Now that a likely date for the event had been determined, the rest of the story was easy to find.
"The entire account of the Elves' meetings with King Cirahyer is right here," Frodo told his audience of King and Queen, Gandalf, Faramir, Eowyn, and Merry the following evening. They were in the private sitting room of the royal apartments in the citadel, and Frodo sat with a book from the library open in his lap. "Once he knew where to look, Ullathor put his hands the court records for me in a matter of minutes. It's just as the history book says: two Elves from Rivendell had been sent on an errand to King Thranduil in Mirkwood, or Greenwood, as the forest was called then. Whatever their business was with Thranduil, it isn't recorded--perhaps the Elves didn't talk of it--but while they were there, they learned that some dark presence had taken up residence in the southern end of the Wood. It was Sauron, returned, but no one knew that yet."
"That fact was not to be known for nearly two thousand years," Gandalf confirmed. "Though many became aware of the presence of this dark force as it grew and cast its blight upon the Wood, none suspected it to be Sauron. We guessed that it might be one of the Nazgul or some other servant of the Enemy who had survived its master's downfall."
"Even so, two thousand years seems like an awfully long time to let something so dangerous sit there unchecked," said Merry. "Didn't anyone go and see who it was?"
The wizard scowled at this impertinence. "None dared examine it too closely. Those who drew too near Dol Goldur rarely returned. Would you have gone to investigate under such circumstances, Merry Brandybuck? I ventured into the dungeons of Dol Goldur myself, 170 years ago, at great peril to my own life. I barely escaped, but I confirmed at last the identity of the Necromancer who inhabited the tower. I brought the truth to the attention of the White Council and urged action then. Saruman advised against it, for reasons of his own that I did not comprehend. It was not until one hundred years later, when Saruman learned that Sauron was searching for the Ring, which he meant to find for himself, that he recommended an attack upon Dol Goldur to distract the Enemy from his prize. This was done, and the Enemy was driven out... and into Mordor. That the Ring had already been found, by Bilbo, escaped the notice of all for some time."
"The Elves who came to Gondor had the same idea about assaulting the tower, although they didn't know who lived in it," said Frodo. "Since the danger lay near Gondor's borders, they thought the King of Gondor ought to know about it, so they came to Minas Anor to warn him and ask for his aid. Even though Gondor had just been through a fierce war with Harad, they could still assemble a greater army than all the Elves together if one was needed to do battle. But King Ciryaher didn't heed their warning. He took the advice of his Steward, Lord Aiglemerth- An ancestor of yours?" he asked, looking up from his book at Faramir.
"No," answered Faramir. "The Stewardship was not yet an hereditary office. It wouldn't belong to my family exclusively for another six hundred years."
"Not until Hurin's day," said Frodo, who remembered what Faramir had said about his family name.
"Yes, that's so. Aiglemerth's family has long since died out."
"Anyway, the King was guided by his Steward, and his own desire for revenge against the Men of Harad who had killed his father. According to these court records, they had several go-rounds on the subject over a period of weeks. The Elves want King Ciryaher to send an army to Dol Goldur, although they don't call it by that name. They say that the Elves of Greenwood, Lothlorien, and Rivendell will join forces with the army of Men to confront the dark presence and drive it forth. The King refuses to give them a definite answer about whether or not he'll help. He puts the Elves off by saying he'll 'give the question his consideration,' and that ends the session until the next time the Elves come to the citadel and ask what he's decided to do. But in the notes of his private council, we can see what the King and Lord Aiglemerth truly thought of the matter. Aiglemerth persuaded the King that there was no real danger from the Greenwood, and that the armies of Gondor would be better used against Harad. It seems he wanted revenge for the old King's death as much as Ciryaher did. There's only one voice of dissent in the council, from someone named Aigande. I can't make out who he was, exactly--he isn't given a title in these old council records, like everyone else."
"He was Lord Aiglemerth's son," said Faramir, "and a friend to the King. At the time you speak of, he would have been a youth himself, and perhaps held no official place at court."
"Was he?" asked Frodo, taking more interest now that he understood the relationships. A moment ago, Aigande had only been a name on a page, a somewhat cryptic figure in this ancient drama. "Well, Aigande wanted to go to the Wood. He even offered to lead an army there himself in Ciryaher's name." He wondered why the young Man had opposed his father and given his friend the King contrary advice. "But the King wouldn't let him go. He said that he had need of Aigande beside him. He doesn't want to waste Men in the north when they ought to build their armies to strike in the south, which they did do eventually. It made Ciryaher the most powerful King of Men on Middle-Earth since the fall of Numenor.
