Eorling Mead Hall

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Saeryn gathered herself. Degas had done what? Did you ask her father, my boy? she asked herself bitterly. Did you get permission from her brothers? Did you ask Linduial if it was what she wanted?

Saeryn pushed her unkind thoughts away and tried to concentrate on happiness for her friend. Why didn't Degas tell me? Linduial is so happy... If he must be begged permission for me to court, why must not I be for him to do the same? It is not fair! She clenched her fist and felt her nails bite into her palm.

Lèoðern was watching her as Lin rode away with Farahil, handsome Farahil, into the morning.

"Garstan, Eodwine requests our presence over breakfast; did you know?"

"Yes, my lady."

"Very good." They walked back inside together, the children following them. They saw Modtryth and Stigend's child and asked permission of their father with a look. He nodded and they ran to play.

"Garstan, I will join you soon. I must attend to Modtryth." Excusing herself, she beckoned to the woman, calling her to a table far from Eodwine's. "Modtryth, do you have a moment to speak of duties?"

[piosenniel]

Thinlómien's post


The morning had been a pleasant one for Modtryth. She enjoyed the new place. The new home, she corrected herself. She wondered how everything would turn out and how would their little family settle in the lifenof the eorl's hall. Cnebba at least had found his place, and was clearly enjoying the new place and the new company. Everything will settle as it will, no need to fret over that, she reached the same conclusion as always. She was confident their little family would find its place in the hall, in one way or another.

Modtryth watched the two children, Lèoðern and Garmund, run to Cnebba. She had no reason to hide her smile. She turned to her husband. Stigend was smiling too. Oh, he doesn't look anxious, Modtryth remarked to herself half-seriously.

Then lady Saeryn caught her attention. The lady called Modtryth to her. She gestured Modtrth to sit opposite to herself. "Yes, my lady?" Modtryth asked. "I'm to give you your duties", Lady Saeryn answered. She looked at Modtryth thoughtfully and asked: "What kind of work you are used to do? What would you like to do?"

Modtryth didn't except the last question. Maybe it showed in her face, for Lady Saeryn smiled. "I have mostly done cleaning, cooking, looking after children and such. I'd be pleased to do it in the eorl's hall too", Modtryth answered simply.

"We have two cooks, Kara and Frodides, already, so I doubt there's need for kitchen staff", Lady Saeryn said. "We don't have very small children here so that rules out the babysitting... So I guess that leaves us with cleaning." Modtryth nodded. The work was familiar for her, and so were the words. She was about to open her mouth to tell the Lady that she was fine with her new duties and to thank her, but something in the Lady's expression made her not. There was something strange in her eyes and Modtryth could not imagine what was she thinking about.

Then lady Saeryn smiled again. There was a shrewd glint in her eyes. "But surely cleaning is not all you can do. And besides, there's not enough work for a person who only cleans. Kara and Frodides clean the kitchen and the tables in the hall and I do some cleaning myself. Have you ever done shopping for a big household?" At first Modtryth thought she had misheard the lady's words. She was offering her, a half-dunlending and a newcomer, a position of trust.

"Well, have you?" Lady Saeryn repeated her question seriously, though there was a hint of amusement in her eyes. Modtryth nodded. "Yes, my lady. I've done it twice. In the place I was born in and I worked in for many years, Lord Godhere's household in Western Wold. The second such job was in Field Marshal Laudwine's household." She didn't add that in both places she had had to work at least for months to achieve the position.

"Good", Lady Saeryn replied. "Then I can trust you with it." She looked at the dark-haired woman. Her face was serious. "Thank you, my lady. I'm honoured to receive such a duty", Modtryth replied, still wondering if it was really happening. "I won't prove untrustworthy."

"I am the one to oversee your work, both cleaning and shopping", Lady Saeryn told her. "The household doesn't need anything from the town today. I think you could start with the laundry. Come, I'll show you", she continued.

