Chapter XVII

Slowly, Tauriel made her way through the undergrowth, careful not to make too much noise. In Mirkwood you never knew who might be listening. In her arms she carried a bundle of twigs. When she had left Kíli's side some time ago, the fire they had built for themselves had been burning low and so she had decided to go gather some wood. The morning air was crisp and he would need the warmth of the fire when he woke up.

She smiled as she remembered the heat of his body pressing against hers for the better part of the night. Under the starlit sky, she had molded herself to him, seeking not only warmth, but, more importantly, someone to hold onto in those mad times, when no stone would stay upon the other anymore and everything was coming apart at the seams. And his mere presence had given her what she had needed, an anchor in the storm, a light in the dark.

She glanced towards the East where the sun was beginning to rise. The day was promising to be a beautiful one—cold, but beautiful. And as the sun slowly brightened the sky, Tauriel also felt as if she could bring herself to see a brighter future than she had pictured in the days before. What Kíli had said to her two nights before had been true; they might both have lost their homes, but all that that meant was that each of them was now 'home' for the other.

And suddenly the idea of the two of them travelling across Middle Earth, making themselves useful where they could, did not sound scary or desolate anymore. On the contrary. On the road they would be freer than they could ever hope to be in any place and there would be no reason anymore to hold back the affection they felt for each other. Because Tauriel had been holding herself back rigorously those past few days. How she had longed to touch him, to be with him as she had in her dreams. But everything had happened so overwhelmingly fast that she had been knocked out of balance. Not that she had been particularly well balanced of late to begin with.

Drawing closer to the spot where they had set up camp, she resolved to stop burdening both of them with her shame and her guilt over having torn him away from the family she knew he loved so dearly. If they wanted to stand a chance in this harsh, often cruel world, melancholy would not help them. Hope, on the other hand, would.

Pushing aside some drooping branches, Tauriel stepped into the clearing where she had left her Dwarven prince—and was momentarily shocked to find the little nest of fabric they had gathered around themselves during the night empty, the small camp fire merely a cold pile of ash beside it. Telling herself that there were no signs of a struggle and that thus Kíli was not likely to be in any danger, she looked around for him. A slight splashing sound drew her attention to the small stream which gurgled happily only a few feet away from their camp.

Cautiously approaching the river bank, Tauriel peered through twigs and leaves, her warrior instincts telling her to remain on guard. She relaxed when she realized that it was Kíli whom she had heard splashing about in the water and that he seemed to be completely fine. Once she got a closer look at him, however, she tensed again, only this time not with fear but with breathless excitement. A crimson flush of embarrassment spread across her pale cheeks.

Kíli, young and proud, was standing in the water which was only knee-deep. He was stark naked. Tauriel watched in fascination as he bent forward, dipping his head into the water that had to be freezing. When he straightened again and threw his head back, glistening droplets of water ran down his broad, muscular back. Tauriel followed each of those droplets with her eyes, feeling her lower belly tingle with that particular form of excitement she had come to associate with him.

She was sure that she had not made a sound that would give her away and gave a small start when he suddenly called out to her. "You know, it is a common misconception that dwarves are reluctant to wash or anything like that. In fact, we are quite cleanly." He turned his head and looked over his shoulder into her direction, but kept his back turned towards her. The blush on Tauriel's face deepened and he chuckled. His voice sounded less teasing and more serious than he probably intended for it to when he added, "Come join me."

Keeping her eyes fixed on the ground, Tauriel stepped out of the trees and onto the narrow riverbank. What else was she supposed to do? She felt mortified at having been caught watching him, but now that he had already seen her, there was no point in simply turning back. And aside from that, something inside of her would not have allow her to turn around and walk away anyway.

When she refused to look up at him, Kíli came closer, his legs causing the water to splash about as he waded through the stream. He stopped when he reached her and held out his hand, silently repeating his invitation to join him. Tauriel hesitantly laid her hand in his, but did not move otherwise. It seemed to her as if she were rooted to the spot she was standing in, her heart beating nervously in her chest.

Kíli gave a slight tug on her hand. "Come on. It's not like you haven't seen me before."

Exhaling, Tauriel finally lifted her eyes and was only marginally surprised to find that he was right. She had seen him before. Every detail of his body was just the same as it had been in her dreams. She recognized the scars along which she had run her fingers, the broad shoulders into which she had dug her nails during many passionate moments, the dark, crinkly hairs on his chest which had always fascinated her so.

In that instant, what had been present at the back of her mind all along but which she had not dared to acknowledge ever since he woke her up in her room back in Thranduil's palace, hit her full force. They were lovers. Not friends, not strangers whom fate had thrown together and who now tried to struggle along. In a strange way, no one knew her as well as he did, no matter what outsiders might think about their relationship. And there was truly no reason to hold back anymore.

She felt her knees go weak with the impact of this realization and the feeling must have been reflected on her face, because Kíli asked her, his voice throaty from worry and nervousness, "Tauriel? Are you alright?"

