Chapter Text
The wind whipped past his face as they fell down down down…
Seconds before they had been hanging above the seemingly bottomless ravine below, Ori had been desperately holding onto Doris boot begging him not to let go.
Maybe, a traitorous part of his mind whisperd, maybe if you hadn’t grabbed onto him he wouldn’t be falling to his death.
Ori closed his eyes readying himself for his death, he was at peace with dying, he would join is ancestors in Mahals halls after all, perhaps he would get to meet his mother again…
Dori was holding him close trying to protect him still as they fell, but instead of the thump and crack of the ground he felt something soft catching them, Ori cracked open his eyes and saw a… eagle?
……………..
When he was younger he used to wonder why Nori always left, didn’t he love them anymore? But Nori always came back, he supposed that the only thing bad about dying would be leaving Dori and Nori behind… and Fili.
He had gotten used to random visits by the guardsmen, big burly dwarves asking if they had seen Nori, the answers were always the same ”No we haven’t seen him in five months… why what has he done now” Dori was always nice and polite to the guards if a bit.. annoyed.
Once one of the bigger dwarves had grabbed Ori's arm bruising him, said guard had promptly found himself thrown out the door by Dori. (Said dwarf was also found dead in an alleyway, a familiar dagger lodged in his chest)
Nori and Dori argued constantly, they argued about Nori leaving about Money about struggles about family.
One time when Nori had come back after a particularly long trip, they had had their worst argument in a while…
Ori had ran away, he was convinced that it was his fault that they were fighting, after all Dori yelled at Nori for missing his birthday.
When they had found him hours later he had been curled up crying in a alleyway, Nori had carried him home, he had wrapped him in his own coat.
They walked through the alleyways toward home, home where Dori was waiting worried, Nori's coat smelled like ash and pine and… home.
****************************************************************
No Ori did not fear death, he feared leaving those he loved behind, as the eagles landed he was still clutching at Doris coat, they were both watching, looking for their brother.
When Nori landed his eyes were red and puffy, his hair ruffled by the wind, as he jumped of his eagle and ran towards them.
Nori was crying, Ori absentmindedly thought, as he was engulfed in a hug…
He’d never seen Nori cry before….
“Are you afraid of death?”
“No”
“Then what scares you?”
“…”
“Leaving them behind”