When SEpha woke, it was four days later and she was in one of the guest chambers in Erabor. Fili was at her side, half falling asleep on his hand while he gripped her hand with his free hand.
"Fee," the girl gasped.
Fili snapped out of his doze and got to his feet in an instant, "SEPHA! You're awake! here I'll get you some water. are you feeling alright? Oin said you would be sore. You sure you're alright?"
Sepha pushed herself to a sitting position and took the glass of water from the excited young dwarf, "Yeah I'm fine.... what happened after I blacked out?"
Fili shrugged, "We started cleaning up. Dale has begun to get rebuilt. Bard returned the arkenstone but THorin gave it to Gandalf to dispose of. I don't know how Gandalf destroyed it but he's a wizard after all. THranduil left, Legolas has gone to the North to find the Dunedin.... don't know who they are and Tauriel...."
"Tauriel," Sepha gasped. "Where is Kili?"
FIli bowed his head and fought the tears that came up, "We buried him two days ago. Tauriel didn't stay for the funeral. She left. Thranduil said she probably headed to the undying lands. She left this though."
He held out a small pair of blades to the girl and Sepha recognized them as Tauriel's daggers.... for an elf to leave a weapon behind meant that she probably had gone to the undying lands.
"Oh Kili," Sepha sighed, feeling tears prick her eyes.
She went to stand up but Fili helped her, "Careful. You got a nasty gash on your stomach and side. It's going to leave a scar."
"I'm fine," Sepha sighed. "Where is Thorin?"
Fili smirked and his face at once lit up, "He wouldn't leave your side and was practically depriving himself of food and sleep.... again! Balin finally made the excuse that they needed his help burning orc bodies and reconstructing the gate. That finally got him up."
Sepha was about to head to the door when she saw that she was only in a white gown, "Could you excuse me Fee?"
Fili nodded and turned around so that Sepha could slip on her leather outfit and lace it up, loose enough to not hurt her side or her stomach. She then pushed her hair out of her eyes and put it in a fast plait. She hunted for the bead... but then remembered that she had given it to Thorin. She grabbed one of own and put it in.
"Come on," she said.
Fili followed her as the girl ran, surprisingly fast for a healing person. When they reached the gate, Sepha stopped to take in the sight. Thorin was overseeing reconstruction of the front gate but this time he was making it just like it had been before Smaug attacked, with the high wall but the huge wooden double doors.
Sepha looked to the side to see that several dwarves were building a new statue to put where the other one had been. When Thorin had been sick, he had the dwarves destroy the head of one of the stone dwarves to break the bridge. She saw that they were making the dwarf to look just like Kili and the other one to look like Thrain.
Smiling to herself, she approached Thorin. He was standing at the top of the gate, looking over at the vast countryside outside the gate that was now blooming with green grass. His back was to her and he was a good twenty feet above her but she could still tell it was him. He looked just like he had when she had first met him. He wore a simple dark blue tunic, pants and boots. His hair was clean and he was completely washed of the blood and dirt of battle.
He looked like a king.
Sepha's eyes wandered to the two statues that stood on the inside of the gate on either side of the large wooden double doors. One one side was Bilbo, holding Sting. The other was a giant wolf, unmistakably Sepha. Compared to the statue of Bilbo, sitting on her haunches, the stone wolf looked about the same size as the Bilbo statue which was at least twenty feet tall. The girl smirked.
"My eyes aren't that close together!" The girl called out.
All the dwarves who were working turned and looked at her and all of the company allowed their mouths to drop open. Thorin spun on his heel at the sound of her voice and Sepha smiled. With the setting sun behind his head, he looked like an angel. Gosh did she miss the real THorin!
"SEPHA!" The company all hooted.
THorin didn't say a word but bolted down the stairs. Sepha ran towards the door and met THorin halfway. It was lucky that SEpha was a strong person or she would have lost all the air in her lungs by the impact of Thorin slamming into her and crushing her in a hug. However, Sepha was built on experience and she had experienced plenty of bone breaking hugs. She buried her nose in Thorin's shoulder while he gripped her so tight that she almost snapped. He nuzzled his nose into her neck and allowed his face to hide within her long brown hair.
