[Thenamir]

Thenamir separated himself by a respectful distance from both the Rohirrim council and the conversation between Gurthden and Arenia. "As to what happened last night," Thenamir said, "think no more of it. I'm sure that several of the other riders had the same thought," he added with a half-smile. "If you can forgive my dwarvish insults, you are a better dwarf than the dwarves my father and grandfather knew in Gondor. They used to come from the Iron Mountains, and later from Dale and Laketown in the north, to sell weapons and metalwork. My sword Aranbold is dwarf-make from the forges of the dwarves of the Iron Mountains."

"Was it they who taught you the khuzdul?" asked Dwarin as they headed towards the tents. He no longer had to wonder how Thenamir's sword had withstood the blow of his axe.

"Nay," replied Thenamir, "My grandfather learned a bit from listening to the arguments between the dwarves with whom he traded to get arms for his men. He found his bargaining position was strengthened when he could insult their prices in their own language."

"I can think of no better way to a quick death," Dwarin mused.

"Normally you'd be right. The only thing that saved them was the fact that it would have been 4 dwarves against his 200 fully armed Tower Guards. A good deal for both the men and the dwarves was usually struck, though, and then they'd take the dwarves for a drink. The things they'd say when they were drunk..." Thenamir trailed off shaking his head. Dwarin smiled, thinking that Thenamir must be of good stock if his sires could handle 4 drunken dwarves without bloodshed.

Dwarin followed as Thenamir strode to his tent, rummaged around in his pack, and pulled out the dried-leather map rolled and tied with a thin strip of the same leather. He called Elwood, Ulfwine and Arenia over as he sat down on the ground, unraveled the tied leather and spread out the map on the grass.

The map appeared to be notated in the language of Gondor, but there were unfamiliar words, and some other recognizable words were spelled strangely. The Old North Road was rather obvious, and they were able to make out their position near enough.

Thenamir turned the map to Arenia, pointing. "We are here. Where did you see the dark-hair men, the men like me?" Arenia studied the map quizzically for a moment, then her face broke in a smile of recognition. She turned the map a quarter of the way around, saying "Sun rise from this side!" Everyone chuckled, then she pointed to a mark on the map and said "Here. Old broken city nearby, here. Many days walking."

Thenamir's brow was deeply furrowed. "Going straight to the Old North Road would actually take us somewhat out of our way. And that road is sure to be watched, both by the Dunlendings and...others. If we could strike a straight path through the woodlands, our path will be shorter, and more secret, although our progress will be slower. Arenia, is there a way we can go straight path to dark-hair men?" Thenamir thought that even this way they would need the speed of the great eagles to overtake the Dunlendings...

[ March 21, 2002: Message edited by: Thenamir ]