#shieldarmed

        Year 4 of the Fourth Age of the Sun. Peace?

        That was sought at least, through utopian ideas that had less consistency than a sandcastle. Who would they blame if they were at least trying? An old saying said that "the key to failure is trying to please everyone". So what was this but a waste of time from the beginning? They would never agree, and yet there he was; in a foreign city, of a kingdom hated by his people, walking among the blood that had stained their hands with the blood of his people countless times, just as his ancestors had counterattacked with more violence to the policies of expansion and imperialism. He could not help feeling a chill the previous afternoon when he saw the statue of King Roméndacil II in one of the squares of Osgiliath, with his sword raised to the east, in a gesture that waned between vigilance and offensive.

           It was in the Citadel of the Stars that the leaders of the most important kingdoms of Middle-Earth had gathered to try to resolve their differences: to reach a treaty of limits, commercial agreements, military, and non-aggression pacts. There was no longer any Dark Lord to subdue the minds, purposes and wills of those who in the west were called "men of darkness", among whom was the person of the Lôke-Khan. The historical differences and the blood shed among these peoples could not be forgotten from one day to the next and the hatred was still latent in the tongues and the brightness of the eyes of all those present, for there was King Elessar of the Reunited Kingdom and the Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth, The Black Serpent of Harad and the Prince of the Corsairs and other petty-kings of the south. Of the eastern kingdoms only the Lôke-Khan of the land they called Rhûn was present, while the Khudriag of Khand had sent a representative. Nor was the King of the Riddermark; in his place was his sister, the princess of Ithilien. The Dunledine clans and the Anduin valleys had been absent. But the presence that most bothered the Lôke-Khan was that of the young and inexperienced King Bard II of Dale, whom he tried not to observe, since it had been his hand that had left him without his fatherly figure and his hatred towards the Easterlings burned like a bonfire in winter.

        The second session was even worse than the first. The Lôke-Khan Margöz had remained silent for the hour and a half that had lasted, while the kings of the south and the west addressed all sorts of objections and reproaches about the proposal of overseas limits and fishing areas. He went out into the courtyard and breathed, longing for the tranquility of his city, while he raised the sleeves of his scarlet tunic with aureous details. Suddenly he realized that he was not alone, because the princess of Ithilien, representative of the kingdom of Rohan, had been the last to leave the room. Green snakes inspected her figure and noticed above all the prominent dilation of her belly, leading him to separate his lips to spin a question in a broken but understandable Westron.

also rohan's politics aren't as simple as people make them out to be, as people often forget the racial wars against / with the dunlendings in politics and layterms alike

@killthebxy / @arcusignis / @zefis / @nathdar / @thescorcher / @zokliitsos / @princessorganc / @eternalbunni / @elesheir / @shieldarmed

SHE  GLOWS  IN  THIS  LOW  LIGHT ,  belonging to neither day nor night.  see how the light catches the gold of her hair !   quite content is faramir ;  to look upon the lady éowyn is a gift never thought to be received  –  not to him ,  to these hands ,  thought by now to folded ‘pon his breast in eternal sleep.   but that was not his fate ,  and there’s no corner of his heart that yearns for anything different.      “      aye ,  but each stand only to build upon this  –-  this single virtue ,  made all the  BRIGHTER  by those others.      ”      he would sooner weep at the sight of someone true of heart ,  than fall on his knees before a vision of fleeting beauty.     

“      when i call you beautiful ,  my lady ,  ‘tis not in regard to what is outside  –  though nary a soul would not turn for a second glance  –  but what is in.  your SPIRIT is what draws my eye ,  your will and your strength ,  as it has since first i saw you.  though feed me a word more to your LIKING ,  and i shall call you it as you please.      ”