Chapter Text
When Thorin had taken Dis’ two sons from their home to work in the towns of men, she had been worried. Since their father’s and grandfather’s death and the loss of Erebor, her boys and her brother were all she had. To have all three of them leave her at once was blow to the chest. She had travelled through towns occupied by men before and she knew that as a whole, they were a race with little to no kindness to offer to the likes of dwarves. She feared their cruelness and the mark it would leave upon her young sons, so naïve and inexperienced in the world.
The first time they returned from being away working a few months, they seemed older, taller, and more mature. From their work they had developed a sturdiness they did not have before they left. When Dis hugged them each in turn for the first time in months, she felt how they could each envelope her in their arms. They had an easier relationship with her brother also. She noticed that at dinner they often sat on either side of him and nudged him back and forth between them with their shoulders until he snapped at them to stop. Thorin’s patience with them had grown exponentially, and while he was still weary and cranky sometimes, Dis occasionally saw a much younger dwarven prince than she had seen in a very, very long time.
A few years down the road, Dis finally got accustomed to the idea of her boys working in towns full of cruel humans. She trusted her brother more than anyone else in her life, but when he returned home once, somber and more tense than usual, she feared for the worst. That night while Fili and Kili had gone to the pub to relax with their fellow dwarves for a change, Dis came upon Thorin leaning on the mantel of their fireplace, eyes fixed on the flickering flames.
As soon as he heard her pad into the room, he began speaking, never once taking his eyes off the fire. He told her about the wizard who came to him at the pub in the last human town they had worked in. The wizard told him of a quest to take back Erebor from the calamity, to return to their home and bring their fallen kingdom back to its former glory.
She asked how some strange wizard would know anything about their home and their history. Thorin told her about the signs that had been read. He told her that it mattered not what she told him about it being an impossibly challenging journey, riddled with danger at every turn. If there was even the faintest chance that they could fight to get back their home, he had to try.
Her jaw set at her brother’s stubborn nature, and she asked why he came to ask her if he already had the decision made. He did not answer her question directly immediately. He paced the room, his footsteps slow and his gaze locked on the coals at the heart of the fire. He continued, saying that he would be leaving in hopefully no more than two weeks, after he assembled his Company and gathered supplies for the journey. Finally, he paused before the fire, and Dis could tell this great, brave dwarf prince was nervous. Knowing her brother as well as she did, she knew she was right to be worried by this.
He told her, after a moment’s consideration, that there would be no argument on this tonight. It could wait until the morning. No amount of bargaining or refusal would change his mind. The last thing he said before leaving the room in favour of his own bed was that he was not asking her, he was warning her, because he was going to ask Fili and Kili to accompany him.
It felt like hours after Thorin left the room before Dis finally retreated to her own room. She was numb, mostly because she knew that her boys would sooner die than miss a chance to accompany their uncle on his adventure.