Author's Note: In December 2013 I went to the cinema to see DoS and fell in love with the pairing Tauriel/Kíli. This is my take on their story following DoS. This will mostly be romance, but there will also be a little plot. Please do not read if you are averse to this pairing. I am also aware that what is going to happen in my story will probably not happen in the third movie - this is exactly the reason why I am writing this.
Rating: M for mature content in later chapters.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit.
**Edit, September 2020: I am currently editing this story, getting rid of some errors that have bothered me for years and sometimes changing the wording. I am not going to change or add to the plot, though.
Only the Stars Were Watching
When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream. (Paulo Coelho)
Prologue
"Do you think she could have loved me?"
Fíli winced, quickly glancing at the other occupants of the room in Bard's house, hoping that they were too busy with whatever it was they were doing to pay attention to Kíli and his words. What was his little brother thinking? Speaking of love to an elf, of all beings in Middle Earth. He could already picture the excruciating embarrassment that Kíli would feel upon learning of the words that he had spoken, springing from—no doubt—some feverish delusion of his. Who knew what Kíli was seeing in his mind's eye?
Fíli shifted in his position on a bench in one corner of the room and risked a glance at the she-elf's face, trying to gauge her reaction, hoping she would not be mortally offended by the young dwarf's ramblings. He would never have thought to be able to say this about an elf, but he desperately wanted her to stay—Kíli appeared to have braved the worst of his illness, but barely so, and having someone with healing powers unlike anything Fíli had ever seen before tend to his brother was quite reassuring.
To his utter astonishment, what Fíli witnessed on the elf's face when his brother spoke those foolish words was not anger or offence. Nor did her face display the stoic mask that he had come to associate with elves, touched only by the tiniest degrees of bemusement or, rarely, distress. Instead he watched a wide variety of emotions flicker across the red-haired elf-maid's features—hesitation, curiosity, and something that Fíli thought looked like genuine affection.
He watched Kíli struggle to lift his arm, his fingers brushing against the slender hand of the elf ever so lightly, their fingers entwining delicately, tenderly. Fíli frowned and looked away. Kíli couldn't possibly… Or could he?
It was true that Kíli had been unusually withdrawn ever since they had left the halls of Thranduil behind. But his injury and the infection it had caused surely served as a satisfying explanation for this circumstance. On the other hand, while imprisoned in the Elven King's palace, Fíli had once or twice thought he could hear his younger brother speaking to someone, someone with a decidedly un-dwarfish voice… But still…
Glancing at Kíli and seeing the she-elf's emotions reflected on his face, Fíli heard himself say, "Óin, Bofur, come on. We had better make sure that those blasted orcs are not still lurking somewhere outside…" Turning to Sigrid he added, "Thank you and your sister for your assistance. You have helped my brother a great deal. Rest now. I fear that there may still be more trouble lying ahead of us."
What are you doing?! he shouted at himself in his mind. You cannot leave Kíli's side while he is still in agony. You promised Dís to look after him, always.
He almost had to physically struggle to overcome his brotherly instincts and push himself away from the table, Óin and Bofur following him to the door with rather bewildered expressions. Whatever was—was not!—happening between Kíli and the she-elf, the least he could do was to try and reduce the number of witnesses.
He groaned inwardly. If word of this latest foolishness of his little brother got around among the other dwarves, the poor lad would never live to see the end of it.