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bold - dwarvish
italics - elvish
When most people fall in love, it consumes them. It drains all thought and reason away when it comes to that one person, getting worse and worse with each passing day; a fire that once it starts to burn, it doesn't stop. It develops rapidly, getting more and more serious and marriage usually follows quickly after that-- the final step in a relationship.
Kili Durin and Alenia Damenor were not most people.
They were deeply, madly in love, yes. And they had definitely lost all thought and reason when it came to each other.
But marriage? They were far too busy for that. Erebor was far too busy for that.
Sure, they had been officially courting since the second week after the Battle of the Five Armies, when Kili had pulled the half-elf onto one of Erebor's many balconies during the sunset and pressed the jade bead into her hand with an eager grin.
"Figured that it's about time we made it official." he had said, revealing an identical bead cupped in his own palm. "So, Princess Damenor of the Woodland Realm," she had rolled her eyes at the title that her grandfather had re-bestowed upon her, and he had smiled that brilliant smile of his before finishing, "Will you allow me the honor of courting you?"
"What do you think?" she had asked with a grin, before taking his face in her hands and kissing him soundly.
The two had quickly retreated to their room for the night, and Fili had given them the following day to spend with one another. They had ridden away from Erebor, far beyond Ravenhill before coming to a halt underneath a great oak tree in the middle of a field.
There, they had braided each other's hair, threading strands into the intricate knots that made up the courting braids before securing their beads in place.
Kili had done his quickly, fingers nimbly dancing through her thick hair, having practiced this braid all his life.
Alenia's attempt was an entirely different story. Kili had had to walk her through each step slowly, and even with his step-by-step instructions, it took her three tries before it somewhat resembled the one that lay in her own hair.
After she had secured the bead in his hair, he had grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to it. "I love you." he murmured lowly in dwarvish.
"And I love you." Alenia responded in elvish, assuming the translation of what he had said.
Kili groaned. "You know I can't understand elvish."
"And I don't understand dwarvish." she hummed. "Though I'm fairly certain that meant 'I love you'. I've heard you whisper that phrase to your dinner more than enough times."
