"No," Kili replied of the stone, and managed a slightly more substantial smile. "It's your promise now."

As she continued, he looked down to his chest, feeling again over the tear in the fabric of his shirt. His leg still ached and he suspected having several cracked ribs in addition to his bruises, but those injuries were not the ones she meant.

"I'm not," he confirmed, and glanced back up to her face. "But you need tending."

She must have come from shortly after he died, he realized then, and with a jolt it occurred to him for the first time that he might not be the only one of them dead. Fili did not remember falling, did not believe this to be the afterlife, but Kili had seen his brother's death with his own eyes.

"The orc—?" he began, suddenly tense again. She had been badly injured, and with no one left to aid in her defense.