“But, if they weren’t from Dol Amroth, then where are they from?” asked Elen, looking at Tessa.
Averyll knit her brows and looked across the room to where she had seen Lady Dryea earlier, standing with her sister. Now, that was an interesting question. If Tessa had never heard of them and Vieana’s six gossipy sisters had never even mentioned them, then there was definitely a problem. Never one to look for trouble where there was none, Averyll found herself bothered by the question. What troubled her even more was the fact that she had heard the Morthaniawen name before arriving in Minas Tirith. When she had first been introduced to the ladies Morthaniawen at the welcoming ball, she had been struck with a twinge of recognition but, unable to pin it down, she had let it go. Now the question gnawed at her. Where had she encountered the name before? She couldn’t remember how or where, but had a feeling it had something to do with her late husband. Perhaps he had owed them money.
Tessa shrugged in answer to Elen’s question. “That’s root of the problem, isn’t it?” she replied. “If we knew that, I have a feeling we would know a lot more about what is happening around here.” It was then that Tessa noticed Averyll’s puzzled expression. “What’s wrong?”
Averyll shook her head. “I’m not sure.” Having come to the Masquerade as a Shepherdess, she shifted her shepherd’s crook into her other hand. “I just wish I had sense enough to have picked a costume that didn’t have any props to carry.”
The others laughed, but Elen continued to look troubled. “For a second there, you looked like you might know something we don’t about the Morthaniawens,” she said rather stubbornly.
Again, Averyll shook her head. “No, honestly, I don’t. It’s just…” She looked again in the direction of Lady Dryea, who was now dancing with one of the Minas Tirith courtiers. “It’s just that I know that name from somewhere.”
“Where?” asked Tessa.
“I don’t know. That’s the problem.” Followed by her two friends, Averyll stepped back into an alcove, where the three of them put their heads close together. Averyll’s voice was barely audible above the music. “As you probably know,” she said quietly. “My late husband was something of a scoundrel.”
Tessa and Elen both nodded, making sympathetic noises in their throats. They were very familiar with the unfortunate circumstances of Averyll‘s marriage and subsequent widowhood.
“After he was lost at sea, I was put in the situation of settling his affairs. In doing so, I encountered any number of people, both respectable and otherwise, to whom he owed money or satisfaction of some kind. I think I encountered the Morthaniawen name there. I just can’t remember the circumstances.”
Tessa and Elen both nodded, but Tessa looked frustrated. “I wish you could remember something,” she sighed. “It could be important.”
Averyll shrugged helplessly. “It could be, but it could just as well be nothing.” She looked out again across the dance floor, this time catching sight of Vieana on the arm of yet another of the Dol Amroth guards. “I wonder what our Vieana has managed to find out from the guards,” she commented, following Vieana with her eyes.
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