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Tíli was going to be in so much trouble, she just knew it.
She knew it just as well as she knew the rock under her feet, the stone under her fingers. Like she knew her mother’s lullaby, or the feeling of her father braiding her hair each morning. She knew it like she knew the stone suddenly felt odd and unstable; a shadow in her chest and a scratch in her hindbrain.
She had been wandering the halls near the mines, where the deepest shafts began. These were the oldest gold mines, stretching horizontally instead of vertically. They had been used before her people had perfected their suspension mining, and then practically abandoned when they concentrated on the vertical shafts in her Great-Grandfather’s time. But recently the council had decided to re-open the mines, make them safe and see if any of the newer mining techniques could pull more gold from the older parts.
She was under strict instruction to stay away from the mines in general, let alone the older ones. But her tutor was Balin today, and he knew all of her usual hiding places so she needed to get creative. Víli was at the range with adad today, and if her chances of escaping Balin had been slim her brother’s chances of escaping their father were none. Her parents had realized pretty early on that separate lessons increased their chances of keeping them out of trouble, but wasn’t fool proof. Hence her leisurely walk around the mines.
And then something changed.
She had always been comfortable in the mountain, the rock and ore and precious jewels like an old friend or a warm blanket that she was aware of from every nook and cranny she found. But deep in its oldest fractures, that warmth curdled into a deep cold. Tíli gasped, one hand pressing to her ribcage and the other to the wall next to her. It was solid under her grip, but something seemed to tremble. The Lonely Mountain was trying to tell her something, trying to warn her…
And then the echoes of laughter reached her from the reclaimed shaft to her right. The cold seeped from her fingers into her arm and straight into her heart. The miners.
Cave in. Cave in!
The Mountain’s warning slammed into her brain and she was off running before she realized she was moving at all. The soles of her leather boots echoed noisily as she rushed down the dimly lit shaft. It didn’t take long to find the work team, they were only a few days into the project and not incredibly deep yet.
“Your Highness?” One of the miners asked, bewildered. The rest stopped their work to gape at her. Bofur popped into view, eyebrows furrowed. Tíli zeroed in on the familiar face immediately.
“Tíli, lass, you can’t be-“ He started.
“You need to get out of here, right now! Uncle, we all need to leave!” she cut him off, closing the distance and yanking on his sleeve frantically.
“Hold on, lass, hold on. What’s the matter?” Bofur asked, waving away the mutters of his crew as he bent to her level.
“Cave in, there’s going to be a cave in! We need to get out!” Bofur froze for a moment, eyes searching hers for only a split second. Her worry about not being believed didn’t even have time to form before he straightened up and began waving his men towards the exit. His hand clamped around Tíli’s shoulder, pushing her ahead of him.
“You heard the Princess- out! Out!” He called, just as the tunnel began to shake. The crew took off just as the rocks above their heads began to shift and rain dust and increasingly large rocks.
It hadn’t taken long for news of the cave in to reach the royal family. Even if the page hadn’t been swift on his feet, most of the mountain felt the faint trembling. It was a strong one. Thorin and Bilbo had already been moving in the direction of the Mine entrances when the page caught up with them, letting them know that yes, it was the new mine project; and yes, it had been Bofur’s zone. It took them longer than Thorin would have liked to make the run from the throne room to the mines, but they got there as soon as they could.
There was a small crowd gathered at the entrance to the collapsed mine when they arrived. Bifur and Nori were there already, helping to direct the flow of dirt covered miners out of the shaft and to their muster points. Dwalin was there too, crouched beside a coughing dwarf who was holding a wad of bloody cloth to his forehead. Dwalin looked up and beckoned Thorin and Bilbo over.
“Thorin. The cave in was in Bofur’s zone-“
“Aye, we heard. Has he been accounted for yet?” Thorin interrupted, but Dwalin shook his head.
“No. Not yet. This one is a part of his team- they all made it out- Tell the King what you just told me.” He replied, directing the order to the dwarf slumped against the wall. The unnamed dwarrow shifted, wincing a little as he turned to address Thorin.
“It was the Princess, your Majesty. She came out of no where, no warning, telling us there was going to be a cave in and we needed to leave immediately.”
