Well, here we are, Chapter 2 :D
Future chapters will skip to specific points in their journey, hopefully putting this fic at 6 chapters :)
C.G. requested more, so here it is! Even though it's still really short ;-; . . .
Uncle Thorin was recovering fine, the white warg hadn't done too much damage. They all had good dwarvish armor to thank for that. The dwarve had a few scratches and the wizard had thankfully healed all the serious wounds. He was currently lying on his back on his cot, brow knitted, a small bead of sweat trickling off his temple. The lion prince, sitting on the edge of his cot, watched with a hunter's blue gaze from across the fire pit as the wizard moved to wipe it away. Gandalf whispered a few words, hand ghosting Thorin's head and shoulders; the king's brow relaxed and he seemed to slip deeper into a dream he may have once wished.
Fili pitied his uncle. What sort of life had he wanted to live? How often did he dream of his life, how it should have been? How often did he curse the fell Worm for disrupting that dream?
The prince knew full well Thorin would disapprove of his thoughts. He shouldn't dream, dreaming didn't get anything done; he had to act. Especially being the crown prince of a mighty kingdom. Dreaming wasn't practical. Dreaming didn't fight orcs. Dreaming didn't protect your loved ones. But his uncle's attitudes towards dreaming only made Fili wonder. What was he like before the Worm came? His must've dreamed a lot.
Fili smiled to think of it. His uncle, a dreamer? As ludicrous as it seemed, the lion prince knew it to be true. Uncle Thorin was once a dreamer. Maybe when they regained Erebor, maybe his Uncle would dream a little more often.
Fili sat smoking his pipe thoughtfully. Thankfully, that was something he still had on his person when they went through Goblin Town; it had been an heirloom passed on from his father's father. The lion prince studied it's scaled bowl thoughtfully.
Staying with the bear-man was an unusual thing. He certainly ate like a dwarve, that was a good thing: little bickering and plenty of ale. Those animals that served him were also quite strange, but Fili assumed being able to change into a bear had it's perks. But whether man or bear, one still had to stay on the good side of those atrociously huge bees. The prince shuddered to think of them again; but he was also glad, for those little monsters let his mind drift to flowers again.
What about his flower? Did she smoke? What did hobbit pipes even look like?
The burglar was sleeping peacefully next to him. Fili hated to wake him, but after a gentle prod, the hobbit woke and gave the dwarve quite an interesting look. The lion prince pushed it aside and asked "Do your women smoke, Mr. Baggins?" albeit a bit stupidly. Dwarrowdams smoked whenever they wanted, but what about his precious flower?
It took the burglar a moment for the question to register before he rumbled, "Not usually." The prince looked so sincere, almost concerned, that Bilbo had to be kinder and restrain himself from hitting the youngster over the head with his rolled up coat.
Fili looked like he needed a moment to think the hobbit's answer over, so when he turned back towards the fire Bilbo shrugged it off and curled back into his woolen blanket.
The prince was glad. His flower didn't look like the kind of woman to hold a pipe between her lips.
A thought occurred to Fili just then. A thought of something urgent, something he needed to know.
Bilbo was just on the edge of continuing his dreams of biscuits and tea and a nice quiet hobbit hole without any noisy, muddy dwarves whatsoever when Fili nudged him again. The burglar nearly had a fit this time. His eyes snapped open and he fixed the golden-haired dwarve with a furious gaze. Fili was quite oblivious to Bilbo's obvious annoyance and asked "What names are common among your women, Mr. Baggins?"
The burglar's head tilted so sharply in the direction of his pillow Fili wondered if his neck had given out on trying to hold his head up. "Depends." he nearly growled.
Fili's brows were knitted. "You can't think of any?"
Bilbo was so cross he just started spewing examples. "Rosie, Daisy, Ruby, Canella, Primula, Myrtle, Linda, Belba, Belladonna, Pearl, Esmeralda, Primrose, May, some type of flower, Fili, what is this about?!"
The hobbit's sudden outburst startled the lion prince a little bit. He'd thought his question simple, hardly anything to get angry about. It's not like Fili'd knotted his beard — wait the hobbit didn't have one — it wasn't like he'd knotted the hair on his feet or anything! But the prince blushed nonetheless. "Just curious." he admitted gently and turned back to the fire, his arms pulled close.
Bilbo sputtered for a little bit before he realized the effect his outburst had on the lad. Grumbling, the burglar got up, arranged his blanket so it wasn't in anybody's way, and moved to the end of his cot so he sat parallel to the lion prince; the lad was glowing gold in the light of the fire they sat before. "Why the sudden curiosity?" he ventured, trying to keep the annoyance out of his words.
Fili shrugged and didn't reply. Bilbo knew the lad was holding out on him, but he didn't push it. It wasn't his business to pry. The hobbit nearly went back to sleep then and there, seeing as there wasn't anyway he'd be able to comfortably get any more information from the golden prince, when a thought came to him. "Are you worried about your uncle?"
