The Master of Laketown was equivalent to the John McCririck of Middle Earth. Ginger, greasy and pretty gross looking. The Master wore a fur coat, a shirt and had a red napkin tucked untidily past the collar of said shirt. His thin, ginger mustache twitched as the group of us entered the great hall in which he feasted, and his eyes looked questioningly to the guard who led us in.

'Thorin Oakenshield,' said the guard. 'Son of Thrain, and company'. With that, he stood and aside and Thorin stepped forward. The Master stood from his great chair as the chatter of the people attending the feast died to down. Some even went as far to give little gasps.

'The King Under the Mountain?' questioned the Master, leaning heavily on the table. His beady eyes were nervous, and his forehead was damp.

'The very one,' said Dwalin gruffly, standing beside Thorin. Half of the people at the feast now looked to be having great epiphany's at the gossip that they were hearing. Then there were some who stood slowly, eyeing our group with their blue, sharp eyes.

'Ah,' I muttered to the Dwarves. 'Elves'.

'These are prisoners!' declared one of the Elves, throwing a hand in our direction. Rude. 'This Dwarf is no King Under the Mountain. They escaped earlier today from King Thranduil, having been found wandering our realm and molesting our people!'

'What are you on about?' I half snorted, baffled. 'We didn't molest anyone!'

Thorin stepped forward angrily, a growl bubbling from his throat as he spat, 'We were making our way through Mirkwood to our own land when we were attacked by the beasts that dwell there, and then taken prisoner by the Wood Elves when we tried to ask for aid. But this town is not of the Wood Elves' realm, and I came to speak with the Master of this town'.

The Master appeared to hesitate, and with that I knew that I would not like this man. He was weak and unsure of who to trust, simply because he did not want to come onto bad terms with the Elvenking. Wussy.

'Master,' said one of the people at the table. 'I believe what he says. None other than the King Under the Mountain would want to take back the Misty Mountain with that dragon living there. No one but the King himself'.

Take that, Elf.

'Except to try and get the gold,' reminded an Elf with snark.

'Look, princess-' I had started, only to be sent silent by Thorin's half amused half furious glare. I don't know how the guy managed to pull off such a look, but he sure did.

Suddenly the Master was tilting his and nodding once at the mention of gold. The Elves sighed heavily while we were pushed further into the hall and the guests at the table all stood to make room for us. Food was thrown our way, and Thorin was sent to sit at the head of the table where the Master of Laketown had once sat. At his side, being the Heirs, Fili and Kili were told to sit.

I couldn't help but grin at them, too happy that things had gone our way. Hell, I thought that I might break into song.

And, Sweet Lord, the guests started singing. Then, from the streets, the singing got louder and louder and, heck, I felt like I was in a particularly corny episode of Glee. They were singing about Thorin being the King Under the Mountain and that he had returned at last. I hadn't even known that people had waited for this day, or anything like that.

'How did this even happen?' I asked incredulously to Ori, who sat beside me. The Dwarf looked at me in equal bafflement and shrugged, shaking his head. His head stilled as soon as one big ass roasted chicken was plated up in front of him, though.

I couldn't quite stop the smile form bursting onto my face as I looked about at the people who had started to play music around the hall. Those who had entered from the streets had started dancing, and Thorin spoke with the Master in deep tones. Balin and Dwalin were laughing together, Ori ate his chicken, Bofur was squeezing water from his misshapen hat, Dori and Nori were laughing along with Bombur, Oin and Gloin. And Kili and Fili, they had been talking to Bifur in Khuzdul over the clamor.

The Master would boom out random songs at any given moment, but most of them had a running theme. 'Anyone else notice the fact that Greedy over there mentions gold and gifts ina lot in his songs?'

Balin just hid his merry little laugh into the contents of his ale.

It was quite...unnerving after a while, actually. Not only were we famous and cheered after at every moment, but I was...thought of as quite an extraordinary thing. 'A Lady Dwarf!', 'And one so beautiful!', 'A gem!'

