Eorling Mead Hall

[JennyHallu]

Lin was at first surprised to see Thornden in the stables, but it quickly occured to her that she was undoubtedly not the only one eager to escape the bustle of the main hall today. She nodded a formal greeting to both men, and walked lightly through the straw to the door of her horse's stall, offering the apple gingerly and smiling when the mare took it, whuffling breath tickling her palm.

"Actually, Leof," she began, suddenly realizing that her title and formal address had become less and less common over the last few days, and deciding quickly that she didn't mind a bit, "I had a favor to ask of you, if you have a moment later today." She explained her desire to hang her things on the wall.

"I expect to be in Edoras for a good long while, and I wanted it to feel a little bit like home." Suddenly she was homesick for her dainty lady's bower at home. Unbeknownst to her, she proved what a relaxing effect a week in Rohan had had on her formal manners, (though were she concentrating the ice-maiden was still there if she needed her) for her loneliness showed on her face for a split second before her usual friendly-but-closed expression washed it away.

[Firefoot]

The request was certainly unexpected, if bordering on unusual, and for a moment Léof did not respond. “Yes, I suppose I could help you with that,” he answered, still not quite sure how to take the request. If only she wasn’t so hard to read. Her expression always seemed somehow muted – always, every time he saw her. Léof could not understand her. Were all Gondorian nobility like this? He thought that he should get a headache being surrounded by such people.

And he was struck by another difference – wall hangings? Although there was a perfectly comfortable cot in the room adjacent to the tack room, Léof had been perfectly happy on one or two nights to bed down in the empty stall next to his Æthel’s – never mind anything so frivolous as wall hangings. Comfort, he was coming to realize, could mean so many different things to different people. He did not need much to be comfortable, and was all the more content for it. But she was a guest here, and a wealthy one at that, so he reckoned if she wanted wall hangings, she would have them. It would not be so difficult a thing, and he honestly did not mind helping.

“I’ll stop by in a little bit,” he added. “Do you want me to come directly to your room, or will you be out and about?”

[JennyHallu]

"I'll be there. I'm trying to get my things organized indoors, since it's so rainy without, and unpacking a little so I'm not living out of a trunk." She smiled sweetly and gave the horse a final pat on her velvety nose before turning fully to face the young ostler. "You do a wonderful job, Leof. I love how sweetly it always smells in here. I didn't know a stable could smell so good. And thank you so much for your help!"

She threw the shawl back over her hair and had left the stables before Leof could say another word, running cheerfully back across the courtyard, pushing any thoughts of homesickness to the back of her mind. She arrived in her room damp and slightly rumpled, and started pulling clothes out of her trunks and putting them away, alternately singing and humming to herself as she worked. Her winter and summer cloaks went on hooks by the door, riding boots and various pairs of court slippers under the bed. Three exotic silk scarves in vibrant colors and a tapestry with an elaborate maritime scene embroidered on it were tossed on top of the bed, ready for Leof. The room was large and well-furnished, though the furnishings were rougher than what she was used to, and she hung her dresses in a tall wardrobe against the wall. This freed enough room in her trunks to sort the various underthings, jewelry, and other items neatly, and she pushed one, containing such everyday items as these, against the foot of the bed, and the other, holding the personal toys and trinkets she'd stuffed into corners and odd spaces in both trunks, against the wall.

She opened that last on a whim, and rummaged happily through the contents.

A box of wonderful and clever things her father had collected through his travels over the years, meant for gifts as she needed them. Luxury, her father had taught her, was a tool, rather than a right or even privilege. "It backs up everything you say or do," he'd said. "It draws the attention of others, and then your talents and your manners have more power in high circles." She'd realized then that that very thing meant luxury was also a danger. She had to always be aware of herself. Marenil had tried to teach her that she could really relax, at least more than she did, but the lesson hadn't yet stuck.

A small wooden basket filled to overflowing with threads in a myriad of colors, with a paper package of needles underneath it, for embroidery

Five books. One was poetry, one an atlas. The other three were histories. Two smaller volumes, hidden underneath these, contained a ledger and a diary, respectively. A lockbox contained her's and Marenil's funds.

