Thorin was not amused. There he stood, obliged to show a happy face whilst his mother showed him and his brother Frerin their youngest sibling. A girl! They had a sister, out of all! While Frerin was beaming at the newest member of their family Thorin was more than disappointed. What was he to do with a sister? Girls were embarassing, crying and whailing creatures who only loved to dress in pink and play with dolls. He never captured what everybody saw in them. And now he would be told to look after one of these! He´d rather face a dragon! Moodily he stumped on the floor drawing a sour face. Frerin, in the meantime, sat on the bed next to their mother, happily holding a tiny finger of his baby sister. "Thorin, look!" the younger of the royal brothers cried,"she is but beautiful!" Puttin on his, what he thought, most majestic demeanor (although only being ten years old, Thorin knew very well what was expected of a prince) he let out a sigh and neared the bed. His mother was smiling tired but lovingly at the little bundle in her arms, gently rocking the sleeping baby. When he took his first glance at his little sister, he had to admit, despite himself that he felt a little proud. For the tiny thing opened her eyes at that very moment at looked at him innocently, stretching out her little arms. Thorin sighed and let her grab his forefinger, not yet knowing what strange bond would tie the two of them together.

Five years later...

"Thorin! Thorin, wait!" Thorin halted and groaned loudly. Dis, his little sister was yet again running after him as fast as her small legs could carry her. Why, by Mahal, could she not chase their brother Frerin, just once! Since the day she was born she always seemed to be where he was! And of late she had developed near miraculous skills to escape their nanny and hunt down Thorin. As if he had nothing better to do than walk the halls with a little girl grabbing his leg. He had not yet finished his thoughts as Dis had reached him, tugging now at his breeches and demanding to be lifted up. Stupid girls! He had always said so! Angrily, he pulled her up and turned, just in time as their nanny hurried around the corner, and put the girl back into her arms. Dis was by now desperatly crying, not wanting to be stuck back in the nursery. But Thorin was absolutely not in the mood to babysit his sister. He wanted to train today with his brother, something boys did, hitting each other with their wooden training swords and NOT crying afterwards. Thorin was groaning inwardly. As he had feared it would be, Dis was a master at crying. She seemed to cry at all times, day and night. Even the women were at a loss sometimes. When the boys did not allow her to play with them she cried. If they allowed her, and she got dirty, she cried. Then she cried because she was torn between wanting to play and and being afraid of getting dirty or of getting hurt, or, even worse, getting her dress dirty and so on and on... Frerin showed a bit more patience with her, but Thorin could not stand it. Why on earth had Mahal to gift them with a sister instead of a brother? If Frerin annoyed him too much Thorin would just smack him and the world was okay again. Dis, however, he could hardly smack without earning himself a beating. Just because she was a girl...

Twelve years later...

Thorin was sitting in his study, working himself through a pile of letters. Being the crown prince brought many duties which he tried to fulfill perfectly. In contrast to his younger brother Frerin he always tried his best to appear as princly as could be and to entertain the expectations of the court. Frerin was the more easy going type of the two, sneaking out at night to go to the taverns, flirting with the ladies who fell for him so easily... And guess who had to sort out the mess Frerin left behind more often than not? Only a week ago, Thorin had to hold back an infuriated father from beating Frerin to death because said one had "accidentally" impregnated his daughter. Secretely, Thorin had paid off the dwarf with a large amount of gold so as to avoid a scandal. Their father did not need to know of this. He had enough worries on his mind without his younger son adding to them . Who could know how many royal bastards were already populating the area around Erebor... Frerin certainly not. "Hang on, brother," he used to say, "the ladies love me and I love them, is all. Im sure it would do you good, as well. After a hard days work, there is nothing better than a woman´s loving embrace, and with embrace, I mean, what´s beneath their skirts." Thorin sighed... As if Frerin ever had had a hard days work! Not that Thorin lived in celibacy... he was a young dwarf after all and had his needs to be satisfied. But he preferred the company of professionals, so to say. They were discrete and knew what to do against "accidents". Thorin lived quite happily with this arrangement. But he knew very well that one day he had to find a proper bride and marry. The only thing was just that ... women, he just did not know how to deal with them, he had never known. They pulled at his nerves with their constant chattering, they embarrassed him to no end with their stupid attempts of charming him and bored him to death. When it came to girls, the mighty prince was at a loss, especially with his sister, Dis. Dis had always annoyed him, first when she was but little, with her constant crying, afterwards with her constant hiding behind him when she was afraid, crawling into his bed at night when their was a storm or when she had had a nightmare and of last, with her constant bickering and nagging. Only Mahal knew (and even there Thorin was not sure), how it could be Thorin´s fault that she looked "fat" in the dress he bought her for birthday. To be honest, he had looked through all the books just to find that it was INDEED a crime to throttle one´s sister... What were his ancestors thinking? They could not have had sisters...

