Epilogue 2:

I sat up with a jolt, shaking Kili awake. "D'you hear that?" I asked.

"Hear what?" he asked groggily. "I don't hear nothin', Frey, whatsamatter?"

I held very still, listening for what I thought I had heard - the shrieks of a little girl. Then I heard it again, and I threw myself out of bed with Kili following closely at my heels. I skidded down a small hallway and quickly opened the door to one of three rooms that held beings very close to my heart.

"Momma!" came the voice, again from a little bed in the corner. "Momma, Lily's making noises!"

I clicked my fingers and the candles came to life, illuminating the room. There were two beds, one in each corner, and the room seemed to be two different worlds on either side of a line drawn with a stick of charcoal across the floor. One side looked so orderly it seemed an OCD person lived there - the other looked like a tornado had hit it.

A little girl was perched on a bed in each, and the one on the OCD side appeared to have been crying, while the tornado-side girl was grinning like a maniac.

I sighed, crossing my arms. "Lily, please don't do this in the middle of the night. You know it aggravates your sister."

Lily pouted. "I was only doing this." She puffed out her cheeks and let the air flow quickly between her pursed lips, making the noise of a balloon letting out all its air, too fast. "It's not my fault Kwin doesn't like it!"

I sighed again. "Lily, Kwin, you have to compromise. You two share a room. I want you both to sleep. Figure it out. I'm coming back to check you two in ten minutes. If it's not sorted out by then, one of you is switching with one of your brothers."

They yelped and quickly began to talk to each other in their little thirteen-year-old voices, hands flying as they argued. (Thirteen roughly equals six...)

I slipped out of the room, leaving the candles burning. "Fat load of help you were," I muttered to Kili, who stood outside the door, shifting from foot to foot.

"You had it covered," he murmured, staring at his feet.

I rolled my eyes and walked down the hall purposefully towards the two other rooms. I knocked on one of them, earning myself a sleepy grunt from its occupant. "Elijah?" I called softly.

There was another grunt, a sort of thud, and then sleepy footsteps. Then the door swung open inwards to reveal a little boy of about twenty years (which, by the way, is like ten for humans) with very mussy hair. "Mum?" he asked sleepily.

"Hey, buddy," I said softly. "I just wanted to know if you were awake."

"It's midnight, Mum," he replied groggily. "Why'd I be 'wake?"

"I need to -" I was cut off by a loud bang from the room behind me, and Elijah groaned. "They're fighting again," he grumbled. "Wake me up if you need me." He closed the door and I heard him shuffle back to his bed and heard the soft thud as he collapsed on it again, most likely already asleep again.

I walked over to the last door and opened it to find two fifteen-year-old (eight-ish) boys rolling on the floor, growling insults and punching each other.

I groaned and held my hands out in front of me like I was praying, then whisked them apart. Each boy landed on their beds, looking windswept and dazed, but still quite angry at each other.

"Remind me again why we have two sets of twins?" I asked Kili under my breath.

He shrugged. "I certainly didn't plan it."

I turned on him. "Oh, don't act like it's all my fault! It takes two to tango, you know!"

He sniggered. "Yup, mhm."

I threw my hands up, rolling my eyes. "Why do I even bother?" I asked the air. Which, of course, did not reply.

I turned my attention to the boys watching me expectantly. "Eric and Nickolei, you really need to stop annoying your mother. No fighting after ten o'clock PM, m'kay?"

Kili shot me a look, and I wondered, briefly, if I was being a very weird mother.

But the boys nodded and went to sleep. I went back and checked on the girls, who were both sleeping now. I led Kili back into our room and lay down again.

But I couldn't fall asleep, even after he had. I lay awake, thinking.

It had been years and years (probably around twenty) since we had been married. We had gone to see Bilbo - I wondered how he was doing. I knew that he was alive, because his destiny (told by my aging books) was not complete.

I remembered my last request to him, clear as day:

I shifted slightly in the hobbit's living room, knowing this would be the last I ever saw of him. He had reacted with proper surprise and congratulations at mine and Kili's whole marriage news, and we had chatted for hours. Then, Kili had gone back through the flame while I lingered.

"Bilbo, old pal," I began uncertainly.

"Hm?"

"Can you do me just one last favor?" I asked quietly.

"Yes, of course, Freya, anything."

"Can you - please - try to leave some things out of your book?"

"Like what?" he asked, looking confused.

"Like the fact that I was ever here. Or that Fili and Kili lived. Pretend Dain took over the Mountain! He is top advisor, very important, it'd work. But none of it was supposed to happen. Fili and Kili were supposed to die, and I wasn't supposed to be here, so..."

"Who would kill Smaug, without you?" he asked worriedly.

"Well, Bard was supposed to, with a black arrow right into the spot where I stabbed him, but if I had let that happen then a lot of people would have died, so I couldn't, and -"

Bilbo took my hand reassuringly. "Worry not, Freya," he assured me quietly. "I will write it as if you were not there, although it pains me to do so."

I smiled. "Thank you."

