Epilogue

All rights go to Peter Jackson and Tolkien respectively, I only own my OCs.

When she opened her eyes and woke, the warm arms of the darkness welcomed her into the world of the conscious again. Nina stirred, blinking rapidly to get her eyelids used to moving again. They were covered in crust as if they hadn't been opened in days. She tried to look around. Tried, and failed. There was nothing but darkness around her, consuming her. She was blind to the world around her once again. She stretched her limbs out and groaned, letting out a gasp when the skin on her back was moved. She frowned, wondering why that had hurt. She tried to sit up in the bed she was laying in, arching her back again. She was met with a searing pain that made her cry out. She stretched her hand out for help reflexively.

"Don't try to move, it's alright, you're safe," A comforting voice stopped her from moving as a strong hand held onto hers'. The hand helped her to sit up properly, albeit carefully. Once she was up, she tried to focus on how she had gotten in this situation. She looked around again, not that it accomplished anything since she was blind, and tried to clear the cobwebs that were hiding her memory. She started from the beginning.

There were dwarves, thirteen of them, and they wanted to take back a mountain that they thought was their home. She went with them, and they were her family. She knew that much. She thought hard again, ignoring the very strong urge to just close her eyes and sleep some more. There were Elves involved, somehow, though she couldn't remember quite how. Galadriel, that was it. The Elf Galadriel was her mother. She had bright golden hair, and blue eyes…yes, she remembered her. There was a bad man, too. One that Kili always hated. What was his name? Erich, she remembered now. She had killed him, or at least she thought she did. Everything was so hazy in her mind she hardly knew for sure. But she remembered Kili. He hadn't left her thoughts once, and she remembered his face being the last thing she ever saw. He had seemed…upset, in the image of him that she was remembering. He had blood on his face and his hands and his chest, but it wasn't his. It was hers. He was crying, she thought. She needed to make sure he was okay. That's when the panic set in, and Nina started to breathe too quickly and look around again frantically.

"Kili!" She cried, tears welling up in her wide, frightened eyes. "I need to see Kili, where is Kili?!" She started blindly swatting with her hands when the strong arms held her down again.

"It's alright, Nina, it's—"

"Get off me!" Her hand collided with a strong chest. She hesitated as the voice kept trying to calm her.

"It's me, Nina, it's Kili," He soothed her. She let her hand drag over his chest and feel the soft fabric of his clothes. She tentatively ran her hands up to his face, gently probing to make sure it really was Kili and not some cruel trick. She rested a small finger on his lips and felt him smile. It was her Kili.

"You're alive," She laughed in relief as he scooped her up in a hug. She briefly registered that he was holding her carefully, never touching her back. "I thought…"

"You didn't think you would get rid of me that easily, did you?" He joked as he released her from the hug. Nina cupped his face in her shaking hands. He was alive. Kili had not died in the battle, and they were alright. He gently pried her hands off him and slipped onto the bed behind her. He eased her back down so that she was laying on his chest as he sat behind her. She smiled and let herself move as close as possible to him.

"Why am I blind again, Kili?" She decided to ask after they had laid together a long time in silence. She felt him sigh beneath her.

"The Elf," He sighed again, correcting himself. "Galadriel," He said her name slowly. "She said that you would not regain your sight when you woke. When Erich was defeated, his influence over you was completely gone. Since he was the one that healed your sight, when he was gone, your sight went too."

"Erich wasn't the one that healed me…" She frowned, remembering how Erich always spoke of his Master and gave credit to him. She wondered if Galadriel knew about that. "He had some kind of Master he talked about all the time. That's the influence that I was freed from." She explained. Kili hummed in response.

She felt a strange gentle tugging on her hair before she realized that Kili was playing with her hair. She smiled to herself at the thought and found that she couldn't quite find the energy to be upset that she had lost her sight. She had been blind before, and the only thing she could bring herself to dwell on was the fact that Kili was alive. She curled further into his chest and he chuckled at her movement, draping an arm around her.

"I can't believe this is real," Nina started to tear up again, trying to subtly hide her face in his chest so he wouldn't see. "I can't believe I'm actually here, alive, with you, and you're also alive!" He started to laugh a little at her enthusiasm.

"I cannot believe that you said you love me," Kili shook his head in disbelief. Nina grinned up in his direction.

