Nori lets everyone settle and rest before she approaches Briar about her discussion with Belladonna. The thief is accustomed to being underhanded about a lot of things, and she has plenty of skill at manipulating people when she needs to, but this is something that she will not hide from her friend. Her conversation with Belladonna has already forced her to admit that she would have made the offer of family to Briar eventually, long before the quest comes around in eleven years, but it is not something she had thought she would make for another reason. It does not sit well with Nori that she make this offer to Briar without the hobbit being aware of what has caused it to happen now rather than at a later date.

"There's something we need to talk about," Nori tells her friend at breakfast. Belladonna is still resting and Kíli has already been sent outside to train so the two of them are alone.

"Sounds serious," Briar observes with a light smile.

"It is," Nori confirms. "Wish it wasn't, I know you aren't going to like it and I'd rather not fight about it to be honest." Briar sets her teacup down. "I had something I wanted to ask you, been meaning to for a while but wanted to leave it until the lad was done with his training and my time was more my own. Your Ma has some concerns, and truth to tell I have the same worry. Borden Proudfoot isn't going to stay locked away forever and I doubt he's going to leave you alone once he's out."

Briar looks away, her hand twitching towards a loose thread on her sleeve.

"I can handle Borden," she insists.

"You've had training," Nori agrees, "and for someone who's only been doing it a little while you're good, but if he's desperate enough not even that will be enough." Briar shifts again. "What are you hiding?" Nori asks. "I know you well enough to know when you're being squirrelly." Actually, the fact that Briar has not said that she believes the Proudfoot boy will have learnt from his experience is evidence enough that something is not quite right here.

"He's been sending me letters," Briar sighs. "I've been hiding them from my mother because I don't want her to worry, and the Mayor in Michel Delving is aware of them and he's promised me that Borden won't be let out early. I've got three years to get better."

"Your mother thinks we should do something more permanent about him," Nori comments. "And she wants it handled professionally."

"Not you," Briar says in dismay.

"Cadan," the thief tells her. "There are other measures we need to put in place just in case your Ma passes before the job is done."

"You can't ask him to do that, not for me!" Briar objects.

"It's going to be part of his job, lass," Nori reminds her, "if not for you it will be for his brother or uncle. He needs to get used to it and better that he do it for someone he likes than that he do it just because he's been told to."

"I can't imagine his brother would ever ask it of him," Briar says.

"Fíli? No, he wouldn't," Nori shakes her head. "I think even when it eventually becomes necessary again Fíli would object to it. And Thorin's pride wouldn't let him simply use the boy to eliminate a rival unless they were an obvious danger to his family. Not unless he completely loses the plot anyway." Which is a very real possibility, Nori mentally reminds herself. "Which isn't the point," she adds. "Cadan will have to do this for his test, and it's the only test of the three that I have any control over. It's the only one where I get to decide if he's passed or not. I don't want to give him something meaningless to him as the test, I don't actually want to force him to take the test at all to be honest."

"So you want to use me and my problem to make it easier for him?" Briar demands.

"I want you to be safe," Nori disagrees, "I was going to take the contract from your mother myself, until she pointed out that she isn't sure she has that much longer left."

"What difference would that make?"

"Contracts expire as soon as the one who requested the hit dies," Nori explains. "It can only be continued if a family member co-signs."

"So you want to adopt my mother?" Briar frowns. "Because none of the rest of my family would sign for something like this."

"No," Nori pulls a face, "although I can see why you would think that. I was going to ask you this anyway, like I said, but not until things with the lad were done with. You're good as a sister to me, Briar, you've been better as a sibling to me than my own brothers have been in some ways. I was going to ask you to be part of my family, as my sister. It's a thing my people do, and I'm not just asking so that I can co-sign the contract on Proudfoot. I won't lie, it's why I'm doing it now instead of when I intended on it, and I won't be upset if you refuse it. You can accept and ask me not to co-sign and I'll respect that decision. Don't answer now," she adds as she gets up, "think about it. Even without the fact that Borden needs dealing with, this isn't something to rush into. I'd like you to be my sister, but it's up to you. Go and talk to Kíli if you want," and the fact that she has referred to him by his real name instead of his alias is sign enough of how serious she is, "he knows how it works."

"I'll do that," Briar agrees.

