An: Sorry for being so mean in the last few chapters - here's something to make you feel a bit better C: I haven't been as mean as I made it sound like!
Also this is an early update mainly because I was super productive today. You're all welcome ;)
Kili groaned as he walked towards his pony, a bag full of food on his shoulder. It was midday already and he hadn't slept since he had been woken up by the fire - they had all been busy trying to put it out. Finally, after battling the flames for hours with many men from Bree, they had managed to put it out with only a few burns.
He seriously hoped he would never have to do that again. He had hurt his knee and lost his money while jumping out of the window - they had probably flown away from his pocket and landed somewhere in the thick bush, hidden from everyone. Thankfully one of the local shopkeepers had noticed Kili's distress and promised to give some food for him as a reward for being such a big help with the fire. The shopkeepers shop was only meters away from the Inn, so the fire could have easily spread there if it hadn't been for Kili and the men desperately trying to put it out.
Well, he was grateful for the foods, he really was, but he was still annoyed. All the money he had used on the room had been for nothing and he had lost the little he had had left - not to mention that all his possessions apart from his clothes had been destroyed by the fire. Everything he had had with him had been eaten by the flames. Even his hair clip! He had taken it off for the night, laid it on the nightstand, and now it was gone too. It held so many memories he was sad that it was gone, even if it was just a piece of worthless metal.
Wait, he thought. Metal. Doesn't metal need very high temperature for it to melt? Maybe, I'm not sure - I wonder if I could go check? The second floor never gave up, it's still standing strong unlike the third. Maybe I could get it back. I got it from Fili, for Mahal's sake, I just can't leave it here.
Hurrying the rest of the way to his pony, Kili left the bag full of food there -he was certain that nobody would steal it- and then made his way back to the Inn. The third floor had given up from some places, destroying some of the second floor as well, but most of the building was okay.. apart from the fact that everything had burned away. Anyways, the stairs were okay, or at least had been when Kili had left from there after the fire had been killed, and that was all that mattered. He wasn't sure if his room was alright or if the ceiling had collapsed but he would find out soon.
When he got to the Inn, little people stood outside. One of them was the owner, the nice lady Kili had talked to the previous night. There was an older man standing next to him, cradling the crying woman. Kili wasn't sure if they grey haired man was her husband or her father, but he certainly was someone she knew well.
Approaching the door, Kili noticed that some of the roof had collapsed as well. It was a brutal sight, but Kili didn't care. The knowledge that the rest of the building could collapse at any second made his heart race when he finally stepped in, but he hoped for the best and continued further.
The room that had only hours before been full of people, furniture and light was now a grey and black mess of burned wood, ceiling blanks and ash. The sunlight shining in from the dirty window illuminated the tiny pieces of ash floating in the air, creating a creepy atmosphere. The woman's sobs echoed inside, but otherwise it was quiet.
Kili shuddered and headed towards the burnt stairs. They were black from the fire and the handrail was mostly gone, and even though the stairs bent down with a worrying sound with every step Kili took, they seemed safe enough. Forcing the worry aside Kili walked up, constantly keeping an eye on the stairs in case they decided to give in.
The second floor wasn't much better, maybe it was even a bit worse than the first. The long hallway was full of pieces of the ceiling, blocking most of the hallway. Not many times in his life Kili had thanked Mahal for being a short dwarf, but there he did so. It was easy for him to sneak through the small spaces between the fallen blanks and the wall. It was eerily silent up there, and Kili wasn't sure if he liked it.
A few times he had to stop to cough. All the ash and dust in the air made his throat dry, but he did his best to ignore it. A few more meters til my room, Kili thought as he slipped past another part of the ceiling. He hoped that his room hadn't collapsed because if it had, this trip had been for nothing.
Finally he came to his room. The door was badly burnt and it missed a large part, but it was easy to push it open. When Kili laid his eyes on the room, he gasped. There was a huge section of the floor missing, probably because his room was above the kitchen where the fire had started. The nightstand still stood, but the bed was gone and so was the drawer on the other side of the room.
Kili saw something glimmering on the nightstand and it made him grin. His clip was safe.
Slowly making his way around the hole in the floor, careful not to fall, Kili got to the nightstand and grabbed the clip. It had ash and dirt on it, but it was fine.
Randomly he laughed shortly - had he really seen all this trouble for a single hair clip? Well, maybe it was worthless in money, but it meant a lot to him. He hadn't worn anything but that in his hair in decades, and he wouldn't change it now. And besides, it was a gift from Fili - when he had turned 40, Fili had gifted it to him. He had made it himself and that made it even better in Kili's eyes.
xx
Sitting on the bank of the river, Fili stared into the water. It was peaceful where he was and the sunshine warmed his upper body nicely. He couldn't get enough of the warmth, not after the freezing winter. He had gotten frostbites all over his body, for Mahal's sake! And they had been really painful, as well.
