From the high parapet, Legolas inspected the distant forests of Ithilien half hidden in the afternoon haze over Anduin. He would go home - no, north was home no longer – to recruit elves to settle in Ithilien. There was much to plan.

The thought stopped him. Content to observe his father manage a kingdom, and with no expectation such tasks would fall to him, he had planned only war.

Ithilien was fair. It would be fairer still, and, though he had not expected it, he found the thought of lordship there intriguing enough to mute the cry of the gulls.