Ages:

Frerin: almost six

Fien: bit more than 3.5

Gideon: little over 1

Fali: Finally here

Kien: 3.5 about

Which makes Tauris: nine months and Orian: 1.4?

There's a stage in pregnancy where movement just becomes so tiring, you wonder if getting up is even worth it. It was difficult to believe I had been filled with an uncanny amount of energy in earlier days. Now, I felt sluggish.

"Amad?" Fien spoke up.

Of course, it might have had something to do with the three children I already had.

"Yes?" I didn't bother opening my eyes as I sat in my chair.

"Are you sleeping?" He asked.

"Nearly." I breathed. I shifted in the chair. It was difficult to be comfortable when you were this pregnant, just when you thought you could move into a nicer position you realised your huge stomach was in the way. "Is something wrong, love?" I asked.

"No, not right now." He shook his head. They had both been very good the last few weeks, playing quietly to not put too much strain on me. It was a relief. When they were boisterous the loudness often woke Gideon a bit early from his nap. They fought on occasion as well, and this was tiring for me and caused Gideon some distress. The little boy did not like fighting.

Frerin and Fien continued to play their game on the floor. I would have fallen asleep, because Gideon was resting himself and this would probably be the best time for it, but for the life of me I could not make myself comfortable. So sleep remained distant.

I sighed heavily at the futile mission. "Are you alright Amad?" Frerin looked over his shoulder at me. Fili had told him to keep an eye on me, what with the date of the infant's birth drawing closer. According to Dis, I was 'carrying lower', so my family, the kingdom, and myself were all eager for the babe to arrive and for this pregnancy to end.

"I'm just a little sore." I nodded. "It's nothing."

Frerin nodded. "Alright." He returned to the game. "But you'll tell me if something is wrong, right? Because Adad said to keep an eye on you."

"I will." I promised. "I am only a little tired."

There was a knock on the door, and the boys answered it. "Hello, sister." Kili smiled.

"Kili." I nodded from my chair. "And Kien."

"Hello, Aunt." Kien waved.

"I'm taking him to the forge, I thought I'd take the boys with me. You could use the rest, by the looks of it."

Fien dashed over to me with begging eyes. "Amad can I please go with Kien and Uncle Kili? Please, please, please?"

"You may." I nodded.

"Thank you." Fien nodded, hurrying back to the door.

"What about you Frerin?" Kili asked his nephew. "Would you like to join us?"

Frerin shook his head. "No thank you." He replied. "Not today. I have to watch over Amad."

"You don't have to Frerin." I shook my head. "You can go the forge for a little while."

"Maybe next time." Frerin smiled, still refusing the invitation.

"Alright then." Kili said. "Next time." He looked over to me. "I'll see that he's delivered home in suitable time…and unburnt." He added with a wink.

"Thank you." I laughed softly.

After the door was closed Frerin came up and sat by me in the chair. I ran my fingers through his hair, lightly tracing the child's braid in it. I ran my fingers the opposite way. He still had a bit of a cowlick.

My first baby…I mused to myself.

Frerin placed his hand on my stomach. "Why is it not kicking anymore?" He asked.

"It's too big." I smiled. "It's taken up all the room there is in there and now it hasn't the space to bend its knees and kick."

"Will it be born soon?"

"I hope so." I sighed. "I can't sit on the floor with you anymore because it feels like I will not be able to rise from it again."

"You do look funny when you try to bend down." Frerin laughed.

"Well, I can't help it if this gets in the way." I patted my stomach, shifting again a little as I felt some discomfort in my back from my current sitting position.

"Do you think this one will have dark hair, like Gideon?"

"I don't know." I shook my head. "There's no way of knowing until it's born."

"Can you still feel the baby?" Frerin asked curiously.

I nodded. "It doesn't move very much now. But I can feel the shape of it." Frerin raised an eyebrow a small degree, questioning what I meant. I took his hand and traced it over my stomach, as I had a few nights ago with Fili, to show him the same thing.

"Do you feel that?" I had asked, late in the night. "That long bump there?"