For a moment longer he sat in the tall grass, just enjoying his own company. He had gotten used to being alone already, and even though it was lonely at times, he had grown to like it. It was only he and his thoughts and he liked it that way.
I should head back home, Fili thought, running his hands through his hair. I have work to do anyways.
Taking a one last look at the flowing water, he got up and started walking back home.
For the last two months he had been working in the city. It was nothing much, but it kept him nicely busy - he only helped a blacksmith with some of the smaller things and every morning he taught a small bunch of teenagers to use a sword. He got nothing in return from teaching the teenagers, but the blacksmith paid him a little. It was nothing more than a little pocket money but he used it to buy some extra stuff for himself and the others, not even people he knew. Just a week ago he had made a little girl's day by buying her a new toy from the toymaker - it had been just a small doll, but the girl had ran around screaming and laughing and hugging it like it was the most precious thing in the whole wide world.
Fili wasn't even sure why he did that, bought stuff for people he didn't even know. He guessed that it was because it made him feel better for a moment. Children were so happy when he bought something for them - be it candy, toys or whatever they wanted - that it made Fili happy as well. He hadn't been truly happy for a long time, and the fact that he could bring joy for others, for even just a few seconds, helped.
He knew that it helped like a really loose bandage around a bleeding, severed limb and that it wouldn't bring any long lasting happiness, but it was all he could do. He was tired of being so unhappy all the time, and whatever helped was more than appreciated.
Nothing just had been the same after Kili's death. The dinners weren't exactly quiet anymore but it just missed something without his younger brother fooling around with the food and Thorin raising his voice at him, Fili desperately trying to suppress a laughter and Dìs just sighing deeply at everyone. It was too calm. Going to bed wasn't the same without Kili either telling lame jokes or trying to annoy his tired brother, or snoring way too loud for Fili to enjoy it.
Everything was way better than they had been for the first few months. Fili had had time to think it through and really understand it by the time he and Thorin got back home, but after telling Dís and seeing her sorrow all the wounds had opened again. Because they didn't have his body they hadn't been able to hold a propel funeral, which had only deepened Dís' pain.
Now it was almost back to normal. Fili hadn't seen or heard Dís cry for a few weeks, but that didn't mean she didn't hurt. She got angry over the smallest things and spent a lot of time silent or alone somewhere, which was very unlike her. Thorin, on the other hand, seemed to spend more time working than before. Maybe it was his way to deal with the sorrow.
Apart from those things, life was pretty much back to normal. Dís prepared them dinner every evening, Fili spent time outside like every summer before that and Thorin worked in the city. They laughed and had fun, they had fights and arguments, they worked and relaxed, ate and slept, had visitors, visited others, did everything they used to do. They just .. lacked one.
Finally coming home, Fili marched in, not surprised to see that his mother and uncle were both gone. He quickly changed his shirt to the older one - it could get a little messy at the blacksmith's sometimes - and left a note for whoever came home first, saying where he was and when he'd come home. Then he was on his way again, walking towards the city in the bright sunlight.
xx
"Hey, Fili!" someone shouted and Fili spun around, noticing Jûna. The blonde dwarf hurried towards Fili, looking quite happy.
"Morning", Fili replied, flashing her a little smile. "What are you doing here? Isn't this a little too early for you to be up?"
Jûna grinned as she got to Fili, shaking her head. "Quit that, Fili!" she said with a laugh and looked at him with her green eyes. "I'm coming from Eliot's market. I was there asking for work, and guess what!"
Raising his eyebrows, Fili shrugged although the answer was pretty obvious. "I don't know. What?"
"I got it! I'll be working there from tomorrow til at least winter! Isn't that great?" she told Fili with excitement in her eyes. Jûna was a young dwarf, not even fifty-five years old, and she got excited over everything. If it was a sunny day, she screamed of happiness. If it was raining, she sung because 'rain was beautiful'. If she was given a coin, she would run home and put it in her drawer, happy that she was a coin richer. Nothing could sadden her it seemed.
"That's amazing", Fili agreed with a smile. "I hate to say this, but I'm quite late from my work already, so I need to go. Would you mind if we continued this conversation a little later?"
"No, I understand", Jûna nodded, "work awaits. Have fun, okay?"
"I'll try", Fili said with a small nod. "Come by later today. You know where I work, right? I have a pause around noon."
"Sure, I will come", Jûna answered and smiled at Fili before walking away with a bye. Fili grinned to himself before continuing towards his destination.
