7. The Dark Lord
Prompt: Belegost - overcoming prejudice
From the first, Anardil had disapproved. Having lost both Chieftain and Heir, they'd no need of trials, he told Malveleg.
Malveleg, who'd been, since his brother's death, a harried man, snapped: "I know!"
"Then stop her!"
"I am stopping her. My niece is yours, Blademaster. Do your duty and save us all!"
~0~
He'd tried – truly. But Arleth hadn't been idle since girlhood lessons. Bow and long dagger she used already. What was swordplay to her?
"More Rangers, hopefully," she answered.
"One, anyway," Anardil sighed. "How shall we call her?"
"'Him.'" She smiled crookedly. "You'll call him 'Aravorn.'"
Author's notes: Aravorn is one of the Chieftains of the Northern Dúnedain in Appendix A. That, and the debate over his name's meaning, is all we have about him.
One of the proposed meanings of Aravorn, however, is "Aran + morn"= "Dark King." I've always been partial to the idea that darkness here refers to disguise. So then the question is: What's he hiding?
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