Kili grinned as he bounded through the woods, back to his family's tiny cabin, nestled neatly in between several trees with vines growing up along the sides. Several wild bushes of flowers had taken up residence over the years since Kili and his brother had been born, aiding in the natural camouflage of the house.

"Fili!" Kili chirpped, pouncing on his older brother once he was in the yard, grinning like a wild thing as the two went tumbling to the ground in a heap.

"You are so lucky I didn't have my axe in hand," Fili grouched, shoving his jittering younger brother off his chest once they had stopped rolling through the grass and leaves, letting out an indignant huff as he began to pick decaying leaves out of his hair.

"I saw you put it down before I jumped you," Kili replied with an easy smirk, his tail swishing excitedly behind him as he watched his elder brother fuss with his hair. "Guess what?"

Fili let out a quiet 'tsk' at the state of his hair, deciding it would be best to simply brush it out later, once he was safely inside, and Kili couldn't tackle him into any more dirt and debris. He glanced up at his brother's excited question, arching an eyebrow, his own golden wolf ears perking forward in curiosity. "What?"

Kili leaned forward, looking around them quickly to make sure their mother and uncle were nowhere to be found, before whispering conspiratorially, "I've just met a boy."

Fili gaped at his younger brother, staring at him with wide eyes for but a moment, before smacking the younger upside the head with a scowl. "What did you just say?!" he snapped, looking around as well, before grabbing Kili by the arm and dragging him away from the house.

"Ow, ow! Fili, stop! You're hurting me!"

Once the blonde was certain they were far enough away from the house that they wouldn't be overheard, Fili let go of his brother, rounding on him with a glowering scowl. "What have you done?" he hissed, hands on his hips.

Kili had the sense to look a bit abashed, scuffing his foot into the ground, ducking his head slightly. "Uhm…I met a boy? He was being chased by a man who was surely going to hurt him, so I…intervened. We ran before the man could regain consciousness though, so I know we're perfectly safe. He didn't get a good look at me."

Fili growled, punching his brother roughly in the arm, making Kili whine and shy away from him. "You idiot! The boy! He saw you, though, didn't he?! You know we can't trust outsiders! That's why we live in the woods in the first place! If he goes and blabs about you, then you know we can either expect to be run out of these woods, or someone to come hoping to catch us! Not to mention the danger that might happen not only for us, but to others, if anyone comes at night during on of mother's or uncle's transformations!"

Kili swallowed thickly, his ears pressed down against his scalp, tail curved around one of his legs. "He's different. He won't tell."

"And how do you know?! You've just put us all in danger, Kili, because you decided to play hero!"

"He was going to get hurt!"

"So what?!"

Kili stared at his older brother in surprise, jaw slack. "You can't mean that," he murmured, "Sure, we let people get robbed and stuff, that's none of our business. But that man, he was going to seriously hurt my friend. He very likely may have killed him if I hadn't helped him."

Fili sighed, scrubbing his hands over his face while pacing back and forth a little. "He's not your friend, Kili, you only just met him," he grumbled into his hands, before finally stopping and staring his brother down. "All right, so it's true, the man killing the boy would have been bad, but really, Kili. You didn't even know him. Why did you risk us, just to save someone you didn't even know?"

"He's a dwarf, actually," Kili finally corrected, clearing his throat a little as he shuffled his feet awkwardly. "And I saved him because, well, because I'm tired of it only being us. I'm so tired of having to run and hide if we hear hikers, or those who are lost. I'm tired of Uncle looking so worn out and upset after full moons. I'm tired of the pitying looks mother gives us when she thinks we aren't looking. Fili. We're not going to break our curse by sitting in these woods until the day we die. We need to meet outsiders, and get them to help us. We need to let ourselves be seen." Kili paused for a moment, taking a short breath, before offering his brother a tiny, hesitant smile. "He's going to be traveling back through the woods in a week. You can come with me to walk with him? So you can meet him for yourself."

The blonde watched Kili for a good long minute or two, before letting out a gust of air from his lungs and shaking his head. "I will come with you, if only to make sure you weren't too foolish in your sharing of our secret."

Kili grinned widely at Fili, surging forward to capture him in a hug. "You won't regret it, Fili! He's really a very sweet dwarfling! You'll like him, I promise!"