I.
"Do you believe in love at first sight?" I remembered him asking me, in the days before we were to leave our home in the Blue Mountains.
Supplies had been packed, ponies had been saddled, and I had various blades sharpened, but nothing could have prepared me for that question.
"What do you mean?" I asked, laughing. "Brother, we are going on a quest to reclaim our lost homeland. This isn't some match-making, soul-searching journey to find you a wife."
"You mean it isn't?" he replied with mock innocence. "But if we meet a beautiful maiden with hair the colour of daffodils and long, silky sideburns on our journeys, I won't be able to help it and she falls helplessly in love with my good looks," and I swatted the back of his head, hoping to knock some sense into him.
My little brother – we were only born only a few years apart, yet he felt so much younger than I was.
I could never leave him alone. The minute I'd turn my head, he would have found some new, ingenious way to get himself into trouble – one could even say it was his special talent. He was unmatched when it came to recklessly throwing one's self headfirst into danger.
Sometimes I think the only reason he is so trivial with his own safety is because he knows I will always be there to watch his back. This reassurance he takes for granted – I hope to live up to it, for as long as I can; for as long as he needs it.
"Stay focused on our quest, Kili," I reminded him, slipping another throwing dagger into my coat (you can never really have enough daggers).
"I can stay focused," he protested. And not a second later he continued, "So once we reclaim Erebor, we will be considered heroes, yes? I'm sure I'll be popular among the Dwarf-maids – I'll have my hands full just fighting them off."
He gave a wide grin that filled his face. "Will you mind if I distract them by telling them my equally-handsome brother is still available?"