[*Varda*]

Therin sat as he watched some of the dwarves work with the settlers to build some of the houses that the people would live in. Stone by stone, the settlement was beginning to emerge as more than just a circle of tents. Taking a last bite of his lunch,he brushed any crumbs out of his rough red beard, before rising to help the workers.

"Therin!" barked Barzun. "Get to work! We have no time for idlers who sit around all day!" A fire kindled in Therin's eyes, and a younger dwarf who had also just recieved an ear bashing for making a mistake looked at him sympathetically.

Finding himself a seat near the edge of the settlement, Therin began carefully carving away at what to other eyes appeared just a bit of stone. To Therin, however, it was more than this, and would look even better once it was finished.

An hour later, a design etched into the stonework, Therin's attention was beginning to waver, and he took to looking more at the hills around Lake Evendim, and thinking of the Hillmen. Perhaps it was possible they really didn't mind the presence of the settlers? After all, they had not come down to the camp, they had not caused any trouble, as Therin would normally have expected of disgruntled natives, resentful of people taking over their land.

His attention once more focused on his tools and his design, he jumped slightly when he heard a movement, and turned to see Barzun looking over his shoulder and inspecting his work.

"Very good, Therin," the elder dwarf said, giving Therin quite a surprise to hear compliments coming from him. "I hope some of the younger dwarves can carve like this." Therin uttered a mumble of thanks, but Barzun's attention was distracted, looking to the hills. Therin's eyes followed his gaze, to where some small dark shapes were moving about the hills.

"The Hillmen?" Therin asked. "Do you think they are watching us?"

"They may be," replied Barzun.

"We should report this to the Rangers," Therin said. "They will know how best to deal with this." A scowl momentarily crossed Barzun's face at leaving this up to the humans, but he said nothing as Therin picked up his work and walked away.