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Since Kili had first become King Under the Mountain he had overseen the counting and sorting of the vast treasure in Erebor, taking inventory of all that lay withing the Treasury. Ten years had passed since his coronation, and still they were only a third of the way through the treasure. It was a tedious business but it had to be finished. There had been a few instances over the past ten years when one dwarf or another had taken a fancy to some gem he'd seen while sorting and decided to risk taking what was not his to take.
But thievery was the least of Kili's worries. He could easily punish a thief. What he was incapable of doing was curing madness. It weighed on him heavily every day that he watched his people sorting through the vast treasure. It was true that Galadriel, Elrond, and Gandalf had removed as much of the dragon-curse as they could, and for that Kili was grateful. But he couldn't help but think that his great-grandfather Thror had not been subject to dragon-sickness but only the gold alone. Kili feared for his people, especially those that worked among the gold every day, taking inventory. He had worked out a system with Balin's help so that no dwarf spent more than a week sorting the treasure before they were given a two week break to return to their other employments. It spread the tedious job among more dwarves to share the load and also, Kili hoped, ensured that no-one would be liable to fall to madness. Yet even so, he worried.
Today, however, as he watched over the dwarves counting coins and jewels and necklaces and crowns his mind was far from gold-sickness.
Balin had originally suggested that the inventory of all that Erebor possessed needed to be taken, but Kili had other reasons for wanted to sort through the Treasury. It had taken ten years, and still he had no luck. But he was hopeful. His search had become far more urgent in the last year, and he began to spend more time in the Treasury than he ever had before. This worried several members of the company and some of them, Dwalin especially, felt no qualms in telling Kili straight that if he was obsessed with gold already then he was going to be drawn and quartered or tortured in some fashion to knock sense into his head.
But it wasn't the gold that Kili was obsessed with. It was the cordial.
Lucy had lost her precious cordial in this vast room because of the madness of his Uncle, and Kili was determined to find it and return it to her. After the events of last year, he was even more determined.
Kili sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets and kicking a golden goblet near his foot. It clattered away across the piles of gold. His mind went back to that fateful morning...
***
He had been in a most boring council meeting, trying to stay focused but failing miserably. Ori ahd already elbowed his three times to keep him awake. A break was called for lunch and Kili gratefully rushed out of the room, with all the dignity befitting a King of course. Ori followed with his parchment and quill in hand.
"Your Majesty, you really ought to pay more attention to these meetings," Ori chided.
Kili shook his head, trying to shake all the cobwebs out of it. "If they weren't so boring, Ori, I might pay attention."
"It's important for you, as the King, to know what is going on in your Kingdom and deal with its problems accordingly," Ori continued to lecture him all the way to the Durin apartments. He was still going when Dis put platters of food before them. Kili dug in happily, but Ori was still speaking.
It was at that point that Dwalin arrived, grumbling about this young dwarf or that one who wasn't listening to him and ought to be thrown out of the Guard altogether.
"And you know what else?" Dwalin asked no one in particular, "Heather didn't bother show up at all this morning! Blast that woman! She's never where she should be."
Heather being late to the training grounds was a common enough occurence that Kili paid little heed to his complaints.
Later in the day, when he was finally released from meetings and had busied himself at his forge, Tauriel dropped by to see him.
"Have you seen Lucy? We were going to meet for lunch today but she never showed."
"No, I haven't seen her. Did you check with the boys? You know she likes to spend all her time with our sons."
"She is not with them. Speaking of our sons, they were going to spend the day with Stoick. Hiccup planned to take them out to the forest today. But he never came by to get them."
"Did you swing by their house?"
"I did, but no one was there. I wonder what they all up to today." Tauriel shrugged. "I will keep searching. I am sure to find them eventually."
But find them she did not.
No one could find them that whole day. When evening came some people had begun to worry about them, but others, such as Tauriel, had come to a different conclusion.
"I do not believe that they are in any danger, my friends. I believe they have gone back to their own worlds."
"Without any warning?" Bofur exclaimed. "That is hardly fair. They didn't even say goodbye to us!"
"I do not think they had a choice," Tauriel responded. "This is precisely how it happened before."
And when none of them were seen the next day, or the next, it was soon apparent that leaving Middle-earth is exactly what they had done.
Kili had been devastated.
Tauriel had found on more than one occasion, standing at their balcony staring into the distance with tears streaming down his cheeks. He had spent more time in the forge after that, and had become even more obsessed with finding Lucy's missing cordial.
"You know she will come back, Kili," Tauriel said softly one day, sitting beside her husband on the steps leading up to his throne. Kili rarely sat in that throne unless he had to. He found the steps leading up to it much more comfortable. "She always comes back."
Kili sighed, turning toward his wife, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "But when? Will it be another two hundred years? I cannot wait that long!"
Kili knew well enough that Lucy was safe and very much alive, but that didn't ease the ache in his chest. First his Uncle, then Fili, and now Lucy. He couldn't lose one more person. He didn't care if she was just in a different world. She was gone from his life. He could not more reach her than he could his dead brother. If one more person was lost to him, he was going to curl up in a ball and die.
"Patience, Kili. She will come back to us."
Kili wanted to believe that, he really did. But if Lucy took as long to come back as the last time, he would be very old when she returned. There was even a chance he'd already be dead.
***
"Your Majesty!"
Kili was brought back to the present by the shouting of several his subjects.
A young dwarf came running toward him, waving something in his hand. "I found it, Your Majesty! I found the cordial!"
He thrust the diamond bottle into Kili's hand. The dark red liquid inside swished around and Kili's heart constricted. He held up the bottle, watching it sparkle in the light for a moment.
Well, it had taken ten whole years, but he'd finally found it.
Kili was soon in his forge, crafting an elaborate gold and silver chest to house the special cordial. They wouldn't use it, unless they absolutely needed it. But they would preserve it for the days when Lucy returned to Middle-earth.
Kili only hoped it wouldn't take her too long to come back.