Fili, deep in his thoughts of knowing how dreaming of his little flower would upset Thorin but also wondering if Uncle had ever wanted a dwarrowdam of his own, almost forgot he'd woken Bilbo up again. The prince looked at him confusedly, so Bilbo nodded across the fire to the cot on which the gently wounded king rested peacefully. Fili thought for a few seconds before pursing his lips outwards in that way that he did and shook his head. "No."
"Why not?"
Fili shrugged. "He's going to be alright, he's recovered from worse before."
"He's been bitten by a warg before?"
The prince chuckled heartily. "No, but he has had worse." He looked over to Bilbo, an amused twinkle in his eye, to find the hobbit asking for more. Fili sighed. "When I was younger, we were living in Dunland. I was born there, actually." Fili took a moment to remember those grassy hills as he gave his pipe a few puffs. "Those hills were riddled with dangers. I remember one winter — was the heaviest we'd had in years; My mother Dis had just given birth to that little hobgoblin over there —" he motioned with his smile and his pipe over to his brother, sleeping face down and snoring contently a few cots away "— and I was helping her to watch him. He was so young I had to sleep with him in his crib to make sure he didn't freeze." The prince motioned to his sleeping uncle across the fire. "Uncle Thorin came back unconscious, being carried by Master Dwalin and another scout. He had black arrows in both his shoulders —" He gently tucked his pipe in his lap and motioned to each place "— a large gash along the back of his shoulder, and a broken leg."
Fili puffed on his pipe again and continued quietly after a moments pause. "He was in bed for nearly a month, and only after that was he let up to test his leg." He shook his head, chuckling gently. "I think he almost forgot how to walk, he stumbled so many times."
When all settled into a quiet cotton, Fili looked over to Bilbo, surprised to find the hobbit staring at his uncle with an air of admiration he hadn't had before. Sure, they'd forgiven each other for all their harshness, but Bilbo hadn't necessarily admired Thorin. Fili prodded him playfully in the shoulder. "Ya'lright there, Mr. Boggins?"
Bilbo shook his head and closed his mouth. "I'm fine, Fili."
The two sat once again staring into the flames in a comfortable silence, disturbed only by the quiet crackling of the fire, the gentle shuffles of an animal outside, the dwarves' radiant snoring.
"What do you dream of, Mr. Baggins?" Fili hardly found the question odd, and neither did the burglar.
"Seven meals a day, a warm bed. And a bath." he admitted slowly, a large smile gracing his fire-shadowed face.
Fili too found it funny, but he said, "I'm serious, Mr. Baggins."
"Oh what do I dream of . . ." the hobbit asked himself. Fili waited patiently as the burglar pursed and unpursed his lips. "I dream of . . . a village on a hill, near the base of a mountain, her banners flowing in the strong winds coming from the east. I dream I journey there one day, kick a stone across the street; a child will go chasing after it."
"That's a strange thing to dream about, Mr. Baggins." Fili admited gently after a moment's pause, even though he thought the whole thing quite interesting.
Bilbo gave the young lad a sarcastic glance. "Alright then, lad, what do you dream about?"
Fili thought for a moment, his gaze returning to the fire and it's burning embers. "I dream of the day my uncle will smile freely again." he said quietly.
Bilbo's face fell blank. He blinked dumbly twice, not knowing what he could say. But the lad went on.
"I dream of the day my mother will look to the sky without tears. I dream of the day my father will return from his journey to the south." Fili kindly looked Bilbo in the eyes. "I know the fate of my father, Mr. Baggins. Your dream seems much more likely to come true than any of mine."
Bilbo was striken. What could he say? After a moment of gaping, Biblo coughed. "Oh lad, don't be so serious, your dreams aren't — impossible." He shifted uneasily under Fili's gentle blue gaze. Stretching, Bilbo wished Fili goodnight and cuddled back onto his cot, sticking his feet towards the fire and pulling the blanket up under his chin.
Just before he drifted off, he heard Fili mumbling slowly and quietly. "Rosie, eh . . . Primula, no, no, Myrtle? No, a pony's name, that is. Linda, Belba, Canella . . . Canella? . . . . Canella, Canella, yes, I think that's it . . . My dear Canella . . ."
Thorin used to be a dreamer, that's why he thinks the boys resemble he and Frerin :) because they actually kinda do ;)
Oblivious Fili is oblivious -and adorable-
Idk if female hobbits smoke :| But I like the way Bilbo turned out :D what do you guys think?
Sad-things-happened-to-me-but-I-totally-don't-regr et-any-of-it Fili is so depressing I can't even believe I wrote that ;-;
Awkward Bilbo is awkward XD
So yeah idk where all the depressing things came from buuuuut . . . . . . Review anyway?
I searched for about an hour trying to find Fili's flower the most perfect name, and after my search in the Appendicies in the back of The Return Of The King proved fruitless, I gave up and used Google. Long story short, I ended up with cannella, the Latin root for "cinnamon" and it was the only option I had that I really liked :)
Fili's pipe refrence: wetanz .Com(slash) pipe-of-fili-the-dwarf (slash)