Nori knows that Kíli was forty-six when he killed his first orc during a hunting trip. It had been much talked about at the time that the two young princes, Dwalin and only one of their eight other guards had survived the surprise attack. It had been the first sign that Fíli and Kíli were to become truly formidable warriors. Killing orcs is not like killing your own kind, something even she still despises doing no matter the reason that she has to do it. Her trade makes her seem hard, even uncaring at times like this, but Nori is none of those things really. In her heart she would prefer that she never be forced to raise a hand against one of her own kind. Orcs, of course, she could slaughter cheerfully for the rest of her days if Mahal would only give her the stamina to allow it. Men and elves she takes as they come. She has never killed an elf, though that is not to say that she has never been tempted, but she has killed Men in her time. A handful were contract jobs, most have been in defence of herself, others or of caravans she has been travelling with. She finds it easier to make her peace with the blood of Men than the blood of dwarves, even the ones dangerous to her and her loved ones.

"Wish I could say you get used to things like that," she says to Kíli as she helps him undress and wash the blood from his hands. Fortunately there was none on his face, that would have gotten them stopped. "Unfortunately, that's the way it works for people like us. At least when you take a contract on someone you'll always know they're a threat to your family. That's what we're working for. It doesn't get easier."

"But you get used to it?" Kíli asks, almost hopefully.

"Not really," she admits. "I think resigned is probably the word more than anything. We aren't like the guard. We can't bash the stupid out of each other in a training ring and then get drunk together. It's why I wanted you kept out of it." She tilts his chin up, inspecting him for any nicks or scratches. Many thieves have begun to dip their knives in poison over the last few decades, the last thing she needs is Kíli keeling over.

"I was careful," Kíli tells her. "He didn't get me." He frowns. "What if the guard come looking?"

"They don't often bother when it's a member of the Guild," Nori replies, pouring them both a healthy measure of the local spirits. "One less thief is always of benefit to them at the end of the day. They'll nosey around a little bit, ask a couple of questions. If we get caught we're on our own, but no one in the Guild will give them anything on us they don't have. The two that scarpered won't give them our names, or mine anyway, they won't want to be connected with it all. Marks them as untrustworthy."

"So, we leave and carry on like nothing happened?" Kíli whispers.

"We'll want to watch our backs for a couple of weeks," Nori admits. "Ordan was a skilled thief but terrible with people and money. No doubt there are some he owed coin to who aren't going to be happy about not getting it back, and they might try to track us down, but it doesn't happen much. It's usually cheaper to write the coin off than it is to find someone like you or me." She rests a hand at the back of his neck, a gesture she has seen Thorin make on many occasions and feels the boy lean in towards her slightly. "It was kill or be killed," she says. "I wanted a little more time before something like this came up, I didn't want you to take a dwarf life this way the first time."

"But I would have had to eventually," Kíli concludes morosely.

"Eventually," Nori agrees. "The next little while is going to be rough, I won't lie. I still have bad nights after I have to kill someone. But it has to be done sometimes. You'll be the Wolf one day, lad, this is part of it. Can you handle it?"

"Do I have a choice?" Kíli asks.

"Only if you want to trust your brother's life, and your uncle's, to someone else," she points out.

"Then I have to get used to it," he breathes.

Nori nods, once again feeling a pang of guilt for his loss of innocence. Then she tells him to grab some clean clothes and head to the bath house with her. They might as well clean up before they leave in the morning.

Kíli is quiet the first week or so out of Ered Nimrais, subdued enough for Asger to comment on it and Nori finds herself having to think quickly to explain the sudden shift in character.

"His mate took a different route," Nori shrugs it off, "he's been sulking a bit because of that, but between you and me I think there's probably someone he's taken a fancy to involved as well. You know how we all are at that age with first loves and all."

"Aye, I know it," Asger agrees. "Been there more than once myself. He's young yet, I'm sure he'll find a new love once he's back home easily enough. And if not, there's always next year."

"That there is," Nori beams.

Kíli gradually regains his good cheer the further they get from Ered Nimrais, helped by a small scuffle with a number of orcs one night. The group shows signs of having already met with a sound defeat fairly recently, and it does not take all that much to finish them off. One of the young ones with the caravan, however, is revealed to not only be poorly trained, he does not even have a weapon of his own to use. It is that, more than anything, which pulls Kíli out of his apparent need to dwell on the outcome of events the night before their departure. Instead he starts the same thing with the young ones here as he did with those in his first caravan. He uses the orc attack as an excuse to get them all training, he passes on tips and tricks and though he cannot give the lad his own sword, since the quality of it will definitely give away the fact that Cadan is not entirely who he claims to be, he makes certain to take one of the smaller orc blades and help the boy clean it up enough to make it useful.