"Did I say that?"

"Yes, and I'll not soon forget it," He chuckled teasingly. Nina sighed happily. She thought back to what felt like ages ago on the shores of Laketown just after Smaug had burned the town. She thought about how it had been her, Kili, and the little girl Clara.

"I used to think that the idea of being…" She second guessed herself, not wanting to continue. She suddenly felt awkward. Kili took his thumb and gently guided her face to be looking at him. He quietly asked her to continue. He wanted her to be comfortable talking about the idea of them. "Being…happy, with you, I thought it was just a dream. Something distant and unreachable, always ruined whenever I thought about the possibility of dying from the dragon, or from battle, or from some other dangerous part of this quest. But now," She beamed at him. "Now it feels real. There's no danger anymore."

"It is real, not just a dream." Kili assured her, and his voice was so genuinely hopeful that she almost cried. He loved her. She knew that now, and she still wasn't quite able to fully believe it. She felt him lean in closer to her, his lips hovering less than a centimeter away from hers', before he finally kissed her.

She was shy about it at first, having not kissed him but once before, hesitantly sliding her hands up into his hair. That only made him more enthusiastic in his efforts, which she didn't mind at all. He pulled her closer, only breaking their kiss when he pressed on her back and she gasped in pain. He immediately released her and apologized probably a thousand times by her count.

"I'm fine, really it's nothing," She tried to brush off his concerns. Kili stubbornly persisted.

"Can I look at it?" He asked quietly. Nina swallowed nervously, not sure what he would find if he did look at her back. From her memory, all she knew was that her back had been sliced with a sword. The wound must have been very bad, she thought, since Galadriel had healed it and it still felt painful. She nodded in answer to his question and turned around so her back was to him. He gently gathered up her hair and draped it over her shoulder.

She could feel his fingers as he carefully pulled the loose, white gown she was wearing. It was the equivalent of a dwarvish hospital gown, she gathered. It was thin, a little lacy around the shoulders, and very loose. Kili was able to pull it down so that both her shoulders and back were exposed. She quickly put her hands up to hold the fabric around her chest, even though he wouldn't have seen it. She held her breath as his soft fingers dragged over the puckered, pink scar along her back. She could feel his breath on her skin and she almost shivered. He leaned forward and moved himself even closer to her from behind.

"Am I hurting you?" He whispered, his face right behind her ear. Her eyes fluttered shut and she was glad he couldn't see her blushing face at their closeness.

"No," She squeaked. She cringed at the way her voice rose so high in pitch. She could feel him smirking at her. He continued moving himself closer, until his lips were brushing her neck. Although every fiber of her being begged her not to, she pulled herself away from him and pulled up her gown. She heard him make a little noise in protest and she grinned at him, laying back down on his chest. "So, I take it Galadriel is the reason I'm here now?" She changed the subject, pulling his arm around her a little tighter. Kili kissed her forehead as his expression darkened.

"Indeed," She could hear the tightness in his voice. She frowned up at him, silently asking him to explain. "I couldn't…" He started to choke up.

"Kili…"

"I swore to myself that I would protect you, and I couldn't."

"You did protect me!" Nina tried to sit up a little. "Erich would have killed me for sure if you hadn't stepped in."

"He just about killed you anyway," Kili growled. She sighed, not pushing the subject any further. She had figured out by now the stubbornness of dwarves, and if he had held himself accountable to some mental promise and felt that he failed, there was nothing she could do to change his mind.

"What matters to me is that we are both alive, and that I can hear your voice again," She said, deciding not to argue. Then she felt quite selfish and tensed up. She hadn't even asked about the others! Kili felt her tension and tightened his grip on her. "The others?" She barely whispered.

"All well, especially Fili thanks to you," His voice was light, but there was something deeper that she could tell he wasn't saying. She thought she knew what it was and forced herself to ask.

"And Thorin?" She peeped. He was silent. "Kili, what about Thorin?" She prompted him again. She sat up and turned herself to face where she assumed he would be. He forced himself to speak, even though he could feel his throat closing again.

"Uncle killed Azog," He started, speaking slowly in an attempt to control his shaking voice. Nina waited for him to continue on his own, bracing herself for the worst as tears welled up in her eyes. "But Azog also killed Uncle." She let her tears fall but did not cry. Her last words with Thorin had been angry ones, and a part of her still blamed him for this whole battle since he had been so stubborn, but the rational part of her felt like a family member had died. Like a hero had died.

