J.M.J.

Band of Brothers

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he today that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother

~William Shakespeare's Henry V

Author's Note: Greetings! Here I have what I intend to be essentially a series of one-shots about the Dwarves and Bilbo from The Hobbit, taking place shortly before and during and perhaps after the Quest for Erebor. Because I am incurably a fan of Fili and Kili, they will certainly receive the main focus from as far as I can see. They will also be predominantly movie-verse, because while I love the book, it's somehow easier for me to write movie-verse fanfiction. Maybe that's because the canon has already been played with usually and I feel like I can do more without breaking something.

This particular entry of this collection takes place a few years – probably no more than five – before The Hobbit. It didn't quite turn out like I had planned, but I think it works better than my original idea. If you have any thoughts on the matter (of whether it is good or bad), please share them in a review!

Naturally, I do not own The Hobbit or any of the characters or locations therein.

The Fire Moon

The sun was beginning to set as the weary group of Dwarves climbed down from their ponies and began to set up their camp. They were nearing the pass near Dunland, which was a relief to them all, because it meant that in another week or so they ought to reach their destination and then could begin the return trip to Ered Luin. That was a fortunate thing, for they were merchants and it wasn't very safe to pass through Dunland with a valuable cargo.

Not everyone was so concerned, however. In fact, two of the members of the company secretly hoped they would run into a bit of trouble, so that they could have the fun of getting out of it again. Of course, they had been hired as escorts to help in case of trouble, so perhaps that was part of it. After all, everyone likes to play a significant role in a venture, rather than merely standing in the background, just in case.

Or perhaps it was just the way they were. The two young sons of Dis, the sister of Thorin Oakenshield, were known for being reckless. Kili especially was. In comparison, Fili was considered the responsible one, but that was mostly only in comparison. In truth, they were both over fond of adventure, even and especially uncomfortable adventures.

They were young to be hired as escorts, but they were both already proficient with weapons. Moreover, they were distant cousins of Gloin, one of the principal dwarven merchants in this venture and he trusted them as kinsmen. Ever since their uncle Thorin had gone off in search of his father and their grandfather, Thrain, they had been looking for something to do, and so Gloin had offered them this.

The Dwarves had set up their camp and the one who had drawn the short straw had begun cooking supper. Fili and Kili had quickly scouted out the area. There were neither any orcs nor any Dunlenders about, so they felt they could be on a very relaxed guard tonight. Fili sat down and began whittling on a stick, while Kili walked up and down, waiting for supper.

There was one very young Dwarf in the company named Nithi. He was the son of one of the merchants and practically still a child. His mother had died several years earlier, and so his father had brought him along since he had no nearby relatives whom he could leave him with. From the very beginning of the journey, Nithi had been fascinated by Fili and Kili and spent a great deal of time watching them.

Tonight was no exception. He sat in the gathering dusk, watching Fili whittle the stick with wide-eyed fascination. Fili didn't really understand what Nithi's interest was and the constant staring made him uncomfortable.

"Can you whittle?" Fili asked, wanting to make some kind of conversation to break the discomfiting silence.

Nithi didn't say a word. Instead, he slowly shook his head.

"Do you want to learn?" Fili said the words slowly and uncertainly, being unable to guess what the younger Dwarf was thinking.

Nithi nodded this time, just as silently and just as slowly.

Fili took a second knife from his belt and handed it to Nithi. "Here you are. You'll have to find your own stick to work on."

"For me?" Nithi's eyes were wide in wonder as he eagerly accepted the offered knife.

"It's just a loan," Fili told him with a smile.

Nithi scooted closer and leaned over to peer at Fili's handiwork. "What are you making?"

"It's a flute." Fili handed it to Nithi so that he could look at it more closely.

"Oh." Nithi's voice sounded disappointed. "I thought –" The young Dwarf looked up at Fili. "My father told me your great-grandfather was Thror."

"He was," Fili assured him. He was, after all, rather proud of the fact.

Nithi gave him another puzzled look. "Then why are you making a flute? Why not something – amazing?"

Fili raised an eyebrow. Kili had been listening, and now he broke into laughter.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, brother," he said in a teasing tone. "Destroying Nithi's ideals of grandeur of the Line of Durin."

Before Fili could make a protest, Nithi turned his eager attention to Kili instead. "Can you tell me about Thror and the Lonely Mountain and all of that?"

"He doesn't actually remember any of that," Fili said, continuing to shape his stick into a flute. "That was before his time."

"You weren't there either," Kili reminded him. "But Thorin has told us enough stories that we ought to be able to repeat a few of them."

"Oh, tell me!" Nithi practically shouted with enthusiasm, letting his arm swing down in excitement and nearly stabbing Fili in the knee with the knife in his hand.

Kili instinctively lurched forward as if to stop the knife, but Fili had gotten out of the way in time. Covering for himself, Kili changed his action to sitting down next to his brother and the younger Dwarf.

"We could tell you a few stories," Fili offered.

"What was it like to live in Erebor?" Nithi asked. "Did they make great weapons and armor?"

