[Folwren]

Rowenna's brow knitted. It was unlike Eodwine to treat anyone unfairly or ungraciously. She did not know what to say. The last thing she wanted to do now was to agree with one of them against the other. "Saeryn," she said tentatively, "I am grateful to both of you for the kindness you have shown me. If your cause is truly just, does he need persuading from me? What is the matter you do not agree on?"

"His status here," Saeryn replied. "He was set as eorl by the king. When he left, Athanar came and took his place, but I believe that now he has returned, he should retake what is rightfully his. But he does not see it that way."

Rowenna placed her hand on Saeryn's hand gripping the quilt. "He did not tell Falco and me that he was going to kneel before Athanar. I was as surprised as you. One thing is clear, though. It was his first deed when he back back. So he must have it close to his heart that he will not be eorl." Suddenly it dawned on Rowenna. "And it is close to your heart that he should be eorl. But you said that he treated you unfairly. Was that be kneeling before Athanar?"

"No," Saeryn said. Her hand trembled beneath Rewenna's, and she had to work on holding back tears. "He would not listen to me from the very beginning. Yes, this must've have been close to his heart, because he would not even come in and eat when I urged him at first." Her words were so scattered that she found it difficult to keep track of them herself. "But that's not even what I'm talking about. He called me willful before Frodides and the other women in the kitchen." She stopped and she had trouble drawing a breath. Her eyes stung and she couldn't speak, so many emotions were hitting her at once. "And I swear, though I am not certain, he was about to strike me." Until this moment it had not quite occurred to her how much she felt that. But he so rarely was angry with anyone that she could not help but feel it.

"Oh, Saeryn! Are you sure?" It was hard for Rowenna to imagine Eodwine even coming close to striking any one, especially a woman. She doubted that it was something Saeryn dreamed up, but it seemed so out of his character. She had been struck over and over among the brigands, and had come to expect it; she realized now that it had been one of the things that had most hardened and embittered her. It would have truly scared Saeryn, to see in her husband even the possibility for something so ugly. "How did it happen?"

Saeryn stared straight ahead for a moment, unable to say a word for fear of crying. She tried too soon and broke into tears as soon as she began. "I guess I pushed him to his limits. I may have been slightly aware that I was testing him, I don't know! But then, when I went in and told the ladies that he had returned, and I called him their eorl...that's when it happened."

Rowenna closed her eyes tight and winced. "Oh no." She opened her eyes again and looked at Saeryn in sympathy. After Eodwine's deed before Athanar, calling him their eorl would have been like Saeryn slapping him in the face. "Oh Saeryn, I'm sorry."

She was at a loss for words. They had both hurt each other. "Maybe you should talk to each other."

"I've tried talking to him, but he doesn't listen. It's as though he were actually happy with how things are. He doesn't seem to realize that he has been robbed of his eorldom. Do you have any idea what it will be like to be the wife of the man who should be eorl, but see another in his place every day?" She turned bleary eyes to Rowenna. "Have you any idea?"

"No, my dear, but I do know what it is like to want to be the eorl's wife and have that dream dashed in a moment." Saeryn looked up at her in sudden startlement. "No," Rowenna said, shaking her head and smiling, "I do not grudge you at all. You and Eodwine love each other, and I am happy for you. Why do you want Eodwine to have the eorldom back?"

"Because it's his!" Saeryn replied vehemently. She stood up and paced the room. "Athanar has no right to take Eodwine's place here. Perhaps it would have been one thing, if Eodwine had done something to deserve the king's displeasure, but he has not. He got ill, and they did not expect him to get better - well and good - but now he is back. And Athanar still sits in his seat." She stopped and looked Rowenna square in the eye. "Don't you see anything wrong with that? Or am I just making trouble over nothing?" She paused again, and before Rowenna could reply, she went on. "No. Perhaps you, and perhaps Eodwine, think that I am just greedy, and married him for his status. Well, that's not it. I love Eodwine," her voice broke with tears, but she went on, "And I would have married him had he been a servant of another eorl, but he's not, and he should never have to be."