They would not leave me alone.

After a while I escaped from the servers who would consistently come to fill up my wine glass and decided that it was time to mention to Thorin that the rest of the company looked dead on their feet.

The King was talking in low voices with Kili and Fili, and I caught the phrase, '-dangerous enough already-', to which Fili looked angrily at Kili. Once I awkwardly stood still, ready to backtrack, Thorin sighed and turned to me saying, 'Yes, Millie?'

'Sorry,' I cringed, holding up my hands. 'I was just wondering when we were gonna hit the hay. Everyone looks pretty much dead and if one more person points out my lack of beard, I'm gonna go homicidal'.

Thorin bowed his head with a small smile, although Fili and Kili still looked oddly stiff and angry. 'You are right. I will tell the Master that we require lodgings. Sit here, please'. Okay, apparently once fed and warm Thorin was freakishly gentlemanly. He slid from his chair and walked into the direction of the Master, who was talking animatedly to three others.

I awkwardly sat between Kili and Fili, whose silences contrasted with the heavy buzz of the room. 'What's got you two all mopey, then?' I'd asked.

'Uncle seems to believe that Kili and I are not capable of the rest of the journey to defeat Smaug, and that we should stay here with you,' said Fili, fists clenched in his lap.

The idea seemed ludicrous, and I told them so. 'I mean, I get why I should stay here - not that I will, of course,' I said haughtily, to which Kili's cheek twitched and his dark eyes rose from his knees to look at me.

'We will talk soon, I promise'.

My back straightened quickly when the Master's nasally voice said loudly, 'If the company of Thorin Oakenshield would please follow me, I will take you to your housing!'

'I don't like him,' I grumbled, sliding from my seat. 'The creep'.

'None of us do,' said Fili lowly, pulling back my chair for me and leading us along with the rest of the Dwarves as the people in the room cheered for no apparent reason. Jesus, we were celebrities.

When we were all taken into the Town Square it only grew worse. People leaned out of their windows to catch glimpses of us, children (who were only a little shorter than me, some the same height) pointed at Thorin. The King took it all in his stride, as did Kili and Fili. I guess they must have been used to it now, being royalty. But still, the youngest looked both elated and proud.

Myself? I just hid behind Bombur. Somehow a pretty, yellow flower was pushed into my hands by a elderly woman, but before I could thank her she was swiped away by the people that we had pushed through. Why she gave me the flower, I will never know. Still...no one had ever given me a flower before.

The Master led us through a street to the side of the Square and then up to a high wooden house (everything was wooden, really), which looked to be three stories high. Bilbo looked especially startled to be staying somewhere so big.

The Master opened the door and we were pushed in in a single file fashion, and then he said something along the lines of, 'There's plenty of food to enjoy, my King and Company!'

And then he shut the door, quieting the cheering and singing from outside.

'I feel like Britney Spears,' I giggled, wiggling the flower between my fingers. 'Look what someone gave me!' I then shoved it behind my ear and gave a funny little twirl. Kili smiled at me, and I smiled right back.

'That was...unexpected,' said Bilbo, plopping into an armchair in the great sitting room. Too big, really. It could have passed for a small hall. 'I didn't expect them to welcome us so...' He searched for a word.

'Gladly?' supplied Balin, smiling. 'They're glad indeed that the King as returned,' he looked pointedly to Thorin, who gazed around the house that we had been supplied with. 'They have been generous indeed'.

'I'm going to find a bed,' said Bombur. 'And I am going to sleep in it'. With that, he waddled in the general direction of the stairs which lay at the opposite end of the hall, next to a room that I had presumed to be the kitchen.

'I'm going to see if they have any more chicken,' said Ori, sharing a looking with his brothers who both nodded in agreement, their still damp boots going for the side room.

