Thorin grew more and more restless over the next few days, until the boys were forced to avoid their uncle for fear of his temper. That very morning he'd yelled at them for tracking mud all over the floorboards in his room. Fili and Kili had fled, confused; Thorin was always the worst offender when it came to leaving his boots on inside the house.
"Uncle's really grumpy today," Kili commented sadly to their mother.
"Even grumpier than usual," Fili said with a grin.
Dís shook her head. "It's because I'm keeping him cooped up inside the house. He's never sat still for so long in his whole life." She poked playfully at Kili, who was squirming around in her lap as she attempted to brush the tangles out of his hair. "Remind you of someone?"
Kili giggled.
"When do you think Uncle will be better?" questioned Fili.
"In a couple of days, I suppose." She set the brush down and ran her fingers through Kili's hair, quickly working in two small braids and securing them at the nape of his neck with a silver clasp. "And don't take Uncle Thorin's anger to heart, my loves," she added. "He's not mad at you."
"Who is he mad at, then?" Fili asked.
Dís huffed a laugh. "A lot of people. But not you." She patted Kili on the shoulder to indicate she was done, and let him slide off her lap and onto the floor. "Now, what trouble do you expect to get up to today, my tiny terrors?"
They both grinned up at her, a little blonde lion cub and a dimpled, bright-eyed imp.
"We were thinking of visiting Mister Bifur and Bofur and Bombur," said Fili. "They're going back to the Iron Hills soon, and Bofur promised they'd show us some new toys if we stopped by."
"There's a mechin– a manicha– a menachinal bear, an' it moves around on its own!" Kili added excitedly. "An' a little carved troll that crushes nuts when you pull back its arm!"
"Mm, very exciting," Dís smiled. "Mind you keep out from under foot, and don't stay for too long, alright?"
They nodded vigorously.
"Off you run th–"
"Wait!"
Dís and her sons turned to the door, where Thorin had appeared in the hallway. He wore a fur coat over a simple blue tunic and loose trousers. His sword was at his belt. Determination and apprehension were vying for dominance across his worn features.
"I'll accompany you," he said, and his voice went up by the slightest note at the end, making it more of a question than a statement.
(The heir to the Lonely Mountain was definitely not asking his little sister for permission to leave the house. The heir to the Lonely Mountain most certainly did not fear his sister's wrath. The heir to the Lonely Mountain was merely being polite, of course.)
The sister of the heir to the Lonely Mountain folded her arms and looked him up and down, her eyes narrowed. "You're meant to be resting."
"I'll hardly be straining myself," he growled, exasperated. "We'll only be gone for a couple of hours. They're lodging just a few streets away. And I can keep an eye on the boys for you."
Dís considered this for a few moments, then sighed and said, "I suppose that should be alright. If only to give myself a rest from your constant complaining."
Thorin snorted, trying not to show how relieved he was, and was out the door before she could change her mind, with Fili and Kili hot on his heels.
"Mahal, you'd think I was keeping him chained up in the cellar," they heard Dís mutter as they made it out the garden gate.
The path to the shop was not a long one. In fact, Bifur, Bofur and Bombur had chosen the building over other, larger ones because it was nearer to Dís and the boys.
Fili and Kili practically had to run to keep up with Thorin. Their uncle walked with the single-minded determination that pervaded everything he did, today more than ever; he took great long strides, his head up and his chest out, relishing the bitingly cold morning air as if he'd been starved of oxygen for the past few days.
Kili watched him carefully as he walked, and slowly lengthened his own steps to ridiculous proportions, and swung his arms by his sides in an effort to mimic Thorin. Satisfied at the resemblance, he smiled and stuck his nose in the air.
At the sight of his little brother trotting behind Uncle Thorin, head held high, arms swinging almost up to eye level, Fili had to clap his hands over his mouth to keep from screeching with laughter. As it was a strangled sort of giggle escaped him, and Thorin turned to look at them over his shoulder. "What are you two up to?" he asked suspiciously.
Quick as a flash, Kili dropped the imitation and resumed his normal walk. He blinked innocently under Thorin's scrutiny, dark eyes wide. Fili had to bite his lip to maintain a straight face anywhere near as good as his little brother's. As soon as Thorin had turned away, Fili and Kili grinned at each other. They had a new game to play.
Many odd looks were cast in Thorin's direction as he crossed town that morning.
(Well, not so much at Thorin as at the two little dwarves marching along behind him, one in front of the other, noses in the air and arms swinging comically as they tried to keep pace with their uncle.)
They heard Bofur before they saw him; his voice lilted out through the wide open door into the street, instantly recognisable even over the loud, repetitive crack! of metal on wood that emanated from within the shop:
"…an' I said to 'im, I said, 'Look here lad, d'ya really think ya can out-drink a dwarf? An Iron Hills dwarf, no less?' An' 'e said to me, 'I bet ye five silvers that I can'. And can ya guess? Drunk 'im right under the table, I did, and took those five silvers too."