"I'm so sorry, Kili," She snapped out of her own feelings and forced herself to think of Kili. The sadness she felt was nothing compared to what Kili was feeling. This was his uncle, the closest thing he had to a father, and now he was gone. "Is there a funeral? Or…whatever it is dwarves do to remember their loved ones?"

"It was three days ago."

"What?" She almost started crying again. "How long was I asleep?!"

"A week I suppose," He replied. "It took two days to get the funeral arrangements together. We would have waited longer, to allow other dwarves to come to the mountain, but Dain worried it would look disrespectful to put it off."

"I missed it then," Nina mumbled, hanging her head. She felt even worse about Thorin's death now. Kili reached forward to comfort her when a knock on the door sounded. Kili jumped off the bed and back into his chair before they could open the door.

"Ah my dear, it is good to see you awake again," Gandalf's kind voice rang out as he entered. She gave him what she hoped would be a smile, considering she had little desire to smile at that moment, as he made his way toward her. "I have quite a few visitors outside for you."

"Oh?" Nina tried to sound light.

"The dwarves and Bilbo are eager to see how you are getting on," He smiled. She couldn't see them, but there were eleven dwarf heads and a hobbit peeking in through the doorway eagerly. Nina nodded.

"I would love to see them."

"Lady Galadriel has also asked to speak with you," Gandalf added, his tone a little more cautious at the mention of Nina's mother. The small smile that Nina had managed to create faltered. "She had been waiting for you to wake for some time now." She knew that he meant well, and she knew that he was trying to get Nina to see that Galadriel probably had important matters to attend to but was instead spending a week in Erebor waiting for Nina to wake up. Yet, somehow, she couldn't shake the feeling she got when it came to Galadriel. The woman had been quite callous, insisting that Nina let her friends die.

"Well I think I'd like to see the company first, Gandalf."

"I see," He mumbled and sighed under his breath like he always did before beckoning them in. "Here we are then! Balin, Dwalin, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Ori, Nori, Dori, of course Kili is here, Bilbo Baggins our hobbit, and his majesty King Fili."

"His majesty," Nina repeated to herself, having already forgotten that Fili would be King of Erebor now. She had saved him, so now Dain would not be King. The line of Durin would remain as Erebor's rulers. At least she had done one thing that would make Thorin happy if he could see it.

"Don't say it too much, it'll go straight to his head," Bofur joked. Nina allowed herself to laugh a little at his joke, gratefully accepting the hug he wrapped her up in. They all hugged her and sat around the edges of her bed, Kili still in his chair beside her. Fili was last to greet her, and something about his voice made her realize just how hard it all must have been for him.

"Nina, I cannot tell you how good it is to see you awake and well," He gave her shoulders a squeeze. She smiled back at him, but she could hear the pain in his voice. He was alive, yes, but he had lost his uncle. His father figure. And on top of that, he was now taking his Uncle's place. He was the King Under the Mountain, and she didn't have to see him to tell that he was terrified out of his mind at the idea. "I am indebted to you, namad." She heard audible gasps from the others at his words.

"What's wrong?" She drew her eyebrows together in confusion. Fili chuckled.

"I spoke to you in Khuzdul, the language of the dwarves."

"You've done it before, why so shocking now?" She rose an eyebrow at him. She remembered him calling her that same mystery word right before they parted ways during the battle.

"They don't know about that," He grumbled a little at her.

"You've done it before?" Balin sounded quite appalled.

"Yes, what's the big deal?" Nina tried to laugh it off awkwardly. "What does that word mean, Fili?" It was Kili who answered her, his voice full of an emotion she couldn't quite place.

"It means 'sister.' He called you his sister." There was a pause where no one spoke, before Nina decided she should break the silence.

"Well that's very fitting, considering you guys are all my family." She hugged Fili again, something he returned quite eagerly, and the others chuckled at her kind words.

"I think we've all come to feel the same about you lass," Nori grinned.

"But didn't you leave…?" Balin asked, referring to her going home before the battle. She made an awkward laugh as she thought of a good way to explain things without admitting that she had watched them all in a movie.

