Bilbo found himself deeply unsettled by the conversation with Fili, and would have thought the young prince (though Bilbo had since learned that Fili was 82, and young Ori was actually a full 50 years older, making him older than the oldest hobbit ever to have lived) was teasing him, except that he had been so grim in the telling of the tale. He dared not ask any of the other dwarves, for if Fili's story was true, Kili had been born into servitude for a crime that was most certainly — in Bilbo's view — not his fault, and Bilbo did not want to believe the dwarves could be so cruel. So in the evening, when the Company had settled down and Kili was once again tending to the ponies, Bilbo sauntered over to where Gandalf was smoking a pipe. He was rather pleased with himself for looking quite casual as he approached.

"What troubles you, Master Baggins?" Gandalf said, and Bilbo's face fell just a little bit at discovering he was not so clever as he thought.

Bilbo looked carefully around, but the dwarves were utterly ignoring him, and even Gandalf's attention seemed somewhat splintered, as if his smoke rings were of equal (or greater) importance. "I spoke to Fili about Kili today," he whispered.

Gandalf's face went long and sad. "A tragedy," he murmured. "One of many suffered by Durin's line."

"But," Bilbo insisted, "his mother died whilst delivering him! Surely no one could hold a babe responsible for such a thing."

Gandalf looked reproachfully at Bilbo. "Do not judge others through the lens of your own experience," he said gruffly. "Unless you are prepared to tell me that there are no customs in the Shire that others would find unpalatable."

"But there aren't," Bilbo said insistently. "Well, unless perhaps you count the Feast of the Entrails, but there is historical precedent, and no one takes it seriously anymore. Well. Hardly anyone, really. " He huffed at Gandalf's raised eyebrow. "All right, yes, I see your point, but still, a sentence of 150 years seems rather extreme for something over which he had no control!"

Bilbo said this in quite an excited tone, then glanced around nervously. Fortunately, the dwarves were all deeply involved in some sort of card game, and did not appear to have noticed his hysteria. Kili, for his part, was still tending to the ponies. As there were 16 of them, Bilbo expected the task would take most of the night.

Gandalf puffed serenely at his pipe. "The laws of khazd khuv are very old, far older than any laws of hobbits. Dwarf women are sturdier than most. They very rarely die in childbirth. When one does, it is assumed that there must be some fault with the babe."

"But to set the child to a life of servitude — "

"It is not often so strictly practiced. Dwarrow children are rare and precious. Most such babes are fostered off to relatives. Had Dis not been of the royal line, Kili would likely have been sent to his cousins in the Iron Hills."

"But 150 years!"

"I understand you may think it harsh, and so it seems to me as well, but we are neither of us dwarves, and Kili has been cared for well enough," Gandalf said. "He will not have been abused. He will have been fed and protected. You see he carries a dagger, and he is quite skilled with a bow."

All of these things might well be true, but Bilbo was still uneasy. "He says he has no family."

"In the dwarvish custom, he does not. He is not considered to be Fili's brother or Thorin's nephew, and you should not refer to him as such."

"And when his sentence ends?" Bilbo asked glumly, for he found this entire situation to be very distressing. "What happens to him then?"

"He will be free to make his way in the world, on a path of his choosing. Though I fear he will always bear a stigma among the dwarves. To be birthed thus is considered terrible bad luck, and he is believed to carry it with him."

"So his family will not welcome him back?" Bilbo asked, though he was certain he already knew the answer.

"As I said," Gandalf said sadly, "khazd khuv have no family."


All the dwarves were endlessly interesting to Bilbo — though Bifur and Dwalin were in truth more terrifying than interesting — but Bilbo found himself watching Kili the most. It was true that he did not seem to be mistreated, particularly, but neither did Bilbo think anyone went out of his way to treat him particularly well either. He was always on second watch — the hardest watch, in Bilbo's opinion, since it meant an interrupted night's sleep no matter what — and he always slept the farthest from the fire, a certain distance away from the other dwarves. Worse, he was always served his meals after everyone else had eaten, sometimes after they had been served twice; if that meant he got mostly broth and bits of meat and whatever else sank to the bottom of the stew, no one but Bilbo seemed bothered by it.

Worst of all, Bilbo confided to Gandalf, "No one ever talks to him."

Gandalf nodded, his eyes sad. "To be khazd khuv is to be lonely."

To a gregarious hobbit, it was nearly unbearable. One day after they had been trapped in the rain, when they were all soaked to the skin and very grumpy, they took shelter for the night under a large overhanging rock, not really large enough to shelter the entire company. Kili, of course, was sent outside to mind the ponies, who were soggy, muddy messes, and who, if Bilbo was any judge of ponies (which he was not, really), were equally as grumpy as the dwarves.

