AN – Woohoo! Here's part 2. This chapter takes place on the day after Thorin has that pesky little dream. Thank you so much for the review, favorites, and story alerts. Y'all make me so happy.

Just an FYI, I am going to have spotty to no internet for the next week and a half, so don't expect any updates for a couple of weeks! I promise I haven't abandoned this (in face, chapter 5 is almost finished!).

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I still own nothing. Enjoy!

Warnings: Mild violence, angsty Durins.

Greater than Gold

Chapter 4: Thirteen and Eight – Part 2

By Displaced Hobbit

"You did well, laddie," Dwalin praised as they were neared the town, noticing how Fili still pouted. "It was your first hunting outing, first time with throwing knives, no less!"

"I still didn't kill anything," he muttered, kicking a stone as he walked. "You and Uncle got everything you went after! I didn't even come close!"

Thorin laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It'll come in time, Fili. As Dwalin said, it was your first outing. You have many years to improve on your skills."

"Besides," Dwalin added, "that was a rubbish spot for hunting. Naught more than squirrels and birds in the entire place! And if it weren't for those storm clouds coming in, we would have stayed out there all day and you'd have caught something for sure."

"You still killed plenty," Fili muttered, casting a wary glance up at the darkened sky. It was unnatural for the sky to be so foul when it was barely past midday.

"Fili," Thorin warned gently, thoroughly fed up with his nephew's sulking. Too much like himself, Fili was sometimes, wanting to be the best on his first try, not accepting anything less.

Fili gave him a sheepish look, and murmured a "Sorry, Uncle," under his breath.

Abruptly, Dwalin stopped them, and cast a concerned glance at Thorin. "Do you hear that?"

Thorin strained his ears, but still heard nothing, so he shook his head.

"I thought I heard…well, we should be able to hear all of the ruckus from the marketplace by now, should we not?" he asked, and Thorin's heart sank into his stomach.

He knew in his gut that Dwalin was right; they should be able to hear something, storm clouds or no. Men and dwarrows were both selfish, no one would think to start closing up their shops and packing things away until the storm was completely upon them, if they could help it.

"Everyone has probably gone inside because of the clouds," Fili offered, but he started to walk again at a much faster pace, Thorin and Dwalin immediately falling into step with him. Dwalin eventually broke out into a run, and Thorin followed suit. Fili tried to, but he couldn't keep up, and he called after his uncle in an exasperated tone. They started running past the smaller houses on the outskirts of the town, headed toward the main street and the marketplace. The two elder dwarrows stopped in their tracks as soon as they reached it, and Fili was finally able to catch up to them. He started to ask what was going on, but his words died in his throat as he took in the scene before him.

The street was littered with bodies of men and goblins, streaks of red and black blood painting the stone a grisly tone.

Thorin and Dwalin drew their swords, but Fili stood grounded to the spot. "What…" he murmured, trying to comprehend the scene in front of him. This was nothing like the drawings of battle and victory found in his Uncle's books. This was his home, and there was death and blood and goblins and it didn't make any sense.

"Fili, draw your sword and stay behind me," Thorin commanded, using a tone he had never heard before, and Fili immediately obeyed, though he fumbled with his sword as he did. Dwalin made some kind of animal call that he couldn't recognize, and a moment later, a door creaked open to reveal Balin's anxious face.

"Get in here!" he called, waving a frantic hand. "Quickly!"

They obeyed immediately, and as soon as they were inside, Balin bolted the door shut. They were in Bofur and his brother Bombur's home, though neither of the brothers seemed to be present.

"What happened?" Thorin demanded, eyes taking in Balin's bloodstained clothes warily, nodding at the other dwarrows that stood huddled about.

"Filthy goblins," he muttered, tone darker than Fili had ever heard it. "The clouds must have made it dark enough for them to come out. Bombur thought they might have been hiding in the caves nearby. The men haven't been patrolling so we've no way of knowing. They just burst straight into the marketplace like this was their own town. Most of the men didn't stand a chance." He sighed heavily. "And they've been coming in waves. Every time we think we've felled them all more come round."

