The Fili and Kili Chronicles

by thepotterheadfrommiddleearth

Everybody loves the Durin brothers. Funny, handy with weapons, and pretty good looking. So what were they like as dwarflings? Just a random collection of Fili/Kili stories that I've written involving them when they were younger. Chapter 1 co-written with my friend MagicJediElf. NO SLASH! DISCLAIMER: All characters mentioned are the sole property of J.R.R Tolkien

35. The Fog

A/N: Hi guys!

Guess what? Today, on the 26th of January (Australia time), The Fili and Kili Chronicles turned one year old. As a special celebration, and in honour of chapter one, the chapter is a collaboration with MagicJediElf. She helped start this story with me, and one year on, she's agreed to help me again. As you may notice when reading, this fic has been divided into sections, and we worked on them separately- MagicJediElf did the 1st, 3rd and 5th, and I did the 2nd, 4th and 6th- but we've tried to unify them as much as possible. I'll apologise in advance- this is going to be a rather long chapter- but hopefully it'll be worth the read. Enjoy!

xx

Dis sat silently in the cushioned armchair, wrapped up in what seemed like a million woolen blankets. She never liked being sick, it made her feel rather powerless, a sensation she didn't enjoy. She was used to caring for other people, not being cared for. She had left Kili in the care of his older brother, which hopefully wouldn't cause too much of a problem. She'd tried hard to press the importance of staying out of trouble to both of them, though that usually didn't work, she hoped they'd be more cooperative due to the current situation. She'd been coughing all day, and every muscle in her body seemed to ache. Suppressing another cough, Dis let out a hoarse call for her sons- she could hear pots clanging in the kitchen, and if it wasn't Thorin, that would result in a catastrophic mess- not that her brother was especially tidy in the first place.

Dis smiled to herself as she heard the pattering of the tiny dwarves' feet outside her door, there was nothing in the world she loved more than her sons. As she expected, she saw Kili first, soon followed by a concerned looking Fili.

"Yes mum?" Kili came over and sat on her lap, she patted his back softly, trying not to cough.

"I was just checking that it wasn't you making that racket in the kitchen"

"Um" Fili looked at the floor guiltily

"We cleaned it up!" Kili piped in, "we did, I swear, Fili just dropped his plate!"

It seemed like they were telling the truth, she hoped they were, she wasn't about to ask Thorin to clean the kitchen, and she knew she wasn't capable of it herself. She felt sorry for Fili and Kili, especially Kili. It seemed like it was cold outside, judging by the temperature indoors, and without her there to clean up after them Fili and Kili were getting very bored. Before long Kili would try to attack the wardrobe or something, and Fili would probably be powerless to stop him.

"Can we go outside mum?" Kili had been asking Dis that all day and his whinging was beginning to get to her.

"I don't want you to get sick too Kili, you don't want to end up like this do you?" Dis gestured to her blankets, she had to admit she looked a lot like a snowman, and when she lifted her arms she felt like an overweight bird.

"But mum, its boring in here, there's nothing to do!" It was Fili this time, and Dis couldn't help but comply with their request. She guessed it would be better for them to have a slight cough than for her to have to spend her recovery time returning the kitchen to a safe zone or making an entirely new set of blankets because Kili had set a makeshift tent on fire.

" I guess so, but wear a coat, don't catch a cold ok?" Dis smiled at the excited expressions that lit up on her sons' faces "And don't do anything too reckless Kee." Dis swore Kili's head was bouncing as he assured her he wasn't reckless at all, and even if he really was he wouldn't be today.

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"Hey Fee" Kili held a limp woolen hat in front of him and gave it a disgusted look "Do I have to wear this?"

"Mum said not to catch a cold Kee" Fili stuck his own hat onto his head and grimaced at the pom poms that dangled off the side.

" It's not that cold outside, come feel it" Kili was dancing around just outside the door, he had dropped the beanie next to Fili's feet.

