Scarburg Meadhall

[Nogrod]

Lord Athanar was confused to see Eodwine kneeling and making his pledge. It took him a moment to adjust himself to the situation - and he was not sure if he got it in it's entirety. He hated all the scheming of the court and the plots of the lords outwitting each other; he preferred straight talk and straight action, if possible on horseback with fresh wind in his face and his men behind him. And he thought he knew lord Eodwine was in that respect similar to him even if they weren't that alike in some other respects. But this theatrics? He was unsure what to make of it. Even if he disliked scheming he had seen enough of it to know when to be alarmed.

But seeing Eodwine shaking still feeble from his illness, and smiling at the same time cut him fast back to the here and now where he had to act.

He took the sword and returned the smile - nodding to Eodwine for him to rise up. Backing it with his words. "Please lord Eodwine, please stand up."

Looking at the effort Eodwine had to give for rising up he laid the sword on the table and offered him his other arm while Saeryn helped him up from the other side.

Facing each other now both standing Athanar laid his hand on Eodwine's shoulder looking him at the eye. "Welcome Eodwine. I do appreciate the king's decision and your offer. We have a lot to talk, not only reminiscing the days of the Great War", here he smiled at Eodwine that odd smile many war-veterans tended to give each other whether they knew each other well or not, it was the brotherhood of all those taking part in the Great War. "But we need to discuss of many things of more close history, the present and the future... later. I see you're tired now and you have many faces to greet".

Athanar took his hand away from Eodwine's shoulder and nodded towards the stairs beside the fireplace behind them. "I had a bit larger and more comfortable room to be built upstairs there where I live with my good lady Wynflaed. I thought it would be handy if we ever got important guests." He paused letting Eodwine get what he was suggesting him.

"Yes", Athanar nodded, "if you accept the offer, I suggest you and Saeryn take that room. We can have men moving both of your's belongings there. We'll still have Saeryn's present room which is a bit smaller but good enough for any guest these roofs would see the coming winter."

[Durelin]

Coen stood when Eodwine entered the hall, and gestured to the men at the table to follow suit. Those who had been in Eodwine’s service before Athanar’s rose proudly. Coen eyed Scyrr and Áforglæd, who looked a little sour, but stood and kept quiet. He caught Feargall’s eye, who gave him a knowing look. He was another steady man, good at keeping balance and order among the men, like Hilderinc. Áforglæd and Scyrr were good men and excellent soldiers, loyal to their lord, but though Scyrr was an experienced soldier, he had rough edges and at times seemed to pick up on some of the youthful hotheadedness of Áforglæd. And it seemed the two were holding on to grudges. Coen could not blame them.

Though Coen was not near, it seemed to him that Eodwine did not look like a man who had recovered his health. Perhaps he had wanted to return to his home too badly. The captain watched Eodwine approach Athanar and…kneel? As any man would offering his service. After all the stubbornness and arrogance of some of the members of the former eorl’s household, Coen had expected an equally arrogant man. Not a man who would kneel before his replacement.

Watching Athanar bring Eodwine back to his feet, Coen considered. Would this gesture silence residual contention? Or would it upset those loyal to him that he had kneeled at Athanar’s feet? At least they could not say it was at anyone’s command. Well, he supposed they could, if they wanted. He hoped this show of duty and humility would remind others of their duty and position. And he hoped that it was not simply a show.

Coen put on a light smile, trying to make a show of optimism and affability himself.

[Folwren]

Eodwine nodded and smiled. "Lord, I thank you for your kind offer. Please allow my wife and me to think it over. I would not have my former retainers thinking that you and I are two eorls in one eorldom who could be played one off the other, and having rooms so closely situated to your own might get them thinking in ways they should not. That is my fear. But my wife and I will think on it and return an answer to you as soon as we may. And maybe I should not be called lord.”

He bowed, leaning on his wife's arm for support, and then turned with her.

Saeryn and Eodwine walked away together. She was mildly surprised as Athanar's generousness and courtesy towards Eodwine. But, then, he had been pleased, had he not, to have Eodwine kneel to him and swear fealty. Anyone would who had come and usurped power and then the rightful lord had come back and proved to be no competition, much less a danger.

They mounted the stairs and finally came to Saeryn’s modest room. It was not large, but it was comfortable. Eodwine sank down on the bed with grateful sigh. Saeryn began to unclasp the heavy cloak from about his throat.

“Eodwine,” she said, her voice quiet and tentative.

“Yes, love?” he replied.

“Why did the king give your title away to Athanar when Athanar had done nothing to deserve it, and you had done nothing to lose it, save becoming ill?”

