[Airerûthiel]

Neisa pondered how to answer Nurumaiel's question. Her family relationship was complex to say the least. She decided to say as little as possible. Best to get it over and done with. Besides, she was intrigued by the gentleman crawling out from underneath a nearby table after what seemed like one too many ales. But she could not abandon her new friends so soon after meeting with them.

"To make a long tale short," she said, "I was born in Edoras twenty winters ago. My father and younger twin brother live in a house like those of the richer Rohirrim in the hills close to Meduseld."

"What about your mother?" asked Nuru. "Where is she?"

"Dead." There was more than a trace of sorrow in Neisa's voice as she wiped her glazed-over eyes. "I am guilty for thinking this, but there is no part of me that misses her in the slightest. She always tried to make my personality like my brother's, and his like mine.

"He wants nothing more than to marry a peasant girl and settle down to a farmer's life somewhere in the Green Hill Country. But I have spent my life seeking adventure, and I am currently trying to get away from my father's house. The old cavalryman has fallen into a state of grief after my mother's passing, and his position in the riders of the Mark has been given to my brother, who is ill-suited to such.

"But if you will excuse me for a moment, I see someone who looks like a fellow lone wanderer. I hope you can understand my reasons for sympathising with him. Would there be any objections if I were to invite him to join us?"

There was none, and she rose and walked over to the bar. Her footsteps echoed as she made her way across the flagged floor. Soon she reached the young gentleman. He was sitting alone at a table on the other side of the bar. She came up behind him, careful to make as little noise as possible. He turned round just as she arrived beside him.

"Forgive my asking," she said to him, "but my companions and I could not help noticing you were alone and in need of company. Would you care to join us at our table?" She offered a weather-beaten hand out to him. "My name is Neisa, and I come from Edoras. Would you be so kind as to tell me what they call you?"