Author's note: Phew. I did not think I'd be able to get this out today since I'm in the middle of moving house and things are a bit crazy. Nevertheless, here's a chapter full of Durin-brothers-goodness :) After seeing the third movie I just knew I had to bring Fíli back into my story - the movie really didn't do this great character justice at all. Hope you enjoy - sorry in advance for the absence of Tauriel from this chapter, I intend to make up for that in the next one!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit.

Chapter XIII

Kíli kneeled on the ground, clutching his brother to his chest, unable to comprehend anything of what had just passed. Over Fíli's shoulder he saw Finn still lying on his back on the ground, none other than Dwalin towering over him. Two stately ponies were grazing peacefully a couple of feet away, as if nothing out of the ordinary had taken place. Had Kíli not been so utterly baffled, he might have chuckled at the perplexed and more than a little fearful way in which Finn was eying the ferocious dwarf scowling down at him.

Eventually Fíli pulled back and took his younger brother's face between his hands. "I am glad to find you still in one piece," he said, his voice gentle. Fíli would not say it and neither would Kíli, but his brother's tone told him how much he had missed him in those past few months.

"Barely," Kíli answered, his grin a little lopsided. "A little bit later and you would have had to scrape my remains off of those rocks down there."

Fíli gave a low laugh, dropping his hands to Kíli's shoulders. "Somehow I am not surprised to find you in a life-threatening situation. Some things never change."

Kíli smiled, but then frowned. "And how did you find me, brother? Why are you here?" None of this made any sense to him – it was still a few months until he and Tauriel were supposed to meet up with Fíli at Bree and while Kíli was not a hundred percent positive of their exact whereabouts, he felt confident to say that they were currently nowhere near that village.

"Well, to your first question: We have been tracking you for a day. We lost your trail and were not quite sure how to proceed when you ran across our path – literally." Fíli smirked. So it had been Fíli and Dwalin that Kíli had seen from the corner of his eye when he had been chasing after Finn, he now realized. "To your other question – we come from Rivendell. There was word of a dwarf and an elf in trouble somewhere south in a Rangers' camp. I knew immediately that this could only be you."

Kíli nodded even though he was still a little confused. He made to ask Fíli what he had been doing at Rivendell together with Dwalin, but was distracted by a little yelp coming from Finn. It looked as if the boy had tried to get up, but was stopped from doing so by Dwalin, who was now pointing his axe at him.

"Dwalin, leave him be," Kíli called. "He is no threat."

"Is he not?" the older dwarf growled, the blade of his axe not moving an inch. "Because it surely looked as if he tried to throw you from a cliff just a minute ago."

"Throwing himself from it is what's more likely," Kíli muttered to himself and took the arm that Fíli offered to haul himself back to his feet. Walking over to Finn and Dwalin he spoke, more loudly, "You are mistaken, Master Dwalin. What you witnessed was not attempted murder, but merely a hunting trip gone bad." Looking at Finn, who let his head hang low in obvious shame, he added, "It was an accident. One that could have been avoided, but was by no means unforgiveable."

Finn risked a glance at him with his head still lowered. "Are you hurt?" he asked, his voice quite small.

Only just then did Kíli become conscious of the various aches in his body. Carefully rotating his right shoulder he grimaced a little at the discomfort this brought him, but determined that he did not really feel worse than he had before. "Nah," he answered the boy with a lopsided grin on his face. "Just a little sore."

"I'm sorry…" Finn began, but Kíli interrupted him.

"It's already forgotten," he said, and held out his arm to pull Finn back into an upright position. Standing, the boy was taller than each of them, but he still seemed to shrink into himself when he looked from one newcomer to the other.

"Finn, those are my brother Fíli and Dwalin." Turning to the two dwarves, Kíli said, "This is Fennion, son of Fendir. He is a Dúnedain of the North and has been travelling with me those last few days."

Finn smiled hesitantly at the dwarves to which Fíli replied with a grin and Dwalin with a scowl.

