Cold Comfort

He was Sun-scion to my Moon-friend. 'Tis in Anárion's honor that I plant the sapling of Nimloth, rescued from Minas Ithil, here in Minas Anor.

People thought us different -- day and night -- yet we sprang from the same root and shared much: Gondor's reign, pride in our sons.

Gondor's new king is young by our reckoning -- though older than we when first we sat our thrones side-by-side in Osgiliath's splendor. I find him reserved, and wary of my counsel.

Tonight, I remember my brother and contemplate his Tree, its fountain twinkling under Ithil's last smile.

Tomorrow, I depart for Rivendell.

***

In Minas Ithil was the house of Isildur, and in Minas Anor the house of Anárion, but they shared the realm between them and their thrones were set side by side in the Great Hall of Osgiliath.

The Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age

'All know in Gondor that [Isildur, after the Last Alliance] went first to Minas Anor and dwelt a while with his nephew Meneldil, instructing him, before he committed to him the rule of the South Kingdom. In that time he planted there the last sapling of the White Tree in memory of his brother.'

The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 2, Ch 2, The Council of Elrond

Meneldil was the nephew of Isildur, son of Isildur's younger brother Anárion, slain in the siege of Barad-dûr. Isildur had established Meneldil as King of Gondor. He was a man of courtesy, but farseeing, and he did not reveal his thoughts. He was in fact well-pleased by the departure of Isildur and his sons, and hoped that affairs in the North would keep them long occupied. [Author's note.]

Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 1, The Disaster of the Gladden Fields: Notes, Note 10

[Year 2, Third Age:]
Isildur plants a seedling of the White Tree in Minas Anor. He delivers the South-kingdom to Meneldil. Disaster of the Gladden Fields; Isildur and his three elder sons are slain.

The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix B, The Tale of Years: The Third Age