a/n: Thank you to everyone who commented on part one! Apologies for not answering comments - I have rather spotty internet access at the moment. And yes, it will be longer than two parts...

On their third night in Bag End, there were no nocturnal disturbances. Bilbo awoke with the sun, feeling refreshed and cheerful, and smiling at the thought of a peaceful day ahead. But when, perhaps half an hour later, Bilbo's two guests appeared in the living room, it took only one look at Kili for Bilbo to realise that he had not spent nearly so peaceable a night as Bilbo had. The little dwarf's face was pale and rather tense-looking, and there were deep shadows under his eyes, and although he had not slept well since their arrival in Hobbiton, he had gone from looking merely tired to looking exhausted and almost drawn. Bilbo swallowed his exclamation of dismay and smiled determinedly at his friends.

"Ah, you are both up!" he said. "This calls for breakfast. Fili, will you help me?"

Fili looked up from where he was settling Kili into his chair in the corner. He, at least, looked well-rested, though not very happy. "Of course," he said, and followed Bilbo through to the kitchen.

Bilbo set the kettle on the stove and turned to Fili, who stood leaning against the little table with a troubled frown on his face. "Was there another dream?" Bilbo asked.

Fili shook his head. "Not that I heard," he said. "Although sometimes he is so silent- But no. I think perhaps he simply did not sleep at all."

Bilbo sighed, peering into a low cupboard after a pan. "I had so hoped-" he started, but then he looked up at Fili and saw that the young dwarf was wearing an expression of deep guilt, and that had Bilbo straightening up so fast he almost injured himself on the cupboard door. "No, you don't, master dwarf," he said. "Did you keep your brother awake all night? Were you banging a drum, perhaps, or dousing him in cold water?"

Fili made an incredulous face. "Of course I was not!" he said.

"Well, then," said Bilbo. "You have nothing to feel ashamed about, and I won't tolerate needless guilt in my hobbit hole." He brandished his frying pan in what he hoped was a fearsome manner, and Fili looked startled, and then snorted with laughter, although the mirth on his face was still mingled with something more sober. Bilbo smiled himself, setting the pan down on the stove. "I know it is not easy, my lad," he said quietly.

Fili stared into the hearth for a moment or two. "He used to wake me up," he said, and Bilbo glanced over at him.

"When?" he asked. "In Erebor?"

"No," Fili said, "when we were children. If he couldn't sleep or he had a bad dream, he would always wake me up." His mouth twisted unhappily. "I would get angry with him sometimes, because I just wanted to sleep."

Bilbo set down the fork he held in his hand and turned to face Fili. "But it is not because you were angry with him many years ago that he does not wake you now," he said. "It is not because of anything you have done at all."

Fili nodded slowly, still staring at the fire. "I know that, of course," he said. "But sometimes-" he frowned. "Sometimes it is hard to convince my heart."

Bilbo sighed and patted Fili's arm. "Oh, my dear Fili," he said. "But you must try. Will you try?"

Fili looked up at him then, and smiled, though it was a rather sad smile. "I will," he said, and then turned away quickly. "Now," he said, already half-way to the pantry, "I hope we are having bacon?"

Bilbo was not entirely sure whether taking Kili outside again would be a good idea, after the incident with the children the day before. He had little doubt the little scamps would be back after the welcome Fili had given them, and indeed he had no wish to chase them away, not when they seemed to do so much good to one of his guests - for although Kili's peace of mind was substantially more fragile than Fili's, nonetheless he was not the only one who had been terribly hurt by what had happened with the orcs, and Bilbo did not wish to take away anything that might increase Fili's happiness. And indeed, if Kili was not yet rightly considered of age, then Fili was barely so, and Bilbo was sure there had been little of play for the last twenty-five years of his childhood. How then could he ask him to give it up now, grown dwarf or no?

