Hey everyone! Here is chapter three. As it happens I did find a way to update from my phone, its called the wonders of Copy and Paste. Seriously, Larry Tesler is awesome! If I could, I would shower him with flowers for inventing Copy/Cut and Paste for all us lowly beings who are too lazy to do stuff the long way. You rock dude!
DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN "THE HOBBIT", ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT ARE IN J.R.R. TOLKIEN'S ORIGINAL WORKS ALL OF THE CREDIT GOES TO HIM.
Anyway, this was inspired by some of the feelings I've been having about my family who have been really supportive of me lately since I am getting ready to head off to college at the end of the year and my eighteenth birthday is coming up. It's a big leap for me and I guess I wanted to put some of my feelings into some of the characters.
Ever at your service,
LonelyWinterRose
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CHAPTER THREE:
THE SON'S OF FUNDIN
Balin and Dwalin
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~•~ Balin ~•~
Looking after and minding his younger brother Dwalin had always been a duty he took pride in.
Even after Dwalin grew to be taller than him and became strong enough and talented enough in weapons play to be able to defend himself Balin had made sure to be their for him.
He was the elder brother after all and that meant that it was his job to look after his younger sibling even when they no longer needed their elder siblings protection and care.
But he would never stop caring for his younger brother since even Dwalin, the War Master and Kings Guard Dwalin, his little brother in all but body couldn't watch his own back or even his sides all the time.
He had never been happier than the day he had been introduced to his younger brother.
They had met each other long years apart than other sibling would have met since he had been away being fostered by another family as was tradition for the eldest son of a Dwarf Lord when Dwalin was born.
He had known from his parents letters that he would be expecting a younger sibling when he returned and though he had felt the normal fears of being replaced as all older siblings do when faced with gaining a younger brother or sister the day twelve years after his birth that he met Dwalin wiped away all his fears.
His younger brother had been nothing but smiles and his eyes had been filled with admiration for the elder brother he had always been told about and who he had had his father write to over the last three years.
Suddenly being responsible for the happiness of a younger brother that would follow him around everywhere trying to copy what he did so he could be like his older sibling had been daunting to say the least but it had also been rewarding in a way that he could t have dreamed of before.
To be part of a the center of a young dwarfling's world had been a gift that he quickly recognized and held to his chest with a grip so tight and filled with affection that he had worried that he might break should he lose his younger siblings admiration for him.
He couldn't stand the through of Dwalin not looking up to him with a bright smile and it had hurt like nothing else ever could when he had ceased to smile the day Erebor had been stolen from them.
They had lost their mother to the great drakes flames and then in the Battle of Azanulbizar when they lost their father to war what little happiness his brother still had left seemed to have faded.
It had been hard to deal with the loss of their parents but it had been harder to deal with the nearly complete loss of his brother for for a time it had seemed as if his precious little brother had been nothing but a ghost.
But Dwalin was, is, strong and Balin stood by his side trying and somehow with the good grace of Mahal succeeded to bring back half of his beloved brother through pure insistence alone.
With himself at his brothers back they had remained standing strong just as they should have, they were the last of their family but they had not been alone for they had each other.
They are brothers, family, and family never gives up on each other, they raise each other up when they are down and sometimes force each other to go on even when they don't want to.
Being Dwalin's older brother was a gift and yes is also a daily challenge because his brother was sometimes much too stubborn for his own good but the reward of his brothers occasional rare deep belly laugh of pure amusement and happiness is all that Balin could ever ask for.
After all they have been through together and all the things they will sure continue to face together side by side and back to back being able to still draw his brothers old self to the surface is a gift worthy of their Maker, Mahal, himself.
It's not easy, life in exile, no one ever thought it would be, but they stand strong through it all just as a family, as brothers, should.
And with the memories of all the joyful mischief they had gotten into as drawfling's, all the times Balin had made sure that his brother had his support and love running through their minds reminding them of good times, they have the strength to face anything and everything the world may throw at them, together.
After all that's what family, brothers, do, they hold each other up, support them when they can't support themselves, care for each other, and make sure that both of them know how much they are loved by the other.
Together they have stood, and together they will stand, back to back and side by side, through thick and thin even when one of them wishes to venture alone the other with have their back.
They are brothers, family, and that's what brothers and family do.
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~•~ Dwalin ~•~
All his life Dwalin always had his older brother Balin look out for him and even if Balin didn't know it he looked out for his older brother too.
He went his first twelve years of life without knowing his brother and when he finally met him he could help himself from admiring him and wanting to be like him.
His brother never got angry at him for following him around or trying to copy everything he did so he could be like his idol like normal siblings did, and he often thinks its because he was making up for the twelve years he didn't know his younger brother.
Always he had had his brother full attention and protection from anything that wished him harm, even the many and not so few spiders he had been deadly afraid of was a young dwarfling.
Balin had been the one to first teach him to fight, to read and to nourish his gift for adding numbers and turning them into strategies.
If not for his older brother he would have gotten the titles of War Master or Captain of the Kings Guard and for that alone he was grateful.
But most of all he was grateful that his brother never left him of stopped caring for him even when he was past the need for his older and much shorter brother protection.
He was the younger brother after all, and Balin was the older so it was only right that the elder looked after the younger, that's what brothers do.
Even when he chose to try to venture off alone on his own larger he had been aware of his brother trailing him both with just his eyes and his body.
It was annoying at times but he understood the need to watch out for ones brother and protect ones family since they shared both through and through.
Guarding, keeping, caring, protecting, it was a push and shove, this way and that was relationship.
They backed each up and took turns holding each other up when the other couldn't do it himself.
Just as his older brother felt responsible for his younger brother even after it became clear that he could take care of himself Dwalin also felt the need to watch over and look after his shorter elder brother.
He was over a head taller than Balin and even though he knew that his older brother could defend himself fiercely in a fight he could help but try to fight for him himself.
After their parents died he had felt empty but Balin was diligent and lured him out of it, he managed to make him smile and laugh again, not all the time mind you but he did get him to be who he was before Erebor fell and that also by itself was a gift alone.
He is not ashamed to admit that as a dwarfling his brother had been a good portion of the center of his world and even as he grew older and less dependent on his brother care for and protect him Balin was still a large part of his life.
He could not imagine a world without his older brother, it was unfathomable, inconceivable even that Balin wouldn't always be at his side worrying about him in his own silent way.
He knew that his brother tried his best not to hover and he was glad for that because he hated to feel caged in or crowded but knowing that his brother was close enough where he could could protect him and him in turn protect his brother was reassuring.
They are brothers, family, and that means that no matter what nothing will ever come between them.
When one is weak the other is strong, when both are weak they work together to get strong again, and when they are both strong they are unstoppable.
Time will not stop them, because they will be together to the end.
They have nearly always, since the day they first met, been inseparable from each other and truly they both couldn't imagine being anything but together to whatever end.
Brothers and family stay together, help care for each other and protect each other with their lives.
That is what it means to be family, to be brothers.
Unstoppable together, never alone, back to back, and side by side, caring, loving, following, leading, protecting, Family and Brothers.
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So tell me what you think. Like it? Love it? Hate it?
Leave a review or two.
Well I made it nearly as long as the last chapter and hopefully the next chapter will also get a run. :)
Next Chapter : Oin and Gloin family feels.
Ever at your service,
LonelyWinterRose