A/N: Please insert normal denial of ownership here ...

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"He's too small to be an heir to me, throw him back."

Good natured laughter followed this pronouncement by Thorin, son of Thrain. Dis made a show of stiking her older brother in the ribs with her elbow to move him out of the way of the finely carved cradle.

Thorin peered down at the infant, pleased with the healthy look of the babe. "Doesn't even look like me."

Vihili, the child's actual father, raised a mug of ale in a mock salute. "He's not supposed to look like you. Fili is my son, royal blood in his veins or not. He's meant to be my mirror."

Thorin wrinkled his nose as if lost in thought. "Dis? How could you produce such an ugly child? He's blond!"

"He's handsome." Dis smiled down at her first born son. Then she looked up at her brother, the only family left to her. "And don't you go filling his poor head with stories of adventures and lost gold."

Thorin's face lost it's cheer, eyes eyes turning solemn. He glanced around the room with a sneer. "Fili is my heir, even if he is only my sister-son. He should not be raised here."

Vihili sobered, putting his mug down carefully onto the table. "I know that if we were 'home' in Erebor, I would not be your choice for brother. But I would ask that you respect my home, my wife, and MY child."

The dark-haired prince straightened, pride stinging his soul. He was being rude, and he knew it. "You are, of course, right." He put his hands behind his back, standing unconsciously as he'd seen his own father and grandfather do many times over.

"Vihili. Thorin." Dis' voice held a hint of warning, she looked helplessly over at her cousin Balin. But the other dwarf shrugged helplessly. This was an old arguement between the two males.

Thorin looked over at the new father, and he rebelled at apologizing. His jaw clenched tightly as he spoke. "But what do you expect when you sneak around and carry off a dwarf-maid while her family is unaware?"

Vihili stood, glaring. The two were nearly identical in height, but the miner was broader through the chest with thicker arms. While Thorin was leaner, but no less muscled. "Who leaves a dwarf-maid on their own while they go try and lay claim to lands long lost?"

Balin winced at hearing the disasterous battle for Moiria so described. Nothing would incense Thorin more than to be reminded of where his grandfather had been killed.

Vihili pushed his chair back roughly, the wood scraping loudly on the planks of the floor. This startled the new-born, and little Fili protested loudly at being awakened before he was ready.

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It was five long years before Thorin visited the home of his sister again. This time the mood was completely different.

"She will have to put the babe down eventually." A haggard looking dwarrowdam whispered to another female that Thorin barely recognized.

The prince-in-exile looked around the large room. It should have been comfortable. The home wasn't rich, not by the standards of their royal background. But there was a well-off feel in the thick blankets, the pretty dishes, and the hand-sewn curtains that didn't hang quite right. Thorin couldn't help the sad smile touching his lips. His sister Dis had never been the best seamstress.

"She won't sleep, she won't eat. Eventually she'll collapse, and what if she's still holding the baby then?"

A tug on his pants leg had Thorin looking down into wide, bewildered eyes. The blond five-year old dwarfling had a nose too long for his face, though he'd no doubt eventually grow into it Thorin mused. "Fili?" He guessed.

Those eyes widened comically. "You know me?"

Thorin winced. It wasn't good that his only heir didn't recognize him. Except ...he wasn't the only heir anymore. Ignoring the pangs of guilt and sorrow, the dark-haired dwarf nodded to the child. "I am your mother's brother."

"You're the ass?" Fili's voice sounded awed, and it was clear that the five-year old didn't know the word or the insult. He was obviously repeating what he'd overheard during his short years.

Sharp indrawn breaths filled the area around him, but Thorin didn't bother looking to see who heard. He simply nodded. "I'm the ass."

Fili patted Thorin's knee and then leaned against him, curiously looking around the room. "Can't find my da."

Terse silence. No one spoke, no one dared. Thorin's eyes closed in pain. He was horrid with children. But this one belonged to him, more so today than ever before. He knelt down in front of the blond tyke, pointing at the growing beard on the five-year old dwarf prince. "You're a big boy now. I will tell you. Your da has had an accident."

Fili looked down at his bare feet, wiggling his toes. "Mam is crying."

"I know." The words felt torn from his throat.

The five-year old made a face. "Da said the baby would cry a lot. But mam is crying. Lots more'n the baby."

Thorin sighed heavily, his heart aching. "Do you understand death?"

A few shocked whispers and Thorin knew that many around him were disapproving of his approach. But he knew no other way than straight forward.

Fili's face scrunched up and he nodded. "Did the dragon come and eat him too?"

Now it was Thorin's turn to be shocked. Fili knew about the dragon at Erebor? After Dis had forbid him to tell the boy stories of their past? "The mine fell in on him. Your da died in an accident." The words were matter of fact and without inflection. Better to get this over with.

Fili shook his head and reached out, tugging on a loose thread hanging from Thorin's cloak. "How did the dragon get in the mine?"

Thorin sighed. This wasn't going right. He opened his mouth to explain better, but a sharp hiss interrupted him. He stood, turning.

Dis had entered the room while he'd been talking with the child. His sister glared at him bitterly. "How dare you?"

Thorin was appalled at his sister's appearance. Her eyes looked grief ravaged with deep, darkened circles under her reddened eyes. In fact, her left eye was worse than the other, with burst blood vessels. He wondered if it had been caused by stress, grief, vomitting, or childbirth itself.

He glanced at the silent bundle clutched in his sister's arms. He didn't even yet know if he had another nephew or a niece.

Staring at his sister, Thorin was reminded that she had suffered all that he had, and more. They'd lost the same family, the same home, the same friends. But now she'd lost one more, and in this he couldn't share. But he could try. "I am sorry for your grief."