"Aye." Fili had nodded, tracing the mentioned spot. "Feels a bit like a rope or something."

"It should." I had smiled a little. "It's the baby's spine."

His eyes had widened an inkling at that. "That must mean this is his head." He trailed to where the spine ended into a soft knoll.

"I think so…" I had replied, applying my own hand over my abdomen to make sure. "Aye, it is his head." I had answered (it could also be her head, my subconscious mind had reminded me). "You can feel the feet way up here, so it must be."

Fili's fingers wandered up higher onto my stomach to where the tiny foot imprints were. We had stayed up a bit longer, tracing arms crossed over a little body and legs and a backside.

Now I showed the same to Frerin, who was also intrigued. "Wow…" He whispered. "You can feel everything."

"Yes." I nodded. "Neat, isn't it?" I shifted again, feeling a protest in my lower back. This chair was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Frerin soon got up from the seat to amuse himself and I stretched out a little. My back still ached. I shifted again and then felt an actual pain.

Which snapped my mind back to an alert state.

I waited for a moment, to see if I had simply overexerted some muscle or if this could be something else entirely. I was shocked when, and very soon too, another pain hit my stomach.

"Oh!" I gasped.

Frerin's head turned sharply. "Amad?" He asked.

"It's…I think it may be…" I breathed.

"Is it the baby?" Frerin asked.

"It could be." I nodded, continuing with measured breaths. "Come, we should get Gideon and then go to the midwife." I rose to do so, when another pain came.

I knew that my labours had shortened with each child, but this was certainly looking like it was going to be a quick one. I hissed, as I wandered down the hall and scooped up Gideon, who groggily woke, but was content and did not cry.

I began to walk back but there was yet another pain. Frerin looked at me as I walked down the hall. Eventually, I had to sit back in the chair in the sitting room to rest a bit. Gideon looked confused and a little troubled, but I smiled at him all the same, and this calmed him down. Now that I was in the chair and the pains were strong enough to be felt, and increasing, it was difficult for me to move. "Frerin, we have to go now…" I said. "Frerin?"

I looked around, but he was gone.

The front door was open.

/

Frerin had run out of the house when he realised how slow and difficult the process of walking was for his mother. He was rushing down the halls right now, straight for the midwife's. He had considered going to his grandmother's first, or down to the offices for his father, but he was a smart child and knew that the midwife would be the most helpful person, and therefore should be alerted first. He was racing in between dozens of other dwarves and they were a little surprised to see him out by himself so far from his home.

He finally reached the door, perhaps a little out of breath, and knocked furiously with his fist. He then waited, and it felt as though he was waiting for hours. He was worried over his mother, and the midwife was certainly taking her time in answering the door. Perhaps she hadn't heard him? He knocked again. If she didn't answer soon he'd run back down the halls for Oin.

Thankfully though, the door did open and the midwife looked down at him. "Hello." Frerin said, quickly in greeting. "It's Amad, she said she thinks-"

That was really all he needed to say before the midwife turned back into her home and began to pack up a few things into a bag. "I'll be right over at your home." She called over her shoulder. "Don't worry."

Frerin then dashed off to his grandmother's, and by the time he arrived at her door he was really and truly out of breath. He knocked on the door. His grandmother opened it, but he was too breathless to speak much. "What is it, Frerin?" Dis asked her grandson.

Frerin managed to cough out "Amad's going to have the baby now. I think."

"Oh!" His grandmother immediately left, taking him by the hand and asking questions. "Where is your Amad?"

"At home."

"What about your brothers?"

"Gideon is at home with her. Fien when to the forge with Kien and Uncle Kili."

"Good, good, one less thing to worry about." Dis hummed. "Oh, a midwife…" She began to turn in the direction for one.

"I already told her." Frerin said.

"You got the midwife? All by yourself?" Dis was surprised.

