It was two months after my son's birth that I was called away from my home into the city of Gondor.  Aragorn had recently received threats against his kingdom from an unfriendly territory in the south.  It was a rather petty matter that the southern territory was upset over, but the threat to Gondor was still very real.  I had been summoned to offer my advice in a few matters, for Aragorn too had a new son to love, whom he and Arwen had named Eldarion.

I remember well that day, the crisp cool air of the fall, a cloudless blue sky above.  I headed out early to meet Aragorn at his palace, riding on Firebrand, son of Arod.  He was a roan colored stallion and my favorite since his father Arod had passed away.   I arrived at Aragorn's palace not long before the noon hour.  I found Aragorn sitting with Gimli, Faramir, and a another whom I did not know.  They were all in the room that Aragorn often used as an informal meeting room.  The Lady Arwen was no where to be seen, for she had her time filled caring for Eldarion.

For many hours we sat in quiet discussion and debate, striving to resolve the conflict between the two kingdoms.  At last, we were able to find a compromise, though it took us until late into the afternoon and the sun had dropped low on the horizon.  We supped together that night, fixing a few of the small details of a secondary plan which would reopen long abandoned trade relations between the kingdoms.  Aragorn graciously offered us all lodging for the night, which only Gimli and myself accepted, for the man from the south had need of haste, as he was to report back to his ailing father, the lord of the southern kingdom.  As for Faramir, he was to visit another friend within the city of Gondor and it was there that he would be staying.

We spent a pleasant night together, Aragorn, Gimli, and myself, staying awake and talking well into the night.  For though we all now lived within the borders of Gondor, each of us had been quite busy with our own affairs, and it had been since my own son Aragorn's birth that we had last seen one another.

The following day dawned much the same as the previous one, though now puffy white clouds dotted that overhead sea of blue.  It was, perhaps, a little cooler than it had been the day before, but it was still perfect weather for taking a leisurely ride back to my own estate.  I bade farewell to my friends after we had eaten lunch.  Now and again I would let Firebrand race, giving him free reins, for his name was no accident and he could outrun many of Rohan's finest horses.  Finally, as the sun began to set in the west, a fire was put into my heart and I longed to be with my family, my loving wife and the children I loved more than life itself.  I gave Firebrand free reins once more, and he bore me away to my home, quick as the wind.

Little did I know how my world was about to be broken.

Firebrand slowed as we entered the main gate of my estate.  I dismounted and let the horse wander freely, for I could sense that something was very wrong.  Now I saw the front door hanging from one hinge; the shining white wood broken and splintered.  Cautiously, I pushed the door fully open.  The hinges moaned in protest, low and ominously, and then the door completed its' journey to meet the earth.  I paid no heed and walked inside.

Large west facing windows allowed the golden sunlight of the late afternoon flood into the rooms, illuminating the chaos that was once the home I had loved.  There was nothing in that main room.  No sound was to be heard, save for the wind rifling through a few documents I had been working on only a few days prior.  For they were no longer stacked neatly on the corner table where I had left them; now they were scattered over the floors and furniture.

"Elen?" I called out, but there was no returning answer.  "Elen?"

I picked my way through the scattered objects littering the floor, moving from room to room.  There was nothing to be seen and a fear grew in my heart.  Then I came to my children's play room.  The first thing that I noticed was blood, a stark contrast of harsh red against the subdued white of the walls and blonde wood of the floor.  The blood was everywhere and in the corner, I could see the remains of my family.  I went numb and it was at least ten minutes before I felt myself moving, some unconscious effort that forced my legs to close the distance between us.  All three were dead, murdered where they had once stood.

I sank to my knees and pleaded to the Valar that they could not be dead, that they could not have been taken away from me.  I hugged the torn bodies to me while I cried.  It was the first time that I had cried since my mother had parted for Valinor when I was but twelve years of age.

No parent should ever have to bury their child.

The phrase that I had heard so often in the great war kept coming back to ring inside my head.  For so many had seen their children die, and now, now it was my turn to bury my children – and my wife.  Or, at least, I knew that I should.  But part of me could not do it.

I do not know still unto this very day what it was that kept my from burying them.  I do not know whether it was the shock, or my broken emotions, or whether there was some other force that told me not to bury them.  And so I did not.  I merely stayed with them for a while, cursing the fate that had caused me such pain, cursing those unknown individuals that had murdered my family, and cursing myself for not have being there to protect them.

I just stayed, rooted to the spot, talking to them with unchecked tears streaming from my eyes.

After a while, I once again looked down at their wounds.  Daggers, it seemed, had been the weapon of the assailants, judging from the slashes and precision wounds my family bore.  The blood covering them was dry, indicating that it had most likely been at least a day since they had died.  Each of them had had their throats slashed, after multiple stabbings had been dealt to subdue them.

That was all I could force myself to discover about my family's fate before my brain cried out to me to get out of the house.  I could no longer stay there.  I needed to get away, though I knew not where I would go.  I left my home that night, taking only what I had on me and I mounted Firebrand, blindly let him carry me away from that place.  For home it no longer was that I left behind, only the shell of a building that now housed horror instead of joy.