Chapter 4 - The Rains of Castamere (GoT/Hobbit)

“I knew I’d find you here, Fee.” Kili addressed the blond, leaning with one hand against a branch of the big old heart tree in Winterfell’s Godswood, a small wooded area within the castle’s walls.

Kili had found his best friend gone when he returned from the talk with Robb to the place where he’d last seen him. But his inner instinct where to find him proved to be right as he heard the sound of a fiddle coming from the wood. Fili was leaning against the big white trunk of the weirwood tree, his eyes closed in concentration while he played a sad melody that sounded foreign to Kili.

The music stopped though as Kili spoke and Fili turned to him.
“How so?” He replied, his lips curved into his usual smile, only this time, as the brunet noticed, it didn’t quite reach his eyes. In them he saw the same anxiety that had taken a hold on Kili since he'd been called to Robb.

“I don't know.” Kili sat himself beside Fili. “I just had a feeling you’d be here. I remember you always liked this place.”

The other hummed in response with a light nod of his head.
“I can’t explain it but this place seems to have a calming effect on me.” His eyes then wandered over to the direwolf that had followed Kili, with eyes brown like it’s master’s the animal curiously mustered Fili. “I still need to get used to your new shadow. I’ve never seen a direwolf before.”

“No one has in over 200 years.” Kili’s gaze lingered thoughtfully on the water pond in front of them for a moment, then he turned his attention to said direwolf. “Arrow, come here boy, sit.” Kili commanded, the wolf then obediently did as it was told.

They sat there for a while, silently watching the still water. Both of them had noticed that the other had something they needed to talk about but didn’t quite know how to start. In the end Kili was the first to speak again.

“So, that music you were playing earlier, I’ve never heard you playing it before.” he said, choosing a more neutral subject to start with and ruffling through arrow’s fur while he spoke.

“The Rains of Castamere, or 'the Lannister song' how some just call it. If you go to taverns in King’s Landing you’ll hear it often enough sung by drunken Lannisters.” Fili began, seemingly grateful for the break of silence.  “I rarely play it because the real meaning behind it is actually a sad one. It tells about the destruction of House Reyne who had started a rebellion against their liege lord.” He paused there for a moment, as if he was searching for the right words to continue.
“I’m sorry what happened to your father, Kee.” When he lifted his head to face Kili the relatively calm façade of the younger seemed to crumble. Kili looked worried and lost. It reminded Fili of their first encounter when he had found a crying child searching for his parents. Though this time it was a much more serious situation with no easy solution at hand. 

“I still can’t believe this is happening. Robb is going to war while I’m supposed to stay at home. What am I supposed to do here, I should fight at my brother’s side!” Kili had jumped up and was now nervously pacing in front of the pond. He looked as lost as he must have been in that moment, not knowing what to do with himself but not able to just keep sitting there either. It tore at Fili’s heart to see him like that. He stood as well and walked up to him, resting a hand on Kili’s shoulder.

“He only wants to protect you, Kee… And I’m actually glad he took this decision.” Kili went to interject but the older quickly continued before he could get a word out. He spoke in a more calm but also serious tone, “You know who he will be fighting against. The majority will be Lannister troops. Maybe we’d have to face each other on the battlefield.”

It took Kili a moment to take Fili’s words in. Fili could see how the lost expression on the younger’s face slowly changed into a shocked one as he comprehended what the other just said. He looked at Fili, searching for a sign in those blue eyes that told him this was a lie. But he could not find it.
This was real.
He'd just been so overwhelmed with his own feelings and inner conflicts that this thought hadn’t crossed his mind until now.

“But… But what are we gonna do? Can’t you just stay here?” Kili asked, his voice was nearly failing him. Instead of answering the older pulled him in a tight embrace.  

“I didn’t know how to tell you this and I really wish I didn’t have to, but… I have to go, Kee. While you were gone talking with your brother a letter from my parents arrived. They are calling me back home. I will leave tomorrow…”

tbc

I’m sorry it took me so long to upload this but I had a bit of a problem to write this chapter. It was even more difficult to write than the last one… DX
I’ve corrected and rewritten the whole thing what seems like 100 times and I still feel unsure about it. Did I write it too dramatic? Also I’m sorry about the cliffhanger-like ending but I just didn’t know how to better end this so I just stopped there (and also to be finally done with this hell chapter).
This scene addresses such a difficult subject and it was hard to imagine for me how the characters would feel and act in such a situation. Well, I did my best, I just hope my best was good enough and that the scene seems realistic and believable enough. ^^’

This picture was actually drawn first before I even started with these little chapters. It was my inspiration to put the story to this crossover I had thought of so far into words and draw pictures for it. And I needed to do and upload the other three chapters first because I imagine it would have gotten too confusing if I started right in the middle of the story.

The idea that Fili has a fiddle here was inspired by The Hobbit, or more precisely by many wonderful fanarts showing Fili and Kili with fiddles. I thought Fili having a fiddle worked wonderfully with him being a Lannister here so I could make him play ‘The Rains of Castamere’ in this scene. I admit it, I love that song, especially the instrumental version is so stunning.
I guess Kili’s counterpart song playing the fiddle would be 'The North Remembers' then.  

About the name of Kili’s direwolf:  I wanted to thank you again very much for all your opinions and suggestions when I asked if you could help me choose a name! I am very grateful for that! C: And I hope you’re not disappointed that I decided to stick with ‘Arrow’, my first idea. All of your suggestions were great, I liked them very much!! It’s just that I think Arrow would suit Kili better because he’s an archer, and people told me it sounded fine as a name for a wolf. So please don’t be disappointed, I really appreciate all your suggestions!! <3

 
And last, for people who aren’t familiar with Game of Thrones, I thought about adding a few links in case someone wants to know more about:

-The Godswood: (gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/G…); there you can also find the picture that I used as a reference for the background in this piece.

-Direwolves: (gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/D…)

-The Rains of Castamere song: (gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/T…)

Or you can just look up things in google of course.


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