Disclaimer: All recognized characters and lines are copyright their respective owners not limited to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson & Co. The fox, Kit, and plot are mine, and I have a muse as fierce as dwarvin warriors to support that claim.
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Four: A Gift—Changling
At Kit's approach the elf backs away, and then Kit leans over Kili, brushing back sweat soaked hair from his face.
"Yes Kili she could grow to love you," Kit says and her golden eyes lock with his brown. "Now I need you to listen, hear me beyond this fever, and answer me. I can save you Kili, but it would mean that we would never be parted."
His eyes are glazed, and she slaps gently at his face to get his attention and then she says, "Do you hear me? I can save you, but it's a gift that comes at a price. You would be my mate for all time. There is no other choice to prevent your death. What will you choose Kili, sister-son of Thorin?"
"You," Kili answers, and then his eyes fall shut, his breath grows more labored, rattling in his throat.
Time is running out. She looks around, and then turns to Fili as she demands, "A knife, quick."
He gives her a look of confusion, but he produces a knife from the folds of his cloak. She then takes Kili's left hand, presses the blade into the palm of his hand, drawing it across, and then she does the same to her own left palm. She takes his left palm with hers, their blood mingling and she can feel the swell of faerir magic swelling within her.
"I take for mate and husband this man, Kili, son of Dis, daughter of Thrain, for now and all time, by rite of blood, strip the poison from his veins and let his blood be cleansed by my own, so that we two are as one and the same," she declares her voice firm and threaded with desperation.
Kili suddenly grows still, his body limp. Fili races to the table that his brother is laid upon, shoving Kit away, desperately shouting to wake his brother, and it is when Kit's hold on Kili's hand is broken that Kili's body trembles and seizes.
He shakes, jerks, jolts, and Fili, Oin, and Bofur work to hold him down to keep him from further harming himself. He trembles and convulses, the fit seeming to last for ages, until finally his body settles. The change is subtle at first, a glow rising from within and shining out of his skin, not unlike the light that elves possess.
The three dwarves, four humans, elf, and faerir watch in amazement as the glow parts, and then Kili's ears grow to a point, and at that moment he sucks in a sharp breath as his back arches, and then his eyes burst open, no longer the rich brown they once were, but now the color of gold, the same color as Kit's.
Kili drops back to the table, his eyes slipping shut again, his breathing evening out, and Oin reaches out, touches his forehead and cheeks and announces that his fever has broken.
Fili looks from his brother to Kit and then turns to face her, a menacing look on his face. "What have you done to him?"
She takes in a trembling breath, blinks and then realizes that tears now trail her cheeks. She reaches up to wipe them away and turns her gaze to the floor.
"I never meant for this. When she told me that the curse would be lifted I agreed, and then she told me that I would keep the gift of the change, and that when I claimed a mate…" she cannot bring herself to continue.
"You told him you were still cursed, I heard you say it in the Mirkwood dungeons. This is what you meant. You've made him like you," Fili says, and he doesn't know whether to feel relief or sorrow for his younger brother.
She nods. "Yes, he became like me when I took him for my mate, my husband. He wonders if I could ever love him, and I wonder when he will begin to hate me. He had youth, a life ahead of him. There was still time yet to treat the poison yesterday. It kept too long, he forced himself to be strong to bend to the will and want of his uncle."
"If you knew it was getting worse, why didn't you act sooner?" Fili accuses, now realizing the cost of saving Kili this way, taking away his choice in a wife, in a future, although if truly pressed Fili doesn't think Kili will be too disappointed upon waking up to find he is a married man, but still Fili can't reconcile having robbed his brother of the choice in such matters.
"I am sorry," she replies.
Fili shakes his head, and then looks to Bard, "Would we be able to settle him in a room with a bed? We can find a way to repay you, please."
Bard nods and leads them upstairs, opening the door to his own room. Fili and Bofur manage to lug Kili over to the bed, and get him settled in, careful to remove his boots, and neither miss that the festering wound in Kili's thigh has completely healed over, not so much as a scar remains.
When Fili and Bofur return from upstairs they see Kit kneeling on the floor, the cloak held tight around her to protect her modesty as her body trembles with her weeping. Fili takes in a breath as he asks, "Will he be able to change shape, become a fox like you."
She nods her reply, and Fili sighs. "Well, that will give way to even more mischief for him to get into. Kit, come on, lets get you upstairs, dressed, and stay with him. I'm sure yours will be the first face he wishes to see when he wakes."
