"It's an outdated tradition, and you know it," Dis's voice rang out from the kitchen, a tiny Fili crouched on the stairs to listen to the adults argue, glancing up the stairs, hoping their shouting didn't wake up his new, tiny baby brother.
"But one the people will wish to see continued, I'm sure," Thorin's voice snapped. Fili shuddered.
"I really don't think the people will care! Besides, once they're of age to go into battle, what is the point of your silly tradition? He'll be injured by another, regardless of his 'Divine Rights'. Honestly."
"While he's still young, he needs some way to be punished, and made sure he is kept in line. You know how Frerin and I could be."
"Yes, and the first time Dwalin felt the sting of your tutor's hand across his face, you straightened right up, didn't you?" Dis sounded bitter, making Fili wonder what they were even talking about.
There was silence for a long minute, before Thorin could be heard again. "They will share a stronger bond than Dwalin and I."
"Yes, and it will hurt them both all the more. Especially if you're the one to punish them."
"Then it will be all the more effective, won't it?"
Fili crept back up the stairs as his mother and uncle's voice trailed off into quieter tones, still confused as to what the two had been talking about.
~
"Fili!"
The blonde dwarfling grinned sheepishly at his mother, nose bloody and clothes torn. "Yes, mother?" He knew he was caught, especially when he spotted Kili peeking out from behind their mother's skirts, smirking at him smugly.
"Were you up in the apple trees, again? You know you're not allowed out there! It is not our land, and you could get seriously hurt! Not that you obviously haven't been already. Come, let me look at your nose."
Fili quietly shuffled forward for his mother to inspect his injured nose, glancing at his uncle, who was hovering in the doorway. "M'sorry, mum," the blonde murmured, his gaze glued to his uncle, who was approaching Kili.
The small brunette looked up at his uncle questioningly, squeaking quietly when he was scooped up and settled on the dwarf kings knee. "Boys," he rumbled, shooting both boys a regretful glance, "One thing you must know, since you are both old enough now, and it has become plain to me that I can no longer put this off…Fili, by tradition, as the heir, you can not be punished by anyone but your father. And, since he is not here, someone else must take your punishments in your stead."
Fili blinked in mild confusion at his uncle, before letting out a startled shout as Thorin brought his hand down on Kili's bottom in a hard swat. Kili let out a wail of pain as another two swats followed, before Thorin set the boy down, Kili quickly running to hide behind his mother's skirts once more.
The king looked regretfully at the two, before sighing and standing. "I am sorry, boys," he murmured, ducking his head as Dis shot him an angry glare.
~
"Fili, we're going to get into trouble!"
"Only if you keep talking, and we get caught," Fili scoffed, continuing to ruffle through Balin's desk, crowing triumphantly when he finally found the sketchbook the old scholar had taken from Ori the week prior, for doodling during lessons.
"Oh, you mean like now?" a voice called from the doorway.
The boys both froze, Kili looking mildly terrified, while Fili simply looked startled, Balin staring at them with his arms folded over his chest, eyebrow arched.
Thorin was startled out of his reading when Balin shoved the boys through the front door to their home, Fili running smack into the coat rack and knocking it over, while Kili tripped over his own feet and hit the floor with a dull thud.
"Found these two taking things that didn't belong to them from my office," the scholar explained to Thorin, who rose from his seat, book forgotten, "I thought you might want them back."
Thorin sighed, looking at both boys in mild disappointment, before nodding at Balin. "Thank you."
As Balin left, Fili quickly stepped in front of his fallen brother, waving his hands frantically. "Please, uncle! It was my idea entirely! You can't-"
"I can, and I will, Fili," Thorin growled, reaching around the blonde to drag Kili to his feet, the brunette looking frightened at what might await him. The king looked regretful as he pulled a simple leather glove from his pocket, before striking Kili across the face with it, the loud smacking noise it made reverberating through the house.
Kili merely wimpered as he was struck twice more, before Thorin tucked the glove back into his pocket, leaving the dwarfling to rub at his reddened cheeks.
"Let that be a lesson to you, Fili," the king murmured as he passed the blonde, who was simply staring wide-eyed at his brother.
~
Fili slumped against Gimli as the two stumbled out of the tavern, the two cackling loudly, earning them stares as they wandered down the streets, back towards their homes. They had ventured off to a nearby village of men to drink, knowing that if they were to do it at home, they'd never hear the end of it from their friends and neighbors, the way they would inevitably carry on. At least, this way, they would sober up on the way home, and no one they personally knew would be any the wiser.
At least, that had been the plan.
"Fili!"
The blonde startled in the doorway he'd just entered through, his mothers tear streaked face making his slowly sobering mind dry up in record time. "What? What is it?!"
"Do you have any idea how long you've been gone?!" Thorin's voice boomed from the kitchen where Dis had just rushed from, Fili's eyes going wide and scared.
"N-no," he murmured, his heart beginning to race as he heard Kili's sleepy mutterings begin to descend the stairs.
"What's with all the shouting?" Kili grumbled, rubbing at his eyes as his feet his the bottom landing, startling when Thorin gripped him by the arm and dragged him into the front room. "Wh-what's going on? Fili?"
Fili swallowed thickly, dropping his gaze, unable to watch his brother be punished for what he'd done, especially when the brunette had no idea what he'd even done. He did, however, have to look up at his younger brother's startled shout of dismay, Fili gasping and struggling against his mother's hold at the vision of Thorin brandishing a knife at Kili.
"Your misdemeanors have gone on for far too long," Thorin growled at the blonde, "I have been lenient with you, but you need to learn. You are to be king one day, and you have yet to prove that you should become one."
Fili felt tears well in his eyes as Thorin lowered his blade and cut away the slow growth of Kili's beard, leaving him nothing but stubble. Finally, when he deemed the deed done, Thorin dropped his knife on the floor, stepping away from his youngest nephew, who was in tears on the floor, sucking in heaving gasps of air. The king shook a bit as he backed away from his sister-sons, looking to Fili, a dark, sorrowful look in his eyes. "You did this," was all he murmured, before vanishing out the front door.
Fili fell to his knees, tears streaking his face as Kili curled into himself on the floor, and Dis vanished into her room.
"I am so sorry, Kili," the blonde whispered, covering his face with his hands, and silently vowing to never having to make his brother suffer so, ever again.