The next day Sigrid slept extremely late and woke up with a terrible headache. Tauriel knocked on the door. “Come in,” she sniffed, sounding congested. Then she coughed.
The elf cautiously opened the door. “Are you alright?” She hurried over to the bed and checked her forehead. “I think you have a fever. I’ll be back. You rest. Would you like me to send Fili in?”
Alarmed, she shook her head. “No! Please, I don’t want him to see me like this. He’s already worried enough.”
“If you say so, but I won’t hide it from him that you’re sick, if he asks.” Leaving the room, Tauriel consulted with Bilbo and he gave her some feverfew to make into a tea along with some peppermint. He also fixed some slices of toast with a smorgasbord of jams, jellies, and even marmalade to put on them, insisting that food is the answer to just about any problem. Just then, Fili walked in and noticed his sister-in-law about to take a tray of food to someone. “Is Kili sick? Is his leg acting up again?” he inquired, concerned the orc poison could possibly still be in his brother’s blood and make him ill yet again.
“No, he’s fine. Sigrid has a cold.”
“Will she be alright?”
“I think so. She just needs to rest some. I think the journey has affected her more than she’s let on.”
“May I take the tray to her?”
“She doesn’t really want you to see her like that, but you can if you want…”
“No, you’d better go on. I’ll see if Kili wants to explore Hobbiton with me.” The elf smiled and went on her way.
Unbeknownst to anyone, a certain dark lady had just found her way to the Shire. After staying and plotting in Dale for a while, she felt the urge to be close to the handsome blonde dwarf and finally gave way, locating a fast horse and charging off after her true love. Her sheer determination brought her through the dark forest of Mirkwood, through the Misty Mountains, and all the way to Hobbiton. After the locals rudely stared at her, she marched up to a rather rotund man who could not control his shocked expression. “You there! I need to find out where a master Bilbo Baggins lives. Please direct me to his home at once, and tell your friends to quit staring at me. Haven’t you ever seen a human before?”
He hemmed and hawed. “He lives at Bag End, ma’am. And no, we are not accustomed to humans coming into our villages.” He pointed her in the right direction and described the luxurious accommodations, so she thanked him and headed on her way. After carefully hiding her horse, she walked the rest of the way and cautiously peaked in the windows. She noticed the threesome in the kitchen and overheard some of their conversation. So, the insolent little girl had gotten sick! Humph. Couldn’t even get two-thirds of the way to the Blue Mountains, while Esmerelda made it all the way to the Shire by herself. Surely that would help Fili to see what a good catch she was!
The blonde dwarf moved to go outside, so she quickly moved to the door she expected him to come out. After adjusting her garments, she sidled up to him. “Good day, Master Dwarf of Erebor!”
A bit startled, he took a moment to reply. “Good morning! What are you doing here?”
“Just taking a break from my teaching. As much as I enjoy it, one needs to get away from it all every once in a while. If I had known you were headed the same direction, we could have travelled together!” She batted her eyes at him.
“I suppose so…Did you travel all this way by yourself?”
“Yes!” She beamed. “It really was nice to be alone for the first few days, but after that I got bored with my own company. Do you ever plan to go back to Dale?”
“Yes, once I find my mother. But that will take much too long for you to come along.”
“I suppose you are right. But where are you headed right now? We could visit a bit on your way…”she smiled and slipped her arm through his, which he immediately removed.
The dwarf sighed. “My brother and I are going to walk around Hobbiton a bit. We didn’t get much of a chance to explore the last time we were here, and now that we’ve befriended Bilbo both of us are anxious to meet more of these amazing hobbits.”
“Oh, that sounds lovely!”
Fabulous. The flirty schoolteacher had just attached herself to Fili and he did not like that at all. But how could he get rid of her and tell her he was already taken, with no hope of changing his mind? Was she just trying to be friendly, or did she want something more than friendship?
Just then, Kili came from wandering in Bilbo’s garden. “Fili! Ready to explore? Oh, good day, ma’am!” He noticed Esmerelda and smiled, although his brother detected confusion in his expression.
“Good morning! I’m coming with you two! Fili invited me along,” she purred, lying through her teeth.
“Alright…” he stammered as they headed off.
~
While Tauriel remained unhappy about Esmerelda’s presence, she still could not figure out why she didn’t like the woman and refused to trust her. Usually her elvish instincts were right about others, and it bothered her not to know what was going on inside the woman’s head. She did notice the schoolteacher using the time Sigrid was sick to her advantage, spending as much time with Fili as he would allow, which did not please him in the slightest. He was too nice to tell her to go away.
