Thank you so much for reviewing, following and favouriting (is that a word?) this story. It was so much fun to write Kiliel again, although of course I will return to Fíli eventually. (I swear, after BOFA I will only write fluffy happily-ever-after AU's for all of them... then again, who am I kidding?)

2. Tomorrow may be raining, but tonight we have the stars

"I should never have let you go like that," Kíli mumbled hoarsely. "Mahal knows I should have –"

She never knew what he should have done.

Without thinking she kissed him on the mouth, just like then, but oh so differently. He responded immediately, cupping her face in both hands as her lips parted slightly. It wasn't a gentle kiss, none like the stolen kisses she had shared with some of the elven guards of her legion, innocent and meaningless behind stone pillars down in the halls. This was passionate and hungry and desperate, and pure bliss that made her forget everything around her. She pulled him a little closer, feeling her fingers getting entangled in his thick mane of unruly hair, and his hands on her hips kindled a fire in her that took her breath away. The small hairs on the back of her neck stood up as a soft winter chill touched her skin, and she shuddered involuntarily. Only then they parted, and for a moment they just stood breathlessly before each other, their gazes locked as they searched in each other's eyes for the answers to questions they hadn't known existed.

"Tauriel," Kíli breathed raspily, squeezing her hand. "Oh by the Valar, let us just stay here and leave this nonsense of war and gold to others, aye?"

A sad smile tugged at Tauriel's lips as Kíli's words catapulted her back into reality.

"There will be war, won't it?" she asked quietly. The mountain was under siege, and she knew her king was determined to see it through. "Is there nothing to change your uncle's mind?"

"My uncle isn't himself lately," Kíli said, and Tauriel was close enough to see him press his lips to a thin line as he narrowed his eyes. "He cares only about the Arkenstone, and sometimes I feel like he doesn't even recognise his friends. Or his kin. He is obsessed, Tauriel, and I fear that he is losing his mind."

"I'm sure he will see sense soon enough."

"He hurt Fíli."

Tauriel couldn't stifle the gasp that escaped her lips, and she brought her hand up to her mouth and stared at Kíli in horror.

"What did he do?"

Kíli sighed, a turmoil of emotions flickering over his face as it was illuminated by the light of the moon. Tauriel could see the dark circles around his eyes and the worry reflected from his brown irises. Part of it was surely a remainder of his sickness caused by the Morgul arrow. But there was more to it, as she now realised.

"Thorin lost it two days ago when he overheard Fíli and Balin discussing a diplomatic way out of this mess." Kíli motioned vaguely in the direction of Thranduil's and Bard's troops. "He flew into a rage and accused them of conspiring against him. Went straight at Balin, he did. Fíli stepped in his way."

The young dwarf choked visibly, but smiled a little when he seemed to notice the fear that Tauriel was unable to hide. She had gotten to know Fíli, Kíli's golden-haired, protective brother, and she had liked him a lot. He had made her wish she hadn't grown up as an only child.

"Don't worry, he only knocked him down, nothing life-threatening. Fíli's skull is as thick as the Arkenstone itself, I daresay." He winked at her, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes and there was an unusual tremor in his voice. He blinked twice before he focused on Tauriel again.

Wordlessly she pulled him close. He breathed raggedly in her arms, and she pressed her lips against his forehead like she had seen his brother do it back in Bard's house when Kíli had still been lost in delirium. She knew he tried his hardest not to show her how the changes in his uncle scared him.

All of a sudden Kíli tugged at her hand. Their eyes met, and Tauriel could feel herself being drawn towards him, spiralling further into the nothingness as she lost herself in his deep gaze.

"Will you stay with me tonight?" the young dwarf asked timidly. Had it been someone else, in another place or time, she would have been taken aback. But his voice had lost all of its cheeky tone that it had had back in the dungeons of Mirkwood, when she had refused to search him. He had changed a lot since then, she understood. They both had. Then again, they were still the same, with the same dreams and wishes, and it was the world around them that had changed without them noticing.

"There's no one I'd rather spend the night with," Tauriel answered quietly. She was surprised by the rawness of her own voice.

Kíli's hand took hers lightly, and she followed him as he led her deeper into the forest. She knew it was crazy. She barely knew that dwarf, and the last thing she ought to do was joining him without hesitation. But deep inside, she knew that he was no stranger. Not anymore. And probably he had never been. There had been something between them, a connection formed in another life, that she had found the very moment he had lost his rune stone and made her lose her heart to a dwarf.

The forest was silent. Only their footsteps on the soft forest ground could be heard if one strained his ears.

They hadn't walked far when Kíli abruptly stopped, causing Tauriel to bump into him and almost knock him over. She laughed as he stumbled, then stifled her laughter quickly when she realised that his wounded leg was still mending. He didn't seem to care, though. He turned around and faced her, a soft smile on his lips.

"What do you think?"

Tauriel looked over his shoulder and her eyes widened. They were in the middle of a small clearing, and the moonlight illuminated it perfectly. Tauriel lifted her head and gazed at the pitch-black sky. Stars were strewn across the firmament, and just in that moment a shooting star fell to earth. A strange sensation erupted in her chest, a feeling like returning to a familiar place she had deemed lost long ago.

"It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen," she said, and it was the truth.

"That's what I thought. Me and Fíli discovered it a few days ago when we went hunting."

The sparkle in Kíli's eyes rivalled that of the stars above. He laid one hand onto her waist, while he enclosed her right hand with the fingers of his left. He pulled her closer and raised his chin, bringing his lips to her ear.

"Dance with me," he murmured.

