Life in dwarftown soon returned to normal. Thorin went back to work a day later, having made proper arrangements for his nephews. He employed some older dwarves to school Fili and Kili while he toiled away at the blacksmith shop. He even paid Aria to go home and give the boys lunch. The dwarrow never accepted his payment, loving the boys as her own, though he always left some extra money in her stall. Aria would leave at four in the evening to go visit the boys.

She would feed them lunch and play with them, the order of the activities depending on the boys' mood. Then she would put them down for a nap, making sure they were deep asleep before she left to go back to her stall.

Aria would always be invited to the Durin's parties, public or private, and her cakes always stole the show. The other dwarves noticed Aria's relationship with the Durins and someone would always ask Thorin about their status, but the prince would always blow it off.

They spent happy, uneventful lives for some time as the boys aged. Their lives were routine; Thorin would leave them with an elder while he went to work, Aria would be with them in the afternoon, and Thorin would be home by the time Fili and Kili woke up from their nap. Kili was 11 now and Fili was 13, closing up on a responsible age. Thorin took it upon himself to raise his eldest nephew as his heir; everything that he'd gone through in Erebor, he would put Fili through, and more.

Thorin had higher expectations for Fili than anyone in Erebor had of him at that age. Thorin had lived a life of luxury, his grandfather still alive and running the nation well. He wasn't expected to be on the throne long after his own father had had the opportunity to rule. Every day, him and the boys would practice sword fighting where he would work on Fili's skill. Kili was getting on well with a bow, but Fili was slow to perfect his sword skills. Thorin had less patience with his nephew than any of his trainers had.

He meant it all in good will of course, not wanting his nephew to be left unguarded and unprepared for any trouble. On one particular day, Fili reached his temper and snapped.

"No one asked me if I wanted to be a prince!"

"It's not about whether or not you're a prince! You have to know how to take care of yourself, and your brother. I won't always be around. Now pick up your sword and fight me, son!"

"You can't tell me what to do! You're not my father!" Fili threw down his sword and ran out, leaving Thorin speechless.

Fili ran through the streets of dwarf town, not caring who he bumped into or who called out for him. His own words stung him as he cried, running furiously towards his destination. He found Aria's cabin and banged madly at her door, but it didn't seem like she was home. The neighbor peaked out to see what the matter was, and was about to tell the prince that Aria wasn't home, but he ran away again.

Aria had gone to see an old dwarrow who had been friends with her mother, catching up on old times. There were more people in the streets than normal, and her neighbor was waiting for her when she reached home.

"Berna, what ever is the matter?"

"Prince Fili was here; seemed pretty upset. I think he's run away from home. Poor lad."

"Oh dear! I better go looking for him." Aria didn't even step into her house before she ran out again, looking for Fili.

She searched through the outskirts of town, calling out his name. It didn't seem like she was disturbing anyone since many others were also looking for the boy. Aria had the sudden idea to check her stall; after all, he was looking for her. Picking up her pace, she ran as fast as she could to the market and to her stall. Aria sighed in relief when she heard cries coming from under.

"Fili, are you there?" Aria soothingly called out.

There was a scuffle as Fili got himself out from under the boxes and came to her crying.

"I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it at all!" He cried against her chest as he hugged her.

"Didn't mean what, kidhuzel?"

"Uncle was working me so hard and I was tired of it! No one asked me if I wanted to be prince! But then I said he wasn't my adad and I ran out! I didn't mean it, Ria! Really! I was just tired and mad. I hurt him, he probably hates me!"

Aria got down to her knees and held his face in her hands, wiping his tears with her thumbs.

"If he hated you, he wouldn't have the whole town looking for you. I'm sure he knows you didn't mean it. Let's go tell him, your uncle is probably worried sick."

Fili took her offered hand and went on his way home with her. There was a bit of a forest that they had to cross to get back to dwarf town from the human market, and usually there were no beasts, but tonight was turning out to be a pretty unusual day.

"Ah, look at what we've got here, men." A drunken voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Looks like we hit the double load!" Another voice sneered.

"Where you goin, mama? We can walk you home." A third came from the front and circled them in.

"N-no thank you. We'll get there soon. Come," Aria grabbed Fili's hand and kept him close. "Excuse us."

"Aw, you got manners! But we ain't done yet."

Fili stood out, glowering at the approaching man. "She said we're going home! Get out of our way!"