Sigrid recovered after a few days of Bilbo’s kind care; he knew of many different teas and foods that helped ease her time of illness. Thus, just as Fili said, the week at Bag End passed by all too quickly. All four travellers enjoyed relaxing and having fun, so they were well-rested and prepared for the last leg of their journey. Even Sigrid was feeling much more like herself and now had a healthy glow about her instead of pallor, much to Fili’s relief.
Bilbo was loath to see them go, yet at the same time was getting a bit tired of all the comments from his neighbours. They thought it very strange to have all those house guests and kept on trying to peek in the windows at them and consequently he had to keep the curtains and shutters closed most of the time. Not that he cared what others thought anymore – he had lost much of his respectability by gallivanting off with the dwarves, as the other hobbits quaintly put it. Rather, the kindly hobbit was concerned for his company and wanted them to feel welcome instead of like some sort of weird spectacle.
“Please, when you are finished visiting your mother, come back to Bag End! It would be a pleasure to have all of you and you are welcome at any time.”
“Thank you so much for your wonderful hospitality! You would almost put an elf to shame!” Tauriel replied for all of them.
After making sure everyone carried sacks of food, the hobbit hugged each of his guests and bid them a fond farewell and safe travels. He stood by his door, pipe in hand wafting smoke rings into the air, as he watched the travellers disappear beyond the horizon. Relief and sadness filled him. As happy as he was to be alone again, he had had so little time to himself the past year (excepting the many weeks he spent fending for himself within the halls of the Elvenking) that he hardly knew what to do with himself.
Once the foursome were outside the city limits of Hobbiton, Esmerelda popped up on her horse. “Good day! Are you all headed to the Blue Mountains?”
“Yes,” Kili answered, miffed to see the annoying woman once again; he knew how much his brother wanted to get away from her.
“I really wish I could join you! Will it take long to get there from here?”
“I expect it to take a good week or more, and even then we are not sure the exact location of the dwarf encampment.”
The schoolteacher sighed. “I suppose I cannot join you, then. I really should head back to my students. I’ve probably been away too long already. Well, I do hope you find your mother!” She rode off, disappointed that she’d made no headway with Fili at all. However, instead of heading back towards Dale, she once again followed the small company, unable to let Fili go too far from her just yet. He needed to go back to the Lonely Mountain, the only place she was really comfortable and knew what she was doing. A sly grin turned up the corners of her lips as her horse plodded along. She knew exactly what would cause him to return home, and she was the person to make that happen. Dismounting from her steed, she searched among the large variety of green plants and colourful flowers. At last she found the purple-tinted, nine-pointed and almost snowflake-shaped leafy vegetation with its ashen fluff on the rounded seed pods: castor beans. A handkerchief held carefully in her hand, she picked six beans and folded them away in her bags. The ricin laced within their skins was the perfect solution to her problem. Now to set the plan into action!
~
The foursome was on the road again, closing in on Ered Luin, the Blue Mountains. The terrain, relatively flat between the Shire and their destination, meant they did not expect it to take very long. The distance was quite great, however, and they had a river to cross between the two locations. It could, perhaps, take three weeks to arrive at their destination. To complicate matters a bit more, they were not quite sure of the exact location of the dwarves there and expected it could take a few extra days to find them, perhaps even a few weeks if things did not go as well as they hoped. Fili and Kili especially were keyed up with the anticipation of seeing their mother again. Yet they would also be bearing the news of her brother Thorin’s death, which they dreaded telling her but knew she needed to hear the news; it likely wouldn’t surprise her anyway.
Sixteen days later, the Blue Mountains were within sight. Fili stopped and stared, then gently grabbed Sigrid’s arm and pointed her towards the high, rocky peaks. “Those, my dear, are the Blue Mountains, Ered Luin! Are they not gorgeous?”
“Fili! How beautiful! And the mists do make them look blue! I have never seen anything so lovely, not even Rivendell.” She scooted closer into a friendly side-hug.
Kili was in a similar situation with Tauriel when Fili proclaimed, “Let us be off to find our mother; she is likely worried sick and the sooner we get to her the better. And we must still cross the River Lhûn somehow.”
“Right. Off to Ered Luin!” Kili agreed.
