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Hama shook his head mournfully, "No...she did not. Freya was killed with my children. I am the last of my family, and in that I have failed my father...all this...this ceremony and decoration...it counts for nothing if you are empty on the inside. Haleth did me proud though...when I found him, he had a bloody sword in his hand, and two raiders dead around him. He would have made a fine soldier...at it is some corfort to know that I did not raise a coward. He will be dining with the warriors of Rohan in the halls of paradise, and he would not be unworthy..."
"So often it is the common man who has the happier life. Riches, rank...even joy have no meaning unless you have someone to share it with. I hunted them down...I hunted down the raiders who killed my family and I killed them just as mercilessly...and yet I still felt empty. There was every chance that I had robbed fifteen wives and perhaps more children of their husbands and fathers...and still I felt no guilt...no sorrow, no emotion. I am a General of Rohan...and a General cannot allow himself to feel guilt for anything, for the second he does so he loses all power over his men and himself...and yet I wanted to pity the men that I had slain. But there was no revenge in killing them, revenge would have been to find another love...to sire children again. But for what? To have them killed in another raid some years hence?"
Hama choked on a lump in his throat, and took another deep gulp of ale to dislodge it somewhat, resting his head in one of his hands...
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