What's this? GASP an update? Wow! Sorry about that... I was really stressed-like all but crying in class-and writing calms me down. So this happened. Thank you to Borys68, Emily01, winter's-lion, and Cockapoo for reviewing.
All Fili wanted to do was curl up in bed and cry. He had so much stress on him, recovering the Arkenstone above all.. He thought it was a miracle he could function at all, if he was honest. But Erebor needed their king, now more than ever. And so Fili forced himself to sit up straight on that throne that should really belong to Thorin, not his nephew.
An elderly dwarf stepped forward and knelt at Fili's feet. "My King," he whispered, "is it true that the Arkenstone has been stolen?"
Fili fought back a small noise of revulsion. Not for the dwarf himself, nor for his words-well, most of them-but for the kneeling and the "My King." Fili was more a warrior than a ruler, and he hated the trappings of his station given him by the dwarves around him. Thorin, for all his warlike qualities, would have been fine on the throne-he had been raised a prince. Fili, as well as Kili, had been raised in borrowed homes, trained to reclaim Erebor, not for what they would be after they succeeded in doing so. For the first time Fili envied Kili the relief and quietude of being dead.
"Rise," he commanded, his voice far more steady than he had thought it could be. "I do not like being called 'My King,' nor being knelt to. That makes me feel far too much like my uncle. I am nothing like him. He is-was-Thorin Oakenshied, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King Under the Mountain. I am just Fili."
The dwarf stood and looked closely at Fili. "You are far more like Thorin than you can see. You will be a great king in your own right, My Ki-Fili."
Fili smiled softly, touched by his words. "Thank you. And yes, it is true."
The dwarf covered his face, but Fili could tell by the shaking of his shoulders that he was crying. He stood and walked over to the older dwarf, gently laying a hand on his arm when he reached him. He continued to cry, so Fili gathered him into his arms the way Thorin always had him and Kili.
A few minutes later the older dwarf stopped crying and gave Fili a weak smile. "Thank you, Fili."
Fili returned reluctantly to his throne, and Balin smiled at him. "You did well, laddie."