so that they stood with one hand over his heart and the other at her cheek.

And finally, when there was truly nothing standing in their way and nothing more to be said they closed the distance between their lips and so between their souls, and just like that the air between them seems to explode.

As he captured her mouth in his Sigrid felt an intoxicating warmth glow within her and it hurt in an exquisite way. As if all her longings, all her dreams, all her anguish, and all the secrets torments she kept coiled beneath her bones were awakened and enchanted by his touch. Her chest rose and fell in rhythm with his and she pulled him closer, feeling the beat of his heart match her own in this perfect unity that was all their own.

As Fíli's hands caressed her face the rest of the world seemed to fall away and all that anchored him to the earth was the touch of her lips against his. The taste of her joy, her pain, her spirit mingled with his and danced across their tongues. His hand moved to the nape of her neck and pulled her gently but urgently into him, and he knew that he had always been searching for her.

They stayed like that for a very long time, only separating to gasp for air and even then their foreheads never parted. It was in those moments of in-between; when the need for more battled against the very instinct to breathe and when the intensity of what passed between them without words or touch could be felt in the air, that was when they both came to realize that all the pointless suffering had guided them to this moment, and yet, somehow it was still only their beginning.

Somewhere in the distance the Fountain of Dale filled with the water from the Long Lake, the same lake they had stood beside what seemed like a lifetime ago. Once again what had been burned by fire was soothed, and even though the water held no cure for the flames, it was enough that in the moments of its touch the pain began to diminish and life could go on.

AN:

Sorry that this took so long to get out but I hit my head while ice-skating and wasn't able to do much for a few days because of the concussion. But all is good now and I FINALLY got to write this chapter! I took a bit inspiration from the TV show One Tree Hill and the movie Ever After because that was what I was watching in hospital. So what did you think? Was all the grief I put you through worth it?

P.S The next chapter will be the Epilogue and the last

Kirallie: Initially my plan was to have him hear only the part about Sigrid being the archer but in the end I just couldn't see how he could not have heard the whole thing.

Guest: Thanks very much and I'm glad you liked my take on this side of Bard!

Christmas 95: Here, have another! ;) In my mind Fíli never really blamed her for blaming him but it did hurt him deeply and that almost had worse consequences than if he did blame her.

Sofasoap: I hope that the chapter was worth the wait! I'll be sad to finish this story also but maybe there will be more writing *cough* Figrid*cough* soon ;)

Hobbitpony1: Thanks very much! I hope the wait was worth it!

Ithilya: Thanks! I kept changing my mind about how the meeting would go because although I always knew that this would be a 'Love conquers all' story, I wasn't sure how I wanted them to get there.

Casema: One of my favourite fictional families ever! Sorry about yet another cliff-hanger but if I didn't stop there it would have been a very short and unsatisfactory resolution.