Tense with hope, Kili's gaze caught on the flicker of Tauriel's fingers and held there, his eyes rounding as the breath pushed abruptly from his lungs. He jerked a baldly astonished look up to her face, the whisper of a smile fleetingly pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"You kept it."

He couldn't imagine what it meant, if she'd believed him dead yet still carried such a token. Return to me. Maybe the stone was more talisman than either of them could have known.

For the first time he noticed the cuts upon her cheeks, how labored her breathing, and his face fell as he took half a step forward.

"You're hurt," he quickly said, eyes soft with worry.