Chapter 4:

Ganula clapped Thorin's shoulder. "Thank you for everything." His eyes were sunken, the loss of his wife weighing heavier than any rock that could ever be mined. But he had the rest of his family to protect. Nala and Bola were filling up the caravan along with their father's new apprentice, a young Dwarf named Bofur.

"I'm just sorry that I couldn't do more to help you," Thorin replied, bowing his head slightly. Fili and Kili stood with their mother, unnaturally silent. "If you ever need to return, you are always welcome. And we will do everything to get to the bottom of this, and they won't go unpunished."

Nala smiled tightly at Bofur. She had never met him before, and his cheeriness was draining when all she wanted to do was sleep. Her entire life is being moved into a small mobile space. Well, not all of it. She turned around, first watching her father and Thorin converse, Dis, also by Thorin's side then her gaze turned to Fili who was standing with his brother a few feet away. Bola clasped her shoulder, squeezing it as he passed.

Slowly she made her way over to Fili, trying to place a smile on her cheeks. Before she could reach him, he strode forward, wrapping his arms around her. Nala clenched her eyes shut, resting her forehead on the fur rimming of his coat. They didn't say anything, and they didn't need to. When they finally unravelled themselves, Fili rested his forehead against hers, smiling sadly. He had given her a bead with the sigil of the Durin line engraved on it which sat on a newly crafted braid behind her ear, covered with hair for the most part.

Nala knew she'd never find a friend like him again and it terrified her that she would never have someone like him to go to. Bola has attempted to comfort her earlier, suggesting that they would return to Ered Luin once again but in Nala's heart, she was headstrong that this would be the last time. Running with the hope that she would return would be too strenuous. It was better just to move on entirely.

But an old flame in her was beginning to burn again. The one that would ignite when she wrestled with her brother or fought with Kili in the mud. Travelling, they would have no need to maintain such a high-strung reputation. They would no longer be the low-born living amongst the nobles. The pressure that had been pushing on her shoulders since she was twelve years old was slowly beginning to lift. But its weight seemed to be transferring to Bola who had never looked so stressed.

And it scared her to admit that she was excited about leaving, more so than what she should be. Her father was scared of something here in the mountains and she knew that she should feel scared too – it killed her mother. But that itch to leave grew every moment that their life was being packed away.

"I still don't get why you're leaving," Fili mumbled. Nala shrugged, not having any answer for him that she hasn't already given him. She had been in Fili's life all but three years. The notion that she would no longer be there felt foreign and sickly, just as the idea of his brother ever leaving left him. "Just promise that you'll write. I want to hear about where you go."

"Sure thing," she sang half-heartedly. "Only if your promise not to go crazy without me."

Fili snorted in humour, rolling his eyes. "You're the one that drives me crazy." The pair chuckled but it died out, both hearing her father's order of preparation to move. "If you get the chance; come back."

"I couldn't pass it up."

Nala stepped back and Kili straightened his shoulders. He had thought about this moment, feeling some sort of pressure to say something kind. Not the forceful pressure – like his mother telling him to – but he didn't want to part on terrible terms. Yes, he wasn't overly fond of her but he knew she wasn't a bad person and he knew he wasn't one. He was riddled with jealously, having to spend his entire life vying for his brother's attention. But now that jealously was beginning to diminish. He was going to apologise, truly, and meaning his words. He even began to open his mouth to say so.

But Nala barely even looked at him before she turned around and marched back to her father near the head of the caravan. Kili's mouth opened, head snapping towards his brother. Fili sighed, shrugging his shoulders slightly. They had talked late into the night about that coming morning and he'd been battling nerves since. And she just walked away, not even a goodbye. "Just be glad that it didn't end in an argument," Fili said before leaving to join his mother's side.

Kili stayed in place for a few more moments as Nala and her family, alongside Bofur moved out of sight. His anger flared once more but it was too late to do anything.

Bola sat next to his sister at the head of the caravan, holding the reins while their father and Bofur were inside the caravan, ensuring everything was rightfully tucked into place. "That was cold," he mused.

Nala raised a brow. "What?"

"Leaving Kili like that." Nala frowned, bending slightly to look around the side of the caravan. Fili had moved back to his mother's side but Kili was still standing where he was before. "Not saying he didn't deserve it," Bola added lightly. "But I know that you would usually at least attempt something civil."

Nala rolled her eyes, leaning back against the seat. She wanted nothing more than to leave him behind at that point. She didn't have it in her for niceties and goodbyes. It would be entirely fake on both their parts anyway. There was no need for her to try anymore. "What's the point?"

Bola only made an expression of agreement before their father's voice rang out and he snapped the reins, sending them forward. It didn't take long for the line of Durin to move out of sight and when they do, it felt like a shedding old skin. A new life where she had the chance to be anybody she wanted, no longer bound by the expectations to act like a proper lady. Her father wouldn't care if she came home covered in mud, in fact, he'd probably gleefully laugh.

Xx

Nala's heels dug into the ground, pushing the dirt up behind the heels of her boot as Bola pushed against her. Her staff has met his blunted sword in front of their faces, and it became a battle for dominance in strength. Sweat dripped down the side of her forehead and onto her neck, a few strands of hair sticking to it.

