Shelter from the Storm

Fili - 37 Kili - 32

Kili came into his warm home and shook off the snowflakes that had landed on his clothes and hair.

"Brr, it's getting colder by the minute," he said, hanging his heavy cloak on a peg by the door.

"Did you get the rest of the wood stacked?" Dis asked.

"Yes. Adad and Fili are tying the canvas over the pile now." Kili stood in front of the roaring fire in the hearth and warmed his hands.

Dis nodded and went back to the large kettle that hung over the fire. A thick hearty stew was bubbling. She stirred at the stew, then swung the iron handle away from the fire so it could cool slightly. The door opened again and a gust of frozen air came into the house with Joli and Fili.

"It's quite the storm out there," Joli removed his cloak and gloves.

"So early in the winter too," Dis said, tasting the stew. "I hope it doesn't mean a long, cold winter."

"Oin has read the portents," Kili said in his best Gloin impersonation, "and the portents say it will be a long winter."

Fili and Joli burst into laughter. They had heard Gloin say this almost word for word just three days ago.

"Don't make fun of Oin or the portents," Dis scowled. "He has often been right."

"Except for when he's completely wrong," Kili laughed.

Dis waved the long wooden spoon she used for stirring the stew at Kili. "Lad," she started, but Kili backed up, putting his hands up in surrender.

"I'm teasing, Amad. I won't make fun of Oin or the portents again," he laughed.

"See that you don't," she said, going back to the stew.

Kili looked to his father and brother, who were grinning wildly. Kili had to stuff his fist into his mouth to hold back the laughter.

They settled in for the night. Fili played his fiddle, Kili fletched arrows, Joli carved at a block of wood and Dis knitted. Their stew had been very good and there was enough for another meal or two. They would weather the storm just fine.

Fili played a cheerful tune and Kili was singing along when they heard a loud knock at their door. They weren't expecting anyone. Not in this weather.

"Perhaps it's Uncle," Kili said, "lonely and wanting to hear me sing."

Joli chucked, got up and answered the door. Cold wind filled the room and in the doorway stood a man. He stood a good two heads taller than Joli.

"Excuse me, Master Dwarf. My name is Drym and I come from Belhaven. My family and I got caught in the storm. It was unexpected and we weren't well prepared. We seek shelter for the night."

"Come in, sir, and explain better to us," Joli said with some hesitation.

"Quickly, before the entire room grows cold," Dis said. She gave a glace to her sons, who nodded and stood. Fili had a small armory of knives hidden about his person and Kili had one in his boot. If the man threatened them at all, they had their mother's permission to attack to protect.

The man stooped his head as he came in the door. Joli shut it and turned to the man, who was covered in snow and could barely stand up straight in the room.

"Thank you," the man said. "As I said, my name is Drym. I'm an architect from Belhaven. My family and I are on our way to Whitecrest to visit our kin and winter with them there. We did not know of the storm when we left home. Please, I am with my wife, three children, my sister and her child. We seek shelter so we do not freeze in the night. We are friendly and carry no weapons, except those to protect us on the road. I would be happy to leave all my weapons on your doorstep and enter your home unarmed."

"Children, you say?" Dis asked.

The man, Drym, nodded and at that moment, his coat let out a cry. Fili and Kili jumped, but Dis rushed forward and watched as the man pulled out an infant from his coat. He also pulled out a long knife, held it by the blade and presented the handle to Joli. "All we want is shelter from the storm."

"Keep your knife and call in your family. You will have shelter here," Joli said.

Dis reached for the infant. "I will hold the child while you fetch the rest, if you wish." The man gave the small dwarf-woman an unsure look. She laughed. "I know how to hold an infant. See those two strapping young lads?" She pointed at Fili and Kili. "They are my sons."

The man passed the child to Dis and he went back into the storm.

"Adad, do you think this is wise?" Fili, ever cautious, asked.

"Perhaps not, but they need aid and they have children. We will do our best to make them comfortable. Just keep a wary eye. These are men, after all."

"Boys, fetch some blankets," Dis said before she went back to cooing over the baby.

Soon, the man returned with two women and three young children. He began to remove all his weapons and laid them in front of the door. For being the only male in the group, he didn't carry man weapons. Fili thought this very unwise, especially when travelling on open roads between villages.

The three children with them were very young and all of them looked half frozen.

Come, come now," Dis said. "Come sit next to the fire and warm yourselves."

One of the women approached Dis. "May I have my daughter? I need to feed her."

"Of course. She's beautiful," Dis handed the baby back.

"A girl?" Kili asked. "I've only ever seen one girl child before."

"Really?" the woman asked.

"Girls are rare among us," Kili said.

"Well, I suppose we should have proper introductions now that everyone is here and getting warm," Dis smiled, handing a blanket to the second woman.

