"Fili... wake up, wake up!"
Fili groaned. Great. What a way to start the day- being shaken awake by Kili at who-knows-what hour. He opened his eyes a little. It was still dark. He couldn't see anything. As his eyes came to focus, he realized that Kili was kneeling on his chest.
"What's wrong, Kili?"
"Smaug"
"What in Middle Earth are you talking about?"
"I heard him, Fili, I heard him! He's coming to eat Uncle Thorin!"
Fili couldn't help but laugh a little. Here he was, in the dark hours of the morning, with Kili, his five-year-old little brother, curled up in a ball on top of him, scared about a dragon coming to eat their uncle. Not only did Fili know that if Smaug was really here, an alarm would have been raised, but he also knew a dragon would never leave his hoard just to eat one dwarf who wasn't even bothering him at the current moment. Fili was about to break this news to Kili when an odd, moaning sound came from outside. Kili looked back at him defiantly.
"I told you! Smaug is coming to eat Uncle Thorin! We have to stop him!"
Even though Fili knew it wasn't Smaug, he wanted to find out what it was so he could get back to sleep.
"Fine, Kili, as long as we can go to sleep afterwards."
"You're acting like an old man."
That retort was unexpected.
"Excuse me?"
"You're acting like a boring old man. You used to always play with me, and fight dragons, and build castles, but now you only want to sleep and read. That's old man stuff."
"Oh... I'm sorry Kili... but..."
Fili was about to launch into an explanation of why he hadn't been playing that much when he saw a tear glint in Kili's eyes.
"But..." he continued "We have a dragon to slay! No time for talking- we've got to save our Uncle!"
"Yeah! But wait-" Kili scampered off into the darkness and came back holding two long sticks, and two large leaves. "Here you go!"
Fili confusedly took a stick and a leaf.
"Um, Kili? What are these?"
Kili looked at him as if he was oblivious to the most obvious thing in the world.
"You seriously think we can fight Smaug without some equipment?" Kili asked skeptically.
"Oh! But of course- these wouldn't happen to be our swords, would they?" Fili asked playfully.
"Of course they are, you dumb old man!"
"Ok- why am I an old man this time?"
"Because you don't remember- these are our swords! We used to win every battle with these!"
Fili felt bumps on the underside of the stick. Upon closer inspection he could read the words 'Dragon stabber' scratched into it. Memories came flooding back- he could remember Thorin telling them that every good sword deserved a name from the deeds it had done. Fili named his 'Dragon Stabber' because he had slain the imaginary Smaug countless times. Kili named his the 'Uncle Saver' because imaginary Smaug only ever went after Thorin for some reason. But Fili didn't remember his sword like this- he remembered it as a silver-bladed sword with a gold, jewel-encrusted hilt. But it was only a stick- and not even a sharp one at that. Kili was right- he was acting like an old man. He missed the days where his trusty sword was the solution to any problem. He missed the days when Kili and himself where the only hope the entire village had of surviving Smaug's wrath. He missed playing.
The moan sounded again. Kili looked down at his feet.
"If you don't want to help, you can go and sleep..." Kili trudged off sadly.
"Are you kidding me? I couldn't sleep knowing that Smaug the terrible was just outside my door! Come on! Let's go fight a dragon!"
Kili's whole face lit up. He raised his sword above his head, yelled at the top of his lungs, "CHARGE!" and ran down the hallway towards the door.
"Kili, no! You'll wake-" It was too late. Fili could see Thorin standing at his door, waiting for Kili to pass.
Kili was almost outside, getting closer and closer to his imaginary adventure. He was now passing the second last door before the exit. Thorin was waiting in the last door way. As Kili bolted past, still waving his sword, Thorin scooped him up.
"Now where do you think you're going? You're making an awful lot of noise."
Fili carefully approached.
"We were just-"
"We were going to fight the dragon!" Kili interrupted gleefully.
"Where you now? At this time of morning?"
"Sorry Uncle Thorin." Fili looked down at his feet.
"I'm telling you now, boys, if I'm woken up before sunrise every morning I won't stay for much longer." Thorin said warningly.
"But you can't leave- we won't be able to protect you!" Kili pleaded.
"Protect me? Whatever from?"
"Smaug!"
"Oh; Kili, you-" Before Thorin could finish, the moaning noise rang throughout the house again.
"See? See Uncle Thorin? Smaug is coming to eat you! And he sounds hungry!" Kili protested.
"Oh goodness! We better go and see what that is- do you both have your swords?" Thorin asked, with a playful glint in his eyes.
"Yes Sir!" Kili yelled.
"Shh! We can't let him know we're coming, can we?" Thorin whispered, looking cautiously at his sister's room.
"Yes Sir!" Kili whispered back.
The three dwarves crept out of the house, and carefully looked around. 'Smaug' moaned again.
"This way, soldiers." Thorin led them in the direction of the noise. As they turned the corner, it moaned again. They could now see clearly what it was.
"Why, it's only Bella!"
Both Fili and Kili breathed a sigh of relief. Bella the cow was much better than Smaug the Dragon. Bella mooed again.
"What's the matter with Bella?" Fili asked as Thorin went over to examine.
"She appears to have trodden on a burr." Thorin announced. "Kili, Fili- brave soldiers, you must help this maiden Bella at once!"
"Why? How can we help?" Kili asked, gazing up at Thorin and the large cow.
"You see Kili, this burr contains poison! If we don't remove it, Bella will die!" Thorin said dramatically.
Kili gasped and knelt down. He carefully plucked the incriminating article from Bella's foot. Bella moaned in pain. Kili stood up to his full height (60 cm) and thrust the burr in the air.
"I have saved Bella!"
Thorin and Fili gave him a polite round of applause.
"Now, I think we should get back to sleep."
Both Fili and Kili groaned. They were actually having fun. However, it was no use arguing with Thorin, so they headed back to their room. Kili tucked himself in and was about to sleep when Fili asked, "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"It's Bella!"
"Is she hurt again?"
"No- she's saying thank you!"
"For me saving her?"
"Yeah! She's saying you are now an honorary cow saver. Congratulations little brother."
Kili beamed.
"You know- you're not that old."
And with that, Kili fell asleep.