[Amanaduial the archer]

"He loved you, Arthain. He has taken wounds for you. You repay him poorly..."
"You know that you bear this human's child, do you not?"
"Melost lives."
"Melost lives."
"Melost lives..."

As Arthain left the tent, the High Elven King's words reverberated around his skull. Alive...Melost was alive?

Both a sick feeling of fear and a feeling of incredible elation simultaneously washed over Arthain.
"If there be any among the Valar that still listen, you...will...die."

The soldier smiled bitterly. Truly, Melost would be fully entitled to grant both his wish and the wish of his kinsman the high king. And if the High King so wished it, it would almost be Melost's duty to carry it out.

"And then I shall achieve my last wish as well; to see you before I die," Arthain, halting, said softly under his breath, tilting his head back to the stars. "Whatever the circumstances, Melost, as friends as we were before, and your foe I am now: either way, I think it was destined that we should die close by each other..."