"Rule 63: Brothers"
Rule 63: "For any given male character, there is a female version of that character."
It was a quiet day in Laketown. But then again, nothing exciting ever happened there. Everything always seemed so routine to the family of the barge woman.
Barda would go out on her barge and do her business, whatever it may be, while Siegfried her eldest son would keep watch over his siblings at home.
Sometimes Barda would take her only daughter, Bain, with her on her trips.
It was on such a day that Bain did go with their mother, leaving Siegfried behind with their brother, Torben.
Siegfried almost looked forward to days such as these, for there were no women in the house, and that meant some quality time with his little brother.
With their father not being around and all, Siegfried had taken it upon himself to teach Torben in the ways of being a man.
However on this quiet day, the house of Barda the barge woman was filled with coughing.
"I knew I shouldn't let you out to play yesterday" Siegfried said to his brother, "Now you've gotten yourself sick."
Torben frowned and was about to say something, but he was taken over by of a fit of coughing. His nose was runny, his cheeks were red, and his eyes were watery.
Siegfried just looked at him, before ruffling his little brother's hair.
"Just rest yourself," he smiled, "I'll get you some soup later on after I finish some chores. If you need me just holler."
Torben just nodded and laid himself in bed and tucked himself into bed.
When Siegfried was sure that Torben was asleep he grabbed the laundry and exited the small house, and headed towards the water.
He couldn't help but turn a bit red when he heard the giggles and laughter of children as he knelt down and proceeded to wash the laundry.
It was strange for a man do a woman's work, and even though he had been doing the housework since he was young, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.
But he tried to never let it get to his head. What he was doing was good for his family, and he always wanted to support his mother, even if it meant minor humiliation for himself.
When the wash was done he went back into the house and began to make some soup for Torben.
Well, if you could really call it soup. It was more like broth if anything else.
When it was done, Siegfried poured some into a bowl, and then brought the bowl to Torben, who was sitting up in his bed.
"Can you tell me a story, Sieg?" the boy asked.
The older brother smiled and then nodded. He then proceeded to tell Torben stories about the creation of Middle Earth and of the different races that inhabited the world.
When Siegfried came upon the race of dwarves, Torben asked him if he had ever met a dwarf before.
"I have actually," he said, smiling when he saw Torben's eyes widen in excitement, "It was a few months after you were born."
"What was he like? Did you talk to him?" the young boy questioned his brother.
"Well first of all, it was a she-dwarf, and-"
"There are girl dwarves too?"
"Well yes, did you think that they just hatched from eggs or something?"
Torben averted his eyes and Siegfried chuckled at his brother.
Torben then looked back up at Sigfried and asked him, "Well, how did you meet her then?"
"I met her when in the marketplace when I was trying to get away from your wailing-"
"Hey!"
"Come on now, Tor, you were a sickly baby back then. I'm kind of surprised that Ma hadn't thrown you in the lake to silence you."
"That's not nice Sieg!" Torben huffed.
"I'm just pulling your leg. Now as I was saying, I met the dwarf when I was in the marketplace, where she was selling some of her wares. Now at first I didn't realize that she was a woman, 'cause she had a beard just like any man would and she was wearing no skirt-"
"Ma doesn't wear a skirt."
"Naw, she does. She just wears pants when she's on the barge."
"Really?'
"Yes Tor. Now pay attention. I don't have to tell you a story, I do have other things to do." Siegfried was about to get up from the bed, but Torben grabbed a hold of his arm and tugged on him.
"I'll be good, I promise!"
"Alright then. So I was curious about this dwarf and what she was sellin', so I came up to her and asked, "Watcha sellin' there, mister?" And she just smiled at me and said, "Sorry lad, but I aint no mister."
"Now of course I was confused, and she could see that. She started to giggle before she explained to me that she was indeed a girl, and that she was selling some toys.
"She then asked me why I was in the marketplace, if I was there with ma and whatnot, and for some reason I told her about how you were wailin' and stuff like that.
"She then told me how she had a younger sibling as well, and that she can understand that they can be annoying-"
"Hey!"
"Siegfried gave him a look, and Torben apologized.
"After that she gave me a doll that I then gave to you."
"You mean this one?" Torben asked before pulling out a ragged torn doll from underneath his pillow and handing it to his brother.
"You kept it?" Siegfried asked, staring at the small toy. The doll closely resembled a dog, like the ones that could be found in Laketown.
"Well yeah," Torben said, "You did give it to me."
Siegfired smiled at his brother and gave him a one armed hug.
"Did that dwarf ever say her name?"
"I think it was Bofet or Bofa or something like that."
For the rest of the day Siegfried told his brother stories, and when Barda and Bain returned they found the two boys sleeping in bed with the doll in between them.
Okay so this is the first of hopefully many one-shots based in the Rule 63!verse of the Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings.
This one shot is based off a drawing that the wonderful Shahrezad1 drew for me, which is also the cover art for this story.
I really hope that someone liked this, and I'm also accepting requests for anything in the 63!verse.