She did not reply, only nodded. Then she let go of his hand and, with trembling hands, began untying the lacing of her own bodice. Kíli watched as she shed layer after layer of clothing, his eyes wide with astonishment and blatant desire.

When she had dropped the last piece of fabric onto the ground, Tauriel straightened up and they just stood there for a moment, staring at each other, drinking in the sight. With their eyes, they retraced the paths their hands had taken during so many nights spent together in their dreams, remembering, reminiscing.

When their eyes met, Tauriel held her breath for a few seconds. The air around them grew still and heavy. Then, suddenly, Kíli broke the tension and took a step out of the water and up onto the riverbank. They reached out towards one another simultaneously, he placing his hands on her hips and she wrapping her arms around his neck. Even now that they were standing on level ground, he was still shorter than her, but Tauriel had gotten so used to their difference in height that she barely noticed this anymore. That is until he made use of his inferior height and dipped his head to capture the peak of one of her breasts between his lips.

Tauriel gasped and threw back her head, which promptly encouraged Kíli to pull her tighter against himself and suck gently on her nipple. At that, the weak feeling in her knees became too much to bear and Tauriel let herself sink back onto the grass behind her, pulling Kíli with her. He followed her enthusiastically, coming to kneel between her legs, his hands placed on either side of her body.

Her back had barely touched the ground when he leaned forward on his knees, capturing her mouth in a bruising kiss that said more than any words could have. I missed you. I want you. You're beautiful. You make me so happy that I could cry. I love you.

With her hands tangled in his dark hair, she returned his kiss with equal fervor, crushing her mouth to his with almost desperate need. She wanted to devour him, wanted his hands and his lips everywhere on her body at the same time. Why had they waited so long to do this?

Arching her back in a clear invitation, Tauriel could briefly sense Kíli's hesitation, but then, in one swift motion, he entered her, obviously unable to hold himself back any longer. But that was just fine with her—she had been ready for him ever since the moment she had first spotted him standing there in the water.

Letting her head fall back onto grass still damp with morning dew, Tauriel moaned, reveling in the sensation of him stretching her sensitive, inner walls so abruptly. She raised her legs to wrap them around his hips, urging him to go deeper, to increase this glorious pressure.

Kíli responded by taking her left hand from where it rested on the back of his neck and guided it above her head where he pinned it down. His other arm he wrapped around the back of her right leg, pushing it gently but firmly towards her own body. When he began moving inside of her, she gasped at the increased friction that this new position brought her. Unable to do much else, she let him ravish her body, feeling her body being pushed closer and closer to that brink of sheer pleasure with each of his thrusts.

When she reached that particular point where she thought she could not take it anymore, where tension and pleasure merged into one overwhelming sensation, she felt him buck against her, all muscles of his body rippling with tension as his release broke his rhythm. And finally she, too, was able to let herself go and she arched her back as waves of passion washed over her, drowned her, made her lose any sense of top and bottom, light and dark, right and wrong.

Kíli collapsed on top of her and buried his face against her neck, breathing heavily. Once she was in full possession of her senses once again, she loosely wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. Smiling into his hair she said, "I think I prefer starting the day like this quite a bit to fighting a band of orcs first thing in the morning."

She felt him shake with laughter, but he did not reply immediately, still trying to catch his breath. After another few moments he raised his head to look at her, his eyes shining with happiness. "Are we good now?" he asked her.

She smiled at him and lifted her head from the ground to press a gentle, but firm kiss to his lips. "Yes, we are. Much more than just good, I should say."

He grinned and lowered his head to kiss her again, slowly, languidly, rekindling the flame inside of her that had not even yet ceased to burn entirely. "Very glad to hear that," he said, breaking their kiss. "Because I'm going to want to do this again."

She laughed and drew his head back down to continue their kiss. After another few seconds, however, she could not suppress a slight shiver and this time not from desire, but from cold. After all it was almost winter and the ground was hard and cold. The fact that Kíli continued to drip ice cold water onto her did not help. Kíli felt her shudder and pulled away.

"I suppose that next time can wait until we've found some place warmer," he muttered. He sat back on his heels and offered her a hand. "Come on, we should get dressed. I'll rebuild the fire so that we can warm ourselves up."

Tauriel nodded and gratefully accepted the clothes that he handed her, quickly wrapping herself in as many layers as possible. Kíli vanished out of sight and when she returned to their temporary camp, he was already busy getting the fire going again. He had put on some of his clothes, but not all. His feet were still bare, his shirt still hanging open to reveal his chest.

"Aren't you cold, too?" Tauriel asked him.

He smiled at her from where he was crouching down beside the fire, slowly rekindling its flames, and shrugged. "We dwarves are used to harsh weather."

She returned his smile and sat down as close to the small fire as possible, warming her hands. "I don't normally mind cold weather, either," she said, frowning a little. Then she grinned. "But then again, it is not my habit lie around in the grass, naked, in winter."

