A/N AU. Everyone lives after the Bo5A. In my world, dwarf females do NOT have beards, in fact, they remind me of larger, stronger, sturdier hobbit females with straighter hair and smaller, not furry feet. There are many more males than females so it is common for a lass to take 2 husbands, usually brothers, sometimes 3 or 4, but it's a rare lass who can handle that many. It is also why homosexual (slash) relationships are acceptable (although I do not plan to have any in this story). Because of these different types of relationships, marriage is called Commitment in my world and Commitment ceremonies are held once a year in the middle of summer. The story begins in spring. Kili and Fili had always known they would share a wife.

The call went out. Erebor was home to the dwarves once again.

Our story begins with the family of Kya, who has just arrived at the mountain and are settling in to their new home. Not long after they arrived there was a welcoming feast where newly arrived families presented themselves to Thorin, King under the Mountain and his heirs. This is where Kya got her first look at Kili and Fili and they got their first look at her.

Kya took a deep breath before she accompanied her parents to stand before the king. Her father introduced them and she curtseyed to the king and his heirs. One of them, she was unsure which was which as of yet, winked at her and she blushed all the way back to her seat. Other families went for their introductions and she became a bit bored. Her eyes began wandering. Her attention was drawn to the head table where there was a bit of commotion going on near the heirs. It seemed that the brothers were having a bit of an argument, currently in hushed tones, but gradually getting louder. Thorin kept glancing at his nephews in disapproval but they were oblivious to the looks. The argument escalated to kicks at each other under the table and finally Thorin barked at them "Kili, Fili, behave."

The brothers instantly stopped arguing and went still, paying strict attention to the next family's introduction. Kya couldn't help but giggle at them and wonder what the argument was about. Finally, the last family finished it's introduction and the feasting began. Kya ate her fill, and perhaps a bit more than that, then leaned back into her chair and looked around. The brothers were no longer arguing but laughing and joking to each other and some of the dwarves around them. She watched as the light haired one gestured wildly as he explained something to another dwarf causing his brother to have to duck occasionally to avoid getting a fork imbedded in his forehead. The dark haired one caught her looking and nudged his brother to look at her as well. She quickly looked away, blushing once more. When she dared look back, they were once more having a hushed argument, leaving her to wonder if she might be the topic of their conversation. She threw the notion out immediately. Why would the princes be arguing about a nobody like her. It just wasn't possible.

She was wrong.

"She's beautiful." Kili said. "I'm not saying she's not." replied Fili. "I just think we should give her a bit more time to settle in."

"And lose her to some other dwarves?" complained Kili. "She's not even ours yet so it's not like we could lose her." countered Fili.

"Fine, lose the chance to get her." Kili grumbled. He looked back over to Kya's spot at the table but she was gone.

"Doesn't matter now, she's left." Kili moped for the rest of the evening.

The next day Kya got a short break from all the unpacking and chose to visit the weapons practice rings. All dwarf lasses were taught a minimum of self defense with the weapon of their choice and some went on to become quite skilled. Kya's weapon was the sword and she was quite good. The long journey to the mountain and the unpacking since arriving had left Kya with little time for practice and she was a bit rusty. She chose a practice sword and got to work, first working on her forms before moving on to strikes on a beaten and battered pole. Her practice was going well when shouting and laughing from a nearby practice ring caught her attention. She watched as two lads sparred. They were extremely good and having much fun taunting and teasing one another. She had just realized that they were the king's nephews when the dark haired on caught her staring and winked at her again. Once more she blushed and decided that was enough practice for the day. She put her blade away and started through the halls back to her new home.

She was walking down a deserted hall, lost in thought, when the sound of running came up behind her and before she could react, two dwarven lads skidded to a halt in front of her. "Fili" said the light haired one. "And Kili" added the dark haired one. "At your service." they finished together with a bow.

"Kya" she answered, once she got her breath back. "Do you two always go around scaring the daylights out of defenseless young lasses?" she asked.

"You're hardly defenseless." said Kili. "I watched you practice."

"We didn't really scare you, did we?" Fili asked.

"Startled, more like." she answered. "And thank you, but that wasn't my point." This last bit directed at Kili.

Ignoring her last comment, Kili grinned at her and asked "May we walk you home?"

She accepted their offer and Kili took one of her hands and Fili the other and the three resumed walking, chatting of inconsequential things. Upon arriving at her door, she turned to them and said "Thank you for walking me home."

