New timeline! I'm inclined to call it "Quest-verse" since it's the quest for Erebor. This transcript is the opening, covering how Kíli and Kizár met, and discussing the up-coming quest.
_______________________________________________________________________


Kizár

In a grassy clearing that has never truly existed, in a land brighter and greener than Middle Earth could ever hold, three young dwarves spend time playing around. It was a dream, but a dream more vivid than most, as they were there thanks to the powers all three shared for understanding the spirit world, though none quite so strongly as the young lady of the three.

Kizár was the name she now used, a dwarven name for the sake of those she now lived with, but truthfully she was not truly a dwarf, born far longer ago and further away than most dwarves would know - a child of the Two Trees, one of the Great Jewels, the Silmarils, raised in Valinor, adopted daughter of Curufinwë Fëanáro.

But here, in dreams, where she could wear whatever face she wished, she wore the appearance of a Dwarf for she had been found, befriended and adopted by a dwarf, Kíli, one of the two she now watched sparing.

It had been roughly sixty years before that she first met Kíli, who had been a young child at the time. He had heard her crying in her loneliness and had found her, not even thinking to question the thought of a living stone. She in turn was willing to trust him, a child as young as he would, to her thought, be quite innocent in his intentions, and he truly was, only wanting to soothe her sadness away and be a friend.

She accepted his friendship immediately and could honestly say she never once regretted it.

Oh, at the start she had not understood his language, though she diligently learned by listening to Kíli's thoughts whenever he, or even other talked, divining the meanings from his understanding, and later would learn Westron at the same time. It was a relief when she started being about to communicate in words, even if they were clumsy to start with.

Kíli's brother, Fíli, noticed quite quickly that something odd was going on, confronting Kíli about it, and Kizár quickly drew him into the shared dreams she had with Kíli. He did not trust quite as quickly as Kíli had, but Kizár had given him earnest truth and he had come to accept her soon after as someone who had only Kíli's happiness at heart.

Though both Fíli and Kíli knew she was something ancient, and having once lived with Elves, most of the time she showed them a dwarven face - her act of becoming their sister - and one of like ages to Kíli. She played childhood games, laughed at childish jokes and encouraged childhood dreams. Her time with them as they grew became a new childhood of her own, allowing her unspoken healing from all she had been through.

Though now Thorin had returned from being away, proposing a great quest to reclaim Erebor, the once-home of their family. Fíli and Kíli were eager for it, though Kizár knew Kíli harboured some doubts of his own about it. Maybe soon she would speak to him when they were alone and find out what had him bothered.

But she had her own hopes for this quest, a good home where her dwarven family would no longer need to struggle, where they could settle down happily.

Kizár smiles as Kíli turns to look her way, and she rises to go over to he and Fíli, to chivy them into some deeper rest. Yes, Maybe this quest meant a bright future.


Kíli

When Kíli found the stone he had been just a dwarfling, and they had still been living in the wretched lands, near the marshes. Those had been dark days, not all that long after Kíli's father had fallen in battle. Maybe that had been the reason why he had gone seeking out the small voice he heard, the voice crying. But instead of finding one of the other orphans, he had found a stone.

A living stone, who had been lonely for a long long time. It was the first time in weeks that Kíli forgot his sadness for a while, or that he was hungry, or anything else that miserable in his life, all that fled his mind when he first began to try to console the weeping stone. She - he had the impression that it was a she, long before they truly learned to talk to one another, had very tentatively allowed him to remove her form the wedge between the rocks where she had been stuck.

That night, the first night back in camp, she had come to his dreams. They still could not really converse, it would take quite some time before they were able to talk to one another, but they could play. In in his dreams they played hide-and-seek and catch-the-goblin in a dreamy-beautiful landscape. The dreams became Kíli's salvation, the place where life was not dreary, where he did not forget how to laugh.

Time moved on, another summer passed, and eventually his people began to settle the dales of the Ered Luin. During that Winter they first began to speak, slowly at first, and faster soon enough. Kíli had no doubt that it was natural that a stone, a magic stone at that, would speak Khuzdul. Kizár, as Kíli would begin to call his stone-sister, became his constant companion, well hidden in a pouch on his belt, always with him and in a way always present.

Of course Fíli found out and took great pains to investigate his brother's changes. Not only had he noticed that Kíli was happier again - something he took a bit badly, for he remembered their father much clearer than Kíli did and found it disloyal that Kíli stopped missing him - but also he noticed that Kíli knew things, that he learned things without anyone teaching him. Eventually Kíli brought him in on the secret, and in time Fíli came to accept the little stone that was their sister. Though he'd never grow quite as attached to her as Kíli did.

Years and years passed, the dust of many a star fell on the time-makers hourglass and Kíli grew, from a dwarfling into a young dwarf, and finally into a young warrior. He learned his craft from those who could teach him and he learned other things from Kizár, who was an old stone and had seen much in the world. Outside dwarrow sometimes wondered how Kíli managed to know things, to sound almost like had had enjoyed an education that would once, in the past, have befitted his family. But most were quick to point out, that Kíli was something of a favorite of Balin, and the kind old dwarrow probably had taken the pains to educate the unruly young dwarf. They were wrong, and Kíli left them to believe as they wanted.