"I am Joli, son of Tola and this is my wife, Dis, and our sons, Fili and Kili." The boys bowed to the family.

"We are thankful for your kind hospitality," Drym said. "This is my wife, Nale, my sons Fionn and Ciaran and my daughter, Iseabail. This is my sister, Orma and her daughter, Rhona."

"Are you hungry?" Dis asked. The children nodded their heads enthusiastically.

"There's no need to feed us," Nale said. "We only seek shelter."

"Nonsense. A warm fire can only do so much to warm a body. You need to have something good and hot in the belly to warm you properly. I have a delicious stew here," Dis was already ladling stew into bowls. "Kili, help me." She handed the bowls to Kili, who took it to the children.

He looked up to the parents. "Are they old enough to hold their own bowl?"

"Fionn is, but Ciaran's not. I will feed him from his bowl, if that's alright." Drym answered.

"Of course, do what you must." Dis said easily. She understood what it was like to feed and care for youngsters. Kili handed the older of the two boys a bowl and gave the other to Drym. Two more bowls were handed out to the two women. Orma took her bowl and began to feed her very small daughter. Nale's bowl sat next to her and waited while she nursed her daughter. Fili and Joli fetched cups, filled them with hot tea and passed them out.

"This is yummy," the older boy, Fionn, said.

Dis chuckled. "I'm glad."

"You are most generous," Orma spoke for the first time.

Drym looked at Joli for a moment. "You look familiar Master Dwarf. Do you ever come into Belhaven?"

"Yes, quite often," Joli nodded. "I'm a carpenter. I buy my wood there and often have commissioned work from there."

"Now I remember you," Drym smiled. "Last summer, you built a fine lidded box that was given as a wedding gift to the daughter of our village mayor."

"Yes, that was me," Joli smiled.

"I was there on the day it was delivered to the mayor. We were meeting to discuss the plans for a new council house."

Joli gave a hearty chuckle. "I remember you, sir. you had a spot of ink on your nose."

The two women laughed. "He often gets ink on his nose when he is working at drawing plans," Nale said.

Drym blushed with embarrassment, but shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? It's true."

"Oh no," little Fionn jumped up and started to cry.

"What's wrong?" Fili asked, coming to the child's side, but he could already see. The boy had spilt some of his stew onto the floor. "Kili, rag." Fili called to his brother. An instant later, a rag flew across the room and Fili deftly caught it. "It's alright, Fionn," Fili said, mopping up the stew. "My brother spills all the time."

"I do not!"

Another rag flew across the room and landed on Fili's head. "Oy! Watch it, Kili!"

Fionn was laughing.

"That's enough boys," Dis said.

"Yes Amad," the boys replied. They were still grinning. Fili helped the boy to sit back down with his stew, then he sat next to Fionn. Kili came over and sat next to Ciaran.

"Why do you call her Amad?" Fionn asked.

"Because she's my mother," Fili answered.

"Why don't you call her Mama?"

"Because Amad is the dwarven word for mother," Fili said.

"What do you call your daddy?" Fionn asked with big, curious brown eyes and looking a lot like Kili when he had questions.

"Adad," Kili answered.

"Amad and Adad? Those are funny," Fionn laughed and ate more stew.

The dwarrow brother's laughed.

"How old are you?" Fionn turned to Fili.

"Thirty Seven and my brother's thirty two," Fili answered.

"Wow! You're really old. I'm seven," Fionn said.

"Fionn, that's not polite," his mother said, red faced. "I'm sorry," she looked to Fili and Kili.

"It's alright," Kili said. "In dwarf years, thirty two is really young. You'll be a grown man with your own children before Fili and I are adults."

"Whoa! Really?"

Fili nodded. "Really."

With warm food in their stomachs, visiting among the two families became easy and friendly. Fili and Kili talked to Fionn and Ciran. Soon, little Rhona came to them and climbed into Kili's lap. Kili was very pleased and Fili was jealous. Dis got to hold and cuddle the wee baby.

"Oh, Joli," she sighed. "Holding her makes me want to have another." Joli choked on his tea. Fili and Kili grinned at the idea of another sibling. "But," Dis smiled, "I look at those two and remember why we didn't have more. They cause enough trouble for ten dwarflings."

Everyone laughed, even Fili and Kili, after getting over their initial embarrassment.

"We aren't that bad, Amad," Kili said.

"I know, dear. Trust me. I grew up with your uncles. Talk about troublemakers," Dis smiled at the memories.

"Really? Uncle Thorin caused trouble? I want to hear about this," Kili said.

Their mother laughed. "No, I don't want to be giving you two any ideas."

"Thorin?" Drym looked to Dis, "As in Prince Thorin?"

"Aye, that's my brother."

Drym bowed. "My Lady, I had no idea we came to your home. My apologies."

