Meat

The aromas of varied victuals mix with the fresh salt of Amroth’s noon air. The bustle of lunch flourishes throughout the Marble City.

So too within the Knight’s Tower, where Arathis sits at his desk, his door ajar, partaking casually of the plate of meat and bread before him.

[Menelglir(#17324)]

A knock on the door disturbs the peace of the Knight-Herald. In the doorway, a Telpekhor knight clad in his house colors.

\"Your pardon, Hir?\" he says.

[Arathis]

The food, paid little mind already, is forgotten.

Arathis reclines in his chair, observing Menelglir shortly, ere answering simply, “Come, sit.”

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"Thank you, sir,\" Menelglir steps in, settling into the offered chair.

\"I am not certain on protocol on this, Hir, but I wanted to talk to you about the White Squire Conalmir.\"

[Arathis]

The Lord Herald smirks at the younger knight, a knowing poise lowering his brows.

“Aye, the squire you spoke of, one of Bor’s company injured by the wyrm?”

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"Yes, Sir, the very one.\" Menelglir pauses, then takes a deep breath before speaking.

\"He is...well, he was given a leave of absence long ago by the Prince. Six years, in fact, to tend to family business. I did not think he was fit, at first, to be a Blue. But I believe now he is.\"

[Arathis]

“You are very young for a knight,” answers Arathis flatly, a hand sidling against his plate, “and you would already take a squire?

“Is he not older even than you?”

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"No, sir,\" Menelglir says--he meets Arathis\'s gaze, but cannot help but redden.

\"I have a Squire. Calarion Bragollach.\"

[Arathis]

Arathis pauses at the thought. A hand raps his desk once, ere flattening.

“Bragollach,” he repeats unkindly. “And what do you teach him?”

[Menelglir(#17324)]

A slight, nervous cough precedes the Knight\'s answer. \"Sword work, Hir. And the virtues. And the need to control...\" Menelglir\'s brows knit ever so slightly, \"his temper.\"

\"I have had much practice with the last, for myself.\"

[Arathis]

“To learn the virtues properly,” begins the Herald, his bass thickening with a didactic tone, “should alone function to control one’s temper.

“Or what think you of the virtue Humility, young knight who would take two squires?”

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"No sir,\" Menelglir says quickly. \"I am not asking to take on a second Squire. One is more than enough.\"

\"I only came to make a recommendation that Squire Conalmir be promoted to Blue--I thought that he showed courage and leadership when we faced Firiel\'s Doom, and I wanted to put in a good word for him.

[Arathis]

“You do not ask,” ponders Arathis aloud, repositioning his plate before him.

“Good, then he is your Blue. Perhaps through teaching you shall also learn.

“Find him and with your knight’s blade administer the words of our Oath, hearing so the echo of your own.”

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"I..ack...\" Menelglir makes a suprised noise, then shuts his mouth and opts for a moment or more of stunned silence.

\"Of course, Sir. Thank you.\"

\"Will there be anything else?\"

[Arathis]

“The Bragollach,” Arathis grates, pulling a strip of meat from his plate. “Was he fey in the days before his death?”

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"I would say so, yes, Sir,\" Menelglir says, recovering from his surprise to consider the question and then answer slowly.

\"But in some ways, always he seemed so. He knew what Sir Findon and I were charged to do--and yet he did not fight us. Instead, it seems to me that he went deliberately to his death instead of facing the Prince. As if to prove himself at the last.\"

\"I am sad for it, sir. In the end, I do not think that Hir Bragollach was as filled with darkness as many assume. Only that he was filled with purpose, single-minded.\"

[Arathis]

“If it was not he, then his purpose was dark.”

The Lord Isilrim states this freely, his words straying with his chews. “I have heard him renounce the same god he swore by I have seen him leave unburied men he led to their last.

“His purpose was Death he has at last wrought it. Mandos have him.

“But, now, tell me why you and Gwendion did not follow to Caldur, when the rest of our Order did?”

[Menelglir(#17324)]

Again there is silence, only this time it is not because Menelglir is surprised, but rather, pensive. He looks up at last, tone quiet.

\"I was not aware of that. I only know of the fire in his eyes and the determination to beat the enemy at all costs when he spoke to me.\"

\"Sir Gwendion.\"

\"Sir Gwendion was summarily dismissed from his temporary officer\'s post by a rider who did not even bother to dismount,\" he says with bitterness. \"He was not asked to attend the Knight\'s Council--indeed, I believe it was held without his presence at all. And then he was given the administrative duty of managing the Chapterhouse in Minas Tirith. And, I suppose, expected to stay there, rather than seek for a welcome he would not find in Caldur.\"

\"I stayed with my Knight, as was both my duty and my wish.\"

[Arathis]

“A ‘rider’?” repeats Arathis incredulously, pausing to stare at Menelglir.

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"A messenger, sir, from the Knight\'s Council. We were in Osgiliath, in the fortifications--he arrived on horseback, delivered his message to Sir Gwendion from the saddle, and turned and left,\" Menelglir says, gaze unwavering.

[Arathis]

“Gwendion possessed the word of the Prince, yet allowed himself to be dismissed of it by a messenger? Then, when only his voice was needed to still Bor and his scythe?”

The bass of the Lord Isilrim loudens his hand tightens to a fist.

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"I think, Hir, that such a question is best directed at Hir Gwendion. I do not know precisely what evidence he had or believed of the Prince\'s whereabouts--nor can I nor should I speak for why he made the decision that he did,\" Menelglir says levelly.

[Arathis]

“You have answered it already,” retorts Arathis, a fey smile twisting his lips.

“Farewell, Menelglir.” He returns thus to the cold food before him.

[Menelglir(#17324)]

Menelglir rises but does not move from before the desk. \"No, sir--my recollections on this are from what I heard of a message not delivered directly to me--Sir Gwendion should not be judged on my faulty memory. With all due respect, Hir, where is the virtue of justice in such a judgment?\"

[Arathis]

“You do not recall what you hear, and you must think to look.”

“Very good, Hir, pose the question to your squires.

“But now, you will leave.”

Arathis does not move from his chair, monitoring the standing Menelglir.