[Orofaniel]

"Come here Rodahl," Galhardir said to his nephew. He was relieved to see him again and very proud to hear that Rodhal had managed his tasks on the ship earlier that day. "Are you hungry?" he asked. Rodhal nodded. He was indeed, very hungry. "Anything to drink?" Galhardir then asked him when Rodhal had been served bread and meat. "Yes, please," Rodhal answered, polite as always.

When both of them had settled with good food and drink, Rodhal was curious about Galhardir's adventures in the cave. Galhardir stopped for a moment. He didn't want to frighten the boy, so he decided to tell Rodhal about the other parts;

"We, the eleven bothers and myself went into loads of different tunnels, caverns and so on," Galhardir started. "It was very dark, oh, believe me; very dark," he continued. Rodhal's eyes widened, he was already caught up in Galhardir's speech. He was fascinated. “One can’t even imagine the darkness, it has to be experienced. And even then, it’s unbelievable. It’s the darkest place you’ll ever know….”

"We bore torches, all of us, but still we found fit quite difficult to see anything. Annû, poor thing managed to hurt himself.." Galhardir told the young boy who was still listening to what he said, eagerly. "Did you see anything...dangerous?" Rodhal burst out. Galhardir used a moment to think about his next reply. "Oh, no...Nothing “dangerous”. I'm thinking that all those old tales about the caverns are nothing but lies and fiction," Galhardir said, sipping his ale. Rodhal looked a bit confused, but Galhardir soon understood that it was not confusion, rather pure disappointment. "Oh wait...There was something...maybe not dangerous...but quite fascinating," Galhardir then said, just to cheer up the boy; he remembered the fossils Carandû had found. "Oh, please do tell, uncle," Rodhal cried fully of impatience.

"Carandû, you remember him, don’t you?" Galhardir started. The boy nodded, as eager as before. "Well, he found an interesting stone in one of the caverns.." Galhardir then continued. "What was on the stones?" Rodhal asked who had already understood that there was something about the stones his uncle had mentioned. "Fossils," Galhardir stated. "Fossils...."

"Really?" Rodhal asked, interested in Galhardir's story. "Really," Galhardir said finally. "I saw it with my own eyes," he continued. "But what was it?" Rodhal then asked. "I'm not sure...but there were some lines...or something of that sort," Galhardir then told the boy, who was even more impressed by what Galhardir told him than he would have thought.

"Now, eat you meat," Galhardir said as he saw that Rodhal's plate was still full. "I will, uncle," he smiled. "It's your turn to tell me how you climbed up to the look out post..." Galhardir then said teasingly. "Oh, I had almost forgotten!" Rodhal exclaimed.

Rodhal’s story then followed, something Galhardir found almost as interesting as his own story about the fossils.