So Comes Snow After Fire

13.ii

Standing in the crowded reception hall among dwarves from some range of mountains in the distant East, Kíli almost wished he were back at Ravenhill tower. It wasn't that he truly minded being here, welcoming this first diplomatic party to Erebor for the Seven's Council. If he was to support his uncle and brother, his place was in welcome hall and council chamber, as much as it was on a guard tower. But at Ravenhill, there was always the chance that Tauriel might make a visit, unexpected and yet never unwelcome. She would not come here, not with the mountain beginning to fill with dwarves from the far-flung kingdoms of the seven clans. Kíli could not wait until she was truly free to come and go as she wished from Erebor itself; yet that might not be until he was finally permitted to marry her...

Now was no time for reverie, he reminded himself; there were guests who required his attention. The various members of the envoy were engaged with Kíli's uncle and others of Erebor's court, but there, at the far side of the room, was someone who had been left alone: Audha, daughter of the Blacklocks' ambassador. Kíli had seen his brother with her earlier, though Fíli had now been caught up in conversation with some other guests.

She was a striking young woman, her waves of coal-black hair and her olive complexion setting her apart from the fairer girls of Kíli's own clan. Though she wore a simply styled gown, the rare gems scattered over it and through her hair made an unmistakable statement of her wealth. Together, her rich attire and her carefully upright posture lent her a very formal, proper air that Kíli might once have accepted as a challenge to be overcome with no small amount of wit and charm. But he had serious duties as a prince today, and besides, he had no interest in flirting with her; he would not play games, but be the attentive host.

"Miss Audha," Kíli greeted her as he approached.

"Your highness." She returned his bow with a curtsey of her own. "Your hospitality has been most gracious."

"You are the first guests we have welcomed since the restoration," Kíli explained. "We're glad to have you."

She laughed. "I suppose this will sound silly, but I've heard stories of this place all my life. My father and my aunt had the most extraordinary tales about King Thrór's bicentennial celebration."

Kíli smiled; he had heard those same stories from his uncle.

"Do you know, if things had been different, my aunt might have been queen here?" She stated this fact without presumption, though her voice was tinged with awe and something like regret.

"I know," Kíli said. The ambassador's sister, Branca, had once been betrothed to Thorin, though he had released her when he had lost home and kingdom. "If Smaug had never come, you would be a princess, and I wouldn't be here at all."

Audha regarded him with curious grey eyes.

"My mother married a dwarf from Ered Luin; she'd never have met him if not for her exile," he explained.

"It is a rare loss indeed that does not bring some good with it," she said, and Kíli saw her glance stray momentarily to his brother. Had she already set her eye on him?

"Was exile very hard?" she asked, looking once more to Kíli.

He shrugged. "I wouldn't say we had it bad, not Fíli and I, at least. We grew up settled, and Thorin's halls prospered in our time. The others—Mother, my uncles, and cousins—had it far worse in those early days. Regular vagabonds they were, for a while. So no, it was not hard. Though it's odd, growing up in a home that everyone tells you isn't yours."

"I cannot imagine," Audha murmured, sympathetic. "And so you must be glad to have returned."

Kíli laughed. "It's not so much a return for me, but yes, I'm glad. This is where I belong."