[Amanaduial the archer]

The Night Before the Departure

After he had left the king's hall, Flori had spent some time in his room, setting out what he would and wouldn't need. It seemed so strange, and a sense of ironic calm had come over the dwarf, however doom-laden; what would he want for the expedition which could be his last...?

After a while, the dwarf stood and stretched, stifling a yawn with his hand. Should be going to bed soon...'twill be a long day in front of us tomorrow-

He froze mid-thought and almost laughed aloud. It was his last night in Erebor and he intended to go to bed early?! He grinned wickedly and looked out into the darkening sky. At night, the Inns came alive...ach, sure, it wouldn't hurt...

~*~

Stumbling out of 'Durin's Anvil' some time later, followed by cheery, drunken shouts of "Go get em, Flori!" and "Spend your time well, m'boy! They won't stand a chance against you those stinkin...stinking...whassat?", along with various impromptu toasts, Flori grinned and gave a bow to the Inn's open door. The cheering and laughter which followed, muffled slightly after a few moments by the shutting of the door, pursued Flori down the road as he strolled down. He wasn't as drunk as he could be - didn't make a habit of getting drunk unless he had a really, really good reason to drown his sorrows - but he had certainly had enough to be...merry. Whistling a chirpy little tune, he walked nonchantly down the path, thumbs stuck in his belt.

Stopping and taking a deep, contented sigh, Flori looked back in amusement at the Inn...and his gaze was suddenly caught by the mountain, and he found himself looking at it as if for the first time.

This may sound ridiculous of course; Flori and his brother had lived in Erebor for years and he knew every nook and cranny of it...but when was the last time he had really looked at it? When was the last time he really saw the way it was now, the lights of the houses, Inns and forges lighting little spotlights or pinpricks of light around the mountain like fireflies? When had he last taken in the great sense of life around it? When had he last been awed by the way, over the undercurrents of life and merriment, the mountain was also alive, sleeping and calm and huge?

Must have been when you first came, he answered himself, remembering that day. He and Ori had been so awed by Erebor, by its great and beautiful vastness, by the way the dwarves had continued to build it up into a wonderful kingdom. They had been much younger then, of course, and it had seemed so incredibly exciting at the time; Ori, even the scribe, had described it as being because they were 'embarking on a new chapter of their lives'.

Flori smiled quietly to himself, thinking of the way his brother had been so serious and sensitive when they were young, against the way Flori himself had been bursting with all sorts of energy (for a dwarf). And yet they had remained as close as ever, thick as theives; another of the reasons Flori had to go to Moria. He wouldn't let his brother go into such danger by himself. And as he looked up on the vast mountain, remembering the excitement of seeing Erebor grow, he saw yet another reason; he could watch Moria grow as it was restored, watch youngsters like himself and Ori then, chatter excitedly, awed by the huge halls, the vast amounts of treasure, the wonder of the greatest dwarrow-delf ever...

"If I could glimps the hardest of steels,
life would be as sweet as honey on the tastiest of meals.
A light so...so...Bother, what was it so?"

The voice of one of the dwarves who would be embarking with Balin made Flori turn as the unsteady singing trailed off into speaking. Two of the stood there in fact: one of them Frar, the lute-player (Flori had noticed it stuck in the other's bag and thought to comment upon it later), and the other masked in shadow so Flori couldn't quite see his face. He grinned at them, then stretched his mind with effort back to Nali's song-words to the familiar tune, murmuring under his breath, his brow wrinkled.

"...strong" He ventured. Frar clicked his fingers. "Sounds about right! Strong...strong..."

"Strong, was it? Wasn't it so strong the..."

"Oh, I think so yes...Now so strong the...what shall what?"

After a few more seconds in befuddled concentration, the pair were suddenly rewarded as the other dwarf cried out loudly, "[i]...the spine will chill!"

"...the treasure...no, the everlasting treasure of Moria's mithril?!" Flori finished, triumphantly. They all gave a small cheer, feeling absurdly pleased with themselves, and looking back at the mountain in an air of drunken contentedness. Flori grinned to himself beneath his beard; a new chapter in the book of his life, and this chapter certainly had some very interesting characters...