"Where's your elf?" Dwalin asked brusquely, turning to Kíli.

Kíli glared at the older dwarf, but then relaxed upon realizing that below Dwalin's gruff manner lay some actual concern. Silently observing the events unfold before him in his usual manner, Dwalin had never voiced any opposition to Kíli's involvement with Tauriel, but neither had he encouraged it. Despite his air of indifference, Kíli however knew that Dwalin respected Tauriel for her fighting skills and, unlike Thorin, did not associate her with past injustices that she had had no part in.

Now Kíli averted his gaze to stare at the horizon, unable to look his brethren in the eye when he admitted to them what had happened. "She was abducted," he said, quickly clearing his throat when he felt it close up. "Six days and seven nights ago, close to a settlement of the Rangers. We were fighting back a pack of orcs, I was injured and she- she was taken."

Fíli's forehead creased with worry and, to Kíli's dismay, pity. "You were hurt?" his brother asked, concerned for his well-being, as always.

Kíli dismissed his brother's question with a shake of his head. "Nothing serious. Enough to knock me out for a little while, but I'm almost back to normal now."

Fíli nodded upon realizing that his younger brother would not tolerate any further discussion of the subject of his health, his other concerns too pressing. "So, Tauriel…"

"I think they took her to the mountains," Kíli answered before his brother could finish. "We discovered the trail of the pack and have been following it for two days now. What awaits us at the end of it, I do not know…"

"How can you be sure that she is with them?" Dwalin threw in. "Maybe this turns out to be nothing but a wild goose chase after all."

Kíli looked at him and then at his brother - who raised his eyebrows when he noticed him hesitate - his lips pressed tightly together. Not for the first time he was uncertain how he should explain his knowledge of things he couldn't really know. What was he to say? I dreamt of a tree with Tauriel and our daughter beneath it and then I saw that same tree when I was awake? Fíli would probably begin checking for a head injury if he did.

"The orcs where carrying a prisoner," Finn jumped in, saving Kíli from the obligation to reply. "There were traces of someone of Tauriel's height and weight trying to cut the bindings on their wrists on the bark of a tree. We also found a rag most likely used as a gag."

The three dwarves turned to look at the boy. "I see your companion is not as useless as he looks," Dwalin muttered. Finn looked as if he could not quite decide between being pleased or insulted by this remark, but then settled for a slight smile.

Kíli smirked at the young Dúnedain before stepping closer to Dwalin and Finn, his voice urgent when he spoke. "I estimate that we are about a day behind the pack. I have no way of knowing what I am leading us into, but will you help?"

He tried not to sound as desperate as he felt, but could not help his heart missing a beat when Fíli clasped his hand onto his back. "Always, brother."

Kíli smiled gratefully and looked at Dwalin, raising his eyebrows questioningly. The senior dwarf stared back at him sternly for a few seconds, but then relented with a small groan. "If the Durin boys have set their heart on a task, trouble's bound to follow. I swore to your uncle to protect this one," he nodded into the direction of Fíli, who rolled his eyes, "and I s'pose that promise extends to you, lad. Lead the way."

Kíli's smile grew wider. "We left our provisions near the trail," he said. "Come on, I'll supply everything we know on our way there."

"I have to say," Fíli muttered, "that boy's quite an interesting choice for a travelling companion."

Kíli looked over to where Finn was seated in front of the small campfire they had built, eyeing Dwalin, who was busy skinning a rabbit, with a mixture of wariness and curiosity. Upon feeling that they might reach the end of their journey any moment now, Kíli had been very reluctant to rest and set up camp, but the fact that the absence of daylight made it virtually impossible to follow the trail of the orcs had in the end convinced him to settle down for the night – in the hope that this would be the last night he would have to spend separated from his love.

He and Fíli had volunteered to keep watch while Dwalin was preparing their dinner with Finn's assistance. Under different circumstances Dwalin would certainly not have been Kíli's first choice as a cook and neither would he have assigned Finn, who was at least as scared of Dwalin as the dwarf was suspicious of him, to help him, but as it was, the two brothers had immediately latched onto the opportunity to spend some time alone, tending to the bond between them that was not yet used to such long periods of absence from each other.