"And where is Bombur?" Dwalin asked, glancing out the window.

"In the back," he sighed. "I had some of the younger ones in the marketplace for their lessons, and they're back there too. He's keeping them company."

"Kili?" Fili asked, immediately starting to walk to the hallway.

"He's not here," Balin sighed warily.

Thorin felt a cold dread of panic as he watched Fili look up at his longtime friend with wide eyes. "Where is he?" he asked, voice shaking.

"He was with Bofur, in the market," Balin groaned. "We haven't been able to make it that far yet. When the goblins come, they're coming from that side."

Dwalin scoffed. "Then why are we hiding inside like cowards?"

"The children," his brother scolded in return. "They're frightened and separated from their parents; we are trying to keep them calm."

"Fili can keep them calm," Thorin commanded. "The rest of us with go out and meet them as they come, should there be more, and if there aren't, we'll flush them out of their caves and slay them all."

"But Uncle!" Fili started to protest. He wanted to go and fight too. "I need to find Kili!"

Thorin squatted down so he was eye level with his nephew. "I need you to do this for me, Fili. I will find him; I promise you." He cupped the boy's chin when he vigorously shook his head. "I promise," he repeated, desperate to soothe the boy.

A curdling goblin call sounded from outside the house, and without a second thought, Dwalin was dragging Fili to the back room, hollering for Bombur to come to arms. The door slammed shut and Fili suddenly found himself surrounded by three dwarfling lads, all close to Kili's age, completely lost as to what to do.

Kili whimpered at the sounds of the shop front being torn apart, at the clash of metal on metal and the screams of men and goblin alike. They had just been sitting outside, Kili working on another carving as Bofur gave him gentle pointers, when the goblins descended. Bofur had immediately grabbed for the lad and pulled him close, disappearing into the shop and hiding them in an empty cellar under the floorboards where he stored his extra toys and supplies.

"Shhh," the dwarf soothed, rubbing his hands in circles across the dwarfling's back. "You must be quiet, lad," he murmured, directly into Kili's ear. "We mustn't let them know you are down here."

The boy nodded, shaking violently against the toymaker's chest. Bofur pitied him, he knew the lad had to be traumatized. The goblins' first kills had happened not more than ten feet away from them. He brought one hand up to card through the boy's hair, shushing him once more. The lad was much too young to see such bloodshed, such violence.

Dwarrows pride themselves on their skill as warriors. But because of their long lives, and their long childhoods, they tried to keep their dwarflings away from the true horrors of bloodshed for as long as possible. The first time Bofur remembered seeing death was when he was nearly thirty, and it had haunted him for weeks afterward. Kili was only eight, far, far too young for such violence.

A loud crashing sounded from above them, and he knew that the goblins must be rummaging through his store, looking for who knows what. He kept one arm firmly locked around Kili and reached for his mattock with the other. If it weren't for the lad curled up against his chest, he would be out in the marketplace killing every goblin in sight, but he knew he couldn't leave the lad alone. He'd grown much too fond of Kili in the past few months, since the boy had started to take an interest in woodworking. Not to mention that his protective instincts as a big brother had kicked in the moment he'd seen the fear in the lad's eyes as the goblins came pouring into the street.

There was also the small matter that Thorin would probably skin him alive if anything happened to Kili while he was in his care.

Another crash comes from directly above their heads, and Kili starts violently against him, but doesn't make a sound. Bofur realizes with a sinking feeling that the goblins have probably knocked over the heavy shelves that line the back of his shop. Based on where the crash sounded from, he wagers that the shelf would have fallen directly on top of the panel in the floor they are hidden under.

