Some AU fluff for those suffering from post BOTFA. This one is for AnastaziaDanielle. So sorry this one took so long, but consider it a Christmas present :) She has written some very awesome AU stories that feature Fili and Sigrid if you like that ship, so I used it here. Their son Sigge is my own invention. I hope you all enjoy, and Merry Christmas!
Uncle
A Hobbit Fanfic
Kili had always loved children and he had always been really good with them too, even though, being the youngest sibling, he hadn't had any experience as being an older brother, but still, around the younger dwarflings, he had never been unsure of what to do, and growing into adulthood things hadn't changed. Fili knew that his little brother would make a fantastic father one day, and sincerely hoped there would be a time when he and Tauriel, his wife, would have their own little blighters running around and getting into all sorts of trouble. But until that time, he was a perfect uncle to Fili and Sigrid's son, Sigge, being the perfect protector when Fili wasn't there, teacher, and more often than not, playmate, and someone to get intro trouble with. Kili still had not grown out of his mischievous streak, and Fili doubted he ever would.
Kili, for his part, wished nothing more than to have children of his own, but until that time he was content to borrow Fili's whenever he and Sigrid needed a moment or had to go on diplomatic missions to the surrounding countryside. Thankfully, Kili had gotten out of most of those, as Fili was the heir to the throne after Thorin, so he instead offered his abilities as a baby sitter to little Sigge, which was a job he much preferred anyway.
"Unca Kiwi!" the little dwarf screamed in excitement as he ran to the grinning dwarf and Kili swung him up into his arms. "I get to stay with you for fwree whole days!" he added, holding up four fingers.
Kili laughed heartily and tickled the child until he was giggling and kicking in his uncle's arms. "Oh dear, what will I do with you for that long! I might have to put you to work in the mines, or roast you for supper!" He pretended to nibble the child's fingers and Sigge shrieked in delight.
Fili came up then, grinning as he watched his brother and son interact. "I'm sure you'll think of something to do together. I wish I didn't have to go but duty calls."
Kili smirked. "I really got the better deal with that one, brother. Don't let it bore you too much."
Fili made a face. "One of these days I'll drag you along just to make you suffer what I have suffered." He took a pack off his back and handed it to Kili as the younger Durin shifted Sigge to his hip. "Here's all Sigge's things, I just thought it would be easier to pack up what he would need for a few days. Sigrid and I really need to be off now." He leaned over to kiss his son of the forehead. "Mommy and I will be back in 'fwree' days, Sigge. Be good for Uncle Kili, or he will cook you for supper." He winked at his brother and then left.
Sigge wiggled in Kili's grasp to be put down. "Unca Kiwi, can we go play now?"
"Of course, you little rascal. But first let's get some lunch, okay?"
"Okay!" the little dwarf cried, grabbing Kili's hand as they went back inside. They had a quick lunch and then Kili decided to ask Sigge what he wanted to do first.
"Hide and seek!" the child shrieked, jumping up and down.
"Okay, but you can't leave this room, understand?" Kili said, hoping the young dwarf would obey the rule.
"'kay Uncle Kiwi! You count, I'll hide!" He ran off giggling, as Kili covered his eyes and counted to twenty.
"Ready or not, here I come!" he said with a grin as he could hear a slight gasp and shuffle coming from one side of the room. He pretended not to and went in the complete opposite direction. "Hmm, I wonder where the little rascal can be?" he mused playfully and heard another quickly stifled giggle.
He stood in the middle of the room with his hands on his hips, scratching his head. "Where is he?" This time there was definitely a giggle and Kili walked to the hiding spot under the chair slowly. He stopped right in front of it, and heard Sigge's intake of breath in anticipation, before Kili bent over and quickly dragged the little dwarf out from under the chair to his giggling shrieks and proceeded to tickle him.
"Next time, don't giggle, silly!" he said as Sigge laughed and shoved at his hands before squirming from Kili's grasp and going back to the chair. Kili had hung his bow and quiver over it when they had come in for lunch and Sigge started playing with it, trying to take it off the chair.
"Easy there, lad, that's a big bow for you," Kili told him, steadying it.
"Unca Kiwi, I want to learn to shoot a bow like you!" Sigge said, poking Kili in the chest for emphasis.
"You do, do you?" Kili said, picking the child up. "Hmm, I don't know. You're a bit small for shooting bows."
"But I like it, it looks like fun and makes a funny whoosing sound! Pwease, pwease?"
Kili couldn't refuse his little nephew and grinned. "Okay, we'll go give it a try . I think I have just the thing for you, too."
Kili took a detour to his chambers and opened an old truck of all his childhood things. He reached in and after some shuffling around he pulled out a little bow and arrows and handed them to Sigge. The dwarfling looked at them in awe.
"Those were mine when I was only a little older than you," Kili told him. "Uncle Thorin gave them to me grudgingly; he didn't think bows were good weapons for dwarves, especially a prince, but he knew I really wanted one. I don't think he thought I would catch onto it," Kili laughed at the memory, and stood to usher his nephew outside to the target range. "Let's see how you do."
"Am I gonna use it now?" Sigge asked excitedly.
Kili nodded, grabbing his own bow up again. "Yes, I'll take you out to shoot targets."
Sigge practically ran outside, and Kili had to hurry to keep up, and the dwarfling was already trying to string the bow before Kili could help him.
"Hold on, let me do that this time," he said and bent the little bow to string it, testing to see if it was still in good shape before giving it back to Sigge.
The dwarfling took it excitedly and twanged the string several times before Kili crouched down next to him.
"Okay, get an arrow," Kili told him and Sigge selected one of the small, blunted arrows that Kili had practiced with many times as a dwarfling. "Now put the notched bit on the string. Very good! Now you hold that with your right hand between your first two fingers and then you use your left hand that holds the bow to prop the arrow on. Then you just draw it back."
