Title: Arrival
Series: The Reclaiming of Khazad Dum
Fandom: The Lord of the Rings
Author: Endaewen
Rating: G
Disclaimer: None of the settings or the basic premise of the story belongs to me. All of it belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and his family.
Summary: The third in a series of short scenes concerning the re-colonization of Khazad Dum.
Note: The idea for this story/series comes from the Peoples of Middle-Earth: And the line of Dain prospered, ... until there arose again for the last time an heir of that House that bore the name of Durin, and he returned to Moria...(HOME XII.278)

Scholars note: I am gathering together an account of these important times in our past from the numerous partial records from the archives in the hope of making one volume in the form of a narrative for those who are interested in our history. I mention this here because I am starting to quote from the records themselves.

Burrin, Junior Archivist of Khazad Dum

It took the group, which was closer to a small army than anything else, almost three months to make the journey from Erebor, where they had gathered, to the entrance to their peoples ancient home. For the most part, the lands they passed through were still fairly empty of settlers.

Though their relationship with the elves of Greenwood the Great was better than it had been at some times in the past, Durin had chosen to lead the group south around the forest, rather than strain the sometimes tenuous friendship between the two races by taking such a large group through the Wood-Elves realm. This made crossing the Anduin more of a problem as the best crossing was up north, by the Carrock. Still, they managed, and thinking positively, which they were inclined to do, they were closer to their goal, though not near any roads.

Despite the fact that the lands were mostly empty, the dwarves did see signs of some groups of brigands and other lawless men. However, they weren't attacked, presumably because the group of close to two hundred was too large for such folk to take on. Still, it was something they were going to have to take into account for their messengers and other travelers going back and forth to and from Erebor and the other dwarven mansions.

Since they had left the Lonely Mountain in early spring, the season was edging into early summer when they reached the valley below the entrance to the mines.

Now that they had reached their goal, Durin called together the leaders of the groups that the expedition had been broken into, to decide what would be the best thing to do next. The problem was that many of those on the journey wanted to simply rush into their ancient home. The debate ended up encompassing everyone who had gone along, not just their leaders. Eventually, Durin's proposal of caution won out, and was in fact borne out by the reports of the scouts he'd had sent to the entrance they could see in the distance.

Although orcs and similar evil beings had become rare in the years since the fall of Sauron, there were still rumors of their dwellings and reports of orcish attacks would be heard now and again in the mountains. Durin suspected that orcs were living in the mines, as they had been for centuries. The records the historians had collected and brought from the other ancient Dwarven homes and from Minas Anor were clear that there had been orcs there until the end of the Third Age, if not later.

He ordered the camp to be set up a substantial distance away from the doors to the mines, in hopes that it would give them more time to spot trouble if something happened. By the time the camp was set up the scouts had returned from their duties.

Now that their goal had been reached, Durin took the scouts reports in the middle of the camp in a public gathering, so all could hear of their discoveries and decide the best course to take. The only ones not present were those assigned to the guard rotation that evening.

While for the most part the historians merely summarized events in their records, because of the fact that the decisions made at this meeting were likely to shape the course of events from then on, they attempted to record the discussions and decision-making processes as well as the first descriptions of their ancient home as seen by the scouts.

“We saw no sign that we were being watched by anything as we approached the gates, which were hanging open,” the spokesperson for the scouts started out, describing the immediate environs of the gate and their careful approach.

“There was one strange thing though,” he continued, “we saw stumps of trees that had been cut down some time ago. No signs of why, at least not right away. Seeing nothing otherwise strange, we continued to the open doors of the mines. Inside the doors there was nothing unusual that we could see right away. There were some signs of small fires just inside the entrance of the hall, all of which were fairly old. The conclusion we came to after a moment was that probably over the years the occasional traveler from the Dimrill pass, as it is known to most races, must have taken shelter there.”

“Seeing no danger we continued into the hall. It was just as the scholars have described from the accounts they brought along. We could see the chasm spanning the hall, and remains of the bridge which had once arched over it, still springing out into empty space.” There was a quiet murmur from those listening to the account. They had all heard and discussed the tales brought by the historians throughout their journey. “Almost right away we could see the purpose for which the trees cut from the stumps noted earlier must have been used. There was a crude bridge of sorts crossing the empty space made of the roughly shaped trunks of the trees. After examining it, we chose not to attempt to cross.” The speaker paused.

Before Durin could question that decision, another of the scouts spoke up. “The bridge looked to be several years old, and made of the raw wood. We decided not to risk an attempt at crossing it in case some or all of us ended up trapped on the other side. Evidently someone, or more likely several someones attempted to travel into the mines. What they found we do not know yet.”

The first speaker began again. “As we were unable to penetrate farther into the mines we examined the area we could see on both sides of the chasm. We saw no recent signs of orcs or any other evil beings.” He paused then spoke once more, finishing off his report with the all important words that all were waiting to hear: “It is the scouts belief that it will be possible for us to re-take our ancient home.”