Two months by maeglin

Two months

Arvedui Last-King waits.

T.A. 1975

Two months!

Two months more, Arvedui knew, and his company could begin the long walk back to Arnor.  And a long walk it would be, for all their horses had long since perished - by various means.  Yet his men, for the most part, still lived.  The Lossoth had, in the end, behaved like Men. 

And more than that, like good men.  Had they not given his people food, given them shelter, saved their very lives? 

Seeds of friendship between his people and the Snow-Men had been sown in the long, shared hunts for food.  If his people had not known how to use a spear to bring down one of the great sea-creatures as they came to the ice-holes for a breath of air, the Lossoth had not known how to use a longbow to bring down one of the great white bears that made such hunts so perilous.  The worst of winter was over, and it seemed the seeds would sprout and bear fruit.

What more could one ask for?  

One might ask the snow to melt in less than two months, so that he might rally whatever might be left of his kingdom against the forces of Angmar.  But that would be asking too much.  One might ask the snow to melt faster, merely to give his men a better chance to save the lives of at least some of their wives, children and friends - Kingdom of Arnor be damned.  That, perhaps, was not too much to ask of the Valar, but whether or not it was, still he must wait until the snow melted sufficiently for a long journey.  And that, the Lossoth told him, would not happen for about two more months.

He pondered these idle thoughts, trying and failing to concentrate upon sharpening the spear it was his charge to sharpen.  Ever he looked westward.  

And lo!  Ships appeared on the horizon.  Soon, they were discernible as Elven ships of the Havens.  He would not have to wait for the snow to melt, for good fortune unlooked-for had arrived.   Amid the joyful shouts and cries of his Men, he recalled the wise words of his friend Mithrandir.  Estel he had ever retained, no matter the circumstances, and ever had he bid others do the same - for who could know what fortune Fate might bring? 

And here, before Arvedui's very eyes, these words of wisdom, which he had heretofore doubted in his most secret heart, were proven true.

Chapter End Notes

This story is a "gapfiller" of sorts for Tolkien's account (ROTK Appendix A) of Arvedui's time with the Snowmen of Lossoth (Forochel Bay.)  It may be AU, or it may not..