Part 99 of the Elfwine Chronicles. The Elfwine Chronicles are a series of one-shots built around the family group of Eomer, Lothiriel and Elfwine. The total number will depend on how many ideas I get for new vignettes.
A/N: Here you go! I finally got 99 done, so that means #100 will be along shortly. I hope you think 100 was worth the wait. It feels special to me, but then I am "closer" to these characters than likely some of you are. Their ups and downs almost seem personal to me. And you'll be pleased to know 101 and 102 are in progress.
Bounty
(March, 28 IV)
Theodwyn was bored. She sat slouched in a chair in the kitchen area of her new home, idly flicking the end of her apron up in the air.
When she had married Freawine in December, life had been bliss, but now the day-to-day routine had set in, and she found that keeping their house did not take that much of her time. She'd washed clothes, made bread, dusted every nook and cranny, but still there were too many hours to be filled in her day.
With a sigh, she wandered to the door and threw it open, to let in the fresh spring air. Though still a bit chill at nights, the days were glorious. Walking out into the bright sunshine, she cast her gaze around her yard. Then her eyes fell on her garden. Earlier, she had tidied up the flower beds, and already new young shoots were making their appearance, but now her gaze took in the vegetable garden that had been laid out the previous summer. She had done nothing with that…
xx
Though Theodwyn had occasionally helped her mother work in the garden behind Meduseld, she had little practical experience with growing a vegetable garden on her own. Consequently, she thought it best to ask around of various people about what to plant and how to go about it. Most everyone assured her that potatoes were a good crop and easy to grow, even giving her a few seed potatoes from their stash.
Caffola had been to town briefly, and she pressed him for more information, since he had a farming background and maintained a garden in the Folde at his home. He told her several ways to increase her yield, and explained that she should get some pine needles to add to the soil, making it better suited to potato growth at Edoras.
With all the new knowledge swirling around in her head, Theodwyn set about putting in her garden. Once she had the soil prepared as she remembered being instructed, she brought out the seed potatoes. After she had cut them up into the proper size, it did not seem to be very many pieces, which surely would mean she would not get very many potatoes. Leaving her work, she headed off to obtain more seed potatoes to plant.
At last she was ready to begin the planting. With the large number of pieces waiting to go into the ground, she put them slightly closer together than she had been told so she would have room for them. Caffola had mentioned that they sometimes planted potatoes in mounds, in areas where they were short on room, so she placed a few mounds in spots that would be difficult to use otherwise.
The planting made for a long day, and she decided to wait until the following day to put in the other plants she intended to grow. But pausing to gaze over her handiwork, she felt quite satisfied with her efforts. They should have a plentiful crop and surely Freawine would be impressed with her gardening prowess.
Over supper that night, she relayed a discourse on her day's activities, omitting the boring details, and as she had expected, he was properly pleased with what she had accomplished, demonstrating his approval most satisfactorily later that evening.
Then came the waiting. There was weeding and watering and hilling to be done, of course, but that was something tangible to focus on. Theodwyn was not particularly good at waiting. She had been told she could not expect a crop of decent size potatoes for nearly four months, and so she watched impatiently, and tended her garden faithfully.
Along about early June, Freawine ventured into the garden to pick some of the produce that had already come forth and was ready to harvest, and he eyed the extensive rows of potato plants, growing enthusiastically in Edoras' climate. His brow furrowed and he called into the house for his wife. "Theodwyn?"
Appearing at the door, she responded, "Yes?"
"This…seems like quite a lot of potatoes, dearest," he observed cautiously, not wanting to upset her.
"Oh, yes. That is necessary for a good crop," she replied breezily.
Freawine had never been a gardener himself, so he could not honestly dispute her claim, but there were so many… Ah, well, he thought, we can always share with the family.
At last July arrived and Theodwyn eagerly began her harvest. Carefully digging as she had been instructed, she pulled forth an excellent crop. Freawine quite enjoyed the homegrown potatoes she served him for supper that night.
Since there was only the two of them, and there were plenty more that she had not yet harvested, Theodwyn gave a basket of them to Freawine's parents, which were cheerfully received although they had their own garden and did not really need any more than what they were growing themselves.
Still Theodwyn found she had a lot of potatoes and, not wanting them to go bad before they could be eaten, she sent to Meduseld for a servant to help her carry two baskets up there. Naturally, as these were potatoes grown by the king's daughter, the bounty was largely reserved for his table alone. With so many of them, however, it became necessary to serve them often. The cook was finding it quite challenging to come up with different ways of presenting them.
And still the crop kept coming. Freawine was pressed to bring another two baskets the following week, which he deposited in the Golden Hall with an apologetic grin, and Eomer watched with dismay as servants collected the offering and carried them off to the kitchens.
After a fortnight of this, Eomer was at the end of his rope. He liked potatoes as much as the next man, but this was too much. He'd had them boiled, roasted, buttered, fried, baked and cut up in stews at nearly every meal for the past two weeks – indeed, he was heartily sick of them! Granted, cook had gotten rather creative of late, and he had rather enjoyed it when she mashed them into griddle cakes and fried them for breakfast but, still, enough was enough!
As he sat down to his dinner, there were more potatoes staring bloatedly up at him and he scowled at them in irritation. Plaintively he looked up at his wife and asked, "Is there nothing we may do to end this potato siege?"
Lothiriel chuckled in amusement. She had been noticing Eomer's growing annoyance with his menu, and wondered how long it would take him to object. She, herself, had been rationing what she ate, not always indulging at every meal despite their ever-present position on the table.
With a smile, she looked at him, her eyes twinkling. "We could sneak into Theodwyn's garden and destroy the crop…"
Eomer snorted. "Not likely! I do not think the crop can be destroyed – it is more persistent than Sauron and his minions! Besides, our shieldmaiden daughter would hear us, bolt from the house half-awake and run us through before she realized it was her parents. I do not think crop warfare is the answer!"
At least now her husband was smiling slightly, having somewhat regained his sense of humor, so Lothiriel offered a second option, "Then I think it is time we share our bounty with the less fortunate of Edoras. Surely there are those who would welcome this food, and not find it so…disagreeable. Cook has been keeping them for us, but I will tell her to see that they get passed on elsewhere and that we not have them more than three times a week. Will that suit, beloved?"
Eomer sighed with relief and nodded. "Yes! You will do it just after dinner?" he urged anxiously, and she nodded in amusement.
Picking up his knife, he took a long look at his plate, then with a sigh began to cut his food and eat. After the first swallow of fried potato, he paused to add, "And do have someone explain to Theodwyn how many plants are needed to feed two people. I should not like this bounty to be repeated every year for the remainder of my life!"
THE END
9/11/06 – 9/16/06
End note: It is best that you read the Elfwine Chronicles in the order they were written. The more of them that I wrote, the more likely I was to make reference to one of the previous ones and something that happened there. If you want to read them in order, go to the top of this page and click on my name (Deandra). That will take you to my profile page. Scroll down and you will find all the stories I have written. The Elfwine Chronicles are in order from bottom to top since ffn shows them in the order they were posted. A few were posted out of number order (#15 came after #17, I think), but you can read them in posting order or number order since those few won't be affected in the story content.