Sigge tried hard, sticking his tongue out as he drew the bow back, only to have the arrow swing to the side and fall askew. Kili chuckled, helping him to get it back into position. "That happens a lot the first time. Try again, and try to keep your arrow against the bow. You can tilt it slightly if you need to."
Sigge tried again with better success, as Kili held his right elbow to show him the position to use to draw his string back. "A proper draw ends when you can feel the fletching of your arrow on your cheek. Then you can look down the shaft to sight the target."
Sigge's little fingers gave out and the arrow flew crookedly, landing in the ground a few feet from the target. He looked disappointed, but Kili patted his back fondly.
"Good job! You'll get used to holding it. It's hard at first when you have to concentrate on it, but you'll get better. Here, watch me do it, and practice your stance."
Kili retrieved his own bow and slowly nocked an arrow and drew the bow back, explaining as he did, then shot the target. Sigge was in awe of how warriorlike and majestic his uncle looked with his bow and really wished he could look like that someday. Kili helped him nock his bow again and after several more times, he was able to draw and release himself. Kili clapped.
"Good job! Why don't you try to hit the target, now? You can step forward a bit if you want to."
"Prince Kili, the king needs you to sign a document." A guard came up to them and Kili stood.
"All right, I'll be right there." He turned back to Sigge. "Stay right here and don't try to shoot until I get back, okay? I won't be long."
"Okay, Unca Kiwi, I'll stay here," Sigge promised as he watched his uncle hurry off to see to his duties. He did stay still for a while, collecting the arrows he had shot and putting them back into the quiver. But then, he realized that Kili had left his bow when he went inside and the large, beautiful weapon called to him. He wanted to touch it, seeming unable not to.
"Unca Kiwi didn't say I couldn't," the child reasoned with himself and picked up the bow that stood taller than he did. It would be so amazing to be able to shoot it and look majestic like his uncle. Sigge took an arrow out of Kili's quiver and set the bow upright so that the end stuck in the dirt and helped it stay upright. He nocked the arrow carefully, his tongue sticking out of his lips in concentration. This bow was really hard to draw, and his little muscles strained to even pull it back several inches, and before long, he couldn't hold it at all, and the string and arrow slipped from his fingers, the fletching cutting him under the eye and the string striking him in the left arm painfully.
Sigge dropped the bow hurriedly, cradling his arm as tears welled in his eyes even as he tried to hold them back. He knew he shouldn't have tried to use his uncle's bow and he was afraid Kili would be mad at him for getting hurt now. He wondered if he could hide his injuries, but it was already too late, because he could hear Kili coming back.
"Sigge, I finished…What happened?"
He ran the last few feet to crouch by his nephew who burst into tears, hiding his face in his hands.
"I sorry, Unca Kiwi, I just wanted to try it!"
Kili saw his own bow discarded on the ground and quickly put together what had happened. He gently took Sigge's hands away from his face to see the small cut under his eye that was dripping blood down his cheek. He took out a handkerchief and dabbed it carefully.
"It's alight, Sigge, I'm not mad at you. But you shouldn't have tried to use my bow either. It's too big for you." Not that Kili was any better at Sigge's age. The thought brought a small smile to his lips. His brother was really going to have his hands full.
"It hurted my arm too," the child sniffed, holding the offending appendage out for his uncle to inspect. Kili turned up his sleeve and saw the angry red welt on the inside of his forearm where the string had come back viciously.
"That happens," he said and picked the child and both the bows up. "Let's go in and clean you up."
He took Sigge to the bathroom in his chambers and washed his face and put a cool rag on his bruising arm then finished by giving him a sweet.
"I'm sorry," Sigge said again with a sniff.
Kili smiled and pressed a kiss to the dwarfling's forehead. "You learned your lesson well enough, I think. Now you know that you'll have to wait to use a big bow until you get a little bigger and stronger. But in the meantime, you can use the small one, and I think you'll get very good at it. You were already doing a really good job."
"I was?" Sigge asked hopefully.
Kili nodded. "Yes. You're well on your way to becoming a very accomplished archer."
Sigge smiled and hopped off the stool he had been sitting on. "Can we practice some more, Unca Kiwi?" he asked.
"Why don't we wait until tomorrow; then I'll find you a bracer to protect your arm. How about we sit and read for a while?"
"Okay!" Sigge said and ran over to the books he had brought with him that day and then crawled into a chair with Kili as his uncle read to him.
When Fili and Sigrid came back to Erebor a couple days later, they found Kili and their son practicing archery, each with their appropriately sized bows. Sigge cried out in delight and went to hug his parents.
"Mummy, Daddy, look what Unca Kiwi teached me!"
Kili gave his brother a sheepish look as Fili cast a glance at him. "He wanted to learn. I gave him my old bow."
Fili smiled as he watched his son readying the bow for a shot, concentrating hard with his little, pink tongue sticking out the side of his mouth. "Maybe he'll make as good an archer as you someday."
"Probably a better one," Kili admitted as Sigge hit the target only a few inches from the bull's eye.
Fili grinned and clapped his brother on the back. "I guess that means I get to teach your kids swordplay."
Kili grinned back. Hopefully he would have children that Fili could spoil as much as he did. But until then, he would be happy continuing to spoil Sigge and teach him things. Not to mention getting into trouble on occasion, because that was what uncles were for.
"Thanks for watching him," Fili told him brother.
"Anytime," Kili replied and watched as Sigge proudly showed his father the bow and demonstrated his newly found skills again. He smiled to himself. He was really looking forward to seeing how Fili's son grew up.