"Do you really believe that? What will he think to wake and find out he's a married man? Married without any say in the matter? Not to mention how he is now altered?" she asks.
Fili snorts. "With Kili there is no telling, but I will say this. You will find none more loyal than my brother. Now it is up to you. I expect that you will do nothing less than prove you are worthy of him, and tend to his happiness. You've robbed him of choice, but that doesn't mean he needs to be robbed of the promise of happiness to be found in a marriage."
Kit nods. "Of course. For all I've stolen from him, I cannot deny him something so simple to give."
"See that you don't," Fili bites out as he leads her to the room where Kili is resting.
Fili leaves her alone with his brother, her husband, and returns back downstairs. He takes a seat at the table and is grateful when Bard sets a glass of something that smells very potent before him. He knocks back the shot, and then grunts as Bofur drops a firm hand on his shoulder.
He looks up, sorrow on his face, and he says, "How could something like this happen? I knew when he first found that damn fox that it would be trouble, and then the fox turned out to be a girl, that cursed faerir."
"This could be worse Fili. He feels for her, you know he does, and she wouldn't have done what she did if she didn't return those affections," Bofur says, and Oin, with his hearing horn by his ear nods his agreement.
"It can be worse still, Bofur," Fili says with a groan, "Someone will have to tell Uncle Thorin what has happened when he returns."
"Right, well… I suppose things could be worse then, laddie" Bofur says with a wince.
-THE HOBBIT-
There is a strange sensation within his body, as if everything has been touched by light, and the flow of it continues within him. He can feel the comfort of the roughness of the cloth of his clothing and the bedding against what is exposed of his skin, a strange sensation as though his senses have sharpened. He breathes in deeply and then his nose snuffles, taking in quick whuffs of air. His mouth parts, as he breathes in deeply, and a growing familiar smell is scented in the air, a certain wildness, a scent he would have claimed for his own, if only—
He shakes his head to clear it, and lets out a groan as he adjusts to the new sensations of his body, finally opening his eyes to the world. At first the brilliance within the room blinds him, and he pulls his arm across his eyes, wincing. As he moves his arm back, his vision adjusting he can hear the minute sounds of the wood frame of the bed he's in, the muffled low of whispered voices downstairs, the cadence not unlike that of his brother's and two others in his party, and one of the voices different in timber.
He also hears the light breathing of someone in the room with him, and he wonders how he might have missed this at first. He begins to shift and move, pushes himself up on his elbows and sits up to lean against the wall that the bed is pushed against, the feather stuffed pillow wedged between the small of his back and the wall.
He feels a slight weight pressing on the bed, and a smile tugs at his mouth as he sees the familiar, shorn red hair, tipped in black, resting on slender, pale arms. Her breath is even in her slumber and he wonders how he hasn't disturbed her from her sleep yet. He continues to look at her, what he can see of her fair skin so pale it almost glows. He wonders if this is an effect of the Orc arrow's poison. Perhaps he is dying and she is on deathwatch, but he feels too good, too whole for this to be the case, and if it were it would be Fili at his side.
He reaches out with his large, solid right hand and caresses the top of her head, her hair soft, silky, and he watches as she startles and bolts upright. She looks up at him, her golden eyes bright and shining in the light. He smiles at her, and then asks, "This must be a dream that I awake from my sickbed with you at my side and my senses so sharpened. How bright this room seems, and yet I feel it is still night."
She pulls her gaze from his and looks down upon the bed, almost as if in shame. "Kit, I'm better now, so why then are you sad?"
She shakes her head and holds out her left palm for him to see. He furrows his brow and looks down at her hand. His eyes widen at the scar on her palm, wondering how he never noticed it before. It's a mark from the olden days, the early days of Middle Earth, and she is certainly old enough to have one. He feels like a fool at the weight and shape of the flattened scar in her palm, the shape of some form of ancient script, not unlike old elvish, only finer.
"I suppose that would settle things between us then," he says rather sharply and turns to look away from her.
Something in his voice catches her attention and she looks at him, watching as he pulls back and fingers at the covering of the bed he lies in. She reaches for him and he pulls back and snaps, "You've been a lie since the moment we met, already claimed, is that your curse? That when you went into exile he travelled onward with the rest of your people? How could you promise to be my companion, to remain at my side for all my life when you are thus already claimed?"
Her eyes widen as she realizes his confusion, and she says, "You are a fool, but I would think that you know at the very least whose fool you are. Look to your own palm, the one closest your heart and you will realize then how cursed you truly are. How altered you have become."