Just as he was brooding over this topic, there came a knock at the door and in peeped Dwalin, his best friend since childhood days. "Hey, ol´lad" came his booming voice, "you in for a round of ale? Bombur, Bofur an´the rest of the gang are havin´a good time. Just thought I ask you and don´ you dare to say no." Thorin had to grin. Dwalin was indeed the only dwarf on earth who always managed to coax him out of his thoughts. "Just this one last letter, Dwalin, and I join you. Pray tell, you always seem to know when I need you most." Thorin answered him, laughing. At this Dwalin chuckled. "That´s because I´m the mos´attentive dwarf there is, haha!, I´ll wai´for you down there laddie! An´don´take too much time! You know how difficul´it is to keep Bombur from drinkin´all the ale!" With that he turned and left Thorin to his work, which the latter had finished in half an hour. Thorin was striding towards the hall where he planned to meet with his friends, when he saw two dwarves walking a few steps ahead, deeply engaged into conversation. "... really a talent, I must say, improving every single day." The older one said while the other one nodded in response. "Won´t be long and she will match her brothers. Seldom have I seen such a talent with a sword, she wields it as if she had never done anything else... and so gracefully... training her is just... bliss!" The two dwarves were chuckling cheerfully, not noticing their prince walking behind them. Thorin recognized his masters at arms, wondering who they might be talking about. It was certainly a lass, but he could not think of one in Erebor to wield anything else than a needle... But he could inquire about the mysterious woman later... for now he was looking foward to a tankard of ale, or two, or three, or more...

When Thorin entered the hall he was immediatley greeted by his friends and his brother, who, in his absence, had already extended their lead in getting drunk. Bombur and his brother Bofur were drenchend in ale, obviously the consequence of a drinking game. Frerin was singing in a horrible voice that would have frightened any orc band to death with Gloin dancing on the table whilst Balin and Dwalin were clapping their hands, jeering him on. Thorin let himself drop onto the bench next to Dwalin, seizing the next empty tankard and flung it at his brother so as to stop him from singing. Frerin complained at that about them all having no sense for true art but laughing all the same. It did not take too long and Thorin very well made up with his friends, drinking five tankards at full speed. He already began to feel a bit lightheaded, when he noticed a smaller figure entering the hall, slowly approaching their table. The newcomer was clad in a mail shirt the same fashion as he and his brother wore for training. He eyed the intruder suspicously, being sure never to have seen him before and wondering how he might have slipped his awareness so far. The small dwarf held himself rather graceful, nothing like the band of raucous drunkards at the table. Thorin watched him seat down next to Bofur, greeting him cordially and motioning for a pint of ale. It was then that Frerin cried out loud towards the stranger. "Dis, my lovliest of all lovely sisters, how have you been faring today with our old slave driver?" referring by that to their master at arms. Dis! Thorin´s mouth was hanging wide, gaping at his sister as though she had grown two heads. "Quite well, he even complimented me for my footwork today." Dis answered, grinning widely from one ear to the other and seeming rather pleased. "I´ve already heard the ol´ox speakin´of you with nothin´but praise." assured Bofur, clapping Dis on her shoulder amicably. "Can´wait to see you fightin´ your brothers, hahaha!" At this the whole company joined into the laughter, raising their drinks to Dis and set down to making jests how Dis would overpower both of her brothers in no time. Frerin was laughing, too, but Thorin still sat as though he had been struck by a thunderbolt. Dis! Fighting? With a sword? And being good at it? Dis, who only ever cried at the slightest of things? There must be a grave mistake, surely the alcohol was playing a trick on him... maybe he was fast asleep and dreaming, waking any moment in his study. "Ah, well... Thorin! If I were you I would close my mouth, you know... There are flies around here." The voice of his sister with the sweetest of sounds, followed by thunderous laughter, brought him out of his reverie. Thorin closed his mouth shut, gulping, still not knowing whether this was all a joke. Balin clapped him on the shoulder. "You alrigh´, laddie? Look as though you´ve seen a ghost." "Have you all known about that?" sputtered out Thorin. Frerin leaned over the table towards his older brother, grinning and nodding. "She has been into it for quite some time now. And I dare say, she is REALLY good." Thorin´s mind was racing. Truth be told, he had been very occupied with his princley duties of late but that something so important had completely slipped his awareness was quite a shock to him. Even more so as all his friends seemed to have known and by the way they were welcomening Dis into their drinking company this was not happening for the first time. Thorin groaned inwardly and drowned yet another tankard as though the solution to all this lied on its bottom. Dis! His annoying little sister! Now she even intruded into his sacred field of fighting and drinking with his friends. Not fair, not at all! Wondering what on earth he had done to be punished so severely by Mahal, Thorin drunk himself into oblivion this night, not knowing when and how he came back to his chambers.

