Chapter XX

The silence in the room was so heavy, so thick that you could have sliced it with a sharp sword, cut it into tiny pieces. Tauriel let her gaze travel across the room. Surprise, shock, fear, outrage... She could detect all of those emotions on the faces of those present. Her eyes came to rest on Kíli again, who stood at the center of the room, his stance taut and defensive, impatiently waiting for someone to react to what he had just thrown into the room.

Tauriel, who had studied his handsome face during many hours when he had slept beside her and knew every inch of it, every detail, every tiny flaw, thought that he looked tired, worn out by the events that had been sprung on them so suddenly, so unexpectedly. She longed to draw him away from here, back to the loneliness of the forest where they could lie undisturbed below the stars, in peace. But of course she knew that he would not—could not—stop and rest before they had found out what ailed his uncle. She would not love him the way she did had this been any different.

She drew her gaze away from his face when someone finally broke the strained silence. "Destroy. The. Arkenstone." It was the old dwarf, Balin. She did not even have to look at him to sense the anger and disbelief rolling off him in waves. "Lad, are you out of your mind? Have your relations with the Elves of Mirkwood twisted your reason?"

Tauriel glared at the old dwarf. She had felt hostility radiate off the dwarf ever since they had arrived at Erebor. Still, Kíli seemed to think of him favorably and with great respect, and so Tauriel kept quiet and let Kíli answer for himself.

For a split second, he looked hurt by Balin's words but then spoke, calm and determined. "No. Quite the contrary—my mind is as clear as never before."

"But—"

"No, allow me to explain," Kíli interrupted Balin, who had risen from his chair. Kíli looked steadily at the older dwarf until he sat back down again and Tauriel felt pride well up in her chest at the way he was handling this situation.

"Don't you see the connection?" Kíli continued. "Thrór finds the stone, everything goes downhill from there. There was no more reasoning with him, was there? Almost killed himself over the stone. But he got better after it was lost, right? Eventually he got better. Now we come to Erebor and Thorin possesses the stone. Or rather, the stone possesses him."

"What are you implying?" one of the dwarves who had also stayed behind with Kíli at Laketown asked. Tauriel could not remember his name—they all sounded so similar to her ears.

"That the Arkenstone did something to Thorin to cause his condition." Murmurs began to rise at that, but Kíli continued, undeterred. "I don't know if it is the stone, or if it something in our line that is the reason for this. Maybe the combination of both." The murmurs where growing louder and Tauriel feared that Kíli was losing them. But then Kíli turned towards his brother, who was slumped in a chair, staring at the floor, frowning. "Don't you feel it, too? Every time you come near it?"

Fíli looked up in surprise. "Feel what?"

"Feel the stone pulling you towards it. Making you want to hold it, to own it."

The room fell deadly silent. Everyone was looking at the two brothers in shock, even Tauriel. Fíli dropped his gaze to the ground once more, but then looked back up at his brother. "Yes," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Yes, I have felt it, too."

As soon as the words had left Fíli's lips, everyone was on their feet, speaking at once. Tauriel caught Kíli's gaze over the chaos in the room. I'm sorry I didn't tell you that part before, he seemed to say with his eyes. Tauriel nodded to let him know it was alright. She understood.

Over the noise in the room, Gandalf's voice boomed, as if amplified by magic. Probably amplified by magic, Tauriel corrected herself. "Silence!"

To Tauriel's surprise, everyone obeyed and the dwarves all stood there, staring expectantly at the grey wizard who began pacing the room, stroking his beard. "Maybe… yes, it could be possible. What if…," he murmered. "But then again…" He stopped in front of Kíli. "Do you have any further proof for those claims?"

Kíli looked down. "No, I—"

"I believe that what he says could be true," a voice suddenly spoke up. It was the hobbit, Bilbo. No one had even been aware of him being in the room, quiet as his kind could be. He seemed to fumble for words when everyone stared at him, but then continued. "When—when I found the stone… before I gave it to Thorin, I could see what influence it holds over him. Could see it on his face. I remember thinking that he would be prepared to kill me to get his hands on it."

Gandalf put a hand on Bilbo's shoulder as he looked down at the hobbit with equal amounts of sympathy and concern.

"I say we get on with it," the dwarf whose name as Tauriel now remembered as Bofur said into the silence in the room.

Balin shook his head. "It is insane that we are even discussing this. Have you forgotten what we took upon ourselves to find this jewel? All the hardships we endured, all the sorrow? We followed Thorin here to help him find it, to make him our king."