Hanging the two hats bag on the wooden pegs, Fili joined his brother outside. It was less cold than he had thought. It was still chilly but it was more humid and the air smelled like it had just rained. Fili gingerly closed the front door, taking care not to wake up Dis, and ran out to meet Kili who was already getting close to the small trees at the beginning of the woods.

As Fili began to catch up to his brother Kili suddenly stopped and Fili almost fell over trying to slow down before he crashed into him.

"Woah what was that for Kee?" Fili stopped to recover his breath

"I don't really want to go into the forest today" Kili stood there motionless, and Fili had to suppress a laugh at how solemn his normally energetic brother looked.

However, he was also a bit confused, it wasn't that he necessarily wanted to go into the woods either, but Kili was acting strange. "And why is that?"

Kili turned to his brother and whispered "There's something in there." Kili huddled to Fili's side and pointed accusingly into the forest.

Fili looked into the trees trying to determine what his brother was talking about. "See it Fee?" Fili squinted and stared into the forest, he had no idea what Kili was seeing "Its all misty."

"Oh, Fog." Fili chuckled to himself, Kili's dramatic flair never ceased to amuse him.

" Fog? What do you mean?" Kili looked up at Fili quizzically

"You know what fog is don't you?"

Kili looked down at the floor, scowling, as if Fog somehow confused all that he had ever believed to be true, but then the expression vanished and was replaced by his usual excited grin "Yeah, it's that" and he pointed to the misty clouds gathering in front of them.

Fili shook his head and laughed,, Kili could be so slow sometimes. "So do you want to go into the forest or not?"

"Um… I don't think so, we can just play hide and seek here" Kili looked admirably at the mist "with the fog!"

Fili smiled and covered his eyes "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" He could hear Kili running away "Ready or not here I come!"

xxxxx

Section 2

"Fee, I'm hungry." Kili said, whinging slightly.

"What? Bored of the fog already, are you?" Fili said with a satirical grin.

"No," Kili said defensively, "I'm just hungry. Maybe mum will let us come back out afterwards."

"Of course she will. She knows how energetic you get from being cooped up indoors for so long."

"Hey!" Kili playfully kicked a handful of earth at his brother, and he disturbed the fog, sending it floating serenely in Fili's direction. "Fee…" Kili whispered.

"What?"

"It's alive!" Kili looked at Fili with wide eyes. Fili looked back with an unimpressed expression.

"Do you think it's hungry too? What if we fed it our lunch?" Kili pondered.

"Fog doesn't eat dwarf food." Fili said, and then, with a small smile, he added, "Fog eats little dwarves."

Kili yelped, and scrambled in the direction of their house. Fili laughed, and followed him.

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Dis sniffled a little. Thorin handed her her handkerchief, which she accepted gratefully. He disappeared into the kitchen again, and continued to make her and the boys lunch. She was thankful that she had a brother like Thorin to look after her, and to manage her boys whilst she was ill.

Where were her boys? She had heard a few loud screams (of delight, she hoped) a few minutes prior. Hopefully they'd get home soon enough- but she needn't have worried. Kili was pretty much unpredictable, but the one thing you could count on was him eagerly showing up for meals.

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"Boys!" Thorin exclaimed as they walked in.

"Uncle!" They yelled back, and leapt into his arms. As he picked them up, he couldn't help but notice a small ache in his back- but he ignored it. It was inevitable that he would age, but he would rather focus on what he was doing now than what the future would bring.

"What are you doing here?" Fili asked as Kili climbed onto Thorin's somewhat sore back. He winced, before replying, "Your mother asked me here to help get you lunch. She didn't want you to catch her cold."

Thorin picked up a plate of haphazardly assembled sandwiches, and made his way to Dis' room, the boys in tow.

Dis blearily looked up as they walked in. Her nose was a tickled pink colour, and her eyes were watery. Nevertheless, she still greeted her children and brother with a smile.

Thorin put down the sandwiches. Dis took one, followed by her sons, then Thorin. Thorin eagerly ate his, but Fili, Kili and Dis nibbled a little more tentatively. Thorin had a unique cooking style- that much was evident.

