Kili pretended to be enthralled by the little robin sheltered from the rain on a low hanging branch of a great oak tree. The bird tilted its head to the side and chirped a few notes as if in curiosity at the sight of the dwarf who was doing his best not to smile.

Bombur turned around in a huff, annoyed by whatever had been tickling his neck for what felt like the past five miles. He swatted furiously in the air muttering unintelligible words while his pony did its best to keep its footing and not topple under the massive teetering weight, which appeared to be a rather formidable task as Bombur was flapping his arms all around his head to ward off the invisible nuisance.

Kili felt his serious expression quickly breaking and with a small laugh he turned to smile over his shoulder at Fili. His brother was riding next to Bofur and had already been watching him. Fili chuckled slightly and shook his head, looking down at the reigns in his grasp, which would have been a normal reaction were it not for his eyes.

Fili looked up from under his dark, rain drenched hood and Kili's chest suddenly clenched up. His breath hitched in his throat and his face became a mixture of confusion and worry and questioning all at once, but just as soon as their eyes had met, Fili turned back to Bofur and was speaking with him again.

His mind worked rapidly as Kili searched for some overlooked explanation and for a brief moment he wondered if he had only imagined the sad expression on his brother's face. Everyone else around him looked perfectly miserable and with good cause too. It hadn't stopped raining for hours but Thorin insisted on continuing, the entire Company was soaked to the bone, and the only thing that lay in front of them was a path leading straight to a dragon's front door.

And yet, Kili could not shake the image of those pale blue eyes…

He continued to stare unwaveringly at his brother while he sat twisted around in his saddle, completely at a loss for what could have happened seemingly between breakfast and then. The sudden idea that perhaps it was something he had done made Kili's stomach drop instantaneously. Beginning to believe now that he could have possibly been the cause of those sad eyes, he felt as though an invisible fist was crushing his heart and wouldn't let go. Since when did such a small look have such control over him?

Of course he had remembered Fili looking sad before, but it had never made him feel like this. Like he couldn't seem to let go of the breath he was holding, or calm his pounding heart, or see anything else but his brother whom he admired so much, whom he adored.

"Wait…" Kili thought to himself slowly. "Adore?"

The gears in his head turned even slower than usual as he puzzled over the meaning of that last word and the implications it held. His thoughts were shattered however, by Thorin's call to make camp and Dori's exaggerated sigh.

"Finally!" the extremely annoyed dwarf next to him said in an exasperated voice. "Now we can get out of this confounded rain! If I don't see another drop in all my life I should be quite content." He exclaimed, tightening the cloak around himself. Gloin grunted next to him in bitter agreement, looking rather like a drowned rat.

The Company halted and the abrupt stop allowed him to clear his head, but Kili couldn't help glancing over his shoulder again at Fili who looked deeply lost in thought.

"Don't cry, Kili." Fili said as the younger boy sniffed and a drug a sleeve across his stuffy pink nose. "I won't be gone for very long." He knelt down and wiped the tears away from the watering brown eyes with a smile. "Uncle Thorin is just taking me out to hunt for a little while and then I'll be back."

"But why can't I go too?" Kili whimpered, his bottom lip beginning to quiver.

"Because Thorin says you aren't old enough and that it's time I started learning to how to be a prince. If I'm going to be king someday then I have to know lots of stuff, right?"

"I guess so…" Kili said, looking down dejectedly and hiccupping with the effort of not crying. He clenched his little fists at his side, trying his best to understand and be brave.

Fili took one of the balled up fists in his own hand and tugged playfully at a strand of Kili's dark brown hair that always seemed to be in his face. "Remember," he said when Kili finally looked at him, "We're going to be together forever, okay?"

Kili could not longer hold his wavering composure and he threw himself at his big brother, wrapping his arms around his neck and burying his face into the golden strands. Fili hugged him back tightly while the little boy sniffed and hiccupped even louder. He muttered something indecipherable into Fili's shoulder and held on to him with a viselike grip, as if he could physically keep his brother from leaving him.

"What did you say?" Fili asked, attempting to loosen the hold slightly.

"I said…" Kili repeated, his words trailing off into mumbles again as he buried his face even further into the gold mane.

"Didn't quite catch that?"

Slowly, Kili disentangled himself from Fili and he slumped back with his head hanging low. "I said I don't want to be away from you, brother…"

A sigh passed Fili's lips and again he wiped the tears from the big brown eyes staring at him intently like it was the last time they would ever see him. He held the flushing cheeks in his hands and brought their heads together.

"I'll be back soon, I promise." He whispered and placed a small kiss on Kili's forehead.

At that moment Thorin stepped in through the arching doorway, closely followed by Dis. She looked concerned that the world might suddenly come crashing down all around her sons and Kili certainly felt that it was a possibility. Dis walked over to where the two boys stood together and she placed a gentle hand on Kili's shoulder.

"Fili, come," Thorin said in a low voice, "It's time for us to go." His and Dis' eyes met and he released a strained sigh.

Fili squeezed Kili's hand then stood and crossed the room over to where Thorin stood. Kili suddenly felt as though an entire ocean now lay between him and his brother and he turned his face into his mother's skirts for comfort as only children do. He heard the footsteps beginning to leave the room and he peered out to watch his brother go. Fili smiled at him and gave a small wave, then singing in Iglishmek he gently tapped his fist against his heart twice.

I love you brother.

Kili sniffed again and Dis gently lifted him up into her arms and rocked him back and forth while he watched through the window as Fili briefly glanced back, looking more heartbroken than ever.

Mechanically Kili picked up fallen branches for their fire. He trudged along through the forest with the occasional "plunk" of water droplets falling onto his hood, but his mind never wandered away from Fili. A slight feeling of relief had washed over him when Thorin told him to go collect firewood and had instructed Fili to unsaddle the ponies as it would give him some time to breathe and gather his thoughts.

