Jeweled dolls of Durin

Epilogues

                               *********************** 5 YEARS LATER**********************

Bofur and Tohlm were getting a sense of deja vu as they each ran with a squealing 5 year old dwarfling under an arm...right behind them close on their heels was a tundra yeti chasing them...the little girls shrieks egging on the raging beast.

"Daddy" "Uncle" "Wait for snowdrop...Come on snow..come on boy!" Both men could feel the beasts hot breath on their necks and they ran faster towards the gates of Erebor...finally the yeti turned back..letting the dwarves reach safety. Stopping to gasp for breath , both men looked at each other...a silent message flowed between them.

~Definitely Tia's children.~ Bofur raised his eyes to the sky as he whispered hoarsely.."Oh Mahal..I know I said I wished fer them teh be like their momma but really this much like her....ugghh" he fell to his knees still holding one of his daughters in his arms....Tohlm's voice gasped over to Bofur.

"Be...Be careful what you pray for ..brother. Mahal answers..just not the way you think." it took them both a few minutes to get their bodies to stand up...both little girls were frowning at both men in such a way that Bofur and Tohlm couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling up out of them. Earlier they had made a trip into Dale and met up with King Bard...sometime while there the girls decided they wanted to sneak out and go exploring ...their feet took them outside the walls and towards a yeti cave. Bofur and Tohlm hunted for them ..following the small footprints in the snow until they saw a cave...both men gulped and prayed it wasn't what they thought it was...then sweet singing on the wind made them both want to cry.

  Hush, little yeti, don't say a word.
Ravi's gonna braid your fur

  And if that fur looks like grass,
Tali's gonna make you look like a lass...

Slowly Bofur stepped into the cave along with Tohlm and both saw the twin girls delicately braiding  a yeti's tendrils as the beast slept..lulled by the lullaby. Both men quickly snatched a child and ran out of the cave as the girls hollered loudly that they were having fun with their new pet. Now both men were dragging a upset little girl along back home where their momma Tia was sitting at visiting with her cousins Kechi, Alysi, and Ahmi...who out of the four women was the only one not with child. Currently Tia was 6 months pregnant...Alysi and Kechi were both due any day now..both women gotten pregnant around the same time with their first child. Thorin and Kili were turning out to both be insufferable when it came to their wives and unborn children...it was so bad that neither was allowed to go to the bathroom by themselves without having watchful eyes on them as they peed. Both women looked forward to when the men were trapped in a meeting and they were able to sneak away to visit Tia and her family on their own...to the amusement of Tia and Ahmi who made a point to come over at the same time..bringing her own son Ryli to visit with Griegur and Kennan. All four women gathered as they had a good laugh at the new antics of their husbands in believing just because they were pregnant they needed to be wrapped in cotton batting so they wouldn't get even a scrape on a knee.

"You should have heard Kili complaining this morning to Thorin...they are plotting on having a group of guards toting a chair around...with us in it. Don't you know that the Queen of Erebor and the Princess Under the Mountain need to get off our feet to rest as the pampered royalty we are." Tia snorted into her tea at hearing this latest endeavor of their loves.

"You must be joking ...guards?" they all began to laugh loudly at this image...Tia looked at her cousins as they all sat there enjoying each others company..thinking about how blessed they all were...knowing how much Azog had failed...the line of Durin was strong and wasn't going to fade away anytime soon...they were here to stay with the blessing of Mahal..they were here to stay.

                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The midnight hour had arrived and tucked away in his little bed Ryli was tossing in his bed in the grips of a nightmare. In his dreams he was walking along the  rocky slopes of Erebor...his eyes looking out in the distance seeing Dale...engulfed in flames as it was being overrun by a horde of orcs and goblins...further in the distance a glowing baleful eye stared at him from the wretched wastelands of Mordor. Ryli shook at the sight of such hatred..hearing the screams of innocents as a harsh cutting voice came from those lands.

"I have my eye on you..seer...you can't hide from me...I will find you." Ryli began to scream in his sleep trying to escape that malicious gaze...he thrashed on his bed as he tried to crawl away in his dreams...then suddenly there was a voice on the wind that cradled him with its sound...shielding him from that malevolent eye.

  "Home is behind the world ahead
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadow to the edge of night
Until the stars are all alight.

Mist and shadow
Cloud and shade
All shall fade
All shall fade"  

With a start Ryli jerked awake..breathing heavy as a scream tore from his young throat...bringing both of his parents into the room running...his father Fili was holding his sword..braids askew as he looked for the danger while Ahmi rushed to her sons side to cradle him to her breast in comfort.

"Shhh..my little one...listen to my heart...that is real...it was only a nightmare..this is the real world. Shh." she began to rock the boy in her arms feeling Fili settling next to them and holding both safely in his arms. Ryli began to whimper as he told them what he saw..not seeing the look Fili and Ahmi  shared over his head...him not realizing that they understood the other half of the price Ahmi paid to save Fili those years ago..it seems her son inherited  her gift of visions and prophecy. Fili could see the worry in his wife's eyes that mirrored his own..both knowing what this meant to some degree but unsure of what part in this world their sweet son would be playing...but both knowing it was't good. Fili kept rocking his family throughout the night ..praying to Mahal to save his loved ones from these visions that have come to plague them.

A/N: In case your wondering this is a nod towards the Lord of the Rings...maybe I may do a sequel...the journey of a prophet who may help in the quest of destroying the one ring. but for now our story has come to an end..I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did in writing this. Thank you all in reading this...your comments and votes have encouraged me to keep on.