"You've disappeared into your head again."
Dis, daughter of Thrain, Princess Under the Mountain, had held her tongue for as long as she could. She picked up a poker from the side of the hearth and adjusted the burning logs as she waited for her husband to respond. When no answer came she paused, lifting her head to him slowly.
"Vili."
Still, his eyes were trained on the fire, staring at the flames without quite seeing anything. Her eyes narrowed a little.
" Vili ."
His inhale was quick, and he lifted his chin from his hand with one of his usual smiles. The kind that made the skin crinkle in the corner of his eyes. He adjusted himself on the wooden chair he had been sitting in and focused on her.
"Apologies, dearest one, were you saying something?"
Dis continued to study him for a long moment and then stood, making her way across the small corner of the Blue Mountains they called their own.
"You had that look in your eye again. I know that look. My father has it regularly these days and I'm almost convinced my brother was born with that expression," Though her husband chuckled at her words, she continued on. "You're thinking about that business with the orcs aren't you?"
"Your grandfather seems rather keen to have it dealt with. Moria should be held by the dwarves, my love. Not the orcs."
"Nothing good ever comes from fighting with orcs." Dis folded her arms tightly across her chest as she peered out of the window, keeping her eyes trained on the stone path that cut through the caverns of the mountains
As soon as she saw Dwalin, she thought, she would have to restrain herself from speaking her mind. He was too close to her brother for her liking sometimes.
"My grandfather has not been himself, not for a long time and you know it. I don't know why Father is encouraging him, there are too few of us. And so many orcs. So many, Vili."
"I know." She heard him sigh again, and she knew without looking that he'd returned his attention to the fire again.
"I suppose as soon as my brother walks through this door and tells you that there's a battle to be fought you'll be on your merry way." As clipped as her words were, she could feel a lump rising in her throat, something she would be having her own battle with for the rest of this conversation.
"Dis," He began, standing finally, but she didn't turn. Her hand lifted to her face and she anxiously toyed with the thick hair that sprouted from her sideburns.
"Well. You're telling Fili. I'm taking no part in it. You've only just come back from the last one–" When his arms circled around her from behind and he held her there, the sentence died in her throat. She swallowed painfully and quietly lent her head back against him.
"I came back," Vili said, his chin coming to rest atop her head as he held her. "I always come back, lass. Thorin and I, we know what we're doing,"
"Nothing in my brother's conduct gives me the impression he knows what he's doing. He's a being of rash decisions and anger when he wants to be. He knows it too. He's always been at the mercy of his emotions."
A pause from behind her, and she felt her husband tilt his head a little, one braided lock of golden hair swung to the side at the movement.
"...Family trait, then." He mumbled finally, pressing his lips to the top of her head.
"That's a warning, Vili." Dis replied, trying to remain expressionless as her husband smiled into her hair and held her a little tighter. "A warning."
How she wished that moment could be infinite. That she could remain in that space, looking out at the candlelit caverns of the Blue Mountains with his arms around her. Feel his heartbeat, the heave of his chest as he breathed. Safe, warm, and waiting for their sons to come home.
Oh, how alone she would be one day. But for now, there was peace. At this moment, there was sanctuary.
"Balin said they're doing better in their lessons." Her husband said, and she felt his voice rumble through his chest as he kept her in his arms.
"Fili is." Dis corrected him. "Since you told him he couldn't be a warrior without knowledge of the realms he's been hanging on every word Balin says. Kili," She paused to laugh gently, leaning her head back against his shoulder once more. "Kili, I am told, sits with his forehead on the desk. He doesn't even sleep. He just sits there in turmoil."
She saw Vili pull a regretful expression in the reflection of the window.
"He's...he's a fair bit younger, my love. He cannot read yet."
"He's a little terror is what he is. By the gods, I wish you had not bought him that wooden bow and arrow."
"The lad asked for it!" Vili reminded her, his voice nothing but teasing. "He spoke in khuzdul too, in the market. Trying to sweeten the deal for a present. I couldn't say no, dearest, think what that would have done to him."
"You ought to think about my bloody ornaments–oh." As much as it pained her to break the comfort of their embrace, at the first sign of Dwalin on the mountain path, Dis stepped from her husband's arms and made her way to the heavy wooden door.
Dwalin stood with as much presence as always.. Thick formed, with runes tattooed onto his bald head. A warrior, a blood-drenched one at that. Which of course meant he looked rather comical with two little boys holding his hands. When Dis had left them with Balin that morning they had been presentable. Wrapped in enough furs to keep out the winter chill and neat enough to be recognised as the princes they were.
