Blaine begged Kurt to retrace their steps back to Rivendell as closely as he could, so that his brother and his clan might have a more accurate depiction of the landscape that they traveled over the adventure that they shared. Kurt did his best, recreating the path that they took where he could, making alterations as necessary to aid the Dwarves where he could since a pair were always tasked with the carrying of the stretcher and their clan leader's body. Plunging off the side of a cliff was something he logistically could not recreate, so he took them along the shores of the Great River Anduin so that they may have some idea of the peril they faced.

Blaine recounted the stories over and over, each time exaggerating the details a bit more, often times making Kurt look like more of a hero than Kurt remembered being. Listening to Blaine weave these tales of Kurt's exceptional skill with a sword, how he slayed Orcs left and right with his blade while simultaneously stabbing at them with his arrows, how he dragged Blaine from the arms of certain death one-handed and, without regard for his own life, threw them both off the cliff, made Kurt almost believe that they could be true - that maybe he was the hero he had always dreamed he could be. It also seemed that Cooper wasn't the only one with a flair for the dramatic. Kurt was certain that Blaine's companions would see right through these tales, but it didn't matter. The group of Dwarves ate the stories up – every last word. They never seemed to tire of the telling, even after days of hearing them, and afterward, they each one looked at the Elf differently.

Even Puck seemed to regard Kurt with something close to respect.

After two nights, Kurt could tell that the Evil presence, whatever it had been, had decided to disregard the band of Dwarves and their Elf guide entirely. The Orcs had continued their march South to the Dark Lands and were no longer in the sphere of their concern. Kurt still kept watch by night, less rigidly so now that the stars had returned, and Blaine always joined him, staying close beside him. Kurt was happy to have Blaine with him, and not necessarily out of a need to keep him safe.

The closer they came to Rivendell, the more his heart began to break, and the more bittersweet sleeping beside Blaine became, but he didn't have the strength to send the Dwarf away.

One night, when the moon returned and it's silvery light revealed just how close to their destination they were, Kurt felt himself so overwhelmed by his emotions for the Dwarf that he held Blaine close while he slept, kissed the curls on his head, and said in a voice quietly so none, not even Blaine, could hear, “Amin mela lle.”

But Kurt had again underestimated the Dwarf, who turned in his arms to readjust the position of his head from Kurt's shoulder to his chest, to that point where he could better hear the Elf's heart beating, and before he settled in enough to fall back into a deep slumber, he smiled and whispered, “I love you, too, Kurt.”

The last day of their journey, as the hillside sloped downward and the waterfalls over Rivendell could be plainly seen from the elevation they traveled, was a day of celebration for the Dwarves. They were eager to find rest and food and, hopefully, an abundance of mead. Even Blaine joked and laughed with the rest of their clan over the prospects of sleeping in a real bed…and of eventually seeing the Blue Mountains again.

For the most part, Kurt walked alone, a distance behind, not unhappy to be close to home, but not glad for it either. He was confused, unsure of where his path would lead from here.

He had had so many dreams as a young Elf – dreams he was sure would never come true. But now he'd lived them. He had gone on the adventure of a lifetime, and he realized that adventure was no longer what he wanted for his life.

But the one thing he found that he did want was the one thing he most likely could not have.

He sighed as he watched Blaine walk with his arm around Sam's shoulder, meeting his honey-gold eyes when they would glance behind from time to time to catch Kurt's blue eyes and smile.

Smile because he was happy to be going home, Kurt surmised, but that didn't keep him from smiling back. Sam pinched Blaine's side to get his attention, and Kurt scowled at the back of the blond Dwarf's head.

“Hey, stranger,” a voice called out to Kurt. Kurt turned and saw Cooper separate from the group to join him, and even if it wasn't the company of the Dwarf he wanted to talk to, Kurt found he was glad to receive Blaine's older brother.

“Hey, yourself,” Kurt returned with a nod to the elder Andurinin heir. “We are almost at the borders of Rivendell. If we keep up this pace, we will be there before nightfall.”

“I am glad,” Cooper said. “I tire of sleeping on the cold ground. It does my joints a disservice.” Cooper rolled his right shoulder for emphasis.

“Well, don't you worry, Master Dwarf,” Kurt said with a chuckle, using the title he had once employed as a taunt more fondly on Cooper's account, “the Elves have long seen us coming, and from what I can tell are preparing to greet us. I can already smell the feast they have started in celebration of our return.”

“Can you?” Cooper asked with his eyes hopeful and wide, lifting his nose to the air and taking a deep sniff. “I envy you your senses, Kurt. You can hear things and see things that I will never hope to.”

Kurt smiled humbly.

“But,” Cooper said, looking Kurt straight in the eyes as he spoke, “you, my lovely Elf, are blind to many things.”

