The Three Women Of Durin

A Second Awakening

Thorin and Fili briskly walked together, weaving in and out of sick beds and the drained people who lay prisoner inside them. Thorin wondered what Fili was so desperate about him seeing, but found that he didn't have the energy to be bothered about it too much, he simply allowed himself to be dragged by his nephew through the winding corridors of Erebor, his feet dragging underneath him.

Thorin during this time peeked a look at his eldest sister-son. Fili had grown wild since that day, losing hours and days of sleep because he simply couldn't get his brain to stop whirring. He was the only one out of the remaining company that knew that himself, Kili and Thorin were supposed to die instead, and this one thought had completely and utterly consumed him. He had taken up a leading role to busy himself on the days where Thorin's presence couldn't be found. He organised the sick beds, he made sure they had enough supplies and he bid his farewells to Thranduil on behalf of the company (he also found rooms for Legolas who talked about leaving with Elrond and Tauriel who decided to stay with Legolas until he left).

Fili had stepped up because he didn't know what else to do. The pain he, his brother and his uncle were sharing was too deep to be mended with talking to one another, they needed space from each other, they needed space from everyone. But, when you have certain blood running through your veins, you can't afford to turn your back on the world.

Fili would like to say that he was handling the loss of his three friends well, but by this point, he would be only kidding himself. When the sun was up he put on a dry face, with a soft smile and crinkled eyes, but when the stars prickled across the blackened sky...well, he mourned them.

But it was only when a worried and fanatic Kili had shown up on his doorstep that morning had he been to see them, and that was exactly where he was taking Thorin. When Thorin noticed the place they were heading he thought surely not. But as they grew closer, the lower Thorin's heart sank into his chest. What was Fili up to?

"Fili, why are you taking me there?" Thorin asked calm, there was no point in freaking out.

"Kili came to my door this morning," Fili responded after a beat, Thorin had been a bomb recently, say the wrong thing, do the wrong action, and he would explode, "Apparently he's been spending his time with them...he can't seem to leave them alone,"

"Oh," Another reason for Thorin's heart to hurt, "But why are you taking me?"

"Kili said something was wrong, he couldn't explain it but..." Fili paused walking turning to face his uncle with unsure eyes, watching carefully at Thorin's reaction, "He said, he thought he saw them breathing," Thorin didn't say anything for a minute, a confusing silence crashing onto the small stone corridor.

"You sound unsure," Thorin decided to respond with.

"Well," Fili sighed, walking on, "We've all taken this badly haven't we? Kili's young, and he's spent a lot of time in that room, there is a possibility that he's seeing things. I guess he's lost all hope so he's searching for it,"

Thorin walked next to Fili in silence, the conversation dropping off into nowhere. When did he become so grown up? The thought rattled around Thorin's head like his footsteps rattled around the mountain. Fili had a strong exterior on the outside, he always did, and Thorin couldn't help but think that he would make the best king Erebor had seen in a long while. As Thorin closed in on the room he had left behind 29 days ago, Thorin thought of Kili. Fili was right, the young lad had been through so much trauma in the past few weeks for someone his age. Hope of the girls being alive shouldn't be a question anymore, the hope they needed was one of learning to survive without them. But Thorin couldn't help himself from thinking, what if?

Kili sat with wild eyes and wild hair, he was hunched over stone steps, head in hands, elbows on knees. And when Thorin and Kili walked he scrambled to his feet, more hysterical than excited.