"What's this?" Kili asked as he pulled what looked like a limp leaf from in between the slices of bread.

"It's lettuce. Bofur got it for me from the markets. It's meant to be good for you."

Kili looked at Dis in shock. "Mr Bofur was here yet you asked Uncle to cook us lunch?"

"Kili!" Dis snapped. "Manners, please!"

Thorin looked slightly amused. "Am I that bad?"

"No- you're cooking's fine, Thorin." Dis scowled at Kili. "So- what's it like out there?"

Fili could sense his mother trying to change the subject. "You'll never believe it- there's f-"

"There's fog outside!" Kili interrupted with enthusiasm.

"Fog? Really?" Dis smiled, reminiscing. "I haven't seen fog in quite a while! I almost can't remember what it looks like!" Dis joked.

Fili and Thorin smiled along with it, but Kili looked horrified. "What do you mean you don't know what fog looks like?"

"Kee- it's a figure of speech, I-" Dis began, but she was interrupted by Kili.
"Fee- we have to show mum fog!"

"She can't go outside, Kee."

"Then we'll bring the fog inside- to her!"

Fili sighed. This was going to be interesting.

xxxxx

"Kee!" Fili ran out of the room, hot on the heels of his little brother "Kee, wait!"

Fili could hear Kili chanting 'Fog' over and over again with a few other inaudible words packed in between.

"Kee! What are you doing?" Kili's small body swung and hurtled through the kitchen door, Fili winced as he heard his collision with the dining table. Hurrying up Fili turned into the kitchen to check on his brother, the collision hadn't seemed to faze him and he was still in his frantic state. Fili couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing.

Kili was standing on the counter and Fili swore he had shoved half of his body inside the cupboard. "Kee, what are you looking for?"

Kili emerged victoriously from the cabinet, knocking over a few mugs on his way out, "This!". Held tightly in his small, pudgy hands was a glass jar of marmalade, covered with a neat square of plaid cloth.

"That?" Fili inspected the jar. A jar or some other container was probably the only way to catch fog, at least he couldn't think of any other way. "But the marmala-" Fili was cut short when he saw his brother, holding the jar upside down. Now without a lid. "Kili!" Fili shoved his little brother towards the sink. Sighing, he then grabbed a towel and wiped off the floor, "You don't just pour Mum's marmalade on the floor!" he wrung out the wet cloth after washing it "she said not to make a mess!"

"Ok, then we won't, where else will we get jars from?"

"We can use any sort of container, if we can't find jars." Fili wracked his brains for other ideas, "Here, look" Fili took a glass form the shelf and placed the piece of cloth from the marmalade jar on top of it, then tied some string around it. "It's a container!". FIli laughed for the next five minutes as Kili desperately tried to repeat Fili's manoeuvre with a wine glass. It involved much frustration on Kili's part, held-back laughter on Fili's and a considerable amount of advice on his as well. Once Fili had finally finished the job for Kili the two set off to capture the fog.

xxxx

Fili smiled as he saw Kee's face light up at the sight of the fog. His little brother could get excited at the slightest thing, something Fili, at times, envied. "Hey Kee, over here" Fili led Kili towards the the small field chuckling to himself as he listened to his endless chatter about how strange fog was, and why was fog called fog in the first place "It should really be called Gloom" he had said, with an added explanation on how gloomy was after all, a much more dramatic way to say misty or foggy. Fili couldn't be bothered to explain that gloomy wasn't a term for weather.

"Look, Kee" Fili whispered pointing to a clump of fog swirling in the air.

Stealthily, or as discreetly as possible for a young dwarf, Kili tiptoed towards the small clouds- and with a high-pitched battle cry leaped towards it, jar in hands.

"Fee, I got it!" Curious, Fili walked over to his brother, sprawled on the ground and holding the lidless jar to the ground. The brothers had ended up finding a large store of jars in the bottom kitchen cupboard, proper ones, with lids.