The weather was warm enough that the party decided to ford the river in its shallowest place, which ended up being shoulder deep for the shortest of them, Sigrid. They tied a rope between the four of them, just in case someone lost his or her footing. Fili paved the way across, followed by his brother, then Sigrid, and Tauriel brought up the rear. His feet searched for solid footing, thus the going was slow. However, his footsteps remained firm and stable, providing a safe path for the rest of his companions. A collective sigh of relief released from every person when they made it to the other side in safety, rather wet but happy and even closer to the Blue Mountains.
They journeyed on another week and finally arrived at the dwarf encampment. A scout met them and after reuniting with Fili and Kili, and being introduced to Tauriel and Sigrid, directed them to Dís’s tent.
As soon as they located it, the dwarves made themselves known and walked in. The elf and human stayed outside, wishing their lovers to have some privacy before more introductions could be made.
Dís was a frailer version of herself than her sons remembered. Her once strong and youthful body now hunched over, and many lines had formed on her face that neither of her sons remembered being as pronounced as they were now. However, she jumped out of her bed as soon as she heard their voices.
“You came back!” she cried. “I missed you boys so much! I was beginning to fear your homecoming was not meant to be! Fili, you took care of Kili!”
“I promised I would return, Mother, and I did! Thanks to my big brother’s guardianship, and that of Uncle Thorin, and pretty much all our other companions.” Kili hugged her, extremely glad to see her again, then stepped aside so his brother could do likewise. His mind went back to the night when he told this promise to Tauriel and triumph flashed in his eyes that he had made it good at last! “I have some bad news and some good news…” he started off, unsure how to tell her of her brother’s death.
“Yes? The bad news first, to get it out of the way.”
“Mother, Uncle Thorin was killed in the Battle of the Five Armies – I’ll fill you in about that later. Cousin Dain became the King of Erebor since Fili and I did not desire to rule.”
“Oh, no! Did my brother suffer long?” As disheartened as she was, the old dwarf held little surprise at this revelation; Thorin had always been rather aggressive and did not know when to give in or ask for help if he fought.
“He did for a while, I am afraid to say; at least that is what we were told. Fili and I were unconscious at the time from our own injuries –“ he paused when he saw her eyebrows raise in concern, “We are perfectly well now so no need to worry. I’m so sorry, Mother! Fili and I tried our best to protect him, but there were too many foes. We were separated toward the end and were not anywhere near him when he received his fatal injuries.” Kili’s voice became choked with emotion and he lowered his gaze, regretting that he could not save his uncle.
“There, there. I know you fought your best and did all you could. He was a tough old thing and likely would have been killed by some other foul creature before long. I do not blame either of you for his death. I never expected to see him again anyway. But why did you two renounce the throne? I thought Fili always wanted to rule the Lonely Mountain once Thorin was gone.”
“That was a childhood dream, mother. I could not bear the thought of ruling after my uncle died such a tragic death, and I would want Kili to share in my duties as well. You know how that would work out!” Fili smiled and lightly punched his brother’s arm, and Kili returned the good-natured gesture.
Dís chuckled. “I know! Wait, you told me you also have good news?”
“Yes! Both of us do! Tauriel, Sigrid, please come in!” the dwarves said together, and Dís raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes at the mention of two female names.
The elf and human walked in. “Good day! ‘Tis a pleasure to meet you!” the women stated graciously.
Dís was confused; after all, dwarves and elves, while not necessarily enemies, had as little contact as possible, although both had passable interactions with humans on occasion. “Good day! Who are you two?” And what were her sons doing with such strange companions?
“Mother, this is my love Sigrid.” Fili presented his future bride. “I met her in Dale and we fell in love. I could not bear to leave her there alone and selfishly axed her to join us. Her father kindly allowed her to come with us, as you can see. We have been granted a two-year courtship, and we have his blessing to marry at the end of this time.”
The dwarf lady, ecstatic, drew Sigrid into a big hug. “I am happy to meet you! I have desired for my boys to settle down for several years now, but I never dreamed this mad journey of theirs would lead to romance! Welcome to the family!” Although she found it odd that he had chosen such a bride, she eagerly embraced the young woman into the family, the love of her son being enough to gain her affection as well.
