I entered the tent, to see Nimloth weeping, and my heart went out to her, despite all that she had done. I sat down across from her, Saironellotoron on my right, and Laureaferedir to my left, and said, calmly, "Mi Mellonaira, cartyë metta sina ohta ar quámë ya pantatyë?" meaning "My old friend, do you end this war and sickness you spread?" She didn't lift her head, and for a moment, I thought that her sobbing had grown harder. Then I heard her mutter something, and though I did not perceive that which she uttered, Laureaferedir clearly did, as he stood up suddenly, and within the time it took to blink, he had trained an arrow on Nimloth. As all of her guards, drew their swords, and Saironellotoron stood up, gripping his staff tightly, I held up an open hand. "What did she say?" I asked Laureaferedir, watching immediately watching his eyes widen, and he pushed my chair over, seconds before I watched his head being thrown from his body, by a sword from behind me. Blood covered me, as his body fell on top of me, and I saw that horror had now unfolded behind me when I had wiped the blood out of my face.

I rolled out from under the body, just as Saironellotoron drove his sword through the headless body of the Former Minor General of Ranged Attacks in The Army of Meneltarma. As I knelt, her four soldiers pinned me down onto my knees. I realized too late, that Nimloth was not crying, but that she now had a pleased look on her face. Reaching out, she took Saironellotoron's sword, and asked, "Do you surrender, My old friend?"

The mockery in her voice did nothing to lessen the rage consuming my thoughts, as I spat out: "I will never surrender to a rebellious young witch, like yourself. I am older than you by nearly 6,000 years, and with that age has come wisdom. If you kill me, then victory is assured, because Meneltarma will rally, and it will strike down your rebellion. If you let me live, then you have no choice, but to surrender, or be struck down by the forces of Meneltarma. This is a fight which you cannot win, Nimloth, so please, put down the sword and surrender." I said this angrily, but as I went on, my voice grew quieter and became more soothing.

She looked infuriated and was to the point of shaking with fury. Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and smiled. She said words that I would replay in my mind, until the end of my days. "I don't want you dead. I want you defeated, and I want to break you." Then, in what was, at the time, the worst moment in my life, despite, all that I had been through, I watched helplessly as she spun around and cleaved Saironellotoron's head off his shoulders.

Let me explain something to you about spell casting. The actual words of the spell don't matter, as long as you know what you want to cast. The actual purpose of the words is to direct, shape, and concentrate the spell. The usage of Elvish, the natural language of spells, actually aims them more effectively than any other tongue, but it lowers their power, when cast, making it a trade off of power to accuracy, which I usually opted for. However, when Saironellotoron's bloodied head rolled to a stop at my feet, I was strangely silent. My eyes rested on Saironellotoron's head, and my heart filled with rage, and fear, because for the first time in my life, I couldn't control my rage. Then I realized I didn't want to.

What came next contained no words, or even coherent thoughts. I shrieked, and all that was in my heart was destroying Nimloth. The shriek continued to increase in volume, and then my memory blacked out.

                                                                                        . . .

The next thing I remember was waking up in the medical tent, with Aranellevanima by my side, and the only word on my lips was the name of a beloved friend, who I had lived with for over 7,000 years. We had grown up together, fought together, worked together, and hoped together, but now I would never see him again. Immortality is a curse because while my friends around me died, I would still live, and never join them in the Halls of Mandos. If I took my own life, I wouldn't join them, due to the laws of Illuvitar, and if I continued to wait, I would never die. Aranellevanima still lived, and I was grateful for that, but one-third of me was now gone, never to be returned, and I would live with that for all of eternity, being an immortal elf.

When Aranellevanima heard me say his name, due to our friendship being for so long, she knew exactly what had happened, but she had already known he was dead. "I felt him leave."She said to me later, "I felt him leave, and I collapsed to my knees. Things will never be the same, and I couldn't save him." She began to weep, and I pulled her into an embrace, and the two of us wept together, tears of pure, unadulterated sorrow, because we both knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that our friend, our comrade, our beloved brother, Saironellotoron, the "Wizard of Brothers," was dead. Surprisingly, no one bothered us, and we held each other, crying, in the center of the medical tent, until we both succumbed to the burdens we were holding up and fell into a heavy, painful, and much-needed sleep

. . .