"I did, and I saw my father and my sister again. It was wonderful seeing them again, but…I couldn't shake the feeling that I had abandoned you guys. I had left you all to risk your lives in a battle against a man that was only here because of me, and that wasn't right. My sister pushed me to come back, actually. She knew it was right." She couldn't see the prideful smiles they were all giving her. "Not that I'm much help," She laughed again, fiddling with her fingers awkwardly. "I mean really, was I ever your go-to fighter?"

"You were feisty enough!" Bofur smacked her shoulder jokingly. She laughed with them, reveling in the feeling of just being with them all again. It felt like it had when they were eating terrible pie before the battle. There was fun and laughter, with something dark looming over them. Just like now. There was fun and laughter to be found, but the darkness of losing Thorin was hanging over them. They could all feel it, but it wasn't in the dwarves' nature to sit together and cry over a lost friend.

"I'm afraid I'm just as bad a fighter now as when we started this quest, I haven't changed."

"Oh, I disagree with that, lass," Dwalin spoke up. A soft smile spread across her lips at his voice. She would always have a soft spot for Dwalin. "You're not at all the same young girl who joined us in the Shire."

"You're smarter now." Oin complimented.

"You're stronger." Fili put in.

"You have courage." The small voice of Bilbo piped up. The others knew well that he hadn't spoken much since Thorin's funeral. He had sat there beside Thorin in his dying moments, after Fili had said his goodbyes and Thorin had asked for a moment with Bilbo. He had been quiet since then. None of them knew what was said between them, none save Bilbo.

"So do you, Bilbo Baggins." Nina reminded him. "You've had courage throughout this journey in times when no one else did. If I've gotten anymore courageous in my time here, it's been because of your example."

"You had the guts to stand up to Thorin," He admitted, his voice breaking a little when he mentioned the dwarf. She sighed.

"I didn't accomplish much in that department," She tried to fight back tears. She felt a hand slide into hers', and she knew it was Kili's.

"It did." Bilbo stopped her from wallowing in self-pity, which, in hindsight, she thanked him for. "He told me…" He collected his thoughts and forced himself to speak. "He beat the sickness, Nina, and your voice was among those that helped him do it."

"He beat it?" She squeaked. She tried to smile, forced a small one, and allowed tears to fall from her eyes. She let go of Kili's hand to wipe her cheeks and was horribly embarrassed to find that the tears just kept coming. She felt the dwarves collectively move closer to her. "I didn't even get to say anything to him," She whispered. "The last time we spoke we were screaming at each other!" Kili wrapped his arm around her protectively as she started to cry more.

"Come now, lass, things cannot be as bad as all that," Balin smiled kindly, though his eyes were a little shiny with tears.

"You did everything you could." Dwalin reminded her. She sat up, pushing herself away from Kili's arm and forced herself to stop crying. She was being selfish, she told herself. These dwarves had known Thorin far longer than she had and they had loved him so dearly. The last thing they needed was to listen to her crying about her own feelings. She shook her head.

"I've been selfish," She voiced her thoughts. "You all came to see how I was doing and instead I've made it all about my own feelings."

"It's not selfish to grieve, my dear," Oin replied with a choked voice.

"You're part of the company now. You might express your emotions differently than we do, but you're one of us now. We will stay here and listen to whatever you need us to." Fili set a hand to her shoulder, and not for the first time, Nina wondered how she would have ever survived without her dwarves.

"My dwarves," She smiled. "I love you guys." They sat in silence for some time, all of them grieving silently in their own way. She did love them, truly. And as much as she knew she would miss her blood family, she didn't regret her choice to come back to the dwarves. Her dwarves.

"My dear Nina, I am afraid the lady Galadriel has asked to speak with you," Gandalf's voice broke them from their silence as he entered the room. Nina sighed, bracing herself for whatever Galadriel planned to say.

"I guess I should see her then," Nina sighed. "I'm sure she's in a hurry to leave." She sent a pointed look in the direction of Gandalf and he chuckled awkwardly.

"Well then I shall let her know you are waiting for her. Come on then," Gandalf ushered the dwarves out of the room. Some of them gave her shoulder a final squeeze before leaving, and Kili lingered a little longer. He was reluctant to leave when Gandalf clapped him on the back. "Come along, Kili, you must be exhausted, come get some rest now." Nina frowned.