Frerin nodded. "Oh! I have to tell Adad!" He suddenly remembered and then he let go of his grandmother's hand and began running off toward the offices. He forgot to knock on the door that time and instead rushed into the busy atmosphere. The pages and other dwarves were used to seeing him there, he often spent an afternoon with his father and uncles, helping them work. What they were not used to was him being in such a rush, so when he bolted past them, they often dropped papers or nearly tripped.

Thorin was giving some informal council or other, mostly to a few scribes, but his father was present as well. Frerin broke into the circle, and was immediately noticed. "Frerin? What are you doing down here?" His father questioned.

"You said to look after Amad, and I did." Frerin replied. "She couldn't walk very fast so I ran and told the midwife, and then I got Grandmother. Now I have to get you."

"She's having the child?" Fili asked, kneeling a little to look Frerin in the face.

"I think so." Frerin nodded.

"You better be off then." One of the pages said.

"Indeed." Fili nodded back. "Come on Frerin, we better hurry."

The two left the offices and walked hurriedly back home. His father asked many the same questions that Dis had, and was equally relieved to find out that Fien was being taken care of. Fili was also surprised to find out he son (who was still fairly young) had thought to run off for the needed individuals himself.

"That was smart of you." He said to Frerin, as they neared home. "Well done."

Frerin was beaming when they arrived back at their home to find Aunt Tauriel, Grandmother and the midwife already present. He was also smiling because everyone was so proud of him for what he'd done. His father collected Gideon to take him off their hands and they wandered out to one of the nearby halls to sit and wait again. Gideon would sometimes crawl around a bit, then sit nicely at their father's feet.

Frerin smiled up at his father again, feeling his pride still. Fili smirked, and ruffled his hair, making that small stubborn cowlick surface up again. "Well done." He said once more.

/

Obviously, my initial thought that this would be a quick labour was well founded. The pains did not get much worse, and in a neat and easy two hours the child was wailing and the midwife was congratulating me. I sighed out a small breath of relief. "Now, how come they all couldn't have been born like that?" I asked.

Dis laughed. "Doesn't seem fair, does it?"

I smiled down at the child that the midwife was hurriedly cleaning off for me and swaddling. "It's a girl this time." She grinned up from her work.

Something in my mind shorted out at that statement.

"What?" I asked, sounding surprisingly confused.

"A girl." The midwife repeated, finishing up and passing the infant to me.

I reached out and took him…her, I meant her…in my arms.

"A girl?" I was still oddly confused by this. Dwarves usually had daughters in one of three births…I had four children, having a girl at this point made sense. I looked down at her face, the sweet, soft baby features. I still couldn't process the thought that I was holding a baby girl, and untucked part of the blankets to quickly make sure. But there was no mistake.

A girl. My daughter.

I held her close and pressed a kiss to her little head. Her eyes were already wide open, proudly Durin blue eyes. Her hair was the same shade of blond as Fili's. Mahal and Navestal, she was beautiful.

"I always wondered what it would be like to have a daughter…" Dis mused. "You're a lucky mother to have both sons and daughters. Plenty of women under this mountain don't know that feeling."

"A girl." I sighed again. Was this how my mother had felt when she had me after so many boys? Excited and in love with the new baby, but feeling oddly surreal about the whole thing?

"Shall I go and retrieve Fili?" Tauriel asked.

"Oh, yes, please go." I nodded. "Could you please not tell him it's a girl? I think I'd like to be the one who reveals that secret to him."

"I'd dare not rob you of it." Tauriel smiled, and exited to go and fetch him.

"My goodness, Dis." I said. "Baby girls are so…so…"

"Sweet?" Dis suggested.

"Oh, isn't she?" I gushed. "She's so beautiful, just like the rest of them."

"Aye, like a doll." Dis nodded, a twinkle in her eye. "Oh, we're going to have to watch out for this one. I was a princess too, and believe me, it is going to take every ounce of will power not to spoil her."

"It used to take me all my will power not to spoil the boys." I smiled. "I've had my training."