Kíli snorted at Fíli's previous statement. "If you think that I chose him as a companion, you are mistaken." Turning to his brother, he added, grinning, "There was a bit of blackmailing involved in that whole matter."

"Ah, he strikes me as quite capable – all things considered," Fíli returned, the distant light of the campfire illuminating his features just enough for Kíli to see his mouth twitch with the ghost of a smile. "Reminds me a bit of you, to be honest."

Kíli's first impulse was to react with indignation, but then he stopped himself, thinking that he could not know where he would be right now without Finn. After all, the boy had been a great help – even if he had almost gotten him killed that day. "His father will lynch me for bringing him along," he finally said, grimacing a little.

"He'd probably have every reason to do so," Fíli replied honestly. "Even if it was the boys own doing, his father's instincts will be to protect his son."

The blonde dwarf fell silent and Kíli knew that when he said those words, he was thinking of several things, things that Kíli himself could relate to quite well. How they had grown up without a father, for instance. How Thorin had filled that role and how he must have struggled with the developments that this last year had brought.

For Kíli, however, his brother's words brought with them a reminder of his new responsibilities as father to a child whose life was, even before its birth, endangered. He could not help squeezing his eyes shut at the sharp pain that the remembrance of the little girl he had seen in his dream and the insecurity whether he would ever get a chance to meet her in real life brought.

When he opened his eyes again, he found his brother staring at him with concern. "What is it?" Fíli asked softly, his brotherly instincts immediately picking up on the change in Kíli's demeanor.

Kíli looked back at him for a long moment, but then turned his gaze towards their small camp, his heart beating fast against his throat, that was suddenly quite dry. "It's…" he began, but then faltered. He had no idea how Fíli would react if he revealed the whole truth to him and suddenly some of the fears that he thought he had left behind a long time ago came back to haunt him. What if this was too much for Fíli to take in? What if it destroyed his slowly won acceptance of his younger brother's relationship with an elf?

When Fíli scooted closer to him upon seeing him struggle and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, Kíli told himself that there was only one way to find out whether his brother would be able to approve of his impending fatherhood or not. He took a deep breath. "Tauriel… she is with child, Fíli."

He stared at his hands folded in his lap for a few long seconds before mustering the courage to lift his eyes back to his brother's face. Fíli's expression was almost comically blank. "Did you understand what I just said?" Kíli asked, when, after a few moments, the blonde dwarf still had not responded.

Fíli blinked a couple of times, his mouth opening and closing without sound. "Is that even possible?" he finally said.

Kíli rolled his eyes at his brother's denseness. "Clearly it is," he said and, when Fíli did not react immediately, "Look, I'm sorry, maybe I should not have told you-"

"Shut up," Fíli interrupted him, punching his upper arm before pulling him into a sudden, bone-crushing embrace. "I'm going to be an uncle," he said, grinning from ear to ear when he pulled back. "What are you apologizing for? This is great news!"

Kíli scratched his head, perplexed by his brother's sudden outburst. "Is it?"

"Well, yes," Fíli returned, leaning his head to one side to study Kíli intently. "Are you not happy?"

"I am," Kíli quickly said. "And I'm also confused, and scared, and worried. Fíli, what if they've hurt her?"

Fíli pursed his lips and nodded. "We have to find her, and quickly."

"Aye," Kíli said. "We are close… I can feel it."

There was another moment of silence before Fíli spoke again. "I believe you can, can't you?"

Kíli's head shot up at those words of his brother and he looked at him in surprise, but Fíli merely shrugged. "Don't worry, I will not ask you to tell me anything that is not my business. But in the past you have hinted yourself that your connection with Tauriel is somehow special, so if you say that you know where we need to go in order to find her, I'll follow you without asking questions."

