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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."

"Actually, it means 'You're horrible at braiding'." he teased, and she had slapped his shoulder, eliciting a loud laugh from him.

Alenia grunted before saying, "Well, mine meant 'You mean more to me than every star in the sky combined." She chuckled. "Which for an elf, really means something."

"Mine was much less romantic." Kili winced. "Dwarves aren't really known for their poetic declarations of love." He repeated the dwarven phrase, "'I love you' means 'You're my favorite stone'."

Alenia had smiled softly as she weighed those words.

"I actually like that." she said, laying down in the grass and resting her head in his lap. He had played with the ends of her hair, weaving simple braids with her strands here and there; child's play compared to the intricate braid he had woven earlier.

Eventually, she had fallen asleep, and Kili had watched her sleep, smiling softly as the shifting clouds and golden light of the sun danced across her face. He could've watched her forever.

But the sun had started to set and they had had to return to the mountain.

When they had returned, they had been bombarded with questions from the remaining members of the Company as Fili had been the only one to know the specifics of their outing that day. So in the following hour, Kili and Alenia announced their courtship to their friends and the dwarves of the Iron Hills, eliciting thunderous applause and many shouts of joy.

The positive responses were a huge relief to Alenia, because even if she knew that Kili and the rest of the Company loved her, many dwarves would probably not take too well to one of their princes courting a half-elf of Mirkwood.

But for now, everyone who heard the news congratulated them.

Fili, despite knowing already, had swept Alenia up in a hug, pressing a chaste kiss to her forehead. "I'm going to have a sister!" he crowed much to the amusement of the other dwarves around them. Then he seemed to remember himself and that the announcement was not of their engagement but of their courtship, and cleared his throat, "I mean, possibly. Further down the line perhaps."

But when they had woken up the next day and it had been time to get back to work.

In the months after the Battle of the Five Armies, Erebor had been in such a horrid state, that the dwarves did nothing but clean during that time. Dusting rooms, fixing walls and ceilings, clearing fallen rocks and other debris from the years where Smaug had taken up residence within the mountain. There was much to be done before Erebor could attempt to rebuild itself into a thriving kingdom again.

Then, the rest of the dwarves were able to return home, leaving the Blue Mountains and the other safe places where they had lived since Smaug had driven them from their home.

Together, the people of Erebor created farms, started the mines back up again, established trade with Dale and the other realms of Middle Earth. And once the kingdom started to produce for itself again, everyone was able to take a step back.

That was when the real work began, especially for Fili, the new King under the Mountain.

That was when alliances needed to be formed, armies needed to be created, weapons and treasuries and trade needed to be maintained without creating anything that could be perceived as a threat or a challenge to any other region in Middle Earth.

And Fili had decided that he needed some help with that.

"Me?" Alenia had asked, shell-shocked when Fili had approached her with the offer. "You want me to be a general?"

"You and Dwalin." Fili confirmed. "I would give Kili the post as well and have the three of you lead, but I need him working with me inside these walls."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Never been more sure of anything in my life." he said, before taking a hold of her hands reassuringly. "Ally, not only are you a skilled warrior on your own, but with your help, our armies could learn a little something. Different techniques, different ways of thinking during combat. A fluidity in your movements that you naturally possess and that dwarves may require in the years to come."

Alenia didn't know what to say. "If you're sure, then I'd be honored."

So Alenia threw herself into her new position; teaching her techniques, reinforcing what her soldiers already knew, and developing defensive and offensive tactics with Dwalin and their supporting officers.

There was also a lot of archery training, a skill that Erebor's troops were sorely lacking. Kili came down to help with the training on those days.

And though she had been hesitant in the beginning--a tad unsure of what she should be doing--she quickly adapted, earning the respect of the troops and civilians alike for both her temperament with her men and skills with a blade.

The following two years were a blur for Alenia, her days chock full of trainings and meetings and missions and eventually, emissary trips, because Fili also appointed her as Erebor's ambassador to the elvish kingdoms. Which she was more than happy to do, it just left her more exhausted than she already was.

It got to the point that Kili sensed a change in her, and had been able to convince Fili to give them two months of freedom. The kingdom was stable, and there were no obvious threats to it's safety; if there was ever a time to take a vacation, it was then.

The journey across Middle Earth went much more swiftly than it had on their journey; with horses (or a pony, in Kili's case) to carry them, and a simple conspicuous route. There were no forced detours because a certain evil orc was pursuing them, no trolls grabbing them in the night to turn them into a pie.

The two of them started in the Shire. They stayed with Bilbo, and explored the emerald green homeland of the hobbits more thoroughly with the hobbit as their guide. It was odd to be back there; back where everything had started after everything that had happened on their journey.

The Shire was where the two of them had met, where Alenia had decided to throw her luck in with a motley group of dwarves, a halfling and a wizard. It all seemed so long ago.

Then for their remaining time before they had to return home, the two of them headed for Rivendell. Elrond gladly welcomed them, and the Last Homely House opened it's doors for the two lovers again.

Alenia had been writing to Estel ever since the Battle of the Five Armies had ended, at first to let him know that she was alright, and then continued to keep him updated on her life until she could see him again.