"Yes," Kíli said. "And look where it got us. Our king is only a mere shadow of himself, not in any state to rule. We need to stop this before it is too late. I know it may seem different now, but I really believe that this is the best for us, for our kingdom."

"You do not get to have a say in what is best for us," Balin snarled. "Not after what you did."

Kíli drew himself up to his full height, towering over Balin. "Is there something you would like to tell me? If there is, we might as well get it over with now. Because we are wasting valuable time here. Thorin's time"

The older dwarf stared at him in defiance, but then drew back, deflated. "Yes, yes, I suppose you do have a point there, laddie. It's just so… What if this destroys everything that we have worked so hard to build? Our people might not accept Thorin as king without the Arkenstone. That is why we set out on this quest in the first place, remember?"

Tauriel watched Kíli bite his lower lip, unsure how to reply to this. They had discussed this issue before, in private, but had not been able to come up with an answer. She knew that Kíli felt he did not know enough about the different camps that had formed amongst the dwarves at Erebor to determine how to handle this particular problem. "As it is," he spoke slowly, "it looks like Thorin might not be King under the Mountain with or without the stone. I for one value his life more than his title."

"Aye, so do I," Fíli spoke up and came to stand beside his brother.

"Aye, me too." The words echoed through the room, the dwarves moving closer together. Tauriel could feel the intensity of this moment touch her, allowing her a glimpse of the fierce loyalty that bound those dwarves together. They had come a long way, after all, united as they were by one common quest, one common desire, one common king.

Kíli smiled at his brethren, visibly touched by their consent. Putting his hands onto the shoulders of Fíli and Balin beside him, he looked around at each of his companions. "Thank you for your trust. I'm glad we're on the same page here."

The others nodded, some of them leaning onto each other, mirroring Kíli's gesture. "So what do we do?" one of them, a young, wiry dwarf, asked. Everybody looked to Kíli, but before he could say anything, Bilbo spoke up, squeezing his way into the circle of dwarves.

"Please interrupt me if I am not making any sense at all," he said, making sure that he had everybody's attention. "But could we not simply exchange the stone? Swap it for another, equally impressive jewel?"

Everybody stared at the hobbit, utterly dumbstruck. Tauriel had to smile a little at the nerve of the small creature, stepping up in front of Thorin's company like this. But then again, he had probably had his share of experience with the Dwarves and their ways.

After a couple of seconds of stunned silence, Gandalf broke into booming laughter. "Bilbo Baggins," he said, shaking his head. "Always trust a hobbit to surprise you when you least expect it."

Bilbo and some of the dwarves smiled, obviously unsure whether this was said in approval or ridicule of Bilbo's idea. Tauriel, too, found that she could not judge the feasibility of Bilbo's plan—too little did she know about the Arkenstone, only what Kíli had told her. But she found that she liked Bilbo's refreshingly unconventional manner of thinking—unusual times called for unusual measures, after all. And if the events of the recent past did not qualify as unusual, then she did not know which would.

Tauriel looked at Kíli and saw that he was not among those smiling, looking intently at the hobbit instead. "Come to think of it, this might not be such a terrible idea."

All heads turned towards him. "Are you serious, brother?" Fíli asked.

"Let's consider the facts, for a moment," Kíli replied, looking around at his companions. "Most dwarves have never seen the stone in their lives, only heard grand tales of it. And those that have, have not laid eyes on it in ages. This mountain is full of gems, jewels, diamonds. Surely there has to be one magnificent enough to convince as the King's Jewel."

When nobody said anything, he continued. "The line of Durin has ruled this kingdom long before the Arkenstone was ever found. And it will continue to do so after it is gone—we might just have to… tweak history a little to make this happen." He grinned wryly as he gave a small shrug.

"Do you really think we could pull this off?" Bofur asked.

"I admit that it bears certain risks, but if we do it right…" Kíli looked at the others seriously. "Regardless of what we do, none of this can ever leave this room. We take this to our graves. Do we agree on this?"

The dwarves in the room nodded solemnly. Kíli looked at Gandalf. "What do you think of all this?"

The wizard stroked his long beard pensively, looking at Kíli with an unreadable expression on his face. "The fate of your line is of great concern to me. As is the peace amongst your people and those around you. Both seem endangered by the current situation and this suggests to me that measures need to be taken to change this. Right now this plan is all that we have."

"But what about the stone?" one of the dwarves spoke up. "Do you think it really has magic powers?"

