So Comes Snow After Fire

30.i Hail to the Days

Standing with the noonday sun pouring down on his shoulders, Fíli found himself wishing he'd chosen a lighter shirt before he'd come outside the mountain to bring mounts for Kíli and Tauriel. Today was quite warmer than Fíli had guessed, dressing in the cool dark of his rooms.

Kíli's restless pony nudged Fíli in the back with its nose, and the young prince chuckled, remembering his own impatient—and far colder—wait for this same pair on a snow covered mountainside. He had been uncertain then, not so much of Tauriel or of Kíli's feelings for her, but simply of what his brother would surely set in motion if he invited her into the mountain. It had been all too easy to guess how Thorin would react to the discovery that his nephew was smitten with an elf, and Kíli had never been the sort to tread delicately when his own passionate feelings were engaged.

Yet here they all were, three summers later, and no-one disinherited, exiled, or estranged. Erebor had celebrated its first royal wedding since the reclamation, and Fíli could proudly call an elf his sister.

Before he could reflect much further on this astonishing fact, the elf in question came in sight round a fold of the foothills, Kíli behind her. Tauriel turned back, laughing, at something Kíli said, and then easily dodged his reach and ran so that he chased her the last few dozen yards to where Fíli stood.

"Good morning, brother," Kíli panted as he caught Tauriel about the waist to stop himself before he plowed into his brother and the two steeds.

"I'm sorry if we kept you waiting," Tauriel added, likewise breathless. "Kíli would not let me put my boots on." She shot her husband a playfully accusatory look, and Fíli wondered if her cheeks were red from running or from embarrassment.

He grinned. "It's all right. I wasn't expecting you to be early."

"Probably wise of you," Kíli concurred with an answering smile. "Did the party go on long after we left?"

"Oh, it was after midnight before Nori and Bombur and Bofur paid their last respects to your wedding ale. But don't worry; there are still a few casks left to lay by for your anniversary."

"Good! I suppose it can wait till our second. For our first, I intend to have that lovely nut brown ale from the Green Dragon."

Tauriel laughed. "I begin to suspect we travel to the Shire not so much to visit your friend Bilbo as to find this celebrated ale."

"Well, it was a very fine beer," Kíli told her solemnly.

"Truly, it was," Fíli added. "You'll have to have a pint for me."

"I will." The tall redhead regarded him fondly. "Thank you, Fíli, for all you've done for us." She put her hands to his shoulders and kissed his cheek.

"You're welcome, sister."

After checking packs and readjusting saddle girths, Kíli and Tauriel mounted, he on his sturdy dwarvish pony and she on her dappled mare.

"Farewell, Fí." Kíli had to reign his pony back for these last words, for it seemed quite as eager as he to be off. "We'll miss you."

A laugh burst from Fíli's chest. "You won't. And I don't blame you. Miss me in a year, and then come back for my wedding."

"We will!"

Fíli slapped the pony's flank, and it bounded off. Tauriel's grey swiftly followed, and she and Kíli raced each other halfway across the plain before slowing to a more sensible pace.

A full smile on his face, Fíli watched them go. He knew his brother had been dying to run away with Tauriel from the start. It had not been only wounded honor and indignation that had prompted Kíli to flee with her after that first argument with Thorin, though surely it had been those things. Kíli found in Tauriel new worlds, even as she longed for them herself, and Fíli was glad his brother now had this chance for an adventure with her. He was not sorry to let his impetuous little brother have something before him this time, even if it did mean delaying Fíli's own wedding somewhat till their return. After all their patience and sorrow and uncertainty, Kíli and his bride deserved their time together now. And anyhow, a crown prince could surely find enough to keep himself occupied for the next year or so.