Apologies

My Dearest Kendrah,

Please accept my humblest apologies for the tardiness of my reply to your last letter. I can only plead ill health and the demands of working in live theater, and hope you can forgive me. I believe my visit to the doctor was helpful and his suggestion to "throw antibiotics" at the stubborn sinus and ear infections seems to have worked. Unfortunately, just as I was regaining my strength, I was hit with a 24 hour stomach virus which I shall not discuss here in detail, but will say that I have never been so grateful for indoor plumbing.

In response to your other question, I believe the king is making progress toward his eventual proposal. He's been quite nervous recently and engaging in some rather suspicious behavior. For example, the other night, he asked me to help him sort through a small casket of heirloom jewelry, and kept asking my opinion of the various rings we came across. Do I prefer gold or silver or mithril, emerald or adamant, etc. Even more suspiciously, he kept asking me to try them on. He claims it was just a test to determine if any were "magic" or perhaps held some sort curse that I, reality born and bred, would have a better chance of resisting than a Numenorian, but I think there was more to it than that.

He also mentioned that it might be nice if I joined him for the the New Year's Eve vigil at the White Tree, just the two of us. Well, just the two of us, assorted members of the King's High Council and the obligatory Honor Guard. I suspect, with the cutbacks in the New Year festivities this year, he might be planning to announce a royal engagement on New Year's Day to give the folk a little boost.

We are still planning quite a few events for the holiday aside from the vigil including the 2nd Annual Pellenor Fields Memorial Picnic and a formal feast. Mithtrandir has promised another fireworks display and I am looking forward to that! I do hope you and Leggs will be attending. I honestly have not yet had a chance to review the RSVPs. Eowyn has been making herself quite useful attending to paperwork during my extended absence from Minis Tirith. I only hope this isn't some passive-aggressive attempt to make Aragorn think he can get by without me.

Well, I must be off! I will see you this weekend at the concert. I will keep you updated on the king's latest ring issue.

Your Affectionate Friend,
Corwynne