Modtryth rose to follow the Lady. She had heard only good of her, but now it was proved. Unlike so many, she managed to gain my respect in a very short time, Modtryth thought, wondering if it was good or bad.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

"If you have any questions about anything in or of the house, Modtryth, please feel free to come to me."

Saeryn turned to leave before a thought crossed her mind. The harsh scent of hard soap was burning her throat; she would bring Modtryth honey-sweetened tea before she left her entirely.

But Marenil... as steward of Eodwine's house, he should surely be involved? And certainly, with Linduial and Farahil gone, he would look forward to a diversion...

"Modtryth, when you have finished, and it should not take long... Kara helped me to do most of what was needed only a few days past... please find Marenil. You may not remember him from yesterday; he is the kindly old man that you may have seen by the fire. He is Eodwine's steward and he can tell you more about shopping and the like. And, if you don't mind, when you are done, can you ask him to meet with Eodwine, Garstan, Stigend, and I in the Hall? Please tell him that we are discussing business and that he might wish to be in attendance. If you cannot find him, Kara in the kitchens usually knows where members of the household are lurking."

Saeryn left Modtryth now, hoping that her hastiness had not been taken for curtness. She liked Modtryth; the woman struck her as kind, patient, hard-working, and down to earth; all qualities that Saeryn respected.

What next? Saeryn counted off chores on her hands, using her fingers more to keep from fidgeting than for need of them. She toyed with her fingers, marking off duties quickly. See off Linduial; check. Feed Trystan, find him work; check. Find Modtryth, give her duties; check and check. Find Degas and smack him upside the head for not telling me that he was courting Lin; ooh, how I wish I could check that... She sighed heavily, finding herself in the kitchen again.

Making small talk with Kara, she prepared sweetened tea and brought that and cold water to Modtryth, depositing it with a preoccupied smile.

"Laundry is thirsty work, I've learned."

What am I forgetting? Eodwine wants me... he can wait. But I cannot, in good conscience, make him wait unless I have reason for it... Seeing to Linduial and Modtryth was fine; it needed doing. But I cannot find hidden corners to secretly clean to spite him. But why must he be so disagreeable? Ugh! He is never this way. Such a welcome to give a guest of his hall, no matter how unclean or travelworn. It was nothing more than unkind. I will have a word with him later, that is for sure. What must he be thinking, to greet the poor boy, trickster though he may be, with such hostility? Ugh!

She shook her head at her own folly as much as Eodwine's and found her way to the table at which he sat. She slipped onto a seat across from him, crossing her legs beneath her skirts. She clasped her hands gently on top of the table and when the men looked at her, she spoke quietly.

"Kara will come soon with breakfast; she was just finishing it. What have I missed?"

[JennyHallu]

Marenil was entering the Great Hall just as Modtryth was exiting in search of him. He listened to her tell him of her new duties, and pledged to speak to her of it later in the morning. For now, the meeting Eodwine was calling with his laborers was more urgent.

And he had not even been told of it, except as an afterthought from Saeryn, with poor Modtryth as proxy. He chuckled to himself. This young Lord Eodwine was unused to the vast household he was rapidly acquiring, and had never had a Steward. He was clearly unaware of what Marenil was capable of, and hadn't yet learned that at times it was best to stand out of the way and let him do it. He'd even been a trifle startled when Marenil had asked for the key to the lockbox where Eodwine kept his books, and Marenil had spent the morning groaning over the disorganized state thereof. Oh, they weren't too bad, for a man who'd grown up overseeing nothing more than a midsized farmhold, but Marenil had overseen Lord Farlen's holdings for over twenty years: The country estate, the palatial home in the city...and at the same time he'd worked to support Farlen's other tasks: as soldier, diplomat, merchant...

He had high standards.

Not that he thought Eodwine and his Lady should not be attending this meeting. They should: it was, after all, their home and the seat of the Eorl that was being rebuilt. But he dearly hoped that Eodwine would learn to welcome, and in best case seek, the expertise Marenil had spent a lifetime garnering.