We laughed together and Fili then opened the door, Gideon in the crook of his arm and Frerin and Fien by his side. Fili did not even have to remind Frerin to give me a kiss, as he jumped onto the bed and pressed his lips against my cheek. A small swat on the back was all it took for Fien to do the same. I noticed he had a small smudge of dirt on his nose from the forge. Gideon started to make noisy demands to be put down and Fili held him closer to my face so I could receive a kiss from him as well, before plopping the tot down by me.

The new baby became the center of their attention. "I finished this!" Fien showed me yet another pendant.

"So you did." I smiled. "What do you think of the new baby?"

"It's nice." Fien nodded. Good, no distaste, as there had been with Gideon.

"It looks like Adad." Frerin observed.

"The poor thing…" Kili joked from within the sitting room down our hall.

"Kili!" I snapped, but I smirked at it too. I eventually passed the little girl to Fili.

"What shall we call this one?" He asked, taking her in his arms.

"Fali." I answered, with a smile. It was one of the very few girl's names we had agreed on.

"Fali." Fili agreed with a nod. I waited a few seconds for it to sink in for him. It did and he looked up at me with the same amount of surprise I had experienced a few minutes ago. "Fali?!" He replied.

"It'll be a lovely name." I grinned. "Don't you think so?"

Fili was studying her features then, taking in the blue eyes and soft hair. It was long for a baby already. Indeed, the features were a bit more feminine, even though she had just been born. He shifted her some, supporting her head a little more as she squirmed. "It will be perfect." He smiled.

"Isn't that a girl's name?" Fien asked.

"That's because it is a girl Fien." Frerin said, catching on. "Obviously."

Fien looked at the baby again. Her eyes glanced over at him and they stared at each other for a long moment. "Oh." He said. "I guess it is a girl."

"Your little sister." I added.

Gideon was in a generous mood and kissed his little sister on her head. He smiled at his actions. Fili had to grab at Fali's tiny hand though as it tried to take a handful of Gideon's dark hair.

"What are we going to do with a girl?" Fien asked.

"Everything we did with you boys. It's all the same really." I nodded.

"So…we can play with her?" Fien asked, as if trying to make sure.

I laughed. "Yes, darling, as soon as she's a bit older you can play with her."

"Her?!" The word was echoed from inside the hallway. It was the voices of the company.

"You can come in." I called, taking Fali back from her father. "It's alright, I'm decent again."

"I thought I heard you say 'her'." Gloin was standing in the doorway.

"She did." Kili replied. "Rue had a little girl. Tauriel told me already."

"Oh, and she's beautiful!" Hana burst forth, pushing her way past dwarves. She smiled down at Fali and then apologetically at me. "I'm sorry I didn't come. It all happened so fast."

The company had come shortly after the births of my other children, bringing well wishes and such, but now they all stood back, eyeing the bundle suspiciously. "Aren't you coming to welcome her to the world, like you did the others?" I asked. Slowly they came forward.

Balin was the only one who wasn't acting as though I was holding some strange creature in my arms, instead of a baby girl. He beamed down at Fali. "Congratulations. She'll be right beauty, I imagine."

Fali squirmed again and began to make vocal protests to her swaddling blankets. "Ha, a demanding little thing too." Balin added.

"Thank you Balin." I nodded.

"Well?" Balin turned to his friends. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"It's just a bit of shock, that's all." Nori said.

"The Durin's have been having nothing but boys, we can't help it if this is a surprise." Bofur replied.

"Do you not like her?" I asked, rhetorically of course.

However, the response I got was a serenade of 'no's. Perhaps they had taken me seriously.

"Of course we like her!"

"She's as good as any son of Durin."

"The mountain needs a princess too."

"We'll train her like she's one of the boys…right, lads?"

"Right!"

I was laughing. They really had no experience with little girls it seemed. I could already see comical visions in my head of Dwalin explaining defensive moves to a girl no taller than his knee. It was simply too funny to imagine some of the warriors and miners, tinkers and toymaker working with a tiny girl or playing with her as they had my sons.

Clearly, having a little princess was going to be learning process for us all.

To put it in terms of Fien's question: what were we going to do with her?

Yay! Finally everyone's been born (except Vesper) but still everyone in Erebor. Goal 1 complete.