"Thank you," Kíli said, greatful at and amazed by the way his brother was handling this situation. Who would have thought, only a few months ago, that Fíli would so easily accept the changed circumstances of his younger brother's life? Kíli smiled slightly when he remembered how Fíli had found him and Tauriel in the woods, his fury at Kíli's disappearance rivaling his relief to have found him alive. All that seemed like a lifetime ago.

Kíli's gaze turned more inquisitive as he addressed Fíli again. "I hope you understand that I do have some questions for you."

Fíli looked at him with feigned innocence, but then relented with a sigh. "Yes, I would expect that you do. Go on ahead, then."

Kíli felt the corners of his mouth twitch, the fact that for once it was Fíli and not himself who was being called out on some of his secrets strangely pleasing to him. "Alright. First things first, what in Mahal's name were you doing in Rivendell at this time of year? I know that you like to be on time, but Bree is not that far away from there and a couple of months in advance is early even for you."

Fíli rolled his eyes at his brother's teasing of his punctuality. If the world went according to Kíli, no one would ever arrive on time anywhere, and had it not been for Fíli urging him along, trying to stop him from embarking on all sorts of adventures that he spotted along his path, the dark haired archer would have been late for most things in his life, including their quest to reclaim the kingdom of Erebor. "Our visit with the Elves was to be a short one – we had intended to travel further west and then return to Bree later to meet up with you."

Kíli narrowed his eyes at the blonde dwarf. "You were headed for the Blue Mountains, weren't you?" When Fíli merely nodded in response, Kíli continued, slightly confused, "I would have expected most of the dwarf families to have moved to Erebor by now. What were you planning to do there, with Dwalin of all people?"

"There are still some of our people living there, Kíli. For those that have not grown up with memories of the riches of Erebor, Ered Luin is home. It will never be the way it was when we were growing up, but there will always be something to go back to there."

Kíli inclined his head. "Of course you are right," he said apologetically since Fíli seemed to be slightly put off by his dismissal of the Blue Mountains as a traveling destination. "And in some way, it will always be home to me. But that does not answer my question – why where you headed there?"

Fíli paused. "Dwalin and I were not travelling on our own," he then said, his voice soft. Kíli raised his eyebrows questioningly at his brother's sudden mysteriousness. Fíli sighed before continuing. "I was going to show my bride where I grew up."

Kíli broke into a wide grin. "Your bride?"

Fíli looked back at him, slightly abashed. "Yes," he said. "I am to be married." When Kíli laughed, more at his brother's obvious discomfort than his admission, Fíli reached out to punch his upper arm. "I'm serious," he growled, "stop laughing."

"I know," Kíli returned, still laughing, but then checked himself when Fíli glowered at him threateningly. "I'm sorry," he said, soberly. And then, after a break, "So, this bride of yours wouldn't happen to be the daughter of a certain Bowman we both know, would she?"

Fíli glared defensively at him. "Why? Because you do not think she would care for me?"

Kíli laughed again, enjoying teasing his brother a little more than he probably should, given the singularity of his own relationship. "No, not at all," he tried to appease his brother who appeared on the verge of strangling him. "I'm merely surprised that Thorin would tolerate this – and that her father would even consider allowing it, for that matter."

Fíli shot him another glare before settling back down to stare into the distance. "Thorin was not overjoyed, obviously. But, given the events of the most recent past," here he looked pointedly at Kíli, "he grudgingly gave his consent, seeing that I would not change my mind no matter what he said. As for Bard… he agreed to it under the condition that we wait for another year before we are wedded, spend some more time together. So we decided to spend some time travelling – with Dwalin and some of the others accompanying us. Frankly, I suspect Bard still hopes Sigrid will have second thoughts after a prolonged time in the company of dwarves."

"I take it that that has not happened yet?" Kíli asked, grinning again. Fíli's glare returned and Kíli laughed a little before adding, more seriously, "I am happy for you, brother, really." And he was. It would have been a lie, however, to say that he was very surprised. His suspicions of his brother's infatuation with the young woman had been growing steadily during his and Tauriel's time at Erebor and he knew better than anyone else that once Fíli had truly set his heart on something he would pursue it with everything that he had.