He arrived at the table just as the Lady Saeryn did, remembering as he saw her something he had meant to speak to her about. The Hall was too large for her to be serving as housekeeper and Lady of the Emnet. It was time another took that task from her, some woman strong enough to pry it from the girl's stubborn fingers. After the meeting. Don't get ahead of yourself, plenty of time to take the rudder of this disorganized little ship. You need to speak to everyone, really. One at a time!

[Nogrod]

After Garstan had gone with Lèoðern, Stigend was left alone to the would-be alder court. The great old tree was impressive to look at and would make a fine centerpiece of the second courtyard. But as a practical man from much more modest conditions he was a bit baffled about the plan to separate the kitchen and especially its ovens from the walls of the Mead Hall itself. What a waste... he thought to himself still watching admiringly at the great alder. Well, maybe these people can afford it? He shrugged his shoulders and took another look around. And the corridor-thing... I surely wouldn’t like to work in a kitchen with such a long corridor to pass through time and time again, everyday.

Slowly, immersed in his thoughts, he walked back inside the Hall to see that everyone else had already gathered around the table. Or not everyone. As he was taking his seat an old man came to join them. Stigend was introduced to him. Marenil, the steward. An old man with a gaze that told of experience, determination and pride. There was something similar in him as had been in his great aunt whom he had revered, although in a much grander scale.

As they had all set themselves and the rest of the breakfast was carried to them, lord Eodwine opened the discussion.

"So my friends, we must make choices for rebuilding to send our masters here to their duties." he said, nodding towards Garstan and Stigend.

“Stigend, as a new one here with fresh eyes, what do you think of the plan Garstan has showed you? Tell me your thoughts” Eodwine said, looking him straight to the eyes and ripping a piece of bread to himself.

“The idea of the alder court is fine. It’s a beautiful tree out there.” Stigend coughed a little as there was a piece of bread in his throat. “You just ask a carpenter... about old trees...”, he had to cough more intensely this time. Then he smiled to the others a bit embarrassedly and took a draught of water to clear his throat.

“Excuse me that my lord”, he said to Eodwine, nodding to the others in passing and then went on. “Yes there are some things I found a bit troubling. I haven’t ever lived in wealth so I have never seen a kitchen been built separately from the sleeping corners. The stonewalls of the ovens, if they are part of the house, keep a good part of it warm during wintertime with no additional cost as they are heated everyday anyway.” He looked at the others around the table just to make sure he was not laughed at. They looked serious and interested enough that he encouraged himself to continue. “And the corridor will be so long and having two corners in it as to be unsound for those working in the kitchen. And surely it would have to be made wide enough for two people with full trays to be able to pass each other in it, and that just sounds a bit grand if it will have no other function.” He looked at the others again, taking some water and then wiping his mouth with his palm.

Eodwine had a questioning look on his face, as if he was waiting for more. “Sorry sir, that’s all I had from what I’ve seen this morning.” Stigend felt himself a bit confused. Had he just been too open about the imminent shorcomings of the planning which he thought there were? Or was it just that he had accustomed to build for the poor and the common folk, rarely to the rich and powerful? “I’m just a plain and simple carpenter and you asked about my straight opinion, my lord.” He tried to explain his confused looks, avoiding Garstan’s eyes. He broke some more bread to himself and dipped it into the jelly.

“But do you have any idea about the alder court that you said yourself was fine? Surely a carpenter used to carpentry, as you seem to be, would have some ideas about the planning too?” Eodwine asked him firmly, not letting him fall out from the discussion just yet.

Stigend felt even more ill at ease now. He was on the eyes of all these noble people and he had already managed to criticise the plans of the only person he had actually learned to know and to whom he felt warmly towards. But Eodwine didn’t turn his questioning gaze away from him and in the end he realised that he had to answer him.