They're trapped. Safe from the goblins, but almost assuredly trapped in the cellar. Perhaps he can chop their way out with his mattock, but he doesn't dare try while the sounds of battle keep raging on from above him. Bombur would be able to figure out where he had hidden them, and he hoped that his little brother was putting up a good fight, along with the rest of the dwarrows.

The men in this town were woefully unprepared for such an onslaught, he knew. Their fighting skills were abysmal at best, and most of them did not even own swords, despite the fine forge that Thorin and Dwalin ran. There was a small group of men that were responsible for patrolling the village and it's outlying lands, but no goblins had been sighted in these parts for years, and the men had stopped doing them. It would be the dwarrows that would need to come and save them, few as they were.

The sounds of the fight above them begin to die out, he hears shouting in the distance for only a moment, then all falls eerily quiet.

With a sigh of relief, he sets his mattock down. It sounds as though the goblins have been driven back, and he thinks it might be safe enough to try the door to see if they are well and truly stuck. He pulls away from Kili, even as the lad grabs at his jacket to keep him close.

"I want you to stay right here, lad," he murmurs softly. "I just want to see if it is safe to come out." He cannot make out any of the expression on the boy's face in the darkness of his cellar, but the small hands eventually let go of him. He stands up gingerly, making sure that he doesn't strike his head on the low ceiling. His fingers run along the ceiling, feeling for the hinge to make sure he pushes in the right place. When he is able to push, he is disappointed to find that there is something blocking the door, and he cannot budge it, even with all of his strength.

With a sigh, he begins to poke at the wood above him with his mattock. He doesn't know what blocks the door, and he is wary about hacking away at it, since he doesn't know what might fall in on them. Ultimately, he decides to wait and see if Bombur comes for them, and he'll break the ceiling down as a last resort if they have to. He plops back down to the floor gracelessly, accidentally kicking over a bucket of tools that makes an alarmingly loud clattering sounds and sends Kili scrambling back to him.

"I'm sorry, laddie," he mumbles as he tucks the boy in against his side. "It looks like we're going to wait here for Bombur to come and fetch us." He feels Kili nod against his side, but the boy still trembles, so he resumes rubbing circles against his back. He wishes he had grabbed a lantern on their way in; it would be easy to distract the boy with woodworking, or playing with some of the toys that were stored in the cellar, but it was far too dark.

Fili settles on telling them stories to keep them distracted. If it were Kili, and just Kili, he would sing to his brother the songs their family had brought with them from Erebor, but that feels strangely private. Most of the youngsters hang on to his every word, even though he has sure they will have heard all of his stories from Balin already, and for that he is grateful.

The sounds of battle have faded from outside. Fili doesn't know if his uncle has defeated all of the goblins as he'd promised, or if they were just waiting for another wave to come. He was sick to his stomach with worry for Kili, and sometimes he would find himself distracted and his stories would trail off before the younger dwarrows begged for him to continue.

He thinks of how, a few hours ago, he sat with Kili on his lap and tried to help him read, of how his little brother had grown frustrated with his inability to sound out the words and started to cry, of how he'd shushed the boy and calmed him with praise and reassurance, of how he has always been the one who could calm Kili the best. And now he did not know where his brother was, if he was alone or not, or if he was scared (though he imagined he must be), and he wouldn't be with him to help calm him down or to reassure him. He wasn't there, and he'd promised Kili he always would be.

He'd promised, and he'd let his little brother down.

"Have I ever told you about the time Bombur ate all of the pies our mum made for social?" Bombur asks, perking up a bit when the boy shakes his head no.

He chuckled, happy to find something he could use to distract the lad. He'd grown very still and quiet after the second wave of orcs had come through.

