“Whatever may come of it, we have gone too far to stop now; we are all committed.”

Despite Nori's skill and nature, there was only a few cases in which he managed to catch Balin off guard. Although he had expected Ori's brothers to come to him eventually, he thought Dori would be the first breaking down his door. Instead, it was the middle brother awaiting him when he entered his mostly packed away study.

He thought of either commending Nori's lock picking skills or notating the lack of skill the smith that forge the lock had. After silently pushing aside observation did Balin nod in acknowledgement towards Nori.

"I assume he told you it was his decision; that I had no influence?" The elder dwarrow knew exactly why he was there and would give Ori's brothers a straight answer. They deserve that. "I did have words with him personally, to convince him to come with me to Khazad-dûm."