She turned over a sheaf of paper intended as a gift for Queen Lothiriel. Despite how much of it she carried, fine paper was precious. Underneath was a package neatly wrapped in sailcloth. She couldn't remember putting it there, and lifted it out curiously. A note, written cross-ways on an old letter, slipped out of the top. She read it quickly: "A gift for someone far away from home" and her brothers' signatures. She unwrapped it and delightedly found it full of sugar candies and chocolates, wonderful delicious sweetmeats that she had a horrible weakness for...she reached for one, then had a sudden idea.

Saeryn's room was next door...she'd surely be able to hear Leof when he came. She closed and relocked the trunk quickly, then re-wrapped the package, almost skipping out of her room and to her neighbor's. She knocked twice, and entered at a muffled invitation from within. Eyes sparkling, she walked up to where Saeryn sat, opened the package ostentatiously, displaying its toothsome contents. "A gift from my brothers," she explained happily. "Doesn't it just look lovely? Much too nice not to share..."

[Folwren]

Thornden stood by and watched the short interchangement of words. He smiled slightly at Leof's rather surprised look at the lady's request before he responded to her. Thornden himself only wondered a little why she had come out to ask Leof's assistance, but he didn't trouble his head much about it.

"Well, Leof," he said, once the matter had been decently settled. "I guess I'll leave you, as you're about to be busy. Thank you for showing me the stables. I think you're doing well with everything and you may be sure that I'll tell Eodwine as much." He nodded as he prepared to leave and Leof thanked him. "Don't take the trouble to thank me," Thornden said, smiling again. "I can appreciate good work when I see it. So long, then. "

A breath of cooler and wetter air met him as he opened the door. He had almost forgotten the rain and he grimaced as he stepped out into it. How his sisters would laugh at him - a recent Guard of Meduseld in dislike of rain! Well, it didn't matter. He ducked his head and hurried across the open ground as quickly as he could without appearing ridiculous.

"Well, my lord," he said, approaching Eodwine. "When do you suppose this wretched rain will quit and we can be back to work? I can't tell you how anxious I am to get my hands back to work again. It's quite vexing, you know, having nothing to do with so much to be done." He took a seat beside Eodwine and looked around himself. "I've just come from the stables," he went on in a moment, looking back at Eodwine. "Leof showed me around a bit and he's doing an excellent job keeping everything, including the horses, clean and in good order."

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Saeryn's eyes widened at the treasure Lin carried. She untangled her legs and rose, keeping the quilt around her shoulders and ran to the door, making certain that it was closed. Turning, she came back with a contagious smile. Offering Lin her own blanket, Saeryn took another from the trunk at the foot of her bed, shaking it out and wrapping it close about her. She dug for a moment, finally discovering what she sought: a neatly wrapped package of spice drops. Moving back to the fire, she sank to the floor in a tailor's seat and beckoned Lin to join her.

"Where did you find these?" she asked curiously, her eyes lit with mischief. "Surely the discipline it would take for them to survive the trip from Gondor would have been beyond me."

She opened her own sweets and placed them between her and Lin as she spoke. The rain poured as heavily as ever. Saeryn pulled her blanket tighter against an imaginary draft as the heat of the fire released a heavenly sweet scent from the dark chocolate before her. She breathed deep, smiling.

"I could happily leave it there just to smell..."

[littlemanpoet]

"Sit wi' the likes of you when I've rags to profit me?" cried Ruthven. "Not likely! I'm off to see Frodides, and now. Act sharp as the Reeve you claim to be!"

"Yes ma'am!"

With a grin on his face, Eodwine watched the rag lady trounce off toward the kitchen, and sat back down. He busied his mind with picturing the next and next, and next, steps in the building to be done once the rain stopped. He had not gotten far when Thornden arrived under the makeshift mead-tent and sat down, a good report on Léof quickly offered.

Eodwine smiled again. "My thanks for the word. I'm glad of you being active in the goings on of the mead hall from low to high. And it's good to know that you think well of Léof. So do I. I doubt not that we've found us our ostler for at least a year and a day.