"She was cross for days. It was back when we lived in Slaton, when our Da worked in the old mines there. Mum had worked for days making all of these pies for the town social, slaved over them, and they were the best pies in all of the Blue Mountains! Bombur and I had been out practicing our fighting with our Da, and when we came home, he just saw all of those pies and started eating!" He poked Kili in the stomach, causing the boy to giggle lightly. "He ate and he ate and he ate. Da and I would have stopped him, but we figured he couldn't do too much damage while we were washing up, so we left him to it. Came out from the washroom and he'd eaten every last one! Licked the pans clean, too! He'd gotten himself such a bad stomachache that he was still rolling around on the floor when Mum came home from the market. I thought she was going to explode! Made him clean dishes for weeks, she did." He laughed at the memory. "But of course, you and your brother never get in to such trouble!"

Kili laughed at that. The boys did tend to get into trouble, but it was usually Fili's doing. The lad had grown a rather mischievous streak as of late and was always playing pranks on others when the mood suited him. Kili would always do what his older brother told him to, since he admired him so much, and more often than not the younger dwarrow was typically blamed for their misadventures, though Fili always came to his rescue in the end.

He smiled to himself, glad he was able to cheer the lad up, at least a little.

After a moment, Kili asked in a very small voice, "Did you know my Mum and Da?"

Damn. He had forgotten that the lad had lost his parents when he was far too small to remember them. Perhaps he hadn't managed to cheer up the lad at all.

"I did not," he answered quietly.

"Oh," was all Kili said in response, sounding completely dejected.

"I think I would have liked to," he adds as he pats the boy on his shoulder. "I always hear such nice things about them from Balin and Dwalin. But, you, and your brother, and your Uncle Thorin didn't come to this town until after…" he sighed. "Not yet a year old, you were, just a babe in arms but already the apple of your uncle's eye."

He wants to say more to comfort the lad, but all of his thoughts are cut short when he hears another distinctive goblin call from outside. Kili pulls closer to him as he instinctively grabs for his mattock. It sounds like they are just outside, and for a moment he's terrified of what has happened to the others, to his brother, if the goblins are returning yet again.

The sounds of clashing steel and screamed Khuzdul comfort him greatly, as does the fact that the sounds of battle are farther away than they were before, and he breathes a sigh of relief as he sets his mattock back down.

Kili feels no such relief, if his trembling is any indication of his growing distress, so Bofur gathers him up in his arms and rocks the boy carefully. "Don't you worry, lad," he soothes when the boy let's out a quickly muffled sob. "Any minute now, your uncle is going to burst through those goblins and slash them all to the ground."

Kili nods, and Bofur tucks the lad's head under his chin. Silently, he prays to Aule that he's right.

"Follow them to their caves!" Thorin's voice commands. They've slain all of the goblin filth in the marketplace, and he is determined to snuff out any others that may be hiding in the caves. A few goblins are retreating, and he takes a blistering pace to keep up with them.

Still, he cannot help but look into and around Bofur's shop as they pass. The place is an absolute mess and is completely disheveled, and he sees no sign of his nephew or the toymaker. He cannot decide if that makes him glad or anxious. With the memory of the dream so fresh in his mind, he can't help but worry for his youngest sister-son. A nagging voice in his head told him that it was a premonition, that he was already too late, once again, but he squashes it aside as he chases after the goblins.

They reach the cave quickly, and, much to Thorin's delight, are able to corner the last of the retreating goblins. It was evident that they had used this cave often, it was full of supplies and goblin paraphernalia, but there were no other goblins found in the shallow cave. He took great delight in slaughtering the last few and donning their heads on pikes at the mouth of the cave, a warning to the others to never return to that place, lest they want to invite the wrath of the dwarrows.

He chances a look at the dwarrows that have followed him into battle. Most are completely uninjured, and those who were had only minor scrapes and bruises, but they were all covered in blood, making them look foreboding and menacing. It had been a long time since he had seen any sort of battle, even against the goblins, and he is pleased to see that he, nor his companions, has lost any of their fighting spirit.

"Come on then," Balin says a moment later. "We should check the marketplace for survivors and burn the filth before it soils the streets."

