Kili was an energetic child, always had energy to spare. He was usually a blur of brown hair and blue tunic as he flitted from person to person, room to room. He never sat still for his hair to be brushed, or his meals, least of all his lessons. It took more than his mother and father to reign him in. Dwalin, Balin and even Thorin had to grab up the little boy by the back of his clothes as his legs continued to kick out as if that alone could get him to continue on in his current quest of doing whatever the little boy had put his mind to.

It became a mutual agreement that he was much too uncontrollable to teach for longer than ten minutes out of an hour simply because the boy was "too busy". He had too much curiosity for his own good. This worried every adult that came across him, automatically enlisting them to shadow him so that he would not hurt himself.

Kili did not listen well. It was the nature of children. So when he was upset he was more than glad to be extra recalcitrant. He would do things that he knew that he should not. Which had lead to the unfortunate accident of hot metal getting on his uncle one day in the forge.

Thorin had a strange swagger after he healed, it wasn't a lot but it was enough for the little boy to notice. He also held things looser with his left hand too.

Kili cried a lot that year.

From then on he stayed away from the forges and started to play out in the open fields and woods, slipping past any adult that may see him. He didn't have much fun with the dwarven children his age. They always were too focused on trying to learn how to grow a big beard or learning a craft. Kili was more curious about the things around him. Like the plants. Oh he loved plants. He loved dirt! No, he adored dirt! He rolled in it, threw it around and when it was too rocky he spent long hours tilling in straw and worms and everything he could think of to make the dirt fluffy and happy. No one told him that the reason why the dwarves allowed him this was because whenever he "played" like that the next year the crops grew very well.

Then one strange day he came home not so completely covered in mud. His smile was as bright as the sun and he was so very, very happy.

"What has you so pleased?" Dwalin asked as Kili climbed up in a chair between him and Thorin.

"I have a friend."

"Oh?"

"Yes!" Kili cried out in joy flinging his arms up only to get a few dirt clods on Dwalin and Thorin.

Thorin carelessly brushed the dirt flecks off of his sleeve, his scarred hand showing since he did not have a bracer on and his sleeves rolled up. "What is your friend's name?"

"I don't know." Kili said. He looked around before finding a pitcher of water and was reaching for it.

Thorin took the pitcher and poured a cup for Kili who took it and drank it sloppily spilling a lot of it onto his shirt. "Girl or boy?"

"I don't know."

"What do they look like then?" Thorin smirked pretty sure Kili had concocted an imaginary friend. He didn't find any fault in it, every child had one at some point. Even he did when he was a dwarfling.

"Big hair! It's all gold and has blue eyes like yours!"

"Like mine?" Thorin grabbed a twig from Kili's hair.

"Yeah!"

"Are you going to play with your friend tomorrow?"

"I hope so."

The next day Kili came to the door of the forge. He didn't come in, fearful he might hurt his uncle again, and talked and talked and talked, about all the things he did with his friend until Thorin was done and they walked home together. It became a regular thing to do soon enough. Kili really liked his friend and even more liked how his friend had a secret that he swore he would tell no one.

Then one day Kili came running to the forge much earlier than Thorin had been used to.

"Uncle Thorin!" He shouted.

Thorin's hammer stilled. When helping raise a child one always knew the signs of trouble. The certain pitches of their voice, or the sudden quiet. This was definitely a scared pitch.

"He's hurt!"

"Who's hurt?" Thorin threw the hot metal into a vat of water, not caring if the metal broke, just as long as it didn't burn down the forge.

"My friend! He's hurt!"

The king under the mountain frowned as he went to the door where his bad hand was grabbed and he was tugged along. "Hurry! Hurry!"

This imaginary friend... wasn't so imaginary.

When Kili took Thorin over to the forest a good distance from the houses he was met with a blond child curled up and in pain. Kili let go of Thorin's hand and ran to his friend's side, the blond growling, teeth bared like an animal. But Kili just stroked his long hair. Thorin could see the naked genitalia of the boy making him wonder why he had no clothing, not even small clothes. But affirmed that Kili was either too busy to bother himself with identifying gender just yet or he didn't care.