"Why exhausted?"

"It's really nothing," Kili tried to wave off her concern.

"Exhausted because he hasn't slept in a week, my dear," Gandalf chuckled again. "He's done nothing but sit in this room waiting for you to wake up." Nina smiled as tears started to well up in her eyes again. She had been down for the count a whole week, and Kili had waited beside her all the while.

"Has he?" She whispered, mostly to herself. She couldn't see Kili's face, so she couldn't see the dark, near permanent circles on his usually happy face or the worry that had made a home in his eyes, or the lines on his forehead from the frown he had worn a whole week. Now though, he smiled. He leaned down and kissed her forehead gently, assuring her he would be back.

Nina sat there in her bed in silence for a moment, listening as Gandalf shushed the dwarves away from the door and they grumbled in complaint. That made her smile. Her dwarves, her family. She heard soft footsteps enter the room and she assumed it would be Galadriel. She dreaded talking to the woman, considering she had promised not to try to save the line of Durin. And that had been exactly what she tried to do.

Outside the room, she had no idea that when Gandalf had herded the dwarves away, Kili had hung back unnoticed. He knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but a part of him felt he needed to know what Galadriel was all about. He knew she was Nina's mother, but she was also an Elf. And he had been taught not to trust those. What if she would hurt Nina in some way? He felt that that was a possibility, especially since Nina always tensed up at the mention of her. So, he hung back, hiding behind the door with his ear pressed against it listening to their conversation.

"How are you feeling, my daughter?" Her melodic voice broke the silence.

"I'm well, thanks to you I'm assuming."

"Yes, I did not go far from the battle after we parted, and when I saw the dwarf with you I came at once."

"Kili. His name is Kili."

"He is the Prince of Erebor now."

"Yep."

"I specifically ordered you not to interfere with the fate of the Durin line," Galadriel said rather crossly. Nina pursed her lips defensively.

"You asked me not to save them. You asked me to watch my friends die," Nina spat, despite not wanting to sound that harsh. Kili frowned in confusion. What did she mean interfere with their fate?

"The line of Durin was fated to fall, to end in the Battle of the Five Armies. All three of them should have died," Galadriel reminded her, making Kili even more confused. "You knew that from the first moment you came to Middle Earth." That just added to his confusion. He was supposed to die in the battle, and Nina knew it?

"And I knew that I had the power to stop that from happening," Nina insisted. "What if that's the reason I was brought here? What if I was supposed to save the line of Durin all along?" Galadriel scoffed despite herself.

"You were brought here to be the next Protector of Middle Earth."

"Well I did protect it!" Nina shouted, causing Galadriel to glare at her. "Middle Earth was going to lose three amazing men, and I protected it, I made it a better place by saving two of them."

"You failed to respect my instructions."

"The only failure I see in this situation is that I didn't save Thorin," Her voice broke as her throat choked up. Kili wanted to go comfort her, insist that Thorin's death was certainly not her fault, but he stayed where he was to listen for more. Obviously Nina had intended to save Thorin, Fili and Kili and had spent the entire quest knowing they would die at the end. He wondered how she could have known that, and how she could have dealt with having such knowledge.

"Above all, you lied to me, Nina." Galadriel sounded hurt as she said the words, which took Nina by surprise.

"I had no choice, Galadriel," She insisted in a gentler tone. "You never would have let me come back to Middle Earth if I hadn't promised not to save them. I didn't want to lie to you, but they are my family, those dwarves. I had to come back to them, I'll always come back to them, and I had to save them." Galadriel was silent for an agonizingly long time. Nina briefly thought she might have left, and Kili even peeked in to see what was happening, when he saw the look on the Elf's face. She was hurt, but also a little impressed by Nina's conviction. Finally, she nodded to herself.

"The consequences of your actions will be seen in the future, I am sure," She concluded the matter. "Such a change as this will cause other changes, and we must be prepared for them. I believe that I can give you back your sight, my daughter."

"You can?" Nina perked up. Kili listened more intently.

"In my home in Lothlorien, I, along with Lord Celeborn, could muster up enough power to give you sight, forever."

"In Lothlorien?" Nina parroted. "I have to leave the mountain?"

