If the children of Durin could manage to survive to old age, they could live a long, long time. But no child of Durin had lived so long in many generations. War usually claimed them long before their life should have ended. The last direct ancestor who had reached his 250th birthday had been Fili's 4th great-grandfather, King Oin. Of course, cousin Gloin had lived to be 253 and Fili had heard of one cousin who had managed to live to be 340!

Fili had no idea how many more birthdays he would get to see, but he hoped to have another fifty good years ahead of him. His hair was still golden, although it had some snow white streaks mixed in with the blond now. He could still wield his twin swords with deadly precision. His mind was as sharp as ever and he couldn't remember being this happy in his long life.

The consequence of having children so late in life as he and Hana had, meant that his advanced age, his children were not yet adults. Well, Mailis was. She had reached her majority on her last birthday. Thorin would be of age in just a few months time and Vijl was only a few years behind his brother. Fili was determined to see them reach adulthood and many years beyond.

Tonight, he was in his favorite place, in his home, surrounded by his family. Hana and Tauriel had an enormous cake brought in. Torsten and Agli, King and Queen of the Glittering Caves, had come to Erebor just for Fili's birthday. With them were their two almost grown sons, Dursten and Tarsten. Under Torsten's reign, the Glittering Caves had become very prosperous. They had strong ties to Gondor and Rohan and were a powerful ally to Erebor. The Glittering Caves was a very rich community and served as a stronghold for dwarves in that part of Middle Earth.

Iomhar was there with his new wife. No one was surprised when he announced he had fallen in love with an elf. Tauriel had known Ireth long ago when she had lived in the Greenwood. Ireth was very young, only in her second century when Tauriel had left to go to Erebor to marry Kili. Iomhar had met her during a diplomatic visit. Naturally, after a day of meeting with the elven guard about security measures and tactics, Iomhar had gone to the archery range to relax. There he met Ireth, an archer in Thranduil's guard and a great beauty among the local elves. It was, as Kili loved to tease them, love at first sight. Iomhar and Ireth had been married for just over a year now. Iomhar was a head shorter than his wife, but her red hair was the exact shade of his, a dark auburn and so they made a handsome pair. She had come to live in Erebor, as Iomhar was Head Captain of all Weapons Training as well as First Archer in the elite archer's guild and king's guard. Ireth was also a part of the archer's guild and provided Tauriel with much missed elvish company. The couple were very happy together and seeing them reminded Fili what it was like to be young and in love.

Klin and Keil had made it back to Erebor in time for Fili's birthday. They were travelling ambassadors for Erebor. They had crossed all of Middle Earth, several times. In their youth, they had been very good in their studies and had developed their father's charm. Klin had excelled in law and diplomacy, where Keil had learned trade and banking. They both had learned to wield a long sword, like Kili and while they claimed not to care for archery, they were excellent shots and always carried a bow and quiver of arrows each when they traveled. Together, they were an unstoppable force. Their knowledge and wit had made them perfect diplomats and they had strengthened ties with all of Erebor's allies across all the land.

Mailis, not to be content with just being a princess, had insisted on advance sword training as well as her scholarly studies. She had also learned stone carving and had personally added a great amount of her work to Erebor's walls. Her masterpiece was a full wall scene in her bedroom, which had been her mother's bedroom. Carved into the wall was a scene that depicted the night of her birth. One side had a picture of her dying mother, smiling and holding baby Mailis in her arms. Surrounding them was Fili, Hana, Tauriel and Arwen. The center of the wall was Kili and his guards on their ponies. Flying over their heads was a raven. They were riding to the other side of the wall, where Uncle Hrafn stood on a hill, swords in hands and a pile of dead orcs at his feet. Her father, Graig, was in the middle of a great swing of his axe. An orc was forever carved in the oncoming path of Graig's axe.

It had taken her years to carve, but it turned out beautifully. Fili cried every time he saw it, but he loved it. His children, forever engraved in stone at their own last great battles. Mailis had asked for permission to do a full wall scene of the reclamation of Erebor as well as the Battle of the Five Armies that followed. Of course Fili had given his permission and now Mailis was in search of the perfect wall. With Torsten visiting, she was hoping he would inspect several potential walls. He had the knack to feel and understand stone. He would be able to tell her if the stone was of good quality to handle the strain of being chiseled and carved.