"Ok, 3, 2, 1!" Kili flipped the jar so the opening of the jar was at the top and Fili jammed the lid on top. They had devised a plan, Kili would capture the fog and then Fili would put it in the basket with all the other jars which he was carrying around. That hadn't been his own idea, Kili had insisted that he would be the one to capture the fog, and Fili hadn't had the heart to say no.

xxxxxx

"How many-" Kili flew towards another patch of fog and landed on the ground with a dry 'thump' "-do we have, Fee?"

"Enough, I reckon Kee" Fili had been insisting that they'd had enough fog for a while now, kili didn't seem to care. They'd already filled three baskets worth of jars, the jars from those baskets were piled up in Dis' room because Fili dropped one of them and spilled the 'precious contents' of one of the jars. The other obstacle was, and this was no small obstacle at all, that Fili could not even see the fog. Kili had yet to discover this- Fili knew he wouldn't be pleased.

"Ok, I guess we're done then" Fili slid the lid onto the jar and put it carefully into his basket.

"There's nothing in there Fee!" Kili had grabbed the jar back from the basket and was frantically turning the jar checking for anything inside.

"I think fog might be invisible inside jars Kee, none of them have anything inside."

"But Mum has to see fog!"

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Bofur looked out the window. Today was quite a foggy day. The untimely cold mixed with the humidity created rolling waves of almost opaque fog that surrounded Bofur's house. The rest of his family were out, working the forges further in town. Bofur had returned from town himself- along with a crate full of new supplies and equipment. It was probably about time that he unpacked it all.

He walked over to the crate, where everything was exactly in the spot that he had left it- except, of course, for the head of lettuce that he had brought back and given to Thorin. He had had a good laugh when he saw it- it was naught but a ball of leaves- so he had been shocked when Thorin graciously accepted it and decided he would feed it to his family. Bofur chuckled to himself as he began putting away his new tools. He would have to ask Thorin how the lads reacted to the lettuce when they met next.

He heard cries in the distance- it sounded like someone was yelling for him, and getting closer. The louder the voices got, the clearer their words became and the more distinctive their voices were.

"Mr Bofur! Mr Bofur!" cried the voices.

Speak of the devil, Bofur thought, that'd be the lads now. He watched their tiny little shapes run through the fog, which was almost up to their knees. It was obvious that they hadn't had much practice navigating such thick fog- Bofur watched as one figure tripped and was tugged along by his brother, who also fell flat on his face. Poor things. It'd be cruel to let them stumble along any further by themselves.

Bofur ran outside and greeted them, and helped them find their way inside (Bofur knew the ground outside his house like the back of his hand- with or without fog). His kind gesture was met with a small chorus of thanks and greetings.

"Quite a foggy day, isn't it?" He mused.

"Yessir- it is." Fili said with a nod.

"And I hear your ma is unwell?" Bofur inquired.

"Yes- she's very sick. Very sick indeed." Kili said gravely.

"Oh- I didn't know it was that serious." Bofur sat down, and gestured for the boys to take the two remaining seats.

"It's not serious, it's naught but a mere cold, is all-" Fili began, but was yet again interrupted by his brother.

"She's very ill- I think it's because she's so old."

"Old? Your ma has still got half her life ahead of her!" Bofur exclaimed.

"But she's so frail- and she's forgetting things too!" Kili exclaimed. "Just yesterday, she called me Fili!"

"She said Fili because she was talking to me." Fili mumbled.

Kili ignored his brother. "And this morning, she forgot what fog looks like!"

"She didn't forget, Mr Bofur, she said it had been so long that she couldn't-"

"So Fili and I are here with a plan," stated Kili, "to get our mother her dying wish."

"KILI!" Fili yelled and hit him on the arm. "You're so dramatic. Mum's just stuck in bed with a cold, and was saying it hadn't been foggy for so long that she almost couldn't remember what it looked like. Of course she remembers- she was using it as a figure of speech." Fili explained, and Bofur nodded. He seemed to have gotten hold of the situation, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to go along with it.

"I'm sure your ma's fine, but I'll help you with your plan." Bofur said, and leant back in his chair. "What do you need?"

