He sounds like my favourite kind of dwarf. When we were traveling, the others complained constantly about the food, or lack there of, or having to eat leaves when we were staying with the elves at Rivendell.
It is lonely. My uncle was our king, and my brother his heir, and so I grew up around other dwarves. I was always underfoot. When my father died, Thorin and Dwalin took over our training - I think they felt obligated and guilty, that they were there but Father was not. When we traveled, we traveled with other dwarves, and often kept to ourselves. Some things only elf or dwarf or hobbit or whatever someone is will understand.