Nala changed her tactic, forcing her right arm to push forward and to the side as her left gave way into a defensive stance over her left side. Bola's sword slides down the long metal shaft, forcing him to take a step back out of her attack range.

Still, in her own defensive position, Nala takes the opportunity to thrust her already forward pointed end of the staff at his stomach. The jab was quick – quick enough to get his stomach but he tilted to the side in time to only be subjected to momentary pain.

"Good, good," he huffed out, regaining his stance. "But I could tell you only thought of that after you pushed me off. You need to learn to foresee and plan moves. We should do more drills."

"They're so boring," she breathed out. Just movement after movement of the same thing was mind-numbing and tedious. Nala knew that they were important and a foundational point, but she just wanted to get right into it – to fight and learn as she went.

Bola dropped his stance, giving her a pointed look but he dropped it as he glanced up to the sky. "It's getting late. Bofur and Da will be back shortly." Nala nodded, slowly walking back to the caravan. She removes a cloth lined near the inside wall and placed her metal staff underneath it.

It hadn't taken as much pleasing as she thought it was going to take to convince Bola to train her. Bola himself had been training since the moment he could walk. Nala was sure he aspired to be a part of the Royal Guard, but now his only opponent was his sister. Bola didn't find it too bad if he was being honest. Nala had no issues getting dirty and gritty, but she lacked the discipline that others had but he put that up to her determination to catch up rather than a lack of respect or care for the craft.

Their training wasn't a secret to their father nor their companion, Bofur, but the twins had both seen the unsettled eyes of their father watching them train. It put him right on edge so they shifted their timings to practice whenever the older pair went into towns while they took care of the caravan on the outskirts.

Nala trotted over to the ponies – four in total – and scratched Mulbury's chin. The pony's mouth twitched as she stuck her neck out in reaction. Mulbury was the eldest pony of their small herd but the strongest and had the most endurance of them all. She had small grey hairs now blending in with her cooper coat, encircling her dark eyes.

"Are we leaving tomorrow?" Nala question her brother who was striding past with branches filled in his arms.

Bola nodded, letting the logs fall to a heap on the flat earth. "Tomorrow mid-day, I think. Bofur has a commission for a woman that's not quite done yet. Said he'd spend tonight on it and finish it off tomorrow morning." He began stacking the logs over a small pile of charcoal from their previous nights' fires. He sent a humour glance towards his sister. "Why? Got somewhere to be?"

Nala returned his eye with a playful glare. "Perhaps." She let out a laugh, walking over to help her brother. "There is another Dwarf in the town, Wikor." The town was a large one, perhaps comparable to Bree, and just as strange. It seemed to be the place for outcasts to settle down in as Nala had seen all types of odd persons wandering about on their first day there. Wikor was one of the few Dwarves she had seen, manning a stall with who she presumed as his father. He had this light brown hair, much lighter than her own and these enchanting light blue eyes. "He has the day off tomorrow and invited me to wander the markets with him."

"Ooo, the markets," Bola replied with a tone heavy in sarcasm. "So interesting. Have I met him?"

Nala hummed affirmatively, ignoring his taunt. "Yes, you actually said he seemed really nice. I thought I would take up his offer if we weren't leaving tomorrow. And the markets are always fun, for the most part."

"I never understood your desire to always be at them."

"Well first off there are always your regulars," she drawls out with a small smile. "It's nice to visit people but then there are always travellers who bring new things as well as stories. You should try it sometime, instead of hiding yourself away at camp every day."

Bola grunted in response to her last words. "Go in the morning if you want. Da won't mind and I think it would do you good to talk to someone other than Bofur." Nala gave him her thanks, handing him the flint. "It's been five years you know," Bola added softly. "You haven't even sent one letter back to Ered Luin." Nala shrugged, trying to busy herself with setting up their small kitchenette. "I think you should at least send Fili a letter and let him know you're alright."

"He knows I'm fine, Da sends Thorin letters at least once a year," Nala dismisses. "Besides, I'm sure he doesn't even think of me and sending a letter would only subject me to the idea that I miss him."

"But you do miss him," Bola prodded, placing his face right in her view. Nala glared at him, pausing for a moment but forced herself to continue on.

"What's the point. You and I both know we're not going back there and I'm not going to let myself be caught up in misery at the fact that I left my only friend behind." She paused again at her own words. She loved travelling – more than she even thought she would. She has seen more of the world than ever before, both the good and the bad. And nobody cared about the dirt on her hands, or the sun's kisses on her cheeks from days spent training. There were dangers to avoid, and roads they couldn't travel on, but the danger of bandits seemed like play against the venomous bite that could come from playing in the game of politics of nobles. Lies, manipulation and games versus swordplay. Nala knew exactly what she would choose.

But she missed Fili more than she could put into words on a letter. On one hand, she could tell Bola everything and he either didn't care or told her exactly what she needed to hear. But he wasn't the comfort that her friendship with the blonde prince brought. Fili was her friend, one that chose her, and she chose back. And she honestly hoped that Kili's relationship with his brother wasn't as tense as it could be when she was there. Ignoring that she does have the ability to reconnect with her old life is the only coping mechanism she can conjure to be truly content living with a mobile home.

