The wood now gleamed with rich browns, and with the smooth black-greys of bark like polished leather. The boles of the trees glowed with a soft green like young grass: early spring or a fleeting vision of it was about them.
Of course I would welcome the chance for parley between our two equally legitimate sovereign kingdoms, as one monarch to another. I’m sure we would both benefit from improved relations between the east and west lands of Men.
Indeed, why do we not meet in person? My summer palace at Umbar is lovely this time of year.
~Ar-Anaškad, King of Kings, Lord of Mordor and Greater Harad”
Why don’t we leave the subject of legitimacy for another time. And I would request we meet on the closest thing to neutral ground that can be found.
I simply wish to try and understand you better, though I may live to regret it; one can only try.
“Neutrality is a rare quality these days! His majesty could just as well have suggested we meet upon the top of a cloud. But perhaps somewhere long uninhabited would suffice for our purposes.
Far north of the Blue Mountains, well nigh the icy bay of Forochel, there is a lonely little island that sits frozen and forgotten by time: ‘Himling’* they call it. You may recognize something of its original inhabitants, if anything survives of them. I mislike traveling over water, but for you I will make this small exception; ice is a friendlier element to me and mine than the open sea, after all.
~Ar-Anaškad, etc.etc.
(*A truly charming bit of linguistic assimilation, if I may say so; almost as charming as the colloquial use of “Brandywine” for the Branduin River. One can map a great deal of history through the shifts in language. I coined a pidgin tongue for the Orcs in my service, and their vernacular changes almost by the week– it fascinates me as much as it frustrates. There– already you know me better than you did.)”
Of course I would welcome the chance for parley between our two equally legitimate sovereign kingdoms, as one monarch to another. I’m sure we would both benefit from improved relations between the east and west lands of Men.
Indeed, why do we not meet in person? My summer palace at Umbar is lovely this time of year.
~Ar-Anaškad, King of Kings, Lord of Mordor and Greater Harad”
That is entirely relative. Who is being forgiven, and by whom?
When forgiveness is offered by one I love, I treasure the opportunity to earn it.
When it is offered conditionally in exchange for my eternal humility and repentance for deeds I do not regret in the slightest, I consider it a farce.
Forgiveness can only be offered from a position of power, otherwise what meaning does it have? Those who have power over one who has wronged them are seen as benevolent and wise when they give pardon rather than punishment. It indicates the security of a ruler to be able to forgive.
To forgive, therefore, is my pleasure. When I can afford it.
MisbehavingMaiar: Tumblr Archive 