[JennyHallu]

We'll miss you Firefoot!

Some questions:

• What state is the Great Hall itself right now? We seem to be using it again (rather than the tent-hall), but it seems unlikely that it be complete. Is it being completed in sections, starting with the least damaged area? That might explain why some of it is usable again, and also how Eodwine is funding its expansion: a little at a time.
• How is Eodwine planning to deal with the security of his own people with the free-guesters in the Hall? Kara, in particular, will need to traverse the Hall, alone, in the wee morning hours, and she is a young and comely maid. In Beowulf's Mead Hall, lmp, sexual taboos were much less stringent even than they are now. I doubt practices appropriate in Beowulf's hall would have any place in Tolkien's world, especially with his seeming worship of a feminine ideal.
• As I get involved in the accounts and money-management of Eodwine's holdings, can we decide upon a standard monetary system? I assume no paper money, but what coins? Until further notice, I'm going to at least pretend we're using old English money: pennies and shillings and pounds, etc, but relative values and practical values should be established.
• Can I assume that the "Middle Emnet" is not merely the lands surrounding Edoras, but the government and ordinance of the city itself? I've got a number of ideas on how that could help Eodwine...fees and taxes that have gone unasked as Eodwine sets up his estate that Marenil will quietly reinstate and enforce. It could also allow for some daily duties of Thornden that would not call him outside the walls.

I've also been doing more thinking. (uh-oh )

I've reordered my list, LMP, into things Marenil wishes started right away and saved for later, and the main factor involved is startup cost.

1. First and foremost, the treatment of free-guests must be cost effective and standard: Marenil wishes to dedicate a cauldron to a pot of inexpensive, but hearty porridge. A porridge would make a warm and nutritious meal for any traveller, may be augmented by the traveller's own stores (it is easy and tasty to add dried meat or fruit to a porridge) should they choose, and can be made in large quantities easily. That way Kara and Frodides wouldn't have to worry so much about planning meals, because only the porridge has to serve an unknown quantity of people. Eodwine could provide a communal jar of honey for his guests to sweeten their meals with, which would last a long time at little cost. The porridge could also serve as breakfast for Eodwine's people on a busy day. Finally, the leftover porridge for the day could be sweetened and baked slowly overnight into a chewy waybread or cookie that can be given to guests as they leave, and snitched during the day by certain small and sticky hands.
   
   Marenil will also urge the hasty installation of benches such as you described, with old bedding from the Inn mended and stored within. (Perhaps they could find a lot of bedding needing minimal repairs when they venture to the attic?) He would also like to manufacture linen screens that can be stored against the wall and pulled out to provide privacy for a woman guest (or a man who feels uncomfortable with the sleeping arrangements for that matter).
   
   With this basis for a standard and generous treatment of guests established, Marenil hopes to encourage Eodwine to take up some of the aspects of an Innkeeper without prejudice, since his obligation will have already been fulfilled. He wishes to make sure that Eodwine is not taken advantage of, also, something he fears is a definite possibility in dealing with this gentle, honest, and openhanded man. (He'll use that phrasing, too...nothing like flattery to help talk a man into something.) Except for noble guests, Marenil intends to ask a small price for passing guests to stay in a Hall bedroom, as available. He also wishes there to be a small fee for guests who wish to extend their stay in the Hall longer than...oh...three nights, payable by the night or sevenday, making them effectively lodgers after a certain point, rather than guests. He also will urge that those free-guesters who wish to share the Lord's evening meal (i.e. something with meat) pay a small fee, a penny or so only, and probably quietly waive that fee in the case of Harrold and Gareth (did I get the names right?) on the basis of long understanding.
   
   I still don't know how to deal with the security of the guests and residents, but that's Garwine's problem, not Marenil's, so I guess I don't have to figure it out.
2. Second, Marenil wishes to create bedrooms for the residents (and children) out of the Inn's attic space, which would not at all be uncommon for the times, or the architectural style (wattle-and-daub) we chose for the Hall. He intends to add dormer windows (probably simply built by Stigend out of the scrap lumber from the old hall and kitchen: thatch roofs should be fairly easy to alter), but put up simple partitions that do not need Stigend's handiwork for more than some basic planning. These rooms would be large, light, and comfortable in summer.
   
   My only worry is that they may be difficult to heat in winter, but if this is brought up Marenil shall point out that winter is a long way off, and there is plenty of time for something to be done about that. I wonder if cast-iron has been developed, either in Rohan or Gondor? If at least in Gondor, he can write his son to have purchased and sent with Linduial upon her return several small cast-iron stoves or braziers.
   