"Of course, they did," Kili told him, sounding almost personally offended at even the suggestion that they might not have. "They made the finest in the world. Much better than elven weapons, even if people say that the elven ones are the best. They made mail out of mithril, and no blade could pierce it. Every sword and dagger was perfectly balanced and were practically unbreakable."

"Not to mention that the Mountain itself was a great fortress," Fili added. "Its defenses were so well-designed that a handful of Dwarves could hold off an attacking army. The only way in was through the Front Gate, and so, as long as that was held, the Mountain was held."

"That's not all," Kili continued, going back to the topic of the weapons. "Not only were they better for fighting than any weapons forged before or since then, but they were also very beautiful. They had gems inlaid in the hilts of the swords. The handles of the axes were graven with intricate designs."

"Here, I'll show you." Fili took a dagger out from underneath his coat and handed it to Nithi. "Thorin gave me that. It's a small part of the treasures rescued when the dragon came."

Nithi handled the dagger with an almost reverential awe. "And all those swords and daggers and axes that didn't get rescued? Are they still there?"

"Mmm." Kili frowned at the thought of it. "They're not all, either. All of the gold and jewels and cups and plates and rings and musical instruments and –"

"Who cares about any of that stuff?" Nithi wrinkled his nose in annoyance. "Well, other than the gold and jewels."

Kili raised his eyebrows in surprise. He could not have imagined asking a question like that, even when he was as young as Nithi. "They're the birthright of our people. Of course, we should care. It's – it's an insult to all Dwarves for that treasure to be lying in a dragon's hoard. But we'll get it back one day," he continued, thinking with excitement about it. "When we're older, Fili and I will gather up the armies of the Dwarves and we'll go back and fight the dragon and reclaim our –"

Kili's speech was cut short by an unceremonious call that supper was ready. Although all three of the young Dwarves were very much so interested in the conversation, there never was a Dwarf who could turn down supper. Afterward, Nithi fell asleep near the fire, being a very young Dwarf indeed and being worn out from the long day of traveling. The older Dwarves also talked for a little while longer before they, too, began to drop off to sleep, one by one.

As always, Fili was to have the first watch and Kili the second (they switched every other night who would take the first watch, but it was always one of the two of them). Even so, Kili didn't right away go to sleep. He stayed up for a while, looking up at the stars that were appearing in the now-dark sky and thinking.

Finally, he shook himself, or perhaps he shuddered. "I wish the moon would come up. It's too dark, with just the starlight."

"It should rise before much longer," Fili commented, although he wasn't particularly interested in either the moon or the stars just now. His thoughts were far away in the halls of Erebor, a place he had never seen from a time before he was born. He didn't even know completely what it looked like. He had seen paintings and sketches and carvings, of course, but those couldn't capture the whole of it. And yet his very soul longed to go there and see it.

"Do you think Thorin will ever try to reclaim the Lonely Mountain?" he mused finally. "Or do you think it really will be left up to us?"

"I don't know." Kili poked at the fire with a stick and watched little showers of sparks come up like the breath of tiny dragons. "He wants to; I know that. He doesn't think it's possible, but if someone showed him the way, I'm sure he would jump at the chance."

"A good army of Dwarves ought to be more than enough to defeat one dragon," Fili replied confidently. "We just need to find a way to get them to follow us. I don't see why they won't follow Thorin. I would follow him into the lair of Smaug himself, even if it was just the two of us, and there's nothing that could change my mind."

"I would be there, too," Kili insisted. "There's nothing that could get me to stay behind if once Thorin decided to lead such a quest."

Fili nodded. "Perhaps if Thorin does find our grandfather, the two of them together would lead us, and then the other Dwarves could hardly refuse to follow."

"I don't see how it would be so very hard to defeat the dragon anyway," Kili said. "The Front Gate may be the only way in, but that means it's also the only way out. The dragon must leave sometimes. All we would have to do is wait for it to leave, and then we could go in and prepare the Mountain's defenses against its return."

"Or we could wait for it to fall asleep and then come in through the Front Gate unnoticed," Fili added.

From there, they began a lively discussion of all the strategies that they might use to defeat the dragon and what weapons would be most useful against it and whether it would be better to destroy the carcass once the dragon was dead or to keep its head both as a trophy and as a warning to other dragons.

While they were debating this, the moon rose in the eastern sky. At first, neither of the young Dwarves took much notice of it, being far too absorbed in their plans. However, the moon that night was one that would refuse to go unnoticed by anyone who was awake to see it. It was full and seemed far bigger than normal, but more than that, the higher it rose, the redder it became.

"Look! It's a fire moon," Kili, who was the first to notice it, said.

He and his brother watched as the moon seemed to burn dark red and gold like an ember. It was as if the dragon, growing tired of lying on the treasure of the Dwarves, had now taken up its residence on the moon. Perhaps it would have been better for the dragon if it had, for somehow that fiery moon seemed to stir an even greater determination in the hearts of the two young Dwarves watching it. They would see the dragon defeated and Erebor returned to the Dwarves, even if they died doing so.