A small crowd of children was huddled outside the shop window, gawking at the toys that were hopping and ambling and flapping about on the display table. Thorin edged around the throng and strode through the side door with barely a glance at the exhibit. Fili and Kili abandoned their game and dashed ahead of their uncle, knowing that the really good stuff lay inside.
"Bifur, Bofur, look who we brought to visit!" Kili cried, bouncing over to where the two older dwarves were busy chipping away at the beginnings of an intricately carved rocking horse.
Bofur turned in time to catch Kili, who threw himself forward in his customary greeting. "Oho there, laddies!" Bofur laughed, holding Kili against his hip with one arm and ruffling Fili's hair with his free hand. Bifur lay down chisel and hammer and nodded at Thorin and the boys. "How did ya manage to spirit yer uncle away from yer mammy?" asked Bofur, smiling.
"I'm a free dwarf," Thorin explained, wincing slightly as he took a seat on a bench beside Bifur, "in return for giving my sister a couple of hours peace."
"From yer grumbling, I'll warrant," Bofur said cheerfully.
"Yeah, Uncle's been really cranky the last few days," Kili whispered in his ear, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
Even Bifur's eyes crinkled at that. Thorin just grimaced.
Then Bombur walked in carrying a crate of mechanical dwarven soldiers, and with a cry of, "Bombur!", Fili and Kili flew across the room and all but tackled him.
"Is it me or the toys you're so happy to see?" Bombur asked with a chuckle, placing the crate carefully on a low bench so the boys could get a look inside.
"Both," grinned Fili.
As the adults seated themselves around a narrow wooden table to talk, the boys settled on the floor with two handfuls of mechanical soldiers each and proceeded to stage an epic battle.
"This is Uncle Thorin," Kili said, picking up one of the soldiers and placing him in front of the crooked rows of mechanical dwarves he'd lined up.
"You got Thorin last time," Fili reminded him.
Kili paused, looked very disappointed, then nodded dejectedly.
"Oh, don't look so miserable, you goof," Fili sighed, tickling his little brother under the chin and grinning when he squealed and rolled away. "You can be Thorin again if you want."
Kili beamed.
And so the next hour was spent winding up their mechanical soldiers as fast as they could and watching them march jerkily across the floorboards to collide with each other. Whoever had the most dwarves standing at the end would win. (Fili, of course, surreptitiously knocked over several of his own soldiers to allow Kili to win most of the rounds. The brilliant smile of incredulous triumph on his little brother's face made it all worth it.)
Then Bombur called them over for lunch and the battle was abandoned as they rushed to the table. The adults laughed as they fell upon the food ravenously, devouring anything and everything that was set before them.
"Try to taste the food on its way down, lads," Bofur cried, "not just inhale it."
" 'm hungry," Fili said around a mouthful of bread.
"Mm-hmm-m," Kili added. He was trying and failing to fit an entire apple in his mouth.
Thorin shook his head at their table manners. "That's not very dignified," he said, and Fili and Kili stopped eating long enough to look apologetic.
Snorting, Bifur grabbed another pheasant leg and muttered something in Khuzdul that made his cousins laugh and Thorin clear his throat sheepishly.
"What'd he say?" Fili whispered to Bombur.
"He was reminding your uncle that we've heard all about his table manners when he was younger," grinned Bombur.
Fili giggled, unable to picture regal Uncle Thorin shovelling food into his mouth.
Once the food and the conversation had finished, the boys helped the older dwarves clear the table. Then they all gathered in the workshop to see some of the special new toys that Bifur, Bofur and Bombur had promised to show them. The tiny puzzle boxes (not too difficult, not too easy) that Bifur specialised in were a big hit, as were the little wooden boats that Bombur said could withstand harsh river rapids. The clear favourites, however, were the mechanical soldiers that Fili and Kili had been playing with earlier. Bofur had laughed at their joyful expressions when he told them that they could take home a dozen each, and patted them fondly on the head when they hugged him in thanks.
"Well, it's time we were off," Thorin announced finally.
"Aww, no," moaned Kili. "Can't we stay a li'l bit longer, Uncle Thorin?"
He shook his head. "Your mother will murder me if we're not home soon." He looked out the window. "It'll be dark before long, and…I think it's started snowing."
Fili and Kili yelped excitedly and raced to the window, pressing their noses to the glass to stare at the soft white snow that had began to fall. The pavement was already covered in a thin layer of it. They grinned at each other; snow meant sledding and skating and snowballs, and play-fighting with the icicles that formed on trees and the eaves of houses.
"Come on, boys," said Thorin. "Say goodbye."
They hugged Bifur and Bombur, and Bofur again, and thanked them for making lunch and showing them the new toys. They were halfway out the door when Bofur snapped his fingers and ran into a back room, returning with a small metal box, not even half the size of his hand.
