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Five months after the great battle Kili Durin woke up bored. The boredom was tinged with the ever present relief, of course, following almost a year of travelling through orc ridden wastelands, goblin slums and elven forestland followed by what can only be described as the greatest battle of this age, who wouldn’t be relieved to find themselves secure in their homeland? But once the initial euphoria and celebrations had subsided and normal life resumed, Kili found himself thinking about how mundane it all was and wishing for something more, something exciting, challenging and maybe a little dangerous. Remembering it was Tuesday and he’d promised Bofur that he’d stop by and help him babysit his nieces and nephews, Kili dragged himself out of bed and over to the chair he’d folded his tunic and breeches on the night before. Dressing himself had become quite the task with the injuries he’d sustained up on Ravenhill, most noticeably the puncture wound on his right shoulder. Cursing the orc responsible for the reduced mobility in his favoured arm, he washed his face and teeth quickly and headed towards the dining halls, hoping his Uncle Bilbo hadn’t devoured his share of breakfast. After feasting on a breakfast fit for a king, he headed towards the house Bombur shared with his wife, Meeghan and their seven children. The dark haired dwarven prince let his mind wander back to the thoughts he had upon waking. He was so lost in his fantasies of rousing battles against brutal hoards of enemies he forgot to pay attention to where he was going and was shaken from his daydreaming when he tripped over a rock on the path, throwing his left arm out to brace himself against impact he was surprised to find the landing much softer than he’d anticipated. Opening his eyes, which he’d closed instinctively as he fell, he looked down into the face attached to the soft body that he’d landed on top of. Silky blonde hair wrapped around the hand he’d put out to break his fall and bright blue eyes glared crossly up at Kili and after a few moments of gazing into them, he remembered where they were.
“Oh Mahal, I’m so sorry!” he cried, disentangling his hand from the golden locks and jumping off the girl, regretting it instantly when his right shoulder wrenched painfully.
“Yes, well, so you should be!” The girl, Kili made a mental note to find out her name, spoke harshly to him but accepted the hand he held out, his good one, and allowed him to pull her up, “and watch where you’re bloody going next time!”
“I…I really am sorry” Kili blushed, trust him to make a fool of himself in front of the first pretty girl he’d met since Tauriel had headed out North with Legolas.
The two peered awkwardly at each other for another few seconds before the girl, Kili really needed to find out her name, tutted, shaking her head she turned away and before he could stop her, disappeared back into the crowds that had gathered around the marketplace. Mentally berating himself the young dwarf also joined the bustling throng of dwarves and men and carried on towards Bombur's. Upon his arrival at the chef’s home he was bombarded in the front yard with little dwarf lings, all jumping up at him with delighted squeals of “Kee!” Ignoring the pain shooting down his right arm he bent down and scooped up the smallest two, twins named Mim and Khim, Kili grinned down at the smiling little fuzzy faced children.
“Where’s your uncle Bofur?” he enquired.
“He’s inside with uncle Nori” replied a disgusted looking Ibun “Kissing!”
Kili chuckled; at 14 Ibun was the eldest of Bombur and Meeghan’s children, and the brunette remembered being equally repulsed at a similar age when he found his Mother and uncle Dwalin kissing goodbye in the kitchen as he came down for breakfast. A vision of the blonde haired, blue eyed girl from earlier crossed his mind then, he wondered what it’d be like to kiss her. Shaking the thought from his mind for later, he gently put the twins down and followed the kids into the entryway where he could hear the excited chattering of the dwarflings leading the way to their uncle.
“Kili!” the moustached, hatted dwarf exclaimed happily up on seeing him, looking suspiciously pink and dishevelled, “what took ya so long lad?! Never mind that now, I promised the rabble we would take them down to the lake by Dale for a swim, hope ya brought your trunks?”
Kili had, the heat of the summers day a pretty good indication of where they’d be spending their day, and he grinned at his friend and told him so. The next twenty minutes were spent rounding up the five young dwarves and preparing a lunch basket to take with them. Finally all the children were dressed for a day out to the lake, the lunch was packed and they set off on their way. The short walk was filled with excited shouts from the dwarf lings and loud laughs from Kili and Bofur as the prince teased his friend about his new relationship with Nori. Upon arriving at the grassy bank by the water the group stripped down to their swimwear and took turns dive-bombing into the crystal clear, clear water. Oin had warned Kili to not overdo it with his injury until it had fully healed but the headstrong young dwarf put it to the back of his mind as he splashed and played with the children, ignoring the persistent ache that radiated from his shoulder. After a couple of hours of paddling and a few good natured water fights, Kili found himself agreeing to a race to one side of the lake and back again against Ibun, the younger dwarf grinning cheekily as he taunted the elder about his age and swimming ability.
“On my mark!” yelled Bofur “get set!”
“GO!” squealed Ibun’s younger siblings, jumping up and down with excitement.
Kili set off at speed, being a strong swimmer since he was a lad, he was confident in his ability to beat Ibun twice over if he put effort in. Not wanting to crush the younger entirely he paced himself, leisurely swimming out across the lake, the shouts of encouragement from Bofur and the other kids getting quieter and quieter until the only sounds he could hear were the gentle whooshing of the water surrounding him and the cawing of the Erebor ravens as they flew overhead. Reaching the other side of the lake in a respectable time Kili craned round to look for Ibun, spotting his competitor only a few metres behind him he grinned to himself then set off on the return journey. He made it about halfway back when the unceasing ache in his injured shoulder turned into a blinding, stabbing pain. Realising he was in trouble, the dwarven prince started yelling for help whilst trying to stay afloat with his one good arm. Being so far from shore his cries went unheard and Ibun passed him by without noticing him. Kili felt the strength leaving him, his limbs becoming heavy as his muscles seized, glancing again at the group on the land he saw they’d noticed his distress and saw a flash of golden hair as someone dived off a rock into the lake. As the water overtook him, he thought of his mother, his brother and his uncle, how silly they’d come so far on the journey where Thorin had met his One in Bilbo and he would never find his own now, he’d fought off orcs, goblins and elves yet his own stupidity would be his downfall. So deep in his thoughts was he that he barely noticed the two small but strong feminine hands grabbing him around the chest and hauling him above the water. His last thought before blacking out was that the flash of golden hair and blue eyes he’d caught a glimpse of had seemed strangely familiar but he couldn’t figure out where he recognized them from.
“Mr Durin? Mr Durin...Kili…can you hear me?” a soft, clearly feminine voice broke through the fog clouding Kili’s mind.
The pain in his right shoulder was still there, but more muted than before and his limbs no longer felt like lead. Blinking a few times before opening his eyes fully, Kili looked up at the face hovering above him. The beautiful stranger from that morning was peering back down at him, concern written all over her pretty features.
“Your name!” he demanded, not willing to let her escape him this time.
“Excuse me?” the concern turned into confusion, a small, cute wrinkle appearing between her brows.
“What’s your name? You ran off before I could ask you before...”
“Mr Durin-” she began.
“Kili,” he interrupted, “you can call me Kili.” He paused for a moment, she looked speechless “and you are?”
“Erm…Karin” she said before blushing shyly.
“Right, okay, alright then!” came a familiar voice from Kili’s left, he turned his head to see an amused looking Bofur and five worried little faces peeking in at him “now we’ve established he hasn’t lost his appalling flirting skills, is he gonna be okay?”
Karin was looking at him when he turned his face back to her.
“Yes” she breathed, smiling down at him, “he’s going to be fine.”
Kili grinned back up at her, he felt more alive than he had in weeks.
The End.