I recently read a well-written fan fic, but was disappointed when I saw that the writer hadn't updated it for months- along with the 50+ reviews with readers all asking for the writer to continue. I understand getting into a rut and not wanting to continue a story so I wrote up a chapter to follow it (and will possibly write one more after this one to wrap up the story altogether). If you want to read the original first two chapters: "Lessons" by Goody-Goodie

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HARD LESSONS

-Chapter 1- Relief-

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Fili had expected everyone to argue with him when he insisted on remaining with Kili in the room Oin had provided, but to his surprise they accommodated him with a rolled-up padding normally used for camping. His uncle held the rounded bundle in his arms, stepping quietly on the wooden floorboards and untying the straps. He promised Fili they would bring something better, a cot, whenever they could manage.

Dis carried a mug of soup in her right hand and steadied herself on the doorway post with the other. Fili could tell it was hard for her to see Kili like this and could almost hear her heartbeat speed up every time she entered the room, the shock almost as fresh as the first time.

Sitting up against the side-table next to the bed with his legs crossed on the padding, Fili clutched at a book.

Dis' eyebrows wrinkled together and Fili could see that she was asking herself what she was capable of doing: Did she really have it in her to sleep? Or was she wound too tightly and needed something to do? Either way, they both felt horrible for imposing on Oin—the whole Durin lineage would camp in the dwarf's house given permission and they didn't want to overwhelm the old doctor. Two was enough… especially when Fili would provide a better watchman than anyone else.

"Please," Dis murmured, taking a few steps to place a trembling hand on Fili's shoulder and stooping to kiss his brow. "For any reason at all, you'll send for me, won't you?"

"I will, mum," he said with his lips brushing her cheek.

Watching her rip herself away quickly, he heard the door close behind her with a timid click.

The next few days were filled with random visitors, inspections from Oin, food brought in by his mother, and eventually a demanding Thorin who told him to get out of the stifling room to get some air, even if just for a few minutes.

At first, Fili had started a joke about how dwarves were built to withstand stifling conditions, living deep in the mountains a majority of the time, but his uncle took it as an argument and hauled the lad out of the room with a hefty hand on the younger dwarf's collar, the door closing behind him solidly.

Dis, who was reading just outside the doorway in a chair, blinked and cocked her head sideways in confusion on seeing Fili dumped outside the room.

"I guess I'm going outside for a little air." Fili raised his eyebrows and started moving away from the room he'd just been thrown (literally) out of. He halted for a moment, glanced sideways at his mother, and held out an arm to her. "Would you like to come with me?"

Fili watched his mother eye the offered arm in thought. She then accepted it, slipping her hand in the crook of Fili's elbow and standing closely side by side while he guided her through Oin's home and through a corridor to a balcony on the mountainside.

The railing of the balcony was stone and the tiles were ornately carved in dwarf rhunes, but the slick ice that covered the balcony reflected the light blue of the midday sky. The overcast clouds had diminished, causing Fili to hope that perhaps an early spring would soon be upon them. It was owed to them and their people after all they had suffered through…

It took a moment for Fili to realize just how much his lungs needed the cool, clean air of the outside world, clearing his head enough to speak his mind.

He edged along the railing, steadying himself and his mother, trying not to slip.

"Mother…" he began somewhat solemnly. "Something Nolin said… I've been thinking on it."

Dis rigidly turned her body to face her son, letting go of his arm and reaching out a hand to the balcony railing.

"He said 'the line that saw our kingdom fall remains fat while we starve', and then he told me our suffering was not as great as his." Fili paused a moment, letting Dis chew on what he'd said and hoping not to overwhelm her. A question burned inside of him like a hot fever that not even the snowy cold could quench. "Our family has seen better days, surely, and we try to help… but are we doing enough?"

Dis' mouth dropped open and her thoughts were a jumble, all trying to get out at the same time, but Fili put a hand on her shoulder to calm her and spoke on.

"What I mean to say is that when Nolin said this, when he—" Fili swallowed "—when he beat Kili, he told me it was a lesson… that I didn't know true suffering for myself."

"He was wrong." Dis growled.

"He was hurting," Fili interjected. "I have been hating him all these long days of sitting in Kili's room, but then I remember the look on his face when he said it and I can't help but pity him. Has he lost someone?"

"I don't know," Dis shook her head. "Neither do I care, he's made himself a criminal with what he's done and unworthy of your sympathy."

Fili's eyebrows rose and he breathed out a cloudy breath of warm fog. This was certainly the roles being reversed—his mother usually admonished empathy, even to those she said might be perceived as undeserving. His reaction was always assessment of their motives, with a touch of impatience; but now he peered into Nolin's soul, trying to understand what could have driven the dwarf to the offense of beating an Erebor Prince.

"It was a completely irrational act," Fili agreed, resisting his desire to use stronger words. "But he would not have been so careless unless it was born of a broken heart. And I care not for Nolin—" He glanced at her, hoping to catch her eyes and assure her of his true sentiment, but she would not raise her scowl from the ground. "—I mean to see that our people are cared for, and if the worst of us is Nolin, committing such a horrible deed in his pain, then perhaps even the meekest of us are distressing in silence."

Now Dis raised her head, her eyes traveling to Fili's coat before meeting his eyes.

"I never asked for it, but I learned the hopelessness of watching someone I love fall and not being able to help them. It broke me, twisted up my insides—"

"Fili." Dis said in a halting voice. He knew she understood, but that she could not bear to hear any more of her sons in pain. "What would you have us do? Provision is the problem—how do we tend to an entire mountain with a few deer? How do we purchase flour and oil when no one will sell it for fear of taking from their own stock? You see the spring coming through—" she waved her hand at the blue sky, a hint of yellow staining the few clouds. "—all we can do is wait."

