A perilous road – Kili and Fili FanFiction.
Chapter two: A confrontation.
Kili stared at the soup before him. It had long since lost its heat and now resembled cold sludge as he stirred it around and around. He distantly heard Fili clear his throat from across the table and lifted his eyes to find him watching, silently assessing Kili as if he was close to boiling over.
"Ok enough, what is with you two?" Dis, their mother spoke up from the end of the table. "Kili you've barely touched your supper, are you ill?" Suddenly getting to her feet she shuffled over to Kili and placed her palm against his forehead causing the dwarf to roll his eyes and bat away her hand. She was always fussing over him, and if it was a normal day this wouldn't have bothered him, if he was totally honest he actually enjoyed being mollycoddled by their Mother.
"Mother, I'm fine." Kili grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently. "Please sit back down." Dis glanced questioningly at Fili and across to Thorin who sat at the opposite end of the table.
"Don't look at me! Aule only knows what they're up to." Thorin remarked. His eyes narrowed sceptically as he too looked between the brothers. Frowning he looked to Fili for answers. "Fili?" Thorin prompted.
Fidgeting in his chair Fili clasped his palms in front of him and nodded at his Uncle. "Ok. Mother sit back down please." She did as he asked, her fair face becoming more serious as the seconds passed. Kili could feel the tension in the room and continued to stare at the table as his brother began to speak, he couldn't look his Mother or Uncle in the eye, at least not until he knew they hadn't been keeping this from him and Fili.
This was it. Fili took a deep breath and came straight out with it. "We found Father's journal." A gasp from their Mother was the only acknowledgement they received for a long while. Her hand was clasped tightly across her mouth, her eyes wide. A quick glance at Kili confirmed that he too was watching their Mother and from her reaction it was pretty obvious she had read it too.
"I…" Dis glanced wildly between the siblings.
"So you went snooping and read his journal, what of it?" Thorin asked, always getting straight to the point and clearly unsure why Dis had paled so drastically.
"I went snooping." Kili corrected giving his brother a damning look. Fili's lips formed a mulish line. Why couldn't his brother just let him take the heat for this as well? Just this once. "Did you know about Liviel?" Kili asked their Mother in a remarkably calm manner. Fili frowned momentarily. Liviel…? Of course, their sister. It was the first time he'd heard the name spoken out loud.
"Who the hell is Liviel?" Thorin inquired. But no one answered, not for the longest time. Until finally Dis's hand dropped limply from her mouth.
"Their sister." She whispered. Now it was Thorin's turn to gasp, but Fili could do nothing but stare at their Mother. She had kept this from them and he had known this would be the case all along.
Kili's ears rang and his hands shook. She knew. She. Knew. Without thinking he stood sending his chair skidding back and clattering against the kitchen stove. Everyone startled, even Thorin who was rarely caught off guard. Kili paced back and forth covering the length of their modest kitchen. "You knew?" His tone was condemning, his expression volatile. Family meant everything to dwarves, at least it was supposed to, and yet they had to wait until well into their adulthood to discover they had another sibling. He felt sick. And pissed. And betrayed.
Fili tentatively rose from his seat and locked gazes with him, Kili knew a warning glare when he got one. "Sit back down brother." Fili sounded and looked calm but inside Kili knew he had to be seething. Raking a hand through his hair Kili briefly closed his eyes before sinking numbly back into his chair. No one spoke again for a while and nothing could be heard besides the occasional howl of wind against the kitchen shutters. Even Thorin was remarkably silent which only amplified the obscurity of the situation. Thorin always had something to say, especially when tempers were so on edge and emotions were frayed.
Eventually Dis spoke up timidly. "I found out once your Father died." She began, tears falling unchecked down her cheeks. "I read his journal one night. He… He was in a relationship before we met and… a child was born not long before I met your Father. He visited them once a month until…" She trailed off and glanced warily between the brothers.
"Until…" Fili prompted. A sense of foreboding settled in Kili's gut from the look on his Mother's face.
"Mother please." Kili pleaded. They needed to know whatever it was she was guarding so closely.
She swallowed heavily, pulling a handkerchief from her sleeve and patting her cheeks. She held Kili's gaze and he could see the moment she caved. He hated to admit it but there was not much his Mother or brother could deny him when he wanted something, he usually had to only give them a look and he would get his own way. He wasn't beyond using this to his advantage, especially at a time like this.
"They lived in Nogrod." She explained, regret swimming in the depths of her eyes.
"No." Was the only word Kili and Fili could mutter in response. Nogrod was a ruined cave city, invaded by goblins long ago who still ruled over it today. It was said that most of the dwarves were slaughtered during the battle between the two clans, but the few dwarves who did survive were kept as slaves to serve their leader. Nobody dared venture near Nogrod, or within miles of it for that matter. It had been the source of many horror stories and legends amongst the dwarves and remained as one of the greatest massacres of their history. The only loss worse had been the one of the Misty Mountains where almost double were killed by the dragon.
Churning this new information over Kili felt an immense sense of loss wash over him. He was destined to mourn the loss of a sibling he never had the chance to know or love.
"You have to understand that it why I never told you." Dis pleaded. "I knew you'd be upset, I just couldn't bare breaking your hearts."
Kili glanced at his brother and noticing him wipe away a rouge tear tumbling down his cheek. "Liviel is undoubtedly deceased." Thorin spoke gently. "I'm sorry boys. Sorry that we never knew, and that we found out too late to seek her out."
Fili glanced at his Uncle, swallowing past the lump in his throat and mustering up the effort to talk through his grief. "She could still be alive." Fili announced, earning him a pitiful look from his Uncle.
"No. There's no way." Thorin replied. Fili shot to his feet, now it was his turn to act irrational.
"You don't know that." Fili replied forcefully.
"Fili, please." Dis reasoned.
"No! We all know the stories. Some of the dwarves were kept as slaves. She could still be alive." Fili pushed.
"Damn it Fili! Let this go. Are you listening to yourself? These are stories, stories. You know as well as I do how much Goblins hate Dwarves. You seriously think they kept any of them alive?" Thorin chastised.
A stubbornness took root in Fili's very being. A refusal to let go or give up hope. She was family. She could still be alive or maybe she escaped. He looked at his brother who watched him with bated breath. It was obvious Kili was thinking along the same lines, they were so in sync.
Something dark and knowing passed over Thorin's features as he looked between the brothers and slowly he stood to his feet. He placed his palms flat on the table and leaned into it, glancing purposefully between the siblings. "Promise me you will let this go." He commanded. Ah, now here was the Thorin they were used to, not the speechless stunned one from minutes ago but the commanding and level headed Uncle they had grown to love and respect throughout the years.
"Fili." Thorin growled in warning. Seeming to shake from his stupor Fili eyed his Uncle furiously.
"We promise." Kili chimed in. Fili looked at his brother dumbfounded. Kili's eyes flared as he watched Fili, his eyes pleading silently. Fili nodded reluctantly, his fists clenching as he spoke the words.
"We promise."