"Give this to yer mammy, boys, as a gift from us," he said, smiling warmly.
Fili took it tentatively, running his fingers over the beautiful etchings on the lid, and opened the clasp. Almost immediately a sweet little tune began to play, as the tiny cogs on the inside of the box turned around each other. Kili stood on tip-toes to look over his brother's elbow, eyes wide in marvel.
Thorin shifted, frowning. That was an expensive gift, one that would have taken many hours of labour to perfect, and his three friends weren't in the best of financial positions at the moment. He caught Bofur's eye. "Are you sure you can afford to–"
"Let her know that she'll have to wind it up every night," Bofur interrupted, giving Thorin a look that clearly said to shut his mouth.
"Mama's gonna love it," beamed Kili.
Bofur smiled again. "Well, that's a relief. Now, ye'd best be off before it starts snowing too hard."
The trip home was significantly quicker than the trip to Bifur, Bofur and Bombur's house; the boys ran ahead of their uncle, whooping and stomping in the puddles that the snow had created on the uneven pavements (careful to keep their small boxes of soldiers dry). Thorin might have reprimanded them for muddying the bottoms of their trousers, but the excursion out of the house had put him in a good mood, and he was loathe to ruin their fun. He'd suffer Dís' lecture for their sake.
Fili and Kili raced each other through the front door. "Mama!" Kili cried, holding his box of mechanical soldiers above his head. "Mama, look what we got!"
Dís appeared at the end of the hall, her sleeves rolled up and a rag thrown over one shoulder. She blew a stray curl out of her eyes and put her hands on her hips.
"ByAulë, I'd almost forgotten I had sons!" she exclaimed. "A couple of hours indeed, Thorin Oakenshield! It's almost dark."
Thorin grimaced and dropped down onto one of the lounges in the sitting room. "Sorry."
"Mama, mama, look!" Kili bounded down the hall and skidded to a halt in front of his mother, closely followed by Fili. "Bofur gave us some new toys!"
Dís herded them back into the sitting room, sighing at the muddy tracks they left on the floorboards. She slumped down onto the couch beside Thorin and waved a hand at the boys. "Alright, my loves, show me."
They emptied their boxes onto the floor, laying out the soldiers and winding them up, and grinning proudly as they marched across the room. Dís smiled and made an appreciative 'ooh' sound.
"They're wonderful," she told them. "I hope you said thank you."
"We did," chorused Fili and Kili together.
"Good boys."
"We were playing battles all afternoon," said Kili. "And this one was Uncle Thorin." He held up the little mechanical dwarf that he'd designated as Thorin, which he'd kept in his pocket apart from the other soldiers.
"Mm, I can see the resemblance," Dís chuckled, comparing the little wooden soldier's mane of unkempt black hair to her brother's.
Thorin, dozing on the lounge, cracked open an eyelid. "I'm sure that was meant as an insult," he growled in mock-irritation.
His sister laughed. Then she picked herself up off the lounge and stretched, arching her sore back. "Come on, boys. We'll have supper early, before Uncle Thorin properly falls asleep."
Thorin groaned as Dís half dragged him to his feet and pushed him down the hall – the trip to Bifur, Bofur and Bombur's place had done him good, but left him aching and exhausted. Just watching Fili and Kili bounce ahead of him was making him tired. His nephews never seemed to run out of energy.
They took their places around the table, and Fili helped Dís serve up the broth that she'd made that afternoon. Dís said a quick blessing to Aulë, and conversation ceased for a good five minutes as the family ate in companionable silence.
Then the Heir to the Lonely Mountain paused, and squinted at his soup, and looked up a his sister. "There's peas in this," he said.
Dís nodded, and continued eating.
"You know I hate peas," Thorin frowned.
Taking a deep breath, Dís lay down her spoon. "Peas are good for you," she explained slowly. "You need to eat your greens."
"No I don't," Thorin muttered rebelliously, with all intention of picking every single pea out of his bowl. One glare from his sister made him rethink that decision.
A moment later Kili piped up from across the table. "Mama, you know I hate carrots," he moaned.
"You need to eat your carrots," Dís sighed, just about ready to go eat in private.
"No I don't," said Kili, and he lowered his voice and scrunched his eyebrows in what was by far the most impressive Thorin Oakenshield impression ever done by a five year old.
Thorin blinked. "Was that meant to be…" He looked at Dís, who had gotten up from the table because she was laughing so hard, at Fili, who had all but fallen off his chair, and at Kili, who was looking very pleased with himself indeed. "Oh." Thorin began to chuckle. "Well done."
Dís' laughter redoubled; the expression on her brother's face was priceless.
This chapter took far longer than I expected, sorry about that! It was only meant to be a short one too...oh well.
The next chapter is the one that I basically wrote this whole fic for, so hopefully that should be up soon! It involves little dwarflings in peril and Uncle Thorin almost tearing his hair out, so stick around!
As always, all comments are greatly appreciated! C: