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Atanatar had often let his two sons play in the throne room. Now they were grown, but still they often sat in the thrones in the Kings room. Their names were Narmacil and Calmacil, name so by their parents after the color of their hair.
Their father said to them; "my sons, I hope that one day you will sit in these thrones as rulers, as the great Isildur and Anarion once did. Once I had this hope for my brother and I, but he died, so this will never be."
When the king was alone in his quarters, Atanatar want to see him.
"Father, I know you wished, I had followed on your journey to the south. I still wish to make you proud of me. Isildur also lost his younger brother, but he became the Numenorean who destroyed the enemy. As you have expended our borders to the south, I want to do the same in the north."
Hyarmendacil answered; "we have no enemies to the north."
Atanatar answered fast; "none who we know of, but Isildur found his end there. Let me travel north and make a sign for strangers to know where the realm of Gondor starts."
The king did not mind his son to travel north, though he did not understand the reason behind.
Further to the north, Glorfindel, Galadriel and the grey wizard met Elrond in Rivendell.
The wizard showed them the ring, he had got from Cirdan. He and Glorfindel also told about the spiders and halflings, they had met.
Elrond followed them as they continued their journey. So did the son of the crown prince of Arthedain. As his ancestors before him, Celebrindor had been raised in Rivendell.
As they arrived at Amon Sul, they met two men from Arthedain.
One of the men said; "Hendaur the son of Orodreth has banished us from the tower. He claimed we spoke lies about his kingdom. We could have taken up arms, but we were only two against many."
Celebrindor asked; "What were these word that made him do this?"
The man replied; "it was not us, but some of his men, who started the rumor."
Celebrindor insisted; "what was the rumor.?"
The man was embarrassed, but the other man said; "That the king is not the son of Orodreth."
"I trust no man of Arthedain will speak such words, not even in solitude," Celebrindor said.
Elrond could see that the young prince of Arthedain was in doubt on how to react to this new.
"We can escort you to the Tower, if you want out assistance in reclaiming your right," Elrond said.
Celebrindor hesitated. So Glorfindel asked the two men, "How many soldiers are stationed in Amon Sul now?"
One of the men said; "maybe only a few dozen, but the castle is easy to defend."
Elrond said; "I can have enough warriors here shortly, if you want. I will not be difficult."
Celebrindor looked at Amon Sul to the north. It was only a mile away. Then he said; "No! They have not used violence against us. We shall not be the first to do so. I will rely this news to my father and the king. They will decide our way forward."
He could see men at the castle, and knew they saw him; "Now they know we have powerful allied," he said.
The grey wizard sad; "The blood of Amlaith surely runs in your veins, my lord. It was wise words. I will return here to see if I can find people with the same blood and speak reason to them."
They arrived in Annuminas and stayed with King Mallor. The king was old, and he counselled with his son.
King Mallor said; "Amon Sul was built for the armies of the north to gather for the war against the Dark Lord. Later Earendur made it a place for his sons and grandsons to meet. The Dark Lord was defeated and Cardolan left the hill, so it serves only little purpose."
Celepharn said; "expect keeping the peace for Arthedain. One day the son of Celebrindor will travel the road to the Rivendell and I want the road to be safe."
The king said; "I think we should follow the offer from the wizard. He has always been a good friend of Arthedain. If a danger comes from Rhudaur, we can construct defenses at our eastern border if needed, but for now, we should not use force against our cousins. We know the third Palantir of the north is safe, and we will know more about the sons of Dauremir that they will now about us as long as darker forces does not hold a Palantir."
Celepharn agreed with his father, but he wondered how much blood from Arnor still remained in Rhudaur.
At night Glorfindel sat at the lake Everdim looking at the capital of Arthedain. Galadriel came to him.
"A city with no defenses and many lights. It is beautiful. Though not the same in size and magnificence this place reminds me or Valmar where I spend my youth" he said.
"as I had mine in Tirion;" Galadriel said.
Glorfindel was about to speak, but Galadriel stopped him raising her hand.
"Do not speak of Tirion or my family. I wish to learn nothing, that could make my heart long for Valinor even more. Eventually I will be allowed to return and the I will know."