"And I'd be vexed with the rain stopping us too were it not for my ovenish head hot with the next and next steps to be taken in the building of the new hall. Still..." Eodwine ducked over his knees and peered at the bit of gray sky to be seen beyond the edge of the tent. "This kind of April gray looks to be with us for all of a day and maybe more. It makes for no fire in our tent-hall, for we'd have to throw back our roof to let the smoke out, which would douse the fire." Eodwine raised his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "So it goes."

Someone was approaching. Eodwine turned to look. It was Falco puffing his pipe, as usual, patting his rounded belly with deep satisfaction.

"Good greeting, Master Falco! How was second breakfast?"

"Need you ask!" Falco cried. "It's a shame you're losing Frodides. A fine cook she makes." Falco sat across from Eodwine.

"Do you not think that Kara will do as well, then?" Eodwine asked.

"Maybe, maybe not. Proof is in the pudding. In a pan, no less." Falco looked at the tent roof warily. "You're sure this roof will hold all that rain water?"

"Sure enough, sir, as I've been sitting here all morning. I wager Kara's puddings will be reasonable fare," Eodwine turned to Thornden. "What think you of our cook in training's cooking, Thornden?"

[Folwren]

Thornden smiled and laughed slightly as he sat back in his chair. "I'll warrant it does little good asking me how well she does, sir!" he said. "As long as the food is hot and edible, I'll eat it without much fuss. I must say, Frodides does something of a marvelous job, though. . .maybe you could keep her a while yet and maybe talk her into letting some of her secrets slip to Kara?"

He doubted such a thing could actually be done. Some cooks were perfect mules when it came to telling other people how they made their pie or their sauce or their something the best in the land. Secrets, they called them. But what was the good of knowing how to cook well if you never taught anyone else?

He chuckled to himself again and shook his head. A short pause fell and he looked out at the steady dripping rain. "Linduial came into the stables while I was there," he said. "She asked Leof for some assistance. It appears as though she's expecting to stay some while and will be trying to make herself more at home. Is this the case, sir? Is she to be here long? I guess the stay may be of unknown length, so long as her guardian is not doing well. How is he ,do you know? I haven't seen him much these past few days. . . is he still confined to his bed?'

[Alcarillo]

Gárwine was in his room at the former inn. The rain was pattering outside and there was little to do. All of the carpenters and other workmen had left for the day and Gárwine remained in his bedroom. Gárwine, to stay amused, had polished his sword to a brilliant shine, went for a walk around the inn (carefully avoiding the main hall, which was roofless and had been set off-limits by Eodwine to nearly anyone), and had returned to his room after receiving an apple to munch on from Frodides. At the moment, Gárwine was rearranging the room's furniture and standing from various angles to survey his work. He had moved his table to under the window, and the trunk from the foot of the bed to the outside wall, and had placed both chairs in the room at the table. There was just one thing missing. Gárwine set an old jar on the table to act as a centerpiece. Now the room was beginning to feel more like a home rather than an inn room previously occupied by countless strangers.

Gárwine liked his new home. He approved of everybody, with the slight exception of Manawyth, and the bustling town better suited his mood than the remote villages he had lived in out on the plains. Over the past week, Gárwine had visited the marketplace and purchased a few new articles of clothing, earned a few coins helping an old woman carry groceries to her home, and kept a good eye out for Uncle Wilfrid should he track Gárwine down to Edoras and demand him to return to the farm. There were a few look-alikes in the streets, but the true Wilfrid was nowhere to be seen. Gárwine felt relatively secure that if Wilfrid had not came by now, he never would.

Gárwine smiled satisfied at his rearranged room. He had chosen a bedroom at the north-east corner of the building. Down the hall were the other bedrooms, and beyond those were the great hall and the kitchen.

Gárwine exited his room and plodded down the hall towards the other bedrooms. Satisfied with his new furniture arrangements, he decided to visit the others. Léof would be near the stables tending to the horses, Saeryn was probably in her room, and Eodwine might've been in the main hall. Gárwine headed for the stables. There was an exit into the courtyard just down the hallway.