[Imladris]

Jynne listened to the elves as they worked, listened to the leader tell them how the Stones looked. And he realized that the Corsair's job could be so simple. As he heard the elves and Snowman scrabble down one of the side caverns, leaving the main cavern, he slithered from his ledge of rocks and slipped into the shadows, seeking for the captain.

As he crept along the rocks, he heard a sharp whispering. "Don’t ever disobey me again, or you will swim with the sharks. I will deal with your lapse when we get out of this cave. And do not think my mind so feeble as to forget it!”

Clinging to the cavern wall as if he had become one with the shadows, he slipped around a jutting crag and saw the captain with his hand gripped around a fellow crewman's neck. A thin smile flickered upon his face.

“No Captain, of course not Captain.” The man cringed submissively and slunk silently away.

"Captain," Jynne whispered softly, "why should we crawl around like blind worms when the sun shines?"

"What?" asked Marreth.

"Why not let these...elves look for them? The caves --" he guestured up towards the cavern ceiling -- "are old. They are crumbling. There could be a...natural...disaster," he added silkily. "The elves would become trapped...hopefully they will find the Stones before they realize their peril...we would wait until the filth had died and then uncover the treasure within. And if the elves did not manage to add the Stones," he added, "then we will find them ourselves without our steps being dogged."