Kili sighed as his mother stepped into his arms, relaxing into her arms and squirming happily (something he had done as a child and something he still did as an adult…Although now he denied it) as she pulled him in closer. He had missed her hugs; the warmth that emanated for her and seemed to pass right in to his body (when he was younger he used to pretend that it was her love passing from her body into his), the feeling of being completely safe, her comforting scent which smelt somehow of warm bread… He missed her. They’d both been so busy since they’d reclaim Erebor as their own that they rarely had time to see each other; she spent more time with uncle Thorin and Fili whereas Kili spent more time with Dwalin, training to take up his position in the guard.

As he hugged her, Kili remembered the bad times on the quest, when he’d been cold and miserable and hungry, when he just wanted to lie down and give up, when he just wanted to throw down his packs and turn back. During those times there had been four things he thought of to keep going:

The first was that he couldn’t give up because he couldn’t leave Fili alone. They’d agreed to go on the quest together and had made their plans for the quest together. Kili had spent all his life with by his brother’s side and he didn’t want to leave his side during a quest that could possibly cost them their lives.

The second was that he couldn’t give up because he had to be there when Erebor was reclaimed. He hadn’t been born there and had only heard of it in the lullabies that Thorin used to sing or the tales he used to tell and, because of this, it had never really felt like home. Kili thought that if he played a part in winning it back then maybe, just maybe, he’d feel the connection that everyone else seemed to feel.

The third was that he couldn’t give up because he needed to prove himself to his uncle. Kili respected and admired his uncle to the point of hero worship (something he was well aware of) and he wanted to make him proud. By completing the quest and performing well throughout it he hoped to show his uncle that he was worthy of his respect, his admiration, his affection.

The forth was that he couldn’t give up because he wanted to give his mother her home back. She had cared for him all his life; she had put up with his mischief making, with his tantrums and his sulks and his screaming fits, she had cared for him when he was sick and comforted him when he was hurt or upset. The quest for Erebor was a chance to repay her for everything she had done for him and make her proud.

Pulling himself from the past (and withdrawing from the hug as well) Kili beamed at his mother.

“Of course I’m happy to see you, mother! Why wouldn’t I be? It’s been such a long time since we saw each other, what with us being so busy. I’ve missed you!”

Kili realised what had happened the instant his mother asked about the ink streak on his cheek and slapped his hand over his cheek to try and cover it (for some reason thinking that, even though she already asked about it and noticed it, if he hid it from view then she would instantly forget about it). After a few seconds he came to his sense and smile awkwardly. He didn’t want to tell her about how bad his day had been so far and the mess it had lead to.

“Oh, that… It’s nothing. I was just doing… I was… I was writing a letter and I must have smudged some on to my cheek somehow… It’s nothing, really.”

Dis raised an eyebrow when he told her he'd accidentally smudged ink on his cheek. She guessed that he wasn't having a good day, but she wasn't going to say anything. She was going to leave it up to him to tell her if he wanted to. Slowly, she began nodding and smiled a little bit.

"It has been a long time since we've spent any time together. What do you say we go someplace and completely forget about all our troubles for the time being?" Dis asked him, smiling. She wanted to spend time with him after him being away for so long and the both of them being so busy.

She wanted it to be like it was before. She wanted him to be the mischievous dwarfling he'd been before. But she knew he'd grown up during the Quest for Erebor. Right now though, Dis was willing to settle for anything. Anything to spend time with her youngest son.

(Okay this isn't the greatest. It's been a while since I've rped on here. Hope this wasn't too bad)

Kíli beamed at his mother when she suggested going out somewhere. It had been some time since they had had an opportunity to do anything more than exchange a few passing nods and he badly wanted to spend more time with her. Not to mention that getting out of his room was not doubt exactly what he needed, if he stayed in any longer he would probably end up climbing the walls (although not literally because, despite what people thought, Kíli did learn from his mistakes and the three weeks confined to bed when he was but a dwarfling were memorable enough to ensure that he wasn’t going to be attempting to scale walls anytime soon).

“That sounds like a brilliant idea! That sounds like an absolutely brilliant idea!”

His enthusiasm brimmed over and reached out to give his mother another hug, nuzzling his nose in to her neck like he used to when he was a child. She still smelt like home, like freshly baked honey cakes, like rock dust, and the indescribable smell of warmth. For a brief moment he felt like a child once more.

When he drew back his enthusiasm found another way to express himself. This time through words.

“Where do you want to go? Do you think we should stay in the mountain? Or should we take a walk outside? Have a look at the surrounding area? It wasn’t so bad the last time I looked… Only a few weapons left lying about and the odd skull and bone here and there…. On second thought, maybe it’s better we stay in Erebor… Unless you want to go to Dale of course? Or Laketown?”

---

Don't worry, it's good!

Dís couldn't help but smile again when Kíli gave her another hug. This time nuzzling his nose into her neck. When her youngest son did things like this, it reminded her of when they were still in the Blue Mountains. Kíli had been so carefree then and Dís missed that.

"Maybe we could take a walk here inside the mountain. I think there's a few parts we have not yet explored," Dís suggested.

