[Amanaduial the archer]

Flori, despite the feeling of foreboding which wouldn't quite go away, joined in with the rest of the dwarves as, at the end of Dain's speech, they cheered wildly. He grinned at the dwarf who had started it, and grinned at him. The dwarf looked slightly surprised and something like panic seemed to flit across his features before he scowled fiercely. Flori blinked and looked away towards Balin, who, not noticing his friend's gaze, had a small secret smile screted behind his beard as he too watched the fierce looking dwarf, who, shaking his axe fiercely, gave another roar of anticipation.

Flori looked to his brother, standing beside him, and raised his eyebrows an almost inperceptible fraction. Ori shrugged slightly. "'Haven't been acquainted - I believe the name is...Lîn, maybe?" his brother hazarded a guess and Flori replied with a shrug of his own, nodding slightly in recognition of the name.

"The jeweller?" The older brother remembered seeing some work under that name or one very similar. "Stands to reason then that-"

He stopped, turning his head towards the sound of a voice, strong and tuneful, with the slightly bawdy edge of an Inn-song, although Flori didn't recognise the words. He soon found out why as, listening to words, he was impressed to realise that the singer was making up the words on the spot. The other began to stamp their feet and whistle along, clapping and whooping, and the 'passers-by' (mainly the result of the gossip resulting from Balin's boldness towards Dain and his grant of a quest to Moria) joined in, caught up in the excitement of it, and Flori was no exception.

When the song finished, it was greeted with applause and the dwarves began to disperse. The singer, however, who Flori recognised now his face was turned towards him, paused, speaking briefly to Balin. As Flori passed him he inclined his head to one side appreciatively, clapping the other on the back. "You out to get together with my brother - Nali, is it? Two minstrels on one expedition, dear me!" He mimed rolling his eyes skywards making some of the others, now in the high spirits of anticipation, laugh appreciatively. Nali himself grinned, obviously gratified at the compliment.

As he drifted from the group though, the keen, excited mood couldn't completely push away his worries, and they hng around balefully at the back of his mind, eyeing the cheerfullness with disdain; Nali's song had awakened more than just excitement with it's words of a rising of a new Dwarrow-delf; it had stirred unease within Flori's heart about the so-called Durin's bane.

Chirpily humming and whistling the tune of the Nali's song through his teeth to spite these feelings, Flori started towards the edge of the hall, grinning and patting his soon-to-be companions on the back, exchanging snippets of conversations, not wanting to drag others down with the edging darkness inside. But he couldn't help wondering: did they not feel it too? He needed the consultance of an old ally for now, and not just that; he wanted the words and advice of one who had seen Moria's perils. King Dain may be opposed to the expedition, but it was not too late for Flori to talk to him.