Dís never had quite the time to rest, mourn, weep for the dead. Everything had happened so fast after each other it spiraled out of control. Barely any free time, things that needed to be done and could not be set aside for longer than a minute.
She had been ten when Smaug attacked, and they had travelled long distances for a long time. When they finally managed to settle down in Ered Luin, they had the uttermost of poverty. She still could barely rest and start to mourn her mother and grandmother.
Then, The Battle of Azanulbizar happened and she lost her grandfather and brother. Getting a stoic brother and grief maddened father back. She had been devastated but could not rest. She needed to tend to their father while Thorin earned the money.
One morning, her father had disappeared to reclaim Erebor. They never saw him again.
She met Víli. He showed her that hearts were able to melt from ice, and relearned her to love and be loved. It was hard to feel everything almost crashing down, but she held strong and never caved. Not once.
Fíli was born. Her golden lion, eldest son and heir to the Throne of Erebor. He showed Thorin's heart that melting was possible. But he was hard to melt and never got all the ice chipped away.
Kíli was born too early and in the winter. Víli, Thorin and when Dís was better, held him in the cool side of the hearth as long as their knees could manage till he had his needs tended to. Kíli would result in being a slender and thin boy.
She forgot the trouble she was still carrying and saw joy in lots of times. Fíli and Kíli grew up poor, but with an healthy family.
Durin's cursed line made its appearance again. Víli drowned saving his sons from the river. Now it was the four of them. And she suddenly remembered all her trouble, grief and unmourned times, and they hunched her shoulders. She became a little distant, but she was as happy and warm around her two boys, Sparrow and Lion, as ever.
Miraculously, nothing devastating happened for the next 65 years. Then Thorin went to reclaim Erebor and she screamed, yelled and hit him. Her sons would stay home.
They left anyway.
She was alone for 13 months with no news.
And then a letter came in.
To Lady Dís of Ered Luin,
We hereby confirm that Erebor has been reclaimed and the dragon has been killed.
There have, unfortunately, been casualties.
We hereby claim that,
Thorin son of Thráin son of Thror,
Fíli son of Víli son of Jóli,
Kíli son of Víli son of Jóli and
Thráin son of Thror,
Have passed to The Halls of Waiting.
Dís didn't want to read further. She had lost everyone of her family. She was alone.
For long times she just sat in her small apartment and only went outside for necessities.
Dáin invited her to be First Counselor and Advisor. How could she say no?
They prepared a caravan and the Dwarrows set out for Erebor.
She had greeted Dáin, and the rest of the company, except for the always busy Balin, in the halls and set off to her old rooms in the royal corridors. There Balin waited, he knew. He knew what she had not done since she was ten. He knew. And opened his arms to the aged Dwarrowdam.
She stumbled in.
She cried, wept, sobbed. For a very long time. And needed eighteen months to recover from everything that had happened since she was ten, and had not attended to.
A war happened upon Erebor and Dáin and Bombur passed. This time she mourned and cried.
And for the first time,
She felt rested and calm. Unburdened and lighter. She grew old for a Dwarrow and died sleeping with with a peaceful smile, quite ready to meet her family again.
