Chapter 17: Fili

T.A. 2907 Ered Luin

Fili scowls at the piece of stone in front of him, listening to the way that it hums under his fingers. His Stone Sense only came in properly three years ago and already he's stronger with it than someone twice his age. Amad and Thorin are, of course, thrilled. Fili only wishes that Frerin were here to see it and instantly chastises himself silently for thinking it. Frerin abandoned them. His mother has a stronger Stone Sense than most, which is how she met his father, but Fili has already outstripped her, and they are searching for another tutor. It had been hard for Dis to learn to make the most of her abilities, too many of those with a Stone Sense as powerful as hers had died when Smaug came, and there is little more that she can teach him. They focus, mostly, on blocking the call of the Stone. Fili has lost himself to the mountains once already since his abilities came in and they were lucky to get him back.

"Amad?" Kili wanders into the kitchen of the small house they all share.

It's too small, really, even without Frerin living here anymore, for the four of them. They make do. Fili glares at his younger brother. Kili's Stone Sense is still as basic as it gets for their kind, he's a child of the sky and far more skilled with a bow, hunting and tracking, than most other dwarves. He doesn't need to learn to block out the songs and stories that the mountains whisper, he can't see the shapes that linger in marble or the worth of a sapphire before it has even been hewn from the stone that cradles it. He doesn't have a throneless crown and all the extra lessons that go along with it. Kili chafes at the freedoms their peers have that they don't, but he truly has no idea how restricted Fili is and how much worse it has become since Frerin left.

"Can't this wait?" Fili grumbles. "I'm trying to focus." Kili snorts and, by Mahal, Fili hates him sometimes.

"I just want to know how Amad knew Adad was her One," Kili says with deceptive mildness. "You don't have to listen."

"Romantic shit," Fili replies, and his mother cuffs his ear.

"It's different for everyone," Dis says with a glare in his direction. "The stone sang to me as soon as I saw him, but for most it's just a tug or an urge to be ever in their presence. It's the realisation that even the most beautiful and precious of jewels lose all value next to them and a fullness of your heart when you never even realised it was empty." Fili scoffs.

"But you know instantly?" Kili asks, sounding crestfallen. It's that which tells Fili his brother has found some other pretty face to pine over.

"Frerin wouldn't have gotten into the mess he did if he had," he snarls without thinking. The stone in his hand shifts and he yelps when a sharpness slices through his palm.

"You did it?" His mother questions, his words forgotten in light of this development. He has called a shape from the piece of stone, something not even she can do. It is little more than a rough-edged knife, but it suits his current mood. "We really need to find you that tutor," she adds thoughtfully and Fili sighs. He doesn't want more work on top of everything else.

T.A. 2941 The Misty Mountains.

Fili won't deny that he is relieved to have left Rivendell. In another time, perhaps with just Kili, he might have enjoyed the visit to the Hidden Valley. He could have delved into the stone around him (with Kili there to stop him from going too far) and listened to the song. He could have asked for the millions of stories held there and listened to each and every one. He could have recorded them to take back to Ered Luin to share with his mother and Balin. Never Thorin, Thorin's hatred of elves is legendary and Fili is surprised it didn't cause them more problems during their stay. For a brief eleven days centuries of new knowledge had been at his fingertips. He has never been one to seek such a thing, but he had greatly enjoyed the surprise on the faces of the others when he had been able to answer their questions simply because the stone had given it freely.

It had also been a distraction, a bad one. Fili is long accustomed to the stone whispering to him. He has learnt to shut it out and close off so much of his Stone Sense that the mithril in his eyes that would usually betray its existence becomes little more than a ring of colour around the blue of Durin's line. Rivendell robbed him of that control, and he hates it. Fili has been in control for nearly half of his life, he has to be, or his Stone Sense would drive him mad with the constant whispers and songs. To top that off, he is the crown prince. There are many duties that come with that and it has made him serious, in his own way. The only time he can really, truly, relax is where the stone is so familiar to him that its song is little more than a background hum or when he is too far from it for it to really register, as in the Shire.