"There must be something—"

"When you have come up with a solution, your uncle and I would be glad to hear it." Dis murmured dejectedly. "But if there is one thing that satisfies me in all of this, it is that Thorin's heir has shown himself to be a compassionate leader."

Fili broke his gaze with the forest below and turned his head to his mother.

"Your enemy hurt you in the worst possible way, yet you still seek to understand why he did it and how to relieve him of the burden of starvation. Woe has not reduced you to weeping, it has strengthened your resolve to help others. This is necessary for a good King." She squeezed his shoulder and crossed her arms, stepping slowly back inside and leaving her son to his thoughts.

Fili stayed for a moment, stooping over the railing, hands clutching at it, and looking out at the forest.

"Mahal, isn't there something we can do?" He asked no one. The aching chill had returned to his bones, and he grumbled that he should not be so susceptible to cold, even if he had almost frozen to death only days ago.

Pulling his arms around his chest, he returned to the corridor, telling himself he'd had enough fresh air to tide him over a few more days. Fili didn't mind being a sentry at his brother's bed a few more days, but he hoped Kili would recover such that it wouldn't be necessary…

Fili strode through the halls when he thought on the instances when Kili had shown signs of consciousness, though they were few. He wouldn't speak, wouldn't open his eyes, wouldn't move his body. There was one thing that brought Fili hope: his brother had been able to open his mouth ever so much and swallow spoonful after spoonful of soup. After having gone the first two days without food, Fili panicked that Kili's recovery would falter. It was a desperate chance they took, tentatively dripping the broth into his mouth at first, but he responded to it with small gulps.

Oin was gratified that they were able to feed Kili at all. Each day since he'd been beaten had been full of heavier despair than the day before it, mounting to panic on that third day. But now their fear was quenched and hope was strong among all who came to see that the dwarf prince at least had some color to his skin.

The dwarf doctor was just ascending the stairs with a bowl of soup when Fili halted him and offered to take it up. Oin shrugged, handed him the bowl, and retreated to his dining area where a few others sat.

Careful not to spill its contents while climbing the stairs, Fili cradled the broth with both hands, hissing when the hot contents stung a finger. He noted that the broth was more watery than usual and Fili wondered if Oin's pantry was becoming bare. Fili would remedy that as soon as he could.

Fili tapped the door with the toe of his boot, hesitant to balance the bowl of soup in one hand, and the door opened a few inches to reveal the tired face of his uncle.

Entering the room with soft footfalls, he paused a moment above the bed, looking down at the pair of eyes he saw were open. Well, one of them was open while the other one was pressed closed by swelling, though it was not as puffy as it had been a few days ago.

"Hello, there," Fili smiled, setting the bowl down and gripping his brother's good hand.

Kili pursed his lips in reply, slightly nodding his head.

"I leave, for one moment," Fili grunted, pulling a chair beside the bed and sitting in it, "and you decide to wake up?"

Thorin, not having left the room, stood with his arms crossed at the foot of the bed and a wide grin. "He's not been awake long."

Glancing at his uncle and then back to his brother, Fili brushed a hair away from Kili's forehead. "Can you speak?"

The reply was a closing of his eye and a huff through his nose with no movement of the lad's mouth, only a tightening of his lips. When his eye opened again, it was starting to collect a tear.

"Nevermind about that," Fili shook his head. "I've got soup for you."

Fili turned to retrieve the bowl, but was startled by a hissing sound. Turning back to his brother, he realized the sound came from Kili's mouth.

"Mmss…Mm…" Kili clamped his eye shut for a moment, and then opened it again, this time his swollen eye opening a little. "Em srry."

"You're sorry?"

Kili nodded his head.

Fili snorted, locking eyes with Thorin a moment before squeezing Kili's shoulder. "You've nothing to be sorry for." And then, hoping to distract him, added, "I just need you to eat."

Kili rolled his eyes, huffing with his nose again. It sunk Fili's heart to see his little brother in this state, but it stung even more so that after days of being unconscious Kili's first words had been an apology. This struck a sharp feeling in Fili's innards and he struggled not to tremble while he spooned broth into his brother's mouth, little bit by little bit. Not much of the broth was consumed, but enough to satisfy both Thorin and Fili, understanding the difficulty Kili had in swallowing even that meager amount.

The bowl passed to the hands of Kili's waiting uncle, who retreated with it through the door.

Fili resumed his position beside the injured dwarf's bed, propping his feet against the frame and leaning back in the chair, noticing a grimace on the lad's face. He couldn't imagine which pain his brother was dealing with, the injuries to his ribs, his hand, his head, even his jaw which spoke for the inability to eat much-Or was it the memory of freezing in the snow, being beaten, or trying to reach a knife that had been three feet away although it had probably felt like a hundred feet?

"Hand. Hand hurts." Kili murmured without moving much of his mouth.

"As it should," Fili sighed. "I'm not sure what you remember and what you don't, but your hand was crushed." He didn't add the name of the repulsive dwarf who did it, knowing that it would open the floodgates of fury he was reserving for proper use later.

The younger lad's eyes traveled to Fili. "Yr mkay?"

"What?" Fili leaned forward.

"Y… You." Kili let out a frustrated breath through is lips. "You… hurt?"

Fili's eyes brimmed with wetness, and he clenched his forehead in his hand. "No, I'm fine. Stop being so considerate." Only Kili could be worried about someone else when his own injuries were substantial.

Kili shifted in the bed, stretching his legs and shifting his head to face the other way, but not before uttering. "Shtup…do wt I wnt."