Maturity

Merry has told me of the halflings' coming of age celebrations; there are no such rituals among my people. The Eorlingas consider a man full grown as soon as he can break a colt or do a long day's work in the fields.

I believed that I had come of age when I was first given command of an éored, the responsibility for a hundred other men. I never thought to be King, nor wished it, and now I must answer for every soul in the Mark, from the new-born babe to the oldest greybeard. It is a harsh lesson.