[Thinlómien]

The three were sipping from their glasses in silence. Both of the younger Dwarves seemed unsure of what to say or what to do. Vigdis did not feel like talking and filling the silence with some nonsense that would make the slightly disturbed-seeming youngsters feel more comfortable in the sudden awkward silence. To be honest, all she wanted was to get drunk and forget everything for once. But that was exactly what she was not going to do. She would dedicate this night to Lord Balin whom she had loved and do something he would approve of, something in his honour. She decided to start with taking pity on two of his people and release them from an uncomfortable silence. Hiding her smile behind the rim of her glass, she took a sip and then started to talk, speaking the words that first came into her mind.

"You know, I first met Lord Balin upon arriving to the newly established kingdom of Erebor very many years ago. He was no lord back then, just a famous and celebrated dwarf with royal blood in his veins. He was the leader of the scouts and the miners who were exploring and reconstructing the northern hallways destroyed by the dragon. I worked there, using my knowledge of stone as well as I could to serve this purpose. Even back then I knew that his fate was to become something great." She took another sip. The youngsters were listening intensively. An unchracteristic gentle smile played in the corners of her mouth.

"Of course, he was something great already then. The reputation of his deeds in the service of Thrain and his part in the Quest for Erebor and Battle of Five Armies had reached far and he was one of the King's most trusted men. But I knew he would become something even greater. It could be seen in him, it shone through him. When you saw him those days, you could see so so many things achieved, but you could see the promise of even greater deeds to come." Vigdis shook her head. "Even though, he was not young man anymore by any means even back then."

"I... I was young," she said, eyeing the kitchen maid and the troubadour. They saw her as a woman of her middle years, she wondered if they could see past it and see her as she had been more than fifty years ago, about the same age as the young man was now. "I was greatly... inspired by Balin. He affected people that way even back then." She winced a little, she had no intention of going in depth of what kind of feelings exactly Balin had inspired in her. "He, as you know, was a man anyone who had known him would follow to any peril. And it could be seen from him that there would be peril and trouble on his way, but through it he would win great renown."

Vigdis took another sip from her glass. It would soon be empty again. The troubadour noticed that too and poured some rum for her, never saying a word. Vigdis thanked him with a nod and a smile and continued. "Of course, no one could see what exactly it was that lay in front of him. We only knew his path would lead to something great."

The cook girl and the troubadour man were looking at her, their eyes filled with something she could not quite indentify. Vigdis took a sip from her glass and put it away. "And tonight, if not earlier, we have learned by the bitterest road what was it that awaited Balin. He was to re-establish the kingdom of Khazad-dûm, take our ancestral home back for us and look into Kheled-zâram like Durin the Deathless. But no one will know what he saw there, for he is not here anymore to tell us."

Vigdis took a deep breath. "And therefore, we shall not be bitter that he was taken from us. We may grieve him, but we should grieve for ourselves for losing a great leader. We should not grieve Balin's fate but be happy for him, for what would be a greater prize for the son of the house of Durin than to die with the mysteries of Kheled-zâram unfolding before his eyes in the highest moment of his glory?" The youngsters made no reply. Vigdis had not expected them to. She waited a few more seconds before finishing her speech.

"We will remember his great deeds and forever will they stay in the legends of our people. For surely there is no doubt that Balin son of Fundin was one of the greatest Dwarves of these later ages."