[JennyHallu]

Linduiel sat primly on her horse, glaring at her guardian. By noon today, their guides had said. Noon! Never at this pace. Once she reached Edoras, and Marenil had been convinced of her safety, he would finally return home to Belfalas and leave her be. Surely it can only be a few more miles… If it weren’t for Marenil keeping a careful eye on her deportment she would give a hearty kick to her horse and get there!

“Come on, Mar, how much further?” Deliberately she shortened his name, knowing he disliked it. “Please, can’t we go faster? You know we’re close and you know I can ride. By the Stones! I’m twenty-three years old! I’m too old for a nursemaid!”

Marenil sniffed at the nickname, but looked over at the young woman affectionately. She was so impetuous. What joy that she would never remember the days when this road would have been dangerous to travel in an armed company. Now here they were, a rich and beautiful single woman and a single, elderly (he had to admit it) companion, almost to Edoras. “You have already manipulated your father, your mother, and all three of your brothers to get to make this trip. You know I see right through you, you little minx. You are almost fifteen years younger than Lothiriel. You barely knew her before she went off to wed King Éomer, and your visit is of minimal importance to her, save for the letters you carry from your brothers, who were her playmates. You are at least not going to look like the hooligan you are when we arrive in Edoras.”

She snorted but said nothing. Marenil watched her bouncing impatiently in her saddle with amusement. Linduiel was young and reckless, and her father had spoiled her, the youngest of his daughters. But she had inherited the best of her family’s traits: she was beautiful and vivacious, if a little vain of her slim figure and dark curls, and he had been her tutor often enough to know what a keen intelligence hid behind her sparkling grey eyes. “Don’t worry, my dear, we’ll get there soon enough. Here, it won’t hurt for you to speed up a little, I suppose. Don’t get out of hearing, but go ahead and run off that excess energy you’ve got. Remember I’ve got your letter of recommendation.” She flashed him a grateful smile and urged the horse into a gallop with a happy whoop, leaving Marenil to his thoughts in peace.

That her father had thought to waste this youthful enthusiasm in a marriage…Marenil had no objection to a marriage, Linduiel needed something to ground her, give her a center that could curb and channel her enthusiasm and intelligence. But the young man her father had found was not the right one. He was too young himself, and he did not have Lin’s cleverness. But someday…he looked across the green fields at the figure riding circles and figure eights at top speed but obediently nearby. She had been right to come here. Not for her reasons, her fear of what her father had planned, but perhaps she would find what she needed to learn in this harsh and lovely country. At least her father had had to give up his idea of wedding her off to some green lad. Lin had bought herself time, at least.

~*~

As the pair rode into the courtyard of the Mead Hall, Linduiel, now looking tidy and ladylike as she ought, took in the mess and construction doubtfully. “Marenil…? Are you sure this is the right place?”

Marenil raised an eyebrow at her. “Do you doubt me? This is the right place. But your impatience means we’re here almost two months before your cousin expected you. I’m sure if we’d arrived when she said in the letter there would be none of this. I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do about it. Your letter says there should be someone here who can take responsibility for you, and let me go home. I say we should find him first thing,” he sighed. “I’m too old for this.”

Linduial looked with affection at her friend. “I will miss you when you are gone, but at least I’ll be able to do as I please here, without my father to notice I’m still unmarried…”

Marenil snorted. “You will not do as you please. You will conduct yourself with all the grace and courtesy I have spent all these years pounding into your pretty head. Now, do you see a groom about?”

The pair dismounted carefully in the muddy courtyard, unsure where to go or what to do.