"Nothing to apologize for. We are glad to help you, but just let it be known that the royalty of Ered Luin are kind to those in need."

Drym nodded. "Thank you, my Lady."

Soon it was bed time. Fili and Kili gave up their rooms and their beds to the two women. The beds were small for the human females, but they made do. Drym stayed in Fili's room with his wife and slept on the floor on a pile of blankets. The rest of the blankets were spread out on the sitting room floor, near the hearth. Fili, Kili, Fionn and Ciaran slept in there. Dis had to go in three times to tell the four boys to be quiet and go to bed. They finally settled down after Dis threatened to send her boys to Thorin's if they could not be quiet.

The next day, the snow didn't let up. Joli and Dis invited the human family to stay in their home another day. Dis and the women spent a lot of time around the kitchen table, making bread and meat pastries with the leftover stew.

The four boys and little Rhona went out to build a snow dwarf together, but it was so cold, they didn't stay out long. They told stories to each other and Kili pulled out a box of wooden dwarven soldiers. Soon, an epic battle was set up in the living room.

Thorin joined them mid-day and was more than surprised to find seven guests from the race of men in his sister's home. The adults bowed to the dwarf prince and the small boys hid behind Fili and Kili.

"Don't worry," Kili spoke softly, "He's my Uncle Thorin. I know he looks scary, but he's really very nice."

Thorin heard. "Nice? I'm not nice and your remember it, lad," he waved a finger at Kili. He smiled and knelt down to the child. "Hello. My name is Uncle Thorin."

"My name is Fionn and this is my brother Ciaran. I'm seven and he's five."

"Seven? And five? My, aren't you tall lads? What have you been doing today?"

"We made a snow dwarf and we're playing battle. See?" Fionn pointed to the set of wooden soldiers.

"Ah, I see a fine strategy is set up. Nice job." Thorin stood again and joined Joli and Drym's conversation.

"See," Kili said. "I told you he was nice." He caught Thorin's eye. Thorin winked at his nephews and turned back to the men.

That night, Fili and Kili played some duets on their fiddle s and they were able to convince Thorin to play a few songs on the harp.

The next morning dawned sunny and warmer. Already the snow was melting. The visitors declared they would leave that morning. The youth complained they didn't want to say goodbye to their new friends. Dis packed them some food. Joli and Thorin promised to see them safely out of Ered Luin and on their way.

"I don't want to go," Fionn said. He stomped his small foot.

"Maybe, when you go back to your village in the summer, you can stop here again," Fili offered.

"Can we?" Fionn looked to his father.

"You would be most welcome here, anytime," Joli said to Drym.

"In that case, how can we not return to visit our friends?" Drym answered.

Fionn jumped up and down in glee. They said their good byes and soon they were off. The house was so quiet without the others there. The boys missed their friends already.

Five months later, Joli and his family were sitting out in their front garden, enjoying the warm spring evening. Dis had a large wash tub and was scrubbing at their linens, while Kili beat at a rug they had hung up, to get all the dirt out. A small cart pulled up in front of their house.

"Kili! Fili!" young Fionn called out. He jumped from the wagon and ran to the brothers. Ciaran wasn't far behind.

"Who are you tall lads and what have you done with our friends Fionn and Ciaran?" Fili frowned at the small boys.

"It's us, Fili. We had birthdays so now we are older and taller!"

Fili laughed.

Kili ran to Thorin's house to let him know of their visitors. They bowed to him when he walked down the path towards their house. Dis could see in her brother how this pleased him and troubled him. He was a prince. The grandson of the King of Erebor and by birth, he was to be bowed to and respected. But she also knew in his heart, he felt unworthy of that right. No matter how many times she tried to tell him that he was doing a good job of caring for and leading his people here in the Blue Mountains, she knew he felt it wasn't enough. Today, he took the show of respect from the humans with grace.

"We want to thank you again for sheltering us last winter," Nale said. "You saved our lives."

Dis was holding little Iseabail, who had grown a lot over the five months and was now very skilled in crawling. "We were happy to help and I could never turn away such dear children."

Nale laughed. "We brought you a gift. It isn't much, but it's rather rare in these parts." She pulled out a large jug. "It's maple syrup. My cousin is a merchant and travels all over Middle Earth, trading goods. This was something he found in The Shire, where the Hobbits live. They have maple trees that produce the most sweet, delicious syrup."

"It comes from trees?" Kili asked.

"It's really good on muffins and scones," Fionn told them.

"Thank you," Dis accepted the jug of syrup. "I will serve it with breakfast in the morning. We shall have scones and syrup."

"Oh, hooray!" Ciaran shouted.

"Come in now," Joli said. "I trust you remember your way to your rooms. Fili, Kili, get your fiddles. We will have a fine evening with our friends."