Another year passed and Thorin left to search for Thrain, whom rumours located somewhere in the marshes of Dunland. He refused to take Fíli and Kíli along, and Balin swiftly committed them to escort a caravan of traders who peddled silverware and pelts on the roads south. Kíli loved such outings, alternating between being an escort warrior and shoeing horses. He ignored the nights that Fíli snuck off to moon after one of the dwarrow in the caravan, and spent most of the time talking with Kizár.

When they returned Thorin was back, having great plans for the future. He had been approached by Gandalf the Grey, about retrieving the Arkenstone from Erebor, about removing the dragon. There was no doubt that Kíli would volunteer to go with him, same as Fíli, who'd willing leap into a lion's mouth if it was to help Thorin. Thorin would not dismiss them, he could not afford it, there were few enough who would try.

But while he worked on his gear for the long journey, while the winter winds howled around the low stone houses in Ered Luin, Kíli could not deny a dread, a fear that crept into his heard and doubts soft-footedly creeping up on him during the long hours of winter. He cannot share them with Fíli, and deep down Kíli wonders if he is coward to question Thorin's determination. But he cannot quench the whispering voice in his mind, that warns him.


Kizár

Kizár quietly sat watching as Kíli went through his belongings, trying to decide what he would take on the quest, and what he would leave as unnecessary weight. She could tell his worries were still gnawing at him.

With a slight breath of disturbed air she conjures up an illusory image of herself, made of no more than shaped light, though she could move air around to create the sense of something solid. It was not perfect, since if caught unawares a person trying to touch her would have their hand pass right through.

She snuck up behind Kíli an slipped her arms around him. "You have something nipping at your mind, Fire-Brother?"


Kíli

Kíli's shoulders tense at the sudden touch and then relax at the gentle tingle against his arms, only his stone-sister's touch can cause that. He turns around and carefully embraces her, glad she is here. "I have doubts, Stone-Sister. Others may call them cowardice, but I cannot set them aside. My heart warns me against this..." He sighs, he wants to support his Uncle in this, it matters to Thorin, and thus it matters to Kíli, but he cannot shut down the voice inside his mind. "We have no plan... and, Kizár, I do not trust the wizard."


Kizár

"I have sensed that too. It matters so much to Thorin that he would grasp any any straw he finds." Kizár sighs softly. "I wish I knew more of who and what this wizard may be, then I might have the beginning of a thought as to what he plans and why he wants to set us on this road." She leans into Kíli. "Fear I distrust too much, being so wary of everyone beyond our family."


Kíli

Kíli gently pushes a streak of her astral hair from her face. "Either he wants us dead or he wants the Arkenstone..." he says softly, he cannot really say why, or what he thinks the wizard's plan is, but deep down he does not trust him. "And our true problem is the dragon. Thorin... he wants to bring our people home, he wants them to be proud once more. There are no seven armies left to tackle the dragon." Kíli knows Thorin, he knows his Uncle well enough to see, that Thorin is determined to try, even when they stand almost no chance. "So we'll have to try, to think of something."


Kizár

"Whatever the wizard may want, I certainly will use all my power to keep you alive... and anyone else that goes on this quest." There's a wry smile that pulls at the corner of her mouth. "Though I do not know what I could do to fight the dragon, maybe if you tossed me down it's throat I could burn it." She has never fully stated her full identity, though she has never deliberately withheld any details from Kíli either, and he knows she holds a powerful flame within her.


Kíli

"I wouldn't risk you like this." Kíli holds Kizár gently, not wanting to lose her. "First we need to get to Erebor - that Mountain is on the other side of the world. And then... then we'll see." He looks at her, knowing she is right about the flame inside her, as he is adamant that he will not risk her. "But maybe... you know so much, maybe you can see something, a weakness, anything... that we can use."


Kizár

"I-" Her voice catches with a slight uncertainty. She has never explicitly stated she was in Angband, but she has spoken of that time, refering to it as a 'dark time' in her life. "I just may be able to do that, I do know a bit about her dragons work..." She shakes her head. "Though even dragon fire cannot harm me, at most it would only melt away my outer shell, and I really do not want to waste all your hard work in smoothing that out." It had been a pet project Kíli had taken up several years prior, to shape the obsidian around her into a smooth sphere.


Kíli

Kíli can sense he has touched upon one of "those" topics, the ones that Kizár is shy about, the ones she fears. He never pushes her on them. He knows she was afraid of something, back when he found her, which is another reason why he keeps her so well hidden. Whatever she fears will not find her. "I just don't want to lose you, Stone-Sister." he whispers, and for a moment he wishes that whole quest were not to happen, that they could just stay here in the Ered Luin. But he knows he must not be a coward, and that Thorin expects him to be strong. "We'll find a way, somehow."

Reply · Report Post