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Old 07-15-2004, 02:15 PM   #387
littlemanpoet
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: The Edge of Faerie
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littlemanpoet is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.littlemanpoet is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Silmaril Raefindan

As night fell, Raefindan sat next to Aeron before the fire. Ravion sat across from Raefindan; Gwyllion was hunched near the fire to Aeron's right. To Raefindan's left, Mellonin stared balefully at the flames, and between her and Ravion snuggled Jorje, close enough to the fire to feel its warmth, not so close as to get his tail snagged by an errant cinder.

Raefindan cast a measuring glance at Aeron, whose brows were furrowed. The red haired man considered the boy, if boy he was. A man or boy fighting with a young woman simply was not done; at least, not where Raefindan came from. It was considered in bad taste; but worse, it was misogynist.

Raefindan stopped in his mental tracks.

What kind of word was that? It was from wherever he had been before here, and whatever its roots, it meant that a man or boy hated women. Now, this could not be true of Aeron, as such, for he cared deeply for Gwyllion, having spent great energies and huge lies persuading them to take her with. Unless she was the only female he allowed himself to care for. If he was really a he. If he was actually a she, well then, fighting a young woman was no longer beyond the pale. Raefindan cast Aeron another glance and considered. Imagine, two women dressing up as young men... Aeron certainly did the better job of faking it, if he - or she - was faking it. It was hard to tell if Aeron had the chin scruff typically ascribed to adolescent boys.

Raefindan stopped in his mental tracks again. Adolescent? He rolled his eyes and let the word pass. Youth, then. And Aeron's fighting had been far more masculine than Mellonin's, come to think of it.

Raefindan stopped in his mental tracks yet again. Masculine. He shook his head and plowed through to the next thought, strange words be hanged! No, this was most likely a boy. Which brought Raefindan back around to the original quandary.

Raefindan stopped - momentarily - and plunged forward. This boy did not act like someone who wanted to beat women on a regular basis. Rather, he seemed like one whose ire had been piqued - Raefindan sauntered forward in his thought - and he had acted out of the norm. Fair enough. But he had been quite willing to act out of the norm, and seemed now to act as if he had done no such thing. Leaning upon the wealth of knowledge he had earned from he knew not where - smirking inwardly at the irony - Raefindan concluded that Aeron had had a difficult childhood, forced to make do on his own, and had not had the priviledge to learn the finer points of etiquette; perhaps hadn't learned the not so fine points, for that matter.

Raefindan held back from deciding it was his duty to teach the lad such lessons, for it would do no good if Aeron desired no such training. But at least it helped explain the situation, and seemed more likely to be accurate than not.

One question remaind in Raefindan's mind. Aeron was apt to shout "women!" from time to time. Where had he learned that, and what did it mean to him? Why not find out?

Raefindan breathed deep and sighed. "Ah, the night smells fresh, does it not?"

He glanced at Aeron, who turned away.

Raefindan shrugged. "I only wish to converse, Aeron."

Aeron's eyes flickered to Raefindan's face. "Con ... verse. What kind of word is that? I know verse, but what is con?"

"Another of my useless words. It means to talk together."

Aeron shrugged. "Talk if you like."

"Well," Raefindan said, "I'm wondering who taught you that way of referring to the fairer sex; I refer to your penchant for shouting in frustration, "Women!"

Aeron squinted his eye at Raefindan. "You have been too much in your own head, Raefindan. I have no idea what you just said."

"Which words threw you off?"

What is re-fearing? How do you chant with a pen? And fresh and tray and shin? Nobody but you would put those words together."

"Forgive me, Aeron. Useless words again. I'll try again. Who taught you to yell "Women!" when you are upset with a lass or lady?"

Aeron shook his head. "How in Middle Earth that was the same thing as fresh shins and trays and chanting with pens, I could not guess. But to answer your question..."

Last edited by littlemanpoet; 07-20-2004 at 06:38 PM. Reason: more in character
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