Keeping their eyes open pays off sooner rather than later - and, fortunately, before they have to make any commitments one way or the other to the dwarven government. (What they even want out of a war and if war is a good idea is still being hotly debated, apparently.)

They get a request to meet, from an old friend of King Thorin's (the hobbit Russet Took, who helped get him to Erebor during the first reclamation) and her escort - who'd like to meet them himself - a young man named Estel, ward of Lord Elrond of Rivendell.

That's convenient.

Sure, they can meet.

Russet Took is pretty short, with curly blonde hair on her head and bare feet, wearing travel clothes (blue with an orange undershirt peaking out from under). She greets them, friendly, and introduces herself as an explorer from the Shire, a land to the northwest of here.

Estel of Rivendell is more reserved, but keenly interested in them nonetheless. 'Young man' is a bit of an exaggeration. He's older than El, or at least taller, but can't be anywhere past his mid teens. His travel clothes are more worn and practical, and he doesn't really look like a ward of a noble house.

Bellona's happy to meet them both!

"What brings the two of you here?"

"I'm a friend of Thorin's, and I visit him pretty often. There've been a lot of changes to the city since I was here last, though! It's really impressive - I'm going to find some things to take back to my homeland with me, to maybe encourage them to trade more with the outside world - and then Thorin said you two'd invented a lot of it and are from really far away. I like meeting people a lot, so, you seemed interesting to meet."

Estel glances at Russet, clearly amused. "I like meeting people, too, and hearing of other places. I have less of a direct interest than Russet, though - I want to find some books to take home, but, well, Rivendell's hardly changed while I've lived there. I doubt they'll change much soon. Somewhere like here's actually - refreshing."

"You live in Rivendell?"

"Most of the time, yes."

"We haven't met any elves."

"Few have. They're rare, most places."

"What's Rivendell like?"

"Hm... Peaceful. The people there've had the same routines for centuries. It's very pretty, and there's a lot of effort to make the waterfalls around sound nice rather than overwhelming. There's music, most times, and storytelling in the main hall. The smiths mostly work on maintaining equipment, nowadays, or making artisanal things. There's a grand library, with the oldest books in Middle Earth."

"Mortals come in and out some - Rivendell's a safe stopping place for travelers, and the northern Rangers visit often, and some people with stubborn illnesses or injuries come to see Lord Elrond to ask him to heal them."

"Still, it's very - the same, every day, intentionally so."

"Nice for a visit, but not someplace we'd like to live."

"That's the norm for mortals, I think. Somewhere like here is - far more dynamic."

It's probably rude to ignore the actual guest in favor of the bodyguard. She shifts her attention to Russet.

"What's your homeland like?"

"Mostly farmland. Fairly densely populated compared to - most anywhere else I've seen while traveling, though, everything's really arable. We're fairly isolated right now, since there's not a ton of Big Folk near us, but we trade with the ones that are. People are fairly hospitable? Though there's - the sorts of drama you get in small communities where everyone knows everyone. We're not big movers or shakers or anything - don't see much point in war, or bothering other people, and the area around us is empty enough we don't run into any problems making the Shire bigger - people have a lot of kids, usually."

"Dunno we have much to trade here - grain doesn't travel well overland, though if you have a way to move it that won't eat the grain it's carrying that'd change... I'd been thinking earlier we could trade agricultural or medical knowledge, but I don't know if you've already made that kinda obsolete?"

"Maybe a little bit. Dwarves don't really farm the same way people who live aboveground do."

"Yeah, though they do a lot of trade with nearby Big Folk, too..."

"Might want to talk to them about farming, then."

"Possibly, yeah. Though - I'm curious about you two, just in general. Does your homeland have all this stuff, too? Like - lights and stuff."

"Yeah. And more stuff that we haven't gotten to yet. A lot of it is- infrastructure that just takes time to do."

"That makes sense... Especially if you're working around the existing city..."

"Kind of necessary here. Can't make more space just by asking."