No More Precious Than You
Deep breath in, out. Shoulders relaxed; arms raised. Arrow notched; attention focused.
Deep breath.
Elbow up, string drawn back...
"Kili!"
Startling from the shout of his name, Kili jerked his bow up, arrow going wide and lodging far from the ground in the trunk of a nearby tree.
Furrowing his brow Kili turned towards the origin of the shout, seeing his brother hurrying through the tree's towards him, beads swinging from the ends of the braids he had recently woven into his growing facial hair.
"How goes the training brother?" asked the elder, cheerfully ignoring his scowling younger sibling. "Last I heard arrows were meant to hit the target, not the surrounding trees!"
"And hit the target it would have, if I hadn't been disturbed by your loud mouth brother," retorted Kili, threading the bow over his head to rest against his back.
Shooting a glare at Fili, Kili bent to pick up his quiver from the ground and turning, thrust it into his brothers arms.
"Here, be useful," he said, walking over to the tree line and peering up through the branches to where he could just make out the shaft of his errant arrow, lodged between the swaying branches. Blowing his loose hair out of his eyes the young dwarfling prince studied the branches, debating on the safest route up the tree to retrieve his arrow.
"Give me a foot up?" He asked his brother who had stepped up behind him.
"You're going to climb all the way up that tree for one arrow?" Fili asked in disbelief, eyeing his brother then the tree and raising his eyebrow at the rather significant difference in size between the two.
"Do you not remember our lessons Fili?" queried Kili. "Always-
"Care for your weapons and never lose sight of them", continued Fili, rolling his eyes. "How could I forget? Uncle spends at least an hour every time we see him getting us to repeat everything he says. It's tedious!"
"Oh big words there Fili!", Kili mocked as he stretched to reach the lowest branch. "You know what Uncle would say"
"Don't get too big for your britches boy" Fili said, in a good imitation of their uncle's throaty growl.
Laughing he bent down, cupping his hands together, preparing to lift his brother into the tree. "I don't think we ever could, with so many other dwarves around us to smack us down again"
"Truer words have never been spoken brother", said Kili, raising his right foot to rest in Fili's cupped hands. "Ready?"
"On the count of three?"
"You'd better actually count to three Fili"
"Of course!" exclaimed Fili, turning a wounded look on his brother. "Three!"
Letting out a rather undignified squawk Kili was launched into the tree, managing to get a firm grip on the branch before he went headfirst over it.
"Fili!"
"What?! I counted to three. By three's!"
Glaring down at his laughing brother Kili got his feet under him, perching on the branch, and reached for the next one up, grumbling as he did so. He made steady progress up the tree, using the branches as a makeshift ladder and pushing with his feet off the trunk when he came to a branch too weak to support his weight.
Climbing through the foliage he could no longer see his brother on the ground beneath him, but he could hear him clearly.
"Are you there yet Kili?"
"Not quite", he grunted, reaching for a branch but finding his fingertips falling short by mere inches. Looking up he could see his arrow embedded in the bark a few inches from the base of the branch he was trying to reach. Scowling he weighed his options. He was too short to reach the branch he needed and there were no others within easy reach of him. However he had made it nearly all the way up the tree and his uncle's words about his weapons were ringing through his head.
He couldn't quit now.
Making his decision Kili bent his knees slightly, balancing on the balls of his feet, and took a leap at the branch above him. He yelped as he caught it between his hands, however his feet dangled beneath him as he struggled to find purchase on the trunk of the tree.
"Kili?" Fili's worried voice came from the base of the tree as he peered up through the leaves to see what had happened to his brother.
"I'm ok Fili!", Kili called back as he hung from the branch. Scowling, he looked at the arrow and then back down towards his brother. "How good are you at catching?"
"Catching what?" Fili replied, puzzled.
"Falling dwarflings"
"What?!" He exclaimed. "It's not really a skill I've practiced!"
"Well consider this an opportunity to develop a new skill"
"Kili!"
"Get ready brother!"
So saying Kili braced his legs against the tree trunk. Bending his knees he pushed off, letting go of the branch with one hand at the same time, trusting his brother to catch him if he fell. Swinging towards the trunk he reached out with his free hand and grabbed the shaft of his arrow. As he did this however he lost his grip of the branch he had been holding and started to fall backwards, eyes widening with panic and breath hitching.
"Fili!" he shouted, as he fell quickly down the way he had come. Closing his eyes he braced for impact, the air jolted out of him as he fell into a pair of waiting arms, a soft grunt coming from behind as the force of Kili's fall bore he and his rescuer to the ground beneath them.
Catching his breath Kili blinked his eyes open, his lost arrow firmly gripped in his left hand, to see the face of his older brother looming above him.
"Fili?" he asked confused. "How did you get your head there if I'm on top of you?"
"I wasn't the one who caught you brother", Fili smirked as he looked down at him.
"Then who...?"
Rolling his head to the side Kili saw a wave of dark hair. Continuing his gaze upwards Kili found himself looking into the unimpressed face of his uncle. Squeaking he jumped up and away, colliding with Fili as his heart beat rabbit fast inside his chest.
"I'm am so sorry uncle!" he apologised, voice slightly high from panic and embarrassment.
Pulling himself to his feet Thorin frowned at his nephew. "What exactly were you doing in a tree to begin with nephew; do you fancy yourself an elf with your bow and arrow and your new tree climbing skills?"
"Not at all uncle! I was fetching my arrow. Fili startled me as I was training and my arrow ended up in the tree."
"Well then, I suggest that next time you aim for the actual target rather than the tree and that you are constantly aware of your surroundings. That way you are unlikely to be found falling from the sky."
"Of course uncle", Kili replied, bowing his head as he let out a soft sigh. Why was it that his uncle only seemed to arrive when Kili was doing something wrong? Turning to Fili he took back his quiver, avoiding the sympathy that he knew would be in his brother's eyes.
He set off back towards home but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
"I know that you take great care of your weapons Kili", said Thorin quietly. "But no weapon is worth your safety. Weapons can be replaced, you can't. I have already lost many kin, I can ill afford to lose another."
Looking up at his uncle Kili returned the warm smile that was gracing his uncle's face.
"I understand uncle", he said, leaning in for a brief hug, before jerking back as Thorin ruffled his hair.
"See that you do nephew", he smiled. "You too Fili. Now come, before your mother comes after us with that spoon of hers."
"You're not scared of a spoon are you uncle?" laughed Fili.
"Indeed I am Fili. A utensil in your mothers hand is a formidable weapon indeed. I suggest we make haste before we find our knuckles meeting the edge of her spoon!"
Laughing together the three set off for home, Kili's arrow returned to it's place within his quiver, kept close and within reach of the youngest Durin heir.