The Code of the Corsairs
(A birthday gift for Marta, who asked for something about how the Corsairs would view the people of Dol Amroth.)

They are owned by what they own: elaborate houses; overdecorated women; useless possessions.

We are not so burdened: keeping what jewels as we can wear, what weapons we can bear; calling naught our own but our charmed lives. The pleasures of our flesh: tingling saltspray; the scent and taste of a joyful lover; the music of the night sky.

Fighting not for plunder, but testing ourselves against fair foes, besting them with wit and skill and seafarer’s luck. When our luck runs out, we will die; but we will die knowing that we had lived. Can they say the same?