It was a big party. It looked as though every dwarf in the area was there, crammed into the pub. There were Men there too, but not many. They were mostly staying away from the party. What did they care if some dwarf was celebrating their birthday. Two young dwarves in particular certainly did. Fili and Kili were in amongst the crowd, singing and drinking, sometimes at once. They were stood arm in arm by the table of the birthday boy, Ori. He was turning 60 which his older brother Dori had gotta rather emotional over. He was on the table along with his little brother leading everyone in a rendition of an old drinking song.
When the song ended there was a mighty cheer and much drinking, beer sloshing all over the floor.
"Another one, Brother?" Fili asked.
"What do you think?" Kili replied handing Fili his mug.
While on his way to the bar Bofur joined Ori and Dori on the table.
"All right, fellas, we've had the songs, we've had the food and the fight, just one thing left. Drinking contest!" There was a mighty cheer. Bofur put his arm around Ori.
"And the birthday boy goes first. Who will be his challenger?"
"I will" It was Nori, Ori's brother.
"I'm not sure that's fair-" Bofur began, but Ori pushed him aside.
"I'm up for it. I'm ready." He sat down at one end of the table, a determined look on his face that made him look like a child intent on completing a puzzle.
Nori sat at the opposite end, causally smoking his pipe.
The out come of this battle was going to surprise no one, but Bofur admired Ori's determination.
"All right, laddies, you know the rules. Last dwarf standing and no spilling or regurgitation."
A pint of ale was placed in front of both competitors. Nori put aside his pipe, looking very confident. They raised their tankards, saluted one another and began.
Fili got back from the bar in time to watch them begin. This was hardly a fair contest, but it'd be fun to watch never the less.
"Who's your money on?" Kili asked his brother.
"Nori, obviously. He's had more experience."
"I don't know, Ori might surprise us all."
"And I might grow to be 5 foot tall." They laughed and knocked back their drinks.
The contest went on longer than the crowd expected. Ori held his own pretty well, though it looked to be more of a strain. Nori downed his faster and tossed each one over his shoulder. Despite his best effort though, Ori was really no match and he was on the floor after his tenth. The crowd cheered and Nori stood up to take a bow. He stumbled a little as he walked from the table, but was handed another mug as we went.
"Who's next!" Bofur asked. The brother's both raised their hands.
"Us!" Fili and Kili said in unison.
"Oh, the house of Durin takes to the table once more." There was applause and raucous cheer as they took their places either side of the table. "Thinking you can beat your elder brother his time, lad?" Bofur slapped Kili on the back.
"Hey, it was a close one last time." Kili protested. "This time he'll be the one taking a dive."
Fili snorted. "Many hours after you."
"We shall see." They raised their mugs, saluted and began.
They managed to keep pace with each other at first, both downing mug after mug as if it was water.
Dwarves certainly weren't light weights, they could put it away so the crowd expected this match to go awhile. The two had faced each other in many drinking contests and so far, Kili was unable to beat his older brother. In fairness, Fili had being drinking longer, competing with others before Kili even knew what beer was.
As they went on they both grew slower, taking longer pauses between ales. Neither looked ready to drop though. Fili managed to keep smiling through it all while Kili looked more determined as if this wasn't just a drinking game, but a battle in a civil war.
More minutes passed, more beer was consumed. Each pint taking longer to down. It was slowly coming to an end, the whole room could see it. Fili could hardly keep his head up. Kili nearly dropped his mug. It was all down to who would drop first. It was hard to tell, neither of them looked like they had much more in them.
Fili slowly finished off his pint and stared over the pile of tankards at his brother. He wasn't sure which one was the real one. Through his drunken haze he was surprised his brother was still standing. He grabbed his next pint, looked at it and watched as it slowly slipped through his hand. He managed to look up just in time to see Kili finish his own pint before Fili went toppling over sideways on to the floor.
The crowd was shocked for a spilt second, but quickly recovered with a huge cheer. Kili could scarcely believe his drunken eyes. His brother had passed out. He had won. For the first time in his life he'd out drunk his brother.
"Looks like he's gone it, folks." Bofur said "Kili's the winner!"
Kill grabbed his next pint, stood up, gave a cheer and promptly collapsed on the floor beside his brother.
Kili was woken the next day by a splash of cold water on his face. It jolted him out of a strange dream involving a pig and a river of ale. Wiping water out of his eyes he looked around for his attacker. Fili was standing over him with a bucket in his hands. He looked pretty rough with his hair and beard a tangled mess and blood shot eyes. Kili doubted he looked much better.
"Morning, sunshine." Fili greeted turning the empty bucket around to use it as a stool.
