A proper drabble for fliewatuet this time!
'Tis a stormy day, the sort to make a Ranger curse, as Halbarad does for Ranger-lads who'll come not home this time. But someone had to stop those trolls...
Later, nursing grief and bruises, Halbarad, as usual, recalls the list: ungwe-ando/Cpt, umbar-anga/Rhr... 'Frivolity', some would say, missing the point: men need companionship to pierce the bonds of war, reminder that, after all, war's not their first brotherhood.
Thus when Menethril asks, "Anything else for Lord Aragorn?", he replies:
"Give him this..."
And elsewhere three weeks later, after Menethril's grim report, Aragorn can't but laugh despite troubles to read:
Tinco-ungwe/Rk—check!
I tried to translate the usual chessboard notation into Middle-earth. So instead of a row of numbers, the letters are simply repeated. Bishops are captains (cpt), knights are "Rohirrim" (rhr), rooks are still rooks. Tengwar names handily and beautifully available at Amanye Tenceli.