"Who wouldn't be angry? you ate all of my cereal and faked your death for three years!" Dis glowers down at her elder brother.
"I just want you to calm down. I didn't think you'd like the whole neighborhood to know your business." Thorin says matter of factly while eating more of her cereal.
"The neighbors will know my business soon enough as soon as you gather up all your filthy shit and get the hell of out my house!" Dis shouts, her volume rising again.
"Is that anyway to treat your long lost brother?" Thorin asks calmly. He ignores the dark red flush that is creeping up her cheeks. When they had been children he would go running at the sight of that, but now – especially after three years away – he disregards it.
"Long lost! Long lost!" Dis sputters almost incoherently in her anger. "Long lost because of your own stupid bullshit! You wouldn't be LOST in the first place if you hadn't been a complete and utter moron in the first place! And even that could have been fixed if you hadn't just LEFT!" Her voice takes on a shrill note towards the end causing Thorin to wince and rub his ears.
Despite the pain in his ears Thorin ignores most of what Dis just said. "Have you been taking Banshee lessons down at the college, sister? You've gotten quite good at it. Maybe you're teaching those classes now?"
"You! You!" Dis stumbles over her words and looks around for something to throw. Her hand lands first one of her sons' mini staplers. She flings it with all her might at Thorin's head. He ducks and the stapler hits the floor behind him. It breaks apart the staples fly in one direction and the stapler in another – it slides under the refrigerator.
It is at this moment that Fili walks up behind her and leans against her legs. His thick blonde hair is disheveled from sleep. He wraps an arm around his mother's leg and look at his uncle warily.
"Why are you shouting, Mama?"
Dis strokes Fili's hair and looks down at him. Her tone is very different when she addresses her young son, "Why don't you go wake your brother and play outside for a little bit?"
"But I'm hungry," Fili whines.
"I'll make you crepes with apple butter if you do this."
Fíli's face brightens.
"I'll come get you when it's ready."
Fili nods his head and disappears back up the stairs to wake up Kili.
Dis watches Fili until he disappears around the corner. She turns to face her brother. She feels much less angry now. She is still furious, but she is willing to talk without throwing things. She does not want her sons to see such behavior.
Dis sits down in the chair opposite of Thorin. "What do you have to say for yourself?" She says. Her voice is weary.
"Can I get some of those crepes?"
Dis' eyes narrow. "If you can have a conversation that doesn't stray from the point AND," she cuts off his interruption, "if you can convince me to let you stay at all."
Thorin rests the spoon in the bowl full of Wheaties floating in milk. "You should let me stay because I am brother and I have nowhere else to go," he says seriously.
"That's not good enough, Thorin. You let everyone believe that you were dead for three years. What guarantee do I have that you won't do the same again?"
Thorin's blue eyes blaze over his dark beard as he brushes the hair that had fallen into his eyes back. "I've grown up. I am no longer the boy that I was with father took me to Azanulbizar. I just want to live quietly. I've had enough of running and fear," Thorin says quietly and firmly.
Dis grunts. She stares at him.
Neither brother nor sister say anything for several long minutes.
"I see," Dis says simply. She rises and pulls a bowl from the cupboard along with flour and other ingredients for crepes. "Now clear away those dirty dishes and fetch the boys. Kili doesn't know who you are and Fili will probably need reminding. You might as well start to impress me by getting to know my boys," she says brusquely.
Thorin looks down at the bowl of milk. His lips quirk into a small smile. He is home after many years away.