"Will you be going on the berry picking trip tomorrow?" Kili asked. "We'll be going as guards." Fili added.

"Aye, I'm going." she replied.

"Perhaps we'll see you then." Kili said. "Perhaps you will." she said in return. "Farewell." she added.

"Farewell." they chorused and took off down the hall. She watched them go, thinking that they didn't act much like princes. Smiling, she entered her home.

The next morning she strapped on her sword because being outside the mountain could be dangerous, as her mother reminded her, and joined the berry picking party. She didn't see the brothers and assumed they must have gone on ahead. It was a pleasant morning, not too warm, and she was greatly enjoying herself. She found a particularly luscious patch of berries and followed it, not realizing that she was drifting quite far from the rest of the party. She reached the end of the patch and finally noticed how far she'd gone. She had just turned to make her way back when she heard a twig break in the nearby woods. She spun to face the noise, drawing her sword. A moment later, Kili stepped out. She lowered her sword a bit and sighed in relief before beginning to scold him for scaring her again. Suddenly she felt a presence behind her and spun again, raising her sword. She'd have taken Fili's head clean off if he hadn't have blocked her sword with his.

He grinned at her and said "Good reaction there." "Aye, "added Kili from right behind her, "Quite impressive."

She growled in frustration and without really thinking about her actions, punched Fili square in the face, then spun and did the same to Kili before sheathing her sword, picking up her basket of berries and storming off.

The brothers stared after her in shock. "We might have messed up there, brother." said Fili. "Aye," said Kili. The brothers looked at each other, noting the growing black eye on each of their faces. "Now how are we going to explain these to Uncle Thorin?"

Later that afternoon, while on her way to fetch a few things from storage for her mother she saw the brothers talking to their uncle. She overheard a few words "orcs" "black eye" and finally "but we killed them." as she drew close enough.

"Don't you two lie to your uncle like that!" she raged at them. "You know full well that there were no orcs and that those black eyes came from me punching you for scaring me."

There might have been a sound like a chuckle from Thorin but it was quickly stifled. "Is that true, lass?" he asked.

"Aye, your majesty." she answered, suddenly realizing who she was talking to.

"Well then, I believe a punishment is in order, both for lying to me and for scaring the lass." Thorin said. "You're newly arrived, are you not, lass?

She nodded. "Then these two shall assist you and your family all day tomorrow." He said. He then began lecturing his nephews on responsibilities and being princes and Kya took this as her cue to leave.

The next morning, she answered the knock at the door to find a contrite pair of brothers standing before her. Their faces were serious and in Kili's case, perhaps even a bit miserable.

"We're sorry for scaring you and we deserved to be punched." they said.

She just looked at them for a long moment, mentally noting that they were absolutely adorable in their misery and did look truly sorry. Finally she replied "Apology accepted." and invited them in. She introduced them to her parents, having told them the night before about Thorin's punishment. Her mother sent them off on the first of their chores, retrieving the pieces of two beds from storage and assembling them. The family had been sleeping on mattresses on the floor since they arrived.

Kya led the lads to the storage area and pointed out the piles of bed pieces. She accompanied them on their trips back and forth, bringing smaller items back with her. Once the pieces were moved she directed them in the assembly. First her parents' larger bed and then the smaller one in her room. The lads did their best not to blush once they realized that they would be touching her bed, while in her room. Kya knew that she'd have a hard time not remembering them in her room every time she went to bed.

After a break for lunch, the three of them spent the afternoon retrieving the remainder of the household's goods from storage, chatting happily along the way.

"What was your childhood like?" Kili asked.

"Lonely." Kya replied. Kili and Fili gave her sad looks. "We traveled a lot." she explained. "I have no siblings and I didn't often make friends. But it wasn't all bad. I saw lots of interesting things. It's also why I'm good with the sword."

"Why is that?" asked Fili, quite interested having nearly been on the receiving end of that sword.

"We were often in wild places with no one else around. Father made sure Mother and I could handle anything we might encounter." she replied.

"What about archery?" asked Kili, that being his specialty.

"I'm fair at it. I can hunt using a bow but I'm better and faster at defense with my blade." she answered. What about the two of you? What was your childhood like?"