The setting sun had emerged from the clouds and the air was warm; but for the damp clothing, it was a pleasant evening. Bilbo steeled his nerves and approached Thorin, dreading the conversation but unable to bear being party to Kili's exile for even one more minute.

"Thorin, sir," he said timidly, "if I might have a word?"

Thorin looked at him from under a damp fringe of hair. He looked very irritable. Of course, he always looked very irritable. "Mr. Baggins," he said, not very unkindly, "how may I help you?"

"Well," Bilbo said, "it is just, you see, I was wondering–"

Thorin waited patiently for nearly ten long seconds. "Yes?"

"Well, I understand your rules, of course, and don't wish to do anything to get anyone in trouble, but I thought–"

Thorin's period of patient waiting was shorter this time. "Yes?"

"Well. It's just." And then Bilbo took a deep breath and rushed out, "If it is not against the rules, I wondered if I might go outside and talk to Kili. Sir."

Thorin stared at him wordlessly for a moment. He did not look upset, though he was perhaps a little bemused at the request. "There is no rule against talking to him. Do as you wish." Then he seemed to lose what little interest he had ever had in the conversation, and turned to Dwalin, who was in the process of squeezing the water from his tunic, his enormous arms straining as he twisted the cloth.

Bilbo scurried outdoors before Thorin could change his mind, and found Kili sitting against the wall, scrubbing mud off his boots.

"Master Dwarf!" Bilbo cried cheerfully.

Kili looked up with a frown. When he saw no other dwarves whom Bilbo could be addressing, he blinked and looked puzzled.

Bilbo sat down next to him. "Well," he said, "today was not so much fun, was it now?"

Kili stared at him for a moment, fingers frozen over his boots. Then he said, "No," very cautiously, as if he was not convinced he should be speaking at all.

"No, it was not," Bilbo agreed heartily. "And I don't mind saying, after such a day I could use a little pick-me-up."

Kili stared some more and an extraordinary expression crossed his face, as if he was considering what he could possibly say to this strange little creature in front of him. Apparently he could not reach a satisfactory conclusion, for he turned his attention back to his boots, which were really quite spectacularly coated with mud. Bilbo's own feet had been similarly coated, but he had found a convenient puddle to wash them, and they were again clean and dry.

"It just so happens," Bilbo said, leaning in confidentially, "that I have been saving a treat all this time, waiting for just the right occasion, and I think perhaps that occasion is today." He reached gently into a pocket and pulled out a small bundle wrapped in a napkin. "A seedcake," he said. "Home-made and quite delicious, if I do say so myself, even though it is no longer quite fresh." He broke the cake carefully in half, and reached out to hold the larger half to Kili. "I would be very honored if you would share it with me."

Kili's mouth twisted and his eyes flickered to the overhang where the rest of the dwarves were. As usual, they paid him no attention whatsoever. But when Kili turned his attention back to Bilbo, his face was quite determined. "That is most gracious of you," he said, strangely stiff and formal, "but I would not take your treat away from you, Mr. Baggins."

"Now, now," Bilbo said severely, "that will not do at all. I don't know how things are among the dwarves, but we hobbits take our food very seriously indeed. I shall be gravely insulted if you do not share with me." He nodded for emphasis. "Very gravely insulted." And he held out the half of the cake again insistently.

Kili's brows knit together as he studied Bilbo's face, but there was really no way to refuse such an offer, and so he eventually bobbed his head and accepted the cake, though he did not eat it until Bilbo had already eaten his own.

Kili took a bite of the cake and blinked, looking startled.

"Is it no good?" Bilbo said nervously, even though to him it had tasted wonderful, so long did it seem since he had eaten anything of the sort at all. "It has been in my pocket for many days. I'm sorry I do not have a fresh one to share with you. They are best when fresh out of the oven."

"It's very good," Kili said immediately, finishing the rest in two quick bites. "I was just surprised. I am not often given sweets."

"I suppose you wouldn't be," Bilbo said, patting his knee, and feeling a little guilty for having kept the entire seedcake to himself that first night at Bag-End. "I'll tell you what, my lad," (which was ridiculous, really, as the lad in question was 25 years older than Bilbo), "I shall make sure to share with you any sweets we come across on this journey. What do you think of that idea?"

"I think," Kili said slowly, looking at him with a deeply puzzled but not displeased expression, "that you are nothing like a dwarf."

"Well, no," Bilbo said cheerfully. "Of course not. And quite a good thing too, I should say, or I should not have had the restraint to save the seedcake until we today, when we needed it most!"


A/N: A longer chapter for all of you! Two chapters, really, but the first was too short to post on its own. Things should start heating up from here on out.

Comments and concrit always appreciated!