"'Tis not a matter of desert but of things needful. One might say that King Eomer may or may not deserve to be king, but such has become his role, and I am happy that he holds it well. Besides, my dear, I am just a lowly landowner and farmer who was raised above his place by the good graces of our king. I did the best I could, but I think Lord Athanar takes to it more naturally than I."

Saeryn smiled bitterly. “You do not know him well to say that. If Athanar took the role because he was descended by blood from an eorl, as King Eomer received the throne because he was the heir of King Theoden, then perhaps I would not question the decision our liege has made. You were raised up because you were just a humble landowner and had proved your mettle in battle and Eomer knew your heart, but Athanar is going to stay in your place as eorl even after you have returned because why?”

"There is a word they use in Gondor. We have none quite like it in the Mark. Continuity. There has already been much trouble for these folk. They left Edoras with me. They lived poorly here all summer and fall without a decent hall. Their lord fell sick, seemingly unto death. Another lord was set over them and the folk have had to accept him or leave - Falco has told me of the troubles with Lithor and Erbrand, and of others. To unseat the new lord to make place for the old would be one change too many."

“No one minded living poorly for you,” Saeryn said. “You won their hearts and their loyalty because you were as willing as the next man to do a full day’s work. It would not be a change for you to take your place as lord, Eodwine. It would be going back to normal for all of us. Folk have accepted him because there wasn’t anything else to do. Where do you expect a family like Stigend and Modtryth with their son, or Garstan with his two little ones, to go in the midst of winter? I’m telling you that you could be lord, and it would be right if you were. Athanar knows it. That is why he called you lord Eodwine. Speak to him, Eodwine, and perhaps he will give you your rightful place.”

Eodwine looked at Saeryn a long time after she had finished speaking. There was that fire in her that had won him to her from the start. Had it turned into ambition for their family? He thought of speaking of her condition as a way to calm her down, but knew that it would not do. He sighed.

"The king gives me my place, not Athanar. You know that. I am here because of you and the others who have become part of us. That is unchanged. You and I will be friends to each of them, as always. Give it time. We shall see what comes. There is time. I am hungry and thirsty. Let us go to the kitchens now."

Saeryn looked at him. She still did not agree with his point and she still thought that given the right pressure, the king may change his mind. But now was not the time to discuss it, clearly. Perhaps when Eodwine had eaten and rested he would be more willing to see it her way. So instead of continuing the disagreement, she nodded, and lowered her eyes to the floor in a sign, if not of submission, then at least of resignation. She took Eodwine’s hand and helped him up and then together they went down to the kitchen to greet the women folk there and get some breakfast for Eodwine.

As they entered the kitchen, Saeryn stepped before Eodwine and announced his arrival. "Ladies. Your eorl has returned."

[littlemanpoet]

Eodwine's face went red and his hand rose, open, as if he were ready to strike his wife. It was a short moment, but seemed long as his hand was lifted, poised but still. He lowered his hand slowly and turned to the women.

"I greet you all, but not as your eorl. Forgive my willful wife."

He stumbled toward a chair and fell into it, leaning across the table on both elbows. "I need some vittles."

[Folwren]

Saeryn stood rooted just inside the door. She scarcely could have been more shocked if Eodwine had indeed struck her. She felt her temper rising as she stood contemplating his back while he sat at the table. Kara silently served Eodwine some breakfast. He began to eat, ignoring the silence of the women around him.

Forgive my willful wife, he had said of her, as though she were a child, who’s behavior must be excused if not punished. She seethed inwardly, and her hands curled into fists. Her eyes darted to each of the women in turn. Ginna was looking at her, but when their eyes met, she looked away again.

Then Saeryn knew that whatever she had to say to Eodwine had to be said in the privacy of their own room. Were she to tell him her mind now, she would appear like a stubborn, quarrelsome woman, and her standing, already wounded in the sight and hearing of these women, would go further down.

She turned, and left the kitchen, and as she went back to the room from where they had just come, hot, angry tears began to flow.

“What is the matter with him? Can he not see that I am right? How could he treat me so?”

[Nogrod]

Lord Athanar came out from his chambers after some eyeing on the plans for the last renovation of how the plans should be executed for the winter. They were really in a hurry with them, but now he had solved one of the the problems of warming the soldier's quarters farthest away from the hearth - and he was happy about it.

But stepping out from his door he met Saerynn sobbing in the corridor hastenig her way to her apartment. Lord Athanar had seen pregnant women more he could count, and this upset didn't look like one due only to the pregnancy.

"Lady Saeryn, is there something wrong?", he asked carefully while Saeryn was opening the door to her room. "Anything I can do for you?"