[Fordim Hedgethistle]

He took her hands with an odd mixture of feelings, but the smile on his face betrayed none of his ambivalence. All Aman saw in that countenance was the joy of two friends meeting once again. He looked at her closely and noted that while she played at being the same woman he had come to know in the weeks after the fire, there had been changes in her since. Something had happened that had altered her perceptions of herself. Fitting he thought, that she should alter in her own regard, as I have. He wondered if the alteration had been a happy one.

None of this appeared in his face or manner as he answered Aman. “Indeed we do!” and he laughed in an easy manner. “First you must tell me how business has been for the Inn, and of my old friend Toby.”

At first the woman refused to answer and pressed Snaveling for more information of his travels, but the man remained steadfast in his desire to hear of the doings and happenings of the Shire. Bursting with impatience, the innkeeper allowed herself to be directed to a chair by the fire where she ran through, as quickly as she could, all that had happened at the Inn since he had gone away. About herself, however, she remained silent, a fact that did not pass Snaveling unnoticed. When she finished with the gossip she once more pressed him for information. “Where have you been?” she began. “Did you see the King, and how did he greet you? I can tell by looking at you that it must have gone well.” The unspoken question was clear: what did Elessar Telcontar do to you for your attempted murder of his kinswoman?

Snaveling’s voice was grave as he replied. “I do not know if it ‘went well’ for very little in this world does, but the result of our meeting was…satisfactory. Roa presented me to the King as I was. She related to him both my crimes and the claim that I made by virtue of my birthright. At first I was greatly afraid of him, for he was stern and mighty, and I was surrounded upon all sides by his people. Their attitude toward me was clear from the moment they heard what Roa had to say, and had it not been for the King I daresay I would not be here with you now. But he stilled them and descending from his throne took me in his arms and welcomed me as a brother, exclaiming that as the descendent of Ar-Pharazôn I was like him of the royal line of Numenór and therefore to be honoured as his kinsman.” He fell silent at the memory of that moment, for the surprise of it had never quite worn thin. “He then grew stern once more, however, and turning to the assembly he said, ‘I have welcomed this Man into my house and I accept his claim to the throne of Numenór as valid. Do not think, however, that by this I mean to relinquish the right by which I hold lordship of the Numenórean kingdom in Middle-Earth, for that was established of old as a separate domain by Elendil and his heirs. This Man holds the true title to the land that is lost beneath the waves. For that we must show him the honour that is his due.’ When I heard that,” Snaveling continued, chuckling lightly, “I nearly fell over with the terror of it all. Me a King?” and his laugh grew, “Me? A vagabond rogue from a lost corner of the world who had nothing to his name but the insults and disregard of all whom I’d met…it was preposterous. And yet, something in the way the King spoke of me made it real. I suddenly found myself in the midst of a people who regarded me as a great and powerful Man. Oh, they did not trust me, and I daresay there are many still who would be happy if I were to fall off my horse and break my neck, but so great is their love of their King that they were willing to accept his judgment in this.

“When the King spoke next it was to me, but he cast his voice so that all could hear. ‘But not for this alone were you brought before me,’ he said. ‘The crimes you have committed against my kinswoman Roa must be redressed.’ I trembled then, for I feared that he had recognized my claim only as a cruel prelude to my destruction. But the King is both wise and merciful – how greatly do I lament the words that I have spoken against him in the past, ignorant as they were. Rather than ordering my instant death he proposed an exchange of sorts. In return for remitting my sentence, I was to lay down all claims that I had to the throne of Gondor. I am sure that he did not fear any rebellion that I might pose, but I could tell that he wanted the matter of my lineage and of my claim settled finally, so that none would doubt where I stood. I do not want to be King, so I happily agreed to the terms and forsook my claim as loudly and as elegantly as I could.”

Aman could no longer contain her amazement. “So you are free, then!” she said. “The King has forgiven you!”

“Yes, he has forgiven me, and more. I told him of my people and of the difficult lives we lead upon the edges of his realm. He took pity on us and granted us in perpetuity the right to pursue our game, and live our own lives on the lands that are our own. That very day he dispatched ambassadors to my people with messages of good will and allegiance. At first, they were distrustful and wary, but when the sent envoys to the King I was able to meet with them and convince them of the King’s sincerity. There is still no great love between my people and the Gondorians – and with the Rohirrim, I am afraid, there remains great enmity – but my people now have a recognized land of their own, where they are free to live free from interference.”

“So all your dreams have come true,” Aman said. “Why then are you here? Why have you come back?” There was a note in her voice that caught Snaveling’s attention, and at it his heart failed somewhat.

He became reluctant and quiet, seeking comfort in the fire as he searched his mind for a response. Aman pressed him again. Not meeting her eyes, Snaveling said to the flames, “I have come in search of Roa. The King sent her back to the North soon after our arrival in Minas Tirith, and there has been no word from her in months. My heart fears what might have happened to her. I cannot return to my people until I have found her…”