Nico was lying on the ground and tried to soak as much sunlight in as possible. It had been a few hours since Gandalf had brought him back from the brink of death, and he was still feeling the fatigue. The old man had told him that this was not something that could happen again, and that the next time he came so close to death would really be his final. He was wearing an itching blue wool shirt that he hadn't seen before, his black t-shirt and aviator jacket were nowhere in sight. Not that it would have mattered Nico thought sadly, they were completely ruined by his run-in with the bear.

The sun beamed down at him and he could feel the coldness being chased away from his bones and the urge to turn into a puddle of darkness vanished. It was very pleasant to lie there with closed eyes and he could almost imagen that he was home, in the strawberry fields. The gentle wind felt like Will's cares of his hair, and Nico could almost hear Will teasing him about being sleepy in the middle of the day.

A shadow ruined the daydream, and Nico resentfully opened one eye to see who dared to disturb him. The dark-haired dwarf leader was standing above him and observed him thoughtfully.

"I do not like you necromancer." Thorin told him with a scowl. That face was enough to chase away all the tranquility his thoughts of Will had brought him. Nico closed his eyes again like that would make the annoyance disappear.

"The feeling is mutual dwarf." He muttered tiredly.

Thorin continued like he had not heard the younger man.

"But you saved me yesterday and for that I owe you my life."

Nico sifted uncomfortably; he would rather be anywhere else right now. "Don't mention it." He mumbled, hoping that the dwarf really would not mention it anymore. He was utterly disappointed when Thorin kept talking.

"But I don't like being in your debt either boy, so name your price and you shall have it." Thorin said snobbishly, like Nico should consider it a great honor, that the other man was lowering himself to offer Nico a reward for his help. The dwarf was clearly expecting Nico to jump at the offer, but the demigod just send the older man a deadpan stare.

"There's nothing you have that I want."

That seemed to hurt the older man's pride as he retorted aggressively.

"I am the rightful king under the mountain, all it's riches rightfully belong to me! You can have a part of it for what you did." Geez that man had an enormous ego, it could properly even rival Zeus's, and that was saying something.

Nico leered at the dwarf. "Haven't you heard that you should never sell the skin before the bear is dead?"

The sudden proverb seemed to throw the dwarf off a bit. "What?"

"It means you shouldn't give away something you don't have yet." Thorin was about to retort but Nico silenced him with a glare. "Yeah yeah you're the rightful king and all that but you don't have the riches right now, which is all that would matter to me, if I had wanted some kind of reward for saving your life, which I don't by the way. I really couldn't care less about your riches I just want to go home."

"I will give you my word as king that-"

"Your word means nothing to me! Did you really think I would trust you just like that after all you have done to me?! I think there's a bigger chance that you would slit my throat when I sleep, then you will reward me." Nico hissed at him.

"Why did you save me then?" Thorin retorted both challenging but also genuine puzzled.

"Huh?"

"You made yourself perfectly clear, you don't like me. So why did you risk your life for someone you hate?"

Nico suddenly felt tired as all the anger ebbed out of him.

"I didn't think about that it was you I was saving, I just… I have seen so much death and I would prefer not to do that anymore. So I just reacted without thinking."

"What Necromancer prefers to avoid death?"

Nico sighed heavily. The dwarf just kept going in the same circles over and over again. Oh you can control the dead, therefore you must like it when more people die... It was tedious and it felt like there was no way to change his mindset, so Nico changed the topic instead of answering his question. "There's one thing you can do to pay your debt."

Thorin looked suspicious now. "And what would that be?"

"You can treat me with a little dignity you know? Stop calling me monster or boy or necromancer. My name if Nico. We don't have to be friends by any means, I don't even like you, just stop with all the hostility. Now can't you either go away or sit down? You're stressing me out standing above me like that."

It was now Thorin's turn to look like he rather be anywhere else, but in the end, he chose to sit down a few feet away from Nico.

"Perhaps if you showed me the respect my age and title demand, then I would be more prone to treat you with dignity."

Nico turned to him with complete disbelief written on his face.

"Why in the gods' name would I respect you? All you have done in the time I have known you is trying to bash my head in or voting for me to get killed, and now you want me to behave all nice and docile? If that's how you rule your people, then you're not a king but a tyrant."

"What would you know of kings and tyrants child?"

"More than you would think."

Thorin tried to probe him for more answers but the young boy just studied him with his slightly mad eyes, that looked so wrong on such a young face. "Perhaps I'll tell you, when you have found out which of them you are."

