Between the black stone Othram of the City of Kings and the furthest watchtowers of Rammas Echor there are foothills that nestle at the feet of the White Mountains. These hills are a wild sort of land, not suited for farming or sustaining settlement, but teeming with wild creatures both benign and fearsome.
While I still wore the livery of Minas Tirith it often fell to me to ride with one of my brothers to deliver supplies to these outposts, and indeed, when the sun shone fair and warm above us it was a task I deemed a happy one. Passing through the foothills, I was stopped by a soft mewling sound coming from a stand of trees to the north. We were not yet far from the city, and I made a sign to my companion to rein in and dismount silently. We approached carefully, and stopped a few measures short of an outcropping of rock on which was perched an assortment of beasts: fox, rabbit, birds and lynx all together and all peaceable, as though the meaning of predator and prey had, for a moment, been erased. I motioned that I wished to see this thing more closely, and slowly walked towards this amazing tableau. As I drew near, many pairs of eyes turned to watch me and I discerned in the midst of them a child, a boy of no more than ten years, whose eyes shone with swimming tears and a ferocity that echoed the beastly company surrounding him. I stopped, surprised for a moment, as the child's skin was nearly as dark as the earth he sat upon, yet he wore clothes of the make and measure of the people of Gondor.
I called out, "Child, are you lost...hurt? Can you understand me?"
At my words, the boy's jaw set in a stubborn line and he stared defiantly at me as the animals about him crouched and snarled at me. My brother in arms raised his brows and made to draw his sword, but I shook my head at him and motioned him to go back to our horses. I tried once again,
"I shall not hurt you...or them. Tell me your name, boy."
"I will not go back...", the words nearly burst from him.
"Go back where...the city?", I asked.
"I will not go back there. And I have no name, I am the Khand Adan..." his lower lip trembled and he clenched his small jaw even tighter.
Very slowly, I lowered myself to sit on the ground in front of him and studied him calmly.
"Well, Khan'adan...you wear fine clothes, did you steal them or were they given to you? I cannot think that the beasts would bring you cloth from the Pellenor."
"I do not steal! I am a warrior's son!" he rose up and took a step towards me, his fists clenched.
"And where is your father? I am a warrior, too, but I have seen no warriors in the city that look as you do."
He stood still and took a deep breath, "He is dead...my mother, too. The man and his wife gave me these clothes."
"What man?" I asked, and he named one that was respected in the city as one of the scholars of the Citadel.
"And he cares for you? Does he beat you that you have run out here? Are you a servant to him?"
The boy lifted his head proudly, "I am not a servant...and the man and his wife are kind to me."
"Then why would you grieve them by running out here? I cannot believe they would allow you to come to this wild place, if they are pledged to care for you. And how is it you have gathered such beasts to you? That is not a natural thing..."
"I...I would not wish to grieve those who care for me...it's the others..the..." his defiance wavered, and he lowered his eyes to the ground and fell silent, biting his lip.
"I speak to them, " he said, glancing at me uncertainly then at the animals gathered round his feet. "The Brown One showed me...."
"There's another brown one?" I asked. He looked confused for a moment then gave me an inquiring look.
I rose from where I sat and walked over to him slowly, holding my metal Vambrace in front of him so he could see the reflection of his own face. He looked at me with surprise and a little shock. He rubbed away a sniffle with the hem of his shirt sleeve.
"I did not mean ...He is ..." he stopped in confusion. I smiled and took a knee next to where he stood.
"When someone comes at me with a sword, I parry the blow. I meet steel with steel and throw his sword back at him so that it harms him and not me. Did you know that there is something much stronger than steel? " He shook his head at me.
I lifted a finger and pointed at his brow. "Wisdom," I said. "That is a weapon that can stand against any foe, whether they are using swords or words. Even a huge troll can be made to fall on his face if there is a branch in the road that will trip him. " The boy smiled.
"A true man is known by what is in his heart, and that is what will guide his words and his deeds. Those people that were unkind to you do not carry the Light inside them. It makes no matter what colour skin we have, but whether we hold good in our hearts. If all they can see is a stranger to be hated, it is their weakness, not yours. So trip the troll....make their weakness your strength and be the Khan'adan. The man who cares for you is both kind and wise. Learn from him, and repay kindness for kindness. Make a place for the Light to dwell inside you and you will be as great as the greatest men of Gondor." The boy listened to my words, and little by little the tension in his face melted away. He looked at me gravely then nodded his head in silence. I stood up.
"You will come back to the city with me?" I held out my hand and the boy took it.
We finished the supply run and returned to the city. I sang the lay of Eärendil as we rode, the boy perched on the saddle in front of me, listening. The scholar and his wife welcomed the boy back with much joy, for they had been heartsick at his absence. I did not see them again, for it was not long after that I was made to leave my homeland. But I saw the True Light kindled in a boy's eyes and I trust that as he grew to manhood that it would guide his path, as well....the boy who spoke to beasts.