Thorin nods and sets off toward town, Dwalin immediately falling into step behind him. "I did not see him anywhere," the burly warrior supplies, sounding hopeful. "Nor Bofur. I would bet he found them safety."

"We can only hope," he replies, voice tight. "You saw how much damage was done to the shop. We cannot know anything for certain."

His friend eyes him curiously. "You are not often so pessimistic, Thorin."

He winces. He's not, especially not when it comes to his sister-sons, and Dwalin knows him well enough to see that something in him has changed. "I had a dream last night, that I was too late to save him," he explains quickly, not bothering with the details. "It makes me anxious."

Dwalin picked up his pace, and he immediately followed suit. "Not that I am superstitious," he throws over his shoulder before he breaks into a full out run.

Thorin is unsure if their companions are running behind him or not, but he can't seem to care. In no time at all they are back in the marketplace and sifting through the rubble of Bofur's shop, looking for any sign of the pair. He grows more and more frustrated with each place they check, with each place they look and find nothing.

Bombur arrives sometime while they are searching and asks, "Have you checked the cellar?"

"What cellar?" Dwalin snaps, and there is a sudden pounding from underneath him feet.

"Kili?" Thorin calls out, and he hears his nephew's muffled reply. Mentally he berates himself for being so stupid as to not call out for his nephew in the first place.

Bombur rushes to the back of the store and finds the hinge for the cellar, and realizes their predicament quickly. "That case, it needs to be moved," he shouts, pointing at the offending bookcase. "They're trapped," he explains, but Dwalin and Thorin are already hefting the case out of the way before he gets the words out.

Once the door is finally clear, Bombur pries it open, revealing a rather relieved looking Bofur clutching the young dwarf to his chest. Thorin's hands are reaching out desperately, before he can stop himself and get a hold of his emotions. He is supposed to be a leader, supposed to be their King; he cannot let them see how much he is truly shaken.

"Uncle!" Kili cries, and he grabs him, pulls him close to his chest and hugs him tight. He is not too late, not this time. The lad is dirty and shaken and scared and crying, but he is alive and well, and that's all he can ask for. Thorin grips him as close as he dares, one hand tangled in the boys disheveled hair, the other arm wrapped firmly around the lad.

"I thought I'd lost you," he confesses into the boy's hair, not noticing how the others have vacated the ruined shop to give them some privacy.

The door flies open with a bang, and Fili is on his feet, sword drawn and ready to protect the dwarflings behind him.

He breathes a ragged sigh of relief when he sees that it is just Bombur, who smiles apologetically at him. "Come on then, lads!" He calls. "We'll get you something to eat and have you back with your Mums and Das in no time!"

The dwarflings all cheer excitedly and burst from the room before Fili can even sheath his sword. He follows them out, feeling deeply relieved. Bofur claps him on the shoulder once he enters the kitchen and gives him a lopsided grin.

"Had to give your brother and your uncle a moment," he explains, "but they're coming right behind us."

"Were you with him? Kili?" he asks.

"Aye, laddie, I was." The older dwarrow frowned slightly, then leaned down to be at eye level with the lad. "Now I'll be honest with you, since I'm a big brother too," he murmurs, and Fili suddenly feels rather anxious. "He's a right bit scared, Fili. Saw some terrible things before I could get him away. You're gonna need to be strong for him, do you understand?"

Fili nodded, and Bofur patted him on the shoulder the shoulder again.

"Lucky lad he is to have you and your uncle to watch over him," the toymaker admits, before heading back toward the pantry to grab something to snack on.

Fili feels restless and frustrated standing inside the house and watching as dwarrows come to collect their children. He needs to see his brother and his uncle, and he needs to see them now, so he waits until Balin isn't looking and slips out the front door to find them.

He runs smack into Dwalin's solid body before falling down on his behind.

The warrior scoffs at him. "You shouldn't be out here laddie," he comments as he helps the boy up. "Your uncle wouldn't want you to see such things."

