The hall was something out of a film. It was filled with men and women dressed in various medieval style clothing, drinking out of tankards and eating from wooden bowls. Eomer and his highest-ranking advisors sat at a head table on a slightly raised dais. There was an empty chair next to him, Emma assumed this is where she would be sitting. She didn't quite like the idea, she felt so out of place already, sitting next to Eomer on the platform would just put a bigger spotlight on her. There was nothing for it though, so she decided to get it over with. She walked through the crowd as confidently as she could muster, keeping her head up and focusing her eyes on a spot just to the left of Eomer's shoulder. As if on cue, every eye in the hall turned towards her. Some stared with unembarrassed curiosity, a couple of the women giggled at the state of her sloppily cut and oversized dress, but she caught a few men looking at her with lustful eyes. Those were the stares she hated the most.

As she reached the head table, she nodded to the men and headed towards Eomer. "Sinead said that you wanted to speak to me."

Eomer looked her up and down, grimacing at her dress, and then replied, "Yes, as we discussed there may be a way you can make yourself useful while you are under our protection, sit, we can talk about it now." His tone was unfriendly and brusque.

Emma raised her eyebrows at his wording and as she sat, she said "I understand neither of us likes this situation, I'm not pleased to be here either you know, but maybe you could try to be civil while I'm here."

Eomer turned to her with a raised eyebrow, "I'm sorry, my lady," he said with an exaggerated huff, "but while you suffer for having to live in the grandest home in Aldburg and being served by my household, I suffer by knowing that your very presence here puts my people at risk."

"Well, it's a good thing this was your idea then," Emma retorted, bitingly.

Cedric, who was sitting next to Emma, cut in quietly, "Excuse me, my lord, my lady, perhaps this conversation would be better had in private. We would not want anyone to overhear something."

"Cedric is correct," Eomer glared at Emma, "let's finish breakfast, then we can talk in my study. I'll have Sinead take you to the tailor immediately after," he nodded to her dress, "this has to be fixed right away."

"Fine, we can talk after." Emma said, "But I don't have any money for any dresses, this will have to do."

"I'll pay for them, it will draw less attention if you are properly dressed. Besides," he said after taking a sip of his mead, "you'll be working in the hall as well, that can be your payment."

"How generous of you," Emma bit back. It was generous, but he was impossible and she couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"I'm glad you think so, my lady," Eomer stated sarcastically.

The rest of breakfast was an awkward affair. It seemed that no one really know what to say to Emma, and she didn't know what to say to them. What do you talk about with a stranger from a parallel universe whose very presence puts your entire world in peril? What do you say to a group of men who see women only as wives and mothers? Emma sat quietly: wondering how her family was, if she would ever see them again, or if she would even survive this nightmare. As she sat contemplating everything that led up to this moment, she was startled when she was approached from behind.

"I'm sorry what was that?" Emma jumped a bit in her seat.

"I was asking if my lady was finished with breakfast?" The young servant was waving in the direction of her plate which sat in front of her, mostly untouched. The men at her table, as well as the servant, looked disapproving. Times were lean and wasting food was looked down upon. Luckily, Emma came to this conclusion on her own and replied, "Oh, I'm so sorry I was a bit distracted, I'm still working on it if you could please leave it, I will finish it." She saw Eomer give her a nod of approval out of the corner of her eye.

When she had finished her meal, she followed Eomer down a series of corridors to his study. "You said the other night that you can read?"

"Yes, I can read, write, I'm quite good at math and science as well."

"I don't think all that will be necessary," Eomer smirked. "All I need from you is to manage the accounts. I don't have time to deal with accounting for taxes, expenses for the hall, and inventorying supplies for the winter. We need to make sure there will be enough food to get everyone through the season. There are notes here about the population of Aldburg and its outlying villages. You should talk to Sinead and figure out our current supply, we'll have to send out men to do the same for the outlying villages."

"I can go with them if they need me to do the inventory."

"You are not to leave Aldburg," Eomer said harshly, "the whole point of you being here is to keep you out of danger."

"Fine," Emma gritted through her teeth.

"You said you were a healer as well?"

"I'm a student, I know some basic things," she said.

"Tomorrow you can go to Madge, see if you can make yourself useful." Eomer said while rifling through some drawers.

"Well I'm glad you've found a use for me then," Emma responded. She didn't know why she was being so prickly, but something about his attitude was very off-putting to her. It was hard to be polite to a man who so obviously thought of her as an annoying burden.

"Sinead should be in the kitchen, take these," he handed her a bag of coins, "and ask her to take you to the seamstress."

"Thank you."

Eomer nodded and picked up some documents to work on. Evidently, she was dismissed. Emma turned and walked out, intent on finding the kitchen. It took longer than she liked, but eventually, Emma found herself following the sound of voices and dishes clanging. She walked into the kitchen, the maids were cleaning up from breakfast and prepping for the evening meal. In the middle, reigning over everyone, stood Sinead. She turned a bit and spotted Emma, her face immediately fell and she gave Emma the frown she believed was reserved especially for her.

