Fili had been delighted when he had gotten the raven from Kili that announced Torsten's engagement to Agli. He wished he could have been there, but the couple was already planning their wedding. It would be in Erebor in late summer and they wanted Fili to marry them.

The cold winter was behind them now. Spring was here and the lands surrounding the mountain were turning green. Rather than wait to hear whether or not a hobbit would come to teach them how to plant and raise crops, Fili had asked King Bard II of Dale for help. Two men had arrived to help the dwarves. An invitation had gone out to the dwarves in Erebor, asking if any were interested in learning to farm and grow Erebor's crops. A dozen dwarves, lads and lasses, all of them still in their first century, stepped forward and answered Fili's call.

Some land just north of the mountain had been surveyed and declared good land for farming. Some quick living quarters had been erected, but a team of builders worked at building permanent homes for the new farming dwarves while the new farmers were out learning their new jobs. Fili had been out to the site when they first began to give his blessing as King and ask Mahal to help them and bless their land. Once Kili was back, Fili would take Kili out to the site and show him the progress.

Hrafn and his team were very busy with the beacons project. The right kind of trees had to be found and properly dried. After drying, the wood would be treated with a special oil, so they would catch fire quickly and burn long and hot. Treating the wood would take several months. In the meantime, they were working on building the shelters where the beacon keepers would live.

Three dwarves would spend one year living at each site. Their job would be to keep watch for signals from the other beacons as well as maintain their own beacon. They would need to be ready to light the beacon at any time, day or night. Two of Hrafn's guard who had accompanied Hrafn and Torsten to Rohan were in charge of training the new beacon keepers. Half of them would be from Erebor and half would come from the Iron Hills.

It was a massive project and Fili was very impressed with Hrafn's organization over the many details that had to be worked out. The dwarves in Erebor were very excited by the new prestigious positions of beacon keepers. There would be a rotation of at least twenty one dwarves each year. The new cadets coming into the guard were especially excited with the new possibilities.

Fili had found a friend in Healer Hana. They had met many times, late at night, sitting in the alcove in front of Lake Carregsten and talked the night away. They shared stories of their lives growing up as well as stories of their life in Erebor. Their lives had not been similar in any way, which made the hearing and telling of each other's stories all the more interesting.

The only dark spot in Fili's life, was Milly. She was still as sick as ever. Her usual pink cheeks were constantly white. She had lost a lot of weight and could hardly move on her own. All of her duties had been handed over to her two ladies-in-waiting as there was no other princesses in Erebor with Tauriel gone.

Hana was worried now. She had brought in the mountain's most knowledgeable healers, but no one had any ideas on what to do for the princess. Every remedy they knew had been tried. They all feared for Milly's life. One of the healers had even suggested to abort the baby and save Milly's life, but Milly's reaction to that suggestion would have made Azog run for the hills. With a surprising amount of energy, she told off the healer, using some less than lady-like language and yelled at him for making such a horrid suggestion. Then banned him from ever coming near her again.

Fili was very impressed with Milly, but he wished she had saved her energy and let him yell at the healer himself.

"Fili?" Hana called to him.

He was waiting in Milly's sitting room while Hana had been examining Milly. Fili looked up to Hana and saw her beckoning him into Milly's room. He went in and found Milly propped up in her bed, looking very thin and pale. Graig was holding Milly's limp hand.

"I've been talking to Milly. There is nothing that we here can do for her. Our options are few. We either let things continue as they are and hope that Milly can live long enough to give birth, or we can ask for outside help."

"What do you mean?" Fili asked. He would do anything if it kept Milly alive. He would give his own life if it would spare his daughter's hers.

"I believe the only thing that can save Milly is elvish medicine. We need a strong elven healer," Hana said.

"Tauriel will be back soon," Fili said.

"Tauriel can help and as soon as she is back, I will ask if she knows of anything that might give Milly relief until we can get her a better healer. But, Tauriel is, as I understand it, a Silvan elf?" Fili nodded. "They do not possess the abilities that the High Elves have when it comes to healing. We need a High Elf."

"Do you mean Thranduil?" Fili asked. He didn't like the elf king at all, but if Thranduil could save Milly's Fili would do whatever it took.

"No. Thranduil is not a High Elf. He's kind of a middle elf," Hana smiled.

In spite of the somewhat desperate situation they were in, Fili couldn't help but laugh. "Then who?" he asked. "Lord Elrond and Lady Galadriel have sailed to the Undying Lands. Are there any High Elves left in Middle Earth?"

"Lord Elrond has a daughter, Queen Arwen of Gondor," Hana answered.

"King Aragorn's wife?" Graig asked.

"That's right. She is a very skilled healer. If anyone can help Milly, it is her."

Fili stood. "Then what are we waiting for? I'll write to King Aragorn and Queen Arwen immediately."

"Adad," Milly spoke quietly. Her voice didn't even sound like hers anymore. "You don't have to. I'll give birth to your heir. It will be alright. I will give my life for him."

Fili was horrified. "Now you listen to me, young lady, your life is worth more to me than all of Erebor. Damn the throne! I don't want an heir if it puts your life in danger. The throne can go to Hrafn, Torsten or the youngest miner in the darkest mine. I want you to live, Milly and I will do everything in my power, anything in Middle Earth if it will save you."

"I still might die," Milly sighed.

"And if you do, Graig and I will make sure your child grows up knowing of your beautiful sacrifice, but Milly," Fili took her hand in his and pulled her hand to his face. He rubbed her delicate skin against his cheek. "Milly, it is so wonderful to raise a child. Your mother never knew how amazing you were. She never saw your first smiles, watched you take your first steps, heard your first word. She didn't know that joy. I want you to experience that joy. I'm not giving up and neither are you. I'll drag Queen Arwen to Erebor by my teeth if I have too."

Milly laughed. "Oh Adad, I would love to see that, although I don't think Gondor would long remain our ally if you did that to their queen."

Fili grinned. "Keep strong Milly. I'll have help for you very soon." He kissed his daughter's head. "I love you."

"I love you, Adad."

Fili left, followed closely by Hana. As soon as Fili left Milly's apartment, he felt his legs give out from under him.

"King Fili?" Hana was kneeling on the floor next to him. She laid a hand on his back and felt him shaking. She gently placed her arms around his back and shoulders and drew him close to her. "Shh, shh," she whispered into his ear. She had nothing to say to him. No words of comfort to offer. To say all would be well was a lie. There was a very good chance that all would not be well.

So Hana held the king and let him cry. When he was done, he stood, hugged her, thanked her and let her go. She went her way and he went home. He would write to the King and Queen of Gondor and pray they would have mercy on him and his family; that the queen would be willing to help his precious daughter. He felt a fool for having wept like a child in Hana's arms. He hoped she would not think less of him for his moment of weakness.

What Fili didn't know was Hana had returned to her own home and cried. There were times she hated being a healer. Watching someone die was terrible, but usually, the one who was dying had made peace with their fate. It was the loved ones of the dying that was so heart-wrenching to see. But Hana had always been able to separate herself and her feelings from the tragedy. She had too. But this time, it wasn't so easy. This time she was finding it very hard to separate her feelings for the family she was caring for because she had fallen in love with the family's patriarch. She didn't mean to, but she had fallen in love with King Fili.