"Oh, but Uncle! I don't want to go practice fighting again! I wanna make good use of my bow!" The young dwarf huffed impatiently, pacing restlessly in front of his tired (and at this point, annoyed) uncle.

"You and your stupid bow! We should go out and practice swords and axes!" His older brother interjected, stepping forward to shove his younger and smaller sibling.

"I'll show you what's stupid in a short second if you keep that up, Fili!" The young dwarf boy hissed through his teeth. His brother rolled his eyes, showing that he was neither impressed or the slightest bit frightened in the least.

"You know you can't beat me ever...at anything." Fili sighed, grinning. "These challenges always end up as a waste of time..." He patted his brothers shoulder with a piteous look in his eyes. "And I know, it isn't fair that you'll never catch up to me in any way, Kili...little brother..." Kili's eyes opened wide in fury and he tackled his taller brother to the floor, practically snarling in his face, but his efforts to get back at Fili only caused him to laugh as he lay on the floor flat on his back.

"What are you laughing at?" Kili practically squeaked.

"Oh, nothing..." Fili chuckled dismissively, waving him away so he could sit up against the leg of the table. "It's just...so funny..." Kili frowned.

"What is?" He demanded.

"How tiny you are!" Fili exclaimed, laughing as Kili charged into him yet again.

Kili made a small choking noise as someone grabbed him by the hood. As he was yanked up off the ground, the hard, angry face of his uncle, Thorin Oakenshield, stared back at him. He grinned nervously as both he and Fili were held up off the ground by their matching blue hoods. "You two...have got to find...a way to stop...bickering like so..." Thorin hissed through his teeth, his face turning red.

"Of course, Uncle!" Fili replied, nodding vigorously in agreement. "Well...I'll try, but Kili can be quite annoying..." Kili stared at him in disbelief.

"Why you little..."

Kili sat outside on a tree stump, sporting his bow and several training arrows with a grudging look on his face while Fili shot blindly at the target, missing every time but once. "Your turn!" He announced once all his arrows were spent.

"Nah, I'll just sit here...to retrieve them..." Kili rolled his eyes in annoyance and Fili lowered his voice.

"Hey, you were the one who said that you wanted to make good use of your bow...well now you got the chance! Deal with it..." Kili stuck his tongue out at his brother, making sure his back was turned to Thorin so they wouldn't be punished again.

"Well maybe I don't want to..." Kili said, crossing his arms. Fili groaned.

"You are impossible...did ya know that?" Kili shrugged. Sighing, Fili added, "why don't you go collect my arrows."

"But Fili! You missed hundreds more than you actually hit the target with!" He exclaimed. Fili rolled his eyes.

"Kili, I only shot five arrows...and I only missed..." He began counting on his fingers. "Three arrows out of those."

"Ugh..." Kili said, getting up and trudging into the thin line of towering trees to find the arrows his irresponsible brother had wasted.

"arrow...arrow...glotta find that arrow..." Kili said to himself softly, scanning the dead leaves and trees for any sign of the last lost arrow.

"have you found 'em yet?" Fili called impatiently, and Kili growled under his breath.

"No, I haven't!" Kili called back irritably. "Just like the last few times you asked me..." He pushed some leaves out of the way and finally caught sight of something jutting naturally out of the side of a tree branch. "Aha!" He whispered, reaching forward to dislodge the arrow from the rough bark. As he pulled, he noticed that the arrow had not only embedded itself into the bark...but it had opened up a hidden whole in the tree. With one final yank, the arrow was out, and Kili landed ungracefully on his back in the leaves and twigs. Quickly sitting up, he began to investigate the hidden hole and soon found that something was hidden deep inside. He reached his hand into the hollow tree and grasped something in his hand. Eyes wide, he gasped and pulled something out of the tree, his fingers curled around it as he bounded back to Fili.

"here you go, brother." Kili said as he dropped the arrows unceremoniously on the ground.

"what took you so long?" Fili demanded, kneeling down and collecting all of the arrows. "I could've found them much faster!" He announced. Kili paid no attention, as he was far too busy observing the treasure he had found only moments ago. "What've you got there?" Fili asked, standing up and peering over his little brother's shoulder to get a better look at what he was holding in his hand.

"It's...it's a stone...isn't it cool?" Kili rolled the smooth river stone over in his palms and passed it to Fili. "Let's pretend it's the Arkenstone!" Kili said softly, nudging his brother. "I'll be the king and you can be the other king!"

"That's not how it works, Kili..." Fili interrupted, rolling his eyes at his brother's stupidity.

"Says who?" Kili asked, shoving his brother.