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Thus far, his conversation with Æðel had piqued his curiosity further rather than lessened it. She had told him much of her family, yet Léof sensed that she was not telling him all of it. He would not pry, as he understood well the desire for concealment, but still he wondered. This did not stop him from enjoying her company greatly; they seemed to have much in common, and conversation came easier with her than it had with Gárwine, who had sometimes seemed worlds beyond his experience.
The stable was dark, lit only with the small lamp that they had brought from the hall. A few horses shifted in their stalls at their approach, but mostly the stable was quiet. Léof and Æðel moved down the aisle, collecting any empty buckets from the stalls to be filled from the trough. Now, perhaps, would be the right time to ask the original question that had been bothering him. He hoped that it would not be too pushy, as she had not seemed eager to talk about any events after the war.
“Earlier today,” began Léof hesitantly. “I noticed that when you were pouring my and Gárwine’s cups, you seemed rather disturbed. I hope it was not something that one of us said.”
But she only shook her head. “I had been reminded of something that would perhaps be best left alone,” Æðel responded finally.
For a moment, Léof did not say anything. She did not quite trust him yet, but he was not sure that he expected her to. She really knew very little about him. Perhaps… perhaps the best way to inspire trust would be to give it. And if her story was not common knowledge, if she had secrets too, then his story would not likely around to the others. But…
“Let me tell you a bit about myself,” said Léof. She cocked her head slightly, showing that she was listening, and Léof continued. “I have lived on my family’s farm in the West Emnet all my life, and I was mostly happy. But six years ago now my mother died, and after that, my father… changed. Sometimes he drank, and he was always hard on both me and my younger sister, finding fault in everything we did. I often escaped out to our small stables, just to be away from him and his fault-finding, and many nights I even slept out there. Finally, it was getting to a point where I couldn’t take much more, and I probably would have left had it not been for my sister. I started standing up to him more and more, and our last argument about two weeks ago ended in him throwing me out of the house. I took my horse, Æthel – interesting how alike to your name hers is – and without anywhere else to go, I decided to come here to Edoras in hopes of finding some work, not only to support myself, but also to hopefully bring my sister here eventually. She’s thirteen, now, and I don’t imagine that it will be very long before my father tries to get her married off. Enough people turned me down that I can’t tell you how glad I was to find that Eodwine needed workers here and was actually willing to take me on.” After the torrent of words, Léof’s rather abrupt stop seemed to echo in the quiet stable.
They walked a few steps in silence before Léof said, “I don’t expect you to tell me anything you don’t want to tell, though I won’t deny I’m curious.” He smiled sadly and shrugged slightly. “But I do understand something of hardship, and starting over. Sometimes you don’t want everyone to know. But… if you want to talk to anyone, you can trust me.”
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