Fili had always admired Bofur's willingness to aid people, but he couldn't help wonder if it was a mistake for Bofur to help Kili.

Kili shuffled in his chair so that he was closer to Bofur. "We want to build a machine- one that will transport fog from outside to inside."

"We've tried using jars, but that doesn't work." Fili decided to help his brother.

"It'd take more than jars to move fog, lads." Bofur noted, "and I hate to break it to you, but I think it'll take more than any machine I can build."

"Can't we try?" Kili asked, pouting slightly and batting his eyelashes. Fili had to admit- Kili was good.

Bofur sighed. He was obviously finding it hard to say no to such a cute face. "I don't know if it's possible, but I'll do what I can."

Bofur ushered the brothers away from his new tools and material, and towards his scrap pile.

"Make what you'd like. I'll help with the hard stuff."

And so the next hour or so was spent with Kili trying to force scraps of metal together, and Fili trying to sketch diagrams and plans in the dust on the floor, and Bofur putting together clever little pieces that would help them. Soon enough, they had assembled a small contraption, with a handle on the side (courtesy of Bofur) that they could wind around to create a small whirring noise. It had a chamber for the fog to be stored in, that Kili had bashed together haphazardly. Fili had created a nozzle, after much careful planning.

"Thank you Mr Bofur!" exclaimed Kili. He wrapped him in an embrace, and then grabbed the device and ran outside, chanting again. Fili said goodbye too, and ran off after his brother. Bofur didn't have time to ask if they'd enjoyed their lettuce.

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"Fee! It's- not- working!" Kili said, as he hit the machine in an attempt to make it work.

"Just wind the handle and point the nozzle at the fog, like we designed it to."

"I- can't - wind- it!" Kili pulled on the handle, and before Fili could shout 'you're forcing it the wrong way!', Kili had snapped the handle off.

"What have you done!" exclaimed Fili.

"What you told me to!"

"I didn't tell you to break it." grumbled Fili, obviously upset his brother has broken the device before his design could be tested. "Now what are we going to do?"

"I think I know someone who can help." Kili said mysteriously, and smiled at his brother. "Follow me."

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"Who is it Kili? Kee-" Kili seemed to be tugging him across the whole town.

"It's a secret" Kee seemed to be enjoying himself immensely, a broad, giddy smile was plastered to his face and he would wave to anyone who passed saying 'hullo sir' or 'fog's nice t'day in'it miss'. He would pay no mind to Fili who would give a quick smile or rushed wave before being tugged by his younger brother down the street.

Sometimes, when he saw someone he knew he'd give them a pleading glance, or try and receive some sort of rescue- but to no avail, most of the time they'd just chuckle to themselves and return with an apologetic smile. He guessed it was because this wasn't exactly a rare occurrence.

"Can you at least give me a clue?" It would probably someone like Bifur, he was a toy maker after all- though Fili doubted they'd be going to him, Kili always got a bit scared of him for some reason.

x

Thorin got up as the doctor finally left the room. Thankfully, Dis didn't have much more than a slight chest infection- but the doctor insisted on giving her an all-round check-up 'just in case', but Thorin reckoned he was just trying to get more money out of them. Dis also seemed to be relieved by the doctor's departure, she sat up immediately and sighed.

"Thorin- " she coughed to clear her voice "You wouldn't have seen Fili and Kili would you?"

"You haven't seen them?!" Thorin chuckled to himself and gestured towards the end of the bed, a pile of jars were precariously arranged in a pyramid formation- undoubtedly the work of FIli.

"Oh." Dis' jaw dropped, and an expression of good-natured shock was plastered onto her face. Thorin couldn't help but smile as Dis cocked her head to the side and observed the glass. He could see that she was scolding herself for sleeping, but also admiring how quiet her children could be when they put their minds to it.

"Is that-" she seemed to be trying to place her words correctly "-the fog?" she was struggling to resist laughter.

"It appears so." Thorin got up to put the covers back over Dis, who was shivering.

