Work Text:
The uruks pronounced his name correctly. It took Arondir a while to realize this. He had more important things to think of. Moreover, the uruks rarely addressed him, and if so, it was usually as “elf.” However, over time, it occurred to Arondir that whenever they did say his name, they pronounced it correctly, by rolling the first “r.”
It wasn’t something Arondir was used to among nonelves. Other races seemed to find that difficult. Most of the humans in the Southlands had either found it difficult or simply hadn’t bothered to put in the effort. Since Arondir had needed to keep his distance anyway, there more as a guard than a friend, he had never tried to correct them. He’d spent most of his time with his garrison, who could pronounce his name effortlessly. Besides, the mispronunciation was so slight as to be almost unnoticeable. Arondir hadn’t been bothered by it. Or so he thought.
But being in a place where his name was always said correctly felt ... comforting in a way he couldn’t quite articulate. Arondir knew that was foolish. The uruks would have killed him long ago had he not been Adar’s mate. Merely knowing how to say his name was more likely to be attributable to the uruks being descended from elves than any true respect. Nevertheless, it made a difference.