[Airerûthiel]

Laitalathion listened at hearing news of Gondor, the land his heart sighed for. With every day that the dark armies of Mordor crept closer to that place, his desire to return grew stronger, threatening to choke his other thoughts while they slept in his mind until all he could think of was restoring his family's honour.

'If Minas Tirith falls, the line of Kings will truly fail,' he thought, 'and my father's memory would die both true and false. He was a traitor to the Stewards, true enough - Maikadurion inherited his outspokenness and quick temper, but I received my mother's temperament - but he never compromised his belief that one day, Isildur's true heir would return to his throne in the white city. And to that I hold, until the day I die.'

The half-Elf turned to Derakis. "Forgive my directness in this matter, but you are a Man of Rohan. Do you know of a half-Elf who looks not unlike me, who walks that land dressed in the simple garments of a Ranger?"

"Why do you wish to know this, Laitalathion?" asked Derakis, not trusting the Gondorian entirely. "I can give you precious little information about the land of the horse-lords, as it has been long since I walked in that country."

"The half-Elf of which I speak is my elder twin brother and the heir of the house of Théomer of Gondor," replied Laitalathion. "My homeland is in great danger, as will be your own if the white tower should fall, and whilst my father was a traitor to the Stewards of that land, he was nonetheless faithful until the end that one day the true King would reclaim his throne.

"I last saw Maikadurion when I rode back west to the Shire five years ago, and he and Airerûthiel are the only family I have left. The three of us could save our families' legacies and aid in the cause in the south, but unless I know where I might find my brother the chance of the two greatest Gondorian houses being able to aid in the defeat of the Dark Lord will be gone."