-------,
I have returned to the Angle. I am sorry I have not written, but words of late have come slowly and with little meaning. All rings false, and I am too weary to gild stones destined only for the cairn.
You will by now have heard tell of the tragedy that befell us upon the road from Imladris, and of the events that saw us thwarted at the High Pass. We were foolish to chance the season, and the burden of blame falls solely upon my shoulders. Ever it feels as though I flee from one loss to the next, a crashing wave ever returning to familiar twilit shores, drawn by powers beyond my ken. You thought highly of him, I know, and I can do little but beg your forgiveness for my cowardice, for I could not bring myself to be the one to bear the tidings.
Tandhir has shown me every kindness, and for that I thank you. He has pressed me to remain among your kin for a time, but I cannot linger. Tomorrow, I depart, again riding south and east, returning to my station in fulfillment of a duty I can stomach no longer. Truly, what matter the comings and goings of fell creatures across the Entwade when petulant chance comes to reap the measure of a good man?
I recall I asked this of you when Lornion fell, but I cannot recall what it was that you said, though it brought me some small comfort at the time. Memory of kindness bends, as it ever has, beneath the press of new-risen shadow.
I doubt I shall write again until I am returned to Snowbourn. Dunland is possessed of many fetching qualities, but I do not count faithful couriership among them.
Remember me not fondly, but as I was.
Aeralhil