"In the end, when pressed for an answer, Ciryaher admitted to the Elves that he had no intention of sending any Men into the Greenwood. There were some hard words over it. When he heard the King's decision, one of the Elves said, 'On your head be it, and the heads of your line hereafter,' which Ciryaher seems to take as a curse or threat. He sent the Elves away that very day... or did he? They were not seen again in Gondor. If my dreams are true, then one was called back that night for one final, secret meeting. He went into the citadel through the secret tunnel and met with someone, not the King. I don't know who. Was he killed then and there? But at last, we have names!" Frodo read from the account of the first meeting: "'The King welcomed Elspar the Far-Seer, who was known to the kings of old as an emissary of Lord Elrond of Imladris'--which is quite true, by the way. I've found his name a dozen times in the court records before this. The other was 'his companion, who was called Dadenmiel'."
When she heard these names, Arwen said, "Yes, I remember them. I well remember Elspar Olorodin. He was indeed in the service of my father."
Frodo recalled that Arwen had used a similar word when speaking of his own sensitivity: olori, which meant 'vision' or 'dream'. She'd also said that some Elves were born with this ability. "What does that name mean, my lady--Olorodin?" he asked. "Is it the same as 'Far-Seer'?"
"That is how the Common Tongue best describes Elspar's talent," she answered. "He could not foresee what was to come, but he saw what was happening at a great distance. It is a gift highly valued, and he became a traveler and messenger because of it." Arwen smiled. "He was often at Imladris when I was a young maiden, but has not been seen there in long years. He was most handsome, and greatly admired. Dadenmiel too was of a surpassing beauty. He was but a youth, born since the end of the Second Age, and a friend of my brothers. He entered the tutelage Elspar and departed with him on an errand to the east not long before I first left Imladris myself to abide in Lothlorien. I have not seen either since, but I've often wondered what became of them."
Aragorn stared at her with sudden curiosity; he knew full well that his wife was more than 2700 years old, but it came as a surprise to him to hear her speak of the beauty of Elven males and realize that she hadn't spent all that time entirely untouched.
As if divining his thoughts, Arwen laughed. "It was long before your birth, Estel. Would you have me lie sleeping within a spell to await your kiss? I gave my heart to none."
"You mean, you knew you were fated to love someone else one day?" asked Eowyn.
"I knew my father would not have me wed so young--I was no more than 800 when they departed--nor one whose birth was not equal to my own. And also, once he met Elspar, I saw that it would have been fruitless for me or any maiden to love Dadenmiel. They were melani." Arwen looked at the group seated around her. "Do you know the word? There is none like it in the Common Tongue. They were beloved of each other, and had no heart to give to women-kind--like you." Her eyes turned to the hobbits. She spoke, as she always did, in a matter-of-fact tone, as if the astonishing things she said were common knowledge. "I did not know, before I saw the four of you periannath paired that this was also the way of other people."
Frodo felt his face grow hot with a blush, not merely because of what Arwen had just said, but because he could see that the others in the room weren't surprised by it, although Faramir and Aragorn appeared a little discomfited.
Merry answered, "It's isn't very common amongst our people, my lady. Hobbits don't have any words for it either--not nice ones, anyway."
"If one of these Elves was the one murdered here," said Gandalf, "would the other have left the city without him?"
"What do you think happened to the other Elf, Frodo?" Aragorn asked.
Spurred by this gentle prompting, Frodo answered, "I don't know. Perhaps he's buried here too, and hasn't been found yet." He was still blushing, but recovering from his embarrassment and confusion. Not only was everyone unsurprised by Arwen's statement, they didn't even seem to regard it as anything remarkable. The conversation was going on as before. "Or perhaps Elspar sent Dadenmiel away before he went to his final meeting in the citadel, to ensure his- ah- beloved's safety. I think it's more likely that the murdered Elf was Elspar. He was the leader of the two, and already known in the city. If there was a confidential matter that required one last meeting, I feel certain he would have been summoned. He also had more opportunity to draw someone's ire."
"Whose?" asked the King.
Frodo hesitated, then spoke an idea that had been on his mind for some time. "One thing's been obvious from the first: Not many people had access to the secret tunnel between the citadel and the Steward's home even when it was open, but only one Man had the authority to seal it off." He turned to Faramir. "The entrance was bricked up--isn't that what the work-foreman said?"
"It was," Faramir answered gravely, knowing what Frodo was about to say.
But it was Aragorn who spoke first, "Do you say that the King murdered his guests?"
"Not quite. I doubt that a King of Gondor would have to commit murders with his own hand," Frodo answered. "And I don't see a Man later famed for his bravery in battle cravenly stabbing someone in the back. But if he did have that tunnel bricked up, it suggests that he knew what lay within it and feared the discovery. He must have known what had been done, afterwards if not before, and knew or guessed who had done it. If that's so, then it was someone he wished to protect."
"Someone whose interests coincided with his own," said Gandalf. "Someone with more reason than he to see that the Elves who had troubled them were gone for good?"
"Yes," said Frodo. "That can only mean the Steward, Lord Aiglemerth."
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