He reached it fairly soon and entered the sweaty place, where Otto already was. The man looked surprised to see Fili there that early.
"Don't you have the thing with the kids today?" Otto asked as Fili came closer, glancing at the dwarf. Fili shook his head, grabbing an apron from the closest table.
"No, not today. Too hot for a battle. They would probably pass out or something, and I don't want the wrath of their parents' on me", Fili told with a short laugh as he pulled the apron on and tied the strings so it wasn't so loose on him. "You know how some parents are. Overprotective."
"I know", Otto said with a sigh, shaking his head. Fili had been one of those overprotective people, even Otto knew it.
xx
When the sun started to set and Fili started to grow tired, he pulled off the apron and laid it on the same table he had taken it from. "I think I'll head back home, if that's alright." He didn't usually leave this early, but he had also been there earlier than usually, so he believed it would be alright for him to leave.
"Of course", Otto said and nodded, shooting a glance at the dwarf. "You've been a big help today. Take some money from the drawer - you know how much I normally give you, I think you don't need me to give it to you anymore."
"Thank you", Fili replied and opened the drawer before taking a little money and closing it tight again. "See you tomorrow, then. I think I will have another lesson for the kids tomorrow, so I will come at my usual time."
Otto nodded again. "Sure. See you."
On his way home, Fili noticed Gimli. The redheaded dwarf was walking on the street with annoyed look on his face. Fili grinned at the sight of Gimli and started walking towards him, getting his attention by calling him by name.
"What are ye doing here, Fili?" Gimli asked as they were closer to each other.
Fili shrugged. "Just heading back home from work. What about you? You seem uptight today", Fili asked in return, smirking at the younger dwarf. There seemed to always be something on Gimli's mind, however it rarely was something too important.
"That'd be none of your business", Gimli answered in a very familiar, grumpy tone. Fili grinned again, shaking his head.
"Come on, Gimli. Tell me."
"Ye will have to promise me that ye will never say a word of this to anyone, ye get it?" Gimli asked, glaring at Fili, who nodded, raising his hand on his heart.
"I, Fili son of Dís, swear on my short beard that I will not say a word of what you will soon tell me, to anyone", he said in a very serious voice, although he had to struggle not to burst out laughing. What could be that important yet secret? Was it some girl?
Gimli nodded, rolling his eyes. "I will regret this", he muttered.
"I just made a promise I cannot break!" Fili exclaimed, biting his lip not to laugh. "Now tell me."
"There is a dwarven lady I have laid my eyes on. Aye, she is beautiful like the moon and the fairest thing I have ever seen with my eyes", Gimli finally admitted, looking rather dreamy for a second before snapping into the real world again.
"..but?" Fili asked, as he had looked annoyed rather than happy. "There must be a 'but' in that story."
"She refuses to talk with me", Gimli said, furrowing his brows. "Says she doesn't like me as I like her."
Even though Fili felt kind of bad for Gimli, he couldn't hold in the laughter and burst out laughing like a little child, receiving a murderous glares from Gimli.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Fili managed to breathe, bending down a little. "That is not funny - that's not funny, sorry, Gimli!"
"Aye", Gimli answered shortly, looking even more annoyed than before. Fili gathered his strength and took a deep breath, calming down. He knew he had hurt Gimli's feelings and felt rather bad for it, but he also knew that a few words would make up for that. It wasn't hard.
Fili nodded, looking at Gimli. "So she doesn't like you?" Shaking his head, Gimli muttered a no, so Fili continued. "Do you know why?"
"No", came a short reply.
"Oh. Well, in that case, shouldn't you.. I don't know, buy her gifts? Show her your affection? Maybe that'll help", Fili suggested, lifting another eyebrow. He wasn't too good with girls, but he guessed that that could help.
"Do ye think I have the money for that?" Gimli asked, sighing deeply. "Er, maybe I could try. That would be a waste of my little money, but maybe I could."
"Just try, okay?" Fili said. "And Gloin has money, right? Ask if he could help you a little. He's your father, he'd do that for you."
"Do ye even know my father?" came another question, but this time there was amusement in Gimli's eyes. "He wouldn't give me any money even if the world would end did he not do that."
"I will certainly hope it never comes to that kind of situation", Fili said with a soft laughter. "But hey, I have to go. I've had a long day at work and I can't wait to get home to eat something and just pass out to my bed."
Gimli nodded. "Aye, I will go home as well", he answered. "Thanks for the advice."
"It's no problem, really", Fili said. "See you some day, I guess."
"See ye."
Ooh and hey, to clear the days for you. Kili's part of the story is, obviously, one day after the fire. Fili's part of the story is two weeks after the fire.
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