Fíli has heard Thorin tell the story of the defeat of Durin's Bane any number of times. He has never heard him tell it quite like that. That retelling is the kind that would rouse an army of dwarrow to seek a glorious victory. It is one that calls to that deep pride within him as one of Mahal's children, created in defiance of His Father's plan. The elves say it was impatience and that is why dwarrow are so deeply flawed, Fíli thinks that they have ignored too much of their own flawed history to pass any judgement. It is a sad tale, and it ends in more tragedy than just that which Thorin had related, but this is true of so many of their stories. They have their love stories, nothing quite like Beren and Luthien, but those are few and far between and usually take place around some great battle or the forging of some spectacular treasure. Those stories rarely stir the blood like these ones do, the histories of their greatest battles, and often as not they also end in misery anyway.

He draws himself from his thoughts to look at Bilba. He almost expects her to look scornful of it all, though she never has before, but she looks as swept away by it as the rest of them. Her eyes are bright, excited and curious when she meets his gaze, but sad as well and Fíli doesn't blame her. He knows what happened next, he knows that the second son escaped Khazad-dûm, narrowly avoided the orcs which had somehow known to come and take advantage of their flight and arrived to find his entire remaining family slaughtered by Blacklocks. His One and daughter, his brother's wife and their four sons lay dead at the hands of their own kind.

-Five- some part of his mind whispers -Some stories say that Náin had five sons-

He pushes it aside in favour of another thought, the inaccuracies of legends can wait, after all, and they are more Ori's thing than his. Thorin did not mention the name of the second son, and so many of the retellings ignore the existence of him at all, but Thorin didn't have to mention it. Fíli recognises the way his uncle kept careful control of his voice, the well concealed flicker of grief on his face when Fíli could catch a glimpse of it because Fíli has seen it in the mirror and saw it on Thorin's face after Kíli was taken from them. Thorin is the second son of Durin VI and from the look on Bilba's face and the small noise she makes, she has come to that same conclusion. Ori is looking at Thorin with awe, but if Fíli knows his friend at all he can be certain that as soon as he comes to terms with the revelation, he will be pestering Thorin with endless questions. A lot of knowledge was lost in the centuries that Khazad-dûm was in the hands of the orcs (though thankfully they never managed to gain a strong foothold in that time), and even more was lost when Smaug claimed Erebor. Thorin will know much of it, Fíli thinks.

He cannot see the others, though he is reasonably certain that Dwalin, Balin and Nori already knew. Truthfully, he doubts that there is much Nori doesn't know, but Legolas is close to Bilba and he looks smug as he watches Ori's expression. He knew, he had to, Fíli realises. More than likely every elf at least knows of Thorin, who faced a Balrog and lived to tell the tale, and it is likely that Legolas has encountered Thorin any number of times over the centuries through Thranduil. Legolas may not like being with them, and he's certainly snide enough with the rest of them, but he has never shown Thorin any disrespect.

Frankly, if Thorin's story hadn't confirmed what Fíli had already suspected he would look as stunned as his friend. He feels a little guilty, actually, for how much he has neglected Ori for the last few weeks. They still talk, they still mess around when and if they can, but it's not the same. For nearly a decade it has been Ori, Fíli and Gimli, before that they had Kíli as well, with Fíli and his brother as the bridge between Ori and Gimli. Fíli is still close to Gimli, but he is closer to Ori these days, Gimli's fire reminds him too much of Kíli's spirit sometimes and there have been occasions when that has made it difficult to be near the younger dwarf. Ori knows most of Fíli's secrets. Without Kíli Ori has become the one Fíli goes to when he is struggling to work his way through something or has fallen out with his uncle. This quest has robbed him of that somewhat. There's little opportunity on the road for truly private conversation and so Fíli hasn't had the chance to talk through any of this with his friend.

It isn't something he wants to do in front of Adra. He hasn't even mentioned Kíli to his cousin yet. He knows that he will have to eventually. It was so simple to do with Bilba, she already knew about Kíli to a degree because of Dwalin's stories and she was a stranger and clearly understood the pain of losing kin. Adra has a right to know about the cousin she will never meet and it's another thing, aside from Thorin, that Fíli has wanted to discuss with his oldest friend. Perhaps now would be the best time, while the road ahead is clear, and they could drop back a little way so that he can finally get his friend's opinion.

