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Chapter 5: Hidden away

Throughout the next week, Dis threw herself into her housework, trying to erase the memories of what had happened in the marketplace, both the week before, and the months before that. She would return eventually, but, for now, the dwarfish woman was happy not to acknowledge that part of town existed.

Fili and Kili did their best to keep her on her toes as well. Between putting them to bed and wrestling them into the tub, their mother found she had no energy left at the end of the day and welcomed the quiet evenings with Thorin, sitting by the small and modest fireplace in their front room. While the younger of the two used the down time to embroider pieces of cloth and repair holey clothes, the elder could usually be seen reading or sketching on the table positioned in front of his chair. A few times he had fallen asleep. It seemed that, after having his sister nearly run down, the dark haired dwarf was making a point to be home in enough time to spend at least half a wasted hour with her. It was a gesture Dis appreciated.

It was late one evening and Thorin, having fallen asleep from a tiring day of work at the forges, snored softly in the chair upon which he was slouched. Dis had decided to put away her own work in favour of reading a small book given to her by a friend. It was a good, enthralling story yet it did not seem to grasp her as it should. The princess moved onto another small task, eager to keep her mind active, not feeling the slightest bit drowsy. There was no sewing to be done for once, and she did not quite feel like taking up her embroidery again.

Dis searched for another task to keep her mind busy and soon laid eyes upon the few scattered sheets of paper strewn around her brother. Standing, she retrieved them and brought them back to her chair. She smiled softly to herself and shook her head slowly as she realised what her brother who could not stand paper work had been doing.

Swiping up a pot of ink and the writing instrument her brother had been using, Dis set about finishing transferring the list of names on one sheet to another. Each pair of names signified a newly wedded couple and inside, Dis bloomed with the happiness of knowing there was still some good in the world. It also made her realise just how detached she had been from others, aside from her family, for the past two months. Between her husband's tragic and untimely death and the marketplace fiasco, she had rarely ventured out of the house's door, save for the funeral held in her late husband's honour. She hadn't needed to for Thorin had always provided for the four of them, and would continue to do so regardless of what happened. In her mind, the princess of Durin reasoned that she should begin to take some of the responsibilities off her brother's shoulders and venture out, but the more primitive part of her mind rejected the thought, stating that outside was dangerous and could get you killed.

Ignoring, yet still acknowledging, both sides of the argument presented to her by her brain, Dis reasoned that she should at least be taking her two boys out every so often or else they would become even more stir crazy. They were relieved every now and then by either Thorin, Dwalin or Balin, but there were sometimes lengthy periods in between those times when the two growing dwarflings did not have the opportunity to venture outside at all. Now was one of those times and it drove them point blank crazy. Soon perhaps, but she still needed a bit more time to get over her near death experience.

A small, broken groan, low in both tone and volume, caused her head to shoot up at light speed. She looked over to where Thorin was dreaming and would have been lying if she hadn't admitted that his almost tortured expression had startled her. It was obvious that he was having a nightmare, but what of Dis had no idea. It could have been anything; they had been through so much. But whether it was the battle of Moria or the deaths of all those children in that first, terrible winter, it was clear that her brother would not be waking up anytime soon, at least not without a little help.

Moving cautiously over towards the dwarf's sleeping form least he should begin to throw his arms and legs around in his sleep, Dis called to him softly, willing and begging him to wake up.

"Brother, you must wake for you are dreaming," she said softly, yet firmly, "Thorin! It is just a dream. Now wake!" The dark haired dwarf snapped his eyes open and panted for a slight bit before turning to look at his sister. Dis stared at him in concern.

"What…?" he asked, unaware of, or just refusing to acknowledge, the worried look which graced his sister's face. Dis frowned.

"You were having a nightmare. It looked like a particularly bad one so I woke you." Her response was met by an almost ashamed and angry silence. The dwarfish woman was not surprised; she knew how Thorin hated to appear weak in any way.

"Oh, if that is all-" the still slightly disturbed dwarf began, but Dis cut him off.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. Thorin stared at her as if she was mad.

"There is nothing to talk about," he stated, a hint of anger touching his voice and colouring his tone in an ugly way. Dis stared at him for another few moments before regathering her wits and answering. She was not about to be cowered by her elder brother.

"Your nightmare," she said with barely contained frustration. Why did he always have to make things difficult?

"Is my business," Thorin replied haughtily, "And it was not much of one anyway; more like a dream that just drifted off path." The look that had been on his face just moments before Dis had woken him was enough to contradict his last declaration. And the look in his eyes, like he wasn't quite sure of himself. Dis shook off an apprehensive feeling, allowing her anger to grow.

"Are you going to lie to me when it was clearly obvious, from where I was seated with a front row view to your face, that it was more than just a dream gone astray?" she asked, her tone colouring over with an ill kept anger. Thorin did not, however, back down.

"And are you, who appears to know my mind better than myself, going to question every small thing I do?" he shot back with the bitter bite of vengeance. Dis could have screamed at him if not for the fact that Fili and Kili were still in the house, and asleep too.

"When you don't tell me the truth," she replied in a scornful voice, "Yes." Thorin was not amused and the crease between his eyebrows deepened even further.

"If you knew half of the truths that I did, you would not be asking that of me," her brother told her, speaking in both a tight and clipped tone.

"If I knew half the truths you did, I wouldn't have to," she rebounded, refusing to lose to the dwarf before her. They were both struggling to keep their voices low and if one did not give up and surrender soon, than the two sleeping boys would be woken and things explained. And both adults agreed to not wanting that scenario to unfold.

They glared at each other for a time, at an obvious stalemate with nowhere to go without submitting. But their proud upbringing would not allow either one to bow in defeat, for not only were they dwarves, they were of the blood line of Durin and to admit to defeat was not in their nature.

Soon enough both turned to leave the room and prepare for bed, unable to continue with the meek activities they had been partaking in before. At one point Thorin, in his anger, accidently swept a pile of sheets onto the floor and Dis, without stopping to think, bent to help him recover them. But just as her fingertips touched one particular sketch, it was yanked away hard, the wind caused by this extreme and unexpected force stirring up a few other sheets nearby. Standing, the dwarfish woman had cast one last withering glance towards her brother and stormed off to retire for the night.

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