Since coming of age, last year, Mailis had received several marriage proposals. They all would have been politically advantageous marriages, but Fili would have none of that for his granddaughter. She had told him that one day she wanted to marry and have a family, but not yet. Fili didn't even want her to try and have a family. He feared childbirth would claim her life as it had her mother and grandmother, but he could also see in Mailis a strength that neither his wife or his daughter had had. Perhaps she would survive, but Fili didn't think it was worth the risk. For now, though, it was not a concern. Mailis was too busy being a princess, a sword fighter and a stone carver to do anything else.

Hana sliced the cake and gave a plate to Thorin, who brought it to Fili.

"Happy birthday."

"Thank you," Fili took the plate.

Thorin sat down next to Fili on one side and Vijl came up and sat down on his other side.

"What do you think, Papa? Two hundred and fifty years old?" Thorin asked.

Fili chuckled. "It sounds very old."

"And yet, you don't look a day over two hundred. You look exactly the same as you did when we were tiny dwarflings," Vijl smiled a huge grin at his father.

Fili poked his son in the ribs.

Thorin, the future king of Erebor, would be titled Crown Prince of Erebor on his next birthday. He had been acting the role for a number of years now, but on his coming-of-age ceremony, he would be given the title officially, relieving Kili of the position he had held for so long.

Thorin had been very concerned about taking his uncle's title away from him, but Kili had insisted it was alright. Kili said it was more important that Thorin take the title and learn the duties so he would be better prepared to become king when that time came. Kili would still be a prince of Erebor, and the king's counselor. Thorin would become second in charge of Erebor, under the tutelage of his father until the time came for him to be crowned king.

Thorin's strong will and determination had served him well in life. He had devoted his time to his studies and training, but Fili had always made sure Thorin had a childhood outside of being the future king. They often took camping trips and would find time to spar in the training arena. Thorin had favored the axe when the time had come to pick a first weapon. It gave Fili a new challenge in the arena. He was used to Kili's sword and Hrafn had used twins swords, like himself, but the axe a whole other way of fighting. Hana had patched them up on a number of occasions when they had returned home, laughing and cover in many cuts and bruises.

The only way Thorin really deviated from his namesake, Thorin Oakenshield, was he had no talent for smithing work. Fili and many blacksmith masters had tried to train Thorin in the forge, but it was no use, Thorin was not a blacksmith. Quite by accident, he discovered he enjoyed wood carving. It had reminded Fili of his old friends Bifur and Bofur, master wood carvers. But, Thorin never had much time to devote to learning the craft, so it was simply a hobby he enjoyed on winter evenings when there wasn't much else to do.

Prince Vijl, was to Thorin as Kili was to Fili, close brother, closest counselor, and best friend.

Vijl looked a great deal like Fili. He was the same height, had the same shade of hair and even his voice was similar. The biggest difference in him and his father, was the eyes. He had gotten Hana's emerald green eyes. He had a lighter-hearted personality than Thorin or Fili had and he balanced Thorin's intensity nicely. Already the lasses were enamored with him.

He was talented at metal working and could smith metal very well, but he didn't often work the craft. It wasn't so necessary for the princes to learn craft anymore, since their entire lives would be devoted to running and ruling Erebor, but Fili had insisted his sons at least become familiar with smithing. Vijl had also been very talented with weapons and found he could fight with just about anything.

Fili was bursting with pride at his family as he looked around at them. His own dear Hana was still as lovely as she had been the day he met her. She was a master healer and spent her days training new young healers. She was a highly respected midwife and had attended most of the births of Erebor's dwarflings for the past sixty years. He watched his sweet Hana as she sat with Tauriel, Agli and Ireth, chatting happily.

Kili and Tauriel were as they had always been, happily in love. Their love should never have worked, a dwarf and an elf, but it did work and their loved had endured nearly two centuries. Their children were all grown now and they loved their grandchildren, when they got to see them. Tauriel didn't look like she had aged a day since she first saved them from the Mirkwood spiders, just before she threw them into Thranduil's cells. Fili often wondered what Tauriel would do after Kili had passed from this life. He would never ask, though. That bit of very personal information was Kili's and Tuariel's, and Fili would remain in the dark about it unless they volunteered the information. So far, the subject had never come up between the brothers and Fili respected their silence.

Two hundred and fifty. Mahal had blessed Fili greatly. He hoped that Uncle Thorin was watching him, happy with him and having an ale in his behalf. It would be sooner rather than later that Fili would see his uncle again. As much as he wanted to live and see his children grow, he also looked forward to the day he could be with Thorin and his mother again.

According to Tolkien, Dwalin lived to be 340!

One more chapter to go...