Sigrid and Dis began making their way through the corridors back to the Great Hall. As they turned the last corner, they almost bumped straight into Kili.
"Mother, I was just coming to find you. They want to sign the papers and start the speeches." Kili took a step back and looked Sigrid up and down, an admiring smile lighting up his face. "Sister! You look much better!"
"Thanks to you, Kili. I never thought I'd be so grateful to have a glass of wine spilled down my dress."
"You're welcome, but Mother here was the mastermind of that cunning plan. I was but her humble servant." Kili doffed an imaginary cap at his mother. "I do love Aunt Vos, but she needs to be stopped sometimes."
"What's done is done," said Dis. "Let's just fix it. Kili, Sigrid, give me one minute, and then come in. We'll have the entrance we should have had last time." She disappeared into the hall. Kili held out his arm, and Sigrid smiled at him and took it, and they waited, Sigrid bouncing on the balls of her feet as they counted down the time, and then walked back into the Great Hall.
As they made their way through the crowd, Sigrid heard her name spoken, and for a moment her attention was inadvertently drawn to the conversation.
"…looked like she borrowed a carnival tent from the Dale market. Honestly, what was he thinking? He must have been forced to do it, for the political alliances with her father or something."
It was Marni. Kili noticed the sudden set of Sigrid's mouth and the glittering indignation in her eyes, and glanced around.
"Don't listen to her, Sigrid," he murmured. "Marni's a disgruntled little backbiter. She's been after Fili for years, but thankfully he's had more sense than to go anywhere near her. You could say… he wouldn't touch her with a barge pole." Kili winked at Sigrid and gave her a little nudge with his elbow. "Get it? Barge pole? Your da was… never mind." He looked for his brother. Fili was waiting expectantly in front of the honour table, also occasionally bouncing impatiently on his toes. His eyes, roaming the room, fell on Sigrid, and she saw his intake of breath, and she saw the look in his eyes, a mixture of love and pride with a generous helping of flat-out desire, and she knew that, try as the lass might, no-one who saw that look would be giving much credence to the spite Marni was trying so desperately to sow.
Kili drew up in front of his brother and made an elaborate bow, holding Sigrid's hand high, but Fili had eyes only for his wife. Earlier he had told her she looked lovely no matter what she was wearing, and in one way that was true, she was still his own sweet Sigrid even in a get-up as disastrous as Aunt Vos's tablecloth, but then again, there was this dress. It was made from a satin-weave cloth-of-gold, as smooth as silk and bright as the summer sun, and the light of the hundreds of candles around the hall set it shimmering like liquid gold itself. The dress skimmed Sigrid's body down to her hips, where it flowed generously into a full skirt that swished around her feet as she walked. She looked simply breathtaking.
Kili grasped Sigrid's hand firmly and sent her spinning towards Fili, her skirt flaring wide, and he caught her flush against his body.
"Dis wanted an entrance, my love, so kiss me like you mean it," she murmured with a smile.
Fili smiled back at her, his gaze dropping from Sigrid's eyes to her lips. "When don't I?" he whispered, and with one arm supporting her back, he bent her backwards into a dramatic dip. She threw her arms around his neck as he ran his other hand down her side to her waist, and leaned in to capture her lips. The crowd "ooh-ed" and "ahh-ed" appreciatively and burst into applause. Fili finally pulled his wife upright, and they laughed as they broke their kiss, smiling around at the faces of their family and friends, and he took her hand and led her to the top table.
The table was covered with parchments.
"When you're quite ready, you two," said Bard, holding out a quill to each of them, "start signing."
Balin, standing by the piles of contracts, laid the first one out and pointed to a spot towards the bottom. "Bride price. Fili, sign here, and Sigrid dear, just here. Bard, here, and Dis, there you are, you sign here."
After they had placed their signatures on the contract, Fili slipped an arm around Sigrid's waist and murmured teasingly in her ear. "See that? I just bought you."
She grinned. "I didn't read it. Was I a bargain?"
"Bags of gold, chests of jewels, you know, the usual," he shrugged.
Balin laid out another parchment. "Dowry. Fili, here, Sigrid, here, Bard, just there, Dis, there. Thank you."
It was Sigrid's turn to whisper. "There you go, herds of cows, herds of sheep. Just what you always wanted."
"Mmm, livestock. The gift that keeps on giving. Fancy some roast beef for dinner tomorrow?"
"We might even get to finish it before it goes cold."
"Next, morning gift," said Balin. "Fili, here… Sigrid… Bard… Dis…"
"Ooh, my own anvil. That'll come in handy. I'll put it next to the bed."
