"Rise and shine!"

"I'd rather sink and tarnish." Glóin moaned, pushing his face into his pillow. "Why do Prayers have to begin so early?"

"It's once a month, child. The least you can do is thank Mahal for creating you. Wake up!"

And with that, Óin ripped the blanket off his sibling, much to Glóin's horrified disapproval.

"I don't like you anymore."

Óin only smiled mildly in response. "I'll do you a mug if you want."

"Maybe you're not so bad." Glóin decided, catching his brother's eye and grinning. "What's the time?"

"Around six, I make it."

"Six? That's a stupid time to awaken people. I bet Mahal isn't awake right now..."

"Are you going to get up or do I literally have to drag you out of bed?"

Glóin swung his legs over the bed and stretched. "There. I'm up."

"Thank you. I'll be downstairs if you need me."

This would be the first Praise Day without Adad. The last three with him had been quiet and dismal and the hurt of Sannith's passing had been highlighted among the cheer in the hymns sung to Mahal for gifting them their lives.

Maybe talking about Gróin and Sannith wouldn't be so bad.


They ended up being perhaps a few minutes behind schedule, but Óin thought that wasn't so bad, all things considered. It hadn't been much of a trial to get his brother looking neater than he had with his chronic bedhead that morning, so he called the morning quite the success.

"Ugh. Hang on."

Turning, Óin saw Glóin drop to a knee and frowned. "Are you hurt?"

"No. Lace came untied. D'you want to go on? I'll catch up to you in no time."

"Right. I'm taking the shortcut. See you there, nadad."

The Temple was barely a minute's walk away and that was easily halved by taking the shortcut through the alley. Óin promised to explain the situation to their juzrâl and watched his brother for as long as he could before the wall vanished him from sight.


Lace tied, Glóin stood. Without warning a strange sense, one of immense dread drenched him and he placed his hand in his coat pocket, placing a finger to the handle of the small knife that his sibling now insisted he carry everywhere. He took a step forward and then heard the unmistakable slap of leather on stone.

Someone was behind him.

"Who is it?"

"You shouldn't be on your own, child."

The voice sent icy shoots of fear up Glóin's spine. He grabbed the hilt of the knife, almost trembling, and ran to the gap in houses that led to the Temple. The dark-grey stone provided him a divided view of the white Temple which became larger the more he ran. His pursuer was close behind him, but he was close to the Temple... very close...

He managed to take a few steps out of the alley before his hair was grabbed roughly and he was pulled back. Panicking, he began calling for help.

"Get off, you bastard! Help!"

The last call for help was cut off midway as his attacker squeezed a powerful arm around his throat. Dark circles danced in his vision as the gravelly voice rumbled, "'Bastard' is a crude term, beardling."

"No! Not that one!"

The new voice distracted the attacker so that he relaxed his hold. Glóin fumbled for his knife, but barely drew it out when a force tore him and his attacker apart. Collapsing, he turned onto his back, determined to see who it was that had tried to capture him, but he found his eyes were sore and he blinked, keeping his eyes closed for several seconds. When he again opened them, he was amazed at who he saw.

"Fóli."

Misty green eyes, usually so emotionless, seemed now to be filled to the brim with uncertainty and regret. "Glóin, listen, I can explain."

Pushing himself backwards with his legs, Glóin shook his head fiercely. "No. No, you can't. You- I didn't want to believe you could be involved with such a thing..."

Fóli was following him, his hands held up. "I'm really not. I know it looks bad, but really..."

Recalling the weapon hidden in his pocket, Glóin located it and grasped it once more. "Stay away, Fóli. Stay away."

Fóli stepped forward, his eyes trained on Glóin. "You must understand.."

The closeness seemed stifling and Glóin snatched the knife from his pocket and got to his feet, though he wobbled. "I have killed scum before. Don't think I won't kill you after all you and they have done-"

"Let me explain."

"Keep away."

"You're not going to stab me."

"'Not that one'. Have favourites, do you?"

"Glóin, I am not a child thief."

"You must be." Fóli tried to move closer and Glóin tensed, holding the knife tighter. "Stay back!"

"No, I-"

"I think," growled a new voice, "that you would do well to obey, Fóli."

Glóin wondered how long this newcomer had been there, but didn't truly care.

Help had come at last.


A dwarrowdam truly was one of Mahal's kindest gifts. Particularly when two decided to offer their service in watching over a shell-shocked youngling who'd barely escaped being taken by stealers.

Lady Idùzhib gave Dwalin many a pointed look while escorting his youngest cousin back home, as did Lady Dís, which made Dwalin scowl at Thorin a bit.

He'd told him that in confidence.