In the end, Fili made the decision for all of them, and apparently with little of the worry that troubled Bilbo, for after second breakfast he announced that it was ridiculous that they should all be inside on such a glorious day, and grabbed his brother by the arm, dragging him out of the house with great enthusiasm. Bilbo took a moment to worry about the fact that even now, after an entire year of freedom, Kili rarely moved anywhere without someone taking him or at least asking him to go, and then decided that such troubles could wait, for indeed the sun was shining and the bees were humming, and there was that tiny hint of autumn on the air that makes the last days of August the most golden time of the year. And so he followed his two guests outside and sat with Kili on the bench, telling him all about the midwinter festival ten years before when old Bardoc Brandybuck had fallen asleep in his own soup. As tales went, it was a gentle one, with little in the way of high drama, but although Kili did not seem to understand why it was funny, he nonetheless listened as though he was quite fascinated. Fili, meanwhile, went wandering down to the little stream at the bottom of the hill, and before he was halfway back he had been ambushed by the marauding children of Hobbiton, and his laughter echoed up to them, mixed with the higher, purer voices of the hobbitlings.

"Now then, master dwarf," Bilbo said, after a time of peaceful silence listening to the children playing, "let's see if you remember your lessons." He pointed to a tall stand of poppies growing not far away. "What is the name of those flowers?"

Kili followed his finger and stared at the poppies, then looked back at Bilbo. "It is red flower," he said after a long pause.

Bilbo chuckled. "Why yes, they are certainly red," he said. "But do you remember the name? I told it to you when we were in Ered Luin."

Kili looked pensive, staring off into the middle distance where the children were playing with his brother. Bilbo was about to prompt him again when he suddenly spoke.

"Hobbit," he said, "why-" He stopped suddenly, half tripping over whatever the next word was, and then shut his mouth as if he planned to say nothing more.

If Bilbo had not been paying close attention for the last few days, perhaps he would not have put it together, but he had, and so he saw Kili stumble over his name and decide to stay silent rather than ask whatever question he had in mind, and he remembered that the same thing had happened before, after Kili's nightmare on their second night in Hobbiton. And he furthermore cast his mind back over the last day or two and realised, somewhat to his horror, that Kili had all but stopped addressing him by name all together, and that if he thought about it, he could barely recall an instance of the little dwarf initiating a conversation since the issue had come up. Certainly he still spoke when spoken to first, but something about the unfamiliar name seemed to have placed a distance between Kili and Bilbo, or to have caused the little dwarf to withdraw a little from the world. Whichever it was, it was not at all to Bilbo's liking, and he quickly determined that he would not allow it to go on any longer.

"Kili, my lad," he said firmly, "never mind Mr. Baggins, tell me what it is you were going to ask."

Kili looked troubled, and Bilbo put a hand on his arm and squeezed.

"Please," he said. "It is very important to me that you tell me."

For a moment, he thought Kili would simply huddle into himself, but then the little dwarf glanced sideways at Bilbo from under his hair and spoke, though his voice was very quiet.

"Why not protect childen of Fili?" he asked.

Bilbo felt rather relieved that the question had finally made an appearance, but utterly confused by its content. "I don't understand," he said. "And it is children."

"Children, yes," Kili said. "You say me before, is good protect children."

"Of course!" Bilbo said. "Children must always be protected."

Kili stared at him. "Why not protect of Fili?" he asked again. "Fili chase children, why not protect?"

"Oh!" Bilbo said with a laugh, looking down the hill to where Fili was indeed engaged in chasing a pack of shrieking hobbitlings. "Well, they are playing," he said. "Fili does not mean them any harm. It is fun."

Kili frowned at him for a moment, then looked back at the hobbitlings. "Fun?" he said. "I did think fun is happy. It is happy, is make happy, yes? I am right?"

"Yes, exactly," Bilbo said. "Having fun makes you happy. They are playing, you see? They like Fili chasing them, it makes them happy."

An expression of total bewilderment came over Kili's face then. He opened and closed his mouth a moment as if he could find no words to say, then shook his head. "No," he said, sounding quite upset. "Chase not is fun, chase is punish, is die. Chase not happy, chase is scared. Children scared, why not protect?"

Bilbo gaped at him. "No, it is-" he started, and then found that he did not know how to continue. "No," he said again. "Oh, no, no. You have misunderstood."

Kili looked from him to the hobbitlings and back. His face was dark with trouble. "Yes, I understand wrong," he said. "I think, think all night, still not understand. Head is wrong, not can understand."

"But-" Bilbo said, feeling suddenly rather cold, "you understand that your brother would never hurt a child, don't you? You understand that, don't you Kili?"

Kili stared down at the hobbitlings for a long moment. "Yes," he said finally. "I know Fili not hurt children. I know, yes, I know." He frowned. "Not understand why run, why chase," he said. "Children scared."

