I do not own the Hobbit (as per usual).

Alright, this is a prompt that I am finally getting around to from BM Originally; Young Fili and Kili are in a group in the forest with their uncle and other dwarves (their age and adults) being trained to track, etc. and they come across a group of orcs. A story of how Fili became kingly material. The first chapter is a bit short, but from next chapter onwards they will get longer (and better).

Also, Kili is 11 in this (47) - I might be wrong though, so feel free to point out if I am so I can change it if necessary.

Enjoy.

Chapter 1: Into the forest

"Pay attention and stop lagging behind," Fili heard Dwalin growl at several of his friends as they began to lag behind, "This is no time for childish acting now. All, or at least most of you are, from this moment on, training to be in the guard and that includes learning how to survive in the wilderness."

The dwarf sounded so much more serious than usual that the blonde had to stifle a laugh. It would do no good for him, a nephew of the great Thorin Oakenshield to find the situation funny, especially not when his uncle was leading the whole expedition.

They were currently tramping through the woods, a small group of adults and a larger group of boys deemed old enough to begin training in weapons and not already apprenticed to a stone mason or other such master. Fili was among the eldest of the children, and Kili was easily the youngest aged only 47. Right before the trip, their uncle had made Fili swear to keep an eye out for his brother, a promise the blonde had needed no encouraging to keep. The small brunette bouncing along by his side was more precious to him than his own life.

"How long will we be out here?" Kili asked for the hundredth time. Fili sighed inwardly before dutifully answering his brother.

"Three days," he said yet again, trying not to sound slightly frustrated for his brother's sake. Sometimes Kili just did not know when he got on someone's nerves.

"Do you think Mister Dwalin will lose all his hair by then?" his brother asked, innocently repeating what he had overheard Balin mentioning to Thorin just before they left. Now Fili really had to try to keep himself from laughing out loud. This earned him a few curious glances from the other boys walking beside him.

"I do not think so," he finally managed to say, slightly red in the face from his fight to keep control of himself beforehand.

"Oh," Kili said in a small voice, looking down at the ground before looking back up, "Do you think this will be fun?"

"Yes, Kili," Fili breathed, glaring at a few of his peers as they skilfully hid snickers. Some of them were lucky enough not to have little brothers tagging along. Of course, those in this situation kept to themselves, as did most of the younger ones, a fair few looking around warily at their surroundings, not one seeming to share his brother's enthusiasm. But then again, both he and his brother had been taken into the forest several times before by both their uncle and Dwalin, and once before by their father when he had still been alive. But that had been a long time ago.

"Do you thin-"

"Why don't you go and talk to some of your friends for a while?" Fili interjected. Kili pulled a face, pouting.

"But I want to talk to you," he said, sounding annoyed at the suggestion, "Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"No," his brother quickly replied, "It's just that Clave looks lonely." And the young dwarf did, walking by himself, eyes fixated on the ground. He seemed as if he did not want to exactly be on the trip and Fili couldn't really blame him; he was only a year older than Kili and this was the first real time he had been away from his home for a long period of time.

"You come too," his brother said, latching onto his hand in order to drag Fili over to the dwarfling.

"Very well then," Fili conceded, seeing no way he could diplomatically get himself out of this. At least his brother's questions would not be completely directed at him, and he had to admit his sibling's cheery and curious outlook on life tended to rub off on him.

"Hey," he heard the brunette say to Clave, only half listening to the conversation as he focused on the back of his uncle up ahead.

The blonde knew his uncle would be watching him during this little exercise, seeing if he could handle the pressure that would no doubt be put upon him. He was to be his uncle's heir after all, second in line and therefore the one in need of more training when compared to his brother. He was already taking lessons with Balin to learn about the more complicated side of ruling, doing weapons training with Dwalin to learn more about strategy and how to defend himself. His only comfort was that in a few years his brother would be joining him with the full extent of his training, only doing about half of what Fili done now. That did not mean that Kili was any less deadly when they were mock fighting each other or Dwalin. The brunette had almost perfect and deadly aim with whatever he was throwing and his smaller form allowed him to execute more sneaky plans of attack.

The young prince turned his attention back to Clave and his brother who were now deep in conversation, but was still only hearing fuzzy words. Or at least he was until Kili began tugging on his sleeve.

"What did you say?" he asked, having missed his brother's question the first time. Kili sent him a look, clearly not happy that he had to repeat himself because Fili had not been paying attention.

"I said there is nothing to worry about, is there Fee?" he replied, using his nickname for his brother. Fili shook his head.

"There have been nor orc sightings, and bears and other predators generally stay away from this area, so no, there is nothing to worry about," he answered. Kili turned back to Clave.

"See, even Fili said that there is nothing to worry about," he told his friend, "And uncle and Mister Dwalin will look after us if something does go wrong." Fili had to smile at how sure his brother sounded at his words. He would not be the one to put the brunette down, however, seeing as there was little reason for something to go wrong. It was at that point that they halted.

"Alright," Fili heard his uncle say, "We will be splitting into two groups. The first will come with me, the second with Dwalin." The tall dwarf looked at the dwarflings before him with a stern gaze. "You are to do exactly as we say," he continued, "For we want to avoid any trouble if we can. So if we tell you to run or fight, I expect you to follow our orders to the word."

Seventeen heads nodded in unison, and Thorin finally allowed himself to give them all a small smile. He then proceeded to split them into equal sized groups, eight going with Dwalin and three adults, nine going with Thorin and the other four dwarves. Both Fili and Kili were selected for Thorin's group, though the blonde suspected this was not a coincidence which only reinforced the point that he would no doubt be watched.

"We will meet here again in two days' time if nothing goes wrong," Thorin said for the benefit of the other adults. They nodded their affirmation that they had heard and understood, before the two groups walked deeper into the forest in opposite directions.

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