Well, you didn't think I'd forget about Gísa, now, did you Maigleggal? ;)
4. An unexpected companion
"Gísa!" exclaimed Fíli, letting go of the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. For once he didn't care what Kíli might think, he was simply glad to see her. "Mahal must have sent you!"
"It was my mother who sent me to pick some herbs, actually," she replied with a grin, which faded when she took a closer look at the two young dwarves. "What happened?"
"I think Kíli broke his leg," said Fíli, looking worriedly at his younger brother. "He can't walk all the way back. Can you fetch someone to help us? And inform Óin?"
"Help would be here a lot faster if you went yourself," replied Gísa thoughtfully. Kíli nodded slowly, while the older Durin shook his head.
"I'm not leaving him."
It was a merely instinctive reaction, and a foolish one, he was aware of that. But thirty years of looking after his little brother had left their mark upon him, and when Kíli was injured, his place was at his side.
Though as he looked more closely at the younger one he realised that Gísa was indeed right. Kíli needed something against the pain, and the quicker he could reach Óin, the better.
"Fine," he said reluctantly, putting a hand onto Kíli's shoulder. "I'll be right back and until I do, don't move!" He shot him a warning look that was an almost perfect imitation of his mother.
"Wouldn't dream of it."
"Good, keep it that way!" He squeezed his brother lightly, before turning to Gísa. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Look after him, will you?"
Their eyes met for a moment, and he hoped that the girl understood what he couldn't say. He was practically giving his brother's life into her hands, and even though it was only a minor injury and far from life threatening, he needed her to understand what this meant to him.
"I'll take good care of him, don't worry," she replied warmly. "I have a little brother, too."
He nodded, still somehow unable to leave, but the pain was clearly visible on Kíli's face now and he knew he was wasting time debating with himself whether or not he could trust her as much as he'd thought.
"I'll be right back," he repeated, before turning around and starting to run towards the village.
Kíli and Gísa watched as Fíli dashed away until he disappeared between the trees. The dark-haired dwarf sighed inwardly, cursing himself for having been so stupid. His brother must be worrying beyond relief and just because he had let himself get distracted!
"How did it happen?" asked Gísa, pointing at his leg.
"Well, I climbed a tree and took the fast way down," he replied with a wink. "Not my brightest idea, I'm afraid."
She chuckled, her brown curls bouncing slightly up and down at the movement of her head. She looked nice, he thought, not exactly beautiful, but with a warm smile and kind, hazelnut eyes.
"How do you know my brother?" he inquired curiously.
"Oh, I guess it's hard to not know Thorin's nephews," she said somehow evasively. "You've got quite the reputation, the two of you."
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
She laughed out loud, her eyes blinking in amusement.
"I have a younger brother, and I swear you remind me of him!" She looked at him more closely. "I can understand why your brother is worried about you. I'm just the same with Déon."
"Fíli is a bit overprotective, he always has been. If I get so much as a bruise, he worries. An injury like this," he looked down at his leg, "must have him freak out entirely."
"He didn't seem so freaked to me."
"Thirty years of training have made him quite good at hiding his concern," Kíli grinned. "I think it's because of our father," he added in a more serious tone, for a moment wondering whether it was right to talk about something as personal as this to someone he barely knew.
Gísa looked at him questioningly.
"I know your father's dead," she said rather cautiously. "When did he die?"
"Shortly after I was born. I don't remember him," he said sadly. "Fíli does, though, and he took it hard when he died. He's been trying to replace him for me ever since."
He realised he had never said this aloud before. He had known it for a long time, but somehow he had never talked about it to anyone. There was something about Gísa, though, that made him feel comfortable enough to open up.
"Fíli has always looked out for me, even when he was a child himself. Sometimes I fear that it made him grow up too fast."
"I guess that's the privilege of being an elder sibling," said Gísa, for a moment seeming to be lost in thought. "When my brother was born, I knew I would never let any harm come to him. Now he's almost of age and will start working in the forges soon and it still hasn't changed. But I know that he also feels the same way about me, and I can see that you care about your brother just as much. It's a special bond, that between siblings, and nothing compares to it."
Kíli smiled at her words.
"I remember Fíli saying something like that once."
He had been but a dwarfling, and when he'd woken up from a nap and hadn't found his big brother in the house, he'd seriously thought that the older one had left him. It had taken a lot of tears, a big bowl of mother's soup and Fíli's promise that he'd never leave him as long as the sun still rose every morning behind the mountain to console young Kíli. There was no way, of course, that he'd tell her that.
"He sounds like a great big brother," said Gísa, blushing slightly as she spoke, which Kíli pretended not to notice. He simply nodded, for a moment staring at the trees, almost expecting to see Fíli appear there. If he was honest, he wished for him to return soon, although he wouldn't admit it aloud. Every time he moved a muscle, the pain in his leg flared up all the way up his thigh, and he found himself actually looking forward to Óin's usually bitter medicine.
"Aye, he is. I don't know what I'd do without him."
He couldn't remember the last time he'd meant something as seriously as that.
"Tell me about him," Gísa asked quietly, and Kíli wondered whether it was her way of keeping his mind off his injury or real curiosity, but soon he found himself telling stories about the childhood of two young dwarves in Ered Luin.
A/N 1: For those of you who think it's a bit strange that Kíli talks about such personal things to a stranger, well, in my opinion Kíli is a dwarf who wears his heart on his sleeve. Once he trusts someone he just talks, like he did with Tauriel in DOS.
A/N 2: The part about their father is just my imagination, as there is hardly information on him online. I imagine him to have been out on a hunt or something like that with Thorin, where they were attacked and he died protecting Thorin (like father like sons...?). I think Kíli would have just been born then, so he wouldn't remember him, while Fíli does have somewhat distant memories of his father.
A/N 3: More of Fíli in the next chapter!