"They are not scared," Bilbo said. "Why do you think they're scared?"

Kili glanced at him. "I hear they scream," he said.

At this, Bilbo barely restrained himself from putting his head in his hands in despair, for of course the delighted shrieks of the children as Fili chased them around the hillside did indeed sound little different from screams of fear, except that they were interspersed with laughter instead of tears. And how could he explain the fun in being chased to someone who had only ever experienced it as something deadly serious that would most likely end in pain or death? It was quite beyond him, and he felt suddenly that he had been foolish in thinking that simply bringing Kili to his home would help him, that perhaps there was no way to help the little dwarf at all.

It was then, of course, that the whole chasing game spilled up the hillside, and little hobbitlings were suddenly charging towards them, followed rapidly by Fili, who roared in mock fury and swept one squealing little lass off her feet. He carried her to the bench and sat down heavily with her in his lap, grinning at Bilbo and Kili. But his smile faded when he saw the look on Bilbo's face, and he let go of the little lass, who giggled and dashed away down the hill.

"Mr. Baggins," he said, "whatever is the matter? You look quite ill."

Bilbo shook himself. "It is nothing," he said, "nothing at all for you to worry about. It is only that I was trying to explain to your brother that chasing can be fun."

"Well, and why wouldn't it be-" Fili started, and then stopped as he stared at his brother, a spark of realisation on his face. Kili still looked quite miserable and agitated, and Fili reached for him, putting an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close. "Oh, my brother," he murmured. "When we were young we would chase each other all around the Blue Mountains. It was the greatest of games."

Kili shook his head. "I not understand," he muttered. "Not can understand."

"It is like-" Fili said, and then thought for a moment, "it is like when we fought outside the house in Ered Luin, do you remember? We were fighting, but it was not real. It was a game."

Kili stared at his brother. Bilbo patted his arm.

"Do you remember that, my lad?" he asked. "It was not so long ago."

Kili gave a slow nod. "Yes," he said. "I remember. It is not fight."

"That's right," Fili said with a smile. "And when I chase the hobbitlings, it is not real, either. It is only a game."

"Children love games," Bilbo put in. "They love to be scared, as long as they know it is not real."

Kili looked bewildered once again by this. Fili tightened his arm around his brother's shoulders. "Do you understand, my brother?" he asked.

Kili looked as though he did not, but at that moment the hobbitlings came swarming back, tugging on Fili's arm and clinging to his knees, demanding that he play with them. Fili, for once, looked as though he would rather not, casting a concerned look at his brother. But Kili had shrunk into himself with the arrival of the children, and Bilbo shook his head.

"Go and have some fun," he said. "I will look after your brother. It is better anyway that the children should not be so close."

Fili looked even more troubled at this, but he jumped quickly to his feet, letting go of his brother with one last squeeze to his shoulder. Moments later he was gone in a swirl of laughter and delighted screams, and Bilbo was about to ask Kili if he wanted to go inside when he realised that not all the hobbitlings had run off with Fili. One, a little lass, had fallen on the path, and landed hard on her hands. It was Esmeralda Took again, Bilbo saw, and she sat back on her behind and wailed, blood oozing from the heels of her hands, but the play had moved on and Fili surely did not hear her. Bilbo did, though, and he felt Kili grow rigid beside him. He jumped swiftly to his feet, hurrying over and scooping up the sobbing hobbitling and carrying her to the bench.

"There, there, my dear," he said. "Let me kiss it better." And he dropped a kiss on each of Esmeralda's hands and patted her on the head. "There, see?" he said, gratified to see that the child's wails had already subsided to a few hiccups, although less pleased by the way that she stared curiously at Kili, who sat a few feet from her at the other end of the bench, his head bowed and his face hidden by his hair. "I'll go and get something to clean you up, and you'll be right as rain!" Bilbo announced, and dashed into the hobbit-hole, quickly collecting some clean bandages and a little salve, and filling a bowl with water before hurrying back outside, hoping that Esmeralda had not had a chance to get so curious that she bothered Kili.

This hope, of course, was quite in vain, for all children are curious, and those children brought up with nothing but love and safety are the most curious of all. And so when Bilbo stepped out of the door of his hobbit-hole, he found Esmeralda holding her bloody palms up in Kili's direction.

"Mr. Dwarf," she said, still a little tearful, "it hurts."