I sighed now. I wished that I would be able to see him, just one more time, but it was not to be. I had a life in Erebor - as the king's sister-in-law and the person with the most magic in the entire kingdom (minus Gandalf, if he was visiting), I was regarded with both amusement and high respect by Fili's subjects. Kili had far more respect, however, as the king's brother.

I remembered the day that the kingdom had found out that I had killed Smaug. We had sort of hedged around that topic. The Men and Elves had assumed that it had been a team effort of all fifteen of our Company (minus Gandalf, as he had been missing at the time). The other Dwarves had assumed the same.

Then Bofur, Bombuer and I began to tell the tales of our journey. It was late one night, before I had married Kili (even before he had formally proposed), with a large group of avid listeners, with early descriptions of the quest, and at last we came to the part where they asked how we had killed the Dragon.

"Well, it was all thanks to Lady Freya, you know," said Bofur, hiccuping slightly as the ale he had consumed.

I hissed quietly. I didn't know why I didn't want people to know what I had done, but I maybe I just didn't want them fawning over me. That would have been nice.

But Bombur continued his brother's statement, saying, "Oh, yes! If she hadn't latched onto his back like a burr, she would never have killed him."

There was an uproar, and I swore. "Now you've done it," I growled.

The kingdom had thrown a very large, very long party, for me. For the Slayer of Smaug the Terrible. I had become known as Daughter of Magic, but now my name was Lady Freya Macintosh, Dragonslayer, something along the lines of "Saver of Our Souls."

Then the news spread to the Elves and Men, and my name was being praised all around from Mirkwood to all of the Dwarf cities. Little girls and boys gave me flowers as I passed through the halls of Erebor, and I told the full story (nothing like the condensed thing that Bombur had given) to anybody who asked.

Word reached me that Lord Elrond had informed Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn about how I had killed a Great Worm of the North - and she had appeared before me once in my chambers to congratulate me on the deed and the lives I had saved.

At that, I officially panicked, and begged for people to stop making a big deal out of it. I was still a heroine, though, which was terrifying.

I rolled over, thinking about Fili's own wife, a pretty dwarf a bit like me, who was actually my second cousin twice removed or something, named Ulotipiña. They so far had one son, who was named after Fili's uncle - his name was Thorin. He was between the ages of Elijah and Eric and Nickolei, so around nine in human years. I thought he would make a good king someday.

I thought about my parents.

My mother was a human, named Inla. My father was (obviously) a dwarf, named Likoyin. I hadn't expected to meet them, but at some point, they had come. After Elijah had been born, around when I was in my early pregnancy with Eric and Nickolei, they had appeared at the gate and asked the guard there if they could see a dwarf-woman named Tralique Inlasdaughter.

The guard, doubtful that such a woman existed, sent word to Fili, telling him that there was a couple at the gate desiring to see a woman named Tralique Inlasdaughter. I had happened to be in the throne room when the message came in, with Kili, playing with the very young Elijah.

I turned white, listening to the man's message, and so did Kili, who gave me a rather worried look. Elijah was very confused and began to cry. I scooped him up and waved my hand at the messenger. "Take me to them," I ordered, my voice shaky.

Kili followed close behind me, his hand on my shoulder. The guard led us into a little cavern, and I saw a woman and a man sitting there, demanding to speak with a different guard. "-she is here!" insisted the woman. "We have word from the Grey Wizard!"

The guard leading us cleared his throat softly, and the two whirled around. Their gazes softened as they noticed us - a high-ranking man in court, the king's brother, with his wife and child.

Then they recognized me.

"Tralique!" gasped the woman.

I shivered. "Mother?" I asked tentatively.

What followed was a rather teary reunion - I had been gone for nearly two years, perhaps more, and they had panicked - now they had finally found me. I relearned their names - Inla and Likoyin.

They had stayed in Erebor for weeks, helping with Elijah and sharing memories with me. They left after about six weeks, going home to Ered Luin in the mountains, where I had grown up. They promised to visit and extracted a similar promise from me.

I heaved a deep sigh, now thinking about Moonshadow, who had changed back from hawk form after the battle and had nearly broken down the infirmary door more than once trying to come and see me. He snapped the little stele I had created when it fell out of my boot outside the hospital wing - not that I cared. He was still alive today, the same as ever - apparently, his life was tied with mine, so he couldn't die until I did.

Rory, likewise, was not dead, for the same reason. He lived in the room of Lily and Kwin, because he said found them the most interesting.

All of my weapons, despite Kili's urging, remained ready for fighting, and were situated in strategic areas in mine and Kili's rooms.

The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion lay quietly on a table in a hidden room of our chambers. I had not opened them, and felt no need to, for over twenty years.

All was well.

And that, my friends, is the end of a long and wild ride. I will miss you all dearly (unless you come and read more of my fics, including the prologue and weddings, XD) and THANK YOU SOSOSOSOSOSO MUCH FOR READING THIS! It really helped me grow as a writer and I feel privileged to have been able to give this to you. I may be changing things NEXT year with There and Back Again, but that is unlikely. Apparently, I published this a year ago on the twelfth so *SNIFF* I love you guys for sticking with me so long and waiting through all of my problems. THANK YOU SO MUCH I LOVE YOU GOODBYE FOR NOW