Thorin watched as Oin finished examining his youngest nephew, "why did this happen?" he asked. It was very disheartening to see Kili back in bed after it had seemed his injuries were all behind him. His brunette nephew still wheezed as he breathed, though he looked to be in a very sour mood, grunting a bit as Oin put his ear trumpet against his chest.

"It seems his lungs were more damaged than we originally thought," Oin said. "The lad's got a touch of pneumonia, but I'm afraid these attacks may be the result of permanent lung damage."

"Permanent?" Thorin repeated. "You mean he will continue to have these attacks?"

Oin nodded, "We caught the pneumonia early so with a bit of bed rest, he'll recover, but he'll be more susceptible to respiratory ailments from now on. He'll need to take care not to get worked up, stress can bring on the attacks."

Thorin pulled up a chair and sat in between his two nephews beds as Oin finished up with Kili. "I'll send a servant in with some soup for the lads," Oin suggested. "They both need to keep up their strength."

Thorin watched as Oin left the room and turned to Kili who promptly rolled over on his side, "why don't you ask Fili," he grumbled.

Thorin turned to his eldest nephew who was watching the whole thing from his own bed. He gazed up at his uncle with what Thorin could only interpret as guilt, "What got him so upset?" Thorin asked.

"I'd rather not say," Fili said, glancing down, avoiding Thorin's gaze. "I'd rather just move on."

At that, Kili whirled back around in bed, glaring across the room at his brother with anger in his eyes that surprised Thorin, "You'd rather move on!" he gasped. "Are you afraid to tell Uncle what you were trying to make me do?"

"Kili, lay still," Thorin warned, feeling a bit of a headache coming on as he tried to understand what was happening here. He had one crippled nephew and one nephew who couldn't breathe, both with frayed nerves, hurt feelings, and seemingly hopeless outlooks on life.

"I don't want to lie still," Kili shot back, sitting up in bed, gripping his chest a bit as the effort got him a bit winded. "That's what he has been doing. He's been laying here feeling sorry for himself and now he wants me to kill him."

"What!" Thorin started a bit, staring wide eyed at Fili in bewilderment. "Fili, is this what this is about?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it," Fili growled, his mood souring a bit at Kili's words. "Kili, you don't know anything."

Thorin let out a long sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to calm his own nerves, "that's enough, both of you," he said firmly. He tried to sort out the turmoil going on here, the frustration at this situation that he felt threatened to overwhelm him. He slowly looked up, studying both his nephews carefully,

"Fili, you have been laying in this bed for over a month," he began slowly. "I know you've been through so much and I know it's going to be hard to move past this kind of… change in your life, but I cannot believe you would ask your brother to kill you."

"It's my life," Fili shot back. "I'll choose when to end it at my will. None of you know what this is like. You don't know what it's like to be faced with being a cripple for the rest of your life. I'm a dwarf warrior and if I can't be a dwarf warrior anymore, what is the point in going on?"

Thorin shook his head, not wanting to accept what he was hearing. His heart broke for his nephew. He knew very well he would want the same thing if he were in Fili's situation. But he would not accept the possibility of Fili's death, not even by his own hand. What could he do? He felt desperate. His nephew needed to feel valuable again, to feel his own worth again.

"Fili…" he breathed in softly, trying to find words. But he was interrupted as the door suddenly opened and Balin strode in, along with Gloin. Both wore a sour expression.

"What is it now…" Thorin groaned, leaning back in his chair. The looks on his comrades faces told him they had some less than pleasant business to discuss.

"We need to speak to you in private," Balin began. "It's about Erebor."

"I don't want to leave my nephews right now, Balin," Thorin said. "Anything regarding Erebor can be said in their presence."

"Well it has to do with the lads too," Gloin said. "I've been going over the gold that we've been giving out and it's going to take quite a lot to restore Erebor, Dale, and this region. Not to mention all the gold we'll need to summon all our kin back to erebor. Thirteen dwarves isn't enough to run a kingdom."

"We have more than enough gold to cover any expenses we may have," Thorin said with a shrug. Did Gloin not see that treasure horde? he thought to himself.

"Aye we do for now," Gloin agreed. "But if we want the region to prosper again, it will take much of our treasure to do so. So we much use it wisely."

"So what does this have to do with us?" Kili put in. He and Fili were both listening closely to the conversation, their previous grievances put on hold for now.

Balin sighed, "it has come to our attention that the master has been cheating us out of more gold than he asked for to keep them here," he began. "And not just the lads, but you and some other wounded we've been housing here. We agreed to pay him per dwarf per night, but he's somehow managed to swindle us out of five times that."

Thorin felt a surge of anger at hearing this. How dare that vile human cheat him of his gold! For a brief moment, the dragon sickness threatened to return ten fold and he wanted to strangle the vile man's neck.

"Wait… you had to pay for us to stay here?" Kili asked, arching a brow, as this was the first time either nephew had heard of this.

"Aye, Lad," Balin explained. "We've been thinking that it's time we take our leave of the master. Oin thinks you are both strong enough to be transferred back to Erebor and the sooner we break ties with this… man, the better."

"Wait…" Kili sat up a little more. "We can't leave. The servants. Uncle, there is something going on with the servants."

Thorin glanced at his nephew with curiosity, "what do you mean?"

"Well… Bilbo and I… we kind of suspect…" Kili fumbled with his words a bit, obviously trying to sound convincing. "The two girls who have been assisting us. Asphodel and Brenna. The hobbit and the gnome. We have reason to believe that the master has been mistreating them."

Thorin sighed and exchanged glances with Balin. This was an aspect of things his nephews would not be used to. Servitude. After all, there had been no need for servants in the blue mountains since king and commoners all worked side by side to survive, "lads, servants are just something you are going to have to get used to," he began. "We'll probably have plenty when we get the kingdom running. Cooks, handmaidens, people of that sort."

"I don't need servants," Kili said quickly. "But that's beside the point. Shouldn't the servants be here of their own free will? and shouldn't they be treated kindly and properly cared for?"

"What evidence do you and Master Baggins have that there is any mistreatment going on here?" Balin asked. "The vile human is greedy and cowardly, but what he does with his servants isn't any of our concern."

Kili sighed in defeat and looked down at his hands. Thorin watched as he tried to search for an argument to use. "Not right…" he muttered, "shouldn't be allowed."

Thorin watched his nephew and sighed. This journey had matured Fili and Kili far more than their uncle would have liked. The things they'd seen, the dangers they'd faced, the pain and fear they'd suffered. But there were some things they were still innocent about and it reminded him that they still had more growing up to do.

"We'll talk to the master about this gold thing," Thorin said after a while, then put his hand on Kili's shoulder. "And we'll look into the matter with the servants. After all, if one of the servants is Master Bagginses kinsfolk, we both know how fond hobbits are of home and hearth, so I think it's worth finding out if she is here of her own accord."

A small smile spread over Kili's lips as he looked back up at his uncle with that child like look in his eyes. "Thank you, Uncle," he said. Thorin smiled back and squeezed his nephew's shoulders before turning to Balin and Gloin. "have the master brought to me at once," he said with a bit of a grumble in his voice.

Balin and Gloin quickly left to do as the king wished of them and Thorin was once again left in the company of his troubled nephews.