Hey! I'm back with another chapter! I hope you're excited for this.
Leona2016: Thanks so much for the review. I'll also tell Kate (or more like her mother) that you send her your regards the next time I see them. Also, even if it's late by, like, a year and a half, congratulations on being a godmother! Also, I can be mean when I want to; it's sort of a habit of mine to be grumpy almost every day.
Thilbo4Ever: Thanks for the review. You know, this story is dedicated to you. When you asked for a fluff story with Thorin, Fíli, and Kíli, I looked through my stories and realized I didn't have one with all three of them so this is made by scratch. Hope you like it.
Every one who sent me luck, review or no review, thanks. I needed it. Especially for my tests with Filipino. Also, the husband of Bilbo in the last chapter was whoever you wanted it to be. I ended it like that cause I thought it was a nice touch. Though I can understand if most of you thought it was Thorin; I was planning to write his name at the last second but decided not to. After all, it could be Bofur or any of the other members; they are nobles now.
So, this might be the second to the last (or even the last) chapter I will post before leaving as I'll be busy with my clearance and enrollment and research project as my parents booked the flights before the school year could officially end. Especially the research project. I'm doing it next Monday and I still have to have the principal to sign the approval sheet. I'll try to post more in the next few days.
Speaking of chapters, send me prompts in a review so that I can write during my vacation and flood this story with chapters when I get back. Otherwise, it's gonna be flooded with my prompts instead of yours.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hobbit or its characters. Thorin will most likely throw me off the ramparts.
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I.
Fíli adored family outings when he was a dwarfling, especially if Uncle Thorin was there. While Amad was nice enough, she was a girl and everyone knew girls had cooties (he couldn't understand why she laughed at that. He was completely serious! She laughed even harder when he frowned (whatever people say, he did not pout)). And Kíli was too young to play with, Amad said so.
(Fíli didn't want to hurt his only brother; Kíli was so small, the blond felt like he could break the baby with just a small nudge. Fíli didn't want to risk it. At all. So he generally stayed away whenever he played.)
Anyway, he loved those few precious hours he would get with his family when they weren't traveling or working or even just looking after the other dwarrows.
Thorin was his role model; he taught the dwarfling everything he needed to know in the wild. Amad got really mad one time when they trailed into their house tracking mud though. Fíli could understand. Even though he hated baths, being dirty for days on end in places he didn't even know existed wasn't his thing.
(Though even the blond had to admit that the tall dwarf had no sense of direction whatsoever. Fíli had to lead them home from where ever his Uncle led them to. He wondered where his uncle got it.)
II.
"Uncle Thorin! Uncle Thorin! Are you ready? Are you ready?" The bouncing ball of unlimited energy that was the dwarfling called Kíli shrieked in happiness and excitement. "I am! So is Fee! Right, Fee?"
The fifteen-year old heir nodded along, grinning at his uncle. "Are we ready to go?"
Thorin seemed to ponder for a moment, thinking about it and making Kíli jump in impatience. "I don't know, nephew. Dís, do you think they're ready?"
Their mother looked up from the table where she was calmly reading and writing. The brunette hummed. "I think they are."
"FINALLY!" Kíli screamed, dashing out of the front door, before returning and giving his mother a big bear hug. He turned to his uncle, trying to drag him out of the house. "Let's go already!"
"Alright, Kíli. A prince is always patientI, you know," the blacksmith intoned, smiling softly at his two nephews.
"Thorin," Dís called before the trio could disappear properly. "Don't get lost and don't get my children dirty."
"What do you take me for?" the exiled prince demanded. His sister raised an eyebrow and Thorin relented. "Fine."
Everyone in the room knew that was a tall order for the prince to accomplish.
(Even Kíli, the dwarf with no sense of tact and was generally oblivious, knew that it was impossible for Thorin to not get lost.)
III.
Thorin watched the nephews he came to call sons spar around the grounds as he called out tips and reprimands from beside Dwalin and Dís.
It wasn't often they had family outings, even if it's just the pretense of hunting. Problems have stacked up in the years that had gone by and Thorin was busy with his job just so he could help feed his people, especially during the harsh winter.
(It was certainly very hard to do that with a population of several hundred dwarrows. Not to mention the original dwarrows of the Blue Mountains.)
After teaching the two how to be silent during a hunt (which was hard, the brothers were extremely noisy without even trying), they took a break after shooting a couple of rabbits and a deer. It was a good start of the day.
Then, when they were supposed to be resting, Kíli had jumped up and challenged his brother to an accuracy game with their given weapons. Fíli agreed, and the three adults allowed them.
It turned into a sparring match after one too many insults and jabs. Thorin just shook his head as he watched his family act like fools with their exaggerated thrusts and swings.
Dís just laughed at them all as Dwalin took to join in the impromptu battle as the enemy (Thorin had to admit, two pairs of puppy dog eyes would make even the most cold hearted dwarrow turn into putty). Fíli and Kíli happily joined forces to defeat their sparring teacher.
