Sooo good to be back with new stuff. I hope that you guys like it.

The story in whole is not very structured and I just went along with what came into my mind. I was not going to post like this originally, but, the new trailer gave me a little enthusiasm

I haven't written in English for some time, so please forgive my grammar mistakes.

xxx

Territory

Chapter 1 – The Contestants

Kili had not been through with his fourth mug of ale when his mother pulled him aside. His first reaction was to frown, since his throat was too busy with the liquid, but Dis was not looking at him as she dragged him to corner. Great. What had he done wrong now? It was probably two days since he had participated in some mischief, unless Fili had been acting on his own and now his mother was putting the blame on him.

When he opened his mouth to protest against whatever unfairness might come his way, though, his mother turned to him with a strange glow in her brown eyes.

"I need your help, son."

Well, that was certainly surprising. His mother very rarely turned to him to ask for help. She was a stubborn, independent, royal lady, she didn't need her sons to do anything for her - unless she was feeling like punishing them for something, which Kili was sure that would be terribly unfair now because he has done nothing wrong tonight, yet. Then he looked at her face, very alike Fili's in features but with the brown eyes that Kili had inherited, and it hit him. Punishment apart, his mother only turned to one of her sons for help when it concerned the other son.

"Is something wrong with Fili?" he asked immediately, his eyes turning to the crowd to look for him. The blonde was in a corner, laughing with Nori and Bofur. He seemed content enough, if not standing a little too close to Nori for Kili's liking, but that was hardly his duty to point out.

"Why would there be something wrong with Fili?"

"Because you're asking me to help. The last time you asked me help it was because you needed to convince him to assume leadership over a section of constructing mines in Ered Luin, which I am not doing again, by the way. Erebor has just received hundreds of dwarves capable of doing that." Kili said, raising an eyebrow at her. He remembered all too well the consequences of the little favor he had done to his mother. Fili ended up having to spend months barely sleeping in the house, and Kili was denied the constant presence of his brother for a very long time. Not to mention all the dwarves that suddenly noticed him because of his good job. And Fili was still standing too close to Nori.

"It's none of that." his mother waved at him, but a conspiratorial smile took her lips "It's just that you know Fili better than anyone, you know his taste."

"Yes…" where his mother was going with that?

"And now that your uncle is King Under the Mountain, we need to find a good wife for his first heir." she said, still smiling too much "Take a look on the group of four dwarf ladies standing by the pillar behind me, they are all from good families. I was thinking you could point out from me the one your brother would like the most."

Kili went into a coughing fit. "What?!"

Really?! Did his mother want—did she expect him to—a wife?! A bloody wife?! No! Not in a million years. Not even if the dwarf race depended on Fili's marriage to go on. Never.

"Well, it's about time to get him married. Strong kingdoms must have strong lineages." She said and looked pointedly at him "And that goes for you, too. As soon as your brother is engaged I plan on finding you some lovely lass as well."

"Wow, mother, one attack at a time, please." Kili answered, recovering from his coughing and still too shocked at the prospect of seeing Fili with a girl attached at his arm to properly register that the same fate was going to be imposed on him "Don't you think he is still young?"

"Nonsense! So was I when I married your father. Besides, perhaps being responsible for a wife and some children might bring some much needed maturity to you and your brother."

"Hey!"

"Now, shush and look at them." She pointed the dwarf ladies with her head "See the one on the left? She is Dain's cousin thrice removed from his mother side. Her father is a rich miner in the Iron Hills and they would be a good asset to our rebuilding kingdom. Niara is her name."

What exactly had he done to deserve this? Didn't he already have competition enough? Between exceedingly bold Nori, all dwarf girls from Ered Luin and being Fili's brother, why did Kili had to help his mother chose a bride to his beloved?

He couldn't help but glare at the small group of contestants. No, he could not see anything good in any of them.

"Niara? What sort of elvish name is that?" it sort of came out from his mouth before he could think and that earned a small slap on the wrist from his mother.

"Kili. Niara is a common dwarf name and you know that. Now take a good look and tell me what you think of her. Do you think Fili would like her?"

Kili sighed and took a sip from his ale, frowning in this Niara girl direction. Common was indeed a good word to describe her. Common brown hair, common dwarvish face and heigh, common clothes and braids. Common girl. Regular dwarf. Boring. There was no way Kili would let his mother bring a woman like this to be his sister-in-law.

"I doubt Fili would spend more than a second looking at her. She is too common. Too boring. If they were a couple, she would disappear completely by his side. Just look at that hair, mother. And the way she stands while talking, pointing out things in her dress like this? I bet she is talking about how it was sewed. Can you picture my brother sustaining this kind of conversation without getting asleep in the first minute?"

"Oh, Kili, women talk about these things. But, I see your point. Fili would outshine her, no doubt. A Princess must not disappear by her husband side… Well, look at the girl by her side then. Tari, she is sister to one of Dain's bravest warlords. She is beautiful, isn't she?"

He looked at this other girl. She was indeed beautiful and Kili agreed that she might have caught Fili's eye if he had been interested in finding a wife. However, there was one problem that he immediately recognized (and was immensely thankful for, mind you). She was loud. Not normal dwarf loud. She was loud loud, high pitched loud. Their group of women started laughing at something that one of them had said and Tari's irritating laughter resonated through the whole room.

Kili cringed at the sound. He would hate to hear that every time Fili told a joke. Instinctively, he searched for his brother and, coincidence or not, the blonde was looking at him. They both shared a mocking look and relief flooded his body. Fili too would never stand that girl around.

When his brother turned to Bofur to no doubt joke about it, Kili turned to his mother and saw that she had observed the whole exchange. "Well, there is your answer about this Tari girl, directly from your elder son."

