.

053: Wait

Kili asks him to wait.

"Fee, wait for me!" Kili cries as he tumbles down the porch steps, tripping over his own feet in his haste to follow into the woods. Fili picks him off the ground and kisses his dirt-smeared brow.

"Next time, m'kay?"

.

Fili is late for weapons practice with Mister Dwalin, but a raven-haired dwarfling won't let go of his tunic. "You're not old enough for training," Fili tells him, a little crossly. "Next time."

Kili's wide eyes say, Wait for me.

.

Over the dinner table Kili asks, "Why's Fili get real swords and I don't?"

Thorin answers the petulant curl to his lips. "You're not old enough yet, Kili."

.

When Thorin tells Fili he'll be spending a year with his cousin Dain in the Iron Hills, Kili shuts himself in his room for nights on end. "You promised you'd wait for me," he says, his eyes disguising his hurt.

It's not Fili's choice.

.

When Thorin asks his heir to join him on the Quest, Kili's eyes flash fire. "I'm not waiting this time," he says, defiantly.

.

There's no more waiting now.

They don their armor and walk to certain death outside their mountain. Fili catches Kili's arm, squeezes.

"...Wait for me."