Fili groaned as his stomach churned, and he put the goat cheese he took a bite of back on the table next to him.
"Don't tell me you're still sick," Kili mutterd, annoyed. He was sitting on the end of the bed.
"Barrel riding isn't exactly easy on the stomach," Fili replied, laying a hand on his nauseous belly.
"We've been in Dale for nearly a week now, and the whole company is well, save you," Kili said.
"I know, I know," Fili replied.
Thorin, who was sitting in a chair nearby, said, "Be sure to rest. Our quest is nearly at its end, and we will go to Erebor not long from now."
Kili's eyes shined. "Erebor, Fili! Finally, a place we can call home. A place that is home, at last."
Fili smiled. "I'm happy for us all, especially you, Uncle. You have strived so hard to reclaim what is rightfully hours."
Thorin managed a smile.
Fili tried to eat another piece of cheese, but he barely swallowed it. With a disgusted face he said, "I never want to eat cheese again."
Thorin chuckled.
"What?" Kili asked.
"Fili, when your mother was pregnant with you she had intense cravings for goat cheese," Thorin said. "Dis would crave it so badly that sometimes I would have to get up in the middle of the night just to get it for her."
Kili laughed loudly, and Fili smirked.
"One day she ate three blocks in one sitting."
Kili's eyes widened. "Three blocks! That's almost as much as Bombur would eat!"
Thorin, seeming to forget his hard outer shell, continued, "In fact, she won a bet from Bombur by beating him at an eating contest while she was carrying Fili."
At the same time, Kili exclaimed, "She beat BOMBUR?" and Fili asked with a laugh, "And they ate cheese, I'm guessing?"
Thorin smiled, leaning back farther in his chair. "Aye. Cheese it was, for that was the surest way for her to win. First time I've seen Bombur so impressed and disturbed at once."
The brothers laughed heartily, and Thorin chuckled.
"That's probably why you loved cheese so much when you were little," Thorin added.
"I still do," said Fili.
"You said you'd never eat cheese again," Kili reminded him.
Fili rolled his eyes. "That was more of an exaggeration."
Thorin said, "The most of anything you had in your house back then-"
"Was cheese," Kili finished. He groaned, "Cheese, cheese, and more cheese! I don't even know how you two ate so much of it! I hate cheese. Probably because we had so much of it that I was sick of it before I even tried it. And when I did, I knew I'd never want to eat any again. Now that's not an exaggeration."
"Come on, Brother," Fili said. "It doesn't taste that bad."
Kili looked at him skeptically. "Because Mother ate it by the ton when you were in her womb. I was the one stuck with a house full of stuff I didn't even like."
"We had other food."
"Yes. One pound of meat and one-hundred pounds of CHEESE," Kili rambled on still, throwing his hands up, much to his uncle's amusement.
"Brother, calm down. You have plenty of a diversity in your diet, then and now," said Fili.
"Easy for you to say, cheese boy."
Thorin suddenly straightened up, his countenance back to its usual harshness. "Fili needs rest. Come, Kili, let us give him time to sleep."
Kili obeyed, getting off the end of Fili's bed, and following his uncle out the door. He looked back one last time before closing it behind him.
When Thorin finally found himself alone in his quarters, he laughed and laughed as he had not done in the longest time. The memories from his nephews' earlier days made him feel young again, and brought back the amusement from the antics of his family.
As his last chuckles died away, the grim and pressing matters of the present crept into his mind once again. His face hardened as he reminded himself that he didn't want anyone to see him so... happy.
Perhaps those days would come once again when Erebor would be reclaimed. That hope is what kept his feet from dragging, and his chin up.
Please review and tell me what you think! Any comments are much appreciated