Wayfaring Stranger

It is a journey to reclaim a home. It is marching off to what might be their deaths though they do not talk of it beyond the words of their contract; he looks at Fíli and at Kíli, his nephews, his heirs, his bright young lads and he tries to imagine them ruined and bloodied, too still and quiet. That might be their fate. This is not some glorious homecoming with fanfare for they will creep as thieves back to their home by hidden doors, tiptoeing so as to disturb no one. It is a pilgrimage to where the bones of their people have by now crumbled to dust after trampling footsteps and molten breath. Erebor is a kingdom of ghosts and memories and maybe their ruler is not so different to what might have been if Thror's lust of gold had continued.