Summary: Kíli learns that sometimes he must protect the children from dangers within Erebor

Genre: Drama, friendship

Rating: K+

Characters: Kíli, Thadúr (OC - son of Bombur), Dáin

CRASH!

"Watch where you are going you worthless brat!"

Kíli stopped in his tracks before quickly turning to race in the direction of the sounds, speeding up when he heard a sound that was awfully like that of someone wearing heavy boots furiously kicking something, or someone. What he saw when he arrived nearly made his blood boil; one of the dwarves of the Iron Hills was shouting at young Thadúr and would without doubt have continued kicking the boy if it hadn't been because Hnór was standing in front of her youngest son, shielding him.

"Ah, Your Majesty. Tell this woman to leave."

At first Kíli could not believe his own ears. Was this worthless excuse of a dwarf really ordering him – his king – to tell a mother to let her son be kicked for no good reason? Then he smiled slyly.

"Very well. Hnór, take Thadúr and leave. I'll deal with this. Besides; those wounds needs to be cleaned."

Nodding Hnór picked up Thadúr and quickly left with her still shaking and sobbing son.

"What are you doing? That brat toppled me over, he deserves to be punished!"

"It never occurred to you that maybe it was an accident?" Kíli asked coldly, and before the other dwarf had any chance to say anything he continued; "You would not be the first person Thadúr has accidentally toppled over, he has grown rather uncoordinated as of late, frequently running into walls and, yes, other people, including Dain. He is not doing it on purpose."

"Why are you taking that working class brat's side?"

"That boy is the son of one of the members of my uncle's company. He and his siblings were born in the same village as my brother and I, and our families have been friends for as long as I can remember. Besides; those children have already faced the horrors of an orc attack, Erebor is supposed to be a place where they can feel safe, not a place where they have to worry about accidentally toppling people over."

Without waiting for a reply, Kíli turned and went to search for Thadúr, leaving the still angry, but for now completely silenced, dwarf behind. He found the boy exactly where he had expected; in the toyshop where Hadúr was eagerly showing his younger brother the lifelike replica of Smaug, the three toymakers had been working on for some time. Thadúr's eyes went wide when Hadúr pressed a small lever and a flurry of red and orange fabrics shot out of the replica dragon's mouth. However, when he saw Kíli his expression turned serious.

"Is he mad at me?" Thadúr asked; his voice almost too quiet to be heard.

"It doesn't matter if he is. I told him I won't tolerate anybody kicking a child for accidentally toppling someone over. Still, this toppling people over can't continue."

"I can't help it. It's like my legs are a lot faster than my head, so I don't realise I have to turn before it's too late."

"I know. That's why I'm going to teach you how to control your movements. Your lessons start tomorrow."

The next day, as soon as Kíli was done with the council meeting of the day he went to fetch Thadúr and together they walked down to the training area.

"What is it I have to do?" Thadúr asked while they walked.

"You'll see."

As soon as they entered, Thadúr's eyes went – almost – as wide as they had the previous day when he had seen the dragon figure; taking up the entire floor was a great maze-like structure.

"Now you just have to run through as fast as you can, without running into the walls."

Nodding eagerly, the boy went over to the entrance of the maze, started running and…

CRASH!

Maze and dwarf-boy flew all over the place.

Smiling Kíli went over to Thadúr, pulled him on his feet and together they rebuild the maze.

"Try again."

Over and over, Thadúr repeated the task, sometimes making it a little further into the maze before crashing into a wall. Until, finally, he was able to make it all the way through without any crashing.

"Did you see, Kíli? I did it!"

"I saw. Now I think it's time we stop for today."

"But it's so much fun."

Kíli couldn't help but laughing a little; the boy was covered in cuts and bruises still it was clear that he had been enjoying the day very much.

"It's only for today we're stopping, we'll continue tomorrow; your training is far from done. Besides; I'm starving."

"Me too. I'll get there first!"

Laughing the boy shot out of the room and Kíli quickly gave chase. He was impressed by how quick the boy was, and how much his coordination had improved from just one training session; several times Thadúr came close to crashing into a wall but managed to turn at the last moment. It was only right before they reached the Dining Hall that Kíli caught up, and laughing and panting the pair went inside, only to stumble upon a very disheartening scene: a group of dwarves – lead by the one whom Thadúr had accidentally toppled over the previous day – were speaking loudly to Dáin.

"Lord Dáin. The cook's youngest son is the most disrespectful little brat you can imagine. He toppled me over, I – and my friends here – demand he is banished from the mountain."

"Young Thadúr, disrespectful? No, I have a hard time believing that. Sure, he's had some coordination issues lately, but he always apologise whenever he accidentally runs into someone."

"He did not apologise to me."

"Because you started shouting at him, and kicking him, before he had any chance to do so." Hnór said angrily.

"Stay out of this, woman."

"No. I will not stay out of anything that involves my son being spoken about as if he was nothing."

"Nor should you." Kíli said, stepping forward together with Thadúr, turning to the other dwarf he continued; "I suppose I didn't make myself clear yesterday. I'll protect these children from any harm, whether it's orcs or bigoted fellow dwarves. If you don't like the way things are being run around here, then you are welcome to leave and return to the Iron Hills."

"Are you banishing us?"

"No, it's your own choice; leave or accept that I don't punish children from being slightly uncoordinated."

"But…"

"No 'buts'. This talk is over."

For a few moments they group stood glowering at Kíli but when they realised that there was no way they could change his mind they quickly left, grumbling among themselves.

"Wow. What's their problem?" Kíli asked as he sat down to eat together with Thadúr.

"I'm afraid you are their problem." Dáin replied, sitting down as well. "They can't seem to accept that you only put a limited focus on whether or not someone is from the line of Durin. But how do you feel about all this, young Thadúr?"

"Grmmphph, graphck."

"Try again, without you mouth stuffed with food."

"I don't wanna cause trouble. But it's fun training with Kíli. I've already been able to get through his maze without hitting the walls."

"You have?" That was Frár, sitting down on the other side of Thadúr, "But walls don't move, do they?"

"No… what has that got to do with anything?"

"It's easily enough to avoid running into walls. What you need to learn is how to stop, or change your direction, when someone suddenly walks out in front of you. If you'll let me, I'd like to help you with your training."

"Sounds great!" Thadúr said excitedly, before he got up and quickly darted out of the room.

Kíli looked after him and remembered he promise he had made to himself while travelling from Ered Luin with the first group of exiles; he would give up all the gold in Erebor before he would let any harm come to those children.