While happy to see her future mother-in-law, Sigrid was also a bit taken aback. The dwarves had failed to inform her that all of their kind sport beards, both men and women, and the women rarely shave! Seeing a female with so much facial hair was a new experience; the young lady tried her best to hide her surprise yet felt she failed. Fili noticed her discomfort and winked at her, which assured her everything would be fine. Besides, she had been welcomed so warmly that she could not help but love her future mother-in-law already.
Tauriel, on the other hand, knew quite a bit about dwarves and their somewhat strange customs. She definitely had been more prepared than her travelling companion and gently squeezed Sigrid’s hand, a silent way of telling her she was there for her and knew this dwarf lady would accept them.
“And Mother, I also have a surprise.” Kili pulled Tauriel closer. “This is Tauriel, my beautiful wife!”
“What!?”
“Yes, we were married a few months ago in her home of Mirkwood. We simply could not wait until we got here to Ered Luin!”
“My Kili, married! Come here, sweetie.” She motioned to Tauriel and hugged her also. “I am so glad my son has found you. I can tell the love between you is strong and lasting.”
Dís had learned it was better not to harbour ill feelings towards other races, particularly elves and men, since most of them were on the good side. She knew she would not be around much longer and was grateful to see her sons settling down. However, in all her days she never would have guessed her family would include an elf, especially knowing how Thorin felt about them.
“Mother, Tauriel, I must admit something to you both.” Kili’s’ face held a grave expression.
“Yes?” they both asked at once, a bit anxious of what he might say.
“Well, when all fifteen of us stayed at Rivendell the first time, I have to admit I really did not fancy those elf women. Sure, I knew their own people thought them beautiful, but you, Mother, know that I have always preferred our own people. Any self-respecting dwarf likes a stocky woman with a beard, rough around the edges and all that.” He turned to look at his lady, surprise showing in her eyes. “However, when I first saw you, Amralime,” he slipped into the dwarvish endearment, his own language flooding back to him as he was surrounded by his people once more, “I knew there was something different. I no longer felt odd about elves! Just something about you changed my mind. Perhaps it is because I could tell you are a great warrior, something I admire greatly in women. You changed my mind about true beauty, and as we’ve been married these months I have found you to be the most beautiful of all.”
“Kili!” his mother and wife exclaimed in tandem again, the former in shock and embarrassment and the latter in sheer love and admiration.
“Mother Dís, it is fine, really. I admire my Kili for admitting this and it only makes me love him all the more. I also must confess I found dwarves a bit strange at first; among my people no one has facial hair! But I find a beard makes a man look rugged and handsome, especially your precious son!”
The dwarf lady laughed, clearly liking her new daughter-in-law. “My, my! What shall I do with you all?
However, I am afraid life is not all fun and games. Fili, Kili, may I speak with you boys in private again?” Turning to their loves, she asked, “Begging your pardon, ladies!”
“Yes, Mother!” her sons replied, and the womenfolk smiled and took their leave, understanding the need for the three to have some alone time.
“Oh my sweet boys! I shall not be in this world much longer. Having both of you and my brother Thorin gone so long has wreaked havoc on my body. I have not been well since you left and sense that my time is near.”
“Mother, no!” Fili did not want to hear that his beloved mother was dying; he’d already seen too much dwarvish blood shed on the battlefield and another loss seemed much too soon.
“Fili, please do not worry about me! I can now rest in peace. I know you boys are safe and that you have good women at your sides to tend you until your last days. You do not need me anymore, and neither does Thorin.”
The dwarf brothers were sad but knew their mama was right, as usual. Then Kili excused himself to talk with Tauriel. Fili stayed with Dís a few more minutes, then took his leave. Yet about a half hour later, Kili and Tauriel reappeared.
“Mother, Tauriel and I have some more good news we want to share.”
“Do not just stand there; tell me!” she demanded.
Tauriel stepped forward, taking the dwarf lady’s hands in both of hers. “Naneth Dís, I am bearing your son’s child!” They embraced, and the eyes of the grandmother-to-be shone with happy tears.
“I’m so happy for you! My Kili, a father! Tell me, when will the child be born?”
“A bit less than a year from now if all goes well! And if we have a daughter, she shall be named in memory of you, and our son after your brother Thorin.”
Kili smiled in approval at his dear wife. Then a group hug was due and all three gladly obliged.

Author’s Note: This chapter has some features inspired by a pin on Pinterest. It’s a really sad & sweet lament about how Fili took care of Kili & no one expected them both to die, which is why only Kili promised to return to his mother. The idea was so good that I felt I had to include that in here somewhere!