[Crystal Heart]

Crystal just sat and listened, her heart breaking for him. She knew that pain too well. She lowered her face to look him in the eye, leaning in so he could hear her.

"I am sorry for all you have endured for your post as general of Rohan. I am sorry for the loss of your wife and children. I am sorry that the one battle your son had to fight was his last. I am sorry for it all. I understand that revenge. I understand what you are feeling. That total unremorse. I have felt it too. You know I have. As long as I have known you Hama you have given everything to Rohan, your home. But you don't have to any more. You can let it all go and live the remainder of your life in the Shire. Someone else can lead. You had done well for Rohan and its people. Now it is time for you to do well by yourself," she told him, her eyes studying his.

"You don't have to marry once more. You don't have to fall in love ever again. You don't have to sire children and be a leader and make a change in this world. You can just be Hama, the man that lives in the Shire. The man that learns to enjoy life. That is what you need, Hama. A life. A true life. One that doesn't take you away from the place that you love and the people you adore."

She stopped, wanting to say more. She wanted to plead to him to stay, to be here with her. She couldn't lose him again. She could see that she was.

"I am merely a woman. I have run away. I have been owned by men and by illness. I have learned true beauty in life. I have learned true despair. My life has been broken time and time again. The only place it hasn't been broken is here, the Shire. This tavern. . . . I don't know anything about constructing a house. I know nothing of protecting my land and being a farmer. I know little about cooking and making a house a home. Yet, I want to learn. Would you learn with me? Stay with me here in the Shire? You could learn to live life . . . learn how to appreciate small things. You wouldn't have to be a warrior, a general, a leader. You could just be Hama. . . the man that learned how to live," she stopped and swallowed hard.

She looked at his glass and swallowed hard. She knew that despair. She was feeling the same way. How could she go on? How could she marry and sire more children?

"I know where you are at and I know where you could go. Losing your family so brutually will only drive you to insanity if you keep being the General of Rohan. Listen to my words and hear them in your heart. There is good in you. There is life in you. Find it. For my sake. Please. . . I can't lose you too," she whispered, tears starting to flow down her cheeks.