“Well... The kitchen might be built against the sleeping quarters. That way it would warm the rooms at wintertimes and the people in the kitchen would have a short and easy way to the tables inside here or outside the alder court if folk like eating there more. And at the height of the summer heat we might use an outdoor oven and a grill that could be built in the alder court itself, beside the outer wall of the kitchen...” The thought was not exactly ready yet, but he had entertained something like that in his head as he had been in the yard. “Then the third side of the alder court could be... well, if you had something to need a building for? More lodging, a workshop of sorts, an armoury? I’m sorry, but that’s all I can come up with at the moment.” He was even more confused than he had been a moment before, pouring himself more water just to have something to do and not having to look at the others around the table.

[Celuien]

Stigend had a point, of course. The hallway would be difficult to build, and would add a distance for the kitchen staff to travel while serving meals. But Garstan, while aware of this from the beginning, had his reasons for proposing the plan.

"You speak truly, Stigend," he began. "Moving the kitchen away from the hall is makes for more steps than leaving one wall against the other. The heat in winter would be lost, and there is a greater trouble for those who must bring the food from the kitchen. Yet too, there are things to be said for having the longer way. I have seen other places where the kitchen is set apart from the hall so that should the kitchen take fire, it may be stopped ere the hall too is in flames. It was against the chance of fire that the plan was made to divide the cooking place from the great hall, not for show. Surely a fire can be more easily stayed in a narrow corridor than it may when it takes to the timber of the main hall.

"But I see too that the plan is somewhat grand. It is a happy chance, indeed, that the matter has been brought up now, before much had been done towards the building. There was no chance to discuss the plans in full when they were first made, for more pressing matters came about at the hall. Perhaps there should be some change to the plan. I know not."

Garstan stopped, wondering what Eodwine's judgment would be, and wondering if Stigend had more to say.

[Nogrod]

Stigend had been really nervous to hear how Garstan would react to his criticism of the plan. After all, he wouldn't have wanted to go so far this openly but Eodwine's gaze had pressured him to continue. Maybe that was his way of checking his subordinates honesty and loyalty?

As Garstan started talking he almost froze. But what he heard made him relieved word by word and strengthened his earlier conviction that he indeed had a respectable and good-hearted partner. Even though he disagreed with the overtly careful ways of the rich in principle, you just don't leave your fires burn at nights and build the wall with stone which doesn't set alight, he had to admit that Garstan had a point in his plan with the fire-safety. Fires did happen. A humble cabin was relatively easy to build again if something happened and normally there were not anything too valuable to cry after. But it was different here. Even though with his experience, all the fires started from the utmost carelessness or lousy constructions, which he just couldn't figure happening here.

He looked at Garstan in the eye and nodded to him in agreement but didn't open his mouth. He had been talking just too much for the time being. The good lord and lady and the old Marenil should have their say now.

[littlemanpoet]

"That is well!" Eodwine exclaimed, and turned to the two artisans. "Do both of you agree?"

Garstan nodded, and Stigend, voicing his reservations briefly one more time, also gave his nod. Eodwine asked his steward and his apprentice-lady if they agreed, and they gave their nod as well.

"Would Modtryth be willing to walk the hallway between kitchen and Hall, do you think, Stigend?"

"I think she would, but she should give her own yes."

"Right you are! I will find her and see what she says."

The meeting broke up. Garstan and Stigend spent the rest of the day pouring over pages with lines that looked more and more like what the kitchen and hallway would be as the day wore on. Saeryn went in search of Degas, and Marenil worked on his list.

Late in the afternoon, Marenil came to Eodwine, sitting with Falco Boffin under the alder tree.

"Ah, Marenil!" Eodwine said, standing and smiling, "Come join us! Shall I have Kara bring you something to drink?"

[JennyHallu]

Marenil grinned slowly, easing his body carefully down onto the bench. "Thanks, Lord, but I've just drank a jug of water thinking this out for you." Quickly he outlined his plans, starting with his ideas for freeguests. As expected any mention Marenil made of fees was met with a disapproving frown, and he let the issue lie--for now. Time enough for Eodwine to change his mind: eventually someone would abuse his generosity again as Osfrid had.