“The Princess? What, Elen- not Tíli!” Bilbo blustered, and Thorin placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Tíli was in the mine?”
“Aye, your Majesty. She and Master Bofur were somewhere behind me.”
“Where is she now? Has she been found?” Thorin looked down at Dwalin, who stared back and did nothing for a moment.
“Not yet.” Thorin’s heart clenched. He turned back to the page, who had followed them all the way. He needed to get the lad’s name once all this was over.
“Go find Prince Kíli and Princess Elenor and tell them what has happened. Bring them here immediately.” The lad nodded and took off.
Thorin looked down at his husband. “I don’t suppose there’s any point in asking you to go back to our chambers, where there’s no chance of an aftershock?” Bilbo’s dry look was enough, and Thorin suppressed an urge to kiss his hobbit. He patted his shoulder, instead, but by the twinkle in Bilbo’s eye his husband understood completely.
It didn’t take long for Kíli and Elenor to show up on the heels of the page, Fíli with them.
“Where is she? Where is Tíli?” Elenor cried upon seeing Thorin and Bilbo, looking around desperately.
“We haven’t seen her yet, she and Bofur haven’t shown up at his muster point.” Bilbo explained softly, and Elenor pressed the back of her hand to her mouth to stifle a mangled whimper. Kíli scrubbed a hand down his face, rubbing at the bridge of his nose with his fingertips. His eyes were glassy, but determined.
“Alright, who else is on the search and rescue team?” he asked.
“Dwalin, Bifur and myself, along with a couple of the uninjured miners in Bofur’s group. Fíli, you can’t stay here- you need to get out of range of any aftershocks. We can’t both of us risk being trapped.” Thorin reminded him, and Fíli looked uncomfortable for a moment. The young prince that had travelled across Arda to reclaim the mountain may have argued, but the Crown Prince standing in front of him just nodded reluctantly and promised to send more help to empty the adjacent mines of workers, just in case. He was just turning away when a small dwarrow popped up.
“Tíli? Is she alright, did you find her?” and then Víli was at Kíli’s elbow, looking distraught and just as determined as his father.
“Víli! I told you to go back to our chambers!” Kíli admonished, grabbing his son’s shoulder.
“I want to help!” The lad protested, but Elenor shook her head.
“No. No, absolutely not. Go back to our rooms, and stay there- we will find your sister and bring her home.” She said firmly. Víli stomped his foot.
“No, she’s my sister! I need to help find her! I can do it!” He insisted, and Kíli snapped.
“Enough! You will go to your room, and you will stay there or Mahal help me you will be restricted to it for the rest of the month, do you understand me?” He barked. Víli flinched, but the young dwarf planted his feet and met his father’s fury with a glare. Underneath his worry and frustration with the situation Thorin felt an affectionate exasperation with his youngest nephew. How many times had Kíli himself had that look as a dwarfling?
Kíli growled in irritation at his son’s stubbornness, and lifted him clean off the ground to pass him to Fíli.
“Keep him away from here, nadad.” He asked gruffly, and Fíli nodded solemnly. Víli screeched and kicked, fighting against his uncle’s hold. He didn’t stop until a particularly solid kick had Fíli jostling him pointedly.
“Kick me again, nephew, and you and I will be having words later.” He promised darkly, and Víli stopped. He curled into Fíli instead, wrapping his arms around his neck and burying his face into the fur of his jacket. Even though they couldn’t hear his crying over the din of the evacuating dwarrow, they could see his shoulders shaking before Fíli jogged away with him.
Kíli’s shoulder sagged, anger leaching from his frame immediately as he covered his eyes with a hand. Elenor’s eyes shone wetly as she stooped slightly to press her forehead to his; Kíli’s hand slid from his eyes to cup the back of her head.
Thorin turned away from them, allowing their moment of comfort and strength-sharing the illusion of privacy. Bilbo’s hand found his and he squeezed it for a few moments, allowing himself this token of reassurance.
“Alright. Bifur, you know these tunnels, where do we start?”
And they were off.
