So Comes Snow After Fire

6.iv

"Shift your end to the right," Fíli directed his brother, glancing along the cupboard they had been moving. "No, I mean your right. There—perfect."

Kíli stepped back and nodded. "She'll like it better this way." They had been rearranging their mother's room in preparation for her arrival next week. With the cupboard opposite the fire, the light would reflect from her pottery and bring out the delicate variations in the glazes for which her work was rightly renowned. The change also gave the room a nice symmetry now that they could hang the two tapestries on the walls at either side of the great carven fireplace.

Fíli took a swallow of water from the jug on the table and surveyed the room approvingly. It would look cozier once it was filled with their mother's things, but it was welcoming enough.

"I'm glad she'll be here soon; I've missed her," he said.

"Are you sure she's not the only one you've missed?" Kíli prodded.

"What?" Fíli had no idea who his brother meant. "Is there someone you're trying to match me up with, so Thorin will be happy and forget about Tauriel?" he asked somewhat sharply.

"Nothing; of course not." Kíli's voice had gone blank, and Fíli regretted snapping at him. He knew Kíli hadn't meant that.

"Just, don't you remember, Sif cried the last time you saw her?" Kíli explained, the lightness returning to his tone.

"Right." Fíli smiled; he had forgotten. He'd never interacted much with Sif; she was pretty but very shy, always watching him from the back of the room, but seldom speaking. Yet the last time he'd gone with Thorin to visit her father, Lord Ironsides, she had come right up to him, wished him well on the quest, and then burst into tears and run away before Fíli could even answer her. It had distressed him at the time, though the final preparations for their adventure had soon driven it from his mind.

"Is it really terrible that I forgot?" Fíli asked, somewhat embarrassed.

Kíli shook his head. "You never even knew she liked you before."

Fíli supposed his brother was right. Of course, there were other girls who liked him that he had known about, though he had not especially thought of himself as waiting for anyone. It wasn't even that he disliked any of them, but it had really been too soon to think about choosing someone, at his age and with no kingdom to inherit. Maybe he was supposed to think about that now.

"And what about you?" Fíli caught up the spirit of his brother's original jest. "What are you going to say to Frig, who kissed you goodbye behind the armory when you left?"

"Blast, do you think she'll remember?" Kíli looked stricken. "It was just a goodbye kiss; it didn't mean anything."

"'Kíli, don't get yourself killed; you're far too nice to die unkissed,'" Fíli said in imitation of her.

"Something like that," Kíli conceded, embarrassed now.

"Well," Fíli teased, his tone matter of fact, "I'm sure she'll get over you when she finds out you've been kissing elves."

"Yes, and what more I'm supposed to have done, besides," Kíli admitted with a sarcastic laugh. "Thank Mahal they've mostly shut up about that. I didn't care so much what they said about me, but when they maligned Tauriel..."

Fíli nodded; he was glad they could almost find it amusing now.

"Kí, when are you going to talk to Thorin about her?" Fíli asked, suddenly serious.

"What is there to say?" His brother sounded truly discouraged.

"Maybe that you love her?" Fíli suggested, impatient.

"Doesn't he know? And yet, it's not enough," Kíli returned, clearly frustrated as well.

"You can't pretend this will sort itself out on its own." Why couldn't Kíli see that?

"I know. But I won't beg, and I won't argue. I don't know what to say to him."

"Kíli, I don't want you disinherited, and I don't want you to lose her. But I can't say anything to Thorin if you won't talk to him first." Fíli sighed. He didn't want to argue with Kíli over this again, but if he stayed, he would. "I'm going to take a bath," Fíli finished abruptly, and catching up his water jug, strode from the room.