Again Kili's brow is furrowed and he brings his palm up to his face to inspect it. His eyes widen as he sees the matching mark to hers. He looks from his palm to her face, seeing the tears trailing from her cheeks and her eyes glimmering with the threat of shedding more. He gently reaches for her face and brushes the tears away with his thumb as he lifts her chin to better meet her gaze.
"How…? When…? Why?" he asks, his tone one of wonder.
She takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "It was while the poison of Mordor was laying claim to you, killing you. The elf came, and Bofur had found an herb, one that would have saved you had the treatment come sooner. You were mad with fever and the elf's healing techniques were only aiding in the poison taking you quicker. I knew of a way to save your life, but every gift comes with a price. At the time, realizing that you were dying, when I mentioned that I could save you, your brother bade me do so."
"The gift will be shared with your mate," he whispers, bits of memory returning to him from his fevered state.
She nods. "Yes, and it was with saving your life in mind that we robbed you of the choice of a wife, a life mate. Kili, I am so sorry. Your brother didn't realize the price until after, and I… I couldn't bear the thought of you no longer in this world. You are good, strong, pure in heart, and I have stolen your youth, your future."
"It would seem to me that you've given me a future when previously it had been robbed from me by an Orc's arrow," Kili says gently, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"How are you taking this so well?" she asks in confusion.
He smiles brightly at her, his now golden eyes almost glowing with mischief. "While I recall little from the fever other than the pain, I do seem to remember you posing a question, an offer to me. I remember my answer, it was you. I chose you, and even under less dire circumstance, I know I still would have made the same choice. I am certain I would have done anything to keep you beholden to your promise, to remain at my side. You have been tricked as much as I have been robbed, would this not make us even on both accounts then?"
"You foolish, foolish dwarf… And yet, you're a dwarf no more. What will your uncle think when returns for you from the mountain? Surely he would wish to see me dead," she says with a chuckle.
He reaches for her face with both of his hands as he shifts closer to her, gently tugging her towards him, and as they draw closer his breath whispers against her lips, right before he captures them.
"I would protect you from his wrath."
When he pulls back their eyes meet again, and then she surprises him with her boldness as she leans forward, her lips pressed to his, but he is not so surprised that he is unable to respond to her boldness. He pulls back once again only to descend and pepper her jaw and throat with kisses, nips, and soothing licks, a smile curving his every attention with his mouth as he is pleased to find she is without corset and dressed in one of his own black linen shirts.
He pulls at the neck of shirt, the lacing at the throat coming undone and giving him further purchase as he puts his hands to better pursuits, wandering beneath the shirt, tracing up her abdomen, fingers tickling up her ribs, making her laugh until his thumbs reach the underside of her breasts.
He pulls her closer and leans down, finding her left nipple through the fabric of his shirt, and teasing it with is mouth, while his left thumb teases and circles her other nipple. Her breath hitches in her throat at the sensations.
He recalls seeing her form so fully exposed to him in the barrel before she transformed into the fox, and he knows she is an exquisite creature. He smiles as it truly dawns on him that she is his completely now. He reaches down again to the hem of the shirt she wears to pull it free from her, only to be parted by the ungodly roar from the sky and the hundreds of screams of the people of Laketown.
They scramble apart and move quickly, both disappointed at the intervention of the dragon.
"Leave it to your uncle for waking a dragon to keep us apart!" Kit snaps in her frustration and Kili can't help the laugh that bursts from him at her tone, as they fix their clothes and he drops his feet into his boots, his energy seemingly restored by the light flowing within him.
"I doubt, this once, that was his sole intention," he says as they clamour down the stairs together.
The bowman's daughters look frightened, as they flutter about the house. They notice the boy is missing, and that Oin, Bofur, and Fili are arming themselves. The dwarves look up and see the pair of them descending.
"Is it not too early for you to be about and moving so freely brother?" Fili asks, his concern evident.
Kili snorts and shakes his head. "It would seem that a dragon has no sense nor concern for timing. Now see that we are armed so that we all may face this foe together."
"She means to come as well?" Bofur asks in surprise, looking at Kit, and Kili raises his brow.
"My wife is as able as I am in hunt and in battle. See that she is armed," he states, and all of the dwarves' eyes widen at Kili's words and tone.
"Of course I mean to fight at his side," Kit snaps in her frustration, and then snarls, "Considering what that damn dragon interrupted I'm rather cross with the beast and would be quite satisfied with the slaying of it!"