"Where'd they get the jars from?" She reluctantly fell back onto the pillows and sighed.

"I assume, they got them from the kitchen Dis" She eyed her brother wearily as he fluffed up the pillows and moved to turn off the light.

"You are not my mother Thorin"

Thorin smiled to himself as he flicked the switch, "And you're not mine, sleep and I'll go find the boys."

x

"KILI!" Fili skidded as his little brother raced around the corner, they were back in the marketplace. "Where are we going, what are we doing and why are you dragging me in circles around town!?"

Kili responded by waving to Bofur and dragging Fili away before he could attempt to apologise for his brother's recklessness with the machine, or comment on how much he really did like the lettuce.

"Fine" Kili kept on running, but this time in a straight line. "I'll give you a clue."

Fili began to notice a change in terrain as they ran, finally, Kili seemed to have broken from the normal circuit.

"He's got braids" Fili sighed, Kili wasn't being very helpful, almost anyone in the entire village could be the mystery fog person if that was his only clue. Even he had a braid, though it was a small one.

"That's not fair!" Fili was confused but Kili just rolled his eyes as if having braids was a perfectly acceptable and easy clue.

"Ok, he's-" Kili seemed to be lost for ideas and began humming to himself as he tried to come up with one.

Fili smiled and began to calm down, it seemed Kee's thinking meant they got to slow down a bit.

"He's very maj-uh" Fili collided with the gravel beneath him, and it seemed so did his brother- judging by the small body that he felt lying on top of his. Thankfully, he felt Kili get up, and soon Fili found himself being lifted by a strong dwarvish hand- Thorin's.

x

"Hullo Thorin" Kili seemed to have recovered extremely quickly.

"Hello Kili, I was just coming to look for you" Thorin glanced inquisitively at FIli, who was still brushing some gravel of his arm- he seemed to get the worst of the fall. He responded with a slightly concerned expression, one that only Fili could give and that clearly meant that he would tell him later- and that the event concerned involved some strange behaviour on Kili's part.

"We were looking for you Uncle!" Thorin looked over at Fili who seemed rather shocked at the news, it seemed that was what they were 'discussing', though he didn't really feel that was an appropriate term for it.

"Ah, were you? What a coincidence, Dis saw your fog jars in her room, they're very- nice" Kili beamed at his praise, though he still seemed a bit concerned about something.

"We have a problem Uncle Thorin." Kili stood up straight as if making an announcement, but soon relaxed as he returned to thinking posture.

"Yes Kili?"

"The fog, it's-" he tugged on Thorin's tunic and when he crouched Kili whispered in his ear, like he was telling a secret, "-invisible."

x

"Well, this may be a bit hard boys, are you sure you want to do this?" Fili smiled at Thorin's hopeless attempts to dissuade Kili from trying to catch fog.

Fili should've guessed that Kili was trying to get Thorin to help, who else had he ever gone to anyway? Thorin was, well and truly, Kili's idol. To say he wasn't Fili's idol would be a lie, but Kili was always looking up to him, trying to mirror him in any way possible. Sometimes, Fili thought Kili would be a better king if it came to that, though he'd occasionally think twice once Kili had made the customary mess out of the kitchen.

"The problem is, that it runs away" Kili was trying to explain the reason that their fog catching was failing. Thorin was feigning interest and appeared to be brainstorming ideas of his own.

Fili felt goosebumps rise on his skin and when he checked for the cause, he discovered that it had begun to sprinkle, albeit lightly- though the next few drops seemed to be considerably heavier. Fili was beginning to get tired, he didn't know how on Earth they were going to get fog to Dis, and even though he knew it was probably impossible, part of him still wanted it to happen.

