Laustairë, Scion of the House of Lord Círdan of Mithlond, Daughter of Tiriámrun, Dol Galenehtar, Ithilien

To Kalamiril Daughter of Menelúin of Mithlond, Beloved Friend, Counselor and Confidant,

O Kalamiril I am so despondent, so sunk in the depths of misery, I can barely put pen to parchment I am so unhappy, so desperately miserable, for I have just discovered my betrothed is not the man I thought him to be!  O what desolation is mine, what gloom and despair!  Never did I think to bear such suffering and misfortune!  That life should be so inequitable, that I should be visited by such excessive and unwarranted dissent!  And I am alone, so unutterably alone, O Kalamiril, even Nardanë has abandoned me, and I lie wretched and forsaken in my rooms, weeping so that the very river beneath me seems but a paltry trickle!  Better it were that I had died as an infant than to be thrust into such sorrow and distress!  And how my heart breaks within me – what an awful thing it is to have one's heart to break – never did I think to see my betrothed, my beautiful prince, so unreasonably wroth; how cold he is, and how unfeeling!  Now I am certain he never did love me – I have had this from his very lips – I am to be his wife solely as a slave, a common servant in the household upon whom he will heap dreadful labor and arduous drudgery and toil!  O Kalamiril how shall I ever bear this, for so my heart burns within me, so lost am I in chagrin and anger and sorrow and distress!  Whatever shall I do, O my friend and champion?  O but come to me quickly and deliver me from this!  I have sent a letter unto my Lord begging, imploring, pleading him to release me from this bondage, this horrible slavery, yet I have heard nothing yet – to be sure it has been but one day – but I am so far away from everyone – O what have I done to deserve this!  All I have ever wanted was to love and receive love in return, yea, even pity would have done fair well; all I have ever aspired to was to create for my beloved a kingdom full of laughter and song, light and music, gaiety and celebration, yet all my plans have been thrust aside and I see before me naught but a life of drudgery and privation!  My dreams have been dashed, Kalamiril, my soul crushed beneath this weight and I can scarce bear the load!  And he is so unsympathetic, so cruel and harsh, Kalamiril; how could I have thought his fair countenance housed within it a soul equal to his beauty?  O but he is cold, cold and severe; he has been poisoned by the ladies of the court against me, who have ever resented and hated me; they have all conspired against me, bringing before him charges of neglect and indolence against which I cannot argue for I am not quick or clever of tongue, only do I strive to bring before my betrothed a vista of brightness and pleasure and hope and it has been thrown back in my face, Kalamiril, thrown like a clod of dirt, besmirching my countenance in his eyes and dragging me into the very depths of despondency!  How they hate me and how they attempt to make him hate me too, I who have only desired to make for him a home of light and happiness!  O I am crushed beneath their uncaring feet, these cruel and vainglorious and envious maids, Dúrfinwen and Hirilcúllas and Andunië and worst of the lot Seimiel!  I begrudge them not their desire of my betrothed for he is lovely, lovely yet cold and severe and insensitive; it would serve them well to be so bound to him as I am, that their hearts would break as well!  O but I shall prevail, Kalamiril; I shall prove to them I am no vain trinket, no mere child to be so treated; I shall demonstrate also to my cruel betrothed that I can withstand this, endure his cold temper and bear up beneath his crushing disdain; I shall clothe myself also in ice and obduracy, showing to the world an indifferent and uncaring face, that all will know his brutality I scorn, their condescension spurn, their contempt I disparage.  That they should treat me so, who only wished to clothe this kingdom in wealth and happiness and joy!  And Nardanë has so turned from me, so betrayed me that I am all the more despondent, I have no one here, Kalamiril, I am alone, utterly alone.  O that they shall rue the day they have treated me so!  I am a scion of the house of Círdan and shall not be treated in this fashion and well they shall know it!

Laustairë

P.S.  It is a good thing you sent to me my trousseau, for now I shall have no need to go unto the dressmakers of Osgiliath or Minas Tirith.  Worse even than these denizens here are the mortals of the surrounding areas who poison my betrothed's mind against me.  But soon he shall look upon me and lament the day he hurt me so, for now my heart is of iron and he must woo me in earnest lest I spurn him wholly!

L.