The men laughed. "Ooh! Scary! Or what?"

Fili quickly stole Aria's safety dagger and carelessly swung it around, intending only to keep the men at bay, while he tried to roar a battle cry. The three men laughed at his feeble attempt, the boy's cry sounding like whine to them, but they quickly shut up when a deep, angry roar sounded from behind the kid. Aria stepped aside a second before Thorin ran out, swinging his sword with aim. The three men also got out their weapons and fought the dwarf, all of them hurting the other well. Fili ran to join in, but Aria grabbed him, holding him back.

"Uncle Thorin!" Fili cried.

The battle seemed to go on for ages till the men realized they would not win against the dwarf and ran away. They weren't from the neighbor town.

Thorin was panting, exhausted from fighting. He sheathed his sword and turned to them.

"Are you both alri..." he fell unconscious before he could finish.

Aria and Fili ran to him, trying to get him awake, but he didn't budge. Aria noticed the deep gash that went along Thorin's side, and kept Fili busy holding Thorin's head. The two screamed for help and luckily some of Thorin's men hadn't been too far off. The dwarves tied up Thorin's wound the best way they could at the moment and heaved him up onto a pony, running him back home. Aria and Fili were right behind on the third pony. The guards were waiting by the Durin's gate and quickly let them pass.

"Where's Kili?" Aria asked as soon as she was off her ride.

"In his room, ma'am."

Aria took Fili's hand and ran him up to the boys' room where Kili was anxiously waiting for them.

"Fi! You're back!" Kili shouted and ran to hug his brother.

"Sorry I left, Ki! I shouldn't have left! It's all my fault! Uncle's hurt because of me!"

"Hush!" Aria chided them and pulled them both into her lap.

"Now, your worrying is only going to disturb your uncle more. We're going to stay calm, stay together, and pray that your uncle gets well soon."

Once the boys were settled enough, she put them down and peeked out the door to call someone to bring them dinner. The tension for Thorin's health was high and the boys just barely finished food, being coaxed by Aria. Neither of them had an ounce of sleep in them, and all of them were awake when Balin came to bring them to Thorin.

The boys had almost ran to jump their uncle before Dwalin held them back, warning them that their uncle was wounded.

"It's alright, you can still come to me." Thorin sat up the best he could and invited them next to him.

Kili willingly went to snuggle next to his uncle and Thorin hugged him, kissing his head. Fili wasn't so eager.

"Fi..." Thorin soothingly called him.

"I'm sorry!" He sobbed, "it's all my fault you're hurt!"

"No, Fili! It wasn't..." Thorin tried, but Fili wasn't finished.

"I didn't mean it! I didn't mean what I said!"

Thorin pursed his lips in a smile and tried to get up but Balin ushered him back. Dwalin pushed Fili closer to Thorin's bed and he finally pulled his nephew into a hug.

"I know you didn't mean it, Fili. You were exhausted, because I was pushing you too hard. I just want to teach you how to be able to protect yourself, and I approached it wrongly. I'm sorry. I could never take the place of your fa-"

Fili cut him off with a hug, burying his head in his shoulder. "You're better than him! You'll always be our adad!"

Thorin smiled a proud fatherly smile and held Fili close as he laid back down, Kili snuggling into his good side again. The door came in his line of sight and he noticed Aria watching them from the doorway.

"Aria, please come in." Thorin called her out and everyone turned to her.

Aria awkwardly let herself in and Dwalin stepped aside to usher her to the seat.

"Th-Thank you for saving us, at your own expense."

"No, the grateful one is I. You were there for Fili."

"It wasn't a matter; he's my own boy, they both are."

"Exactly. And that's why from now on, you'll stay with them here."

Aria's eyes widened and she immediately began to argue.

"Nonsense! I'll have someone else work your shop for you, so you can stay the whole day with them. It seems you know how to work them better than I do."

"I surely can't be better than their own uncle?"

"I'd appreciate it, and I think the lads will love it, if you took care of them. Any ways, it seems like I'll be stuck in bed for some time, so they're going to need you to be here."

"Please, Aria?"

"Yes, please Ria! Stay with us!"

"We'll be on our best behavior!"

Thorin laughed at their pleading.

"Can't get better than that! I'd give in if I were you."

Aria laughed as well.

"Alright alright, you win. I'll stay."

Kidhuzel: golden one