[Airerûthiel]

'It is not right that one so young should suffer so much for so many,' thought Maikadurion as he took in the Elf's wounds. 'Great danger is brought to Middle-earth with every day that the power of Saruman and Sauron grow stronger against the few.'

"Forgive my asking this, but you say you are one of Ithilien, yet you speak the Elven tongue as fluently as any of that race," said Aranel. "How can that be?"

"My mother was an Elf of Mirkwood," replied Maikadurion, "but my father was a Man of Rohan who settled in Gondor. Although they died when my brother and I were too young to remember them, they still affect our lives today; we cannot cross the borders of Rohan to that land because my father was a traitor to the Stewards.

"But enough of my tale - you seem like kin to me, in the sense that you appear in the guise of a Ranger, a wanderer of the countries of Middle-earth. I have not heard news outside of this land for nigh on two winters, and I greatly desire to learn of what goes on outside the land of the Horse-lords."