"It's okay, Uncle Thorin is the best. You'll be okay."

The blond looked to Kili with unsure eyes then instantly curled up against Kili's side pulling his bad leg away from Thorin when the adult tried to move.

A feral child it would seem. Thorin had only heard stories of them, abandoned in hopes that the elements would claim their precious lives and by the looks of it the boy was dwarven. It hurt Thorin's heart to even fathom someone would toss their babe out, but more so since dwarven children were so rare.

The king reached forward, giving soothing sounds as he lowered the child's knee so that he could look at the other leg. It was bloodied, swelling and slightly purple. He must have broken it rather badly.

"What were you two doing?" Thorin kept his voice soft more for the strange child's benefit than for Kili's.

"We were climbing the trees and he fell." Kili sounded ashamed.

"We'll take him to the healers." Thorin shrugged off his top tunic.

He went to pull it around the boy's naked form when the blond shot forward and bit down, hard, on the web of Thorin's thumb. The king growled a little but did not move even when beads of red welled up around the child's lips. The kid had some very sharp teeth.

"No! Don't bite him!" Kili pulled on his friend, when that didn't release he wiggled his finger into the boy's mouth somehow and pressed down on his tongue. Like an animal the boy opened his jaw wide and moved his head trying to get Kili to let go. "I said he's here to help! No biting!"

"It's okay Kili." Thorin finished wrapping the tunic around the boy. "He's scared."

"Scared or not he should not have bit you! Bad kitty!" Kili flicked his friend's nose who looked at him rather hurt. Kili just frowned. "Be nice to Thorin or I won't play with you!"

The boy wrinkled his nose before burying his face into Kili's neck as an apology. Kili sighed heavily and hugged his friend looking older than the small child he really was. Thorin smiled, he had never seen Kili so attached to something or someone before. It was... nice.

"Come, we need to get him to the healers." Thorin very gently picked up the blond child. He sat the boy on his hip and started to walk slowly as to not jostle the boy's leg. Kili grabbed Thorin's good hand as they walked back towards the village they were staying in.

"He doesn't talk, will the healers be okay with that?" Kili asked innocently. The healers always made him talk about how he got hurt whenever he was brought there.

"They won't have a choice but to accept it." Thorin offered Kili a smile. "Do you know if he has any family?"

Brown hair tossed around as the boy shook his head, "No, only him."

"And he does not talk... so he has no name."

"Not that I know of."

"Then we'll name him Fili."

Kili wrinkled his nose. "Fili? Why Fili?"

"The -Fi- for being fierce, and -li- after the boy who is his best friend."

Kili jumped in his steps, "That's me!"

Thorin smiled fully. "Yes, that is you."

After they took Fili to the healers they found out that the boy was actually older than Kili, though only by a few years. He was healthy enough if not in need for a more balanced diet and a good washing. While his leg was being splinted and Thorin was paying the healers for their services they asked, "Who's child is this?"

Thorin did not hesitate, "My own."

"Then why does he not speak and only makes noises? And why does he have no clothing?"

"That is none of your concern." Which, by all means, it really wasn't.

Soon he gathered Fili up to his hip once more, making sure he was fully covered with cloth and walked down to the markets with Kili close at his side. He bought Fili many clothes and a few boots, having to indulge Kili in a few new things as well as the boy grew jealous over the attention he was not receiving. Finally the ended up at the food stalls where Fili's nose twisted and twitched with all the different smells. He reached out a little hand snagging up sausages and raw cuts of meat and even a few fish that Thorin was forced to pay for after he pried the raw meats out of the child's mouth. He gave some coins to Kili and had the boy run off to get something sweet. When he came back, Thorin had to awkwardly lean down for Kili to hand Fili a sweet bread because he couldn't pick up Kili with his full arms and Kili refused to let Thorin hand it to Fili.

Fili was cautious over it but messily stuck the bread that was covered in honey and seasonal nuts into his mouth. While he chewed he drooled a bit sending a mess over Thorin's hair and his own. Neither seemed to care.

Fili was getting used to this idea of touch, of being warm and given food without having to fight for it.

Thorin was feeling blessed. He had a child of his own now and he would raise him well.