Vanimar

Tolmen struck the uruk in the face again , "Who sent you? What are you seeking?", The uruk spat at Tolmen , "You hit like a foshân! untie my hands so I can feast on your heart!", Tolmen drew his meat dagger and slit the uruk's throat spraying black blood over the other captives. Turning to the other orc prisoners he had captured and bound,"Who's next?". The orcs struggled against their bindings to no effect as Tolmen dragged the largest one in front of the rest ,"Who sent you?

Tolmen straightened his ancient styled robe with a critical eye, it would be busy in the hall with many a comrade and mourner to give the hammer hound a good send off. Not that Tolmen had ever met the quendë but he felt he should pay his respects also. Picking up a woven sack as he was leaving his lodging he limped down the road cursing the newish and unworn boots he had bought at the market.

The Captain of the Arrow stood alone before Daegond's fresh cairn, after night had fallen and there was only the silver light of the stars and the rustle of the wind in the valley of Imladris. Unable to bear the crowds, she had watched the ceremony silently from atop a tree, hidden from all sight amidst the branches.

How do you say farewell to an adversary? How do you come to terms with the fact that an enemy has journeyed on to the next life? Sadness and sorrow for the loss of a life? Rejoicing that your own life is now safe and free from further ache and torment? Would you feel nothing?

I do not know where to start. At the first glance Daegond might have been strange, crude and even mean to a person who did not know him, but he had more than meets the eye. Profound loyalty to those he protects. The reasons why he was behaving the way he did. A softer side which the Noldorin (or any) warrior tries so hard to hide under their shell of steel.

All I have in my mind are the scenes of meeting him.

Estarfin shook his head, scarcely able to believe the news. The Hound of Vanimar, fallen? It could not be. How had his stout armour failed him? How had his mighty hammer missed the mark? He smiled, trying to convince himself that the Hound was again trying to trick them all, yet knowing in his heart that the terrible news was true. Running his hand through his hair, he poured out a glass of wine, raising it to the air in memory of his friend.

There is little to trouble my life these days. I have moved on to a quieter, more peaceful existence than I have long known. Lelyar and Arnone tend the Halls, while I am mostly in a smaller dwelling on the coast, so that I may look out each day over the sunken lands that were once my home. I remember!

It was once his home too.....