The mountain was preparing for the royal wedding of Torsten and Agli. Hrafn and Iomhar were excited to see Torsten again. Tauriel had all the guest rooms cleaned out, food ordered and basically had all of Erebor scrubbed up and cleaned out. Fili was exhausted, but excited. Kili, who always had endless energy, seemed to be slightly more manic with his energy. Tauriel gave him all sorts of tasks to keep him busy.

The hobbits would be returning to the mountain for several days and Fili looked forward to seeing his little friend, Primrose. He wondered if he could convince Rose and Sam to leave Primrose with Fili, but Hana advised him not to ask.

It had only been four weeks since the hobbits had arrived in Erebor. Rose had come in on the supply caravan once, a fortnight ago, and she and Milly had had a wonderful visit.

The party from the Glittering Caves arrived five days before the wedding. Fili enjoyed meeting Agli and being reintroduced to her father, Fuldan. Gimli and Legolas were there and the first night's family dinner was full of laughter. Fili's heart ached that Milly couldn't join them, but after dinner, Fili took Torsten and Agli to see Milly and Graig. They were introduced to Hana and Torsten expressed his surprise and joy at meeting his new aunt.

Milly's babe continued to grow and Arwen and Hana insisted the babe was doing very well. Sadly, Milly seemed to only grow worse. Fili promised himself he would spend more time with Milly after the wedding. He wasn't blind to the possibility of Milly not surviving childbirth. If he was honest with himself, he knew that he would be surprised if Milly did survive the birth. It would break his heart when she died, so for now, he would make good use of his time while he had it.

The hobbits arrived the day before the wedding. Fili knew when guests had arrived because little Primrose found him first.

"King Beard!" she screamed and ran at him.

Fili caught her and tossed her into the air. The rest of the group came in moments later.

"I'm so happy to see you," Fili said to his tiny hobbit lass.

"King Beard, Mama said pretty wedding," Primrose patted his cheek.

"Yes, a wedding."

"Is it lunch yet?" she asked him.

"Nearly," Fili laughed. "We'll go eat very soon. Welcome, friends," Fili addressed the rest of the hobbits. They bowed to him.

"King Fili," Rose said. "Primrose has talked of nothing but King Beard since we set out this morning. She has been so excited to see you."

"And I her. I'm so glad you all have come for my nephew's wedding," Fili said.

"We wouldn't have missed it for all the scones in The Shire," Pippin laughed. The significance of such a compliment was not lost of Fili.

"How are the fields? Are things growing?" Fili asked.

"They are growing very well," Sam answered.

"And how are your accommodations?"

"Very pleasant and well stocked," Rose answered. "How is the Princess? Is she well? May I visit her?"

"I'm afraid she is not doing well, but I believe a visit from you would cheer her heart considerably," Fili smiled.

Rose handed little Bilbo over to Pippin's wife. "I'll be back soon," she told Diamond.

"May Primrose stay with me?" Fili asked.

"If she's not too much of a problem to you, then yes," Rose answered.

"She's no trouble at all," Fili led Rose to Milly's home.

Milly looked pale and sad. Fili noticed the looks of worry on Arwen and Hana's faces when he walked in.

"Hello, Princess Milly," Rose said, walking over to Milly's bed, taking her hand and kissing her on the cheek in a way that two sisters might greet each other.

Milly smiled. "Rose. It's good to see you. And Adad, I see you have your little friend again."

Primrose looked over at Milly and shyly waved. Fili took Hana by the hand and pulled her out of Milly's room. He kissed her cheek.

"You haven't asked to adopt Primrose, have you?" Hana smiled at the little girl and ticked her chin. Primrose giggled.

"Of course not," Fili smiled, but then his thoughts turned to his daughter. "What's wrong with Milly today?" he asked, shifting Primrose in his arms. "She didn't look well at all."

"Everything," Hana slumped down into a chair. "Her body is shutting down. Hardly surprising with the way it is being taxed and she can hardly eat or drink. But, what's worse, is she's lost her spirit. She's just so depressed, stuck in her room all of the time, the same five people to talk too, knowing she will most likely die; it's enough to make anyone sad. She hangs on for her baby."

Fili could feel his body shaking. "But, this visit from Rose should do her some good."

"Aye, it will. As will the wedding. Milly will get to dress up again and leave her room. She has asked we take her to the front gate so she can look outside and see the sky and the lake, one last time," Hana's voice was shaking too. "We must keep Milly's spirits up as long as we can. It will help the baby."

"Yes." Fili didn't know what else to say.

"King Beard sad?" Primrose looked at Fili with large concerned eyes.

"Yes, little one, I am sad," Fili answered.

"Mama says lunch helps sad tummies," Primrose said.

Fili smiled. "I think lunch is a good idea."

He went back to Milly's room. Arwen was in a corner of the room with a sewing in her lap. She stayed to watch over Milly, but she would allow Milly and Rose time together to talk and chat like friends should. Rose sat at the end of Milly's bed and was telling her about the farming.

