The events that occurred at Gondamon have, I am sure, been well discussed by now. However the narrative of such things tend to take a life of their own, so I will attempt to outline the proceedings as I understood them. I am perhaps reluctant to include this all-to-familiar account of diplomacy between Elf and Dwarf, most of which was related secondhand upon my reaching the fortress. Yet I include it for its use in understanding the actions I took later.
Falathlorn’s delegation to the dwarves, as with most talk of trade with the inhabitants of the Blue Mountains was held at the fortress of Gondamon. Being an outpost of Edhelion now become an outpost of the dwarves it is the usual middle ground between our peoples. The rounds of negotiations had being ongoing for five days by the time I arrived
The first day had begun with modest ceremonies from both peoples. Duillond’s emissary presented her colleague Saerond, wise in contracts and laws. He petitioned the master of Gondamon to allow as guests himself and his three companions. With him was Eregil, a shipyard quartermaster of Celondim and Tawariel of the Woods who is known at Falathlorn for her stewardship of the groves. Finally came that captain of the Havens, Hircalad, called Gwedhir for his keeping of oaths. He announced to the elves of the fortress that the elves had come to deliver a request from the Shipwright, Cirdan himself. The dwarven delegation to which he spoke seemed to them to have been a collection of whomever the lord of Gondamon could find at the time. The merchant Frórin, the stoneworker Frárin, the hunter Frerin and a veteran warrior who was reluctant to give his name but was referred to as the ‘Stoneguard’. They responded as gracious hosts and bid the elven delegation welcome to Gondamon, proud home of the dwarves. This was the beginning of the problems.
On the second day, the eldest delegates recited the successful contracts of trade made between people of the Havens and the Naugrim over the centuries, wisely leaving unmentioned the less successful examples of more recent times. The dwarves accepted this, having kept records of all this and more themselves. Then Hircalad stepped forward and invoked the ancient agreement made by Cirdan himself. When the time came for the Elves of Lindon to begin their departure these lands they would grant the dwarves of the Blue Mountains a portion of the land they had watched over, those groves that it was deemed would not last without the care of the elves. In return, the dwarves would aid in supplying resources for the ships of the Grey Havens. The dwarves of Gondamon took the words of Cirdan with solemnity. They stated they remembered the old contracts and were prepared to provide logging expeditions to the lands granted so long as the elves of Celondim agreed to the price of the timber supplied. The cost of transportation for wood from the northern dwarf-homes would of course be different for those nearer dwarven lands such as Kheledûl and the Haudh Lin. On this, Saerond, who perhaps should have known better, politely requested that the lands of the Haudh Lin, Noglond, and Gondamon be referred to as former Elven lands and not dwarf-homes.
The third day was begun by the dwarves demonstrating their custodial responsibility, pointing out their maintenance of Gondamon and its importance to the inhabitants of the Ered Luin and the natural majesty of the Blue Mountains. They reminded the other party that such dwarven accomplishment was what defined Gondamon as place of the dwarves, and it was made possible by the pride its inhabitants had for their home. The Elves asked for guarantees of those woods which were capable of thriving on their own, reminding the dwarves that the Ered Luin maintained its state of peaceful splendor due to the preserving works of the Firstborn over multiple ages. To which the dwarves insisted that they were the original inhabitants of the Blue Mountains, their forefathers having awoken there at the dawn of history. The ‘unbearded’ peoples, so the dwarves claimed, had wandered from elsewhere, and custody of the Haudh Lin, Noglond, and especially Gondamon had been given by the dwarves in the first place.
By the fourth day, all question of the cost and procedures of logging had been overshadowed by the authenticity of ancient records. The scrolls of the Third Age were not in dispute, and neither was the contract with the Havens itself. However, the accounts differed on the founding history of Edhelion. The dwarves had indicated a number of relics that established their kin inhabiting the area during the First Age, but no written chronicle to claim the elven lands were ever gifted. For their part, the elves offered no records at all of the Ered Luin’s history save for long and bitter memory. They did not believe the tablets provided by the dwarves were from the First Age or even dwarven at all but admittedly could not say for certain, the runes being an early form of Angerthas that could be either elf or dwarf. The dwarf Frárin asked how those who could not remember their own runes could claim such perfect memory but agreed to have the elves send for one who could read them. It was at this point I was summoned from my studies at Falathlorn