They had been digging for hours. Beneath the mountain, there was no sunshine or shadow to mark the passing of time- nothing but stone sense to tell you the time of day. It was something Kíli had watched Elenor struggle with for some time after moving into the Lonely Mountain. As she wasn’t a dwarf, it had taken her some time to adapt what she called her ‘internal clock’ and even then he knew that she heartily appreciated the mantle clock Bilbo had lovingly placed in the royal suite’s common room.
Now, as Kíli pressed a water skin into her hand that the hobbit had run down to the workers, he wished he wasn’t able to sense just how long they had been fruitlessly moving rock. Elenor accepted it, barely turning from the pile of stone in front of them. She wore a helmet, which Dwalin had probably pilfered from the armoury. It was definitely too wide for her head, and wiggled if her head moved too suddenly, but Kíli had insisted on it.
“Your head is much softer than ours, Ghivashel.” He said firmly, speaking over her protests, “If you don’t, I will carry you out of here myself.”
That hadn’t gone over very well, he had known it wouldn’t as soon as the words left his lips. His stubborn, strong, and independent wife bristled immediately, indignant anger only fuelled by her worry and grief. He was beyond relieved she was sitting at the moment, so her head was well within his reach.
He cupped the sides of her face in his hands, pressing his forehead to hers firmly so he could look her in the eyes.
“Don’t misunderstand me, Elenor, please,” He pleaded, “You know I would never forbid you anything. But if I can’t send you to safety, I’ll bring it to you as best I can. Our daughter is missing, and our son is already cross with me, please don’t bruise my heart further over this.”
She put the helmet on.
“Elenor, do you need a break?” He asked her now, and she shook her head.
“No. Not… not yet.” She said, picking up another small boulder to heave it into a mine cart. He watched her for a moment before turning away to continue as well.
“Kíli.” He turned back immediately. She was bent over the cart, knuckles white around the edge.
“Yes?” He asked, drawing nearer when she didn’t say anything more. After a moment, she shook her head.
“Nevermind.”
“No, what is it amrâlimê?”
She finally looked at him, and if his heart was bruised before it broke now. Her face was as dirty as he imagined his own was, smudged with dirt and dust. But there were two lines down her cheeks where tears had cut through the layers of grime. Her eyes were rimmed red, and there were smears under her nose where she had been wiping at it. He had heard her occasional sniffles, of course, but had chalked it up to dust in her nose and had been so focused on his task he hadn’t thought to check on her.
“Oh, no, oh Elenor…” He whispered, and one tiny, strangled sob broke through before she bit down on her lip. She sank to her knees, one hand still on the cart and the other clutching one of her long braids to her chest. He knew which it was immediately, and his scalp tingled where his own braid was rooted- it was the braids that marked them as parents. Father, his said, partnering hers that read Mother. They had almost matching, slightly lopsided beads, given to them by the twins. Tíli and Víli had been so proud of their efforts, glowing with happiness when they had presented the beads to he and Elenor. Each twin had ‘worked’ on them, tucked on Thorin’s knees in the King’s workspace, as he taught them in secret.
Kíli sank to his own knees, and pulled her into his chest. The helmet bit uncomfortably into his collarbone but he ignored it, clutching Elenor tightly and rocking side to side slowly as she sobbed silently. He squeezed his own eyes shut as they burned, and focused on regulating his breathing. Sway to the right, inhale; Sway to the left, exhale. Around them, the rest of the search and rescue group continued to work diligently, leaving them to their pain and Kíli was grateful.
Children were precious, and they had been blessed with twins.
Please, Mahal, don’t take my Tíli into your halls before her time. Don’t take her from us. Please. Not my little girl Kíli prayed silently.
He stayed down on the stone curled around Elenor long after she stopped crying, though how long that was he couldn’t say. Time evaporated into his rocking, his breathing, and the feeling of Elenor fidgeting with her bead between them.
And then Dwalin started shouting.
“Hold! Hold- Quiet!”
Silence settled like dust, and he and Elenor froze in place holding their breaths. One heartbeat, then two, three—
Two taps, a faint but deep voice-
“Bofur! Keep tapping, lad! We’re coming!” Bifur yelled back, and the team redoubled their efforts on the sound’s side of the tunnel.