When he moves to try and catch Ori's attention, however, his friend is riding next to Bilba and talking to her quietly. It makes something in Fíli twist, to see the way that Bilba listens to him and how easily he talks to her. He's more comfortable with Bilba than he is with Adra, Fíli knows, but that has always been the way with Ori. He has ever been shy of new people, especially females of any race. With Adra, however, it seems different. Fíli has never seen Ori quite so reluctant to talk to a 'dam. It might take Ori a few meetings, but he always gets there eventually. They have been on the road with Adra for nearly two weeks and Ori still stammers and flushes and avoids conversation with her at every turn. Even Bilba is slowly warming up to his cousin, not that Fíli understands why she took such a dislike to her in the first place, but Ori-

"You ask her," he hears Bilba hiss. "You'll have to talk to her eventually.

Ori mumbles something and it occurs to Fíli that as often as the four of them ride together it is usually Bilba asking the questions (or Fíli, he can admit to being curious as well) and Adra answering her queries. Ori will talk, but only when distracted by a topic he feels strongly on or when Adra is elsewhere. The two of them have had some spectacular debates until Ori realises he is arguing with the dwarrowdam and falls over his own tongue. Which is what he is doing now, stumbling over asking Adra whatever question Bilba has refused to and it is enough to make Fíli wince in sympathy.

"This is almost painful to watch," Legolas murmurs to him and Fíli stares at him in surprise. He looks back over his shoulder and sees the utter bafflement on his cousin's face. "Will you not help him?"

"I think I've spent too much time helping him," he mutters in reply. "Ori isn't good with people," he elaborates when Legolas raises an eyebrow.

"I had noticed," he responds.

"You wouldn't be either if you had Dori for an older brother."

"Nori seems to have managed," the elf gestures to where Nori and Bofur are laughing over some lewd tale or another.

"From what I've been told Nori takes after his father," Fíli shrugs. "Besides, Ori needs the practice, who knows where we'll be once this is all done. One day he'll meet his One and-" he trails off as a thought occurs to him and he smiles widely. It would be absolutely perfect, after all, though Ori would have to wait another three years before he can declare himself fully. Does Ori even realise?

He spends the next few days watching his friend and cousin.

Dwarrow, typically, don't know the identity of their One before they both come of age, though some experimentation is expected. They court, of course, because there is no sense at all in binding your future with someone when you know little to nothing about them. It happens, naturally, and there are those who just know long before any courting has taken place. As he watches Fíli begins to wonder if Ori is one of those lucky few, or if he is simply besotted enough to either suspect or hope and that regardless of whether he knows or not his friend has absolutely no idea what to do with this infatuation at all. If not for how closely he has been watching them over the last few days Fíli doubts he would have noticed at all. He would have just assumed that Ori was being his usual shy self and left him to settle on his own. It usually works, Ori forgets why he is made nervous by whoever it is and whatever the reason behind it and just carries on. He doesn't seem to be able to do that with Adra.

"She thinks I'm an idiot," Ori drops onto the ground next to him one evening, fingers twiddling with yet another loose thread on his gloves. Fíli will be amazed if this pair survives the trip.

"She doesn't," Fíli assures him. Adra is puzzled by Ori, she has said as much, but she doesn't think he is stupid. "But it would help if you actually spoke to her."

"That's what Bilba keeps saying," Ori sighs and turns to look at the treeline, they have drawn close enough to Mirkwood that they will be turning south in the morning, though Gandalf has seemed withdrawn and confused over the last few hours.

"Well we can't both be wrong," Fíli laughs.

"Actually, you could be," Ori points out. "Like that time that you and Kíli-"

A howl splits the air, and everyone falls silent. They've set up camp slightly earlier tonight at Gandalf's insistence, not that Fíli understands why, and having Mirkwood at his back makes Fíli feel vaguely trapped, even with the open ground all around them. Especially when the first howl is met with another and Fíli's breath freezes because he knows that sound, even though he has only heard it once before. A warg.

"Into the trees!" Thorin orders and they scramble to obey.


A.N: I kind of want to get this out quicker, but posting twice a week gives me time to edit through the chapters. As well as keep up with Thief's Quest and everything else going on in my life right now. I may also have gotten a little absorbed in watching Critical Role. Because that's just me.