The next morning he woke to a feeling like death himself. No, not death. More like death that crawled into a whole and died there. His head was pounding, his stomach rumbling and with some effort he forced his eyes opend only to close them abruptly to the flashing rays of the sun. He lay there for some time, trying to remember what happened the night before. Dis! There had been some commotion about Dis. Something quite extraordinary. If his damned head would not hurt so badly! Dis, Dis... And suddenly it came to him again, the shock of finding his sister amongst his friends, of getting to know that she was now taking fighting lessons and her making fun of him... He even remembered now his weird dream, including Dis beating him at a fighting challenge and thus making a mock of him in front of all the dwarves of Erebor. Mahal, have mercy! Thorin propped himself up only to find him retching on the floor. When did he last feel so miserable? He fell back into bed, deciding to stay there. He had no duties today, so it was best to have a lie- in and cure his hangover. But there was no peace for him yet. A soft knock on his door destroyed the hope of just sleeping. It was Frerin who peeped his head in, smiling. "Aye there brother, how you feelin´?" Thorin gave nothing in response but a grunt. "I must say, I´ve seen many a drunkard in my life but you were quite a show yesterday." Wonderful! What had he done? "What happened?" inquired Thorin, already dreading the answer. "Well, to make it short... you more or less took hold of the big barrel of ale and did not want to let go, drinking as though there was no tomorrow. When Balin tried to wrench your tankard away you called him a niggard and demanded him to bring back your ale. You passed out after some time and Dwalin and I had to drag you up here. Dis was helping us disrobing you but you were constantly telling us you would show us and that we would see and that you would win in the end and so on... didn´t quite know what you were talking about, so we left you to it." So, he had made an utmost fool of himself. He out of all, the crown prince, always trying to avoid a scandal. This was all Dis´fault! "Dis..." Thorin croaked, "Dis is really taking fighting lessons, doesn´t she? This was not a dream, or?" He looked pleadingly at his brother, still hoping beyond hope that it had just been some cruel nightmare. "No, it is absolutely real." came Frerin´s answer. "And you are okay with that?" asked Thorin disbelievingly. "Course, why not? Who said a woman could not fight? I must say I´m rather proud of her. You should see her!" Maybe he would do that in another life, but certainly not now. "But Dis..." he started again, "how, I mean, she had only always been crying." Frerin chuckled at this. "My, my brother... you definitley have lived in some parallel universe of late..." With that he left him to his suffering.