"It's a dwarven custom, love. Though I'm sure we could find an interesting use for it in the bedroom, if you want."
Sigrid swatted Fili's shoulder, and behind them the crowd laughed. They kept signing the raft of papers until they were all done, and Balin gathered them up neatly and tied them with a cord. Bard shook Fili's hand, and Dis kissed Sigrid's cheek, then Bard and Dis kissed each other, and finally Fili turned to Sigrid. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a ring, a smooth band of mithril with a large solitaire gem, taking her hand and sliding it onto the finger that already bore his wedding ring.
Sigrid looked at him in surprise, and then looked at the ring, her eyes misting up. "It's beautiful, Fili, thank you." She looked back into his eyes. "I didn't know… I don't have anything for you."
He took her face in his hands, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "There was an ingot to spare from the pendant, and I wanted you to have it," he murmured. "I don't need you to give me anything. I just need you." He leaned closer, and his murmur became a whisper against her lips. "Sigrid mine." He kissed her, softly at first, then his hands moved from her face to slide around her body and hold her tight as they deepened their kiss. The crowd cheered, followed by some friendly whoops and cat-calls, and they drew apart reluctantly, again smiling around at the crowd and acknowledging their good wishes.
"Speech, speech!"
Fili held up a hand, the other clasping Sigrid's, and the crowd hushed. "My wife and I would like to thank everyone for coming, it means a lot to us to have you all here to share this occasion, and we want to thank our families and friends and everyone who made it possible. There are many toasts to come in the following speeches, so have your goblets ready, but I can't finish without asking you to raise your glasses to my beautiful wife. My love, my life, my joy, you make me feel like the luckiest dwarf ever to set foot on this earth, and my heart is yours, now and always. To my wife, Sigrid."
"To Sigrid." The crowd raised their glasses and drank. Sigrid's cheeks had flushed bright red, but she kept her head up and smiled at Fili, until he led them back around the honour table to take their seats, when she buried her head into his shoulder.
Fili cupped the back of her head with his hand and whispered in her ear. "I know you don't like being the centre of attention, love, but I had to tell everyone what you mean to me, today of all days."
She started shaking against his shoulder, and he grew concerned.
"Sigrid, love, what's wrong? Are you crying?" He lifted her head to see her face, and realised that she wasn't crying, she was laughing.
"I'm sorry, love. It's so petty I'm almost ashamed to tell you, but she's done nothing but annoy me all evening. Marni's out there telling people you were forced to marry me for the alliances with Dale. No-one's going to believe her after that speech." Her laughter subsiding, she sighed and laid a hand on his cheek, and her eyes turned soft. "It was so beautiful, what you said, my love."
He grasped the hand on his cheek, and turned his head to kiss her palm. "Ugh, Marni. No-one who knows me would believe that for a second. Please don't let it worry you. Now beloved, I can't wait to get you back to our chamber, anvil or no anvil, so let's see if we can't hurry these speeches up. Kili?"
Kili jumped up and moved to the front of the honour table.
"Good evening, everyone. It falls to me to talk about my brother," he began. "There's no-one I'd rather have beside me, whether it's riding the roads, wenching our way through the taverns of Dunland – all you single lads, we recommend the Blue Wyvern, don't we, Fili? – or fighting a cave full of goblins or an army of orcs at the front gate. He'd give his last breath for me, don't think I don't know that, brother, and I want you to know, I'd do the same for you.
"And then he met Sigrid. I don't remember much from the night the dragon burned Laketown," he turned to Tauriel, "except you, my love, of course I remember you - but Sigrid must have made an impression, because when she turned up at the mountain last New Years', I could see right away that Fili was besotted, completely. He went after her like Bombur after a cheese wheel. She's a great girl, we all love her, and we're so happy they've found each other. So everyone, please charge your goblets and drink – to my brother Fili and his lovely wife Sigrid."
The crowd chorused, "to Fili and Sigrid."
Kili turned and winked at the two of them. Fili had his head in his hand, and Sigrid was rubbing him comfortingly on the shoulder.
"Now, earlier on someone unexpected told me that they would like to say some words. Tilda? Would you come up here please?"
Tilda rose from her seat and joined Kili at the front of the hall.
"Hi Sigrid, hi Fili. I wanted to tell everyone about the time you climbed out of our toilet, Fili. Back in Laketown, all the dwarves of the company climbed up through our toilet into our house, and I asked my Da if they would bring us luck. And I was right. They did bring us luck. It's very lucky for Sigrid that Fili wanted to marry her, and it's lucky for me, because I get to come here and see you all the time. So thank you very much."