Bilbo paused in the doorway, half-hidden by a spray of roses, unsure whether to intervene or see what would happen if events took their course. Kili sat silent, but Esmeralda crawled over to him on the bench, tugging on his sleeve and holding up her palms.

"It hurts," she said again.

Bilbo was about to jump forward, afraid that the little lass would climb into Kili's lap - and who knew what might happen then - when Kili darted a look in her direction and nodded once.

"Yes," he said. "Hurts."

Esmeralda blinked, seeming rather surprised by that answer. "Well," she said, "aren't you going to make it better? You should kiss it, that makes it better."

Kili stole another glance at her, then shook his head. "Kiss not make better," he said, his voice so low Bilbo could hardly hear it.

"Yes it does," Esmeralda insisted.

"No," Kili replied. "Need clean." He glanced quickly around himself - and Bilbo found himself ducking back behind the roses - and then took one of Esmeralda's hands, bringing it to his mouth. For a moment, Bilbo thought he would indeed kiss it, but then instead he stuck out his tongue and licked the wound, paying thorough attention to for several moments before he pulled back and peered at it, spitting on the ground beside him. He seemed satisfied by what he saw, and quickly seized the child's other hand, repeating his actions. Esmeralda stared at him open-mouthed, her tears seemingly quite forgotten in her astonishment. Bilbo felt rather the same way, if he was honest with himself.

Finally Kili sat back, releasing Esmeralda's hand. "Clean is good," he said. "Not get sick."

Esmeralda looked rather like she might burst into tears again, and Bilbo hastened out from behind the roses and set his bowl down on the bench.

"Mr. Bilbo!" Esmeralda cried, holding her now much cleaner-looking palms up to him. "Mr. Dwarf licked me!"

"So I saw," Bilbo said. He turned to Kili, who was giving him a rather cautious look. "We usually use water to clean wounds here in the Shire."

Kili shook his head. "Water not good," he said. "Not clean, make sick. Mouth-water is better."

Bilbo opened his mouth to explain that certainly in the Shire, clean water was not difficult to acquire, but it seemed Kili had already understood something of this, for he was staring at the bowl Bilbo had brought out with a frown.

"I am wrong," he said, sounding uncertain. "Water here is good, is clean. I am wrong, yes?"

Bilbo smiled at him, and then at Esmeralda. "You see, my dear," he said, dabbing a little salve on her upturned palm, "not only has my friend Mr. Kili helped to make you better, he has also taught you an excellent lesson! It is very important if you hurt yourself to clean the wound, otherwise you might get sick. But if you are in a place where the water is dirty, cleaning it with water might make things even worse. At those times it is best to lick the wound, just as Mr. Kili did for you."

Esmeralda stared at him, round-eyed. "Why isn't the water clean?" she asked.

"Ah! Well," Bilbo said, "in many places it is, and quite safe, just as here. But there are some places where it is not, though they are far away from here."

Esmeralda turned her wide-eyed gaze on Kili. "Have you been to places where the water isn't clean, Mr. Dwarf?" she asked.

Kili glanced at her and then at Bilbo. Bilbo nodded encouragingly, and Kili turned back to the little lass.

"Yes," he said. "Many places."

Esmeralda looked hopeful. "Will you take me there?"

At this, a look of intense confusion crossed Kili's face, and Bilbo broke in with a chuckle, for it would surely not be ideal for Kili to ask her why she wanted to go to the places that he had been - who knew what kind of unpleasant descriptions that might lead to?

"Oh, they are very far away," Bilbo said. "Most probably you will never go there at all."

Esmeralda looked disappointed for a moment, but then she brightened up. "If I do, I'll remember to lick anything I hurt!" she said.

"There, you see!" Bilbo said, nudging Kili. "An excellent lesson indeed."

Kili still looked unhappy, though. "You not go there," he said to Esmeralda. "Not good for children."

Esmeralda cocked her head on one side. "Why do you talk so funny, Mr. Dwarf?" she asked.

Bilbo opened his mouth to reprimand her for being rude, but Kili merely shrugged. "Not know how talk right," he said. "Still learn."

"My cousin Rosamunda's still learning, too," Esmeralda said solemnly. "But she's only three, and she started talking when she was one, so that means she's only been learning for-" she paused, frowning and sticking out her tongue "-two years! How old are you, Mr. Dwarf?"

