In that same year, a strapping lad was born. Now, I am a kind elf, and I will admit that 'strapping' is a euphemism - yes - that it is, for you see, Ram en' Ondo was, quite simply, the largest baby any of us in Llan Galadh had ever seen. His mother had a turn when he was finally laid against her breast, her face frozen in confusion, for how could she have produced such a massive child? I cannot say I disagreed but I am nothing if not discreet. His father fussed and tutted and then would leave on long walks. I think he was worried that his son was deformed for his features were not fine and lovely but thick, strong and meaty.

What were the Valar thinking, I wonder? For his mother was not large at all, and neither was his father. Both parents were of, shall we say normal proportions and yet this lad....

We knew then, the kind of childhood he would have, for children are cruel in their learning, whatever their race. It is a necessary evil, I think, in order to become kind and empathic but that is just me. I wonder, though, what Idhrenohtar would say - he would have some such line that would fit the circumstance perfectly.

And yet none of us had foreseen the strong friendship that would bind the boy to Idhrenohtar and so, when the inevitable began, the mocking and the bullying, it was only ever verbal, for all it took was for Ram en' Ondo to take one step in their direction, and the boys would squeal like hunted boar and dart into the forest lest the lumbering giant of a child catch them and crush their heads like dried pumpkins!

And then Idhreno was always at his side with a wise word and a comforting hand, and the gentle giant would smile down at his friend - nay his brother. He would say nothing, but Idhrenohtar read it all behind his kind, blue eyes. 'Thank you', he would say, 'I will protect you', he would promise.

And to this day he does, for to say one word out of line to Idhrenohtar or Hwindohtar, is to gamble your very life. There is a glitter in his eye and a pinch to his jaw that brings fear so great - I was once told by the village butcher, that his own son was rump-faced enough to call the child a troll, and not just any troll but a muck troll. Of course the wantwit was in the company of some of the more daring children, so caught up in his childish games of dominance he had not realised the strange smile that had come across Ram en' Ondo's face.

Wantwit indeed, for suffice it to say that when the child returned home, he wreaked of detritus, elvish detritus!!! I laugh now, but the child was truly in a state of shock and yet there were no marks on his face, no black eye or cut lip. It was simply the whites of his eyes and the stench of his breeches. I later learned that all it had taken was for the the child giant to step up to him and look down on him for a tad too long, before releasing one, simple, 'boooo'. It was enough to loosen the fool's sphincter, bowls and all. The embarrassment lasts even unto this day although now, at least, the fool laughs albeit with a face akin to a sun-dried tomato. 'Ram en' Ondo of The Company once made a fool of me!!' He says - indeed it is his own claim to fame for he recounts the story with gusto, for in spite of the embarrassment, he is proud to have known this venerable villager, to have pood his pants, as he says, at the hands of a member of The Company.

I cannot say I understand such pride, for had it been I, I would surely have removed myself from Llan Galadh, and from any who had had the misfortune to witness such embarrassing events. It is a testimony, perhaps, to how well-respected, how revered these warrior children are.

Ram en' Ondo - Wall of Stone. Master axe-man, aspiring swords master, self-proclaimed protector of Idhrenohtar and Hwindohtar, child of my heart for reasons I cannot fully understand.

He has a special place in my foolish heart, for he would oftentimes come and sit with me, listen to my stories. *Nanern!! he would call me, Nanern!!! tell me a story, a story!! Strange now, that I should tell his story, the story of his valour, for when I think now, that he fights the darkness in the South, when I think of the things he has seen and done I cannot conciliate the child and the warrior and yet they are one and the same.

But come now, tell me. Can you see the smile on his face? The promise of retribution should you cross him? Can you see the goodness in his heart? The love in his eyes?

He was not deformed, only large - overly large I will admit, as large as the beating heart in his chest, as strong as the love in his heart. Live long, Ram en' Ondo, Wall of Stone, may the Valar keep you safe my strapping lad!