Disclaimer: I do not in any way shape or form own the rights to the characters, locations, cultures described in either A Song of Ice and Fire, or those within any Tolkien's works; including but not limited to: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarrillion

Robert sat upon the Iron Throne, seeing hordes of people with requests of their king. He had already done this for several hours today, and he was tired of it. He turned to his Hand, "Jon, I have to go rest for a while, you take over for now."

When he got to his room, he laid down and rubbed his head, he had sought to overthrow the Mad King to restore the realm and improve the livelihood of its people, but all he had accomplished after overthrowing the Targaryens was to put down the Greyjoy rebellion, and Ned had done most of that. Robert knew he wasn't fit to be a ruler, and that's why he depended so much on his Hand. Jon was a just person, and would rule while Robert enjoyed himself. Robert closed his eyes and rested a little.

There was a knock at the door, Lancel poked his head into the room, "My lord, Jon Arryn requests that you meet him in the throne room."

Robert groaned and stood up, he must have fallen asleep.

He walked to the throne room, wondering why Jon would need him.

When he arrived, he saw that Arryn was not alone. There was another man; dark, over six and a half feet tall, with shaggy dark hair, grey eyes, and a pale stern face. He wore a dark green hooded cloak, although he kept his hood down.

Jon introduced the man, "Your Grace, this is Thorongil, from Arda, a land across the sea, south of Dorne."

Robert was shocked, as far as he knew there was nothing but sea south of Dorne. "I wasn't aware that there were any lands past the sea south of Dorne."

Thorongil laughed, "Just as I was unaware that there was anything north of Arda."

Robert asked, "How then, did you end up within my realm?"

Thorongil became solemn, "I was traveling with a group of kin by sea, but we were beset by a storm. In truth, I had no idea in which direction we went until the storm cleared and we arrived at your land of Dorne. By studying the stars consulting with the maester, we concluded that we had traveled far north."

Jon interjected, "Why did you come here instead of heading back to your homeland?"

"At first just because we lacked food for the journey back, but then we realized that we could use allies for the war in our homeland."

"A war? Why do you assume that we would be willing to risk out men's lives for your people?"

Thorongil looked confused, "Because if our people fail, then nothing will stop the Enemy from invading your lands."

"If you yourself admitted to not knowing that our lands existed, how would your 'Enemy' know of us? Who, even, is your enemy?"

Thorongil sighed, "To answer your question I must tell you some of my people's history. Over three thousand years ago, Sauron, the Enemy, waged war upon all of Middle-Earth, or Arda as I have called it before. He conquered nearly all of it, but was stopped by the Men of Numenor, my ancestors. They took him prisoner, and over the long years of his imprisonment he managed to corrupt the King and convince him to wage war upon the Valar."

Robert interjected, "Who are the Valar?"

Thorongil replied, "The Valar are the most powerful servants of Eru Iluvatar, the one. Together with the Maia, they created the World That Is, Arda. Melkor was the most powerful of the Ainur, the Valar and the Maia, and he turned to evil, corrupting many Maia, including Sauron. To continue my story, the Men of Numenor were then divided into two factions, the largest being the King's Men, and the smaller being the Faithful who remained loyal to the Valar. The King's Men set sail to Valinor, home of the Valar, and home to many Elves and Maia. When they reached the Blessed Realm, they were imprisoned within stone, and Iluvatar cast down the island of Numenor, slaying all the remained upon it, including Sauron."

This time Jon interrupted, "I thought you were fighting Sauron today, and what are these Elves?"

Thorongil replied, "The Elves are the Firstborn, the race that came before Dwarves and Men. The Elves can live indefinitely, as long as they are not slain in battle, they are superior to Men, in that they are faster, stronger, and have better senses than most Men, the exception being the royal family of Numenor, who are descended also from Elves and Maia. Sauron cannot be truly defeated as he is a Maia, and will return to fight again, but now he is weak enough that if he is destroyed once more, he will not return to haunt Arda again. Continuing the story, The Faithful, under the leadership of Elendil, descended from the Kings of Numenor, had begun to settle colonies within Middle-Earth. The greatest of these kingdoms was Arnor, from which Elendil ruled as the High-King, Gondor was the other Kingdom, from there ruled his sons. When Sauron rose once more, Elves and Men formed the Last Alliance, which, after five years defeated his forces, but took another eleven years for the siege of Barad-Dur, the Enemy's fortress, to overthrow Sauron. After this war, the Elves fled across the sea to return to Blessed Realm, and Arnor began to fade until only the Dunedain were left. Five hundred years ago Sauron returned once more and has waged perpetual war against the few Elves that remain, Dwarves, and Men. The strength of our three races is so far diminished, that we can only repel the attacks of the Enemy. We need your help to destroy the Enemy once and for all."

Robert was shocked, this was a lot to take in, Elves, Dwarves, enemies that could not be slain, a new religion, "Why would he attack us?"

Thorongil simply replied, "His goal is to dominate all life, either you fight him or pay him tribute."

"I will have to consult my advisers about this. For now though, where are your men, and where are you staying?"

Thorongil shrugged, "We were resting in the woods, as we often do in our homelands."

"I will arrange for you to stay in one of our inns."

"That would be much appreciated."

"Come back in tomorrow, and I shall tell you of our decision."

Thorongil bowed, "Thank you," with that he left.

Robert turned to Jon, "I want to help him, if he is telling the truth, then we will need to stop this Sauron before he attacks us."

Jon agreed, "And if he lies and it's a trap of some sort, our army will be at his doorstep."

"Aye, unless if its a plot to rid us of our army."

Ser Barristan, one of the Kingsguard, offered some advice, "Your Grace, let us send a small envoy then, we will be able to see how much men wemust send or see if there's a darker plot behind this."

Robert sighed, "Very well, Jon you propose this plan to the small council, and tell Varys to send his 'little birds' to follow our new guests. I want to learn as much as I can about them."

Jon walked away, and Robert was left with just the company of his Kingsguard, or rather most of them, Jaime Lannister had gone to walk around King's Landing, inspecting the defenses in case of war. So he was left with Ser Barristan the Bold, the Lord Commander Kingsguard, the other five of the Kingsguard.

Robert realized with a jolt how imbalanced his Kingsguard was: Barristan and Jaime were arguably some of the most proficient knights in the realm.

However, Ser Arys Oakheart and Ser Mandon Moore, and the rest were simply skilled knights. Joffery's personal guard, Sandor Clegane, the Hound, was a better fighter than either of them. Sandor's brother, Gregor, known as the Mountain, was eight feet of muscle, and almost without a doubt the strongest man in all of Westeros, although Robert would not want him for a Kingsguard member, the man was vicious and overly violent. Ser Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper, was a deadly warrior, and Loras Tyrell, was one of the realm's youngest and most skilled knights.

If a war would come against an enemy that could not be slain, Robert would need the realm's finest men to guard him. He could not get rid of the current Kingsguard members, but he would find a way to get some of these knights to work directly for him. But how to decide who the best knights are...a tourney.