Kíli laughed and crossed over to her, sitting down behind her, and drew her against his chest. "I should hope so."

Tauriel snuggled against him, enjoying his warmth more than actually needing it. Her rational mind told her that she was probably even less sensitive to cold than he was, but at that moment it just felt so nice to be warmed by him, to forget what they were for a few minutes. She turned her head and pressed her nose against his cheek. "Mmmh, you're so warm."

"Glad to be of service, milady," he replied, tightening his arms around her. "Feel free to sleep a little. I'm guessing you stayed up on watch most of the night?"

"I did," she murmured. "But I don't want to sleep. I think I've had enough of that for quite a long time. I'd rather spend every minute awake. With you."

He pressed a kiss to her temple. "But don't you need to? Sleep, I mean."

She shook her head. "Not like you do. I just rest, that is enough for me." She stared at the flames for a second. "I think that is why I got a little … confused by our dreams. I could not distinguish what was real and what wasn't anymore."

"Don't worry," he replied. "It was all rather intense. Most people would have gotten a little disoriented by that."

She turned her head and looked up at him. "But you weren't, were you? How did you know it was real?" She had been wondering about that ever since she had learned the truth about what had happened to her. To them.

He was silent for a moment. "Well, for one thing there was something you said to me in your own tongue during that first dream. It just didn't feel like something that I would come up with on my own. I never found out what it meant though, or if it even was proper Elvish."

Tauriel rummaged around in her head, trying to remember. Her memories of the past few weeks seemed hazy at best. "Meleth e-gûr nîn, guren níniatha n'i lû n'i a-govenitham. Ned i postog a nîn, ni bant," she then said slowly. "Is that what it was?"

He nodded. "Yes. That's what it sounded like tome, at least. What does it mean?"

Tauriel hesitated, suddenly feeling shy once more and embarrassed for her silly words. "It means, 'Love of my heart, my heart shall weep until I see you again. When you lie beside me, I am complete'," she said, quickly, staring into the fire.

Again, Kíli's arms tightened around her and he pressed a kiss to the pointy tip her ear which made her giggle despite herself. "Then I suppose it was good that I didn't go around asking people for a translation. Might have earned me some strange glances."

She laughed at that. "That is true. But you said there was something else that made you realize those wers more than just dreams?"

He nodded and loosened his embrace to retrieve something from his pocket. He held it up in front of her eyes.

"Your stone!" she exclaimed in surprise. "But how—I don't understand…"

He shrugged. "Neither do I. Found it between my sheets after that night when we first… you know…"

She felt her cheeks grow warm, but took the stone from his hand and turned in over in her palm, running her thumb across the runes carved into it. "I thought I had lost it. That someone had taken it from me." She could hear her own voice choke a little with the memory of the pain of that moment when she had thought him gone and his token with him.

Kíli wrapped his hand around hers which still held the stone, silently reminding her that not only the stone but also he himself had been returned to her. "Do you have any idea how something like this is possible?" he asked her.

Tauriel shook her head no. "I've never heard of anything like it, no. It's all very… unusual."

She felt him smile against her cheek. "I suppose most people would call us unusual."

She huffed. "If not all of them."

"I don't care what they say anymore," he said. "I'm happy."

She sat up and turned around to face him to capture his lips in a happy kiss. "So am I," she whispered. And this was true. Never in the centuries that she had spent on this world had she felt as filled with joy as now.

Snuggling back into his arms, Tauriel continued to gaze into the fire, idly wondering what their next step would be. She knew that they would soon reach the edge of the forest which would place them at the feet of the Grey Mountains. If they really did not mean to return to Erebor, then that would leave them only with one choice—to head west. And then?

Tauriel was torn from her thoughts when she felt Kíli tense behind her. She turned around to look at him—he was staring into the forest, frowning.

"What is it?" she whispered.

The frown on his forehead deepened. "I don't know. It just felt like we were being watched."

Tauriel raised her eyebrows and strained both her eyes and ears to determine whether there was someone—or something—close by. For a split second, she thought her keen Elven senses detected some kind of presence, but before she could put her finger on what kind of presence this was, it slipped away.

"You are right," she said to Kíli in a low voice. "I felt something, too. There is someone else out there, but they've gone now. Or concealed themselves entirely."

"Friend or foe?" Kíli asked, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"I cannot say," Tauriel replied. "But there seems to be no danger for now."

Kíli got up nevertheless, tensely staring into the trees. "I think we should move on. And be a little bit more on our guard from now on."

Tauriel grinned. "Does that mean I do not get to distract you anymore?"

He offered his arm to pull her up and winked at her. "I dare you to try."

"I just might," she returned, her eyes twinkling with mischief. She did not think that there was any reason to be overly worried right now, but of course he was right. They should not stay in one place for too long. The world was full of beings that did not mean them well. And, sadly, some of those beings were of their own kin.

So they set about gathering their things together, preparing to continue a journey that had only just begun and the end of which had yet to be determined.