Fíli and Kíli reclined in the grass after supper, enjoying the clear night sky. Fíli lit his pipe and managed to light his brother's as well before the match burned down. They smoked quietly for a while, blowing rings of varying sizes. The silence between them stretched, and Fíli knew Kíli was deliberately keeping quiet. He inhaled slowly, grateful for this uncharacteristic dislpay of patience. He swallowed once. Twice. Oh, for pity's sake, why was his throat so dry?

He licked his lips, opened them to speak, and closed them again. How was he even to begin? Groaning in frustration, he buried his face in his hands. Finally, Kíli stirred. He sat up, nudging Fíli with his shoulder.

"Take your time," he said gently.

A surprised chuckle escaped Fíli's chest, unwinding all his pent up tension. He looked sideways at his little brother.

"Since when did you become the older one?"

Kíli smiled at him, his teeth glowing faintly in the moonlight. "Oh, I'd never take your place, Fíli. I like things the way they are. But I don't have to be the eldest to be understanding and patient."

Fíli leaned back, seeing his brother with deeper respect, if that was possible. "When did you grow up, little brother?"

Kíli smiled, but said nothing. He was waiting. Fíli smiled back and took another breath, appreciating the way his brother had calmed him. He closed his eyes, recalling the dream again, not that it was hard to. Kíli squirmed, and Fíli grinned. He should've known he couldn't be patient for long.

"What do you see?" Kíli asked.

"A moonlit garden," Fíli said. "Tall trees circle a stone dais, but their leaves don't block the light. Somehow, it's as if each leaf passes the light to the one next to it, hand over hand, leaf over leaf, until the moonlight pools and glows in the garden..."

"Since when did you take to poetry?" Kíli interrupted. Fíli cuffed him on the shoulder.

"Do you want to hear or not?"

"Alright, alright," he said, hands raised. Fíli shook his head and took another breath.

"There's a breeze...the kind that carries the smell of autumn." Fíli eyed his brother, who stared innocently back and gestured for him to continue.

"I'm alone, and I'm sitting on a stone bench. The patterns carved in the stone under my feet are all gentle curves and sweeping movement - nothing like our people's craftmanship," he added quickly, halting another interruption. "I wait. After a few moments, a tall man steps into the garden with me -"

"A man?"

"A man. He has dark eyes and hair, and he's wearing a long robe. He doesn't say anything at first...just looks at me. His eyes are sad. They have a depth I've not seen in anyone since..." he paused, remembering a time when he and Kíli were quite young.

Their mother had taken them to market - a rare treat - and Kíli had disappeared into the crowd. Kíli had only been ten at the time and was therefore very difficult to spot, being as small as he was. Fíli had searched in desparation, and every minute that passed without a sign of his little charge was utter agony. Frantic and near tears, he stopped next to a silversmith's stall. Sucking in a ragged breath, he called once more.

"Kíli!"

"What?" said a small voice. Fíli jumped. Looking towards his feet, he spotted the little imp. Kíli's head was poking out from beneath the silversmith's stall, and he was wearing a puzzled expression.

"There you are!" Fíli sighed.

"Yeah, I know, I've been here the whole time."

Fíli gritted his teeth and allowed that comment to slide. "I've been looking for you for twenty minutes, Kíli."

His brother frowned. "Why?"

"Well, you kind of disappeared, and I didn't know where you'd gone. What if something had happened to you?"

"Aw, come on, Fíli! I'm okay. Nothing happened."

Fíli realized he wasn't going to win this argument, so he let it go. Instead, he changed the subject, if only slightly. "Why are you under there, anyway?"

Kíli grinned. "Looking."

"At what?"

"Them," he said, pointing.

Fíli turned, following his brother's pointing finger. There were three of them. They stood at least a head higher then the tallest men in the crowd. They were all slender limbs, high cheekbones and creamy skin. Fíli grimaced. Elves.

One had pale blonde hair and icy eyes. The other two had red hair, but the only female - one of the redheads - had green eyes whereas the other ginger had blue ones. Freckles dusted her nose like a constellation of stars, but what struck Fíli most was the fact that she was laughing. Her companions stood stoically to one side while she was doubled over in a fit of laughter. Fíli blinked. He didn't know that elves had a sense of humor. From everything Uncle Thorin had told him, they were a solemn and uncaring people.

