As the country of my birth quietly enjoys a constitutional crisis, a (slightly early) birthday drabble for Dwimordene, who asked for "the turning point that never (quite) was".
Thus began the Fourth Age, the Age of Men, freed of gods and masters. And the high towers and wide halls of the White City filled again, but not with lords, and the Tree blossomed, and Gondor and Arnor were reunited – not kingdom, but commonwealth.