"Aramalime," THorin whispered into her hair.
Sepha smiled and laughed softly in spite of herself. Thorin gently released her and cupped her face with his hands. She smiled up at him and noticed tears appearing in his eyes. She reached up and gently wiped them away, smiling at him.
"Don't cry. Everything is going to be alright."
THorin smiled behind the tears and brought his lips down on hers. Sepha felt the urgency, the need but also the unbelief in that kiss. She could feel his body shake as the tears continued to stream down his face. She smiled into the kiss and wrapped her hands around his broad shoulders, trying to show him that he wasn't dreaming and that she wasn't going anywhere.
When they parted, they were greeted by the hoots, hollers and cheers from the dwarves. Sepha smiled and blushed bright red which only brought a massive grin to THorin's face. The dwarf prince brought his forehead down to hers and pressed it against her forehead gently while smiling.
"I love you," he whispered.
Sepha smiled and traced his jawline with her finger, "I love you more."
t's so beautiful," Sepha breathed.
THorin looked down at the girl and smiled. it had been a week since she had woken up and she was completely recovering now. The color had returned to her face and after plenty of rest and nourishment, she had returned to her usual slim, but not underfed state.
THorin couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful she looked wearing the soft blue dress that she was wearing that really brought out the green in her eyes. Her hair fell in long brown ripples down her back and small wisps fell about her face, framing her smiling face.
They were walking outside of ERabor. She had asked to see the hidden door so he had taken her on a quiet stroll around the mountain. They were now standing upon the grassy hill below the hidden door and SEpha was looking up at the statue of a dwarf with admiration and awe.
She didn't realize that Thorin had been looking at her the whole time till she turned to look at him and saw a soft smile on his face as he looked into her eyes, his blue eyes glowing with love.
Sepha blushed crimson and looked down.
Thorin reached over and placing his bent finger under her chin, lifted her eyes to look at him.
"You're so beautiful," he whispered.
This only made Sepha blush even more but Thorin kept a gentle hold on her chin to keep her from looking down.
"I know I have hurt you.... and I don't even deserve forgiveness from you," THorin said in a soft whisper. "But if you find it somewhere in your heart to forgive me....would you be willing to take this back?"
Sepha looked down at what THorin held out and saw that it was his bead. She felt tears prick her eyes as she looked at him and smiled. She gently reached to her hair and pulled out her own bead and allowed Thorin to gently take the braid in his fingers and slip the bead on.
She was about to hug him when she noticed something different. Fingering the bead, she saw that it wasn't the same bead he had given her before.
"This isnt the same one," she pointed out.
Thorin nodded, "I know... that's because it's not a courting bead."
Sepha cocked her head in perplexity as she looked down at the bead. Turning it over, she saw that it had THorin's crest.... but on the other side.... it had a symbol of a wolf. The girl looked up to see that Thorin had taken a step closer and was fingering her cheek with his hand.
"Persephone Anatello. I have loved you from the moment I met you. I know that I along they way I have done everything in my power to not earn your love in return but.... but if you will give me this one chance, I promise I will never hurt you again and I will love you till the day I day and beyond."
By the time he had finished, tears were streaming down Sepha's cheeks as Thorin gently bent down on one knee in front of her, still holding her hand in his.
"Sepha.... will you marry me?"
Sepha clapped a hand to her mouth to hold back the sobs as she nodded her head vigorously and threw herself at THorin. The dwarf king let out a overjoyed laugh as he caught the girl and spun her around, burying his face in her sweet smelling hair.
What they didn't know was that about twenty meters away, Fili and Bilbo were watching them from behind a boulder with knowing smirks on their faces as they shook each other's hands in victory. Next to them, Dwalin and Balin were staring, eyes wide and mouths dropped almost to the ground.
"Pay up you two," Bilbo whispered.
TIME SKIP
"Excited?" Fili asked, smirking at Sepha.
Of course, the girl missed the smirk but the tone of his voice told her he was smirking. Fili at the moment was waiting outside Sepha's chambers for her to change.
"Do I look excited?" Sepha called back.
"So you're not!?" FIli teased.