The boys before her now were covered in mud. It stained their coats, their hands, and had even flicked up onto their faces. All of this coupled with the twigs currently caught in her youngest's dark fringe heralded an interesting tale indeed. When neither of her sons met her eye, Dis slowly raised a brow at the older dwarf.
"Is there something you need to tell me, Dwalin? You don't look very impressed." Dis kept the door open with her shoulder, her eyes fixed on her youngest.
The thick-set dwarf cleared his throat and cast his eyes down at the two boys in his grip.
"Would you like to tell yer mother where I found you or shall I? Eh?"
Two round faces looked up at her with wide eyes. She knew when her sons were guilty, she could tell from a mile away, and it was entirely due to the fact their father had the same look about him in similar circumstances. When neither of them answered, Dwalin met her eye again.
"The mouth of the mine. My brother tells me that these two bolted from the classroom a few hours ago. Caught 'em peering down at the gold moulds."
"Is that so?" Dis' eyes dipped back to her sons again. She didn't speak again, just held their gaze for a long few seconds. A Durin stare–that was what Bofur called it. Apparently, it could be quite menacing.
When Kili's bottom lip wobbled and he looked away, her eldest spoke up quickly, stepping forward.
"It was my idea, Amad. I wanted to see the mines."
When Dis looked at him, he sniffed once, rubbing at some dirt on his cheek. His hair, free from the braids and beads that came with age in their culture, was nearly shoulder length now, and it fell into his eyes whenever he moved his head a certain way. Hair as golden as his father's.
"I'm–I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. We only wanted to look because Mr Balin was telling us about the gold."
Dwalin offered Dis a crooked smile, letting their hands go at last. "There's no harm done, lass. They're just curious."
At once, both of her sons hugged her legs, and had she not been cleaning out the hearth earlier she'd have lamented their dirty hands. But they were dwarfs after all. With a telling sigh at him, Dis rested her hands on top of her son's heads.
"What do you say to Mr Dwalin for bringing you home safely?"
"Thank you." Two voices squeaked out, though Kili's was a little muffled by the fabric of her dress.
Dwalin bowed his head to her once, and his eyes flicked up to Vili behind her in the doorway.
"Thorin wanted a word later–"
"I'll be here, he may have to come to me." Vili replied, clearly aware that the fallout of their earlier discussion had not yet settled. That lump was back in her throat again, and Dis pressed her hand to the back of Fili's head with a little more protectiveness than before.
"Right you are." Dwalin nodded to him. Before he turned to leave, he briefly pointed to Kili. A reminder to behave.
When the heavy door shut behind them, Kili had moved his head from Dis' dresses to beam up at his father, whom he clearly had not expected to see.
"Adad we–"
His father was not smiling, and Kili's shoulders slowly sank. Once again, two pairs of guilty eyes turned to their mother.
Dis returned to Vili's side, another heavy sigh escaping. Vili shook his head.
"What are we going to do with you two, eh?"
"Sorry." Kili said again, itching at the collar of his winter coat.
"Sorry isn't a magic word, lad." Vili's eyes turned to his eldest. " Do you have any idea how dangerous those mines are, Fili? Master Dwalin and the other dwarves work there because they know what they're doing. There are fires and anvils and huge drops in there. What in Durin's name were you thinking–"
"Fili." Dis cut her husband off, though her words were still gentle. "Fili, look at me."
Reluctantly, a pair of watering grey eyes locked onto her own. He had answered her question before she had even voiced it.
" Was this your idea, Fili?"
He mumbled something, but Dis just raised a brow.
"Speak properly."
"...No, Amad."
"No." Dis repeated with a nod. "Were you taking the blame for your brother again?"
"Yes Amad."
For a boy so young, Dis had to admit that her youngest son had perfected his look of betrayal. One would have thought he had just been left axeless in battle.
By the gods, didn't he look just like Thorin sometimes?
" Fili. " The younger dwarf hissed in reprimand, resulting in his brother glowering back at him from the corner of his eye before continuing.
"He ran off, I didn't want him to get hurt so I went after him. I told him it was a bad idea, Mother, but he didn't listen."
"You liar you climbed up the chain first–"
"Did not!"
"Well if you're not careful and you continue to mess around in the depths of the mines a Balrog will get you." Vili remarked off-handedly as he studied the inside of his pipe.
Silence from their sons.
If Dis' expression could speak, it would be saying only one word: Really? Really?
Vili flicked his attention away from the soul-destroying stare he was receiving from his wife and looked back at his sons. Both were gawping up at him, their mouths hanging open.
Vili, easing himself down onto his armchair again, hooked the edge of his pipe into his mouth as he patted his pockets for his matches.
