[mark12_30]

Mellondu shook his head. "No. No, I do not see that I am duty-bound to this, Erebemlin. I do not." He turned to his father. "Dreams are dreams. I gave them more weight than I should have. I am home; I should not have left you. I am sorry; sorry for the grief I caused you, and the worry, and the pain. I am not leaving you again. I am not abandoning my duty to you again. To my parents," he said, turning back to Erebemlin. "I lost sight of what matters most. I was a fool."

Erebemlin's eyes blazed. "You did not always think so."

"I have changed." Mellondu glared at the elf. "And you have no claim on me. I am not your king. I never was. I'm a blacksmith, too long away from my forge-- and my family."

Erebemlin's eyes softened, and he seemed to falter. "No claim?" he said quietly. "Perhaps you are right. At least, no claim that is truly important. Perhaps you speak the truth."

Mellondu nodded. But Father frowned. "Yet, you do consider that you have a claim, however small," Father said.

Erebemlin spoke slowly. "Small it is, I deem. Were it not for Taitheneb and me, your son would have fallen into madness and not returned. And had we not stayed the will of our king and made him rest, twice your son would have died of a fever. So I may claim his sanity, and twice over, his life. But alas, these are small things, and of little value. I would rather by far a claim on his honor. In sooth I have none. He has made me no promise nor vow, and so he is not beholden to me."

Father turned to Mellondu. "What say you to this?"

Mellondu caught his breath; the elf had trapped him and he knew it. No one in Gondor would consider that claim small-- Mellondu in debt for his mind and his life, not once but twice? His honor, should he ignore that claim, would be shattered. Yet there was more. He looked at the elf with mixed wonder and ire, for he had forgotten the hours he had dreamed with the elf's large hand on his brow; but he had not forgotten the elf's contempt for his mortality. His anger flared again.

"Til now you wasted no love on me, " Mellondu said. "If I owe you my life, then I shall serve you til you release me; honor demands no less. But if I could choose, I would choose a master who cared for his servant. You love your horse, at least?"

Erebemlin frowned. "I do not understand you, man. I have told you I have no claim on your honor. You have given me no vow."

"Yet you twice saved my life, and honor --" Mellondu clenched his teeth-- "demands that I repay that debt, to your satisfaction. Does it not?"

Erebemlin stood still and expressionless. Did men really hold their life and their sanity more dear than their honor? What honor had the boy shown thus far? Erebemlin thought of throwing the boy's offer back in his face; since the boy had no honor, his life was not worth much nor was his sanity, and if he had had any honor at all he would have served his king without pause. But Erebemlin said nothing.

Father sighed. "Master elf, please be so kind as to let me speak with my son in private. We will return to you."