He tried to compare his motives with Kili's, Kili (probably) honestly thought that Dis had forgotten what fog looked like, he smiled at the thought. But to Fili, he guessed that this was a gesture of kindness towards Dis in a way, to make up for all the glass jars she'd end up cleaning up. But Fili knew something good would also make her happy, and he knew she didn't like being sick- who did? And he wanted to make Kili happy to, because Kee would undoubtedly be heartbroken when he found out it was physically impossible to put fog in a jar.

xx

Fog. It was misty and grey and it lived in the sky. Fog was not Clouds though, it was prettier and it floated and twirled- and it was lower down, it was like dwarve-sized clouds. Kili poked curiously at a small crop of fog and watched it float away. He wondered why, maybe that was why the fog couldn't be seen? He tried the same technique on his arm- it didn't run away. He poked again, a bit more vigorously, all he could feel was a slight breeze before his finger made contact with his skin.

"Hey!" Thorin was lifting him up and he was now looking over his shoulder, what? why?

"We're seeking shelter Kee, it's raining in case you didn't notice." Oooh, it was Fili- he looked very small from where Kili was, almost on top of the world.

Kili giggled "You look so tiny Fee!" Fili smiled back up at him, he thought it was funny- good.

He looked back at the fog and then back at Thorin. His neck hurt. Looking down, Kili's face made impact with his uncle's back. Feeling slightly pointless and in a precarious position Kili decided to make use of his location and experiment. After brushing the wet hair from his face Kili gave one big poke to Thorin's back and the blue fabric that filled his field of vision. It seemed that this impacted his test subject, it squirmed.

Intrigued, he poked again- same results. A low rumbling sound came from his uncle, frightened Kili tried to get down, Thorin was fake! It was a dragon, it was Smaug! But then he heard Fee start giggling and he realised that Uncle was laughing!

"No!" This was bad, they were laughing at him! He had made a fool of himself! He should remember mum's lessons on respecting their uncle, he was the King after all! "I intend, to ma-" wait, he tried to remember the word "to make a hypotemus!"

Oh, Thorin was putting him down again, they were on some sort of porch- ooh they were outside the back door of the house. Thorin crouched down and looked Kili in the eye, "A what!?"

He did not hear did he, he was too busy thinking of his earlier failure. Kili had to redeem himself "A Hypotemus, - I intend to propuss one!" Kili stood up straight, like a stick- that was what his mother had told him to do. He hoped that was the right word, he recalled Balin saying it once- he said it was a big word for an idea.

"A hypothesis Kee" Kili heard a whisper in his ear- it was Fili, "- you intend to propose one." Ah, that was it.

"I intend to prawpose a hypotothis!"

x

"- And when you move, you make wind and the fog doesn't like wind-" Thorin was beginning to zone out on what Kili was saying. Something about how moving makes wind and the fog moved away from the wind. It was actually a rather reasonable theory, maybe Kee could be a scholar of sorts when he grew up- though Thorin doubted he'd be patient enough. Besides, Kili already said he wanted to be an archer on the battlements of Erebor when they reclaimed it.

"- if fog was thicker than it would be to heavy for wind to move!" But for now, Thorin was concerned with making him happy in their makeshift town. As he delved deeper into his thoughts, he remembered Dis. He had know idea what they'd do without her, it was almost time for supper and they'd have enough bread and soup for that, but the next day? Thorin knew the basics of cooking, well, he knew bread was made of yeast and water and flour. He remembered making it once and accidentally putting too much water in the bowl, it had all swirled around- of course Dis had fixed it.

Wait, flour. Thorin smiled to himself and began to get up.

"Uncle, where're you going?"

"Don't worry Kili, I have a good idea for finding fog!"

Kili's eyes lit up he look astonished "How?"

Great, now he would have to find an explanation "Well, um, there's this other type of fog-" this was hard, Thorin wasn't a natural storyteller "Actually, it has to be made. If you put a lot of fog together, in a small space-"

"It becomes thicker!" Kili was literally jumping up and down, Fili was deep in thought.

"It compresses!" Fili added, thankfully. Now Thorin had an idea.

"It's called super-condensed fog." Thorin stood up and walked towards the door of the house, his nephews were following him.

"How about you go get some-" he didn't want to spoil this for them "some props for the fog, some nice acorns- i'll make it super-condensed for you."

Water and flour- hopefully this would work.

xxxxx

Dis heard a little knock on her door.

