Ah, such a sweet and innocent child. Or, you know, from somewhere with a really boring population, same as just about everyone else here, but it's rare Bard gets to feel like the knowledgeable one about something around here so he'll take it.

"Not at all. They're one of the free peoples of Arda, as are humans, and the elves who live in the forests to the west of my home, and the hobbits who live under the hills farther west than that. But they have little to do with this story, so we'll come back to them later." Now where was he? Right.

"The dwarves of Erebor were all of them great craftsmen, and so the city of Dale grew up outside the mountain as cities eventually do. Both prospered for generations, but nothing wonderful can last forever." And another pause in the rhythm of the story, traditionally for Bard to take this opportunity to look much grimmer than usual but in this instance to get used to letting Kara prove she's still with him.