"Kili. Come on in," Fili opened the door wider, allowing his brother to come into his home. Kili walked to the lit fire place, leaned into the mantel piece and watched the flames. If Fili didn't know better, he might have thought Thorin was in the room. Kili had turned out to look very much like their late uncle, all except for Kili's dark brown eyes.

Fili poured two glasses of Dale's finest wine. He handed one to Kili.

"Do you remember when they were little? Back when they were so small, you could fit all four of them in your lap at the same time?" Kili paused in his thoughts and took a sip of his wine. "We'd tell stories, talk to them and teach them Khuzdul. They would chase us around, right here in this room, as we crawled about, pretending to be dragons. One of the boys would jump on our backs and we'd fall down. And the next thing you'd know, all of them would be on your back, shouting they had slain the mighty dragon."

Fili smiled. "Yes, I remember."

"Sigrid and Tauriel would sit together talking about who knows what and Thorin would laugh at us from his chair," Kili went on.

"Seems like I remember, once, Thorin pinning both of us down at the same time while all the children and our wives piled on top of us. We were utterly defeated that night." Fili smiled at the memory.

"Oh yes. I came home with a bruise the exact size and shape of Torsten's knee on my back." Kili chuckled and sipped at his wine. "A lot has changed since then," he said, his smile gone. He sighed and his shoulders slumped. Fili was quiet. "I knew the children would grow up, but I never thought about them leaving. I thought they'd all stay here, in Erebor, but Torsten's gone. There's a good chance he will never live in Erebor again."

"He won't stay away forever. He'll come back," Fili tried to sooth.

"Yes, but Erebor will not be his home. He will be a visitor."

"Do you not want him to marry Fuldan's daughter?" Fili asked.

"Of course I do. If he has found love, then I want him to have it. I want him to know the joy of a wife who loves him as Tauriel loves me and I want him to know they joy of loving someone as deeply as I love Tauriel. I want him to know what it is like to hold your own child in your arms for the first time." Kili stretched out his arms, remembering what it was like when Torsten was placed in them for the first time. "I want Torsten to have all of that. I only wish he wasn't going to do all of that so far away."

"Life when the children were small was harder, but less complicated," Fili said. "Now, we don't have to worry about them quite so much, but I feel like I worry about them more than ever."

Kili nodded. "I'm going to miss him. Torsten made me a father. He was my shadow. I'm really going to miss my eldest son."

"I know you will," Fili pressed his forehead to Kili's. "I know you will."

Winter was a time for planning. They had managed to buy or trade enough grains from the Grey Mountains and Iron Hills to get Erebor through the winter. It was still a scarce winter compared to ones past, but no dwarf went hungry. Just before spring, Fili pulled out the reserved food from the front gate storage. He would replace it as soon as he was able.

Fili saw a lot more of Hrafn during the winter than he had all year. Without Torsten around, Hrafn was a little lost. Iomhar kept busy with the many students he trained, so Hrafn didn't get to spend much time with him either.

Klin and Keil came over a lot to visit. Fili loved having all the boys over, He wasn't so lonely with them there. They talked a lot and played music. Hrafn had learned the lute, Klin was learning the fiddle and Keil was learning the viol. Adding in Fili's fiddle and Kili's, when he would come around, they had quite the small ensemble and music would flow with beauty and laughter.

One of the things they talked about when they weren't playing music was the possibility of Erebor starting to grow its own food. They had never farmed before and there wasn't anywhere on the mountain suitable for farming, but there was some land to the north of the mountain and there was some land along Long Lake they could use. It was an odd idea, dwarves farming, but if they could learn to grow their own food, they wouldn't have to be dependent on men or worse, elves, for their food needs.

Thorin would never have allowed the Dwarves of Erebor to learn to farm. He probably would have been angry by the suggestion, but Fili was a different king. He was very comfortable in the old ways, but he was of a generation that had grown up in exile, scrapping a living for themselves, away from the protection of their great mountain. He was more open to ideas and this newer generation of dwarves brought a whole new way of thinking, to which Fili was very impressed with.

"We need to purchase plenty of land, but I don't know what kind of land is best for farming. I suppose we can ask the farmers of Dale," Hrafn said.

"We need an expert," Keil said. "Expert farmers."

"Yes," Klin said, "someone who is really knows everything about farming and growing things."

"Uncle Fili? Adad told us that hobbits are very good farmers. Why don't we ask them?" Keil asked.

Fili chuckled. "Hobbits never travel outside of The Shire if they can help it."

"But what about Mr. Boggins?" Klin asked. "He left the Shire to go with Great-Uncle Thorin."

"Yes, well, Mr. Baggins did, but he is the exception among hobbits from what I understand," Fili said.

"But some went to Mordor during the War of the Ring. We learned about them in our studies," Keil said.

"An interesting race, hobbits are," Fili said. "Wonderful farmers and cooks. Terrible fighters and blacksmiths, but they always manage to surprise you with what they are capable of when you least expect it. They are wonderfully brave and loyal, even when they think they are not."

"Wait, Adad," Hrafn said, "You said they're terrible blacksmiths?"

"Don't tell them I said it, but yes, they are," Fili answered.

"That's your answer!" Hrafn said.

"What?" Fili asked, confused.

"We make a trade with them. We send the hobbits an expert blacksmith and in turn, they send us a farmer."

"What?" We can't go trading people like that!" Fili was a little more than surprised by his son's suggestion. "Besides, what hobbit would want to come live among dwarves and what dwarf would want to go make a home in the land of Hobbits?"

"Alright, not really a trade, but perhaps an exchange, for a year," Hrafn explained. Klin and Keil nodded in approval. Apparently they saw good sense in it.

Fili thought about it, the wheels in his head turning. "Boys, go get your Adad," Fili looked to his two nephews. "Your mother too. Hrafn, go get your sister and her husband. We've got some talking to do."

The three boys left. Fili pulled out some food from his pantry. He didn't keep much, but he always had a few refreshments to share with visitors, mostly his brother and nephews. By the time they all arrived, Fili had a nice little assortment of biscuits sitting out and was ready to talk business.

"These boys of ours are very smart," Fili said to his brother.

"That's because they have us for parents," Kili grinned.

Fili had Hrafn explain his idea of farming and inviting a hobbit to come and teach them. Klin and Keil threw in their suggestions when they could.

"But we only know one hobbit, or have known, since Bilbo has sailed to the Undying Lands," Kili said.

"What about cousin Gimli?" Keil asked.

"Yes, we learned about him in our history lessons. He went on the great quest with four hobbits," Klin reminded them.

"That's right," Kili smiled. "He did." They all thought for a moment. "Tauriel, the boys and I could go to the Glittering Caves. We could see Torsten and talk to Gimli about the hobbits he knows. They've been on one adventure. Perhaps they are keen for another."

"We can go see Torsten?" Klin asked excitedly.

"Yippee!" Keil yelled.

Fili looked to Tauriel. "Sounds like a good idea to me," she said.

"Well then, that's settled. We'll propose this idea to Gimli and see what he has to say," Kili said.