"How long is Da going away for?"

"Not long, dear." Dís carefully twisted her son's golden hair into two neat braids on each side of his worried face.

"Longer than a day?"

"Yes, Fíli, but he will be back before you know it." Her younger son had now climbed up the side of the bed in determination and crawled over to his brother. "Kíli, you have your own bed, my love."

"No, big bed!"

"It's fine. He doesn't kick as much anymore. He can stay," Fíli conceded.

"Hi!" Kíli waved furiously in Fíli's face with both hands.

"Sweet little Kíli, may I braid your hair too?" Dís questioned with misplaced hope.

"NO!" He grabbed the top of his head for dear life.

"So strong willed, my baby!"

Fíli giggled; he knew better than to touch Kíli's hair. Any attempt would be met with fierce little teeth. He learned this the hard way.

"Can Da tell us a story?" Fíli pleaded.

"As soon as he's finished speaking to your uncle..."

At just the right moment, the boys' father poked his head into the room. "Did I hear a request?"

"Yes, please!"

"Pleeeeeeease!"

"I will leave you boys to it, then." Dís gave each son a kiss on the forehead. Kíli promptly wiped his away. "Oh, you!" She tickled him under his chin until he squealed.

Dís gave one more kiss to her husband as she passed him. "They stayed up for you, but they should really be asleep by now."

"I'll tire them out, don't worry," he winked.

"Goodnight, my darlings."

"Goodnight, Mama!" They cried back.

"Now, who wants to hear a story?"

"We do!"

Their father's stories were the best, even if they had dubious veracity. Uncle's stories were serious, usually about a big mountain he used to live in, and often ended with "and that's what happens to little dwarves who don't behave." But Da told tales about his giant pet eagle ("I can't show you him, he flew away on me") how he defeated a troll with only a pocket knife ("You can try when you're older, Fíli") and when he swam across the entire sea ("Why? Well, I just felt like taking a little swim!").

"Tell one about dragons. Or ghosts," Fíli liked to test his courage, even with bedtime stories.

"Errr, I don't want to scare little Kíli. Next time, son." He ruffled Fíli's hair, messing up those neat braids. "How about...did I ever tell you the one about the dwarf and the elf?"

"No, tell us, tell us!"

"Elfs," Kíli repeated, for no other reason than he liked the sound of the word.

"Alright," he rubbed his hands together and quickly thought of something on the fly. He had exhausted every story he knew ten times over with this nightly ritual. And they demanded new tales, all the time. Might as well give them a moral this time.

"There once was a dwarf and an elf. And the dwarf-"

"What did he look like?" Fíli asked.

"Oh, he had a great big beard and carried five axes."

Fíli's eyes widened. "What kind?"

"Double-edged."

Satisfied with that answer, Fíli settled his head back onto his pillow with a dreamy look.

"And the dwarf and the elf were preparing for winter."

"What's winter?" Kíli twisted his face in puzzlement.

"When it's cold," answered Fíli, "and there's snow."

"Ohhh," Kíli tried to remember the last time he saw winter. "I like snow."

"The dwarf stocked up on food and blankets and ale and everything one needs to prepare for such weather. The elf thought he could get everything later and could go hunt in a blizzard."

"Bizzzzard," said Kíli.

"And he laughed at the dwarf for being prepared! So winter comes around and it was a bad one."

"How bad?" Fíli demanded the details, always.

"Uh, the snow was higher than a horse! But the dwarf was safe in his mountain and had everything he needed. The elf, on the other hand, went looking for supplies. Because he thought he was stronger than nature. But he underestimated it."

Kíli, who had been burrowing under the blankets like a frenzied rodent, grabbed Fíli's foot. "You haves as many toes as me!"

"Good job at counting...but that tickles!" Fíli squirmed away, annoyed but accustomed to such acts of little brother mischief.

"Anyway, when the snow thawed, the dwarf left the mountain and he found that elf frozen solid."

"Did he hit him with his axe?" Fíli needed more excitement in this tale.

"What? No! We should pity the elf for not listening and thinking he was better than everyone else."

"Have you seen elfs?" Kíli asked.

"Yep, son. I have."

"Did you hit them with your axe?"

"My beard, Fíli! You are a bloodthirsty little thing. We only do that in self-defense, remember?"

"But then what did you do?"

"Nothing."

"Did Uncle hit them with an axe?"

"No, well, maybe he did. I don't know. Back to the story, now. The dwarf had the satisfaction of knowing he was right. So the lesson is-"

"A lesson?" Fíli interrupted in disgust. "Like when we have to learn boring things?"

"I don't like that," Kíli echoed.

"Naw, it ain't that kind of lesson! I'm telling you to always be prepared for anything."

"And don't trust elves." Fíli added.

"Yes, you are very right! See, look at all you learned tonight!"

"Was there a cow?" Kíli asked, bouncing with excitement.

"Why would there be a cow, son?"

"I like the cow," Kíli answered seriously. He said the most ridiculous things.

"Sure, there was a cow."

Kíli clapped in approval, then yawned. Not even the addition of a cow could hold his interest much longer.

Fíli nudged him. "Don't fall asleep yet, Kíli! We need to find out the end!"

"The end? Right, how does it end...how...ah, well the dwarf went back to the mountain and mined 100,000 of the finest gems ever seen."

"What color were they?" Fíli covered his mouth to hide his own yawn.

"All colors."

"What size?"

"Big ones."

"What-"

"Son, you are quite sly with your questions, trying to stay up as late as possible," he chuckled.

Caught, Fíli attempted to play innocent. "I was just wondering, that's all!"

"Your brother's already sound asleep. I think it's about time for you, too." Kíli was curled into a little ball, expelling muffled snores into Fíli's shoulder. His feet were already twitching, ready to kick at whatever visited him in his dreams. "I'll carry him back to his own bed-"

"No, no! If you move him away he'll cry."

"Very well. What a good brother you are." He lifted the blanket to cover them and brushed Kíli's hair away from his face, an action far less risky when Kíli was asleep.

"I'll already be gone when you wake, so I'm asking you now to mind your mother and keep an eye on your brother and be a good lad."

"I will! Can you tell us more stories when you get back?"

"Of course I will. I'll tell you about what I saw."

"All about it! And maybe...maybe you'll have presents for us?"

"I think I might have room to carry one or two back."

Fíli smiled at the prospect of more stories and presents and telling his father how responsible he had been.

"Goodnight, Fíli! May your dreams be filled with sharp pointy things, my little fighter!"

"Goodnight!"