[Kalimac]

Diamond - love the Faramir one [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]. I don't think I appreciated Faramir too much when I first read the book, but now that I'm grown up he's definitely in the first rank of favorites. (A guy who's sensitive, intelligent, understanding, handsome AND employed! It's too much! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]).

Time to give some of the minor characters their due:

Ghan-buri-Ghan: "Hello. This Ghan-buri-Ghan. I not sure how use thing here, I plain wild man, only hunt, kill Orc-folk. Not understand this magic. If magic work, leave message at noise! Then kill Orc-folk! This Ghan-buri-Ghan."

Ioreth: "Hello, you've reached Ioreth, herb mistress and keeper of the medicines for Pavilions A, B and E of the Government Houses of Healing. I'm not available right now, in fact I've just been run off my feet with all the excitement going on here, there have been so many brought in for healing that I've hardly even gotten a chance to be in my office for night on two weeks now, especially after those strange men came in the other night. Would you believe it, one of them was a Wizard - Mithrandir himself, though he was so polite you'd have thought he wasn't anybody, and a strange man who looked so grim that I was terrified, but he had the hands of a healer if ever I saw them. All the girls laughed at me because I told them about the healing hands and kingsfoil; well, they're not laughing this morning, I can tell you that. Last night the strange man and Mithrandir asked for kingsfoil, of all things - of course I didn't have it, but I knew where to get it if only there'd been time. And I remembered what they used to say about the King being able to heal with that herb - do you know, I'm sure the stranger is the King returned, and I'm sure I told the girls so! Nobody took it seriously of course, but I did. And Mithrandir said to me, "Ioreth, men will long remember your words," and I just -"

[BEEEEEEP].

Wormtongue: "Hello, this is Wormtongue's voicemail. I'm afraid I'm busy right now - in fact, why do you think I'd rather be taking your call than dancing attendance on His Most Worshipful Highness King Theoden? Shame on you for even thinking it. Leave me a message and I'll return it at His Highness's convenience. If this is, uh, someone I'm sending deliveries to, I sent the last - shipment - two days ago by Post Haste express, you should be receiving it by Thursday. I hope the - materials - are satisfactory. If this is a certain King's niece - I just want to say that I'm as devoted to your welfare as I am to his. Please do leave a message, and we'll talk some more later."