"And you may as well get some practice in as well, instead of making mooneyes at each other." The hobbit flushes.

"There's one more thing," Nori says, "before I forget. Regardless of what happens with this mess, the lad needs to know about poisons and their antidotes. You mind teaching him what you know? Not this time, we're leaving in a few days, in a couple of years."

"Of course," Briar nods, though she seems a little distracted, which is understandable.

"I'll let you think," Nori lays a brief hand on her friend's shoulder before leaving the kitchen.

Briar is not the only one that Nori needs to discuss all of this with. Kíli also deserves to have a say in whether he takes on the job, although given the alternatives she doubts that he will refuse it once she has had the chance to talk through it with him. As unappealing as killing for money generally is, and even after years of doing it for both money and to protect Thorin and his family in her last life Nori still dislikes it, it always sits that little bit better when she knows that she is doing it to protect the people she cares about. Herself included.

"You spoken to Briar?" Nori asks him later on in the day when they are relaxing in the garden.

"Little bit," Kíli says, "she said you wanted to make her your sister."

"I do," Nori confirms, "but there's more to it than that. At least at this moment in time." She goes on to explain both her conversation with Belladonna and her chat with Briar that morning.

She knows Kíli well enough to see that he is unhappy with the way that the matter has been brought up to Briar. She does not really blame him for it, it is something that Nori had hoped to broach with the hobbit at another time, and certainly not in a manner tied to her mother.

"Briar's trying to pretend he isn't a problem," Kíli says once Nori is done, "but I've seen one of the letters he's sent her. She should be more frightened than she is."

"I know you don't like the thought of doing it," Nori nods, her suspicions confirmed. "But if Briar agrees to all of this he's a better option than going through the unclaimed contracts at the Guild," there are always dozens of them.

"I agree," Kíli nods. "I don't like it, but I have to pass that test. For Fíli's sake if nothing else."

"Don't do it just for your family," Nori shakes her head. "If that's the only reason you're doing it you'll end up resenting them in time. It's who you're meant to be, the Wolf is what Mahal always intended for you."

"I don't think I can do that on my own," Kíli disagrees.

"You'll always have me," she assures him. "I'm not going to turn my back on you once your apprenticeship is up. You've got a lot more to learn before you'll be as good as me, and that comes with decades of experience. I've put a lot of effort into you, a lot more than my last couple of apprentices anyway, and you're a good lad, you won't have to take the mantle alone."

To her surprise he leans against her, though even sitting he is still a little taller than she is, shifting so that he can rest his head on her shoulder and she is abruptly reminded of how young he truly is. It is easy to forget sometimes that he is not of age, that he is untried and unproven in the eyes of their people. He is not naive, not any more anyway, but there is still a youthful innocence to him. There is still a desperate need for approval from those he looks up to and cares about. Nori would like to think such desires go away, but given how much joy she took in even the small sign of Dwalin's approval of her in Labamgarel Zarrakh she knows it does not. Kíli is young enough that such a wish is stronger still, although it surprises her to find that he wants her to approve of him as well.

She knows that the Kíli of the quest went to prove himself in a number of ways, she long suspected that being denied his craft had pushed him to seek to prove his usefulness in different ways, even while acting out in other areas. For that Kíli, Thorin's approval would have meant almost everything and was second only to that of his mother. The quest had tempered that boy, made him dark and grim and brooding much like his uncle. Dwarves are hardy, they are created to endure and come back from experiences and injuries that the other races would struggle to overcome. But that does not mean that they do not change with those experiences. Kíli will lose some of the light in him the deeper into their world he goes, death is not an uncommon outcome in a fight between thieves regardless of whether the guard gets involved and such things rob a person of their innocence very quickly. Assassins are a different breed, they are created to kill for money and although none of them like it, disliking it while obeying their calling keeps them honest and keeps them from causing unnecessary suffering. In Kíli's case his trade will temper him before the quest, but that dark, grim figure will be the Wolf. Cadan the pickpocket and spy will be calm but warm and the prince will be bright and shining in his exuberance for life.

One day, the true Kíli will be the Wolf, the others simple masks for the benefit of those around him but as long as he wears those masks some of the light of this lad will live on and Nori will do everything she can to make sure that even the Wolf is not as dark as they so often are in history.

A.N: I... have nothing to really say. Makes a change.