Out of Touch

My Dearest Kendrah,

I can't believe it's been so long since I've written! These past two weeks have been so busy with Pre-College, I've barely had time to visit the White City and the work there is piling up. My In-tray is over-flowing with unread scrolls, the city's road repair project has gone horribly over-budget and I caught Eowyn trying on some of my heirloom jewelry! I think she thinks she can make a move on the King while I'm busy comforting 140 homesick 16 year-olds! She'd better behave herself...Faramir's family doesn't have a reputation for acting in a reasonable manner when confronted with emotional upset!

Speaking of emotional upset, my real-world supervisor is making the staff take all sorts of "learning and development" classes this summer. I just finished one that was supposed to help me determine my leadership style. It seems I'm an introvert who doesn't like to work on teams unless a) I choose the team b) I tell the team what to do c) they go away and do it and d) bring me back results. Perhaps this is why Lord Elrond and I get along so well...birds of a feather and all that.

Anyway, the next class is called "Assessing Your Emotional Intelligence." I had to go online and fill out one of those ridiculous "assessment tools" where you have to respond to there statements with multiple choice answers like "Never true of me, sometimes true of me or always true of me." You're supposed to take the test in a quiet place where you won't be interrupted, but since it was one of the few days I had time to spend with Aragorn, he was hanging around while I was filling it out, reading over my shoulder.

“So what does ‘emotional intelligence’ mean?” he asked. I started to explain a bit about how it’s the way we react to certain situations blah, blah, blah. He looked at be in disbelief for a moment, then said “That’s easy! “Just suck it up! The Shadow cannot conquer forever!” “OK,” I say, “I agree, but the boss wants us to go to the class, and until I’m queen and can quit my day job, I need to pretend to be interested in her opinions!” He looked suitably abashed and I moved on with my assessment.

Now, I’m not sure how much these people KNOW, but I began to get suspicious when some of the questions read: “I see things other people don’t” Aragorn chortled. “Like Elves and Hobbits you mean!” I ignored him and moved on. “Other people think I’m strange.” Aragorn can hardly contain himself! “No one thinks you’re strange dear! Well, Celeborn looks at you funny sometimes, and Eowyn is freaked out by your mediocre riding skills and Imrahil thinks...” That’s enough!” I cut him off. “I have to finish this.” Next question: “I find it difficult to focus on reality because I’m so involved in my fantasy world.”

That was it. Aragorn was on the floor laughing uncontrollably, tears running down his face as he giggled! I finished the rest of the test as quickly as possible after that while he tried to regain his composure. When he finally calmed down, he brought me a beer, kissed me on the forehead and whispered sweetly, “Don’t worry dear, you fine. You’re perfectly fine.”

Enough for now. I need to get home and do some laundry. I’m glad your classes are going well. Let’s hope you can prevent Leggs from causing any permanent damage to your professors at least until after the finals!

I’ll talk to you soon and promise to be more diligent in my letter writing.

Your Affectionate Friend,
Corwynne