The climate of the Vale of Thrain becomes noticeably different as soon as one enters it. It is as if nature itself came to recognize the land as belonging of the dwarves. For some this makes Thorin’s Gate unapproachable but I have made the journey several times before. The path is not as steep as those among the mountains themselves are, and the cold is not so different to that I have experienced visiting northern Forlindon. It was with such confidence that I soon became snowbound along the trail and was forced to take refuge for the night at the way-station of Noglond. It had given me time to compose these letters but there were not yet any means of sending them.
At dawn, I set out again through the vale. Looking at the river I had passed during the night I could see more clearly the bridge leading south to the Havens. I stood there for a while, reflecting on the path that continued on and out of Middle-Earth. I would hardly be the first to leave without word when they felt the time had come. But it is best not to leave with a task unfinished, and it will be easier to depart on a vessel that would be, in a way, of my own making.
As I climbed higher in the hills, the path actually became easier than it seemed before. The wilderness below as vibrant to me as dwindling forests of the lowlands, despite the lack of greenery under all that snow. I could make out some of the abandoned dwarven cities to the west. As I recalled it, they were made to accommodate the oncoming migrations of the other clans from the north, though it may have been that architects from Moria had a hand in their construction as the dwarves of Noglond claimed.
Less likely was their legends about the founding of Thorin’s halls. The land had supposedly been given to Thrain II as part of a loan whose repayment necessitated Thorin’s expedition to reclaim the Lonely Mountain. At the same time somehow, it had been given freely to Thrain for the land was said to be cursed by dragons. Dwarves treat their histories like all their treasure, always able to boast at length of their worth but never willing to hand them out freely. One is never given enough detail to measure the accuracy of their claims. I resolved to keep this in mind as I approached the great gates themselves.