Once this is over he might spend some time there, if just to be free of the crushing weight of his future and the responsibility it will hold. Eventually he will have to return to Erebor, especially if he is to be king of it one day, so that he can learn the song of that mountain without it pressing on him in the same way the Misty Mountains are now. It isn't as bad as Rivendell, more discordant with a note that he can't place, but it's enough to have him slamming his barriers down as tightly as he can.

A flash of lightening breaks him from his thoughts. It has been raining for hours and everyone is wet and cold. Thorin has insisted that they press on, past several caves which would have been ideal shelter, they have to be at Erebor by Durin's day. Fili worries for the hobbits more than their deadline as he pulls Bluebell away from a section of the path that the others can feel the need to avoid but she can't. Gandalf might have been able to persuade Thorin that they should have halted before now, but he had stayed in Rivendell to cover their escape when it became apparent that someone wanted to stop them from departing. Bluebell shivers under his hand, although it's the cold and wet now rather than the strange effect of Rivendell, and he inches past her to walk in front.

"Hold tight to me," he tells her, "step where I step."

He and Kili had placed her between them, as Belladonna is between Kili and Frerin just ahead, when the downpour had started. Bluebell nods and her lips are blue with the chill even though her eyes are glowing faintly. She must be trying to keep herself warm but there is little earth to draw from. Frerin has said that Bluebell can draw from the stone too but that probably takes more focus than she can afford to give while they are on this narrow path.

At least he can touch her now, he thinks, without feeling their gifts mixing and turning a slightly discordant song into a perfect harmony. The first time had been jarring, a little bit terrifying, but all the same he had found himself seeking it out. She seemed to as well, the harmony had been an almost seductive distraction, and seeing the swirl of mithril through her indigo eyes had made him long for tools and gems and precious metals so that he could create something to do the beauty of them justice. It made him realise just how lost to her he has become without even noticing it, but he has nothing to really offer her. He's seen the comfort she lives in. What does an exiled prince whose people still struggle come winter have to offer a hobbit with a home such as hers? He would be in a better position should they reclaim Erebor, but he wonders if she would have him even if they fail. When all is said and done, he'll ask her, he decides.

A sharp spike of Other drives through him, breaking his thoughts and making him grasp Bluebell tightly against him as the mountain beneath their feet begins to shift. Guilt swamps him, he had been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed the giant they were walking over until it was too late. The terror in his brother's dark eyes as they are separated is chastisement enough and an image that he knows will haunt him. He promised their mother that he would watch over his younger brother and bring him back safe. Rationally, he knows that neither of them could have foreseen the truth in the ancient legends, but rational thought isn't high on his list right now. He's screaming his brother's name, can dimly hear Bluebell calling for her mother and Frerin, but it's all any of them can do to hold onto the wildly swinging ledge underneath them.

The relief of seeing the others able to jump back onto the mountain is short lived. The remaining members of the Company, still trapped on the other leg, swing past those who are safe, and the side of the mountain comes into view on rapid approach. He flings Bluebell over the gap, sees her land and scramble to her feet and breathes a sigh of relief that she, at least, is safe. Then it becomes about his own survival and avoiding being crushed himself.

The others appear around the corner as Fili is just pushing himself upright, Kili and Thorin heading straight for him and he's almost disappointed that Bluebell doesn't break away from her family, but Belladonna looks like she's sobbing and Frerin is holding the pair of them so tightly Fili isn't sure they can breathe. Not that he can speak, given that Kili is clinging to him in a similar fashion and he can't find it in himself to object. They need to get out of this storm, Fili knows, and doesn't object when Thorin sends him with Kili to find shelter of some kind.