The door of her chambers flew open, whacking FIli in the back of the head, "OF course I'm excited! I'm so excited I'm nervous!"
Fili smirked but the smirk disappeared to a look of shock when he saw what Sepha was wearing.
The white gown she was wearing came to the floor, concealing her cute white shoes. The train of the dress trailed behind her, not a great deal but enough. The blue collar and belt brought out the blue tints in her green eyes and made her hair look even darker brown.
Her hair was mostly down except for the thick dwarven braid that Dis had put in. When Thorin's sister Dis had arrived, she had immediately fallen in love with her brother's bride to be. Of course, Thorin and Fili had been exasperated when they discovered that both women shared something in common: playing pranks on others.
The first night Dis had arrived, THorin had fallen asleep sitting in an armchair in front of the fire with Sepha sleeping beside him, her head on his lap. They had been talking in the night and had fallen asleep thus. However, when Thorin had woken up, he had found Bombur lying next to him and it had scared him clear out of next week. of course, Dis and Sepha only found it amusing.
"You look amazing Auntie Seph," FIli said, smiling fondly at the woman.
Sepha smiled and blushed crimson as FIli held out his arm to her. SEpha took it and took a deep breath as Fili slowly led her down the hallway to the great hall.
When they reached the door that separate them from every other dwarf in the kingdom, Sepha found Beorn, Bilbo, Gandalf, Radagast and Dis standing there. Dis was grinning from ear to ear and handing her handkerchief (that she didn't need) to Bilbo who was crying as if he was the mother of the bride. Beorn was beaming at her and Radagast and Gandalf were smiling.
Fili released Sepha long enough for her to give each of them a hug.
"You're a sight Bilbo," FIli pointed out, grinning at the hobbit.
Bilbo sniffed and smiled, "Don't judge."
"You should get going," Dis pointed out, "In case you didn't know by now, Thorin isnt exactly a patient dwarf."
Sepha and Fili both chuckled at this and Fili wrapped Sepha's slender hand through his arm again as Beorn pushed the huge doors open. Sepha heard the ruffling of clothes and chairs as people rose to their feet. She slowly lifted her head and gasped.
The great hall was decorated with an abundant amount of white and pale blue flowers. When Dis had asked Sepha about decorations, the girl had refused to add ribbons or bright colors so Dis just stuck with pretty wildflowers and woven wooden and green decorations.
Sepha lifted her eyes and smiled at the sight directly opposite her. Standing at the alter was Dain (why Dis asked him to do the ceremony, THorin and Sepha would never know) who was dressed in an elaborate set of ceremonial armor. On either side of the alter stood the whole company, in their best and beaming. Half of them, especially Dori, Nori and Ori were weeping.
Thorin stood slightly in front of Dain, his hands clasped behind his back. The girl found herself smiling at how perfect he looked. He was wearing the same attire he had worn when they had first met: the blue tunic and black cloak. He looked so regal with Orcrist on his belt.... but at the same time, she still saw the Thorin he always would be: leader and protector.
Fili patted the girl's hand as he led her down the aisle and directly to his uncle. Fili of course had never done this before so he was going to make the best of it. He kissed Sepha on the cheek before turning to Thorin and faking seriousness.
"You take good care of her Uncle,"
Thorin smiled which finally broke the fake seriousness on Fili's face and the boy smiled, pressing his forehead to his uncle's before stepping back to stand with Dwalin and Balin.
THorin reached out and took Sepha's hands in his, encasing her slender hands in his strong large ones. His eyes never left hers as he drew her onto the alter and in front of him. Dain sauntered over, a huge grin on his face and the ceremony began.
(I honestly don't know how dwarven ceremonies go so I'll just skip the ceremony:))
"You make kiss the bride," Dain announced.
Without hesitation, Thorin reached over and cupping the back of her neck in his hand, he drew her lips to his and kissed her long and thoroughly. The hall erupted in a din of cheers, wolf whistles and screams of joy. Of course, most of the noise was coming from the company (99% of that coming from Fili and Dwalin).
Thorin pressed his forehead to hers and smiled.
"I love you Aramalime."
Sepha smiled and closed her eyes, "And I love you, Thorin Oakenshield."