Dis hissed at him again, backing away sharply. "You didn't even like Vihili."

Thorin ran one hand over his weary face. "Not true. I would have liked him fine if he hadn't been your husband." He held up one hand to forstall her protest. "But I do sorrow that you sorrow. I do share your pain, because it is your pain. And I would have stopped this loss if I'd had any way to do so."

Dis watched him with her blue-green eyes, then her face nearly crumpled. She moved toward the table and Thorin quickly pulled out a chair for her. "He wasn't supposed to be working today. The baby was born early, and he was there to give information to the head foreman before taking a week away from the mine."

Born early. Thorin hadn't known that. He winced. His damnable pride. If he hadn't walked out of here so angry five years ago, his nephew would know his face and he'd have known his sister had gone into early labor.

His unease increased sharply as he looked at the small bundle in Dis' arms. Had Fili been that small? Surely not. And Fili had cried, this one was silent. What had his nephew said, that Dis was crying more than the baby. He couldn't see past the blankets and he couldn't help but wonder, was the child even still living?

"Let me hold the boy." A well-meaning dwarrowdam stepped forward, Thorin recognized her as the wife of another miner.

Boy. Another nephew. Another heir. If he lived.

Dis pulled away from the other female, her face set stubbornly.

Thorin put out his hand across the table at her. "May I see him?" He begged.

His sister eyed him carefully, drawing away at first. But after a few moments where Thorin made no sudden moves or demands, she relented. Stiffly, she turned the small bundle from her chest into a cradling position with one arm.

Thorin nearly cried watching her, wondering where his vivacious and demanding sister had disappeared to. This timid creature was a stranger. Slowly, she pulled the blanket from over the child's face.

The child was wrinkled and small in the face. Dark lashes fanned out over baby-soft skin. Was the babe too pale?

A tug on his tunic had him looking down. Fili. Looking up at him with his father's face. Solemnly the blond dwarf scowled up at Thorin. "I don't want da to be dead."

Dis choked, as Thorin's mind spun around and around, unsure of how to react.

A twitch of movement had the dark-haired prince looking up and over at Dis. The baby, had he moved? As Thorin watched, the child's lips opened and the infant yawned, before falling still once more.

Dis, tears sliding down her cheeks, cradled her newborn closely. Thorin watched with growing worry. Fili tugged on him again.

Frustrated, angry, and above all, sorrowed. Thorin growled and stared down at the five year old. It was a poor thing to do, and he knew it.

Without hesitation Fili snarled right back at him, his little hands tightening into fists as he mimicked Thorin. "I could hurt you." The dark-haired uncle told the lad. "I have a sword."

"I could hurt you!" Fili swung on his uncle with a closed fist, actually punching him in the thigh with reasonable strength for one so young.

"Do you want to learn how to use a blade?" Thorin asked.

Fili's eyes widened and he nodded. "Da too?"

Thorin's face clouded once more. "Fili. Your da is gone. That makes you the head of this family. Do you know what that means?"

Fili nodded vigorously, though Thorin knew that the child could have no real inkling about what the future held. Still, the boy was showing bravery at least.

"Do you want to be a miner?" Thorin asked the child. "It's a good profession."

The child shook his head, reaching instead for the hilt of Thorin's sword. The uncle had a bit of a time removing Fili's hand from the weapon, even though it would have been impossible for him to have actually drawn it.

"I wanna sword!"

Shocked, the prince-in-exile actually almost smiled. He looked at his young nephew and for the first time, peered beneath the veneer that reflected Vihili's appearance. Yes, he resembled his father. But that fighting attitude? No, that was the Durin's Folk coming out in the lad.

Thorin looked over at his sister, but she wasn't watching them. He frowned. "Dis?" She didn't turn, her eyes were only on her newest child. "Dis." He called her more sternly.

The grieving mother shot an accusatory glance at him, but winced and her gaze shied away from her five-year old.

Thorin stilled. Oh. He hadn't thought of that. Fili looked just like his deceased father. That appeared to be paining Dis right now. He only hoped her heart would heal so that the boy wouldn't feel as if rejected.

"Fili?" Clearing his throat, the prince-in-exile looked at his older heir. "Who is that." He pointed.

"Mam!" The blond nearly bounced on his toes.

Thorin next pointed at himself. "Who am I?"

Fili shook his head, grinning. He didn't have an answer.

"I am your sister's brother. I am Thorin. I am your King and you are my nephew. And heir to my throne."

Young Fili's eyes grew wider. "What's that?"

Thorin nodded at the child. "Later." He promised. "First. What is that?" He pointed at the child Dis was clutching as if her life depended upon it.

Suddenly solemn, Fili drew up to his full five-year old height. "Mine."

Surprised, Thorin's eyebrows rose. "Your brother, yes. But he's not really yours."

Fili did not like being denied. "MINE!" He screeched loud enough to make the new baby scrunch up his tiny face in protest.

"Shhh!" Thorin waved at the child to behave, frowning. Fili frowned right back at him, completely unimpressed.

"Da said it was mine!" Fili announced, pouting.

Thorin sighed, obviously he wasn't going to win this arguement. "Does your brother have a name?"

Fili shrugged.

Dis shook her head sadly. "I can't decide. I thought about naming him for our brother."

Thorin nodded slowly. That might not be a bad idea.

Fili stamped his foot. "MINE!" His volume only seemed to increase.

Dis winced, still unable to look in the five-year old's direction.

Thorin had a sudden thought, he pointed at the new infant. "Fili? What would you name your brother, since you have laid claim to him?"

Fili didn't even hesitate. "Kili." He pointed at the child. "Mine."

Thorin nodded, not willing to argue the point.

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