We were all soon exploring the house and standing back awkwardly as gifts were pushed into the living room by maids sent by the Master. Armour, swords, bows, arrows, dresses, food, shoes, flowers - all for us, all in the right size for Dwarves and Hobbits. Only thing was, the Dwarves only took what they needed from the presents. Coats were taken, as were the weapons, but the rest was left.

I took the dresses (I had guessed that they were for me. I mean, imagine Thorin in a dress), a pair of boots, breeches, a shirt and coat before backing into the chest of Kili and blinking up at him. The rest were in their rooms sleeping, or eating in the kitchen. Bilbo sat in his armchair, reading one of the books from the bookshelf and Thorin watched him, half asleep already.

It all seemed too...domestic. I almost didn't like it.

'Come on,' said Kili, taking the three dresses and the boots from my arms. 'We'll go find you a room'. With that, he turned on his heel and started across the room to the stairs. I slung my bag over my shoulders and followed him, very aware of my tangled hair, my dirty dress, my bra-less state and Thorin's dark eyes following us out of the room.

'There are five rooms on this floor,' said Kili, reaching the second landing. 'And on the third floor. Nori, Dori and Ori will share the room with a small and large bed, and Bofur and Bombur will share the other room. Fili, Thorin, Bilbo, you and I are on the third floor,' explained Kili, slightly more formal than usual. I chose to ignore this until we reached some privacy.

We started up the next set of wooden stairs and I'd asked, 'I take it these are the nicer rooms? - you know what I mean. You, Thorin and Fili are gonna get the nicest rooms, I'm a woman meaning I'm just given nice things-' I said this with an air of distant displeasure '- and Bilbo's the hero, meaning you guys want to thank him in any way that you can'.

Kili glanced over his shoulder, nodding. 'That's very true'.

I'd bit back a sigh. Fine then.

The third floor was much like the second. A large landing with doors on opposing walls, all leading into the separate bedrooms. Kili pointed to two on one wall, stating those were his and Fili's rooms, then to two on the other, which were mine and Bilbo's. The one standing on a lone wall was to be Thorin's. The moment we stepped into my room, I liked it infinitely better than I had liked the Elven prison.

It was all wood. Wooden wardrobe, wooden dresser, wooden bed, wooden beside table, wooden door, wooden floor, wooden walls. There was a door to the side of the room that turned out to be bathroom (I hadn't had to share with fourteen men, yay!) and candles dotted about that I could light at night.

I dumped Snowthorn and the clothes that Kili had not taken onto the bed. He did the same with the bundle in his arms, stood awkwardly for a second, and then started for the door.

'Seriously?' I said, tilting my head at him. 'The one private moment that we have, and you want to leave?'

His dark eyes were on me, his brown hair dangling around his hard face. God, he was beautiful. Corny as it sounds, I couldn't imagine finding anyone more lovely looking than Kili.

'You're being off with me, Kili,' I half moaned, uncrossing my arms. 'I don't want that. I didn't tell you all that - in the barrel - for you to just go ahead and get all awkward with me. If you don't feel the same, if you- you fancy that Elf, then okay. But you could at least tell me. I'm not a child. I mean, heck-' he started forward, the door still open and I had stepped back. The back of my legs hit the bed frame in my surprise. 'What-?'

And then he was taking my face in his rough hands, dipping his face close to mine and grinning, breathing out a quick laugh. 'You need to learn to stop talking, Alexandria'.

And then he was kissing me, and it was better than I had ever hoped. There weren't fireworks, there were freakin' nuclear bombs going off behind my eyelids. I don't know how to describe kissing Kili without making it sound like every other kiss, but it wasn't. It was something special, something that can only be thought and not written. It was teeth and tongue and Kili, his hands on my cheeks and mine pinching at the material of his shirt.

It was was how it should have been. I wasn't wearing a something beautiful - I was in a simple, white dress that was covered in dirt and still half damp. My hair was tangled and dry, I had a flower pushed behind one ear and my feet were bare. He wore his blue cotton shirt, his sword, his hair down, his dirty hands on my cheeks and yet. And yet.