Kíli sighed, drawing Fíli's attention back to him. He realized that the lady elf was the one who had attracted Kíli's attention to begin with.

"Her laugh is like little bells," his little brother said dreamily.

Uh-oh.

Fíli glanced quickly around, searching for the place he'd left Mum. "Kíli, we'd better be getting b-"

His words died in his throat. Kíli was gone again. Where the devil? Oh. Oh, NO. He spun, but it was too late. Kíli had bolted straight for the elf, and there he was, in all his wee, cherub-cheeked, dwarfling glory, tugging on her hand. Fíli's knees went weak with fear. Oh, Mahal.

The elfmaid turned to his brother, a delighted smile springing to her lips. She knelt, still holding Kíli's hand. Fíli couldn't hear what they said to each other because his blood was pounding in his ears. She looked at him then, straight into his eyes. There was an intense depth there, an ancientness that Fíli couldn't quite grasp, even if he tried his whole life. She smiled at him, but it was an understanding and somewhat apologetic smile. Kíli followed her gaze, and asked her a question. She answered him, then shooed him towards Fíli. When Kíli was close enough, Fíli grabbed his hand and ran in the opposite direction, hoping to put as much distance between himself and the elves as possible.

Her gaze had unsettled him. It reminded him of something unpleasant, but he was too shaken to remember exactly what that was.

Now, however, as he sat with Kíli and finally recounted the dream that had haunted him for so long, he realized that the man in his dream wasn't a man at all. Inwardly, he cursed himself for a fool.

To Kíli, he said, "The only other time I've seen eyes like that was when we saw those elves in the market all those years ago. Do you remember?"

Kíli nodded. "Yeah," he said, smiling faintly. "I remember."

"So this man in my dream, he's an elf."

"Why's an elf visiting you while you sleep?"

Fíli blew out an exasperated breath. "Well, you'd know that already if you didn't interrupt every three seconds."

Kíli chuckled and nodded, conceding the point. He waved his pipe, gesturing towards his brother. "You may continue," he said graciously.

"Many thanks, your highness," Fíli replied, his voice dripping sarcasm. Ignoring Kíli's answering smirk, he continued.

"Anyway, the elf walks into the garden and just stares at me for a few moments. Then he speaks. He warns me that...," his voice trailed away, and he glanced at Kíli, suddenly unable to continue. Kíli frowned.

"Warns you?" he prompted. Fíli took a staggering breath but found he couldn't speak. His throat was constricted with emotion. Swallowing hard several times, he finally managed to find his voice again.

"He warned me every year that Thorin would ask us to join the quest for Erebor -"

"What's to warn about? We've known the quest would be ours all our lives-"

"-and that if we accompanied him, our house would fall," Fíli finished miserably.

Kíli said nothing for some time. They sat side by side, each lost in their own thoughts. The moon rose higher. Owls called to one another. Eventually, Kíli spoke. When he did, his voice was hoarse.

"Do you believe him?"

Fíli didn't answer. He didn't have to.

"What do we do? We have to go!"

"I know. Last night he came to me again, rebuking me for pledging to follow Thorin."

"How did he know that?"

"How does he know anything?" Fíli mused.

Kíli stared at the sky. "What do we do?" he repeated.

"We go."

"To certain death?"

Fíli's eyes hardened. "No," he said, steel in his voice. "We'll fight. We'll survive, and we'll change our fate for the better."

"We've taken whatever life has to throw at us so far. Why stop now?" Kíli said.

"Why indeed?" And Fíli meant it. All at once he felt lighter than he had since he was a child. He ruffled his brother's hair and blew another smoke ring. Now they were in this together. Fíli wasn't alone anymore, and he felt invincible.

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! I hope you've enjoyed it so far. There's plenty more to come! I began this before Battle of the Five Armies came out, and the idea came from my frustrations over empty plot points and lost character value. But it has evolved into something so much more. As of the moment, there are nearly two dozen chapters. I haven't finished it yet, but I hope to reach the conclusion soon. Again, thank you so much for reading. Enjoy!