"Leaving was for the best," Nala said quietly after a few minutes of thought.

Bola glanced up subtly, watching his sister prepare a pot to go over the fire. He was burdened with more knowledge than her, yet she still seemed to be as weighed down as him. His eyes drifted around the outskirts of their camps, investigating every shadow in the bushes. "Yes. It was," he agreed under his breath.

Soon their father and apprentice returned and the siblings finish preparing that night's meal. Nala urged her mind to forge the conversation with her brother, focusing instead on Bofur's tale about his brother and cousins.

"And Bombur, the lad-!" Bofur cackled, slapping his leg. "Fell right down when the table snapped in two right under his feet!" Nala's eyes crinkled up as she laughs to her meal. "Me cousin Bifur has been working under an old fella. Gaunt I believe his name was. One of the best in the trade – besides your father here of course." Ganula's teasing glare turned to an eye roll as the young Dwarf blabbered on about his life stories. "He sent me a letter a few weeks ago, asking if I want ta' join him at his little shop back in the Blue Mountains but I told him I rather like travelling with you lot." The Dwarf grinned proudly under his dual pointed hat, leaning back against an angled rock.

Their father laughed, tipping his head towards his apprentice. "Well, I'm glad to hear so. But do not feel pressured to stay if you would like to return home."

"But if you do, be sure to spread some amazing stories about us," Nala beamed, leaning forward to rest her arms on her knees. "Bandit slayers! Adventurers! I'm sure a few dramatics won't go to far."

Bola snorted into his stew as their father and apprentice chuckled. "We fought a total of five bandit groups in the past five years," he drawled. "And you screamed the first time so loudly that I'm pretty sure you scared them off thinking that everybody in the region could hear you." Nala hid her guilty smile behind her spoon.

"I fought the two bandits a few months later though," she defended proudly. "When we were attacked just on the other side of the Misty Mountains near the Grey Mountains."

"You off the one and accidentally hit the other," Bola retorted. Nala huffed indignantly, flicking the reaming droplets of stew in his direction. One droplet hit him next to the eye, causing him to splutter slightly and nearly spill his own bowl.

"I think it still counts," Bofur said, grinning towards the young woman. "You knocked him out after all."

"Ered Luin will be hearing tales about your mighty elbow," her father taunted. He leant forward, holding his bent elbow out past his chest. His squinted eyes leer over the other three as though about to tell a tale that will shock them to the core. "All must fear the most dangerous weapon of them all," he whispered. "The forbidden weapon that only one can wield." He smacked his elbow with his other palm as his tone dropped low. "The elbow of Nala, daughter of the mighty Ganula."

"Of course you had to add yourself," Nala goaded but changed her tone to match her father. She held her own elbow out, glaring at each member of their small camp. "They say that if you ever cross her, the last thing you feel will be the point of the bone smashing through your chest before nothing."

"Oh, they won't be feeling anything with your attacks, that's for sure," Bola snorted, smirking broadly to his sister. Nala's mouth dropped open in offence before she lunged forward with her elbow leading the attack. Only half-prepared, Bola falls onto his back as they started to scuffle around in a child's fight.

Ganula and Bofur chuckled, letting them have their fun for neither see any reason for them to stop. "It's a wonder how you manage them," Bofur mused humorously through the pipe now between his lips.

"I had a miracle sent from Mahal himself," Ganula replied softly, faintly recalling his wife's grey eyes. "Their mother always knew what to do. I learnt along the way, but she was always meant to be a mother."

"Do you believe in fate?"

Ganula' frowned slightly in thought, half-thinking that it was an odd turn to their conversation, but he would entertain it, nonetheless. "In some ways. I think there are some things that are meant to be, whether you want them to or not. Like your Dorzada. But nothing is set in stone, as ironic as that is for Dwarves."

Bofur chuckled, nodding his head. Nala and Bola rolled past them, grunting and becoming covered in grass stains. "I don't think we're fated to anything," he said. "That would mean that Mahal or whoever created you has designed something special for each and every single living person. Bit much if you ask me."

"Maybe he doesn't design them. Perhaps we just fall into them unexpectedly. If I had never skipped going down to the forge that day, I would never have met Hervi. That decision changed my fate. And my fate changes, every single day."

Nala knelt over her brother, holding him down by the shoulder. "You dirt-eating toad!" Bola gripped a handful of earth and shoves it in his sister's direction, but he failed to foresee that the loose dirt would fall down onto him as well. They both spluttered as it coated their skin and lips, forgetting the fight and instead focusing on ridding themselves of the foul taste. "I'm taking a bath," she grunted. Bola pushed to his feet, shoving her back to the ground.

"I'm going first!"

Before she could argue, Bola had already left camp, sprinting towards a small spring not far away. Nala gave her father and Bofur an exasperated expression, tossing her arms up in the air. The older pair chuckled again as she sent curses to the air. Her brother only heard a whisper of her voice, already splashing in the water.