#othrondir

          Saelon was a man of Gondor in the early Fourth Age. His father was Duilin, a worker in Emyn Arnen and an acquaintance of Borlas the son of Beregond. As a child, Saelon befriended Borlas’ son Berelach, often getting him into mischief. Borlas disapproved of his son’s companion and kept a firm eye on Saelon, and when he caught the young lad stealing an apple from his garden that was all he needed to forbid Saelon from cavorting around with Berelach. Indeed, he likened Saelon’s behavior to “orc’s work,” an insult the child would not soon forget, though he played games of orcs and soldiers with his friends.           As Saelon grew into a young man, Borlas’ heart softened and he allowed his erstwhile neighbor to spend time with Berelach once more. Yet when they were grown, Berelach took the seas, gaining a high command of the King’s Ships, while Saelon worked with timber and remained in the lands about Ithilien. As Borlas grew older and lonelier, his daughter Sammareth marrying and his son off to sea and his wife Orosser passing away, it was Saelon who took to looking in on the old man from time to time, and a strange companionship arose between them.           When Borlas heard from his friend Othrondir, a stonemason from Minas Tirith, that a new shadow was festering like a canker in Gondor, he mused aloud at the persistence of evil among Men and was overheard by Saelon. Himself knowledgeable of such rumors concerning an orc-cult known only as “the Dark Tree,” Saelon asked if Borlas knew of its leader Herumor, and was shocked to find he did. The two conversed on the nature of evil, Borlas growing ever more suspicious of the young man’s motivations, but Saelon proved frustratingly vague in his answers, though he promised to tell Borlas more should he meet him under the cover of night wearing black clothes.           No more of this tale is known, for it was written by Findegil, the King’s Writer, who died before he could complete it. Findegil was known best for his copying of the Red Book of Westmarch at the request of Thain Peregrin Took’s great-grandson, his compilation being the most complete version in existence, but he penned many other tales and histories in his days serving under King Eldarion.