[piosenniel]

Earendil Halfelven’s post

He sat at his desk, rummaging through the many papers that sat there. The candles burned dimly among the furnishings of the room. It wasn’t that nicely decorated; just a few things here and there to give the room a little personality, but not much. Not many of his possessions had survived his past, and the few things that had, he kept at home. It was late, but he had to finish the day’s agenda.

Umbar, his beloved city, was being turned back over to the Gondorians and their new king, Elessar. He knew of the legends of the Heir of Isildur returning one day to retake the throne, but he didn’t expect it to be now, his time. The Gondorians had re-entered the city after the War and had declared it a part of the new kingdom. In order to peacefully change the city over, a council was created to form the new laws and policies of the city. Since then, refugees that had been displaced from the War had resettled in Umbar to start anew. But the corsairs still remained, and they weren’t happy with the change that was being forced upon them.

That’s why Jythralo Doran had been appointed to represent the corsair population within the Council. He was an experienced corsair captain that had been on many an adventure (some of the Gondorian Councilmen preferred to use the term “murder spree” in reference to his days of debauchery). After his captain days were over, he had settled down in Umbar as a respected and liked member of the community. He had grown to high political status among the people and things were looking good for the city. Rumors of the Shadow in the East had grown and a great battle fought in the northern land of Rohan had spread but Jythralo did not worry, that is until ships had passed by on their way to Minas Tirith with banners bearing the White Tree. He knew then that Gondor’s problem was going to be his problem soon enough. As Umbar began to muster a defence in preparation of the fall of Minas Tirith, word came that the King had returned and that Mordor was overthrown. Then, the Gondorian Army came knocking on his door. Some wanted to resist, to fight against the invaders, but what could they do against a battle-tested and veteran army? So, peacefully, Umbar had been taken.

When the Council was formed, all of the men appointed to re-organize Umbar were from the nobility of Gondor, not one a citizen of Umbar, or in that case, a corsair. They had protested, and they had been heard. Some men of Umbar, corsairs, had been appointed to the council also, Jythralo Doran being the first among them. Now, he sat at in his office within the Council building, going over more proposed policy. To him, it seemed that all this new policy, (the word “tyranny” suddenly popped into his mind), was slowly constricting the corsairs ability to do business within the city. And with each new policy, (tyranny), Jythralo felt that the rights of the corsairs, his people, were slowly being smothered. He did have allies within the Council. Other corsairs had been appointed to the Council, but the Gondorians outvoted them. They were the minority in a land of majority rule.

Well, despite his small amount of allies within the Council, he did have allies elsewhere with power unlike political power. There was a soft knock on the door.

“Enter,” he said. He looked up to see his young aid enter the room.

“Sir, it is past midnight. Shall I summon your carriage?” the young man asked.
Jythralo sighed and placed the papers down. All of this can wait, he decided.

“Yes, go ahead and summon the carriage. I think I shall retire for the night.” The young man nodded and closed the door softly.

Jythralo rubbed his eyes. He did not realize that it was so late. He had been lost in his thoughts and concerns regarding Devon's awareness of the Captain's true loyalty position. Well, tomorrow was a new day, a new plan. The war with Sauron was over, but his was just beginning.

[ October 21, 2003: Message edited by: piosenniel ]