Fly Away Little Birds Chapter 2

When Bilbo Baggins was young, his father took a trip to Bree. Bilbo did not get to go, and he was greatly disappointed by this, but Bungo promised to bring him back an excellent present. So Bilbo waited in anticipation for his father's return and the fabulous gift. What he was not expecting was for this fabulous gift to be a...A pair of dwarves? Or at least they seemed to be dwarves. In all truth they looked quite feral and one might have mistaken them for something less savory, but dwarves they were. Bungo's wife, Belladona was perhaps the most astonished with the filthy disgusting pair, and before anyone was allowed in the house, Bungo and Belladona had a long conversation outside.

Bungo wasn't accustomed to bringing home oddities, nor was he one to purchase the flesh of others, so to say. However, he made it clear to his wife that there were circumstances that required his immediate action, and he was not about to let the dwarves die for reasons they were not going to discuss at the moment. He assured Belladona that they had not made a significant dent in their finances and that the dwarves would be useful in some capacity. Belladona agreed with her husband, but at first was not trusting of the dwarves, nor did she want them in her house in their current state.

Belladona was resourceful and led a dwarf through the back door and by the shortest route to the bathroom where she required that they bathe one at a time. The other waited outside while this one bathed, and she took the old "clothes" such as they were, away. When she came back to the dwarf, he was trying madly to wash his ratty hair. "May I help?" She asked. At first the dwarf was taken aback, and did not know how to respond. "I will help." She said. He did not try to stop her, though she could fell the tension rising between them. She did not know the whole story, and knew that it was probably complex and disturbing, but hope that she would be able to help the dwarves while they were here.

This one had light colored hair when one got past the knots and dirt. And was actually not unpleasant to look at. He was damaged though in ways that she both could and could not see. "Do you have a name?" She asked him. "It's alright, you can speak."

"I..." He began. "Mistress, my name is Fili." He said, but he did not turn to look at her.

"Ah," She said. "I am sure that is a perfectly dwarvish name."

"I know I should speak no more, mistress, but..."

"It's alright."

"My brother is Kili. He does not really speak." Fili said.

"Does he not speak because he cannot?"

"It is just..." Fili did not know how to say it. "He has simply been taught a lesson very well, mistress. He can still speak, he has been taught that he never should. So for many years, he has not."

"That is terrible!" Belladona said as she continued to work on his hair. "Well he can speak now."

"You may allow it, but I don't know if he will." Fili said. "I don't know how he learned this lesson, or from whom, but it was well taught."

"Is there anything else I should know?" She asked him.

"Yes, mistress. Kili carries something that is very important to him. It is the only thing he has held on to since...The beginning. Please don't take it from him mistress. I beg of you."

"What is this thing?" Belladona asked him.

"A tooth, mistress."

Belladona was taken aback. "A tooth? Is it his?"

"No, mistress, but it belonged to someone who was very...Dear to him at one time." Fili said.

"And where is this person now?" She asked him.

"She is dead. We watched them kill her."

Again, a shocked silence. "Slavers don't usually do that."

"These weren't slavers. They were bandits and brigands from the Chetwood outside of Bree. They are closely associated with orcs and other foul creatures because they themselves are foul."

"So it would seem. I will let him keep the tooth for now. Come, you are done. Go sit in the living room."

Belladona took Fili to the living room and sat him upon a lovely floral love seat with a mere sheet to cover himself with. It was there that he first met Bilbo, their young son. At the age of twenty-three, Bilbo wasn't much to look at. Just a rolly poley hobbit child, as curious as any other. The young hobbit entered the room quietly and sat in a chair across the room from the strange, haggard looking dwarf. At first Fili paid him no mind, thinking maybe that the child would grow bored and go away. However, he did not. Fili was not allowed to say anything to him, for the master always spoke first regardless of the situation. So he waited, head down, staring at his now cleaner feet.

Finally Bilbo said something. "So you are a dwarf, correct?"

"Yes master." Fili said.

"I have never met a dwarf before. Have you...Spoken with many hobbits?"

"No master."

"Do you have a name?"

"Fili, master."

"Ah, I am Bilbo Baggins. So I guess you'll be staying with us for a while?"

"Yes master."

"You know, you don't have to call me 'master'. I would prefer if you didn't."

Bilbo immediately knew he had said the wrong thing, for the dwarf closed his eyes and shook his head, diving onto the floor in front of him. "It's not allowed, master. I must, I must!"

"It's alright." Bilbo said. The sheet had fallen from around the dwarf. "You might want to right the sheet, Fili."

It was then that Fili realized that he was quite uncovered. He pulled the sheet back around himself and apologized profusely before Bilbo told his to sit again. Moments later, a rather frazzled looking Kili walked out with Belladona close behind him. He looked markedly more dwarvish and handsome, however what was true for Fili was true for Kili as well. His experiences had marked him in many ways since the beginning. But Fili could tell by the clenching of Kili's left hand that she had let him keep the tooth, and he was thankful for small mercies.

Bungo had set up bedding for them in the cellar, which was actually quite comfortable. The most comfortable bedding that Fili had slept on for years. Belladona said she would try and find some kind of clothing for them in the morning but said, "Nothing in this house is filthy, and that includes the two of you from now on as well."

"Thank you, mistress," Fili answered for both of them. They slept that night wrapped in their sheets, but it was the best sleep that either of them had had in many a long year.