   This would free the regular rooms for guests, families, and officers, and for another little plan Marenil's got up his sleeve (to be detailed below). Those I think should be sent upstairs are Kara, Trys, Leof (who Marenil will give a room even if he doesn't use it to sleep in, as it might still be nice for Leof to have a more private space to himself, or to escape from the heat of the stables in summer), Merdha (when she arrives), and children or young people over the age of ten. There should still be plenty of space for later additions, and I don't think the children's space needs even to be partitioned off further than putting the adult rooms in between spaces for girls and for boys.
   
   All other householders and officers Marenil will move to the second story, (even to kicking Lin out of her room, and moving her downstairs if necessary for space) where rooms are larger. Only Frodides will stay downstairs, as her injured leg might prohibit her from getting up and down the stairs easily. This would create some separation between the household and the guests, fostering more of a family atmosphere (I hope). Rooms reserved for Gudryn and Aedhel (who are away on a rather long term basis) could be used as guest rooms for folks such as Degas or Thornden's sister: personal guests of the household, as opposed to the freeguests and visiting gentry.
3. There needs to be some space for livestock and to exercise the horses, and I don't think that would be too difficult to manage. The horses really only need a paddock big enough they can be released into it while their stalls are cleaned, and exercised on a circle-lead. There should also be a cow-shed, pigsty, and chicken coop, and these can be built all beside eachother, and indeed, the cows and pig can share a yard. If the Hall is not yet of the dimensions I have in my sketch, but is being expanded slowly, in stages, then there could easily be a great deal of space in front of it or in the courtyard available that is not evident on that sketch, and that will be available for a good long time, and probably Eodwine will be able to afford to expand his own estate (or set up a separate farmholding for his own table outside the city walls. or both.) long before that space is needed for building.
   
   A few livestock (2 dairy cows, one of them pregnant (so we can have steak later (steak...mmm...(nested parentheses are fun!))), a pig, oh...twenty laying hens, and a rooster) would be fairly inexpensive, and Marenil feels he can stretch the budget to cover them, or if not, he recieves a private pension (delivered him by a merchant-banker who has an arrangement with Farlen in many different cities) and, as he has little need for the money now, he may make some small purchases (at least at the outset) out of his own money without telling anyone...might be entertaining later for him to be found out.
4. Marenil wishes to institute a way for the farmers to pay their taxes in agricultural tithes, and/or set up a system by which Eodwine serves as broker for the goods of his lands for a percentage (freeing the farmholders to return to their fields and families rather than dealing with the sale of their goods.) He wants Eodwine to have a ready source of quality foodstuffs, and wants to start a caravan trade over the mountains (or perhaps just into the mountains...would Ghan-buri-Ghan be interested in augmenting the diet of his folk? Just a random thought...). This may (apparently) be difficult to convince Eodwine of, but Marenil has high hopes.
5. Marenil has noticed in his month of residence at the Hall, that although Eodwine seems to have the respect (albeit grudging in some instances) of the simple farmers, Eodwine's standing among his noble vassals seems dangerously low. None have come to pay him court, and he wonders if this is perhaps due to Eodwine's low birth, or to his harboring of Saeryn, a runaway, or to his favor with the King and rapid (and high) ennoblement. Whatever the reason, not one of the lesser nobles of the Middle Emnet have come to pay him court, and Marenil seeks a solution to this problem (which could become very serious).
   
   The easiest way for a man to affect another may (arguably of course) be through his children, and Marenil plans to encourage Eodwine to seek out a few high-born fosterlings to add to his household. These would allow Eodwine's nobles to take advantage of Eodwine's high standing with the court, foist off some of their mouths to feed, and tentatively align themselves with their new lord without risking anything more precious than a few of their younger children, who may be able to easier find a way to support themselves living in the city anyway. At the least, Eodwine's background and connections might help them rise in the Guard, surely not a shameful place for a younger son to go...
   
   And while the nobles take advantage of Eodwine's generosity, Eodwine is entrusted with the education (and foster fathering) of their children, and that cannot help but increase his standing, as long as the children are well-taught and do well in the future, and are fond of him...
   
   I just had this idea, and it isn't as polished as the others. Forgive me.

Marenil's building plans will be put on hold until Eodwine's money issues are dealt with. Which could be a lot faster depending on the answer to question 4. What do you think, lmp?