"Do you know what a Balrog is?"
A headshake in unison.
"Is it scary?" Fili asked after a moment, his hand still clutching the fabric of his brother's tunic from their squabble. Vili, not finding what he was looking for, muttered to himself as he stood to light his pipe with a piece of kindling from the fire. The heat did not bother him; the skin of his palms had long since been toughened from furnaces.
"Oh from what I have heard they are definitely scary. Perhaps if you listened to Master Balin more in lessons you would know more. They lurk deep. Deep down. Winged creatures with hooked horns that stretch from floor to roof of any cave. They lie in the darkness, waiting for foolish little dwarves to get a little too close so they can emerge with whips of fire and–" His wife was still staring at him in utter disdain. Vili held her gaze for a second, sucking on his pipe. When he exhaled a small cloud of smoke, he had changed his tone of voice.
"Enforce bath time."
"...Bath time?" Kili blinked, his head cocking to the side. "They want us to have bath time?"
"No. You want you to have bath time," Vili returned to his pipe, puffing away quite contently as he toed off his boots. "Or I shall feed you both to one."
"Adad!"
As her sons launched themselves at their father, Dis couldn't help but smile. It was about time, she thought, that Vili had his peace and quiet ruined by the little boys they had brought into the world. If she couldn't sit and shape bracelets for the market she'd be damned if he could sit with his pipe.
"You'd both do well to have your bath now." Dis said over her shoulder, just catching sight of Kili dangling from Vili's outstretched arm, holding on with all his might as his brother attached himself to Vili's leg. "And be in bed before your Uncle Thorin arrives."
"Uncle Thorin is coming to see us?" Fili perked up, though she barely heard him over the excited giggling from Kili as her husband swung him this way and that.
"Uncle Thorin is coming to see Adad and I. Little boys who misbehave get bath and bed without supper."
"Oh but–" Fili didn't have the chance to protest, seeing as his father picked him up by the ankle with a noise Dis could only assume was supposed to be a Balrog's roar.
Their little corner of their exiled home had only returned to silence for an hour at most when she heard the knock on the door. How she loathed that knock and the atmosphere that came with it.
Go away . She wanted to say. Leave my family be, brother. But Vili had opened the door anyway, leaving her in her subdued state as she swept up.
It was strange. After all the years away from Erebor, Dis had begun to rather enjoy being responsible for herself. She had never taken to the notion of being waited on hand and foot when she had been adorned in all the frills and titles that came with being the only Princess in the Durin line.
That, she supposed, and the fact she could always use the broom as a staff if Thorin irritated her.
"Vili." There was his gruff tone as her husband welcomed him inside, slapping him on the back with all the gusto and charisma that had caught her eye in the first place.
"Thorin. It's good to see you again."
Thorin, dressed in the dark regalia he so often was these days, glanced at her as he shrugged off his heavy coat.
"Good evening, sister."
"Is it?" Dis asked him, resting her chin on top of the broom handle. Something in his eyes softened as if he had been about to say something. But there was too much to be done. There was always too much to be done with Thorin.
"We've had a stressful evening, Thorin." Vili explained, leading him to the few chairs they had salvaged from the humans in the nearby towns. "Dwalin brought the lads home, covered in muck from the mines."
"The mines?" Thorin paused, lowering himself down slowly. "What in Durin's name were they doing down there?"
"Looking at the gold moulds apparently. Fili insisted it was his idea."
"I assume he was lying to save his brother's skin."
"Of course he was, it's Fili." Vili chuckled, but Thorin didn't look as impressed.
"He needs to learn to fight his own battles, Vee. He can't spend the rest of his life being protected by Fili at every turn–"
"He can when it's only been one summer since he learnt to walk, Thorin." Dis cut her brother off, and when he turned his head towards her, all she could think to do was tilt her chin at him in challenge.
They had been close once, thick as thieves. But the older they got, the more responsibility her father had entrusted to Thorin, He was no longer allowed to spend their days playing in the lakes and valleys of Erebor. He was crown prince, heir to the throne, and he had to act like it. Kings did not play with their younger siblings. Less so if those younger siblings were sisters. At least when Fili was of age, his brother would be by his side.
The thought didn't bring her too much comfort, however. Fili was not Thorin. Her sons had not known war, they had not known exile. They were born in the Blue Mountains, miles away from their true kingdom. They were not fueled by hatred and vengeance, they did not know bloodshed. Her boys were little beams of starlight, glowing and eternal.
Her vacant stare had clearly portrayed this because suddenly her brother wasn't looking at them anymore.
"Vili. We need to talk."