Grinning at his mother dissatisfaction, Kili waited for her to point the next option. He was feeling more confident now that he could prevent them from awful women. One by one, he would get rid of them all.

"Well, I suppose Thorin would not be too happy about this… characteristic, either. So, watch that girl on the right, with the red dress, Rana. Her family is not from noble birth, but they are very rich and she is said to be the most beautiful dwarf woman in the Iron Hills."

That one proved to be a challenge. Kili watched her with sharp eyes, as if she was a prey to bring down with one of his arrows. Red hair, stubby nose, stout body and regal posture. Indeed Rana would make a fine princess. Not annoyingly loud and the bright glow in her eyes made clear that she was not boring. For a wild moment, he wondered if this was it. There was not a flaw in sight.

Until Dain's son walked past the group, that is. For everyone else, it looked simply that he was saying hello to the women of his father's court, but Kili saw. He saw how Rana's eyes nearly flared at the sight of her prince and he saw the subtle brush of hands as the dwarf walked past the group of women.

"Well, mother, she is good enough, I agree. But I don't think it would be wise to steal to our house the woman that Thorin Stonehelm is in love with."

"What?"

"Didn't you see their hands touching? Look, even now, she is watching him circle around. I'm sure they will meet in private after this feast is over."

Dis spent a few minutes observing them and slowly nodded her head. "Well, Mahal bless those archer eyes of yours, Kili. If it hadn't been for Dain I have no idea what would have become of us, we better not get in trouble with their family."

His archer eyes were not doing anything about Nori placing a hand on Fili's arm, but Kili said nothing and tried not to glare at anyone. One thing at a time. First, eliminate the very real possibility of a wife and then deal with exceedingly bold dwarves that did not know their rightful places.

He was sure that Fili, being Fili – ever the distracted one, had not noticed the gleam in Nori's eyes. No problem, Kili was there to protect his territory. All he had to do first was to make his mother understand that there was no living women that was good enough for his brother.

"That leaves us with the last girl, then. I decided to point her last because I feared she might actually be the one you approve."

"What do you mean?" It was not likely that Kili would ever approve of someone to marry Fili, nonetheless his mother's words caught his attention.

"Mys is Tari's younger sister. She is not a lady at all, mind you, and perhaps this is exactly the kind of woman that would get your brother's attention. She fights in battles and hunts as fine as any dwarf male. She even participated the battle for the mountain. I've been told she uses a full armor and wields two war hammers. Apparently you can't even tell that she is a woman when she is fighting."

Kili looked at that last girl under a new light. He had not even noticed that she was there in the first place, but now he could see what his mother was talking about. Mys was short and bulky, her hands were calloused by the use of weapons and she wore heavy boots beneath her party dress. On her arm there was a light burn – the kind you got when fixing hammers in the forge. He had not seen her fight, but judging from her weight and from the fact that she had survived the battle, Mys might actually be able to face Fili in combat. And there she was, Kili's worst enemy. Battle skills, forgery knowledge and worst of all, mocking eyes.

As he observed the four women talking, he noticed that while she remained quiet during most of the conversation, her eyes glowed with sarcasm. She was silently mocking the other women because of their silly business.

"The Iron Hills dwarves call her Mys Laughing-Hammer, something to do with laughing during battle."

From her displeased voice, Kili could tell that she did not approve at all of Mys as a bride to Fili. But he could also tell that she knew that if there was a woman that could get Fili to notice her, it was Mys Laughing-Hammer. It was apparently a perfect match. Fili had even been called the Laughing-Sword for a time when they were learning how to fight, before Thorin scolded him about how Durin's heirs could not look like fools in the battlefield.

"She is not exactly Princess material, but… Balin and I can shape a diamond out of her, I'm sure. And I suppose Thorin would approve of a princess with battle skills. It is worthy of our line, after all. I threw some axes in my time, as well."

Kili's blood boiled.

"No."

His mother looked at him, confused.

"No?"

"No." he said trying his best not to look murderous "She is not good enough."

"How come? From what I've gathered she is a bright woman that can fight better than most men. She seems to be perfect for your brother."

"She is not." He insisted "She is ugly, to begin with. And many people can fight, but you don't see Fili taking any interest in them. And, what is this nonsense of Laughing-Hammer? It is unbecoming of the Line of Durin to act like fools during battle, Thorin said so himself."

"I don't know, Kili… I think your brother might like her."

"I think he might not. I'm telling you mother, she is not good enough." Part of him noticed the despair starting to leak through his voice, and Kili prayed that his mother had not caught on to it.

She looked at him half annoyed and half amused. "By your standards then, no one is good enough for your brother."

Kili gulped. This was essentially the truth; he just wished his mother didn't have that suspicion in her voice. It was usually rather obvious that Kili hated the idea of having to share his brother, but until that moment, no one had caught on to that this was more than brotherly protectiveness.

"Only the best to the House of Durin." He offered.

He could only hope that his mother had not understood his true motivation.

"Well, Kili, thank you for your assistance. I will talk to your uncle about your opinion." She said after a good while watching him like a bloody hawk.

"You do that." He nodded, sipping his ale while trying to look calm and cool.

His mother gave him one last look before turning to go. She headed straight towards Balin, so Kili guessed she was not going to tell Thorin right away about his weird behavior. Of course, it could have been worse, but this was not something that he would like to repeat anytime soon.

Kili was so relieved to be free from her scrutiny, that he did not notice the blonde figure approaching him.

"What were you and mother conspiring about?"

Xxx

I love the idea of Kili trying to keep his brother all to himself XD

Thank you for reading and please read the next chapter :D