Where does rain come from, Fíli?"

Kíli sat cross legged, chin resting in one hand while the other fiddled with a new bow. Unused. One that could not be played with indoors. He and Fíli were supposed to be outside right now, weapons in tow. Until the storm came and ruined their day.

"It comes from clouds. The clouds get so full they start leaking and then..." Fíli gestured dramatically, "...whoosh! Lots of rain."

"How does the water get in the clouds?"

"It...it's just there." Fíli didn't have all the answers. In fact, he hadn't thought about that before.

"Does thunder come from the clouds too? I only hear it when it's raining."

"No, no, that's from the giants."

"Giants?" Kíli gasped.

"Yes, they're made of stone and are bigger than the mountains and they make the thunder. The louder it is, the closer they are and-"

"Fíli!" A sudden bark from across the room interrupted his explanation. He didn't realize his uncle was listening. "There is no such thing. Don't feed your brother fanciful nonsense."

"But that's what my father told me," Fíli muttered under his breath.

"So where DOES thunder come from?" Kíli was growing impatient for an answer.

"I don't know," Fíli sighed, crestfallen.

The storm did not let up. Fíli and Kíli remained inside, morning turning to afternoon, and conspired about what they would do once the rain stopped.

"There's a flood," their mother updated them. "The river is overflowing and the ground will be soaked for days."

"Yay, MUD!" Kíli exclaimed, momentarily thrilled. Then he registered the part about a flood. "But when can we go out and play?"

"It's not safe to be outside now. Have a little patience, my darlings! It will stop soon."

"But when?"

No time soon, apparently. Water dripped from the ceiling. "Now it's raining INSIDE!" Kíli wailed. The brothers occupied their time by sticking pots under the leaks. They tried to make a game out of it, however, it wasn't much fun. "The clouds must be very full."

What a wasted day.

Later that night, the rhythmic splashing of water on metal pots kept them both awake. The rain was louder now. A clap of thunder shook the walls.

"Fíli!" Kíli squealed and hid his head under a blanket.

"It's just thunder." But it had startled Fíli, too.

"Fíli, are there really giants? Uncle said-"

"There ARE. I know it."

A louder boom rattled their beds. Or so it felt like.

"Then they're getting closer?!"

"They must be." Fíli jumped up and grabbed a small knife he kept by his pillow. It was rather dull, but it would do.

"Where are you going? It's nighttime!"

"I'm going to see the giants," Fíli threw on his cloak and boots.

"But aren't you afraid?"

"I'm not afraid of anything," he lied. "Are you coming with me or not?"

"Uh huh, I will. I want to see them too!"

"Good, you can hold the lantern."

The dim light wasn't helping much as they crept down the halls. They had to be as quiet as possible and that was rather difficult, especially for Kíli.

"We're almost there. Careful with that light! If it goes out, we'll never get back." Fíli began to have second thoughts about this excursion, but his curiosity outweighed his concern.

When they arrived at the entrance, a wall of water greeted them. "We have to go out there? But we'll get wet!" Kíli had second thoughts now, too.

"So? Come on!"

They trudged through the mud, through the pools of water, the wind stinging their faces. Aboom of thunder, louder now that they were outside, made them gasp. Then a flash of lightning lit the whole sky with a crack. Kíli jumped backwards and dropped the lantern. Everything went dark.

"What do we do? What do we do?!" Kíli didn't bother to hide how frightened he was.

"I...I can see a little bit," Fíli couldn't, but he didn't want Kíli to know that. He waited for more lightning to guide him.

They needed to turn back, but which way was it? If they walked one step in the wrong direction…

"Fíli, help!" Kíli was knee-deep in cold, rushing water. Fíli dragged him out, careful not to fall in himself.

Thunder roared even louder. "They're coming! Will they step on us?"

"No, just stay close!" Fíli wasn't sure how to get out of this mess. If only he had thought this through, instead of running blindly into the rain to prove a point. Amidst the storm, and Kíli's hysterics, he heard soggy footsteps.

The brothers were suddenly lifted off the ground by the backs of their cloaks. They screamed, kicked, flailed; Fíli grabbed for the knife in his pocket with no avail.

"Let us go!"

"What are you doing out here?!" Their uncle growled. He sloshed back across the flooded ground, a nephew under each arm.

"Of all the foolish, irresponsible…in the middle of the night, in a storm! Were you trying to get yourselves drowned?"

"We were going to see the giants!" Kíli sniffled.

"There are NO giants," he glared at Fíli, "I want an end to this nonsense. And I am disappointed in you for bringing your brother out here."

"He wanted to come! I didn't know that-"

"Stop, no more excuses. If I had not heard you leave, do you know what could have happened? Kíli, stop crying. Do NOT leave these halls at night again. Is that understood?"

"Yes, uncle."

"Dry yourselves off. Do not tell your mother about this. We don't want to upset her now, do we?"

"No, uncle."

He led them to their room and ordered them to bed.

Kíli shook the water from his hair like a drenched dog. "He's mad. We shouldn't have left."

"Maybe so, but he's not REALLY mad. He was just worried." Fíli was getting better at measuring his uncle's moods. He pulled off his boots and poured water out of them.

The door flung open. Their uncle dropped a pile of towels onto the bed with a sigh. "Goodnight."

They were warm, probably right off the hearth, and Fíli and Kíli wasted no time wrapping themselves in them. "See? He's not that angry."

Now dry and very sleepy, they crawled into bed. Kíli had at last stopped shivering and reflected on the night's events. "That wasn't very fun. But I wouldn't mind doing it again." He seemed to be developing a taste for danger, much to Fíli's dismay.

"And we didn't see any giants. Is uncle right, then? Are there none?"

Fíli lifted his head from his pillow and gave an impassioned assurance to Kíli, and himself.

"Just because you haven't seen something yet, doesn't mean it's not out there. You've never seen the lonely mountain before, but you know it's real, right? Same with a lot of other things. One day, we'll see it all."