Fili resists the urge to scream at him. "I need to find Kili!" he shouts, frustration gnawing at him. "I need to see them, Mister Dwalin!" He feels tears pricking at the corners of his eyes but he quickly blinks them away.

Dwalin's stern features shift into something softer, with a whisper of a frown, before he glances back over his shoulder. "They're coming lad," he murmurs, quickly catching Fili when he tries to run around him to see.

"I already saw the bodies!" he complains when Dwalin pulls him back.

"That's not reason enough for you to see them again," he counters before pulling the door open and shoving Fili back inside. The golden haired youth firmly kicks the door when it slams shut behind him, and Balin can't help but notice and laugh at the lad's frustration.

"It's not funny!" he all but wails, but he walks over to Balin immediately when the dwarf beckons him.

"It's not, laddie," he affirms. "This is a hard lesson to learn."

Fili frowns at him. "What are you talking about?"

"You're protective over your brother, aren't you?" he asks, and Fili nods. "And I'll bet you've promised to keep him from harm for all of his days?" he continues, and Fili nods again. "Well the biggest problem, laddie, is that you can't."

"Yes I can!" he immediately protests, and Balin shakes his head.

"You want to," he explains, "and you'll do your very best to. You'll protect him from everything you possibly can, whenever you can, but that won't be everything."

Fili looks at him, completely distraught.

"Think about this, laddie," he murmurs. "Dwalin is my little brother, yes?"

Fili nods.

"When he was a lad I was much like you. I sought to protect him from everything. Bad dreams, fights with our Da, orcs and goblins – everything. But when he turned ten, when he started his weapons training, all of the sudden he didn't need me to protect him all the time anymore. He was able to protect himself, and in time, he was often the one to protect me." Fili's eyes widened. "And that's what happens eventually, with brothers. Dwalin protects me just as much as I do him. The same for Bofur and Bombur, and for your uncles Thorin and Frerin, and one day for you and Kili as well."

Fili shook his head. "But Kili's so little, he's so young," he starts to argue, but Balin just shakes his head.

"He won't be forever, laddie. Dwalin was once little and young too," he murmurs with a light chuckle, clapping a hand on Fili's shoulder in reassurance. "When he's grown, when you are both grown, you'll have to protect one another. And there will be things that you can't protect him from, no matter how much you want to, and the same will be true for him."

Fili nodded, realization dawning on him. Balin was right, he always was. "Thank you, Mister Balin," he murmured. "I'm sorry I shouted at you."

Balin fixed him with a warm smile. "It's quite alright, Fili! It's been a rather trying day for all of us, I'm afraid."

Fili nodded in agreement and finally settled down in a chair to wait. Balin gave him a reassuring smile as he did, then went outside to join his own brother, who was presumably working to move the bodies from the street. He was just starting to fidget when the door creaked open and his uncle swept into the room, Kili tucked under one arm with his face buried against Thorin's neck.

"Come, Fili," he beckoned with his free hand. Fili was on his feet in an instant and rushed to his uncle's side, where Thorin surprised him by gathering him up in an embrace and balancing him carefully on his other hip.

He knew he should be affronted, that he was too big for such coddling, but he was so relieved at seeing his family reunited that he couldn't be bothered to care. He slung one arm around his uncle's neck and squeezed Kili's shoulder with the other. His little brother looked up at him with wide, scared eyes, and Fili had to stifle the guilt that he felt welling up in his chest. It was as Mister Balin had said; he could not protect Kili from everything, no matter how much he wished he could.

"It's alright now, Kee," he murmured. "Uncle and I will always protect you."

Kili gave him a small smile in return before pressing his face back against Thorin's neck.

"Eyes closed, lads," Thorin murmured as he maneuvered them back through the still open door. Without meaning to, Fili found himself reacting just as his brother had, and pressed closer to his uncle with his eyes tightly closed.