It's unfortunate that the only cave they can find is one that makes Fili's Stone Sense scream at him to get out. It makes him want to grab Kili and Bluebell and Thorin and risk the storm and the stone giants rather than bed down here. Thorin listens to his objections, when further searching yields nothing, but he points out that they can't possibly go any further as things stand. He doesn't seem inclined to trust Fili's senses either, given that he failed to warn the Company about the giants. The failure of it burns through him. They all need rest and the hobbits are less sturdy than their people, although it obviously chafes at Thorin to have to admit it, and allowances have to be made for them. There would be no point in bringing them if they took a chill and died before they even reached Erebor. The stone giants have shown that trying to continue further is the height of foolishness and so, no matter how wrong the cave feels, they will rest here. Thorin's only concession is that they keep their packs on and their weapons in hand.

Fili struggles to sleep, huddled with Bluebell on one side and Kili on the other. They are all lying closer to Frerin and Belladonna than they usually would, even on the nights between Bree and Rivendell when he and Kili would lie on either side of Bluebell to keep her warm when she had elected to give her mother and 'uncle' some privacy. Everything in him is screaming that he stay alert and Frerin had heard enough of his warning (and obviously put more faith in it than Thorin) to decide to keep Fili and Kili, as well as the hobbits, close by. For the first time Fili is close enough to both hobbits when their hair is in barely bound disarray to notice the braids nestled behind their ears and the tiny gold clasps that would be unnoticeable when their curls are left free and hidden when the long braids they have taken to wearing coiled around their heads are properly pinned in place.

Frerin notices Fili's questioning gaze, smiles and presses a finger to his lips. Something they will have to discuss another time and Fili wonders if his uncle has even explained the significance of the braids they wear so carefully concealed. They don't keep them hidden because of the Company, he thinks (although if Belladonna's means what he thinks it does that will cause all manner of other problems later), he suspects they hide them out of habit and very likely due to the other hobbits. Bluebell often sounds sad when she speaks of the Shire, of the way things there are and her early adulthood.

He's finally beginning to doze when he notices the glow coming from Bluebell's little sword. Gandalf had said it would do that when there were goblins and orcs nearby, but even that warning is too little too late. Fili has no sooner shouted a warning and the others leapt to their feet when the sense of wrong and open under him intensifies. Then they're falling, bumping along and barely able to keep from hurting one another with their weapons. When they land he ends up pinned beneath Kili and Belladonna, dazed and addled as his eyes seek out Bluebell and his hand fists in Kili's coat to keep his brother close. Goblins swarm around him as he struggles to his feet, clawing and tearing. He can hear the shouts of the Company and Belladonna's terrified whimpers, but it's Bluebell's cry that has him moving, Kili at his side and knives in his hands as he fights his way through the stinking, grasping, creatures.

Bluebell is held by two goblins, her face scrunched in fear and disgust, one hand searching for her sword and the other holding her torn dress closed. Either it tore on the way down or the goblins did it and the thought that it may have been the latter makes Fili see red. No words or promises or anything of the sort have been exchanged between them. He doesn't even know if she feels the same way he does but he likes to think he hasn't imagined her blushes when he gets close enough to whisper to her (and the few times she's seen him bathing). Still, even though nothing is decided between them, she is his friend and he will not allow the goblins to use her so, he knows what they do to their female captives. He won't allow them to hurt her and that gives him the strength to fight his way through even though he only has his short knives because his swords are more difficult to reach with all of the goblins pressing in around him.

He is so focussed on getting to Bluebell and dealing with her attacker that he makes the mistake of leaving his back exposed to a goblin he had thought dealt with. He doesn't realise the danger until he hears Kili shout, half turns to deal with it and feels the blinding burn of a blade between his ribs. He doesn't feel the kick that sends him tumbling over an edge he hadn't even noticed, but he does hear Bluebell's terrified scream and sees her wide, petrified, eyes when she clings to him as they fall.

The, perhaps mercifully, it all goes black.

A.N: I haven't left a cliffhanger (no pun intended) in a long time. Not that you will have to wait long for the resolution given my posting schedule.