The universe and characters belong to Tolkien and Peter Jackson, not I. (Not yet at least!)


THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD

Every day, she had found, was a long day when you had two dwarflings to watch, all by yourself. Of course, others would try to help. Dwalin would offer to take them out to the ring. But, what self-respecting mother would let her sixteen and seventeen year old sons be herded off to a weapons range for the day? Balin had, on occasion suggested the little ones spend the evening with him. Of course, considering the dwarf's age, she was unsure that the graying dwarf would really have the patience to deal with her two little rascals. Idna had graciously offered up her home. With her being youthful enough, and quite secure in home with Gloin as her husband, Idna's cottage was indeed, a likely candidate. However she was quite pregnant, a little one on the way any day, so she was off the table.

Now, Dis wasn't totally alone in this battle against her sons. Thorin had a deep fondness for the children, contrary to his usual stony countenance. However, he was often out most of the day at the forges, or at meetings, leaving Dis little time when she wasn't trying to look after the boys.

She'd never let a bit of this show, of course. The last thing she needed was a herd of dwarven women (or Mahal forbid, Dori) fawning over her, trying to console her. It had been bad enough, directly after Kilhon's death. The last thing she needed was that kind of attention again. She was a dwarf of the line of Durin, however female and a widow. At the very least, she could handle herself.

And she could handle her two demon-sons. At least well enough.

A loud crash of wooden furniture broke her out of her slight stupor, and she abruptly dropped her spoon into the pot of stewed cranberries she was stirring in startling. She swore softly, both at her thudding pulse, the fact that her best wooden spoon was now disappeared in a vat of bubbling berries, and the fact that she could hear Kili starting to sob.

Mahal help her.

"Fee! Kee!" She called, ears alert to any further sound coming from the back room as she searched the drawer for another spoon. "What was that?"

"Nothing!" Fili cried back, his already high voice pitchy with nervousness.

Dis heard the beginnings of a wail from her younger son, before Fili snapped, not quite quietly enough, "Quiet, Kee!"

"But—"

"It's not even a bruise! Just stay still!"

With that, Dis had heard enough, and set her new spoon down on the counter hard before hurrying towards the back room. The door was only cracked open, but Dis sighed as she pushed it open all the way. Next to the wardrobe in the corner, a pile of furniture had collapsed, looking to contain a chair, an old work stool, and two battered crates. Underneath the chair, which her older son was trying to lift, her youngest, tears welling in his dark eyes, was trapped between the legs, his lip trembling. Dis huffed a sigh, before stepping further in. "What's this?"

Fili whirled around at the sound of her voice, his eyes shooting absurdly wide as he dropped the stool he was shifting, before leaping in front of his brother, as if to hide him. "It's nothing!"

"Ow!" Kili cried out. "You're stepping on my finger!"

Fili rolled his eyes a bit and stepped to the side an inch. "Oh, stop being a baby—"

By then, Dis had pushed her older son aside and lifted the chair off of Kili, sweeping him easily up into her arms, just as he let out a terribly loud screeching sob. "Hush," She told him, bouncing him slightly on her hip. "You're alright now."

Fili, meanwhile, was staring up at her, the most innocent, sheepish look he could muster pasted across his face.

Dis lifted a brow. "I'm waiting?"

The blonde quickly wilted under her gaze. "I'm so sorry, mum!"

She saw tears starting in his large, still baby blue eyes, and quickly said, "None of that, now. Your brother's got dibs on crying to get out of it."

As if to punctuate this point, Kili let out a pitiful, ragged cry, burying his teary, snotty face into Dis' tunic. She tried not to wince.

Fili dropped the teary act in an instant with a slight roll of his eyes.

"None of that attitude!" Dis quickly corrected it. "I don't have time for this. Tell me what happened so that your uncle will know what kind of punishment to give you tonight."

Genuine fear lit up in Fili's gaze. "Mum, no! You can't"

"I can. And you know you're uncle's not afraid to give you the beating you deserve. Best start talking."

"Fine, alright, okay! We…I'm positive uncle keeps his shield up there, aye? And some of the boys, they were making fun of him. They were saying the stories weren't true! But I said they were, and they said to prove it, and I said that I could, and they said how, so I said I would get uncles oak shield to show them! It would only be for a minute, you see, and I would have put it right back as soon as I was done! But I—"

Dis sighed, patting Kili on the back as his breath shuddered. "It's alright, Fili. Do you promise you won't try that again?"

A sharp, nervous nod.

"Aye, alright. I hold you to that. You clean all of this up then."

As she turned to leave, Kili still resting on her hip, crying a bit more quietly now, Fili said softly, "You won't tell uncle, will you?"

Dis paused for a moment. "No. Not this time."

Now she made her way into the kitchen, sitting herself down on the edge of the hewn table, shifting Kili to rest on her lap. His eyes were still screwed shut, his face a mess of tears and snot, cheeks red, mouth gaping slightly in miserable sobs. "What hurts, love?"

"Fee, he stacked up the chairs, when I know we're not supposed to!" Kili choked out as Dis started cleaning his face with her handkerchief. "I told him, but he wouldn't listen! He just told me to be quiet! And then…And then he s—stepped on my finger!" Kili held up the offended hand a bit viciously, another wave of tears slipping out of his eyes.

Dis lowered the hand to his lap, gently rubbing his tiny fingers in her palms as she jogged him slightly on her leg. "But you're alright now, aren't you?"

Kili looked up to her through tear-separated lashes as if for reassurance. Dis smiled, giving his face one last good wipe down. "Aye, you are, my baby dwarfling."

With that, she slung him back onto her hip, making her way to the stove, where her pot of cranberries was quite likely already burning. "Now, how about you help mum find her favorite spoon…"


To be continued….

Heh. I'll update every other week, she said! I'll follow my own update schedule she said! Yeah. I lied. Sorry. My other running story takes precedence over this one…But I thought I'd give you a bit of baby Durin Bros to ease the pain. The next chapter will be a bit of a Christmassy special, leading off of this, so get excited! I love you all, and I thank you for sticking around! Review if you want me to keep what little sanity I have left.

(An update is coming, I swear! I'm going to wait until actual christmas, though.)