It was flaming fantastic.

I pulled back first, fighting the toothy grin that burst onto my face. My cheeks were aflame with how much I had gotten into the kiss and all I could think was final-

'Finally!' sighed a voice heavily behind us rather dramatically. Kili's dark eyes, which gazed into mine, grew slightly wider and he whirled around, hands dropping from my face and onto my wrist.

There stood Fili, hands on his hips and a large smile beneath his braided mustache. 'Do you know how long I have waited for this?' And then he turned around and bellowed. 'DORI, YOU OWE ME A GOLD PIECE!'

My mouth fell open in amusement. Kili bowed his head.

Dori answered after a moment of silence. 'NO?' he asked in disbelief.

'YES!' replied Fili with glee, suddenly darting for the stairs. I-I almost thought he had been joking when he'd said that the rest of the Dwarves had been making bets-

'NO?' said Nori, now joining in and sounding like a gossiping, middle-aged woman.

'He told me that they'd been making bets, after we left Rivendell,' I told Kili, who turned to face me once more. 'I thought he'd been half joking'. Still, I could help but snort and shake my head. 'You two are so related'.

I considered his still bashful face and shrugged yanking him in for another kiss. I'd waited too long to waste a moment not kissing his pretty ol' face. 'Sorry,' I'd chirped, patting his cheek and smiling with him. 'I've been wanting to kiss you for a while'.

'Oh,' said Kili, mouth stretching into his cheeky smile. 'You have?'

'You know I have. Heck, could it have taken us any longer to get around to snogging each other?'

Kili rolled his eyes and put his arms around my waist, locking his hands behind my back. 'You have me blushing with your romantic words, Lady Millie. Please, stop,' he deadpanned.

My cheeks rounded in a happy smile. I then caught him with a serious look. 'Are you going to ask me then?'

Kili's grin faltered. '...Ask you what?' he inquired quickly.

'I'm not going to go around kissing you unless we label it, my pretty little Dwarf. What do you guys call it here...courting? Yeah, that'. I stared at him. 'I'm not joking. Unless you want to go around kissing other Elves'. It had been the only way that I could slip the subject into conversation, okay?

'Millie,' sighed Kili. 'Tau- the She-Elf was pretty, that's it. You are something else entirely, I can promise you that. You must...understand though. When Dwarves take someone, it is for life. It's our way of approaching courtships, do you understand?'

'Of course I understand, you doofus'.

The grin was back, and the reality hit me with suddenness. This was the moment, the moment in which it would be sealed. Where he went, I would go. Where I went, he would go. I would, one day, marry Kili and have his children. Heirs. Until then, and it could happen in a hundred years, we would rebuild Erebor, should we reclaim it. I was home, with him.

I was nineteen and, somehow, I'd found what others spent years looking for.

'Then, Alexandria Millicent Fournier, you should know that Dwarven courtships are not so much the same as the courtships of Men. I do not ask you, I show you. Just as you show me'. He then stepped forward and brushed his hands through my knotty hair, causing me to yelp as his fingers yanked out the knots. 'Love is pain, Millie,' he reminded me, biting back a smile. Carefully, he took the flower from behind my ear and tucked it into his pocket.

'What are you doing?' I wailed, wincing.

'Shush,' said Kili, kicking the door closed. 'They'll know not to disturb us now, not when they know that we are starting a courtship, as you call it. Fili will have warned them'.

I froze. 'What are we going to do?'

Kili paused and looked down at me to press his nose against mine and nudge forward to kiss me once. 'When two Dwarves enter a courtship, they will exchange various handmade gifts. First though, when the courtship has first started, they will give each other one, simple braid toward the back of the hair to show that they are taken by another. This braid can be used for marriage, as well. Since many Dwarves do not marry, not many have this braid'.

'...I'm getting my braid?'

'I'm giving you your braid'.