In the two years since her first letter to the boy, she had been able to visit him in Rivendell twice, though Estel had also come to Erebor with one of Rivendell's ambassadors on numerous occasions.

During those precious days, and sometimes weeks if they were lucky, that they saw each other, they trained (he was older now and learning to handle a sword) and talked in between Alenia's duties. When Estel came to Erebor, she gave him tours of the mountain. Kili joined them on those tours, and sometimes even Fili, who after being properly introduced to Estel took a great liking to the boy; the two of them hit it off instantly in a way that had Alenia double-checking everything around her to ensure that she wouldn't fall victim to their mischief.

But when they arrived in Rivendell, Kili, Estel and her had ventured into the woods, finding an adventure among the trees. They camped out under the stars, built fires to warm themselves during the night and told stories, both made up and true.

Kili and Estel's favorites were of Alenia's time with the Rangers of the North, because there were so many for her to tell and she had a new one for them every night.

When Kili watched her talk, her arms waving about excitedly as she recounted all of her adventures, her features glowing in the firelight, he was hit yet again by how lucky he was.

Here was a woman who had been through hell and back, lost practically everyone she had ever cared for with the exception of the boy who sat beside him and a few newly discovered elvish relatives, and come out of it all as a stronger person than she had gone in. She was strong, kind, smart, not to mention beautiful. She was older than him, but still incredibly young compared to the rest of her race, and she had already done so much in Middle Earth; so much, in fact that he had a feeling he would constantly be learning new things about her and her past adventures as their lives went on.

He had smiled, and Alenia had paused her story, eyes shining curiously before asking, "What?"

"Oh, nothing." he murmured. "Just thinking about how much I love you."

Estel had supplied the expected noise of disgust, and Alenia had leaned over, covered the boy's eyes and kissed Kili gently before releasing Estel and continuing her story.

The night before they left Rivendell to return to Erebor, Kili had taken her by the hand, leading her through the maze of hallways before heading down the narrow dirt path, and Alenia had grinned as she realized where they were going.

Hand in hand, they stepped into the archery clearing, the silvery moonlight streaming in through the foliage of the canopy above them, setting the trees around them aglow with an glimmering, ethereal light.

Alenia had kicked up the dirt by one of the targets, before bending down and gingerly pulling out a bent black arrowhead; one of Kili's that had been buried there by two years worth of activity in the clearing. She smiled at it fondly, gingerly fingering the worn edges of the arrowhead.

"What are we doing here?" she asked, before turning around to face Kili, before she froze in her tracks, a smile growing on her face.

Her dwarf was kneeling before her on one knee, his hands extended, a simple gold ring held out before him (he had decided to honor her heritage as a ring was customary for both humans and elves, though he also had the signature jade bead safely stowed in his pocket).

He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off with the question that had hung between them for years now, "Can we do it?"

Kili knew what she meant, for that was their problem. There was nothing that they wanted to do more than get married, but their duties had always gotten in the way, to Erebor, to Fili and the crown that ruled all who dwelled under the mountain. So, the prospect of their marriage had hung silently between them, a subject that they had equally wanted to bring up as well as avoid at all costs necessary. Because it wasn't just whether they were ready for marriage, but whether the kingdom was.

But Kili wasn't going to wait any longer for Erebor to be ready; he wasn't going to put off marrying the half-elf standing before him for a second longer. "I'm tired of waiting." he said, a soft smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I love you, Alenia. And I want to spend the remainder of my life with you, as your friend, your husband, your equal. I want to travel Middle Earth with you, go on adventures with you, start a family with you. Fight by your side and stand behind you with everything I have in me for the rest of my years if you'll have me."

"Kee," she said softly, her eyes brimming with tears. "Of course I'll marry you." She laughed, a smile stretching wide on her face, a smile so brilliant that in that moment, Kili thought it might kill him. She said, "Yes, a million times yes."

She held her left hand out to him, and he gently slid the ring on. And as he stood, he barely had time to get to his feet before she was kissing him. They clung to each other, her hands cupping his face, while his arms rested around her waist, pulling her closer to him with each passing second.

Tears were sliding down both of their faces, each of them filled to the brim with happiness, a depth to it that they never would've dreamed possible in a million years. But here they were, two people who had found their way to each other in their crazy world. Two miniscule pieces in the infinity that is time and space itself, joined by chance and bonded together with every obstacle life had thrown at them, until they were facing down everything at each other's sides.

Together through it all, right up until this moment, clinging to each other in this clearing where everything had started between them all those years ago, in a clearing of silvery moonlight and the unending possibilities of tomorrow.

ash speaks !

okay ,, so i changed my mind. this was going to be a wedding oneshot but it turned into a proposal oneshot and i thought it was too good of a stopping point to not cut it off right there.

i'll post the wedding oneshot when we hit somewhere in the 60k-75k range ,, or i might post it earlier bc kilenia owns me and i missed writing them so much. this chapter is was longer than anything i ever wrote for this and my writing quality has gone 📈📈 since the last chapter i posted for this but we got to see what everyone's been up to since BOTFA and ofc ,, my babies are getting married 🥺🥰

but anyway ,, i hope y'all enjoyed it and thank you sososo much for 50.8k reads and 2.1k votes. i love you guys sm <33