Everyone clapped politely as Tilda made her way back to her seat, smiling and blushing, very pleased with her first foray into public speaking.
Kili continued. "Thank you Tilda, that was great. I'd now like to invite the bride's father, Bard, Lord of Dale, to say a few words."
Bard stepped solemnly to the front of the hall, and cleared his throat.
"Thank you, Kili." He looked out at the crowded hall. "No father finds it easy to see his child leave him, the more so when you've looked after her for so long on your own. And I will tell you, in truth – I had reservations." He paused, and a few "oohs" were heard in the silence. "Not about you, Fili; I know you to be the kindest and best of dwarves. My reservations were due to the challenges that these two must face, by choosing each other. I didn't think that overcoming those challenges would be easy.
"Then my daughter asked me a question that made me change my mind. And the way she said it, her face, her voice, the very words she used, it was as though her mother Rosalind had come to life again before my eyes, she was so like. My daughter asked me, if I had known in advance of the grief my wife and I were to face, would I have still married her. And the answer to that question was yes. Unequivocally. The answer has to be yes, or what you have cannot be called love." He turned towards Sigrid. "If your mother had been here today, Sigrid, I know she would have been so proud of you, so proud, but no prouder than I am now; and she would have encouraged you to follow your heart, and face whatever challenges may come, together, head on; and she would have made sure I understood that a lot sooner than I did.
"Now everyone, please join me in raising your goblets to the families of the bride and groom, those with us here today, and those not."
The hall filled with the sound of clinking glass. "To the families."
Bard smiled across at his daughter before he returned to his seat. Sigrid smiled back, tears trickling down her cheeks, and she placed her hand on her heart, and mouthed to her father, "love you, Da."
Kili, having fallen into the role of master of ceremonies and clearly relishing it, lost no time in announcing the bridal dance. Fili rose and took Sigrid's hand, and led her to the dance floor. They looked towards the musicians, set up on one side of the hall, and Fili groaned under his breath.
"Oh no, Thorin's set up his harp. Of all the catastrophes this evening, this one could be by far the worst."
Thorin addressed them in his deep, majestic voice. "My sister-son, to commemorate the occasion of your wedding feast, I have arranged a new variation of my original composition, 'Ode to a Hobbit.'" He plucked a string of the harp. "I hope you enjoy it."
Sigrid took hold of Fili's hand, concerned at his possible reaction, and waited for Thorin to begin. He rotated his shoulders, and flexed his fingers, once, twice, positioned them on the harp, and began to play.
A rippling harmony, warm, romantic and melodious, filled the air, and Sigrid felt her husband breathe a sigh of relief. He took Sigrid in his arms, and the two of them began to glide across the dancefloor, Sigrid's shimmering skirt whirling out behind her. They were soon joined by Kili and Tauriel, Bard and Dis, and Bain and Tilda, turning about the floor gracefully, capably and rather awkwardly as their respective talents permitted, and then, couple by couple, guests also stepped out onto the floor and joined the dance. Thorin's song eventually came to an end, and the hall was once again filled with polite applause as he smiled and inclined his head in acknowledgement.
"Thank you, you're very kind. Now, please enjoy the musical stylings of our very own Bombur and the Lonely Mountain Pipers." Bombur's drum struck up the fast beat of a circle dance, and the crowd cheered, pushed back the tables and started forming up. Sigrid drew Fili aside.
"Catastrophe averted?"
He put his arms around her waist and nestled her close against his chest. "Definitely. Usually Thorin's mournful dirges go on for hours, but that was lovely."
From within the loving circle of her husband's arms, Sigrid looked around the hall. Kili and Tilda were throwing themselves enthusiastically into the circle dance, laughing and singing along with the music; Thorin had packed away his harp and was shaking Bard's hand, the two of them laughing and clapping each other on the shoulder; and Dis's hand to dance was in the process of being sought by Dwalin with a gallant bow. Bain was smiling and holding his hand out to Marta, trying to convince his shy sweetheart to join him on the dance floor; and off to the side of the hall, Tauriel was crouched beside Great Aunt Mildrina's wheeled chair, smiling as Mildrina reached out a wizened finger to touch the pointed tip of Tauriel's ear.
Fili noticed her reflective mood. "Is everything all right, beloved?"
Sigrid looked into her husband's eyes, blue as a warm summer day and twinkly as a clear starry night, and she caressed the irrepressible dimple in his cheek with her thumb.
"Everything's perfect."