It felt odd to be told off by a child, but there was a strange wisdom in his words. Thorin knew that he was a king and not a tyrant, and yet he could see why the boy would question this. He had after all not been very fair in his treatment of the necromancer, but it was strange to even think that a man who practiced such dark and forbidden magic knew what fairness or decency were. He had expected the boy's understanding of fairness would not have gone further than 'something for something', but here he sat and claimed to have saved him without expecting anything in return. Thorin had expected the boy would have asked for his weight in gold or something like that, but instead he asked for something so worthless and yet so difficult to give. But Thorin did own the child, and he was an honorable dwarf, no matter what the child thought of him. He had only ever done what he thought was necessary at the time. Necromancy was dark magic and everyone who practice it would have to have paid a terrible price to have those powers, something evil and unforgivable. That is what he knew at the time he met Nico, but now he was not so sure. The kid was slightly mad, but he had also shown a heart that knew kindness and moral. Sure he had shown of his magic in terrifying displays of powers, but looking back it seemed less like something a evil man would do and more like a corned animal raising its hackles. It would be a little easier to comply to the human's request when he thought of him like that. It would still feel like pulling out teeth, but Thorin would endure it, if it insured that he would keep his honor as king upstanding.

Treating the kid with dignity was however a vague concept, but a good place to start would be to relay the message he was given, by the boy who was looking for the Necromancer.

"A dream demon visited me a few nights ago. Do you know anything about that?" Thorin asked with fake calmness.

"I don't know anything about dream demons." The boy muttered, and Thorin had to stop himself from sneering. Had nobody taught the boy some manners? But he was trying to keep the tense peace there was between them for the moment, so instead he continued talking.

"It took the shape of a potbellied boy with blond hair." Nico clearly recognized the description, if his facial expression was anything to do by. His eyes turned large and round and a hopeful smile spread on his face.

"Clovis found you?! What did he say?"

"He said you should stop looking for him, he will come to you."

This was one of the rare moments where Thorin got a glimpse of the vulnerable boy that hid behind the hard and sarcastic exterior. His back eyes shone with newfound hope and the smile kept creeping back on his face no matter how hard he seemed to fight to kept it down. Thorin had wanted to angry at the young boy, had wanted to tell him that his friend had tried to trick him into swearing on a sacred vow to find the Necromancer. But he just couldn't find the will to be angry when Nico looked so much like the young boy he was supposed to be, instead of a man driven to madness by dark magic. He couldn't even be mad at the dreamwalker anymore. Clovis had just been trying to protect his friend in the only way he could and Thorin was not sure that he would have been so forgiving if he had been in Clovis place.

"Thank you for telling me." Nico told him honestly.

"It's nothing." Thorin told him gruffly. A small understanding weas starting to form between the two. It wasn't enough to subdue all Nico's anger or Thorin's mistrust to the young boy, but it was a start. They stayed silently until the dwarf's curiosity got the best of him. "He showed me where you came from and a girl, he claimed were your sister."

The young boy tensed up.

"My sister?"

"The girl with the dark skin."

"Hazel…" Nico said almost breathlessly, worry gnawing on his insides. "How was she?"

"She was weeping." Thorin continued curiously when Nico didn't answer. "You don't look very alike."

"No." Nico was quiet so long that Thorin though the conversation was over and began to rise. "We don't have the same mother, and we haven't known each other that long, but that doesn't make her any less my sister!" He said defensively as if he thought Thorin would rebuke their family bond. When that didn't happen, he slowly continued. "She has had a difficult life, but she still shines so brightly." He sounded far away as he remised his sister. "She's normally so strong and… I don't want to be the reason she cries. She's supposed to be happy."

Nico picked at the grass around him unhappily and watched it weather in his grasp, turning to dust the wind could carry away.

"I have a sister as well." Thorin said, as he watched the dust flew away. So light and free to go wherever the wind would carry it. So unlike him and the rest of the earth-bond creatures that followed him. Dwarves were of the ground, they were steadfast and strong like the rocks, and it was attributes Thorin cherished, were proud of, but today he envied the dust. If they had been light and wind-born, then they could have flown to Erebon and taken back their mountain long before Durin's Day. But one could not change one's nature, and the sons of the earth had to do as they always did, stubbornly walk towards their goal one step at a time.

Thorin glanced at the pale boy besides him and wondered what his nature were. His dark magic had at first been the only factor that mattered but Thorin was beginning to notice other things as well. The boy was quick to anger and stubborn not unlike a dwarf and showed none of the greed he had learn to expect from humans.

"What's she like your sister?" The boy asked carefully as if he was unsure if he was allowed to.

Thorin laughed lightly. "Feisty and as determined as the next dwarf. She learned to wield a sword from a young age, even though most tried to discourage her from doing so. She almost never listens to anything I say and is the first to argue against an order. It took a long time to persuade her from coming with us on this quest. It was first when I told her that they needed a leader to guide them while I was away that she agreed to stay behind."

"It sounds like you are a lot alike then."

"Yes I suppose we are. What about you and your sister are you alike? Do you have the same magic?"