After that would begin some of the most blessed years of the two young dwarves. While they were both technically property, bought off of brigands who had decided to kill them, they were never treated badly, or in any way like they were less than creatures worthy of some respect. The hobbits never hurt the dwarves, and hardly ever raised their voices, which was a nice change. There was the rare occasion when Belladona would hit Kili upside the head with a wooden spoon if he messed up in the kitchen, but that was about it. Fili would have never guessed it, but Kili found great joy in cooking! Somehow the young dwarf found catharsis in the activity, which was a blessing really, as Kili needed to recover from whatever had to him while he and Fili were separated. Also Belladona was on a mission to make them both hobbitish. She said to them once, "nothing in this house is as thin as a rail, and that means the two of you as well!"

It was now required of Kili that he say at least four words in a row, and the mere acknowledgment of "yes master", or "yes mistress", would not be counted as the four word requirement. He still wouldn't say what had happened, nor did Fili think he ever would. So it goes, they were living reasonably well now.

The dwarves did the heavy work that the family needed while the Gamgees looked after the garden. Kili was on a never ending mission to overflow the market with baked goods, and Fili took to his more dwarven nature and actually forged tools and things for the people in and around Hobbiton and Tookland. It was all rather idyllic really. The two also developed an interesting friendship with Bilbo, who was somehow still bemused by the fact that they had two dwarves living with and working for them. When there was nothing to be done, the three would take to the Bindhole Wood and adventure, or even go as far as Frogmorton or on occasion even skirt Rushock Bog and Needlehole. The gate to Ered Luin was near there, but Fili and Kili knew that they would never take that walk again.

Fili once told Bilbo about how they had come to be in the predicament of slavery. All about Ondra, Therien, Thorin, the people of their village. Bilbo was very shocked by the cruelty of it all, but the question of lineage did indeed confuse him, and he asked Fili about it.

"Well, to tell the truth, mum didn't handle pregnancy well. Even at the earliest signs she began to become ill. So Thorin sent her away, to a place hidden in the mountains so that she and dad could have privacy, you know? I was born there, Kili was born there, Therien was born there. Mum and dad, they were so happy to have me, but something was wrong. She started acting crazy, and dad couldn't trust her with me. So in those first two years while I was up there, dad took care of me most of the time. I came down from the mountain when I was two. Then when she was pregnant with Kili, it all started over again, so Thorin sent all of us to the hidden lodge, yeah? Again, something happened to mum. She wasn't herself, and this time, dad wasn't there to protect Kili, he left just before Kili was born. Ondra saved Kili's life actually when mum was holding him over a tub of water and thinking about dropping him in. So nobody saw me until I was two, and it was about the same with Kili. For all anyone knew, we could have been someone elses children. I don't even know if anyone knew mum was pregnant when she and dad went away. All they knew was that she and dad were gone. In a way, Ondra raised us, and she hated every moment of it. She was resentful I think because she could only have one. She would have killed for two. Instead she thinks she's killed two. So here we are, alive and well."

Bilbo just stared at him for a moment, his mouth hanging open. He didn't know what to do, but Kili had gone silent and had turned away, as if he felt guilty about something. Or perhaps more ashamed. They were in the forest sitting right on the edge of where the forest ended and the bog began. Bilbo went and sat on a nearby log, contemplating for a moment. "That's one of the most terrible stories I have ever heard." He said.

"But we still live, master." Kili said over his shoulder.

"Indeed you do." Bilbo replied. "I will do my best to make sure no one ever hurts you again."

"You have our thanks, master." Fili said, and he bowed low to Bilbo.

A few years later, Kili would be somewhat shattered again when Belladona died. Despite the fact that she was not family, and not even of the same race, he still loved her fiercely and was more than sad to see her pass away. Bilbo saw his distress and thought to do something to alleviate it, so he gave Kili a small lock of his mother's hair, and a small bag to keep around his neck to keep his trinkets in. Kili was grateful for Bilbo's kindness and happily put the lock, and his morbid tooth into the little bag and he keeps it close to his heart.

When Bilbo was forty-four, it was finally time for Bungo to pass away as well. Bungo left him everything, which included Bag End and two beloved dwarf servants. Lobelia Sackville-Baggins tried to make a fuss, but Bilbo said, "come now Lobelia, do you really want to deal with these dwarves?" They all knew the answer to this; Lobelia was scared out of her wits by the dwarves and would have nothing to do with them, so that was settled.

When Bilbo was of the age of fifty, he realized that Fili and Kili had been with him for twenty-seven years. The dwarves were not concerned with that. They seemed to be amazingly content. Life seemed to be just as it should be.

Then one day, a wizard by the name of Gandalf the Grey came to Bilbo. Fili was nearby working when he did, but the wizard paid him no mind. He asked Bilbo to go on an adventure, and the hobbit made a very hobbity joke about adventures making one late for dinner, which was a flat refusal. They did not see the wizard mark the door, nor could they ever predict what was going to happen next. Fili and Kili were about to be confronted with a past that they probably wish would have stayed there.

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Hello all! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing and for following and favoriteing. It is always appreciated. Thank you Frodo's Sister, acciojd, lovely guest and Isky for reviewing. Hopefully some of your questions are answered. Please let me know if there are anymore questions and I will try and answer. Thank you and cheers! And farewell to Andrew Lesnie, Cinematographer on the LOTR and Hobbit movies as well as many others. We shall miss thee! STS