"Not joining in?"
The raven chuckled. "I think Dwalin could handle them in his own. Your sons are no match for me, sister."
He regretted his words a few moments later as he was tackled to the ground by his nephews.
(No one bothered to help him up as his so-called relatives laughed at his expense.)
IV.
Thorin looked at his family during dinner. It had been several years since they ever went somewhere and the king knew that his nephews were saddened by that but they never pushed.
He knew it was no reason to ignore his family, but sadly, the needs of many outweighed the needs of few. Still, he had time before he traveled to his next destination.
He made his decision.
"Fíli, Kíli," he called and everyone looked up, even his sister. "How would you like to go on an outing tomorrow?"
The two gaped, mouths open. It looked comical and he couldn't help but let out a small, but still heard, snort. The two brothers snapped their mouths shut.
Dís looked proud and faintly amused.
"Are you serious, Uncle?" Kíli spluttered. "Where to?!"
"How about the old camping grounds by that lake we used to go to?" Fíli asked before Thorin could answer. "It should be empty by this time of the year."
The raven thought on it. He had about a week and a half to spend on himself and it took a day to get to the lake. He could afford a few days to spend with his nephews.
"OK, to the lake it is," he answered, nodding sage-like (or at least that was what he liked to believe). "Pack your things tonight, boys."
"Yes! Field trip with Uncle Thorin!" The brunet of the two spawn of Dís crowed in happiness.
The two continued to chatter as Dís nodded at her brother in thanks.
V.
"It's time, Balin. There's been no sign of the blasted worm for sixty years," the two brothers could hear their uncle booming. "You know what Oin said."
"Yes, but Oin ain't a seer, Thorin, " their teacher and long-time friend argued back. "He could still be alive."
Fíli and Kíli exchanged confused glances. What could Thorin and Balin be arguing about? Their uncle may be the unofficial king of the dwarves, but he listened to the white-haired dwarf. It must be serious then.
"Smaug is asleep! He won't wake unless we storm the Mountain. We just need the Arkenstone to destroy him!"
The eavesdroppers gaped silently. Smaug the dragon Mountain? Arkenstone? Was Thorin going to Erebor, the Dwarf Kingdom ravaged by a fire-breathing drake on the other side of Middle-Earth?
"We will have a quest, Balin. Gather those who will come with us. I will visit our kin," the raven ordered.
Balin's voice sounded exhausted and exasperated as he replied, "Of course, Thorin."
The duo nodded at each other and slipped away miraculously (dwarves were not light on their feet though they've been taking lessons with the thief called Nori) before either elder could find them.
Later that night, after they ate dinner, Thorin cleared his throat. "Family, I have something to tell you. I will leave tomorrow to consult our kin."
"Oh? For what, Nadad?" Dís raised an eyebrow, looking very much like a disapproving sister. Which she was. Most likely the ex-princess knew whatever Thorin wanted to do was a bad thing, and she knew it.
"I will ask for aid to retake Erebor."
"No," Dís glared.
He glared back. "Tharkûn decreed it. The Wizard would not be dissuaded, Dís."
"We're going too, Uncle, Amad," Kíli butted in, his blond brother nodding beside him.
"No."
Just that. A simple 'no' was sounded by both of their guardians. The two siblings scowled as Dís continued, "No one is going, especially you two. You are too young. And no wizard is leading my family to their deaths because of a suicide mission!"
"We will be going!"
"No!"
"Yes, we are! Uncle, Mother, we are past our majority ("by a year!") and we will go," Fíli argued stubbornly, glaring at the two ravenettes that was not his brother.
"I am still your mother, young man."
"We are still going."
"Just think of it like every outing we had outside. We will be traveling and camping and sparring," Kíli added. "We will also visit our homeland. Think of it."
The two adults were silent for a while (perhaps because they were so shocked that the archer could sound so intelligent) before they sighed. Fíli and Kíli gave silent cheers.
"Pack your bags, boys. You'll be leaving with Balin and the other volunteers next week. Pack the essentials."
They whooped and ran from the table to their rooms. The two left in the room watched them race.
"Thorin, if my babies return with even so much as a new scratch, I will castrate you and feed it to you before I kill you. Slowly and painfully," Dís hissed across the table to her brother. "I don't care if you'll be King of the Mountain, they will be returned safe and sound."
Thorin nodded, gulping. It will take all he had to protect his sister-sons and that might not be enough. Dís will surely carry out her threat.
He needed to prepare for this unexpected 'outing.'
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Shadow: That's that, I guess. I have to run, cause it's almost dinner and –
Dís: Shadow! You better being back my son's in the same piece as they were before!
Shadow: Tell that to Thorin, not me! *edges away*
Dís: Come back here, Geek!
Shadow: *runs* Bye!