Bofur's eyes widen, Kili's golden gaze twinkles as he holds in his snickers of amusement, and Fili's brows rise as he says, "Well then, let it be known that parting newly weds on their wedding night is a lethal pursuit indeed. Come on then before someone else gets the pleasure of killing it!"
Stepping outside of the bowman's house is quite an awakening. Houses are alight in dragon fire, the townspeople are running around, Orcs have descended upon the town and remain, their bravery renewed by the strength of the dragon flying and charging throughout the night sky.
Legolas and the auburn haired elf are working to take down as many of the Orcs as possible, but their numbers are great. The dwarves and Kili and Kit join in the fight, wielding sword and axe, their battle cries joining the shouts and screams of the town. The men of the town join as well to defend their homes and families.
The battle is seemingly endless, human and Orc blood is shed, but it seems that the elves have taken down the archers among the Orcs, a point in their favor.
Kit is parted from Kili and the others, surrounded by Orcs and she can hear Kili shouting for her as he fights back to back with his brother. An Orc blade descends, slicing into her shoulder and she cries out from the pain, but she doesn't detect any poison on the blade. Apparently the sword wielding Orcs are confident in their abilities and do not as readily use poison like their archers do.
It is at the sound of Kit's cry that something alters in Kili, a blinding force of light rushes through his veins, his skin readily glows with it, and the Orcs surrounding he and his brother begin to hesitate and pull back. Even Fili steps away from his brother, watching as his skin begins to glow, his golden eyes blazing, and the sword in Kili's hands takes on the glow of the power rising from within Kili.
Fili's eyes widen as Kili gives out a fierce battle cry and charges at the Orcs, every cursed creature fallen to his blade set ablaze in a fire as fierce as the fire being belched by the circling, raging dragon above them.
Kili does not stop until he is at Kit's side, and then he raises his sword to the sky, a blinding white light flowing from wielder to sword to flood the sky. The dragon winds back from the light, screeching and roaring it's displeasure, and then a black arrow is shot into the night. The dragon distracted by the blazing light does not see the arrow, only feels the arrow as it's hide is pierced through, in the same place as that of it's lost scale, the arrow point piercing is darkened heart.
The dragon wheels in the sky and then crashes down into the ground with a final shudder as it's last breath escapes it in a smoky gush. People begin to leave from their homes and other places they took shelter and Kili shouts for someone to tend Kit's wounds.
Legolas comes forward, and Kili steps in front of Kit to shield her. The elf prince raises a brow at this and Kit lets out a huff and says, "He means me no harm."
Kili relents and Legolas examines the dwarf, the glow from within, the change in his eye color and raises his brows at the sight of pointed ears poking through the dwarf's dark hair, and he knows that this dwarf has become something all together different.
"You are no longer dwarf-kind," Legolas says as he bypasses Kili to get to Kit.
Kili is hovering over Legolas, trying to watch the elf's every move and Kit can tell that it is annoying the elf to the end of his patience.
"Kili!" Kit snaps, her tone sharpened by the pain in her shoulder. "Leave the prince alone, he means me no harm, and only wishes to tend my injury as you demanded!"
"I remember seeing him walking with you down in the dungeons!" Kili points out and Kit sighs.
"He is Thranduil's son, and if you had anyone to worry about it would be Thranduil and not Legolas, not that you have anything to worry about you bungler."
Kili realizes just how irrational he's being at the laughter erupting from his brother and Bofur. He lets out a huff and then Bofur says, "So Kili, what was all that with the glowing and fire?"
"I don't know," Kili says around a yawn, suddenly discovering just how tired he is. He staggers and lists a bit, and Fili comes to his side and shakes his head. "Looks like we'll be imposing further on Bard's hospitality then. Come on brother, let's see you off to bed, Kit will be along in a bit."
"Bofur, keep your eyes on him! He was…was… awful close to her back in the dungeons of Mirkwood," Kili says around a yawn as he allows his brother to lead him away.
"Brother, I believe I owe you an apology," Fili says as he helps to keep Kili upright.
Kili's eyes widen as he looks up at his elder brother. "Really? Now this I can manage to stay awake to hear."
"I did not trust her, not as a fox, and even less in her true form, but I think you've had the better judgment in this matter. You love her, and that is what you were babbling about earlier during the fever, you asked if she could love you," Fili says, and chuckles at the blush on his younger brother's face, rising all the way to the tips of his newly pointed ears.
