Gorek POV

*I did as you asked of me, I promised I would love him and love him I did. I'm sure you have long since heard, Vili has passed on to the halls. Mourning my loss of Vili is agony but there is hope. Vili and I lived a good life together, please tell me it's not too late for a life with you. Please tell me the affection we shared in our youth is not gone forever. I offer my heart to you again, let us have the life that was taken from us.

-Your Princess*

I folded the letter up and placed it back in my pocket. She wrote this almost 10 years ago and I have probably read it a million times since. I thought about her nearly everyday since I left her tent. I thought about going to her in the Blue mountains many times, but I just couldn't. I couldn't show up to their home... his home, and insert myself in it.

My bags were already packed to move to Erebor when the message of a job offer came through. Bringing Gavri and her children was expected, what I wasn't expecting was Andina. My very young cousin had recently mastered healing arts and was eager to come to the mountain to use her skills. Her parents wouldn't allow her to leave with out a family escort and she begged to come along.

Travel had been cold and long for my small family entourage. Despite the sheer exhaustion I could see everyone perk up as we neared the finish line. The gates loomed ahead and we would enter through the mountain in mere moments, I pulled my pony to a stop so I could walk in on foot.

As soon as we stepped into the courtyard I recognized her at once. She was always the most stunning Dam in the room. Favoring Durin blue dresses and her soft ebony hair braided high to show off her lovely neck. She wore the crown her father made for her on her 21st birthday, making her look every bit her lineage with the grey fur lining from the cloak framing her shoulders. She pushed away from the banister high above and began a graceful decent down the stairs. My heart flip flopped in my chest, mentally preparing for her to drive into my arms. My body nearly frozen in place as she reached that last step. Every hope imploding when she called out my sisters name, crashing into her embrace with full force.

It took every effort to school my thoughts as the disappointment worked like a vise around my heart. I exhaled a slow breath when heavy hands fell on my shoulders.

"By my beard, you're shorter and wider than I left you last," Dwalin pulled me into a bear hug and we knocked our heads with full force.

Grateful for the kind distraction I mustered my best air of defiance, "No shorter... and if by wider you mean more muscle, then you are correct. I have been training everyday, unlike some who're soft from the food and drink of a leisure holiday."

Dwalin laughed heartily as he rubbed his midsection, "One would hardly call it a holiday, but it will be nice to get back into the swing of things." My old subordinate gently cuffed my ear and looked over towards Dís, "Are you ready man?"

I nodded, "I've a good group of dwarrows who have followed me here, getting initial units assembled should take no time at all."

Dwalin shook his head, "That's not what I was asking. Being Field Marshall for Erebor will be easy."

I watched as Dís greeted my niece and nephew, hoping she would acknowledge me after. Alas, my hopes would be shot down again as she simply turned on her heel and left. A man with less resolve would had thought all hope was lost but I knew. I knew she was my one, I had known for near a hundred and seventy years, since almost the beginning.

Dwalin following protocol and trailed after Dís as she exited the courtyard, as I readied myself for this new life.

Kili POV

The coronation attack had been two days ago. The Iron Hills settlers had arrived late morning. Tauriel received some odd looks but overwhelmingly her reception was met with cool indifference. Fili and I went to work with the horde of dispatches and subsequent paperwork that came with the arrival of so many dwarves. My mother had made herself scarce after she greeted her friend and Balin was with the settlers, fielding the never ending onslaught of questions in person.

In order to bring less attention to the elven entourage in the mountain, Dwalin, Bofur and Gorek were taking daytime guard duty. Thranduil's personal guard was large, it was easy for him to assign a unit to the Durin line for overnight. While none of us let our guard down, things had been thankfully quiet on that front.

Tauriel and I decided to take an early supper in our room. I ate a few bites before going through a large stack of unread dispatches. I sat by the fire and put my feet up. A few pages in, Tauriel came down to the floor, starting to unfasten the straps of my boots.

"What are you doing?" The papers now rested in my lap as I watched her quizzically.

She shrugged shyly as she worked the first boot off my foot, "You're stressed, I thought you would like me to rub you."

I opened my mouth about to make a quip about what I wanted her to rub but she cut me off with a laugh, "Your feet! Rub your feet!"

The other boot came off and she started kneading her thumbs into the arch of my foot. I let out a moan and my head lulled back into the chair.

"Mmmm, I thought so," she said with a knowing look, "when was the last time you had a massage?"

"Too long," I looked up to watch her working, "Your hands look so tiny against my feet."

"You're a dwarf," she said with mirth, tickling my foot playfully, "I like you as you are, very masculine." She finished thoroughly rubbing my feet and calves before she climbed in my lap. She pulled her skirts up, straddling me and started loosening the front ties on her gown.

My hands climbed up her neck and I ran my fingers into her hair, just to feel the silkiness of it, "You seem to be all about the stress relief tonight."

She pulled the top of her dress down low enough to display her breasts and brought my hands to hold them, "I need some stress relief too." She leaned down to kiss my mouth seductively. I made to get up and take her to the bed but she pulled away from the kiss with a hand on my chest, "No, I want you right here."

I smiled wide and she guided my hand to the warmth down below, "You haven't got any undergarments on!"

She nodded as she started on the ties of my pants, "I have been waiting to show you since this morning. I tried all day but I never get a chance."

"My sincerest apologies," I told her in the most serious voice I could muster, "Let us find a solution to fix the problem."

I pulled myself out from my pants and she started to stroke me, "I thought we were fixing the problem now Kili."

I let out a shaky breath as her work started to take its toll, "No for the future. We should have a code word for when you would like... special attention."

"Which word would you like to use?" She held my eye contact as she quickly sheathed me inside her.

I groaned, struggling to keep my gaze locked on hers, "Mahal woman!"

She gave me a sly look as she moved up and down me, "I hardly think 'Mahal' is an appropriate code word. You use it far to frequently."

She held on to the back of the chair using it to ride me, each motion an slick stroke that drove me to the brink. She tossed her head back a few times when the sensation became too much and her eyes flashed green with passion. The visual stimulation of her enjoying herself almost as good as the act itself. I was already ready to explode but she wasn't. I held on to the chair for dear life, praying her orgasm happened soon. She thrust me into her hard and leaned down to kiss me deeply, moaning through her lips as her throbbing finish brought me immediately to mine.

Unable to utter anything more coherent I simply said, "Mahal woman."

She shook with silent laughter, "It can't be Mahal!"