Downfall

Wading through Some Strategies for the Royal Game, Éomer's attention wanders. His eye falls on a slim, pale blue volume on a nearby chair. Idly, he ripples the pages—

And is immersed in the horror of the Downfall – the treacheries and burnings, the sorrows and sacrifices, the fury of Creation, and the vast green wave bringing darkness inescapable—

Surfacing, he finds he understands better the strange and enduring melancholy that comes from the many long years of exile of his allies, the Men of Mundburg.

—And the Steward, who knows well the absorption of reading, withdraws softly, closing the door.