[Imladris]

A grin flashed across Aeron's face. Had the red haired man purpose riddled his speech with strange words because he knew he liked it? Aeron shrugged. The way he could work his strange magic with words was astounding. "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 --" he stopped at cocked an eyebrow. How was the best way to answer this question? "I say it for a simple reason. They baffle me." He grinned. "I do not understand why women pine. It is very silly."

Gwyllion's head jerked up and she said, "And I do not understand why men must be like rocks." She twisted her face into a blank sheet and then added, "They plod on the road of life as if they did not feel its...its..." she fumbled for a word "its curves and roots. And women do not pine," she added.

Aeron laughed. Such like a woman to go off on a tangent and then to suddenly veer towards the subject. He punched her playfully on the shoulder and said, "Who keeps on insisting that her father will come back when he left us years ago?"

Her face went white and she bit her lip. "Call it hope, sir."

"Eternal optimism," Raefindan murmured.

"Eternal what?" asked Aeron, grinning.

"Another strange word, Aeron."

"I answered your question I hope?" he asked. Please say I did...