"If you want your sight back," Galadriel replied. "Mithrandir and the Halfling are travelling to the Shire in a few days' time, you could travel with them until Lothlorien. From there, you have been invited to stay in the Valley of Imladris with Lord Elrond. As my daughter, he considers you to be family and would love to see you again."

"That's pretty far away from the dwarves." Nina reminded her. Kili smiled to himself, pleased with her desire to stay in the mountain.

"You plan to spend eternity in this mountain?" Galadriel countered. "With Lord Elrond you will find the answers you seek concerning your purpose here, and you will receive training in the skills you desire to learn." Nina hesitated. She knew in her heart the dwarves could never tell her why she was here, what she was supposed to spend her life doing. And she needed to know that. After a while, she sighed heavily.

"I'll go to Lothlorien, to get my sight back." She decided. "And as for Elrond, I don't know." Kili felt his stomach drop at her words. She was leaving, again, and she was considering leaving for even longer than necessary. When he heard Galadriel approaching the door he quickly moved out of sight. He debated going back to Nina but decided to take a walk instead. He had a lot to think about after that conversation.

When Nina was walking the halls of Erebor with Kili, she felt like she had her sight. He described everything so vividly that she hardly had to imagine anything. She laughed a little to herself as they walked, touring another wing she hadn't been to before. Each day he wanted to show her another part of the mountain, considering it was far too big to tour in one day. He had her arm linked in his as he strolled about, her having to walk a little faster to match his stride.

"This is where my mother will live," He was saying as they walked through the royal wing of the mountain.

"When will she be coming?"

"Not until after you leave, she has a lot of people to move," His voice was tight at the mentioning of her leaving. She had told Kili about Galadriel's offer to give her sight, of course, but had neglected to mention Rivendell.

"I know you're mad at me for planning to leave."

"I'm not angry I just…" He sighed, stopping to stand in front of her. "You just got back."

"And I'll come back again, Kili," She smiled, reaching a hand up to fidget with her runestone subconsciously. He noticed, of course, but decided against pointing it out. "And I'll be able to see you again."

"And what about Lord Elrond?" He spat out the name with disgust. Nina shrunk back at his tone, utterly confused.

"How did you know about that?"

"I…heard Gandalf talking about your invitation," He lied. He felt bad doing it too, but if he had told her the truth then she would know that he had heard everything. Something in him told him not to tell her that. She seemed to accept his reasoning. "So, are you going to him?"

"I'm not sure, if you must know," Nina took on a defensive tone, crossing her arms. He couldn't help but roll his eyes at her stubbornness.

"You'd be living with the Elves."

"Technically I am an Elf, so maybe dial down the hatred for them."

"Half-Elf," He was quick to point out. "Hardly the same. And you're far more pleasant to be around than they are."

"You liked Tauriel well enough."

"She was different," His voice softened a little, and she felt a pang of jealousy swell up in her. She pushed it down. The two of them had literally just admitted they loved each other, this was all still new for them, and she didn't want to start it with jealousy. "She took the time to listen to me even though I'm a dwarf, and besides, she was helpful to you."

"You only hate Elves because the rest of the dwarves do," She pursed her lips, waving his anger off. "I bet if you spent time with them they wouldn't be so bad. Elrond was nice enough in Rivendell before, and more recently Legolas was nice too. He probably saved my life the first time we officially met." She snorted at the memory of her standing up to Thranduil during the battle. Kili frowned deeply.

"He saved your life?" Clearly he wasn't concerned about looking jealous. Nina chuckled and rolled her eyes. She didn't have to see to know what he was thinking.

"Before I got to Ravenhill, Thranduil was being a jerk and I decided to try and make him even more upset, so Legolas stepped in," She shrugged, not knowing that a reluctant grin was forming on Kili's face at the idea of Nina irritating the Elf King. "But that's not important. What's important is that you and Fili have a lot going on right now, let's not deny it. I'm not exactly helpful in the department of rebuilding Erebor."

"You could be—"

"Maybe, but I definitely could be if I could see. Right now, I'm the blind girl that's completely in the way," She sighed. He tried to protest but she held up a hand and continued. "I have to go to Lothlorien and get my sight back. From there, I can either go to Rivendell or I can come back here."

"What can the Elves give you that I cannot?" His voice sounded small and defeated, and Nina hated to make him feel that way. But they also had to face the truth now that she was permanently living in Middle Earth.