"What's going on?" Kili asked, "Where are we?"
"In the barn beside the pub." Fili said. "Thought you would know this place well enough by now."
Kili nodded. This was where the landlord threw any drunks who were still passed out on the floor at closing time. Having lost many drinking contests to Fili it was where Kili tended to find himself, but something felt different this time. He didn't feel like a loser. A vague, blurry memory was coming back to him.
"I won last night." Kili said a little uncertain. "Didn't I?"
Fili contemplated lying, saying that he didn't, but a room full of spectators would contradict him, so it was easier to just tell the truth. No matter how much he hated to admit it.
"Yes, you won." Fili said with a sigh. "Barely."
Forgetting his hangover Kili jumped to his feet, excitedly. "Ha! I knew I would beat you one day."
"It was close. You went down a few seconds later."
"Doesn't matter. I won, I finally won." Kili started jumping around happily and a little wobbly. Fili just watched without comment. There wasn't much use defending himself, his little brother was going to milk this for weeks.
"You know that's only one win. I think you will find I've beaten you on many occasions."
"This marks the end of your winning streak. All down hill now."
Fili scowled. "It was just luck."
"I don't believe in luck"
Fili rubbed his pounding head. His hangover didn't want to argue. "Let's just get home. Mother will not be happy if we're away all morning."
Kili finally stopped jumping around. "Loser leads the way."
Fili was about ready to punch his little brother, but instead he just clenched his fists and led the way out of the barn. He figured he'd let Kili have his moment for now. But only for now.
Thankfully for Fili, his brother didn't say much on the journey back, but he was annoyingly happy. He practically bounced down the road. Fili stayed a few paces behind him, trying to focus his attention on other things like the trees, the weather and the sword in his left boot he was tempted to draw and stab Kili in the back with if he didn't stop bouncing.
"I wonder what else I could beat you in now?" Kili said as they drew close to home.
"Pretty sure I could beat you to death." Fili mumbled.
"Not sure you'd be up for that. You can't even keep up."
"That's it." Fili was patient no more. He ran at his brother, tackling him in the side. They went down with Fili on top. Kili was surprised by the sudden attack, but recovered quick enough to block Fili's fist coming towards his face. From there they wrestled on the ground, each rolling the other over, trying to get on top. With some effort Kili managed to kick Fili away from him, but he barely had time to get to his feet before Fili was wrapping his arms around his throat.
At the house Dis was standing by the door. She'd noticed the boys approaching and came out to greet them, but before she could call to them they were on the ground fighting. Instead of trying to break it up, Dis just watched. It was hard to tell from a distance whether it was a friendly fight or a serious one, but she figured it didn't matter. Whatever the reason they needed to get it out of their systems before they got on with any work.
Out the corner off her eye she spotted Thorin approaching from a different direction. He'd been out early to collect a few things in town. He was off on another trip the following day and was preparing. She was wondering if he was going to take the boys.
"What's that about?" Thorin asked, gesturing to his nephews.
"I don't know. They just started fighting."
Thorin smiled. While in town he'd ran into Bofur. "Kili beat Fili in a drinking contest last night." There was a hint of pride in his voice.
"Oh that'll be it then." She looked up at the sun. "If they're not done in ten minutes I'm putting a stop to it." With that she went back inside.
Ten minutes later they were still fighting. If there was one thing Dwarves had in abundance it was stamina. They were both looking a little bruised, but neither ready to give in. Fili however, was ready to win this fight, and resorted to reaching for the knife in his boot. However, as he reached for it Kili drew a dagger out of his belt. Fili held his knife up to Kili's throat, while his brother pressed the tip of his dagger to Fili's chest. Stalemate.
Neither one of them planned to hurt the other, but neither was willing to put down their weapon either. Not until one of them admitted defeat. They were both stubborn so it was anyone's guess how long they were willing to hold each other at knife point.
Dis, however, had had enough. "Stop playing around." She cried. "You both have things to do so sort it out immediately or I'll physically prise you apart."
Fili gritted his teeth in annoyance. He didn't want to concede, but he also didn't want their mother to have to pull them apart. Their punishment would be worse.
"Truce?" Fili said, teeth still gritted.
"Truce" They both dropped their weapons. With them went the tension and both dwarves took a moment to dust themselves off.
Fili took the time also to realise that he shouldn't have got so aggressive. Afterall, Kili deserved to gloat over his win, it was an achievement. Fili probably would have done the same if their roles were reversed.
"You did good in beating me." Fili admitted. "You deserve to be happy about it. I'm actually proud of you."
Kili smiled. That was all he really needed to hear. "Thanks. I've had my moment. Rematch tomorrow night?"
"Definitely."