The blond-haired dwarf glared at his reflection in the mirror, tiny beard hairs sprouted, which should have made him happy, but it had been like that for months.
“Fili!” He heard his brother call. Fili tossed his mother’s mirror aside she had left out, and jumped up, grabbing a bow off a nearby shelf.
“Ready to go hunting?” His younger brother asked, as he strutted into the room, a bow and quiver in his hand.
“Kili!” Their mother, Dis, rushed into the room, a coat in her hand.
“I don’t want you catching a cold, the night will become cold.”
“Thank you, Mother,” Kili said, as he slipped it on, and then threw a pack over his shoulder. Fili grinned at his brother, taking his sword belt off a hook and strapping it on.
“Be careful,” Dis called after them as they walked out the door.
“We will,” Fili called back to reassure his mother.
“Every time uncle Thorin leaves, she seems to worry so much,” Kili commented.
“Yes,” Fili agreed, glancing back at his brother. Kili was a few years younger, but the two were inseparable. They passed their uncle’s blacksmith shop, heading away from the town.
“Ah, I see you have grown another beard hair,” Fili said.
“Really! Where?” Kili ran his hands over his face, dropping his pack in the process. Fili laughed at his brother’s antics.
“Just kidding!”
Kili immediately froze, “Not funny!” He charged his older brother, and jumped on him full speed. The two tumbled to the ground, Fili laughing as he tried to shove his brother off. Finally they came to a stop, both gasping for breath.
“I wonder when Uncle Thorin will return from his trip,” Fili said scrambling to his feet, then helping Kili up. He had left a couple days before to another town, looking for something.
“Soon, I hope,” Kili said. “I hope he tells of the battle at Moria!” He grew solemn as he remembered the stories of how their Father had died in there. “I want to stick an arrow through an orc’s eye socket!”
“You’re not alone,” Fili said, gathering fallen items.
The two traveled in silence for a while, heading deep into the forest, side by side. Kili had never known his Father, having died as a baby, and Fili had only the faintest memory. Sometimes he felt guilty about having little memory to share with his brother. Their uncle, Thorin, had come to take care of his sister, their mother, and seemed like a Father to them.
“Shh,” Fili suddenly shot his hand out to stop his brother, “Hear that?”
Kili almost plowed past Fili’s arm, but stopped as he heard the soft footsteps and the dry leaves. The two brothers quietly slid over by a large tree, and stood against it, there dark clothes almost making them invisible.
A deer walked into view, a doe, and she had a half-grown fawn with her, it still having its spots.
“The late bloomer,” Kili said, with a smile. The doe lifted her head, and sniffed the air, then looked directly at the dwarves. She slowly blinked her big brown eyes, then turned and bounded swiftly away, the fawn right at her side.