"Can you tell me why I was sent to Middle Earth?" She waited, and his silence was the answer she had expected. "Can you tell me what it means to be the Protector of Middle Earth, like I am supposed to be?"

Before they could continue their discussion, another dwarf interrupted them. Like the other times they had walked together in the past three days, there was a dwarf ready to take Kili away for some royal duty he had to intend to.

Kili had always been a Prince of Erebor, but the title had had little meaning considering there was no Erebor to be Prince of. He wasn't as important as Fili, that he knew, but he was still of the line of Durin and respected a little more for it. When he and Fili would get up to no good, of course, that respect vanished. But now that there was an Erebor, Fili was the King Under the Mountain and Kili, until Fili settled down and had children, was the Crown Prince of Erebor. That carried more weight, especially since there was an Erebor again, and it meant he had more duties and decisions to make than he ever dreamed of having. Not nearly as much as Fili, he knew, but quite enough to keep him busy and cut his time with Nina short.

Fili would constantly tell him that once Erebor was back on its feet and all the dwarves back in it then things would settle down for them, but Kili could sense that his brother didn't exactly believe that himself.

So, Nina was alone again, and she decided to find her way back to Fili. She could keep a hand on the wall and walk along, but the trouble was she had no clue which way to walk. She sighed, picked a direction, and started walking. This was why she needed her sight back, she thought. She figured that before long she'd run into a dwarf that would be kind enough to help her. She eventually did, and it was Dwalin.

"What are you doing alone, lass?" She heard the frown in his voice as he took her arm. She smiled to him.

"Man am I glad you found me," She let him lead her away from the wall. "I would've been roaming these halls forever if you hadn't."

"Where are you trying to go?"

"I was trying to find Fili," She sighed. "Kili's been carried off for whatever princely duties he has to take care of, and I haven't seen Fili all day, so I thought I'd visit."

"He could use a kind face, I think," Dwalin mumbled. "He has been dealing with negotiations with Laketown and the Elf King."

"You mean with Dale," Nina corrected him gently. "And yeah I'm not a fan of the Elf King either. He's quite snobbish." Dwalin chuckled at her honesty.

"He hasn't got any nicer, I am afraid. He sees a young fool in Fili, someone he can manipulate."

"He's in for a rude awakening then," She grinned mischievously.

"Aye, that he is," Dwalin returned it. It was short-lived, however, before it turned into a small frown. "You're staying here, aren't you lass?"

"Dwalin," Nina tried to reassure him, and figure out a way to avoid his question, but ultimately decided on the truth. "There is somewhere I can go to get my sight back, the right way. The way that doesn't involve dark evil powers."

"And you'll come back once it's done?"

"I think so," Nina slumped her shoulders in defeat. She wanted nothing more than to stay in Erebor forever, with the dwarves, but a big part of her needed to know her role in Middle Earth. Everyone else knew what their part to play in the world was, and now she needed to know. "I need to find my place in Middle Earth." She hoped he would understand what she meant.

"I understand," It felt like he read her mind with his answer. "But I'll warn you, lass, Kili is quite attached to you. He took it rather hard when you left, and I'm not so sure he'll let you leave again so easy."

"He'll understand, I know he will," Nina tried to convince herself. Dwalin sighed, deciding not to voice his doubts further. They reached the throne room shortly after, where Fili was sitting slouched over with his head his hands tiredly. It seemed being King was not all that enjoyable for him.

"Hey Fili," Nina called out to him. He looked up and couldn't help but smile at the sight of the girl on Dwalin's arm. She looked so small next to the burly dwarf.

"Perhaps you can settle business with Thranduil for me?" He asked as they got closer. She grinned.

"Oh, I could settle your business with him very quickly, but I don't think it would be very diplomatic."

"Probably not," Fili chuckled. The problem was that Thranduil was demanding gold, and quite a bit of it, even after Fili had returned his precious white gems.

The three of them talked for a while, Nina mostly trying to distract Fili and keep his mind off the stress of Thranduil. With each passing moment, she knew what decision she would have to make about leaving.

The next day, the company lined up in the entrance of the mountain, now a gaping hole in the process of being repaired. Fili stood tall, like the King he now was, with his brother right beside him. The other members of the company were there, all teary eyed and smiling as Bilbo said his goodbyes. It was time, they knew, that Bilbo went home. Bilbo, oddly enough, seemed to be taking Thorin's death the hardest of them all.