She could feel his breath just behind her lobe. It made her shudder and sparked a fire at the same time, and she closed her eyes for a split second. She wasn't supposed to feel this way. But her body told her differently, because it knew things she had never known and that still felt so right.

Tauriel didn't speak, for she knew her voice would betray her. Instead she allowed Kíli to guide her, and they swayed back and forth in the light of the moon. Suddenly she heard a voice, and it took her a moment to realise that it was Kíli's. He was singing quietly in a foreign language, which had to be that of his own people, and to Tauriel it seemed like a rare privilege to be part of this rather intimate song. She didn't understand the words, but still there was something about the song that tugged at her heart. She rested her chin on Kíli's shoulder as his voice faded and their feet slowed on their own accord. Silence embraced them, and Tauriel thought she could hear her heart hammering in her chest. She brought one hand onto Kíli's chest, feeling his heartbeat through his layers of clothing, and she wondered how it was possible that everything she had done in life had led her to that moment. There was something magical in the air, as if the world itself drifted away and led the way to some other life in another place.

Her breath caught in her throat when Kíli gently took her hand and brought her knuckles to his lips. His mouth grazed her skin only slightly, but still it was enough to make her shudder in the most delightful way. It was pure instinct that made her lower her head and putting her lips onto his again. It was a gentle kiss, tender and slow as if they had all the time in the world. And maybe they had. Time seemed to stand still as she felt Kíli pulling her closer until her body was pressed against his completely. His chest was heaving heavily against hers, and he moaned quietly when Tauriel let her tongue slip between his lips. The sound seemed to liquefy Tauriel's insides, as if they were touched by the white burning flame of a forge and molten in the process. She intensified their kiss, closing her eyes in delight, and she brought one hand up to Kíli's neck and felt the dampness underneath his thick hair.

They sank down until their knees hit the soft, cold forest floor. They were almost on eyelevel now, which Tauriel noticed when she pulled away breathlessly and gazed deeply into Kíli's mesmerising dark eyes. His cheeks were flushed a little and she could tell by the heat of her face that she was looking just the same. Her fingers were trembling slightly, feeling for the metal clasps that kept the young dwarf's coat closed, and she heard Kíli inhale sharply.

"What are we doing, Tauriel?" he whispered with a shaky voice, keeping his gaze locked with hers, and she stilled her hands. "I feel like I don't know who I am anymore, like I don't know what's wrong or right and at the same time I'm sure, deep down, that I've never been more right in all my life."

The elf's eyes started to sting at his honesty. The words sounded so familiar, although she had never said them aloud.

"I don't know," she replied quietly. "I've lived sixhundred years and still I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with the way I feel. About my life, about the way I was raised... about you," she ended almost soundlessly.

Gently Kíli ran a thumb down her cheek, trailing the tear that had left its silvery mark on her skin. Tauriel bit her lip and pressed her eyes shut for a moment. She wasn't used to feeling like this. So weak, so vulnerable. She was a warrior, raised to be strong and undefeatable, and to never let her emotions get in the way of her actions. She had a notion that the nephews of Thorin Oakenshield had been raised quite similarly, and she wondered if maybe elves and dwarves weren't so different after all. Proud and strong and protective of those they loved, born fighters until the end.

She didn't resist as Kíli lay down on the soft grass and pulled her carefully with him. They came to rest side by side, with Tauriel's head supported by Kíli's upper arm as they stared at the black sky above. She felt the young dwarf playing with a strand of her hair, and with her right hand she squeezed his lightly. She raised her left hand and pointed upwards.

"Do you see these seven stars up there?"

"Aye."

"It is Valacirca. Varda herself created these stars and set them in the sky as a warning to Melkor. To my people it is a symbol of hope. It is my favourite constellation of all the stars," she confessed. "I think it's because it reminds me that people have defeated evil before, and that they can do it again."

She turned her head and saw Kíli smiling fondly.

"We call it Durin's Crown. It's a symbol of my ancestor. Seven stars for the seven fathers of the dwarves, that were first created by Mahal, long before elves and men treaded this earth."

He spoke with a dreamy voice, as if recalling a story told to him a long time ago. Tauriel knew about the creation of the dwarves, of course, although her own people often tried to forget the fact that the dwarves had indeed been the first creations, before Ilúvatar awakened the elves. She had never known, though, about the connection between her stars and the history of the small folk.

"Isn't it curious how we all see the same stars, the same moon?" she pondered. "We always think that we're so different from each other, and all races see themselves as superior to the rest, but in the eye of the universe were are all small and insignificant. Sometimes I find it strangely comforting to know that the whole of Arda will be constant, despite everything we do here in this small spot that's Middle-earth. Does that make sense?"

Kíli eyed her with wonder written all over his face. He narrowed his eyes for a moment, obviously taking his time to answer.

"It does make sense, I guess. But you are wrong in one point."

"What's that?"

"You are not insignificant. None of us is. We may be insignificant for the eternity that is Arda, but we mean something to those we love. That's what keeps us going, keeps us fighting, despite everything. It's what makes us who we are."

Tauriel let those words sink in. Wise words for such a young dwarf, she though, and it only confirmed her impression of Kíli. It also made her wonder how often he'd had to fight for those he loved.

She didn't dare think about how many more times he'd do it.

Lying on the grass now, dancing for the stars
Maybe one will look on down and tell us who we are

A/N 1: The title is a line from the song "Tonight we have the stars" by Bryan Adams. Did I mention that I love him? My childhood hero, both my parents love(d) his music, and I'm still mad at my dad for going to a concert without telling me LOL

A/N 2: Tauriel's age is taken from the LotR wiki.

A/N 3: I will post the next (last) chapter on Thursday. Reviews, anyone? ;)