Fíli nodded, a slight smile that betrayed how happy he really was, tugging at his lips. "Thank you."

"So your travelling party came to Rivendell…" Kíli began.

"And that's where I learned that you had gotten yourself in trouble once again," Fíli finished for him. "I wanted to set out immediately and Dwalin insisted on coming with me. Sigrid wanted to come, too, but I figured that bringing her with me on this particular kind of journey was not what her father had in mind when he had me promise him that I would keep her safe, no matter what."

Kíli nodded. "You were always better at keeping your promises than I was," he stated dejectedly, his mirth evaporating quickly.

His brother scooted closer, leaning his forehead against Kíli's shoulder to console him. "Don't worry, little brother. We will find her."

Kíli lowered his head, trying to quench the guilt that he felt at sitting here with his brother, finding comfort in his company, while Tauriel faced he knew not what misery in some kind of orc lair. Leaning back he looked up into the night, wanting to implore the stars for their guidance, but finding that the sky was overcast with clouds. How fitting. "Look at us," he muttered to Fíli. "Not so long ago our greatest responsibilities were to secure a bed for the night and a meal for the next day. Now you are going to be a husband soon, and I a father. If everything indeed does turn out well in the end."

Instead of responding to this, Fíli merely reached out to cover Kíli's hand with his and together the Durin brothers sat there, staring into a dark sky devoid of stars.

Kíli tossed and turned on the hard ground, restless from the feeling that he should be on his feet, searching for Tauriel, while at the same time his body was trying to draw him into oblivion, exhausted from this journey that always seemed to have another challenge in store for him.

In the short periods during which he was closer to sleep than to waking, he could feel his love's presence hovering at the edge of his consciousness, but it seemed that whenever he pushed too hard to reach her, she would be gone again, and all that remained was a thick, suffocating blackness.

At some point he thought that he could feel the warmth of her being envelop him, her sweet scent entering his nostrils, her soft skin brushing against his, but then something changed and he was left with a metallic taste on his tongue – the taste of blood. He was sure then that something was wrong.

Terrified, he sat up, breathing heavily. The air around him was damp and quite warm, promising a hot day to come. It was still dark and as his sight slowly cleared, he flinched when he found himself face to face with Finn crouching before him.

"You should come see this," the boy said, his eyes wide with excitement.

Kíli looked around their small camp, sweat collecting at the back of his neck. Fíli was snoring on the ground a couple of feet away from him. Dwalin was nowhere to be seen. They had changed shifts at some point during the night and, after some stern words from his brother, Kíli had hesitantly agreed to lie down for a few hours.

"What's going on?" he whispered, but Finn merely shook his head.

"I need to show you something," he returned.

With another glance at his brother, Kíli got up, stopping only to retrieve his sword from where it rested on the ground. With Finn, you never knew what trouble might wait around the corner.

"While you were sleeping, I scouted ahead for a little bit," Finn muttered as they made their way up a rocky slope. "I know I shouldn't have," he added before Kíli could reprimand him for going off on his own, "but I think I have found something important."

Kíli bit back a reply and instead focused on following the boy silently through the waning darkness. When they reached the top of the slope, Finn got down on his hands and knees, motioning for Kíli to do the same. Crawling through some bushes, Finn pulled leaves and branches to the side, allowing Kíli to see what lay ahead.

"I believe this is what we were searching for," the young Dúnedain whispered.

Kíli's eyes widened. In front of them, the mountains rose into the sky. And into the side of one of those mountains tunnels had been hewn, visible in the dark because of the faint light illuminating them. Light coming from inside the mountain. There was more light coming from the foot of the mountain, where pits had been dug that, from the distance, appeared to be quite deep. Kíli swallowed against a sudden dryness in his throat. This was not some simple orc lair. It was a fortress.

tbc...

More Kiliel coming soon... promise!