June 7, 1437 SR:

Today King Eomer and Queen Lothiriel rode out, going home to Edoras and the Golden Hall. The folk of Minas Tirith lined the streets and cheered as they passed and went through the city gates to the Great Western Road. The Sun shone, and pennons fluttered in the breeze that came up Anduin. We Maidens and Gentlemen rode with them to the gates, as did King Elessar and Prince Imrahil, and Prince Faramir and the Lady Eowyn, and a troop of the Guards of the Citadel in their black livery and Mithril helms. Lady Aravilla did not ride, she stayed at the Palace with the Queen. She is proud, and happy that her daughter has married for both Love and Station, but she wept when she kissed Lothiriel goodbye. She can seem haughty and cold, but I have come to know her and her manner is due as much to shyness as reserve, and she does dearly love Lothiriel.

I will miss Lothiriel, too. We have known each other only a short time but have become fast friends despite the differences between us. She is going to be a Queen to make Rohan proud, and the folk there will love her. Especially when they see how King Eomer dotes on her˜if she was to ask him for the Moon I think he would get it for her! And for all her lively ways and joking manner she takes her new position seriously, and if King Eomer dotes on her, she is Madly in Love with him, to use her own words. She is, too, and anyone can see it in her face when she looks at him. Mistress Mardilain just laughed when I said that and said the Honeymoon would no doubt end eventually, but then she smiled and patted my cheek and said, There is life after the Honeymoon, Elanor. I often wonder how she knows all this, about marriage and babies and what not, since she has never been married herself. Age, I suppose, and a sharp wit.

Sir Ronceval is hard at work editing Legolas‚ letters, and the ones from Captain Roland. They are going to be made into a Book, and printed on the new Press. Any news of far off lands makes me long to get traveling again, but my only journey this year is to be a visit to Lady Iorlas and Sir Landroval in July.

Everyone seems to be leaving Minas Tirith. Radagast and Elladan and Ellrohir are going to take ship down Anduin to the City of the Corsairs, a town named Barbary, on the River Salasso. They plan to go inland along that River for a space, then strike south to seek the Great Caravan Road, hoping to meet Pallando on his journey West. Radagast is full of renewed energy to think he will soon see his long-lost Brother Wizard, and Elladan and Elrohir are much the same. They knew Pallando long, long ago, and like all Elves, they wondered what became of the two vanished Istari.

And I wonder if Gimli and his folk have heard the news from the Blue Kingdom? I wept when I read that part of the Letters. The whole tale of the Blue Kingdom was very sad, and I think there were parts of the letters that Sir Ronceval kept back, especially about his brother. I remember meeting Captain Roland before they set out, and when I met Judge Draco I thought he was a little like Captain Roland.

I am sitting at the table in the Common room as I write this, and the Queen has come in with the babies and their nurses, so I will leave off for now.

June 10, 1437 SR: A letter from Home!   Oh, happy day!

April 30, 1437 SR: Bag End, Hobbiton, the Shire: Dearest Elanor, We are all well here, my love, and hope that you are, too. Your drawing of dear Merry was such a sweet gift, and made us all smile through tears to see his precious face again. That was a thoughtful thing to do, Elanor, and I am touched and proud that you were able to draw his face so well with your clever fingers. As you asked, Diamond Took has made pictures of the little ones, I send them with this, and her most friendly greetings. Your news of the twins reached us before your letter, but we had not heard what the babies were to be named. Babies are always a blessing, in my mind, but two at once is a very big blessing indeed! Father sends his best greetings to the King and Queen as I am sure I do, and all here in the Shire. The garden is coming on nicely, and all the beasts are enjoying the new grass. Father is very busy with your Uncle Tolman in business, and has often to be away looking to things, but the Silver is piling up and it will come in very handy for sure. We needed new sheets all around, and the girls and I have been sewing until our fingers ache, and laughing over your stitchery, dear love when we remember how you hated sewing! Well, you may not be a grand seamstress, but we missed just the same. Many hands make light work, as the saying goes, and you could always have made our Tea and sandwiches. I am glad to hear that you have made a new friend in Lady Lothiriel. Father remembers Prince Imrahil very well, and asks to be remembered, as do the Thain and Meriadoc. The Thain‚s cousin Halfred of Greenholm on the Far Downs has been staying in Hobbiton lately, with his oldest son Fastred. Fastred asked after you, he says he helped you pack your things last year at Bree, when you were leaving with the King. He was glad to hear that you are happy in Gondor, for he said you were a very woebegone girl when he saw you then. It is a sign of Father‚s rise in importance that folk such as Halfred now take him into account when Business is planned for the Shire˜they are a high family as those things go here. Mind, I do not wish you to think that we are becoming Snobs, for we are not, but I am pleased to see Father known for his true worth, after all. And I am always being asked about you, living with the King and Queen. Do you eat off gold plates, they all want to know? I doubt it, myself, but I am sure that the Queen could, if she wished. I am glad to hear that you are helping with the twins. I cannot think that servants are the folk to look after babies when there are loving friends and family there and willing. Not many girls your age in the city will be as used to babies as you are, poppet. I am also glad to hear that you are studying, and taking full advantage of your good fortune in being chosen to go with the King. Well, with the pictures, this is going to be an expensive letter, so I will close before I have to cross my lines. Father and the children send their love a thousand thousand thousand times, and I think of you every night as I see the Evening Star, and I hope you are good and happy, my dear daughter, and think of home, too. Your loving Mother. X O X O X O X O X O