To the East I Go Not by feanorusrex

Chapter 1

“Behave or the Easterlings will get you,” is a common enough saying in the west. No equivalent of this saying exists in the east, for the Easterlings have never found it necessary or kind to threaten their children with kidnaping and violence to get them to behave.

The Red Book is the chief account of the War of the Ring for those west, as well as those even in other worlds, but neither Frodo nor any of his companions have ever had close dealings with the Easterlings, and thus Lelia and her people’s account of how things had transpired is quite different.

Easterlings is such a broad word, and for the Gondorians in the west, it covers all the peoples east of Mordor: the Boat People who live near the sea of Rhûn, the fierce Balcholoth, those who lived on the flat plains with their horses and falcons, those farther south who ekk out a living with the dust and dunes as their constant companions, her tribe that is descended from the long ago Wainriders, and multitude of other peoples. All of these become Easterlings. All the peoples are all the same to them.

Sometimes this term is applied to men not from the east who were enemies of Gondor. Easterling does not just mean ‘a person from the east,’ but automatically an enemy. How can they expect peace to be created when to the west ‘swarthy,’ skin and the very word that refers to their people means evil?

This group of former enemies is here for the coronation of Gondor’s new king. A show of goodwill. It was not so long ago that they have taken up arms against these pale men- and lost. Gondor had been lenient in part, because of the Easterling’s surrender immediately after. It was dishonorable, to give up some said but what what was? To die for an obviously lost cause? Her people had kept their lives.

Lelia had accepted this invitation to get away from the ruin of her homeland for a time. As a distraction, to distance herself from the arduous work of rebuilding, hoping that when she returned there would be some semblance of the land before, excavated from the ashes. They lived close to Mordor, on the other side of it to the east, and Sauron’s affairs had not blessed their land. The others with her must feel this way too, though they had not discussed it openly. At least it was not from some great desire for friendship with Gondor.

As they ride west across an open plain, great white city rises before them, the same they have been seeing for days, but not this close. Lelia sees that the stones of the outer wall are not perfectly white, but stained yellow or brown in some places. It is easily seen, but easily dirtied.

Their guide, a young man, with skin so pale that Lelia does not know how he can stand the sun, begins speaking about the city excitedly. He speaks her people’s language- though not well. It is necessary for they all speak Westron, and more well than he speaks theirs. But throughout this journey, he has insisted on using their native tongue, even when his meaning is nearly lost.

No one was allowed to bring weapons, but their traditional clothes- long layers wrapped about the body and for some even the head and lower part of the face- allowed much to be concealed. If they are mistrustful, the blame is not wholly on them. Her people dwell close to Mordor because no land west would have them. If so many joined Sauron's army and so easily, it was because they were fed.

As darkness had drawn into the west, many place had cut off all trade with their eastern neighbors, claiming that they could not know where their money or goods were going, and they did not want to support Mordor in any way. Her village’s soil had always grown things poorly, another advantage of living so close to a stronghold of evil, and one fall, the ground had turned hostile, killing their harvest. So many of their western neighbors did not trade food with them, thus her people starved, and turned to Sauron in greater numbers than they would have before.

After clearing the gate, their group is forced to dismount, and lead their horses on foot through the streets because they are filled with such a great throng of people. Though it is spring, the air, as they move towards the top gets colder. While many peoples in the crowd look different from each other, as different lands are converging on Minas Tirith for tomorrow’s crowning, their looks are far more removed from the Easterlings then they are from each other.

In Lelia's childhood she went with her merchant parents to meet western traders. One of the children that came alone with the foreign caravan had called her skin dirty, and Lelia had punched him, and had been scolded for nearly ruining her parent’s planned business deal. But she had only hit him because there was no equivalent insult to dirty for light skin. What else could she have done?

Their guide drops them off at an inn, telling them that they will be taken care of and escorted to the ceremony tomorrow. He seems glad to get away, nervous. The entire trip he acted as if he thought that they could jump and kill him at any moment. Which they absolutely can. But very few in their group would.

At their lodgings, they are given a private room to dine in- who knows if this is courtesy to them or to the other guests - and treated to many free stares and questions as well. A serving girl asks if they would like to remove their head wraps and a woman in their group, Intisar asks her if she usually removes her dress in front of strangers, but in their language so she does not understand. From their perspective, she is the one being rude, but the mores of modesty are different here. No one shows their upper arms, and their women do not reveal the outlines of their legs, but everywhere are faces, faces, faces. An assault of fair skin, blue eyes, blonde hair, and sharp noses.