He quickly moved on to plans to partition attic space into homes for the household, indicating with a gesture that he'd like to get through the whole proposal before Eodwine stopped to argue with him. This idea seemed to go over better, but Marenil had expected it to. There was no denying that the old Inn was becoming decidedly full.

Next he detailed plans to purchase some livestock and build pens for them in the area planned to someday become the Mead Hall. The rebuilding of the Hall would take years, and the space might as well be used in the meantime. This seemed to be greeted with enthusiasm, but again Marenil gestured to indicate there was more. There was much to do and think about, and he wanted to get it all through with.

Briefly he mentioned that he'd like to get a trade caravan going to Gondor, then quickly hurried on.

"Just one last thing, my lord. The city of Edoras is also under your jurisdiction, and there are some taxes that I do not see are being collected. It is customary for there to be a fee owed you by any who wish to set up a market stall within the walls, and a tax on the sale of a house or business-place. Not as much money here as those fees bring in Dol Amroth or Minas Tirith, but significant just the same. The market fees at least would help the state of your purse, strained by all this construction."

He sat quiet a moment, thinking through to make sure he had covered everything. "Yes, hmm...I think that's all. Nothing else we can accomplish without more money. What do you think?"

[Formendacil]

So absorbed was Náin in his own thoughts that he completely failed to notice that Degas had left the courtyard by a route that didn't take him past the Dwarf (though Degas was unaware that Náin was seeking him at all, at that time) until Degas was gone.

How long he had been muttering to himself in the stables, Náin wasn't quite sure. It could have been five minutes, or it could have been half an hour. Time is difficult to keep track of when your mind is endlessly revisiting the same themes over and over and over...

Cursing himself for his inattention, Náin set off back into the Mead Hall, determined to find Degas and apologize- whether the boy liked it or not.

He found him on his way out of the kitchen, eating. Whether it was second breakfast, or a first, or if he was just eating (Men in their teens, Náin reflected, had appetites to rival Hobbits) for the sake of it, Náin did not know.

"Degas!" he called the young man's name, catching his attention. Mouth still full, Degas half-turned to face the Dwarf, his face full of suspicion and altogether unfriendly.

"I would speak with you, if you would," said Náin, bracing himself. Remember, he thought: you deserve this.

[littlemanpoet]

Eodwine noted that Marenil joined them, and offered an apology that he had not thought of calling him to their artisan meeting.

Eodwine saw Saeryn join them later yet. She spoke quietly, hardly looking at him. Now what? Something was eating her. Oh, it must have to do with that drop-jawed look she had given him when he's sent Trystan to the privies. They would talk about that later.

He listened to Stigend and Garstan trade their thoughts on how the kitchen should be rebuilt. Something was on edge in Stigend, and it made Eodwine more on edge himself, against his will. It did not help that this Trystan had come to them out of the shadows of the stables, seemingly trying to steal a horse and then cover his tracks. It had put Eodwine more on is guard than he cared to be. He would have to find something to do after this meeting to ease the edge.

Marenil took a turn to speak, and what a speech it was! Eodwine stared at his new steward in wonder. Had the man just listed off over a dozen things to better the holdings? Eodwine did think that he had. But this was getting off track. Eodwine wanted the kitchen matter dealt with first. He smiled warmly at Marenil.

"Your list of ways to better these holdings is grand, and beyond my coffers' depth, I fear, good Marenil. I would that you make a list of these betterings. Start it with the betterment that is most doable and lowest in cost, ending with the least doable and highest in cost. Also, number them in order of the most needful to least. But do so after this little meeting.

"Garstand and Stigend, I would that we have the kitchen fixed so Frodides and Kara are happy and not tripping over each other. I care not whether it hoves against the mead hall or is twenty steps away. But I want to hear the two of you air your views now, and I want you to come to an agreement before we finish our breakfasts. Say on."

[Nogrod]

Stigend looked at Garstan but he nodded back for him to start. Stigend was not at all happy with that as he felt himself a newcomer around, but after the second nod he gave in. “Well, if you want us to build a kitchen Frodides and Kara will be happy with, we will not be building a corridor." he said, looking questioningly to Garstan.