We sat on the edge of the bed when he gave me my first braid. As a Dwarf, I have learnt over the years how important braiding is, and how braids can mean different things. A braid between two is a strong braid, though. One which is shared, and is never taken out unless needed. It is often re-braided in the same place, by the same hands.

'Your hair is a mess,' said Kili, and I'd had to jolt my eyes open to stop myself from falling asleep. I'd always had a thing for people playing with my hair, and the feel of his fingers had been sending me to sleep. Jesus Millie, of all the moments you could fall asleep. 'There we go. I'm going to give you your braid now'.

I crossed my legs and moved further onto the bed while he sat beside me, one legs crossed and the other kicked out in front of him, his toes on my knee. I looked at him while he concentrated on the three separate section of hair, expertly twisting and interlocking the strands. He would sometimes pause to fiddle with his shirt, taking away some blue cotton and then go back to braiding my hair. It was hard to believe that once I had not known he had existed. I hadn't believed that anything like him could exist.

I think the reason that we settled into our courtship without awkwardness was because we'd had so much time to know how the other felt, despite the fact that we took so long to voice it.

And there we were, braiding each others hair. What would my mother say.

Kili paused and asked me to hold the end of the braid, more serious than I had ever seen him. I did as I was told, reaching behind to carefully take my hair between my thumb and index finger. He fumbled with his shirt for a moment, before taking away from the fraying seam a strand of cotton. Smiling bashfully, he then went about taking the braid and tying the cotton around the end in a tight knot.

'There we go,' he said, leaning back and placing his hands on his legs. I peered at him as I felt for the larger than small braid, it was soft and tight and in it I could feel the blue cotton weaved in. Pausing, he reached to find the flower and put it back behind my hair with a goofy smile.

'Perfect,' I told him, and I meant it. 'I'm too nervous to do yours now'. It had felt so...intimate when he had done it, what if I couldn't create the same feeling for him?

Kili smiled and didn't even try to be romantic or reassuring about it. 'Don't tell me I did yours for nothing,' he scoffed.

I sent him a hard look but smiled along with him. Crawling onto my knees I then knelt before him, considering his dark features.

Stomach going all funny, I half sat on one of his legs, reaching around to gather the three sections of his dark hair. He seemed a little taken aback by my closeness to him, but I'd just shrugged at his wide eyed look, smiling. My braid was no where near as good as his. Still, I did it as neatly as I could, but I didn't even try to add any materials. I did, though, tie it with a strand from my my white dress.

'Well,' I told him, leaning back. 'Mine is horrendous compared to yours, but hey ho'.

We kind of...sat there, then. Myself still half sitting on him, and Kili fingering his braid. 'This is it now, huh?'

'And you're happy with that?' inquired Kili, his hand finding mine and interlocking our fingers. He had pressed his lips to my hand, and I would have found it cheesy had it been anyone else. 'A lot will come with being with me, Millie. You are sure it is me that you want? The only reason that I am to find a mate is because I am an Heir, and because of that I must produce Heirs. But I want to be with you, and I never thought that would happen. I don't even have a beard, Millie. Women laugh at me'.

And here he was. Kili; insecure, his past fears out. He wasn't like other Dwarves, he was neither big, nor burly. He hadn't seen much battle, he was still seen as young. He thought his future of finding a wife would be one big chore. But I want to be with you. It scared me, of course. It had relied on both of us to carry on the Line of Durin. But with him, I guess I had thought that I could do it. That I could be brave enough.

'Then they are morons, Kili,' I told him bluntly.

And he had smiled against my hand.

I did it. I actually did it. It's not going to be lovey dovey though, I mean, there's still a story. I'm not going to dramatize their romance, nor will I make it all about the fact that they are together now. It won't be boring now that they are together, I hate it when authors do that. I hope you liked it, though. It was how I always imagined them finally confessing, with the braiding and all.

Thank you for the reviews and the support!

Okay I need to sleep now bye.