Throughout the course of this narrative, I have suffered indecision, doubt, fear, worry, guilt, rage, hope, satisfaction, confidence, hopelessness, love, and gratitude, but the worst emotion I have ever experienced was mourning. The sadness that seeps into your every pore, and the realization that there is nothing you can do to correct it, leave you with a feeling of worthlessness, helplessness, and self-loathing, that you can not withstand. Your mind begins to race, say "Well, you could have done this," or "You could have done that," until it has convinced you that it is all your fault. Aranellevanima took it hard, but she knew there was nothing she could have done. I, on the other hand, had been right there, close enough that I could have touched him without fully extending my arm, so in my mind, I should have been able to save him, I should have been able to stop Nimloth, and I certainly shouldn't have sat by helplessly, as she struck the head of my best friend off of his shoulders, causing it to land at my feet. I now hated her, but as much as I hated her, I hated myself more, because I should have been able to save Saironellotoron, and I failed. In my mind, in my heart, and in my soul, I believed that I was responsible for death, to the point of which I believed I would have been as guilty as If my hands had swung his sword.

When I awoke again, I met with the remaining councilors, who gave me some news that I hadn't known. I had destroyed the field in front of Meneltarma, calling in pure magical force with my shriek, and decimating her army, but Nimloth had retreated to her fortress at The Sky Bridge and would be awaiting our attack. "I recommend siege warfare." Heruevafairëindemmar said, "because she is trapped in that fortress, which means with a blockade, we could stop her from receiving supplies, and she would have to surrender, else her people would die."

But I shook my head, putting my emotions on hold, as I had done so many times before, and said, "Nimloth is no longer rational, and though she is intelligent, she would rather see her people starve, than surrender, and they are our people. We must look out for their well-being."

Gollorelloleilurambar laughed and said, "They are traitors! They made their decision, now they must bear the fruits of it. " I glared at him.

"They may have aligned with her, but that does not mean they deserve death" I paused, gauging the reaction of the other councilors, but I acquired no data from their expressions. "I will not doom the people of this land to death, especially a slow and painful death while watching their loved ones bear the same torture. I am not that cruel, and if I chose the right side, you are not either. What do we have for casualties?" I concluded.

Heruellomornie replied "Well, due to the vaporizing of the bodies by your rage spell, we can't get an accurate count, but due to the extermination of Nimloth's forces, and the fatalities upon the wall, and on the ground, along with any civilian casualties we have discovered, brings the tally to around 153,000 casualties. A horrifying count, the majority of which are unlikely to recover, or have already perished." She paused in her dictation, allowing me to fully take in what had happened. "Our remaining resources are as follows: 178,000 Soldiers, enough food and water to supply the army for an 11-month campaign, and all of the necessary arms, and armor will be provided for you. We also can gain anything you need within a week."

I said: "Bring all of the soldiers here and prepare them for battle. Aranellevanima is to interview and select a general for the archers, based on skill and intuition. I will confirm it. I will need all of Meneltarma's science officers, and engineers, to develop a supply of the explosive orbs Nimloth had for here. I want to have a crew of builders with me, in case she blows the bridge, and I want to see if you can get an Enchanter, or Enchantress, who can tame us a dragon. I will need Herulepilin, and Heruellomornie, on the field with me, to raise an army of the Dead. We will not allow any deaths to be in vain. We leave at dawn, two days from now. Pray for this Conquest, and Good evening."

After they agreed, all but Aranellevanima absconded from my quarters, and she sat down at the foot of my bed. "You need to rest, Mi mellon. You have suffered much, and have been more worried about this vile war than you have been about yourself, and while that is one of my favorite qualities that you possess, it cannot be continued. I, with the authority given to me, by you, as your Chief Medical General of Meneltarma, thereby confine you to one day of bed rest, and an easy day after that. I will bring you any food and water you may require, and I will stay with you." Then she sensed something was off and looked me in the eyes. "What is it you fear?"

I closed my eyes, and cleared my head of all of my denials, before reopening my eyes, and honestly responding: "I fear much, but I can't let that control me." I paused, before uttering what before had only been thoughts. "I am responsible for Saironellotoron's, and Laureaferedir's deaths. I was less that a unit from them when Nimloth cut him down."She shook her head to say no, but I kept going. " But Nimloth didn't kill Laureaferedir. Saironellotoron did. The blow was meant for me, but Laureaferedir took the death in my stead. I am only grateful that he died quickly, his head was strewn from his shoulders, by Saironellotoron's blade. A blade I had personally watched him sharpen hundreds of times, and yet it had now turned against me. I rolled out from under Laureaferedir's headless corpse, and I was restrained, but I should have fought. Then she took his blade, and after threatening me spun and cleaved off his head. I should have stopped her, and I shouldn't have let Saironellotoron come to the negotiation tent. Therefore, I am responsible for his death." I paused, knowing that this was the first time I had told anyone what happened in the tent, in any real detail, and knowing it would be painful for her, but to my surprise, she didn't cry, so I continued. "I fear Saironellotoron's death is my fault, and that I will never see him again. I fear that Nimloth may have ruined his name and that none of our descendants will know he was truly a brave, loyal, courageous, honorable, and humorous man. I fear you may never forgive me, for his death, and I fear that I may hurt you, in the future, similar to how I killed Saironellotoron. I just... I don't know... I am uncertain that I can keep you safe."