Kili shrugs, and then Fili continues, "Its not that she could love you brother. She does love you, otherwise she never would have offered to save your life. Love is both selfless and selfish. She wanted you to live, but she didn't want to pass on what she saw as a curse. I believe that the moment you first brought her into our camp before we reached the Shire, that was the moment you met your match. I won't object to her, not after I asked her to save you."
"You mean that?" Kili asks stunned.
Fili nods. "Yes, I do, but that doesn't mean I'll be the one to tell Uncle. He really doesn't trust her, especially not after what happened in Mirkwood. I wish you the best of luck with that venture, and perhaps you may want to try adjusting your hair about your ears to hide them before telling him. The ears will invite questions."
Kili shoves at him and they are smiling and reconciled as they reach the bowman's house. Fili helps Kili upstairs, dropping Kili onto Bard's bed for the second time that night.
Meanwhile Kili's wife is being watched over by Bofur and tended to by Legolas. Bofur watches silent but diligently. Legolas examines the wound, it is deep, into the muscle and he presses against it, watching as red blood rises from the wound.
"At least it doesn't look poisoned," he says with an encouraging smile, noticing how Kit grits her teeth, then he continues, "Though we should see to cleaning it out. Infection won't likely kill you, but it is an unpleasant affair. Tauriel, do you have any athelas in your pack?"
"I have what I meant to treat the dwarf with earlier," she says.
Kit shakes her head. "That won't do. Athelas will not work on me. I would recommend clove and lemon balm. Our host Bard has some kept in his kitchen. I noticed it earlier when he was searching for a means to help Kili's fever."
"If that is what you require, then we should go there then," Legolas says, and gathers her into his arms, smiling at her.
She shakes her head. "You should see if he has yarrow, that will help staunch the bleeding, and don't get any ideas in regard to me or your father."
"You have a spirit that my father admires. You would be a good addition to the family. My father has grown lonely since losing my mother," Legolas says, and then tilts his head at her as Bofur and Tauriel, the auburn haired, elf follow close behind. "Surely my father would be a better match than that dwarf, or whatever he's become."
"There is no better match for me than my husband, but I hold your father and you in high regard, and if you ever need your father taken down a peg or two I can help you with that," she answers.
"Husband? How… When could this have taken place?" Legolas asks, and Kit holds up her left palm for his inspection, and the elf prince's grey eyes widen. "By the old ways, a blood binding, how astonishing. He means that much to you?"
"He does," she replies with a soft smile as they reach the house, and before anything else is said or another step taken Bilbo Baggins materializes from out of thin air, breathing heavily and looking wildly about him.
"Kit, good! I'm so happy to see you, and the dragon slain as well. I… How's Kili?" the hobbit manages.
"I imagine he's resting. He's used up a lot of energy, and I was injured while fighting off Orcs. Bilbo, what's the matter? Weren't you off with Thorin and the others?"
He nods. "Yes, and he went mad with greed. He demanded the Arkenstone, and declared all the gold within Erebor as his own, and his peoples. He seems only to care for the wealth within the mountain until someone mentioned Fili and Kili, and I took the chance to run off with it. He's mad, and he will be looking for the stone. He's prepared to wage war against the elves of Mirkwood and the people of Laketown for not helping the dwarves when the mountain was first taken by the dragon!"
"Hurry inside then, he can't be far behind you. Take the stone to Fili and tell him what you've told me. I'll be down here with Legolas and Bofur, getting my wound tended to. Fili and Kili are upstairs. Kili's probably already asleep, but Fili will listen to you," Kit says and she watches as Bilbo heads upstairs, and Legolas deposits her on the same table that Kili lay dying on earlier.
"Stay down or I'll have Tauriel hold you down."
Kit lets out a huff and Legolas continues to poke and prod at her wound, while Tauriel looks about the kitchen for the herbs Kit mentioned earlier, and then the elf looks at the two girls that slip into the house from outside. With the girls help they gather the clove, lemon balm, and yarrow.
Under Kit's instruction, Legolas applies the yarrow first to staunch the bleeding, while Bard's daughters make an infusion of the clove and lemon balm for her to drink against any possible infections. Kit is just finished drinking the infusion when the door to Bard's home is nearly torn from its hinges in Thorin's rage as he enters. Balin is close on his heels trying to get him to see reason, but Thorin is wild with the gold lust, the same instinct that drives the greed of dragons.
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