Kurt jerked back a bit, startled.

“I don't understand,” he said, trying not to sound like he took Cooper's comment in offense.

Cooper kept his eyes locked with Kurt's as he spoke.

“I can see in your eyes, Kurt, that you struggle with something, but you struggle needlessly.”

Kurt's brow furrowed and he shook his head, still not able to comprehend the Dwarf's meaning.

Blaine laughed suddenly, loud and hearty. It filled the air around them until the sound of the other Dwarves' laughter mixed with it and overpowered it. Cooper turned to watch his brother join along as the other Dwarves began to sing.

“I am surprised that Blaine has walked so far,” he said in an abrupt change of the subject. “That limp gives him so much trouble. Back in the Mountain, he could barely last an hour traveling the mines before I would have to send him to his bed to rest, but look at him.”

Kurt chuckled.

“When we first started out from Rivendell, he could not keep up,” Kurt said, not willing to admit that he had walked the poor Dwarf to exhaustion for his own selfish purposes. “He tired out so easily. We stopped many times so he could catch his breath.”

“I believe you,” Cooper said. “He's a much different Dwarf than he was, I'd wager, for now he is much different than even I remember him.”

Kurt looked down at Cooper and tilted his head.

“What ails his leg, if you don't mind my asking?”

“He hasn't told you?” Cooper asked, sounding surprised. “I would have thought, what with all you two have been through, that it would have come up.”

Kurt suddenly felt ashamed that it never dawned on him to ask Blaine about it before. At first, it was simply a burden, another reason not to like the peculiar Dwarf. By the time Kurt realized that wasn't the case, it became a subject he chose to ignore, acknowledging its presence only when he needed to slow down so Blaine could catch up.

“Frankly, no,” Kurt replied, letting his guilt show. “I never asked, and he never offered.”

“Oh, well, it's no big deal, really,” Cooper said, his tone light as he told the tale. “Father had taken us hunting. Blaine was only about four at the time, I think, and while we were collecting our snares we came across a huge serpent. The thing wanted our rabbit and we were more than happy to give it to him, but father got his foot caught in a burrow hole and he couldn't pull it free.”

Cooper paused and he and Kurt both looked at Blaine just as Blaine turned back to look at Kurt. When he saw both sets of eyes on him, he blushed bright red and quickly ducked his head, turning back to a rowdy Puck starting on the next verse of their song.

Cooper looked at Kurt, who wore a matching blush on his cheeks. Out of the side of his eye, Kurt caught Cooper watching him. He cleared his throat to continue their conversation.

“So, if it was your father's foot that became caught, what happened to Blaine?”

“I was busy trying to wrench my father's foot free, so I didn't notice when the coiled serpent struck. It sprang forward, aiming for my father's face and would have certainly struck him in the eye, but Blaine leapt in the way, blocking the attack.”

Kurt turned slowly to look at Cooper, whose voice had become thick as he talked about his brother.

“That snake bite would have blinded my father, no question,” Cooper said with his eyes fixed on Blaine's laughing face, “but it could have killed my brother. It latched onto his leg and tore some muscles loose. He almost didn't survive the venom. He pulled through, but his heart…it's never been as strong as it should.”

If Kurt could have disappeared, he would have. If he could have gone back to that first day leaving Rivendell, he would have changed everything. He had treated Blaine so cruelly, and he thought he had made a proper mends, but he didn't know about this.

Blaine's heart – so big and kind and pure…and broken.

“Hey…” Cooper put a comforting hand to Kurt's back, “it's alright. You didn't know.”

It does matter, Kurt thought. I didn't need to know this to be kind to him.

Blaine had taught him that.

“Why are you telling me this?” Kurt said, choking on the words, not looking up at the eyes he knew were staring at him with concern - hazel eyes whose owner was traveling through the throng of Dwarves to get to Kurt.

“I am telling you this,” Cooper said quickly, trying to beat the reach of his brother's legs, “because my brother gives all to where he loves. His life didn't matter in the face of that snake if he thought the life of our father was in danger. I see the way you two look at each other. I am not blind to how you two feel. He is not bound to the Blue Mountains, Kurt. Not the way I am. He would give everything – everything – to you, if you but asked him.”

“But, I…”

“Kurt…” Blaine finally reached them, and he put his arm around him, replacing Cooper's hand on Kurt's back with his own, “are you alright? You look upset.”

Kurt couldn't lift his eyes to look into Blaine's, so Blaine fought to catch Kurt's.

“Think about what I said to you, Kurt,” Cooper said, breaking away from the couple and joining the group of singing Dwarves short a tenor voice.

“What did he say?” Blaine asked when his brother was out of earshot. “What were you talking about that made you so upset?”