Aranellevanima looked away for a moment or two, then wiped her face, before turning back to me, and saying, "Saironelloistya, I will say this once, and then I will make sure you never fear this again. You will never be responsible for any pain or harm that comes to me, regardless of your role as leader, and even if you did, all of the times that being with you, and Saironellotoron has made me happy, surely would make up for it. Secondly, You are not responsible for Saironellotoron's death, Nimloth is, and I have already forgiven her, so if you had, you would have been forgiven even more quickly. Thirdly, I will personally force Nimloth to admit to the council, that she had enchanted Saironellotoron, so he will still be remembered as a hero, who gave his life for Meneltarma. Now get some rest, I will be here when you awaken." I nodded and closed my eyes, and after fighting to gain it, I finally slipped into a fitful sleep.

                                                                                         . . .

I soon awakened, forced from my restless slumber by a nightmare, and saw that Aranellevanima had fallen asleep in a chair next to me, holding my hand. I smiled, and sent a message to Herulepilin, asking him to bring a bed for her. A bed appeared next to her, and I got out of bed, to help her to her bed, but she insisted on moving the chair, with the intent of moving the bed next to mine. As she took my hand after doing so, she sat awake, waiting for me to fall asleep, but I told her to sleep because I probably wasn't going to sleep for a long time. She went to argue, but yawned, and chagrined, peacefully agreed. Upon laying down, she was asleep within the span of a minute, and I followed her suit approximately an hour later.

                                                                                         . . .

We slept in late the next day and spent most of it wasting time, except for a few meetings, one with the council, one with the remaining generals, and one with a board of worried citizens. The last one was the most interesting, by far, so I will skip ahead to that one, because really, the council just had me repeat my plans and run a psychological evaluation, and the generals I had to inform of the current plan and inform them that Aranellevanima would be responsible for picking out the lead General of Archers. Anyway, A group of citizens had come to the council chambers, requesting an audience with me, and due to my desire to satisfy the people, I eagerly accepted. The names of the citizens were a young elf woman, around 4,000 years old, named Sartawen(loyal maiden), her husband, a half elf-man, of around 4,130, named Ancalë(Radiant one), an elderly human, of around 87, named Trevali Galloscher, and a dwarf woman, of the age of 134, named Gabil Duban(Great Valley{Dwarvish}).

The half-elf was the oldest, and clearly had the respect of all, except Gabil, because he spoke first. "We were elected from a group of nearly fifty people, to address you, on behalf of the people of not only Meneltarma but of all of this land. This land has been ravaged and desecrated by this war for power, and we wished to speak to the Man in charge."

I was confused for a moment, so I asked, "Then why did you come to me, knowing that the Council holds the power in this city? I am without legal power, and therefore have no perspective on it."

The dwarf woman spoke next, carefully translating her words into the common tongue so that all could understand her. "Son," she started, despite the fact I was thousands of years her elder, "You have the army and the people at your disposal, so while you may not constitutionally have power, you do possess the powers in their true manifestation. So I will ask you, bluntly, and without formality, do you think this war is right? And if so, which side is correct?"

"Mrs. Duban, I have spent just as much time pondering that, as I suspect you have, but I truly believe that whether or not the war is necessary, Nimloth's treason was wrong," I responded, thinking through my response carefully.

Sartawen had a twinkle in her eye, and an air of excitement, but she spoke fluidly, and formally, possessing both intellect and courtesy. "General Saironelloistya, do you, therefore, admit that you are not certain that this war is necessary? You said what Nimloth did was wrong, but not that the Council is right, and that the war may or may not be necessary."

I laughed, and Aranellevanima smiled, which made Sartawen blush, so I quickly said: "By my own words you condemn me. I am uncertain to whether this war is necessary. Which is more important, in this case, Justice, morality, loyalty, peace, or life? Every life is valuable, but Nimloth broke the law, and she struck first. However, This war has become a law for territory, and, people, not just justice, and self-defense. I wish all of the world held to true values, but then, we would not be in the midst of a revolutionary war for this land, and its inhabitants."

Trevali asked me: "If that is the case, then why not just let her have Le Elyanme, and hole her up in there? You know that she can't bother the land from there, so why not just lock her up in exile?"

I went to speak, but Aranellevanima spoke first, saying: "Kingdoms in this land will rise and fall, and whether we like it or not, not all of them can be trusted, so we must have the strongest weapons, and forces, to be prepared for anything the can do. Right now, Nimloth took a weapon from The Forces of Meneltarma, that she could use to not only bother, but to ravage, and decimate, this land. We must get it back."

"To have it? No city should have that power, as too much power corrupts." Gabil stated, but I shook my head, for the first time certain of the outcome of this war.

"No. The Amulet must, and shall be, destroyed."