Galadriel, Elrond Glorfindel and the grey wizard arrived in Lindon to meet Cridan. The white wizard was already present, but to the Grey Wizards surprise Aiwendil was already there.
"How did you arrive here so fast?" he asked.
"A friend of animals will have more friends than any other;" Aiwendil replied.
They all noticed that the place, where Gil-Galad once received news from the west, now again had eagles resting.
The brown wizard said; "this is Gwaihir, a descendants of Thorondur. He is the greatest of the great eagles. He has promised to be my eyes and ears in Middle Earth. He will never go to war on behalf of men again, but he will carry those with a pure heart if they are in danger or it is requested by me."
"Are there any danger now?" Cirdan asked, "I see far, but I see none."
Glorfindel said, "this enemy hide in the shadows and in the high grass. If is not easily seen."
Aiwendil said; "It is there, I have seen it from the skies of the Great Greenwood. The Nandorin have seen it as well. Thranduil has moved his people to the north."
The white wizard said; "Keep this news for the council to be held. We will wait for the arrival of those two who have travelled far."
Atanatar travelled north with only a small escort. They followed the great river, until they saw two hills on each riverbank. As they approached them, they saw that the stream of the river became more roaring and finally ended in a great waterfall impossible to pass.
They rode around the western hill and the rode back towards the waterfall. The two hills created a narrow passage of the river that could not be passed by land.
Atanatar and his men build small boats, and he send two of his men in small boats into the lake behind the passage. After an hour only one boat came back. The man in the boat was so exhausted that he could barely stand.
He said; "the lake is wide, so the streams slows down, but we came to close to the waterfall. I managed to paddle away from the fall, but the other boat was not so lucky. He went over the fall."
Atanatar was frightened, he wanted hid men to search after the missing person, but the man from the boat said; "he hit the cliffs of the island in the middle of the fall and fell out next to the rocks before he went over. He has not survived."
Atanatar camped on the west bank to the north. He looked at the high rocks on each side of the passage.
He said; "our kingdom does not extend beyond this point. I want to build a warning here."
"Of the waterfall?" one of his men said.
"No of entering Gondor with foul intention," the prince answered.
Atanatar stayed several weeks. He ordered his men to create a path on the bank of the river, but when they reached the narrow gorge before the lake they could not progress due to the steep sides.
Atanatar and journeyed back north and west the same way they arrived.
As they were about to turn south, they met several dwarves.
Atanatar called upon them; "you are entering the kingdom of Gondor. What is your business here?"
The dwarves did not react to him.
The prince and his men rode in front of the dwarves.
Atanatar had never seen dwarves before and he intended them no harm.
"I am heir to the throne of Gondor," he said, but the dwarves did not react.
He continued; "now that I have introduced myself, will you show us the courtesy of telling us your names."
One of the dwarves said; "we did not ask you to introduce yourself. Nevertheless, you can know we are of the Longbeards and intend only to travel south to get wood for constructions."
Atanatar then said; "to get wood? If you come from the mines in the north, you have passed huge areas of forest. Why would you travel so fat to get this?"
The dwarves talked among themselves in their native tongue.
The most important looking dwarf the said; "I too am an heir to a throne. We need wood to build bridges and floor and ceilings in our caves. We know how to work with stones, but usage woods are unfamiliar to us. We have travelled this far to get it, because we will not disturb the realms of the Great Lady or the shepherds of trees."
The prince of Gondor asked interested; "if you know how to work with stones will you be able to carve stone figures out of the mountains. Figures from the river to the very top of the hills." He pointed to the hills around the lake.
The dwarf said, "that will be a tremendous task, we can work on this, if we get sufficient woods and other goods. However, should this stop, so will our work."
Atanatar then said; "If we make a deal, I intend to honor through my reign, and I intend to have my heirs to swear that they will do this too, should my reign end before this is finished."
"I will meet you here again when I become king, then we agree on this deal," he concluded.
"I will send people here. I cannot attend my self as I need to reside in my ancestor's realm underground;" the dwarf said.
Atanatar then said; "I need to know the name of the person with who I can make such a deal."
The dwarf smiled.
"Call me Durin," he said.