"A friend of mine in Ered Luin works a forge," Kíli explains when he is questioned on it. "Sometimes I go and spend the afternoon there, just for something to do. His master doesn't like that I sit and do nothing, so he taught me the care and treatment of blades. It's a useful thing to know, and even an orc blade can be useful for a while if taken care of. Until you can get something decent anyway." He looks at the lad seriously, the silver-haired boy is watching the one he knows as Cadan as though the sun shines from him. Nori suspects that no one has really bothered to try and take the boy under their wing before.

Kíli may not realise it, but it is possible that his actions now will save that lad's life one day fairly soon. They continue onwards, passing recent signs of other caravans as they go and the bodies of the rest of the group of orcs that they had finished eliminating. There are more of them on guard duty this time, more young ones fulfilling their obligation to the caravans and more older dwarves who either want to earn some easy coin or who are simply returning home after a winter away. While the group is larger, however, Nori notices that they do not mix as well as the group on the way to Ered Nimrais. Kíli notices it as well, although the young ones still come together out of relative inexperience, and Nori quietly tells him one evening that this is more normal when with the caravans, especially the early ones as anyone on those either simply wants to get home after time away or they want to get to their destination so that they can join another caravan.

Still, it makes Nori happier about her decision to stop in the Shire. Kíli's sixty-sixth birthday passes not long before they reach Bree and although Asger remembers it, and convinces Graldik to let the lad have an extra tankard of ale for the occasion, most of the rest of their group merely nod and carry on. Only the silver-haired lad, Vidil, Kíli took under his wing does anything to mark it, handing his friend Cadan a delicately carved wooden figure of a wolf. It takes both by surprise, but the boy tells them that Cadan very much reminded him of a wolf during the battle which is what prompted the token. It has been meant as a gift of thanks, but as something to celebrate a birthday makes it mean more. Kíli wraps it carefully in a strip of cloth torn off a ruined shirt, and Nori is surprised by how obviously he treasures the simple gift. She knows that he has been given far more elaborate and extravagant things in his life before now, though few things have been treasured as much as his bow and a knife that Fíli may yet make him for his seventieth birthday.

They part ways with the caravan in Bree, Nori and Kíli once again going into the town with Asger to see the dwarf merchant there. This time, however, it is to collect the wagon left there during their trip to Ered Nimrais and once they are inside the walls the three dwarves part ways amicably. There had been no renewal of Nori's casual thing with Asger on the road. In the first place, neither dwarf had approached the other about starting it again, in the second she did not feel the need for it. She likes Asger, he is a good friend, but her winter thing with Dwalin had reminded her of why she was still so attached to the guard.

"We're heading back in about two months," Asger tells her as they part ways. "If you want another trip we'll need more hands by the time we reach Bree. We won't be in Labamgarel Zarrakh until winter, but your lad fights better than most dwarves twice his age. I'd be happy to have you both as often as you like until he's done his five years, and more again if he decides that working the caravans is better than the other options for the craftless."

"I'll talk to him about it," Nori promises, and this time she will. There are worse things that going to Ered Nimrais with the caravans, although she would like to get to the Iron Hills with Kíli before his training is up she knows that he needs to take his thief's test as soon as possible due to how close he is to being of age. "Safe travels, Asger," she adds, holding her hand out so that they can clasp arms.

"Safe travels to you both as well," Asger nods. "I hope Mahal smiles on you, both of you."

Nori rather suspects that Mahal already has, whether she likes the results of it or not.

They spend the night at the Prancing Pony once again, bathing and relaxing with their pockets slightly heavier from the ten gold each that Asger had paid them before they parted ways. It is almost second nature now for Kíli to have dipped into the pockets and purses of the Men they both passed, much as Nori's do, and so they are a little more flush than they should have been otherwise. The two of them did well for themselves in Labamgarel Zarrakh, managing to casually steal more than enough to cover their expenses for the months they spent there. Weeks on the road have done him a lot of good and Kíli is almost back to his old self. At least, if you are not looking for anything that is not quite right.

They will not spend long in the Shire. As eager as Nori is to see Briar, and she knows that Kíli is almost as keen on the idea, she also wants to get back to Ered Luin and Thorinuldum so that Kíli can take his thief's test. He is not overdue, in truth she could probably allow another year of training before taking the thief's test becomes important, but he is ready. The fact that he was able to sneak his way past a trained thief while picking Ordan's pocket is proof of that. His spy training is already more advanced than Nori had realised, she had spent some time in Ered Nimrais going over the basics of trailing someone without being noticed and disguising his appearance, the fact that not even she noticed his presence when Ordan and his people approached her shows that he had taken the lessons to heart.

Learning the different methods of killing people will take longer, and Nori still needs to convince Briar to teach Kíli everything she knows about the different poisons and their uses. That should be the easy part, keeping g the lad from doing anything stupid while in proximity to her will be the hard part.

A.N: Yeah, I'm still massively ahead, so here's an extra chapter for you this week.