They regaled her with tales of mischief and pranks and escapes from the same and even some failed escapes. She giggled the whole time, scarcely knowing if she should believe some of these tall tales. By suppertime they were good friends and also finished with their chores. Her parents send the lads on their way with many thanks for the help (while it was a punishment for the lads, it was a great help to the family). Kya did have a hard time falling asleep that night as she could not stop picturing the brothers in her room. And once she did fall asleep, her dreams, well, let's just say that they shouldn't be discussed in public.

The three spent as much time together as her chores and their duties allowed. On this day, perhaps a week after the berry picking incident and the resulting punishment, they had just executed a prank and had hopefully made a clean escape. They were running down an uninhabited hall when the brothers suddenly pulled her to a crevice in the wall.

"In here, quick." whispered Fili. Kili entered first, followed by Kya and then Fili.

She followed Kili down the narrow passage until it opened into a small cave. There was a pile of old blankets in one corner and odds and ends the brothers had collected scattered all over.

Kili stopped in front of her and Fili joined him.

"Welcome to our hideout." Kili said "But before we let you explore, we must ask you a question." Fili added. Together they said, "May we court you?"

"A bit sudden don't you think?" she replied with a tilt of her head.

"Maybe." said Kili. "But we couldn't have pulled off that prank without you and we think you're really great and…" he trailed off. Fili picked up the explanation, " and we think you're beautiful and we'd like to kiss you." "Have wanted that since the first time we saw you." added Kili.

She grinned at their explanation and thought for a few seconds. "Aye, you may court me and aye, you may kiss me. Fili first since he had the guts to say it."

Kili put on a pouty face as the brothers moved closer to her. She placed a finger over his lips and said, "No pouting or no kisses." He grabbed her hand and began kissing it as she looked up at Fili.

Fili gently cupped her face in one hand as he lowered his lips to hers. She slid her free hand into his hair as he deepened the kiss and she felt Kili move from kissing her hand to kissing her neck, right behind her ear. She moaned softly as Fili broke the kiss, untangling her fingers from his hair as he moved to kiss her neck. Kili took his place in front of her and began kissing her, quickly deepening it. Kya was lost in a sea of sensations. She whimpered softly as they both pulled away from her. She opened her eyes to see them standing in front of her, smiling. Kya pouted at them.

"No pouting or no kisses." Kili threw her words back at her with a grin. "Fine." she said and took their hands. "Now show me your hideout." There wasn't much to see and they soon settled onto the pile of blankets. Fili sat with his back against a wall, with Kya sitting next to him and Kili flopped onto his belly in front of them.

"So what's it like, being princes?" she asked as she idly braided and unbraided parts of Kili's hair.

"Boring, tedious." mumbled Kili. "Sometimes it is those things but sometimes it's interesting." Fili said. "I've met a lot of different people, of different races."

"You've got to be on your best behavior and you can't have fun." grumbled Kili. "You can have fun and you would, Kili, if you wouldn't sulk all the time." argued Fili.

Kya smiled as she listened to them bicker. This sounded like an old argument, one they'd had many times before. It didn't surprise her that Kili, as full of mischief and energy as he was, would hate doing his princely duties.

She let their voices fade into the background as she pondered being courted by two princes. If she followed events to their logical conclusion, someday, once they'd committed to each other, she'd be a princess and possible even eventually a queen. The idea scared her. She was really fond of the brothers and could see herself falling in love with them but did she really want to be a princess or queen and all that goes with such a role? Well, it was early yet, they'd only just started courting and who knew what the future would hold. She brought her attention back to the present just as the argument was winding down.

It was nearly suppertime when they slipped from the hideout and made their way back to Kya's home. She invited them inside for they had a question to ask of her father. Kya moved to stand near her mother as the brothers stood before her father. They bowed and said, "Sir, we request permission to court your daughter."

Her father glanced at his wife and child. His wife smiled softly for they had already discussed this possibility and decided on an answer. His daughter beamed at him, the answer she wanted to hear written on her face. He decided to mess with their heads a bit.

"I don't know." He answered. "After today's antics I'm not sure I should allow my daughter to even see you again, much less let you court her."

Three young faces fell. His wife chuckled, "That's just cruel, my dear. Now give them your real answer."

" Aye, you may court my daughter." he said. The three faces lit back up and his daughter rushed to hug him. "But," he held up a hand to stop her. "I've already spoken to your uncle and the three of you will be punished for your prank."

The punishment really wasn't so bad. Spending a day cleaning out newly discovered rooms was hard work but at least they were together.