Kíli shot up, dragging Elenor with him.
“Stay here.” He said, rushing to help. She took a couple of steps after him, but thankfully stayed out of the way as the dwarrow worked double time. Stubborn as she was, she was also smart. She couldn’t move stone as quickly or as efficiently as Kíli’s people could, and this needed speed.
Even still, it took longer than Kíli would have liked. Several minutes of digging, followed by periods of silence to make sure they could still hear Bofur. Slowly but surely his voice got louder, and eventually smaller rocks were cascading down with each thump. Thorin moved a small boulder, and a split second later Bofur’s booted foot kicked out.
“Bofur! Bofur, hold on we’ll get you out!” Thorin called, and they could hear Bofur’s laughter.
“Please don’t take your time, lads!” He called back, and the boot wiggled.
After that it was no time at all before Thorin and Bifur were reaching into a shallow fissure in the tunnel wall, and heaving Bofur into the open air. He stumbled, limping as he tried to keep weight off of his other foot. And there was Tíli, clinging to one of his hat flaps.
She was curled into as tight a ball as she possibly could be, and to Kíli’s great surprise she had her thumb in her mouth. It wasn’t something either of the twins had done in a long time. He watched as she blinked in the sudden light, squinting around.
“Tíli!” Elenor cried, rushing forwards.
“Mama!” Tíli sobbed, reaching forward. In the next moment, Elenor was scooping her out of their friend’s arms.
Tíli folded her arms and legs around her mother, clutching tightly and weeping. Over Elenor’s shoulder, she locked eyes with him and reached one hand out towards him.
“Adad!”
He strode forward just as Elenor was sinking to her knees again, and wrapped both of them in his arms. He buried his nose in Tíli’s hair, breathing heavily and trying to keep his own tears at bay.
Thank you, Mahal. Thank you.
Thorin gave them a couple of moments before tugging on his shoulder. His grasp was rough, but his eyes were gentle when he spoke.
“Get them up, Kíli. It would be safest to get back up to the main levels.” And Kíli was more than ready to have his family in one place and out of danger.
Tíli was bundled up in her warmest nightgown and tucked into her parent’s bed. Víli was curled up next to her, holding tightly onto her hand even in his sleep. His wet hiccups had long faded into snores. The room was dark, save for a thin slice of light coming in from the ajar door. She could hear the faint voices of her family just down the hall in the common room.
She was meant to be sleeping, and her burning eyes would agree that it would be a good idea. Víli had been asleep just as soon as his head hit the pillow, but there was one more thing she had to do before she rested. One more thing.
Her hand slipped out from under the furs, and she stretched over the edge of the bed until she could press her palm to the cool stone wall behind the headboard. Warmth curled into her fingers like an old friend.
“Thank you.” She whispered, patting it for a moment before tucking her hand back under the warm covers.
A moment later, the door pressed open a little further, and the light swept over the bed. She squeezed her eyes shut quickly, praying her parents hadn’t seen her awake.
“What was she thinking?” her father whispered. No one had asked Tíli yet, why she was in the mines or how she knew about the cave in before it happened. The small flame of hope that whispered maybe they wouldn’t ask at all died out. They’d ask tomorrow, she was sure of it.
“She could have died.” He whispered again, and she heard her mother sigh in response.
“But she didn’t.”
“But she could have.”
“Kíli, all those people are alive right now— because of her. Bofur is alive. She saved him, and he saved her… they’re both fine, and right now that’s all that matters. The rest is… minutiae, my love.” It was silent for a few moments, before her father sighed deeply.
“Go get another glass of wine, Ghivashel. I’ll be there in a moment.” He said softly, and her mother’s footsteps faded down the hall once more. Tíli’s ears strained to hear where her adad was, and she held her breath in order to hear better.
The sudden weight on the bed had her breath hitching in surprise, and she felt a blush creeping up her ears when he chuckled.
“Goodnight, bunnanunê.” he said softly, and she felt his warm fingers brush her bangs back before he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Goodnight, adad…” She whispered back.
She was asleep before he even reached the door.