[piosenniel]

Five days of steady traveling had brought the thirty-five Dwarves and eighty remaining Lorinand to the crest of low-lying hills just above the place where the city of the Jewelsmiths lay. It was a fair morning, the early light filling the land west of the shadows of the Misty Mountains with the promise of a day well begun. Below the small hillocks on which they stood was the Sirannon, and there just beyond it, the juncture of it with the River Glanduin.

In the clear light, the river and the stream seemed shining fillets of bright silver. And there upon these fair wrought bands was the city of the Mírdain, set like a fair jewel; its structures the well-made facets that caught the light and sent it forth again. Pennants and banners of silks in many colors flew in the morning’s breezes. It was an altogether breathtaking sight. And no matter the number of times that Riv had stood in this same spot looking down upon it, still his dark eyes glinted with the beauty of it.

Lovely . . . lovely! he murmured to himself. I would be hard put to make a setting and gem so fair as this. He shivered a little as the fingers of a colder breeze curled round his neck, raising the hairs along his forearms. The old Dwarf saying came to his mind as he drew up the collar of his cloak. ‘Rock lizard walking over my tomb!’ his grandmother would say.

Riv shook off the chill, calling for the Elven standard bearer to come forward. ‘Unfurl your banner, Master Elf. And Uncle Orin, give a call on your horn. Let them know below we’ll be there soon.’ He laughed, shading his eyes as he stood, hands on hips, looking down on Ost-in-edhil. ‘Though, in truth, those keen Elven eyes have already spied us out and who we are and how many. Still, we’ll keep to the courteous forms and announce ourselves as friends.’

Orin raised the curled, silver horn to his lips and gave three blasts . . . two long punctuated by one short.

Their spirits raised by the pleasant sight of the Elven city, the Dwarves and Elves of Lorien made their way quickly to the city gates and were welcomed in.