Haleth tilted her chin at the Elf lord, who gazed at her people with pitying eyes as he noted the numbers of their slain and maimed and the destruction of their homesteads; she wanted no man’s pity, be he Elf or Man, and her spine stiffened when his gaze came to rest on her: She was bloodied and bruised, more wounds than a person, surely a pitiful sight to one of the Eldar, but she would bear herself with pride—yet instead of pity, she thought she read something else in his gaze, something that made her look him evenly in the eyes and straighten her shoulders, something that made her sense that he saw her as an equal.

Protection and friendship Lord Caranthir offered to her and her people, but she did not want such things—she wanted her own lands, free of vassalage; her family around her again; her people numerous and prosperous; her arms to not always feel so empty.

But he did not offer that, though his eyes shone with growing respect and awe as he watched her, his glance appraising; he could not offer that, for Men and Elves did not join; his pity for her people only could he extend, and for that she refused his offer and turned away: She was the chieftain of her people, and she would not accept recompense from one whose offers of aid had come too late and stung of pity, however much her loneliness called out for the admiration she had seen in his gaze.