[Anguirel]

Sador seemed to take Harrenon's hesitant query in good heart. Really, given how underslept and relatively unkempt he felt and looked, he seemed, surprisingly, in quite the good mood this morning.

"Oh no Harrenon, you can rest assured, I have no wish to stew you in any substance so unpleasant. Why, that would ruin a good dish. I simply intend - with the permission of Brinn and of Master Aldarion, if it is forthcoming - to simmer you with spices, and leave you all tasting a little more exotic..."

He leant back in his chair now, well at ease, and seemed to bring his mind back to an earlier point in their conversation.

"Your roles, for instance - they seem admirable opportunities for an up and coming actor. The Lord of the Nazgul will be simple enough, for nothing captures the attention of the multitude like a villain does. The official accounts of that monstrous captain always seem, if you'll pardon the turn of phrase, a bit lifeless. He was a man of a kind until his destruction, a high king and a fair one untold years ago, legends say...if I were you, I'd try and eke out the human tragedy of it all, not just play the bogey-man to scare the infants."

It was apparent that Sador had thought about this kind of thing before; he spoke with real enthusiasm about the history and his conception of the character, in a manner that was a little reminiscent of Aldarion's, if much less serious.

"As for Legolas of Eryn Lasgalen, well, in its way that is a more mysterious part altogether. Have you ever seen or spoken with the Elder Folk? Perhaps in Dale you have even come across the hero of the Fellowship's people...I even heard a story you had performed at Thranduil's woodland court, and surely that cannot be true? Tell me about them, for I have long wondered. I was very young still at the coronation, when so many Elves graced our City, and have seen none since save the Queen herself, if we count her as such."

"Tell me, if you can, are the woodland folk are golden-headed, as I am," Sador ran a hand through his hair, of which he seemed very fond, "or dark, like most Men of Gondor, even the Elvish folk from Dol Amroth? No one ever seems to know the answer. I heard a tuppenny bard sing the other day that Legolas performed all his deeds out of knightly love for Itaril, a maiden of the Elfin court...it sounded a fanciful tale, but an entertaining one, perhaps even fit for the stage..."

Sador seemed to bring himself up short at this point. "I am sorry, I have talked too long and too excitedly for you to satisfy any of my queries yet. The truth is, it is a great pleasure, and a rare one, to chatter of such things; and however much I may enjoy doing so, my fate is depressingly preordained, to enter the royal service as my father did..."