"There is to be a great feast tonight. Songs will be sung, tales will be told, and Thorin Oakenshield will pass into legend," Balin smiled kindly to the hobbit. Fili had arranged for a large feast in Thorin's honor now that more dwarves had arrived.

"I know that's how you must honor him, but to me he was never that—he was…to me he was…" Bilbo choked up before he could finish. Balin set a hand to his shoulder. Bilbo turned to the other dwarves. "Well, if any of you are ever passing Bag End, tea is at four—there's plenty of it." They all laughed teary laughs. "You are welcome any time," He cried. They all bowed to him in unison. "Don't bother knocking."

"It is time," Gandalf reminded him from behind him. Gandalf stood patiently holding three horses. Nina stepped forward from the dwarves.

"Are you ready to go?" Bilbo asked her as he wiped his tears.

"I am," She sighed, swallowing her tears. She looked in the direction of the company. "I'll be back soon, you won't even notice I'm gone." She tried to laugh. Gloin shook his head.

"We'll notice, lass. You're part of the company."

"I love you guys," She abandoned hope of holding back her tears. Kili stepped forward and pulled her away from the others.

"When will you return?"

"I'm not entirely sure, Kili," She replied. "But, I've decided not to go to Rivendell. I'll come back to Erebor." They both smiled and he hugged her tightly.

"I love you," He whispered. She just barely stopped herself from giggling like a little girl.

"I love you too," She pulled the runestone out from under her shirt, where it still hung on its little strap like a necklace. "I guess I should give this back now…"

"Keep it." He covered her hands with his. "It's a promise that you will come back to me." He leaned in, ever so slowly, and kissed her. Her eyes fluttered shut as she tried to memorize everything about the way it felt when he kissed her. She was even too preoccupied to pay attention to the hollers and teasing from the dwarves. Kili heard them though and broke apart from her gently after a moment with a laugh. She laughed too, then leaned up on her toes and kissed his cheek once before turning to join Gandalf and Bilbo. Gandalf helped her get on the horse he would be sharing with her and took hold of their pack pony as Bilbo got on his own. As they got farther and farther from the mountain, she tried not to cry.

Lothlorien was odd. Odd and beautiful were the only two words Nina could find to describe it now that she could see it. She had met Celeborn, deemed him to be not the greatest stepdad but not the worst she could be stuck with, and he had helped Galadriel restore Nina's sight. She felt much better about having her sight back this time. She had made the choice to regain it, and she had allowed someone she trusted to make that happen. And there were no strings attached this time, like wanting her eternal submission in return. But even though Nina had her sight back and could confidently look to a future where she could see, she would never forget all that she done while blind.

Nina Bailyn had learned to be an artist who could not see. She had never truly known what the colors were, but if she was told what colors to use for what objects, she could create art. She was proud of that. She had also made it through public school, which was an impressive feat blind or not. It had been a blind school, but it had been a school, and she had completed it. She had learned to fight while blind, and while it wasn't amazing fighting skills, it was well enough to stay alive against a not-super-skilled opponent. She was proud of that too. Above all, though, Nina Bailyn had travelled Middle Earth blind with the Company of Thorin Oakenshield. And that was why the choice she was about to make felt so hard.

"Where shall we be going, my lady?" The Elf escort beside her interrupted her thoughts. Nina was sitting on a horse next to him, looking out at the world beyond Lothlorien. Whether she went to Rivendell or Erebor, this Elf was supposed to get her there, since she had no navigational skills when it came to Middle Earth. She sighed, wondering not for the first time if she was making the right decision. She was Nina Bailyn, the blind artist. She was Nina Bailyn, the girl that helped take back Erebor from a dragon. She was Nina Bailyn, the next Protector of Middle Earth.

"Rivendell."

Wow guys! This is it, the epilogue and final chapter of this story! I wanted to include a lot of Kili/Nina moments since they've been through so much, and I also wanted to give a glimpse into how the company is dealing with Thorin's death. I touched a little on Fili and his adjustment to being King, and I plan to explore that a lot more in the sequel!

THANK YOU to everyone that's supported this story, it means so much.

******UPDATE: We'd Never See the Stars: Antebellum is up now! Go give it a read :)*******