What had started out as a perfectly normal day with playing pranks and telling awful jokes to his brother had somehow turned dark and brooding, befitting of the current weather. Half of him wanted to run directly to Fili and demand he tell him what was wrong but the other half that stopped him was afraid of what Fili might say or what unknown thing might come out of his own mouth after his recent thought that afternoon.

It still troubled him, though he tried to dismiss the notion of adoration as something all brothers shared. But every time he stole a glance at Ori timidly assisting Nori in preparing supper or Oin and Gloin bickering over which type of potatoes tasted better in a stew, he could not truly admit that their sentiments were the same as his, despite how little he understood of his emotions himself. While he, of course, knew that the brothers loved one another, he could not seem to detect any sign that they felt the same butterflies which fluttered in his stomach and made his face feel hot any time he so much as looked in the general direction of Fili.

His confusion was quickly progressing to anger and frustration. Again he risked a small glance over at where Fili stood, brushing the tangles out of the mane of one of the ponies and in his distraction he accidentally stumbled over a tree root, causing him to drop all of the branches he had collected. They fell everywhere and Kili kicked the tree nearest to him, instantly recoiling in pain and cursing the very life of the oak and all its kin as he jumped on one leg holding his injured foot. On the verge of starting a one-way fist fight, Kili's rampage was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder.

Kili turned around to see Bifur regarding him with what appeared to be sympathy and understanding? He really couldn't be sure since he had only ever seen the dwarf in a frothing rage or entirely stoic and indifferent. The conspicuous axe-head sticking out of his skull also made judging his emotions a bit of a challenge, aside from the fact that he also only spoke in ancient Dwarvish which no one in the Company could interpret. Needless to say, Bifur wasn't exactly the most talkative of the dwarves, nor was he the first person Kili sought when he was particularly troubled.

However, he found Bifur's company somewhat comforting then and with a deep sigh he sat down, his back resting against the victorious tree. Bifur continued to stand in the same spot patiently, not waiting for anything in particular but just waiting.

"I don't understand what's wrong." Kili finally said with his head in his hands. He looked up at Bifur who was listening intently, or at least he seemed to be, and decided to continue on, "Everything was fine today, or at least I thought it was until he made that face and I felt awful. I don't think I've ever seen him look so sad in all my life." Kili paused, picturing the blue eyes for the hundredth time. "And he's such a terrific actor, too isn't he?" he pointed a finger over at the camp, not daring to actually look, "You would probably never guess he had a single thing troubling him, the way he goes on as if nothing were wrong! But I can always tell. Like the other day when Dwalin was telling that story to everyone about the first time Fili ever tried archery but he put the tail end of the arrow on first? Oh, he laughed along with everyone else of course, but I knew how annoyed and embarrassed he was because he hasn't touched a bow or arrow since!" Kili said, grinning at the memory of Fili tramping off into the woods while Dwalin roared with laughter and even Balin had had a small grin on his face. "I always thought that perhaps that was why he decided to wield two swords instead of just one; to compensate for his lack of skill in archery and prove that he could master something."

Bifur continued to stare with unchanging eyes but Kili was already speaking again.

"Sometimes it feels as though half of everything he thinks about is being a proper heir and not disappointing Thorin, which we so often seem to do," he said with a smirk. "It's a perfectly idiotic idea if you ask me! Being a prince but having no kingdom or real throne to inherit…really, what's the point in that when we're probably just going to be barbecued by that dragon the minute he lays eyes on us?" Kili threw his hands in the air and slumped down even further against the roots, folding his arms across his chest with a sigh.

"Whatever Fili is hiding must be a very important secret if even I didn't notice it until today. What do you think it could be about?" Kili asked eagerly, turning towards Bifur who now had one bushy eyebrow raised. "Oh, right. I forgot about the whole…axe…thing." He absentmindedly touched his own forehead and was momentarily lost in thought, imagining how the blade had gotten wedged into the dwarf's skull and pondering over what Bifur must have done to his assailant afterwards.

"Do you think it's weird?" Kili questioned his silent listener, "I mean, Oin and Gloin don't obsess over the reasoning behind each other's 'sad eyes.' And Balin and Dwalin certainly don't blush like silly elves whenever they happen to look at one another!" Kili chuckled slightly at the mental image, "Although, more than once I've caught Bofur sneaking a glance over at the Halfling or offering him some of his supper when he thinks no one is looking. The redness in his cheeks went all the way to his ears when Bilbo said how kind he was, I'm sure of it!" he laughed, remembering the previous night's meal.

For a moment Kili became quiet as he played with a blade of grass he had pulled from the ground. He twirled the green strand around between his fingers while looking pensive, his expression becoming grimmer.

"At least it isn't his own brother…" he mumbled more to himself than to Bifur, dropping the blade of grass and watching it fall gently to the forest floor.

They sat like that for some minutes, neither of them saying a word until finally Kili looked up at Bifur earnestly and asked, "What should I do?"

Silently with the same expression as when he had first arrived, Bifur turned to look over at Fili who had now moved on to a different pony, and then turned back to Kili, cocking his head to the side with his eyebrows slightly raised.

A low groan came out of Kili's mouth and he thumped his head back against the tree. "I suppose you're probably right," he said as he slowly stood up and brushed the dirt off himself. He walked up to Bifur and put out his arm, which was received with the same gesture and they bumped forearms together. "Wish me luck," Kili sighed with a smile, "I have a feeling I'll need it."

Bifur gave a small grin and shook his head as he watched the dwarf walk through the darkening forest back into the light of the campfire towards Fili.

XXX

Thanks for reading chapter two and a big thank you to everyone who has favorited/followed my story! It's truly encouraging!

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