Comes Around Again (Gigolas & Bagginshield)

Barrels to Bard

"The stone in your hand, what is it?"

Kíli looked up from his promise stone, reassuringly heavy in his hand. His redheaded captor, Tauriel, hovered just outside the cell door. He hadn't seen her since they had come for Gimli, and he hadn't expected to see her again. That she would appear without Legolas gave him hope.

Really, he couldn't help himself.

"It is a talisman," he said, voice grave. In the corner, hidden from sight, Fíli snorted and rolled his eyes. "A powerful spell lies upon it. If any but a dwarf reads the runes on this stone, they will be forever cursed." He fairly spat the last word, and it was incredibly hard not to laugh at the wide-eyed look on her face. She backed away, stilted like a new foal, and Kíli hurried to shrug. "Or not," he said, and Tauriel stopped, looked back at him. "Depending on whether you believe in that kind of thing." Still, she just stared at him, and Fíli rolled over, and covered his head with the blanket. Whatever. When Fíli found someone he wanted to impress, Kíli would get his own back. "It's just a token," Kíli admitted, holding it to the light. "A rune stone. My mother gave it to me so I'd remember my promise."

Tauriel stepped closer. "What promise?" she asked, quiet and genuine.

"That I would come back to her," he said, matter of fact. In the corner, Fíli stilled. "She worries," Kíli admitted. "She thinks I'm reckless."

"Are you?" Tauriel asked, stepping even closer. She was nearly against the bars.

"Nah," Kíli denied, shaking his head, but his mind flashed before him an image of Gimli, strange jewel bright in his hands, swearing his life to change the fate of Kíli and Fíli's own. He shook his head, dismissing the image, and flipped the stone in the air. It spun, flashing in the light, but when it came down he fumbled and dropped the stone. He stood to grab it, but it bounced from the cell, out along the path towards the edge, only to be stopped, at the last moment, by Tauriel's boot. Slowly, she bent to pick up the stone, and held it lightly in her palm, running her thumb over the groves of the cirth runes. A moment later, she seemed to realize her preoccupation, and handed the stone back. Her hands were long and pale, graceful, but even Kíli could see the strength in them. "Sounds like quite a party you're having up there."

Tauriel smiled and it was like the first ray of sunlight after a storm; Kíli stared, dazzled, leaning against the bars. "It is Merethen Gilith, the Feast of Starlight." She turned, looking up as she walked. "All light is sacred to the Eldar, but Wood Elves love best the light of the stars."

"I always thought it is a cold light," Kíli admitted. "Remote and far away."

"It is memory," Tauriel said, earnest, looking back at him. "Precious and pure." She cocked her head. "Like your promise." She turned away again, face up. Kíli looked, but he all he could see was the stone roof. "I have walked there sometimes. Beyond the forest and up into the night. I have seen the world fall away and the white light of forever fill the air." Kíli rest his forehead against the bar, recognizing the longing in her voice--a longing that filled his own heart.

"I saw a fire moon once," he said, and Tauriel looked at him, and Kíli thought that this time, she really saw him. "It rose over the pass near Dunland. Huge. Red and gold, it was. It filled the sky. We," Kíli jerked his head over his shoulder at his brother, "were an escort for some merchants from Ered Luin. They were trading in silverwork for furs." Glóin had been with them, and a large portion of the silverwork was Sunni's, Kíli remembered. "We took the Greenway south, keeping the mountain to our left. And then it appeared." He paused, letting the breathless moment fill his heart, and he closed his eyes and continued, hushed. "This huge fire moon, lighting our path. I wish I could show you..."