Danel

All the day long doing work, writing over list after list by my own hand, because when Sorontar finished it, by mistake I laid hold of the inkpot and not the sandbox, and almost blotted out the accounts. This put Sorontar into a hurried sort of fit, and I grew worried for his sake, so I said I would copy it again for him.

This day a Council meeting was held to hear an account of the actions of Estarfin, formerly Sergeant-at-Arms of the Order of the Hammer, so that we could hear what was done, and why it was done, and give our recommendations to Lord Anglachelm.

Arriving at his chambers, Parnard found Estarfin sitting in his usual place, a deep arm-chair, staring at the fire. The room was fitted up in a style of elegant splendour, containing many fine pictures and a gilt bird cage, empty of any occupant. Parnard had come home one day to find his twittering songbird dead, and he had not the heart to get another, nor could he bring himself to remove the golden cage.

The crystal phial flashed brilliantly as it caught the rays of the mid-day sun streaming through the open window. He rolled the half-empty container between the fingers and thumb of his right hand, his left sitting motionless in his lap. The dull amber liquid within the glass tube flowed lazily as he moved it, the contents seeming to match his mood as he sat near to the open window. The fresh winds of the Valley pushed the lank hair from his face and carried with it the sweet scents of honeysuckle and jasmine, yet it stirred nothing in him.

((Companion piece to Danel's Innocent by Default? - ICly, this was written after Norliriel met Ráolor (obviously), yet before her Oathtaking.))

Like all entries in Norliriel's diary, this is written in graceful yet accurate tengwar, not a tehta out of place.