"I would have to look into that," Gandalf said evasively, and Tauriel got the distinct feeling that he maybe knew more than he was letting on. He looked at the dwarves in the room and then his gaze came to rest on Kíli. "So you have arrived at an agreement that the Arkenstone should be removed?"

Kíli looked at his dwarven companions once more and, when no one spoke, turned to Gandalf. "Yes. Will you help us—once again?"

Gandalf inclined his head. "We will do it tonight. Where is the stone now?"

Balin opened his mouth to speak, but Kíli beat him to it. "In Thorin's bedroom." When Balin looked at him curiously he added, "I told you I could tell when it is close by. I only realized last night that I had been sensing its presence all day when I was with Thorin."

Balin nodded, frowning. "Thorin would never rest properly until we placed it close to his bed, in his nightstand."

"Which only further proves that the stone is what is causing all of this," Kíli said to the old dwarf, who nodded hesitantly, obviously still trying to come to terms with what they were about to do.

After observing the exchange between the two dwarves with great interest, Gandalf spoke again. "Kíli, Fíli, I want you with me tonight. You, too, Bilbo," he added, at which the hobbit jumped a little in surprise. "And you, Tauriel, if you do not mind."

Tauriel inclined her head in acknowledgement, secretly pleased that she was allowed to be involved in this. For one thing because she would not have to be apart from Kíli, would be able to help him carry the burden of this decision, which had, in essence, been his. And also because she might get a chance to make herself useful. Not like the day before when she had had to crush the hope in the eyes of the dwarves by telling them that, no, she was not a powerful Elven healer that would miraculously save their king. Merely a fool in love, who had done what her heart had told her to do, who had shared with a young dwarf what was only supposed to be shared amongst her own kind.

The dwarves stared at Tauriel in surprise, some of them clearly still struggling to understand why she was even here. Gandalf continued, not leaving any room for a discussion of his choice. "During the day you will all have to work on finding a placeholder for the stone. Make sure to do this stealthily. And once you have found one, bring it to me. I can help making it appear a little more… kingly."

"You mean with actual magic?" the young dwarf from before asked eagerly.

Gandalf raised both eyebrows at him. "You sound as if you doubt that I could do such a thing, Ori." At this the dwarf blushed and shook his head eagerly. Tauriel caught a humorous twinkle in Gandalf's eye. "So everyone is clear on what they are supposed to do?"

There were nods all around. Then one of the dwarves spoke again. "I have one more question—how are we going to explain all of this to Thorin, if and when he gets better?"

Gandalf grimaced. "That I shall leave to you, my dear dwarves."

Tauriel slipped into Kíli's room and found him standing at his window, gazing out at the horizon where the sun was just about to set. She stepped up to his side and looked at him with concern. He seemed nervous, forlorn almost.

She sat down on the low window sill and looked up at him. "Are you ready?"

He flashed a slightly tortured grin at her. "I suppose I better had be."

Tauriel reached out to squeeze his hand. "Do not doubt yourself, Kíli. We are doing the right thing."

He looked at her. "I hope so. Because if this is a mistake, I do not know what will happen. What they will do to me. They will hate me forever."

She tugged at his hand and forced him to step closer. Reaching up, she cupped his face in both hands. "You thought that this was already the case when you came to me in Mirkwood, remember? And now look at you. The way you handled this very difficult situation today, the way they all listened to you – I'm very proud of you."

Over the top of her head, Kíli looked out at the sky once more and missed the sad smile that briefly flashed across Tauriel's face. Sad because she felt, more than ever, that he still belonged here at Erebor, belonged with his brethren, his family. Whereas she belonged nowhere anymore, had never really belonged anywhere to begin with.

But right now this was not about her—it was about Kíli and his family. And she would stand by his side, hoping that if there was a happy end to this whole business with the Arkenstone, there was also a happy end in store for the two of them, somewhere down the road. Pulling his face down towards hers, she forced him to look her in the eye once more. "Have faith in yourself," she said before pressing a gentle kiss to his lips.

Kíli pulled her closer, deepening their kiss. When they broke apart, he rested his forehead against hers. "We should go," he said, but neither of them moved for another few minutes. Only when the light in the room was finally beginning to fade did they both straighten up and made to leave the room.

Before they stepped through the door, Kíli took Tauriel's hand in his. She looked at him questioningly, but he merely tightened his grip and opened the door, pulling her with him into the hallway. It seemed that, right now, he needed her support more than he needed the discretion that they had so carefully upheld these past two days. Well, she wouldn't argue with him about that.