Kurt didn't answer, but he lifted his head up and averted his eyes away to look at the cliffs of his homeland.

Blaine was not bound to the Mountain. Could he be happy living in the land of the Elves?

Did Kurt have the right to ask, love or not?

“I'm just…” Kurt sighed. He didn't want to lie to Blaine, but all the truth he had locked inside wasn't ready to make itself known…not yet. “I'm happy to be home.”

***

Kurt had been right about the feast. As the golden sun began to dip toward the horizon, roasted meat could be smelled from miles off, which quickened the Dwarves' steps for the last leg of their journey.

They passed through the stone gateway to Rivendell shy of sunset, and a huge assemblage of Elves and a few Blue Mountain Dwarves of other clans were there to greet them. Music swelled in the cool air from unseen instruments, and Blaine wondered if it was produced by some sort of magic spell. It was a beautiful sound, to be sure, but it paled in comparison to Kurt's voice in Blaine's opinion. Elves and Dwarves cheered, and many hands reached out to greet the tired and dirty traveling party. A congregation of Elves in blue and silver robes relieved the Mike and Puck of the stretcher that bore the Dwarf Lord's body, carrying him away to a sacred place where his body would be protected for the time being.

Kurt and Blaine kept their hands locked together, which received many questioning looks from those who saw them, but Kurt was so overcome by being home – finally being home - that he didn't notice. He searched the crowd of well-wishers for his father and his stepmother, but most especially his brother, hoping that he had returned while Kurt was away. Kurt still wondered about the appearance of the Rohirrim in that small wood, and whether or not his brother had been riding with them.

It would have been nice to know that there was a friend among them during that dire time, that maybe a swing of his brother's sword or a well-aimed arrow from his bow had changed the turn of the tide in their hour of need.

As Kurt's eyes swept the smiles around them, one familiar face approached with a fanfare of silver horns, signaling everyone else to move aside.

“Kurt,” the warm, fatherly voice of Lord Elrond addressed him as the Great Elf King rested his hands on Kurt's shoulders, “Lle naa mae govannen.” Kurt returned his smile and bowed graciously. Lord Elrond fixed his eyes on the Dwarves with the same warmth, stopping at the joined hands of Kurt and Blaine. “As you are all well met,” he said to the company, repeating his greeting to Kurt in the common tongue for those present to hear. “You who have been lost are now found, and many a Dwarf and Elf alike are glad to see you return.”

The Dwarves murmured their thanks at the king's welcome, though they all seemed a little crestfallen at the mention of those lost being found.

“I am sorry to hear of the death of your father, Blaine and Cooper, heirs of the Andurinin Clan,” Lord Elrond said softly. “He was an exceptional Dwarf, and a good friend.”

“Thank you for your kindness, Your Grace,” Cooper said with a dignified bow.

Lord Elrond opened his arms to those gathered.

“There will be a great feast this evening,” he announced, “to celebrate the return of our brother...” he said with a hand resting on Kurt's hair, “and our friends,” he said with a sweeping gesture of his arm to the Dwarf party.

He turned a kind face to Blaine and Cooper.

“Then tomorrow we will discuss provisions for getting your father home.”

Blaine nodded.

“On behalf of myself and my kin, I thank you.”

Elves and Dwarves gathered the visitors and led them away to a place where they might wash and rest before the start of the big celebration, but when Kurt turned to follow Blaine out of the hall, Lord Elrond took his arm and held it.

“I have need to speak to you further, Kurt,” he said. “It is a matter of some importance.”

“Is it the reason why my father and stepmother are not here to receive me?” Kurt asked. He didn't necessarily expect his father to be waiting at the gates to meet him, though he had deeply wished for it, but he was surprised to see that his stepmother had not come. It could have simply been a matter of tending to his father's wounded pride at his disgraceful son actually coming home, and a hero to boot, but it still disturbed him. Hearing Lord Elrond address it outright to him, however, caused a hard lump to form in his chest. It grew with each second that passed, and with it a dread bloomed.

“Yes,” Lord Elrond said. His eyes shifted to where Blaine stood, holding tight to Kurt's hand.

“It's alright,” Kurt said to the Elf King. “I have a feeling that whatever you're about to tell me, I'm going to need a friend beside me, and I would wish none other than Blaine.”

Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand, and Kurt could feel his smile even if he didn't turn his eyes away from Lord Elrond to see it.

“Yes,” Lord Elrond agreed. “Yes, I believe you are right.” He turned his eyes away from the Dwarf and looked back at Kurt. His smile dipped only a little, but enough of it remained to soften his words.

“I am grieved to have to inform you, Kurt,” the good King said, “that your brother Finn is dead.”