Hi there! I'm keeping to my update schedule again! Be happy! This is another short chapter sorry but I loved writing it. Any tips on how to make it better would be really appreciated. The pic on the side is just cool and is the main character for this chapter. FILI! Don't you love him? Now read on!

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    “Balin!” shouted the King urgently from his bedchamber. The dwarf in question heard the startled cry and rushed to his Lord’s aid.

    “What is it, your majesty?” the old warrior questioned as he slipped quickly inside the large bedroom shutting the door quietly behind him. Fili was sitting upright in bed, his white cotton sheets tangled haphazardly around his body as if they were trying to ensnare him in a death grip and his heavy pelt quilt had fallen to the floor in a muddled heap.

The King himself was pale and drenched from head to toe in a layer of glistening sweat. His maroon undershirt was pasted to his muscled chest from the perspiration. His startling blue eyes were wide and shining with an uncontrolled and frenzied panic and his chest heaved as he took huge gasping breaths as if he had just run from Dale to Erebor in ten seconds flat.

    “Is everything alright laddie?” Balin changed tack from formal to fatherly as he picked his way slowly over to the bedside. The young dwarf groaned in a mixture of heart-wrenching despair and frustration as he fisted his hands in clumps of his tangled blonde hair.

    “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” he whimpered letting go of his braids and dropping his head into his hands, “I had another dream.” The older dwarf placed a comforting hand on his young King’s shoulder and sighed.

    “And laddie?” he encouraged his voice barely over a whisper, “What was in your dream?” The old warrior could feel little wracking tremors of fear violently assaulting the blonde dwarf beneath his firm touch.

    “It was Kili,” the blonde replied his head still resting heavily in his hands. His breathing had calmed a little but when he spoke he still sounded out of breath.

    “Again?” Balin questioned seeming not surprised in the least. Fili nodded raising his head to meet the eyes of the older dwarf.

    “He was lying on the ground,” the King explained his dazzling blue eyes boring fearfully into his companion’s, “His body was covered in both fresh and drying blood and thousands of dirty, infected cuts and his skin was shining with a high fever. It looked as of he had been whipped. He was calling out to me but I was too far away to reach him. He was crying, Balin. Crying. He was so, so weak. And I couldn’t help him. I’ve always been there to help him. But not this time. This time he is alone.” The old dwarf sighed once more. Fili had been having these terrible dreams of his brother with growing frequency since the lad had left to visit his elfin friend, what was her name?, Sabrielle. It was childish and irrational he knew but Balin had to admit that it was extremely worrying that the young dwarf was so utterly unhinged and unfocused when the other boy was absent from his side. All the other many times the younger of the two had been to visit the elf nothing like this had ever happened. Why would this time be any different?

    “Your brother knows how to handle himself, laddie,” Balin soothed trying with a small degree of success to hide his disturbance at the reaction the dreams had yet again produced, “And remember you gave him a fortnight. That time hasn’t passed yet. He’ll be home soon, you’ll see; whole, well and completely unharmed.” The King’s head dipped in a nod, of its own accord or because the King was actually agreeing with him Balin was unable to ascertain, and the lad struggled to stifle a wide yawn which made the older dwarf crack a small fond smile for the boy.

‘He’s so young to be accepting so much responsibility,’ he thought as he stared at his King for a moment longer, ‘Thorin may have been younger than him when he led our people to the Blue Mountains but he had been better trained for such responsibility under Prince Thrain’s watchful and stern eye. It is little wonder that the lad keeps having such bad dreams. The strain must be unbearable especially without his brother by his side. The other lad seems to be the main source of comic relief for many in the court. Good thing we’re only missing him for two weeks or so.’

    “Alright, laddie,” the old warrior sighed looking down at his King’s sleepy face, “Time to rest. You’ve got another full day ahead of you. You’ll need your energy if you want to keep order in your Kingdom.” He had hardly helped Fili to untangle himself from the sheets when the young dwarf had fallen asleep again. Balin took one last look at the King’s face before leaving the bedchambers in search of his own. In sleep all the worry lines had faded leaving the boy’s features serene and youthful.

    “It’s so easy to forget how young he is,” the white haired dwarf muttered to himself as he shuffled down the wide arching hall, “He is such a commanding figure most of the time just like his uncle; Thorin trained him well for public appearance. But deep down he’s still just a child.”

Back in the bed chambers Fili had once again slipped into the labyrinth of dreams but they were not of the same sort as before. In his mind’s eye the sun was slowly rising over the Mountain, inching it’s way up, and two lone figures were standing on the peak, a dwarf man and a slightly taller woman though who they were the young King could not tell as their faces were still in the shadow of the early morning darkness.

    “I’ve always loved the dawn,” the woman stated a soft smile evident in her warm, caressing and strangely familiar voice, “I’ve never seen a sunrise I haven’t loved but when I watch them with you they are always better.”

    “When I’m with you I don’t ever see the sunrise,” replied the dwarf male, “I only ever see you.” The woman turned to look at her companion confused as he got down on his knees and took her hands in his own. Slowly and carefully he traced a pattern on her delicate hand with one of his fingers.

    “As long as I’ve known you I have loved and adored you. I can never imagine a life where you are not in it,” the dwarf proclaimed from his vulnerable position, “You are my light and my salvation. You are my One.” Suddenly the sun broke over the Mountain and the golden rays spilled over the earth. In that instant the world was bathed in brilliant golden clarity and finally Fili could see their familiar and well known faces.

    “Will you marry me, Sabrielle?” he begged.

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Isn't Balin a cutie? Tell me your thoughts on this chapter. I promise the chapters will be longer soon. If I get a really nice comment (meaning that it has proper crit) then I'll update as soon as I read it meaning I could update now. :D I hope you enjoyed this new chapter and Fili's sweet brotherly worry. Until we meet again!

~SpanishFox