In the late afternoon Thorin was at least able to stand up without falling immediatley and decided to go to get some fresh air. He slowly walked down the corridors and out of one of the northern doors towards the training grounds. He frowned a bit at the sudden light but quickly got accustomed to it. He observed Dwalin and Bombur engaged into a fight, the first wielding his axe and pounding mercilessly at Bombur´s shield. When they spotted him, they greeted him with a friendly grin "Ah, already revived from death?" and continued their ministrations. Thorin smiled and walked over towards the smaller training yards. One of them was occupied with two figures training at swords. He immediatley recognized his master at arms giving instructions to... There was no mistake, it was his sister. Thorin caught himself staring in awe at her, as she indeed gracefully blocked the master´s attacks, stepping and ducking as if she were dancing some elegant dance. The heat of the late afternoon sun and the effort of fighting made her brow glistening with sweat. Her hair was pulled back but some strands fell into her face, nevertheless. Her skin was flushed, lips parted as she panted heavily. The mail shirt closed tightly around her small form, her chest heaving. "I think that would be enough for today, my lady." the master at arms stated and with that Dis bowed to him and unclasped her shirt which fell to the floor, remaining in nothing but her under tunic. She had not yet noticed her older brother standing at the fence and so, feeling herself unwatched, took the hem of her tunic to wipe her brow. By doing so she revealed a well shaped body, muscled and yet feminine, and Thorin could glimpse a short flash of one of her breasts. Breasts... since when did his baby sister have such? Thorin wondered, and althought he knew he should not care, he just could not look away from her beautiful body, the sweat trickling down her cleavage, leaving a glistening trail on her flawless skin... Without noticing, he approached her from behind, in his hands one of the short training swords, slowly stepping closer. She must have heard something though, for within a sacond Dis spun around, sword at hand, meeting his in a clash. "Brother" she exhaled, holding his glance, not backing away an inch. "You are really skilled with a sword" Thorin heard himself say in a low voice. "So I´ve been told, yes." Dis replied, still not moving. Their faces just inches apart, Thorin could smell the scent of sweat, of sun on skin, and something else he could not quite locate. His eyes were again drawn to her cleavage and back up to her parted lips. He did not know how long they had been standing there, swords above their heads, staring at each other. But with a sudden exclamation of pain from Bombur the spell was broken and both Thorin and Dis lowered the swords immediately, hurrying to see what befell their friend.

When at last Thorin was retreating this evening towards his chambers, Bombur was safe and sound in the care of Oin, the healer, who had bandaged his shoulder which had suffered from a mighty blow of Dwalin´s axe. Dwalin had sputtered apologies all over the whailing dwarf, eventually being banned from the hospital wing by Oin. Thorin and Dis had tried to comfort Dwalin but said dwarf was too upset and so they left him for the ale. Thorin had then said his goodbye to his sister and made for his room. He was indeed tired. But despite his weariness he was not able to sleep. Tossing and turning in his bed the images of his sister´s body, of her lips, her breasts, her panting breath haunted his mind. It was as if he had seen her for the first time. Reconsidering this moment they shared with their weapons crossed he felt a knot tightening deep in his abdomen, his breath going faster... No! He must not think of his sister like that! That was utmost disturbing! She was his little sister, for Mahal´s sake! Dis, and nothing more! He scolded himself for his immoral thoughts and drifted off into a restless sleep, still his sister´s beauty ghosting in front of his sleeping eyes.

In another chamber and another bed, Dis could not quite sleep either. The way Thorin had looked at her this afternoon still sent shivers down her spine. This moment when they both were just staring at each other held a firm grip on her memory. She was not yet sure what she was feeling, but knew it was someting srange, unfamiliar and exciting. Something she had never experienced before. She fell asleep finally, her brother´s intense stare haunting her dreams.

For a few days the siblings did not see each other, as Thorin had a lot of things to attend to, mainly standing at his grandfather´s side whilst delegates of foreign realms paid the king under the mountain homage. But although he was kept quite busy he could not banish his sister from his thoughts. He often caught himself thinking of her, of her elegant movements in the training yard, of her lithe body... and more often than not he found himself wondering how it would feel to touch these curves her body had developed of late. When did his sister become the woman she was, he asked himself often now. He had the impression that only a few days ago she was the annoying, gawky girl pulling on his every nerve. Where had this girl gone to? Thorin snapped out of his thoughts as his grandfather, the king, commanded his attention to some important trading contracts. Just then, he realized, the he had been daydreaming, a not just that, he had been daydreaming about his little sister, Mahal help him if ever someone found out!

