"Now if you'll forgive me for making such a detour, master Bane." Elrond's gaze flicked briefly to the man before they returned to look at Gandalf quizically. "But I must ask, what exactly it is that your company were doing on the Great East Road in the first place in order to be ambushed?"

"We are travelling to the Iron Hills." Thorin lied. "To visit our kin there." remembering that Gandalf had said the elf might be able to read the map, he reluctantly pulled it out of his pocket. Though he deliberately made no mention of the key. "I have come upon this map, there is something written in ancient dwarvish that we cannot read and we would like to know what it means."

Elrond took the map and examined it, raising an eyebrow. "And why do you wish to know it's meaning?"