"Who is it?" she asked, despite the fact that she knew exactly who it was.

"Look, mummy!" Kili ran in, clutching a jar to his chest. Dis looked over at the empty jars by the end of her bed, and sighed.

"What is it?" She asked, feigning interest. She just wanted to get some sleep. Maybe Thorin would tell the boys to stop presenting her with jars of air. But lo and behold, her brother walked in straight after her eldest. Oh dear- was he onboard with this futile mission too?

"It's fog!"

"Sweetie, it's not fog, it's-" Dis stopped mid-sentence. There was actually something in the jar this time. But it wasn't fog. "What is it?"

"It's fog!" Kili said excitedly. It almost crushed Dis to tell him otherwise- he looked so proud of himself.

"It's not fog. I think it's water."

"It's super-condensed fog, actually." Fili corrected.

"Super-condensed? Thorin?" Dis turned to her brother for answers, and he shrugged.

"On a completely unrelated note, I'll be off shortly to buy you some more flour. You appear to be a little short." He smiled, and Dis rolled her eyes.

"This is unnecessary, Thorin."

"On the contrary, I think it's completely necessary. Put your eye up to the side of the jar." he instructed, and Kili nodded enthusiastically. Reluctantly, she did.

"See, mum? That's what it looks like outside." Fili said.

He was probably right. The milky white swirls of water clouded her vision, save for a few more translucent spaces. They had done it. They had shown her outside.

"Good job, boys." Dis leant over and ruffled Fili's hair. Kili, eager to have his hair ruffled too, leapt up onto Dis, knocking the jar onto her. The lid opened, and the water soaked her blankets, yet the chunks of wet flour stayed atop the pile.

"Oh dear!" she exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, mum!" Kili yelped.

"That's okay, Kee." Dis laughed a little. "I tried not to go outside today because I didn't want to get cold, wet or dirty- I've stayed inside all day and yet I've managed to get all three!"

The family began laughing, and Thorin walked over to the chair Dis was resting in. It wasn't that funny a joke, but no one could oppress their laughter. In fact, Dis laughed so much that she began coughing, her sore throat playing up. Thorin shooed the boys off her lap and helped her to the kitchen, where he made a fire that she could dry off by. Fili began scooping the wet flour into the jar again.

"Don't touch that, Fee!"

"Why not?" he asked.

"The fog made mum cough!" Kili exclaimed. Fili rolled his eyes.

The two boys made their way to the kitchen, and to the crackling fire. Fili ran over to sit by it, warming himself. Kili, however, looked aghast.

"More fog!" He yelled, pointing at the smoke spiraling up from the fire. "Be careful, mum- the fog will make you cough again!"

Dis laughed a little, and, as a result, coughed a little. Kili gasped and ran over the the fire, blowing at the smoke to keep it away from his mother.

It was a rather comical sight- a young dwarf blowing at a column of smoke to keep his mother 'safe'. It wasn't doing much to shield her from the smoke, but Kili's small actions did something else- somehow, against all odds, the four dwarves, one sick, one cold, one tired and one fighting smoke, became closer than ever before.

xx

Hello again.

I did write an A/N at the top, but I'm gonna put another one down here (because why not.)

Like I said, today is the Chronicles' first birthday. I want to say a huge thank you (yet again) to everyone who's read this, especially to everyone who's stuck with it for one whole year!

Thank you for all the reviews, follows and favourites it's gotten. I know I say this often, but I really do appreciate everything.

On a less clichéd note- please go check out MagicJediElf's page! She's an incredibly talented writer, and a wonderful person in general. She writes about Star Wars, Harry Potter, and of course, LOTR/the Hobbit.

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Hi, (this is MagicJediElf) Thanks, obviously, for reading- and in a way paying tribute to some of the best characters in Middle Earth. It's kind of strange to think its been a whole year!

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So that's all for now... as per usual, any comments and/or suggestions would be really helpful.

Thanks for an amazing year,

- The Potterhead from Middle Earth :)