Kili glanced at Bilbo, and it was clear that he was not altogether sure how old he was, although both Bilbo and Fili had told him at one time or another. "Old," he decided finally. "Only learn speak one year."

"Oh!" Esmeralda said. "You are very good!"

Bilbo finished bandaging her hands and patted her on the head. "Now then," he said. "All done."

Esmeralda beamed at him, and then at Kili. "Do you know the other Mr. Dwarf?" she said, pointing at where Fili was playing some kind of game that seemed to involve all the children standing as still and silent as they could. "Is he your friend?"

Kili considered this. "Not friend," he said. "Is my brother."

"You don't look like brothers," Esmeralda said. "He is so happy and you are so sad."

Kili looked rather upset by this, and Bilbo leaped to his feet. "That's enough now, Esmeralda," he said. "Mr. Kili doesn't want to spend all day answering your questions. Run along and play!"

For a moment, he thought Esmeralda would disobey him, but she was a sweet little lass when all was said and done, one of Bilbo's many cousins, in fact, on both sides if he remembered correctly, and she raised her arms for a hug - which Bilbo provided - and then seemed to sense, with whatever odd instincts reside in children, that she should not do the same to Kili, for instead she merely bobbed a little curtsey to him.

"Thank you, Mr. Bilbo," she said. "Thank you, Mr. Kili."

Bilbo gave a half-bow and a smile. Kili looked confused and ducked his head a little in what seemed to be some kind of attempt at a bow.

"Thank you?" he said doubtfully.

"You're supposed to say you're welcome," Esmeralda told him.

Kili nodded. "You welcome," he said carefully, and Esmeralda beamed and gave him a little wave, then ran off to join her fellows.

Bilbo smiled broadly at Kili. "Well, now," he said. "And how do you feel about children now, master dwarf?"

Kili was frowning after Esmeralda. "Why he ask me help?" he said.

"It is she," Bilbo said. "She is a little lass."

Kili grimaced. "Yes," he said. "She. Why she ask me help? Did not know me."

"Well, because she is a child and you are an adult," Bilbo said. "She knew you would help her."

"How know?" Kili asked. "How know I not hurt? Is not, is not-" He paused and took a breath, frowning in concentration, and Bilbo waited to see what would result. "It is not good," he said finally. "It is not good ask people help if not know before, if not friends. Friends help." He pointed at Bilbo. "Friends help, it is right. Not-friends hurt." He paused, but before Bilbo could speak he shook his head, apparently not having yet completed his thought. "You need," he said, and then seemed to think a moment before nodding to himself. "Yes," he muttered, and then looked back at Bilbo. "You need say children not talk not-friends. Is not safe. Why they talk not-friends?"

He stopped, and Bilbo waited a moment to see if more was forthcoming, then thought to himself about how he could answer this rather complex outburst. Finally, he decided to start at the beginning, for he had always been rather an orderly hobbit.

"First of all," he said, "anyone could see just by looking at you that you are a kind soul, and so I am sure Esmeralda knew that you would not hurt her."

This answer did not seem to satisfy Kili, and Bilbo had rather suspected it would not, but he felt it was important to say nonetheless. Unfortunately, the next part of his answer was rather more difficult.

"It is true what you say," he said slowly. "In many places, it is not good at all for children to talk to strangers - that is how we say someone who is not a friend, by the way, stranger - because there are many cruel folk abroad. And I know, my dear lad, that you have experienced the very worst of such places, and the very worst of consequences. But in some places - and this is one of them - folk can be trusted, even strange folk, since hardly anyone comes to the Shire who is not a hobbit, and no hobbit would harm a child. And in places like this, children grow up trusting adults to help them. It is one of the things that innocent creatures do - they trust that others will help them. Do you remember I taught you the word innocent?"

Kili nodded slowly, a frown of deep concentration on his face. Bilbo patted his arm and continued.

"It is very important, then, that we do not betray their trust. That is one reason why we must protect them, because they trust us to do so. Do you see? If someone trusts you, you must make very sure that you do not break their trust."

Kili made no response to this, but it was clear that he had heard and at least understood the words, if not the ideas behind them. Bilbo sighed.

"I know it is difficult, my lad," he said, almost wishing for a return to a time when the most complicated thing he had had to teach Kili was that he would not be punished for speaking his mind. "There are a lot of things still for you to learn. But you are doing very well, I think."

