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Earendil chuckled at Lin, then waved to Rhea. "Rhea!" he called to get her attention.

Rhea turned and saw the three of them, and she smiled and waved back. "Good timing," she grinned at them. "I'm waiting for Aurin and Aerin. And I think Caranthir may be coming out with them."

Just at that moment, the door of the barracks opened, and it was Aurin and Caranthir who stepped out. Neither of them looked very happy. Aurin moved immediately to Rhea's side, and Caranthir simply looked at all of them.

"Aerin-sol will be coming out in just a moment," Aurin said quietly.




Celeborn smiled and patted Miyu on the head gently. "I've been doing well," he nodded, smiling warmly. "We all have been. We've been getting a good rest these past few months. You should talk to Elrohir for a full update, I'm on duty so I can't talk long. But I'm happy to say that it's safer here than it has ever been."

He looked quite proud of it too.

Caranthir looked at Lin, his eyes tired for the first time ever.

"It is as I feared," he murmured, referring to their earlier conversation.

Just then Aerin joined them. Her green eyes were filled with a cold fury that swept over all of them. But when she spoke, she was careful to hide her anger, since it wasn't directed at anyone there.

"Lin, Earendil," she said, looking directly at them, "you two were bystanders in my father's castle. Tell me what it was like."



Celeborn grinned back at Donovan. "Then I shall see you later," he said cheerfully, bowing his head at him. "Have a good visit!"

And then he was gone again, disappearing back into the trees.

Aerin nodded thoughtfully as she listened to Lin, and once Lin had finished speaking, she was silent for several minutes. At last, she turned to Earendil. "And you?" she asked him, her gaze still fierce. "What were your impressions?"

Earendil thought back to it. "Well ... I wasn't impressed that I was thrown into prison," he murmured, "and really I still don't understand quite why. Haldia and I flew in on her roc, and though we were polite and respectful, they locked us up ... and in different areas. I was put into a small cell, which I wasn't fond of, but Haldia ..."

He hesitated, then continued, "They put her into the dungeon with the gnomes."

Aerin's eyes blazed, but she simply nodded for him to continue.

"And ... well, as Lin said," he went on, "it was strange. When we were first there, the king was out on the battlefield. Alena and your brother were the ones who spoke with us. The atmosphere was ... relaxed. We had fun. But the way Alena talked about your father, we - at least, I expected him to be harsh, strict, very ... proper. And yes, when he showed up, even Alena was on the floor more than she was standing up. But then when he talked with us, when he interacted with us, he made us feel very welcome, very at ease. It just didn't match up. At least, not to me."

Aerin nodded. "As I would expect," she murmured. Her expression turned anxious. "And what of the people?"

Earendil thought again. "For a people at war, they seemed to be doing very well," he decided. "I understand there was an overcrowding factor coming into play, but Haldia helped solve that problem ... if they took her advice, anyways. They didn't seem too keen on it. Other than that ..."

He hesitated, then added, "Though it did strike me how strange it seemed that almost none of the men were home with their families. I can't imagine a place where none of the children know their fathers growing up."

Aerin set her jaw. "I see." She looked over at Caranthir, who, for the first time, actually looked worried.

Aerin looked at Caranthir and held his gaze for a long moment before turning back to Lin.

"I do not know what the king is doing, or what he is thinking," she said crisply, "but it seems that the kingdom is going to destroy itself if it keeps up the way it has been. If my people are to live, they must have a ruler who cares for them. Earendil, if you were thrown into prison simply for visiting, then things have degenerated far worse than they were when I lived there."

She clenched her fists at her side so tightly that they burst into flame, and the same fire of anger blazed in her eyes. "The king must pay for what he has done."

But Aerin simply clenched her jaw. She was already angry, she didn't want to add depression on top of it. There simply was no happy way to remember the place of her birth. Yes, she loved her brother, and she loved Alena as the only mother she had ever known; but besides them, there were no good memories there.

Caranthir stepped forward and touched Aerin gently on the shoulder, bringing her out of her rage. She blinked at him, and the fire around her fists dissipated. She sighed. "I am sorry. As much as I dislike the fact, I do have the king's temper, it seems."

"Don't say that," Caranthir said harshly. "If you had the king's temper, I would never have saved you." He looked at Lin and Earendil. "You want to know what it was like there before she left? Ask Aurin!"

Aurin cringed and held Rhea tighter. "I cannot," he rasped, his face pale. "It is treason!"

"As is what you said to me inside," Aerin told him. "Tell them. I haven't the strength to hold myself back."

The captain bowed his head at the direct order, but it was clear that he didn't want to obey it.

"Even before Aerin-sol left, our life was a life of constant fear," he told Lin and Earendil. "His Majesty has an iron leash on our lives. We can do nothing, go nowhere, without his express permission. Any males who are born are taken into his service before they reach adulthood. Only those who reach a certain rank are permitted to marry, and even then they rarely see their families, who are left to fend for themselves. When people bow to him as they pass, it is out of fear, and most of them remain bowed low until he is out of sight so that he cannot see the fear and hatred in their eyes, as it would mean their deaths."

He turned to Rhea, his expression anxious. "One of the reasons I took so long to ask you to come with me, Rhea, is that I dread submitting you to that sort of life. I cannot stand the thought of subjecting you to such a tyrant, and as his captain, his third in command, he would have his hand in every part of our lives."

Rhea silenced him by putting one finger to his lips.

"I know," she whispered, gazing into his eyes. "I have always known. And I know that in the end, you could never have asked me to enter into that sort of life. That is why I asked you instead. My dear Aurin, I would rather live that life a thousand times over than be without you."

Earendil was stunned. It seemed that things were far worse than he would ever have thought ... and yet Rhea volunteered for it? Hers was truly a powerful love.

Earendil had one more question.

"So what is Alena's part in all of this?" he asked. "Is she a part of the king's deception? Or is she the saviour of the people, doing what she can from under the king's thumb?"

"She is the only reason the people are still alive," Aurin replied, more strongly now that he was able to speak well of someone he truly respected. "She is the one who made sure that the people are at least protected, that there are walls to keep them safe from the gnomes. That the city has walls at all, even if they are now too small for the people. That there is food and clothes for the people, that even though the men are all in the military, that they at least get to see their families a few times a year. That though the king cares for nothing, the people continue to live, and even know some semblance of happiness."

Earendil wondered if she had reconsidered Elros's words of so long ago, that it had been a mistake for them to leave the shores of the Four Lands.

"And we thank the Valar for that daily," Aurin smiled sheepishly.

Earendil looked down at Lin. "Feel better now?" he asked her.

Rhea blinked at him. "Better?" she asked.

Earendil smiled softly. "We were worried about you. We had spoken with Caranthir this morning, and ... well, some of this had come up, and we didn't know what to make of it all. So we were worried about you." He grimaced. "Though I think it's turned out to be worse than we thought."