It was a strange night in their home following the attack.

Kili was incredibly quiet, something that only happened when the lad was sleepy or ill, and it concerned Thorin greatly. He'd gotten them all in a steaming bath as soon as they'd arrive home and scrubbed them all clean. They had made a simple broth for supper, but Thorin and Fili had barely eaten, and Kili hadn't touched his at all.

At nightfall, Balin and Dwalin came by to check on them, informing them all that the dwarrows had set up a watch schedule to keep a look out for more goblins that might try to come through the town. Thorin had volunteered to help, but Kili and Fili both had looked at him with such panicked expressions that Dwalin refused him, saying that they had more than enough able-bodied dwarrows to handle it.

They spent the majority of the evening in the living room, cooped up around the fire. Thorin was reading some of the correspondences he had gotten from their kin in the Iron Hills, a frown firmly set on his face most of the time. For a while, Fili had tried to help Kili with his reading, but Kili was being so still and quiet that he eventually gave up and asked his brother if he could use his hair for braiding practice.

He worked first on his small braids, and was dismayed when they all came out lumpy and uneven.

"I just don't understand how you're so good at this," he muttered as he pulled the braids loose. Kili looked up at him with a small smile, a glimmer of pride glinting in his eyes. "You should show me."

Kili smiled a bit brighter. "Uncle, can I braid your hair?" he asked quietly, voice cracking a bit with disuse. Those were the first words Fili had heard his brother speak all evening, and his heart swelled at the fact that he'd been the one to coax them out of him.

Thorin set the scroll he was reading aside with a small smile, pulling the beads free from his own braids and shaking them out as he came to sit on the floor with his nephews. Kili crawled straight into his lap, but Fili kept a respectful distance and sat off to the side, where he could still see what his brother was doing.

Kili carefully combed through his uncle's hair with his fingers, and Fili did the same, muttering a small apology whenever his fingers caught on a tangle.

"Like this," Kili said quietly as he pulled the appropriate section from behind Thorin's ear. Fili pulled the same section from the opposite side, and watched as Kili separated it into three equal portions before smoothing them all out. It took Fili a moment to do the same, but he eventually was able to. Kili started to braid then, slowly and carefully so that his brother could see. Fili followed all of his motions as exactly as he could. He frowned when they'd finished and compared the two. Kili's, as always, was straight and even and sleek, and Fili's, as always, was a lumpy looking mess.

Fili groaned, and Thorin ran a hand down each of the braids, chuckling lightly when he realized the difference. "You'll have to keep practicing, Fili," he murmured, a smile firmly on his face.

"You fix it," he grumbled, not even bothering to tie of his braid with a bead as he combed the hair back out.

Kili was happy to oblige. He loved being allowed to braid his uncle or his brother's hair; it was something that he was good at, and he always felt so warm and so close to them when he was allowed to. He quickly crafted a matching braid to the one he had already done and tied it off for his uncle. He was rewarded with a kiss to the forehead form Thorin and Fili demanding his turn next.

Thorin smiled as Kili turned himself in his lap and began working on his brother's hair. He doubted that sleep would come easily to any of them tonight, but it warmed his heart greatly to see Kili in high spirits. Seeing such violence so early in life had been known to change young dwarrows for the worse, to make them more fearful and take away their childhood joy. He would hate to see that lost in Kili. He had seen it lost in Frerin, in Dis, watched as joy was replaced with grief and fear.

He was not naïve enough to think that a part of Kili's innocence wasn't lost forever; no, he'd seen the darkness in the lad's eyes when he'd pulled him from Bofur's arms in the cellar, but he held on to hope that the joyous, loving part of his youngest sister-son would remain intact.

As he turned back to his scrolls, he vowed for the hundredth time that day to make sure he never saw the brightness in Kili's eyes go out.

Hope you enjoyed it! This chapter haunted me for weeks. Please review!