Fili and Kili left the mountain in the spring to go and visit their mother in Ered Luin. After spending quality time with their Amad, they decided to take the scenic route back and visit and old friend.

They were quite surprised to see a different hobbit open the door to Billa's home.

Primula looked them up and down sadly "You are here to see Bilberry?"

"Aye, that we are Mistress?"

"Fili"

"and Kili"

"at your service" they finished in unison, performing their most courtly bows with an air of the dramatic.

"I can see why she liked you" Primula smiled wistfully "You'll find her under the acorn tree in the front yard" she nodded to the left of the garden.

What Fili and Kili found beneath the acorn tree was not what they had expected at all.

When the brothers returned to Erebor, Thorin was amazed to see how quiet the boys seemed. They went about their duties as expected of princes of the house of Durin and the number of pranks played under the mountain fell almost to zero. If Thorin noticed this, or the fact that his nephews seemed to be going out of their way to avoid him, perhaps he falsely attributed it to the fact that they were growing up.

The other Dwarrow of the company attributed the boys morose attitude to the correct quarter; grief at the death of a most beloved friend, a woman who had been almost as close as a mother to them, a woman who had almost been their Aunt.

TAEFM

It was Ori who realised that every member of the company, save its leader, knew of their fallen comrade. He then approached Dori about the possibility of holding a party in her honour, it was with tears in his eyes that the silver-haired hobbit readily acquiesced to his brothers request.

The air in House of the brothers Ri was heavy with sadness as all the company, save one, sat around the heavy stone table staring morosely into their ale. Ori was upset, this was not how he wanted it to go at all, this was supposed to be a night for remembering Billa, their friend, not a night to remember her loss.

Bofur looked up and caught the scribes eye and a look of understanding passed between them. The miner stood up swiftly, a motion which drew the attention of all the dwarrow in the room. "The Lass wouldn't have wanted us like this ya know" He said as the hand holding his ale shook "She was ready for death, called it 'her next big adventure', and here are we, great bunch of sooks mourning her parting rather than celebrating a life lived" Here the normally quiet-spoken Dwarf started to raise his voice "I for one am sick of crying over what I cannot change, so I am going to celebrate my sister in the best way I can and if you - JACKSIES won't join in you'll be finding coal dust in your slippers for a long while to come!" and with that he downed his ale and slammed the tankard on the table.

The assembled Dwarrow looked at the hatted- dwarf in shock before one by one they stood, downed their ale and slammed their tankards on the table before looked around at each other.

"Now what?" exclaimed Kili

"We remember" rumbled Bifur

"I'll go first" exclaimed Bombur "Billa Baggins, Barrel Rider ….. could make the most delicious honey cakes I've ever tasted…. And believe you me, that's saying something"

"Aye, we know" interrupted Nori with a cheeky grin "We've seen how you inhale honey cakes!" The thief had to duck as a cake was thrown at him by the rounded Dwarf who had surprisingly good aim.

"Oh Pish!" Said Bomber "and the lass could peel an apple in one long strip…."

"Not apples, please, anything but apples"

"Shut up Fili!" chastised Bomber, grabbing another cake off the table and throwing it at the crown prince, the icing smeared in his moustache. Of course Fili could not let that stand, he grabbed a plate of food of the table and return fired only for Bombur to duck and the plate to hit Dwalin, the food splattering on his face and the china smashing as it hit the floor…..

"That does it!" exclaimed Dwalin, grabbing fistfuls of trifle and lobbing them towards the Bombur and Fili only for them to hit Bifur and Kili, only for them to retaliate with Kili screaming "FOOD FIIIIIIIIIGHT!".

When all the food was covering walls, floor, ceiling and company, the Dwarrow sat amongst the mess and told tales of their burglar, their beloved Billberry Baggins. They honoured her so well that the ever meticulous Dori could not even be mad at the state of his dining room.

-TAEFM-

Author's note: sorry for the long gap between updates, hope you are all well :)

As a sorry from me for the wait ... go to google , type in "Richard Armitage Love Poems" and follow the links , you'll find a free download of an audio book of Richard Armitage (Thorin in the Hobbit trilogy) reading classic love poems that I found the other day , and if you listen closely you might even be able to find the one which includes a line, after which this story is named

Also I'm pretty sure the next chapter will be the last so stay tuned for Thorin finding out ... Or should he never find out ? What do you think?