Kili looked a little sceptical at this, but did not speak, and Bilbo got to his feet. "Well, then," he said. "I will make us both some tea."

But the trials of the day did not end with Esmeralda Took and her injured hands, for when tea had been made and drunk and eleveneses and lunch had come and gone, Bilbo noticed that Kili had barely spoken since the morning. He had little doubt that much of the reason for this was the little dwarf's continuing mulling over of the ideas that Bilbo had presented to him that morning - and he hoped very much that Kili would not be spending another entire night awake and thinking, for he really did look in need of a long sleep - but nonetheless, he was reminded that there was still the issue of his name, and how poorly Kili seemed to have coped with changing his mode of address. So it was that towards the middle of the afternoon, when he had packed Fili off to buy more bacon - for they had made short work of Lobelia's supplies in the last days - he sat down with his friend in the living room and prepared himself once more to do battle. The first step, of course, was to make tea, and when that was done and Kili was cautiously blowing on his cup and watching Bilbo with curious eyes, Bilbo leaned forward and put his hands on his knees.

"Kili," he said, "do you remember me telling you yesterday that a person can have more than one name?"

Kili stared at him, but did not reply. Bilbo nodded and decided to try a different example, one that had nothing to do with orcs.

"For example," he said, "Gandalf is called Mithrandir by the elves."

Kili's face darkened a little, and Bilbo restrained himself from slapping his own forehead, for of course elves were preferable to orcs, but not by so very much.

"Well, never mind that," he said. "What about me? The dwarves call me Mr. Baggins, as you know, but my family call me Bilbo, and in fact my full name is Bilbo Baggins. Then, of course, there is my dwarf name," (this Bilbo did not repeat, mainly because he still had rather a lot of trouble pronouncing it), "and Tauriel calls me Mr. Underhill, although I have told her and told her that it is not my name. I think she finds it amusing." He pondered on this a moment, and then nodded at Kili. "As you see, that is an awful lot of names for one small hobbit."

Kili frowned, and Bilbo smiled encouragingly at him. "Do you understand?" he said.

"Yes," said Kili. "Many names."

"Exactly!" Bilbo said, and then paused a moment so that he could be sure he had Kili's full attention. "That means, master dwarf, that you may decide for yourself which name you wish to call me."

Kili looked quite confused by this. "I'm dwarf," he said. "Call Mr. Baggins."

"Well, not if you don't want to," Bilbo said, but this made Kili's expression turn from confusion towards worry.

"You say dwarfs call Mr. Baggins," he said. "I'm dwarf."

"Yes, yes, my lad, of course you are a dwarf," Bilbo said hastily. "But you are a very special dwarf, and my dear friend besides. After all, dwarves wear boots, and yet you go barefoot."

Now Kili looked confused again, and Bilbo wondered if he was overreaching himself. "I only mean that you do not need to do everything the other dwarves do," he said. "You are still a dwarf even if you go barefoot, and you will still be a dwarf even if you choose to call me something other than Mr. Baggins."

Kili sat silent for a long moment, staring at Bilbo as if he had suggested that he should start wearing his trousers on his head. "You want I call you something else?" he asked finally.

"Only if you want to call me something else," Bilbo said, pointing emphatically at Kili, although in fact, he rather did want the little dwarf to call him something other than Mr. Baggins, although he could not quite explain to himself why.

Kili frowned down at his knees for a moment. "What you want I call you?" he asked.

Bilbo sighed. Even after all this time, every time they approached the thorny issue of choice and free will, they became swiftly bogged down, and this occasion appeared to be no exception. Nevertheless, he felt quite strongly that this situation with his name could not be allowed to continue, and now he had offered Kili the choice, he felt that to take it back would only reinforce the damage that the orcs had done to his friend's sense of himself. In fact, he rather wished he had simply told Kili to call him Bilbo in the first place, for he had certainly not intended to snarl up the issue of names with that of choice, but it was too late for such thoughts now. He took a deep breath and sat up straight, laying his hands flat on his thighs.

"Kili," he said firmly, "I will be happy to respond to whatever name you wish to give me. It is your choice. Do you understand? You must decide. I will not decide for you."

Kili looked quite concerned now. "Is not my name," he said quickly. "You choice."

