[JennyHallu]

Marenil had been watching Linduial out of the corner of his eye since he'd met her at the kitchen door, trying to pinpoint the cause of her odd manner. He was sure that Saeryn knew what was up: she had an amused light in her eyes every time she looked at her friend. When Saeryn introduced her brother, Marenil noticed a slight blush, quickly stifled, and was exceedingly amused to see Linduial rapidly construct the icy, closed demeanor the men of Belfalas lamented in bad poetry. It wasn't as firm as she usually held it...but then usually there was no hint of a blush, and she had certainly been flustered...

He threw Saeryn an incredulous glance over Lin's head, indicating Lin and Degas with a tiny twitch of his head. She responded with a tiny hint of a smile that was definitely amused, and Marenil grinned to himself. And Lin had come here to escape a marriage? Out of the frying pan, into the fire, there was no doubt about that. He glanced at the young man consideringly. Handsome, conceited, definitely full of himself...but there was a loving light in his eyes as he deferred comically to his sister. And the Lady Saeryn was noble...He could think of worse things. The bore of a certain young man in Belfalas for example...

As Saeryn asked for other news, Marenil tucked this new tidbit in the back of his mind and rose stiffly, wryly cursing the life-giving rain he could hear pattering on the rough fabric of the tent-roof.

"I'd like to thank everyone here for their kind care of me and my Lady while I was ill. Most especially I would like to extend my thanks to the Lord Eodwine and his ward Aedhelhild. She has a great gift, my Lord. You may be new to your office, as I have heard, but you are already strong in any Lord's greatest asset: a loyal people." He bowed, respectfully, and Linduial, taking his cue, rose in his place, her court manner perfect and unassailable.

"My Lord, I have taken the liberty of sending my father, Lord Farlen of Dol Amroth, and my cousin, Queen Lothiriel of Rohan, an account of your laudable treatment of myself and our servant Marenil," she began, somehow making 'servant' sound as grand a title as any other. "You have done our House a great service, and we shall be beholden to you for it. I wish to offer you this as a token of our thanks." At a gesture, Marenil rose and handed Eodwine his signet ring, bearing Lin's family seal. Both of them had offered their thanks less formally to Eodwine earlier in the week, but Linduial, as a scion of a very great House, never forgot protocol, and firmly believed that such a formal show of gratitude, in front of Eodwine's household, was absolutely necessary.

However, as Marenil had noticed before, Lin had certainly begun to relax a little in her week with the Rohirrim. It was happening rather rapidly to Marenil's eyes, but then he'd been unconscious when they arrived, and not seen how completely Lin's guard had gone down immediately after his collapse. It was more difficult to be formal with people who had seen her at her weakest, and she had begun to be less than formal with everyone in the Hall. So only Marenil was really startled when ice-Lin disappeared abruptly and the relaxed joyous Lin he knew was always in there suddenly laughed and clapped her hands together.

"Ah!" she said cheerfully. "Now that that's over with, and if no one has any more to announce, what's all this Tob and Gwiddle nonsense everyone's so excited about?" She plopped gracelessly back down into her chair, full skirts swirling in protest, looking like nothing so much as a happy little girl, so much so that Marenil found it hard to believe her feet reached the floor.