His Amorem

The Journey Begins

Kili and Fili relieved her of the hobbit's weight, carrying him to an arm chair in the next room. Keerla watched the dwarfs separate and find a spot to settle, before she moved around the kitchen and the pantry, cleaning up what they had missed.

Kili sat on the edge of the table, sipping at his ale as he watched her buzz around. For a moment he found himself imagining her doing the same back in the Blue Mountains, with two little dwarf rascals chasing after her.

"What's going on in your head to give you that creepy smile?" Fili asked, appearing by his brother.

"Nothing," he said quickly, trying to hide the expression but Fili only grinned, watching Kili's cheeks turn bright pink.

"Oh Mahal, go and talk to her already," he huffed, shoving Kili to his feet only for the poor dwarf to trip over the rug and fall to the ground.

He reached out, grabbing anything to try and stop his fall and Keerla shrieked as he caught her arm, tugging her down with him.

"Sorry," Kili groaned, pushing himself up onto his knees, glaring at Fili who roared in laughter, hurrying out of the room.

"It's fine," Keerla told him with a small smile, standing and brushing her breeches off. She offered her hand to him and pulled the dwarf to his feet, "I'm sure Fili didn't mean it."

"Yeah," Kili muttered, "So . . . what have you done these years, other than stay in Rivendell?"

"Nothing much really," she shrugged, walking beside him to the lounge. She sat in the window alcove, pulling one leg up over the other and Kili joined her, reclining as best as he could, "I trained a lot, i spent time with Arwen which was oddly nice."

"Arwen? Lord Elrond's daughter?" Kili asked.

"That's her," she smiled, "There wasn't much to do, but it was nice to relax. I went on hunts with the Guard, or Elladan and Elrohir, which gave it a bit of excitement i suppose. Oh and of course, i spent a lot of time with Estel."

"You're close with this . . . Estel?" Kili asked, looking away in annoyance.

"I am," Keerla looked down at her bracelet, "He's very special to me. I felt drawn to him the moment i met him."

They fell silent after that, Keerla could tell it was something she had said, but she couldn't work out what. The other dwarfs filtered in as the night went on and conversation died out. Dwalin started humming a deep, sorrowful tune, and the others joined in when they realised which one it was.

Standing by the fire, Thorin began to sing, "Far over the misty mountains cold, To dungeons deep and caverns old, We must away ere break of day, To find our long-forgotten gold."

The rest of the dwarfs joined in and Keerla looked out of the window toward the sky as she listened, not noticing Kili watching her, "The pines were roaring on the height, the winds were moaning in the night, the fire was red, it flaming spread, The trees like torches blazed with light."

It was to their voices that Keerla fell asleep, and Kili jumped a little when her head dropped upon his shoulder. Carefully, he wrapped an arm around her waist to bring her closer and leaned back so that she was practically lying across him. Smiling, he let himself fall asleep as well.

-

Keerla could hear a thump-thump humming in her ear, and the snores of the dwarfs all around her as she woke up. She lifted her head slightly and smiled when she discovered what she had been sleeping on. Unlike the rest of the dwarfs, Kili was silent in sleep, as was Fili who lay on the floor by his feet.