Now, he turned his attention to Fóli and cracked his knuckles a bit to get his attention. The arrogant little toerag was sitting back on the cold stone bench, his elbows resting on the granite table as though he was utterly bored. Balin, standing beside his brother, was giving Fóli the exact same look that one might give a feral cat who'd scratched a prized coat to pieces. Óin, who'd insisted on staying in case things got violent so he could get a hit in, was giving Fóli such an evil look that Dwalin actually felt something akin to fear when he looked at him.

And Thorin was just watching the thief.

"You've become quite the celebrity, Master Fóli." Thorin eventually spoke. "Quite well-known, you are, for your talents."

"It wasn't I who attacked Glóin. Astounding as it may be to you, thieves do have honour."

"Not you." Dwalin snarled.

"What do you know of the babes?" Balin asked, crossing his arms and staring at the raven-haired dwarf.

"What babes?"

"You know very well what babes." Thorin snapped, glaring at Fóli with such force that Dwalin feared his skull would burst before the truth could be revealed.

"Oh, the ones you lot have been foolish enough to lose."

"We did not lose them. You stole them." Balin snapped.

"How good a thief do you think I am?" Fóli asked, raising an eyebrow in semi-interest. "I could no more steal a child than your friend here could grow hair on his head."

"Answer me this, what the hell were you doing with my brother?" Óin demanded.

"I was going to explain to him." Fóli answered.

"Explain what?"

"Everything."


She hadn't actually looked, but Idùzhib was willing to bet that there was bruising on Glóin's neck. She'd seen the size of the brute who'd attacked him as he'd groggily staggered to his feet before collapsing again.

He had muscles to rival Dwalin's.

The Princess was beside him, watching him rather closely. She had a hand on his quaking shoulder and yet to say a single word. Her clear blue eyes were watchful, though, and concerned which made her instantly trustworthy in the older woman's eyes.

"My brother shakes like this sometimes." the Princess quietly spoke. "He gets frightened, too."

Jerkily, Glóin brought his hand up, finding the one of the Princess and then swiftly bringing it away again. "When?"

The Princess' hair fell to hide her face as she looked at her distant cousin. "More than you'd think. Particularly when he found out about the children-stealers."

"It's my fault."

Both women exchanged surprised glances. Idùzhib went to sit beside him and took his hand. His shaking lessened and he allowed himself to hold her hand, but the vacant look in his eyes remained. "How is it your fault, love?"

"I saw him two nights ago. He- he said things that made it sound like he was involved, but I..I should've said-"

"It wasn't you who took the babies." the Princess softly reminded him. "Aye, you should've said, but no harm has come from it. We have him now."

"Thought I was gonna die."

He and them all. There had been a blip of silence before the first hymn and then they'd heard the cries for help which had alerted Dwalin who'd arrived outside just in time to witness the redhead being grabbed.

It hadn't taken a genius to work out just what was going on.

"You're safe." Idùzhib told him. "You're safe, lad."

In the distance, the latch squeaked as it was lifted and clunked as it was allowed to fall back down. Glóin tensed, his dark eyes suddenly alert and watchful, his shivers still wracking his body. Rumbles of familiar voices soothed him and soothed those quivers away.

"I still don't know what's wrong with tortu- Oh."

Sensing that the two siblings needed each other now, the Princess lifted her hand and took her eyes off Glóin and walked away, stopping to gently grasp Óin's shoulder as if in greeting.

It was sad that the three members of kin were so distant with each other. Idùzhib had heard from Sannith tales of how Thráin and Gróin and Fundin had been friendly with each other and to see their descendents barely knowing how to interact with the other made her shake her head.

"I'll leave you two to it," she said, standing and following the Princess.


"Master Dwalin."

"Lady Idùzhib."

"Did that little knob tell you anything?"

"He eventually deigned to mention a forest not far from here where we may find the 'true masterminds' as he called them."

"So, you will go?"

"We will. Look, I feel you and I got off on the wrong foot last we saw the other. It's not that we don't care for this one child."

Idùzhib bowed her head. "Aye. T'was a bit unfair of me, I suppose."

"We are going, but I need you to stay here with your boys."

"Why should I stay behind?"

"Because there are a great many terrible things that we may see." Dwalin answered. "And I don't wish to risk you seeing them, my lady."

"People always said that Nori looked like his tit of a father. But he had my hair."

"Right. I'll look out for a little auburn-haired lad."

"When you return, you must tell me what you see."

Dwalin nodded. "Don't expect me to not censor certain things." he warned. "Mahal, when I think how close..."

Idùzhib stood on her toes and patted his shoulder. "He's safe, lad. Go on and see him. I'd better go back to my family and let them know what's going on."