Their host, another man, middle aged this time, speaks about everything- now about a woman from Rohan who disguised herself as a man, to come here and join the fight with her people and did great deeds.

“ ‘...I am no man!” Eowyn says and kills his mount, and him too, though she nearly died, and when her body was born to the house of healing, they asked if even the women of Rohan had come to help and her brother said nay, only she. And now she is healed and betrothed, though she is no longer a warrior but a healer now, and she will not fight anymore…’”

Another in their group, Sayed, mentions his wife in passing, which seems to shock their host- the fact that their people have the concept of lasting commitments or the same morality.

“What utter nonsense,” says Intisar to Lelia later, when they have finally been released from his boisterous storytelling and shown their chambers. They are sharing a room, as space in all lodging is limited, which is fine- Lelia does not wish to be alone in this strange city. Her friend is referring to the main story of the evening. “...that she should have to disguise herself as a man in the first place, in order to gain admittance to the battle.”

In Sauron's army, Intisar had been a commander, high ranking, not hiding her sex, leading both men and women. When the recruiters came to their villages, both had joined in equal numbers. This was not unusual, not because of extraordinary circumstances, but rather expected. For the women to refuse, or the men to prevent them would have been unthinkable. Yet another difference between their cultures: the ridged lines between men’s and women’s worlds. As far as an eastern women disguising herself as a man, that would have been difficult, for the same clothing is worn by both sexes.

When learning Westron, the constant delineation into he or she poses difficulty for many pupils. Being a man or women is so unimportant to their culture that different pronouns for them do not exist. Thus, many of their historical figures are of unknown sex, as many names can be neutral as well.

Lelia had served in the war too, though not in a high capacity. She had been a scout, and while returning from a given mission had seen Mordor’s destruction from afar. After that, she had simply gone home. There was no one left to punish deserters. Everything was gone.

They were not an army of conscripts. Sauron had no great need of bodies- being able to create Orcs and Uruk-kai with no great loss to himself. But the Easterlings were intelligent, stealthy, knew the surrounding area, and he would take those that would, and those that volunteered.

Out of everyone who had joined, none that Lelia knows went out of allegiance to Sauron. Sauron’s war was a means for food, and security, or to some better off people, for glory. It was the Easterling way to use whatever means necessary in order to advance. In this case, it was fighting under the eye. But it was the future that they were thinking about, when harrying the men of the west. Orcs were not intelligent. They did not function well as leaders. They could not be the ones to rule the world. But their people could, and many saw this war as a way out of the years of ruin they had had endure, scraping out a living on the edge of hell.

Intisar had been one of those people. More well off, and with room to spare for ambition. The last time Lelia had seen her, before the end of the war, she had been reviewing troops, riding on horseback, in front of the lines of people. It had been from afar. Lelia had been at the top of a watchtower; scouts were given duties watching the inside as well as the outside. Her friend from childhood had looked so strong. So brave. Her name means triumph, and in that moment, Lelia had believed that Intisar could against anyone.

And now the war is over, and she will have to do something else. They all will. Lelia had been a weaver, years and years ago, it seemed.

There is a legend in the east, telling of two wizards, dressed all in blue, who resembled the Easterlings, with all except for their piercing blue eyes. Ages ago, they roused the people against Sauron, which resulted in a rebellion, a rebellion which failed, and caused the dark lord to tighten his grip on the east, killing many, and enslaving thousands more. The blue wizards were never seen again. Perhaps they had been killed or had abandoned the cause. While the people of the east suffered greatly for their attempt to drive the eye from their lands, the word went out in the west that they had slain the blue wizards, out of loyalty to Sauron.

What nonsense. Indeed.

Night comes and goes. If Lelia had looked at the sky, she would see that the stars are in their same places. She did not look outside. She sleeps, and dreams of nothing.

The place the people of the east are lead to for the coronation on the following morning, is far enough away from the new king that they cannot try anything, but close enough they are technically in a reserved place. The ceremony changes into elvish, a tongue that those in the east would never suffer to learn- Westron was enough- and Lelia’s attention wanders. Her gaze turns east, not to Mordor, but past it, to a land of dust, plains, deserts, and the beautiful turquoise sea of Rhûn and beyond that, lands stretching off further east, too unimportant to be included on these peoples’ maps, but beautiful places nonetheless even if they were not inked by the cartographers of the west.

When this is over, she and Intisar and the rest of them will return home to rebuild- grain will grow better there now that the evil has left- and maybe there can finally be peace, if the west will leave them too it.