Sometimes she really had to laugh at herself. She'd lived here when she was a young dwarrowdam and now since Erebor had been reclaimed, but she still had not yet explored the Lonely Mountain in it's entirety.

"Unless you're tired of exploring," Dís added as an afterthought. Exploring was the main thing they did together and, despite his never ending eagerness, Dís never knew when and/or if her young son would tire of it.

Kíli remembered the first time his mother had asked him if he wanted to go exploring, he’d been reluctant to agree at first but, a few minutes into their stroll, he found that he was unexpectedly glad that his mother had suggested that they spend their walk exploring the halls and corridors of Erebor. Even as a child he’d preferred spending his time outside the mountains he called home rather than inside them, preferred climbing trees and hunting prey to climbing cliff faces and hunting for gems. He’d never really understood the appeal of spending his life in the halls of a mountain when there was so much more out there to explore and, up until he had arrived in Erebor, he’d thought that that was simply down to the fact, along with his lack of beard, affinity to the bow, and slight figure, marked him out as different. A dwarf who was distinctly “undwarvish”. Having reached Erebor, he realised that that wasn’t the case at all; it wasn’t that he wasn’t interested what was inside the mountain because he was “undwarvish” rather it was that he wasn’t interested in what was inside the mountain because he’d lived there all his life, he knew every nook and cranny of the mountain, he’d explored them countless times with Fíli at his side, he’d seen them during the day, during the dead of the night, in the height of summer, and the depths of winter. He’d seen them in every way it was possible to see them.

In other words, he’d been bored.

That had changed when he arrived Erebor. The halls were so big, so vast, so numerous that, even if he devoted all of his (and Fíli’s) life to the sole cause of trying explore the mountain, Kíli doubted he’d be able to see and know even place, every hall, every corridor there was to know. Suddenly, what was inside the mountain was far more interesting than what was outside the mountain.

And so he was pleased that his mother had suggested that they explore Erebor. He’d spend quite a bit of his time exploring his new home at Fíli’s side (they’d already found some places of interest) and his duties, especially those that involved rebuilding the halls of his ancestors, allowed him to explore even more of it but, despite having seen so much the kingdom already, the Kíli knew he hadn’t seen the half of it. Exploring Erebor with his mother allowed him to see a little bit more.

“Of course I want to explore! Why wouldn’t I? You know I never tire of finding interesting new places to explore” Kíli laughed as he continued to speak. “And if I didn’t explore my new home at least a little bit every day then how could Fee and I ever hope to cause as much mischief as we did back in the Blue Mountains? We have a reputation to uphold after all.”

"I don't care if you have a reputation to uphold. Or about the mischief. I grew up with all boys, married one, and had two of my own," Dís replied and shook her head a little. She knew that he'd never tire of exploring, but that didn't stop her from worrying half the time. She always worried when she asked him things nowadays. He wasn't the same dwarf that he had been when he left the Blue Mountains. He was more grown up. He wasn't the young dwarrow that she had raised.

"I know that you don't tire of it, Kili. I just worry that one day you will tire of doing things with me. You've grown up so much. You've changed a lot," Dís told her youngest just so he wouldn't ask her what was troubling her.

Dís offered him a smile and took his hand, leading him into one of the numerous halls. She smiled at him and then started to look around. Despite having actually lived in Erebor before, she'd never thought of it quite as beautiful as she did now. She guessed it was from the years of living in the Blue Mountains.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I have not even seen all of Erebor? Despite living here," Dís looked over at him quietly.

(I am so so so sorry that it took me so long to reply)

For a fleeting second Kíli felt the urge to light-heartedly brush off his mother’s worries with a well-placed joke. He knew that he would never tire of spending time with her, the very idea was laughable…. But Kíli supposed his mother couldn’t really know that for certain unless she possessed the ability to read his mind (he knew it might sometimes seem like she knew exactly what he was thinking but he did actually think she was a mind-reader).

Kíli had never had trouble with showing his affection through his actions but conveying them through his words was a different matter. Sometimes he forgot people might like a little bit of verbal assurance. He was almost certain that the last time he told his mother he loved her was the day he’d left to go on the quest.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love her, it was just that it wasn’t done for a grown dwarf to tell their mother that they loved them every day and Kíli had always assumed that she knew even if he never said aloud any more.

Perhaps a joke wasn’t the best path to take.

“I could never grow tired of spending time with you, never. I may not be the same dwarrow who left the Blue Mountains but you are my mother, the dwarf who raised me and put up with my troubles and tantrums. You are the only parent I’ve ever known and you mean so much to me… I- When I was younger there were only two dwarrows I really idolised: Uncle Thorin and, above Uncle Thorin, you. And I still idolise both of you now. I’ve grown older and some might say wiser but I’m never going to stop wanting to spend time with you.”

With that he followed his mother in to one of Erebor’s many halls, smiling as she confided in him.

“Of course I believe you! You were still quite young when you were forced to flee and it took Fee and I up until we left to go on the quest to explore all of the Blue Mountains. I’m still not sure we know all of it even now if I’m being completely honest. Is this you trying to tell me you want to find a secret passage?”

---

Sorry for the delay. I wrote this at the beginning of the week, fell asleep and when I woke up I thought I'd posted it already