That afternoon Thorin trained with his brother Frerin, being glad to have an occasion to literally beat out his disturbing thoughts that tormented him. He attacked Frerin so fiercely that latter barely stood his ground although he had always been a more than fitting match for Thorin. "Mahal, Thorin, what has gotten into your knickers?" panted his brother after he had ducked a paticularly hard blow. "Nothing, just a little tense, is all." answered Thorin, hoping his brother would not inquire any further. "Well, one could say so." Frerin was still breathing hard, slumping against the fence exhaustedly. "Let´s leave it for today, before you kill me." Frerin smiled but Thorin was not in the mood for joking. He nodded curtly at his younger brother and turned to maybe find himself another sparring partner, Dwalin or someone of the gang. Just as he neared the shed where they kept their equiptment, someone jumped at his back, knocking him forward. Within the blink of an eye he spun to defend himself against the unknown attacker when he looked into brown, determined eyes. Dis! Despite his anger, Thorin grinned. "Well, well, sister...don´t overestimate yourself. It is dangerous to attack me unawares, I could have killed you in no time." Dis, however, laughed, winking challenging at her brother. "You think so? I doubt that. I bet you could not beat me, even if you tried for a hundred years." "Is that a challenge?" "Perhaps." "Perhaps? Well then, let me tell you, little sister, that I do indeed admire you bravery, but that won´t help you much. You have no idea what you are talkin about. You are good, I admit it, but nowhere good enough to challenge me. You may be quick, but I am worlds stronger and... ugh." While he was lecturing his sister said one had used the time and knocked him hard into his chest. Thorin stumbled backwards, catching his breath. "Are you?" She teased him, dancing around him. Thorin composed himself, giving this situation another try. "Dis, please, I mean it, there is no use in... ah!" This time she had hit his legs, making him falling to his knee. Now, that was enough! With a sudden movement he lunged towards her, trying to land a soft blow on her arm. Dis, however, was faster and was away the instant he reached the spot she was standing. Damned little thing! He turned around, this time catching her mildly at her legs. He did not want to hurt her. "Uhu, is that all you have to offer, brother?" came her teasing voice again. When he looked up he saw her grinning widely, readying herself for another attack. "Dis, I do not wish to hurt you, honestly, this is no good idea." Thorin told her again but she was already circling him again. "Ohooo... I´m the mighty Thorin, prince under the mountain and I´ve killed many an orc... but I am afraid of a girl..." Dis said, mimicking his voice and his way of speaking. Well, she had it coming! With a cry he leapt at his sister, giving her blow after blow, until she was cornerd between the fence and his wrath. But Dis was not yielding yet. With a quickness that rivalled a hare´s she ducked beneath his arm and landing a painful blow on his hand, causing him to drop his sword. By now it had grown dark and there was nobody else out except for the two of them. With a last effort, Thorin lunged at her barehanded, caught her off guard, and pinned her firmly to the ground beneath him. "I yield." it came out barely more than a whisper. Thorin looked into her eyes, trying to read her thoughts. He felt again the tingling sensations stirring in his lower belly as he inhaled her scent. He became very aware of her body pressed against his and felt himself harden. This was all so wrong! And yet... when he looked again into her clouded eyes he could not hold back longer. He crushed her lips in a searing kiss, swiftly darting his tongue into her mouth and oh, she tasted good. Dis moaned into him, which urged him even further on. He attacked her exposed neck with his tongue and teeth, fervently grounding his hips into hers. He already had his hand under her tunic, tracing her fine muscles, when they heard someone talking in the distance. With that they both came to senses, jumping up and glancing around frightened. "I´m sorry, I don´t know what..." "We mustn´t to that..." They both were rather confused, somehow between feeling disappointed about the interruption and relieved.

This night Thorin was haunted by yet another dream which ended in him waking hard and stiff as rock. He had dreamt of Dis, lying beneath him, this time without clothes, her breasts bumping up and down with every thrust he gave her, sweat trickling down her skin... Mahal, where was this leading? Never in his whole life had he been so confused. And worst of all, he must not talk to anybody about it! If ever someone found out... Dis on the other side had similar problems. She lay awake long into the night, reliving the encounter in the training yard. How he had looked at her! How he had touched her! How he had made her feel like she was on fire! His kiss... Dis could not hold back a moan, an unfamiliar tingling between her legs. He was her brother! She could not possibly fall for her brother! But why then did she feel such forbidden things?