"No," Bilbo said, perhaps a little more sharply than he intended. "You must choose."

Kili subsided at this, pressing himself back into the armchair, and Bilbo felt rather guilty. "There now," he said, and reached over to pat the little dwarf's knee. "Don't worry, it is really quite a small thing."

"Name is not small," Kili muttered, but he uncurled himself a little, and Bilbo decided that that was good enough for now.

That night, Bilbo was awoken by a crash from the room in which his guests were sleeping. He threw himself hastily out of bed, and dragged the blanket with him in case he should need it. But when he arrived at the guest room, he was met by such a disturbing sight that he forgot he was holding the blanket altogether, and let it fall to the floor. Fili was on his knees by the bed, reaching out his hands with a pleading expression towards his brother. Kili was scrambling backwards, spider-like, across the floor, his face blank with terror. Black Speech fell from his lips, thick and oily, and the hairs at the nape of Bilbo's neck stood all on end, for he had forgotten quite how blood-curdling it sounded, so long had it been since Kili had spoken more than a word or two.

"Kili," Fili pleaded in a low voice, crawling closer to his brother. Kili had wedged himself into a corner and seemed now to become almost impossibly small, drawing his feet under him as if ready to run at a moment's notice. His face was mostly hidden by his hair now, but his eyes still stared, the whites standing out in the dim room, and it seemed that he was not truly awake, for although he looked from time to time at his brother, his eyes roved the room as well, seeming to find terrors in every corner. He had, at least, fallen blessedly silent, but his mouth was a little open as if he was finding it hard to draw breath.

Bilbo exchanged a troubled glance with Fili, and then turned to Kili, his hands raised. "Come now, my lad," he murmured. "You are just dreaming. Wake up now, it is only a dream."

Kili turned to look at Bilbo, muttering something that seemed to stick to Bilbo's skin and raising his hands as if to try and defend himself. Bilbo shook his head, and Fili inched a little closer again, reaching out towards his brother although he was still too far away to touch him.

"No," Bilbo said, though he tried to sound gentle. "None of that. You do not need that language any more. There is no-one here to speak it to. There are no orcs here, no servants of darkness at all. Are you listening, my lad? Do you understand me?" In truth, he was not entirely sure what he was saying or why, only that he thought it might help Kili to come out of his dream if he could hear a friendly voice. Kili kept staring at him, frowning as if he was trying to understand something, and Bilbo found himself wondering if this was indeed a dream at all, or some kind of trance. Certainly, it was worse than anything he had seen since before they left the mountain, and that made Bilbo's poor heart ache, for he was in little doubt that he had contributed somehow with his poking and prodding and demand that Kili should choose for himself what Bilbo's name might be. Oh, he had had such great hopes for the peaceful land of the Shire and how it might help his unhappy friend, and yet it seemed that he was too impatient to let the green hills and flower gardens work in their own time, and now he had just made everything worse!

"Kili," Fili said again, and now he was close enough to touch his brother, and touch him he did, taking his hand between both his own and raising it to his neck, pressing Kili's fingertips against the white scars that circled his throat like a ghost of the orcish collar that he had worn for so many years. "You are safe now," Fili murmured to him, leaving go of his hand, though keeping both of his own ready to seize it again at a moment's notice. "You are safe, I will keep you safe."

Kili traced his fingers across the scars, staring now at Fili, and Fili let him sit for a moment or two before reaching out and dragging him into a rough embrace. Kili made a pained noise and struggled for a moment, but Fili folded him into his arms and pressed his face into Kili's neck, stroking his hair with gentle hands, and after a moment, Kili's struggles subsided into shudders. "You are awake, o my brother," Fili murmured, over and over. "You are awake, you are awake."

So they stayed, Kili and Fili on the floor and Bilbo standing in his nightgown, feeling quite wrung out, until Kili finally seemed to be overcome with exhaustion, and he fell asleep in his brother's arms, his shaking subsiding and his breathing becoming deep and even. Fili still stroked his hair, his hand sweeping slowly and evenly over his brother's head, but now he looked up at Bilbo, and his face was pale with worry.

"I thought he would get better here," he murmured. "Why is he not getting better, Mr. Baggins?"

Bilbo thought guiltily of the choice he had tried to force upon Kili. But there was no sense in mentioning that now. "He will, my dear lad," he said instead. "I'm sure he will."