"Excuse me?" Fili said, "I believe Primrose is hungry. May I take her to join the others for lunch?"

"That would be most kind of you, King Fili," Rose said.

"Fine. We'll be off then." Fili left the room, letting the women get on with their visit. Hana went back to Milly's room. Fili left and started down the hall when Hana called out to him. He turned around to see her walking towards him.

"Milly said I could go have lunch with you. Since she has Arwen and Rose to visit with, I'm not needed right now," Hana explained, taking Fili by the hand.

"I'm glad you can join me." Fili kissed her cheek again and they walked together to join the others for lunch. "I hope tomorrow doesn't wear Milly out too much."

"You will excuse us, wont' you, if we need to leave during the ceremony?" Hana asked.

"Of course, dearest. You do what you must for Milly. I'm sure Torsten and Agli will understand."

Weddings weren't so rare in Erebor as they use to be, but every wedding was something to celebrate. Tauriel joined Agli and her mother in the brides' room. Hana and Arwen dressed in Milly's room. They chatted and Milly couldn't wait to see what Tauriel had done to the reception hall where the wedding was to take place. Milly wore a dress Fili had made for her with a beautiful rose colored material. It had minimal material in the back so it would be comfortable for Milly to wear while sitting in her chair, but the front of the dress was designed to show off her baby and had drapes and beads sewn into it. Hana braided her hair and Arwen brought a flower that when rubbed on Milly's cheek, gave her a rosy complexion. Milly looked beautiful. She admired herself in the mirror, for once not looking like she was about to die. Hana kissed her daughter-by-marriage on the head.

"Graig's going to go into shock at seeing me," Milly chuckled.

"No he won't," Hana smiled. "But, he'll remember one of the reasons he married you - you're gorgeous. Are you ready to go? We've an appointment with the sunset."

Milly looked ready to cry. "Yes, I'm ready to go."

In Kili's home, the lads waited together. Kili paced nervously. Fili laughed. I remember doing that when it was Milly's wedding and you gave me a hard time about putting a trench in your carpet."

"Yeah, well, it wasn't my son's wedding then, was it? And it's my carpet. I can put a trench in it if I want." Kili continued to pace.

"Adad, stop," Torsten said. "You're making me nervous."

Kili sat down in between his youngest sons. They leaned into him and rested their heads on his shoulders.

Fili went to Graig, who also was looking a little green. "What's wrong? It's not your wedding this time."

Graig smiled. "You should have seen me just before my wedding. I was green as a frog." He sighed after a moment. "I'm worried about Milly."

"Of course you are," Fili laid a hand on Graig's shoulder. "Listen, if Milly needs to leave during the ceremony, by all means take her. Torsten won't be offended and neither will I."

"Thank you, Fili."

The wedding went off without a hitch. Graig couldn't contain his smile when he saw Milly in her beautiful gown, her cheeks pink again, and her stomach swelled with their child. She lasted through the ceremony, but as soon as Torsten and Agli were pronounce married, Arwen and Graig wheeled Milly home. Hana stayed through dinner and danced a few dances with Fili before she excused herself. She was torn between being Milly's midwife and being the Queen.

Fili watched his family. Hrafn and Iomhar danced many dances. Being taller than all dwarves, they were popular with the lasses. Torsten and Agli danced, talked, greeted well wishers and kissed a lot. Kili and Tauriel danced quite a few of the dances and visited with everyone who came to the wedding. Klin and Keil danced with their mother, much to their embarrassment before a lass about their age asked Klin for a dance. Keil was red in the face and Fili wasn't sure if he was angry about his brother deserting him for a lass or because she had not asked him for the dance. When Klin and the lass were done with their dance, Keil asked her for a dance. Fili poked his brother in the ribs.

"Those twins of yours might be the next in the family to get married. That lass they've found seems quite smitten with them and them with her," Fili said.

Kili laughed. "I might be more worried, but the lass is from the Glittering Caves. She'll be going home soon and I won't have to worry about my boys chasing her."

Later in the evening, Agli's father came up and sat with Fili.

"It's an odd thing, isn't it, to see your child married?" Fuldan asked.

"Aye. It is. But it's a good kind of odd. It took me months after Milly's wedding before I could finally accept her as a married lass," Fili agreed.

"Agli's my youngest. I don't know what was harder, marrying off the oldest or the youngest."

Fili chuckled. "You've done a great job, raising three daughters. We are happy to have Agli as a part of our family."

"I heard that Kili's planning a sparring party in two days," Luda came up and sat next to her husband.

"Oh, yes, he is," Fili smiled. "The entire family's been invited. Make sure and bring your weapon of choice. We've heard great things about you, Lady Luda."

She gave Fili a wicked grin. "I can't wait. I haven't had a good spar in a long time."