"The faster they get to the Hall the easier it is for them, and the warmer people get their meals. What my friend Garstan here said, surely is an issue." he nodded towads Garstan appreciatingly. "The fire safety is a thing to be considered. But if the firewall is built carefully and wide enough, and the people who use the oven are not careless, it should not pose a real threat. And the savings in winter heating are considerable enough." he looked over the table to see how people around it reacted. Especially he tried to catch the expressions of Eodwine and Marenil. The first showed no sign of anything, but the latter seemed somewhat pleased with the idea of saving something.

"With all these things sir Marenil has stated here, it would be easiest and most flexible to start to build the kitchen adjacent to the sleeping quarters. That would leave the things open to any plans to follow. For the next summer we could have an outdoor fireplace to save the main building from any overheating.”

Stigend had clearly made more than he had thought himself capable of. He wasn’t used to make speeches like that. Normally the bosses said what they wanted and then he had just performed what was asked. But here his opinions were clearly appreciated, or at least listened to. And what came to Eodwine, he deemed to require him to tell his mind.

“The corridor surely could be made, and I can build it. That is no problem. But we would need a lot of prime quality wood there, as they would have to be both long and straight. Building a long and narrow hallway demands highest quality timber for the corridor to be stable and safe.” He nodded to Garstan who was sitting across him. He had a feeling that he had managed to speak his mind but still something was nagging him from inside, something was forgotten...

“But surely, that is only my opinion, I’m sure Garstan here has some points to give us.” Stigend nodded to Garstan and smiled to him in a friendly way “We may have our different areas of expertise, but at some agreed point they surely will come together. I’m not saying that we should do as I say, but after Garstan has made his opinion clear, you should be able to decide on the proceedings.” With that Stigend nodded to the lord Eodwine and cut a piece of sausage to fit his bread....

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

"I would speak with you, if you would," said Náin.

Degas looked down at the dwarf, secretly and somewhat shamefully glad that his higher stature gave him an excellent excuse and ability to look down his nose and glower.

"Aye, and would it, Master Dwarf, be in words, or in shouts?" Degas's feelings toward the dwarf had not much changed since the night before. He wished fervently that he had responded to Nain as a commoner in a tavern might; a slight to my dignity? I shall remedy it with an highly dignified punch to the face! But he reflected upon the situation with some regret; to hit a dwarf seemed so... wrong. Like hitting a very furry and gravelly child. And the dwarf was too low to get much impact behind a punch anyhow... And who kicks dwarfs?

Degas stood still, his arms crossed before him, struggling with thoughts unbecoming of one that wanted to maintain a certain image of aloofness and uncaring. He waited for Nain's response, waiting for the dwarf to reveal for what reason he had come.

[Formendacil]

"I would speak to you in measured words, if I might- in contrast to last night," Náin clenched his jaw as he replied to Degas. The greater height of the man did not intimidate him (few Dwarves, wisely or foolishly were intimidated by height). But the temptation to forget the whole matter, or to blow up in shouting, or to just slap the foolish boy in the face was strong.

"In fact," he pressed on, before Degas could get another snide comment in, "it is about my behaviour last night that I wish to speak."

"Oh?" Degas didn't bother trying to hide the sarcasm. "Did Eodwine interrupt you before you were finished? Have you got more to say?"

"Would you be silent for a minute and let me get on with it!" Náin burst out, grabbing Degas by the tunic.

"I am trying to apologize to you for my behaviour last night!" he shouted at the boy. Then, realizing what he was doing, he released Degas, drew in a deep breath, and continued in more normal voice before Degas had recovered his wits.

"It was wrong of me to barge in on you, your sister, and the Lord Eodwine. It was wrong of me to raise my voice at the lot of you. And... it was wrong of me to be so brusque in apologizing. I would have your forgiveness, if you can give it."

Feeling more awkward than he had yet that morning, Náin clasped his hands behind his back and rocked slightly on his heels, awaiting an answer.