"Nah Hazel has power over the earth's riches while I get the rotting corpses and such. It really seems like I drew the short straw there, but Hazel told me once that she envied my gift. She told me that I brought life back, but she could only bring death."

"That seems unlikely."

"Well it was a little true. I give the dead a voice or let them move again, while Hazel…" He hesitated and didn't pick up the sentence again. His sister's abilities and vulnerabilities were not something he should or wanted to share with strangers.

Thorin felt that their moment of sharing was over and stood before the mood turned sour.

"We better get back to the others… Nico."

Nico flashed a brief smile at the peace offering and stood to follow the dwarf back to their campsite.

Nico looked around searching, his eyes zoomed in on his target and without saying a word he marched over and grab a hand down on Bilbo's shoulder, yanking him up from where he had been sitting next to Gandalf.

"W-what are you doing?" Bilbo stammered.

"I told you that you were going to get sword-lessons. You have to learn how to use that blade of yours, so you don't accidentally stab yourself with it."

Nico dragged the slightly smaller, stumbling man with him to a clearing away from the others while still being in sight. He did not think they would appreciate it if he kidnaped their burglar farther away.

Bilbo looked up while trying to follow the boy's longer footsteps. "Are we going to spare? But you do not have a sword!"

Nico smirked down at the man and released his hold on the hobbit's collar. The sudden lack of support made Bilbo trip and land on the ground with a soft thump.

"We're not going to spare. You're going to do all the work." Nico smiled sardonically. "Besides I don't need a sword to win a spare against you." Bilbo did not have a chance to question the statement before the boy moved on. "Now do you remember lesson number one?"

"Uhm do not lay down on the battlefield?" Bilbo mumbled embarrassed from his position on the ground. Nico grinned to the man and help him up again. "Exactly! Now lesson two: be aware of your feet. Do not let me drag you around like that, it throws you out of balance and you'll end up on the ground. Always make sure you stand steadfast and difficult to push around. The best way to do that is by keeping your feet shoulder width apart and bend your knees slightly."

Bilbo moved his feet in an attempt to imitate the pose Nico was showing him. The boy moved around him and inspected his work. Bilbo could feel his calculation eyes on him, and it unnerved him terribly. Nico stopped at his left shoulder and placed his hand there, giving a hard shove. Bilbo stumbled and was sure he was going to the ground yet again when he was caught by the wrist.

"Don't lock your body like that, you have to stay limber. Like a tree you know, have a strong foundation but bow when the wind is stronger than you. If you don't then the wind will tear you up strong roots or not."

The next hour were spent with Bilbo trying to remain upright while Nico would push him. It took time but slowly he was starting to get a feel for when he had to move and when he would have to absorb the shove. He fell less and less over the hour as his feet started to realize where they should go to avoid stumbling over each other. The praise Nico gave him left his ears warm, but he couldn't help but feel pride at the young man's words.

The warm feeling vanished quickly however when Nico told him to draw his sword and make an attack. Bilbo made an awkward swing in front of him and stumbled as Nico yanked his arm forwards.

"Don't forget your footwork Bilbo. You move your point of balance when you lift your arm especially when you're holding something. How would you have to place your feet to remain stable when you attack?" Bilbo thought of the training he had just done, how his feet had moved almost instinctively to prevent him from falling when Nico pulled and pushed him around. But how had he been standing when Nico pulled him onward? He hesitantly placed the right foot in front of the left and looked at his trainer. Nico just raised an eyebrow and made a go on gesture.

Bilbo made another swing, but this time he didn't stumble when Nico pulled on him. The proud grin the boy send him made his cheeks warm but it also brought a surge of happiness. Perhaps his fighting skills were not so hopeless after all.

They trained until dark had fallen and dinner was ready. Bilbo was tired and sweaty but left in a notable better mood than when he started. Nico had had him stabbing after an invisible enemy while correcting his stand, precision and technique. It had been tedious work that made his arms, legs and back burn with exhaustion, but even he could see the improvement he had made. The fact that Nico had clapped him on the back and told him he was a natural, had him smiling for hours as he ate and went to bed for the day. Bilbo knew that necromancy was a dark thing, he had heard the stories the evil men who pursued power with such zealously that they were willing to kill other people over it, and he had seen the mistrust the other members of the party showed the boy, but he couldn't help but like the child despite of that. Nico was quite and brooding most of the time, but his brief moment of kindness and happiness more then made of for the negative qualities in Bilbo's eyes.

A/N: I am so sorry for the long wait guys! I hope you can find it in you to forgive me, if I promise to send good vibes to all who continued to read this long-developed chapter 3 I cannot promise to upload regularly, but I will finish this story. I have some great scenes in the workings at the moment, so just keep hanging on :)

I hope you all have a wonderful day and do something you enjoy

Love Skyggedrage