"Eomer asked me to go to the seamstress," she began, "he said you may be able to accompany me."

"Lord Eomer," Sinead emphasized his title, offended that Emma would address him so informally, "didn't tell me about this."

"Well he told me and now I'm telling you," Emma responded, tired of Sinead's unfriendly attitude.

Sinead turned a delightful shade of red, "I have things to do, Carling can take you."

"Great," Emma responded, she wasn't looking forward to spending time with the grumpy housekeeper either, "where can I find her?"

"I'll have her meet you in the front hall," Sinead answered, already turning back to the kitchen staff, "wear your cloak, I don't imagine you want to be seen in that dress."

Emma nodded, turned, and headed to the front hall. About ten minutes later, Carling came through a side passage and gave Emma a small curtsey.

"Hi Carling," Emma smiled at her, she was the only one who had been kind to her since she'd arrived in Aldburg, "I thought we agreed to stop the curtsying?"

"In private, my lady, but in public, I must address you properly or Sinead will have my head."

"I don't think Sinead would mind you being rude to me," Emma laughed.

Carling gave her a small smile, "Missus is just wary of strangers. She'll warm up to you my lady, I swear it."

"If you say so," Emma laughed, "I think we should head out before my dress offends any more of the town."

"Of course, my lady," Carling gestured to the door, "follow me."

Emma and Carling made idle conversation on the walk to the seamstress' home. Carling told Emma about her family, her brother was one of Eomer's riders, while Emma told her as many details of her home as she could without revealing her secret. Eventually, they arrived at a small but tidy cottage. Carling knocked on the door and they were greeted by a kind-looking, middle-aged woman. She had smile lines and some graying hair, but she was still very lovely.

"Missus Blythe, this is Lady Emma, she is a guest at the manor and she needs some new dresses quickly, her family was attacked and she lost all her belongings," Carling introduced them.

"Hello Lady Emma," Blythe responded with a smile, "yes I had heard a bit about our newest visitor. We don't get a lot of new faces around her," she winked at Emma.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Blythe," Emma smiled back.

"Just Blythe dear, Carling is always much too formal," she chuckled.

"I agree," Emma smiled at Carling, who blushed.

"So how many dresses do you need?"

"Umm..." in truth, Emma had no idea. She had no concept of money in this universe. She had the bag of coins Eomer had given her, but she didn't know if it was a lot of money or a little, or how many dresses it could buy. Besides, she should probably save some of it, she didn't want to have to ask Eomer for money in the future.

"Lady Emma needs an entirely new wardrobe," Carling took the lead, "Lord Eomer made a list," she handed Blythe a piece of paper filled with neat handwriting.

"I see," Blythe said as she looked at the list, it appeared she could also read. "Well let's get you measured and you can pick out some fabrics." She lead Emma to a side room and had her strip to her underthings, and began to take measurements.

"Alright," she said finally, "I think I can work off of these measurements, now you just need to pick fabrics, I've got some new ones from the merchants who came through last month. You're in luck, I bought some finer fabric than usual, I'm not sure what possessed me, it's not many people who can afford dresses from those materials, but they were so beautiful," Blythe said sighed dreamily.

"Well, I really don't need anything too fine," Emma replied.

"Nonsense," Blythe scoffed, "you are to be a Lady living in the grand hall, you must look the part," she beamed.

"Well if you insist," Emma smiled, not wanting to spoil Blythe's fun, she just hoped her budget would stretch. They began looking at fabric, Blythe very quickly took over selecting which colors to dress Emma in. She chose an emerald green color, a navy blue, a white, and, after an extremely long argument, a bright red.

"This is much too bright," Emma protested. "Everyone else seems to wear more muted colors, I'll stick out like a sore thumb."

"My lady, no offense, but you already stick out like a sore thumb." Blythe stared at Emma. She was right, Emma was several inches shorter than even the shortest Rohan woman. She also had much darker coloring, as the Rohirrim were, almost uniformly, blonde-haired while Emma's hair was a deep brown color.

"Well then, shouldn't I try to wear more discreet colors so I don't stand out even more?" Emma pushed back.

"But that red looks so beautiful on you!" Carling jumped in.

While Emma liked the colors Blythe and Carling had picked out, she didn't think they looked like the clothing she'd seen the Rohirrim wear. They tended to favor earth tones. She wondered why Blythe purchased material in these colors to begin with. Although after getting to know her, Emma realized that Blythe was a dreamer, and she picked out the colors that she thought were most beautiful, regardless of practicality. This was her opportunity to finally dress someone in her beautiful colors, and she was jumping on it.

In the end, Emma let them choose the styles and colors, she didn't know anything about fashion in these times and would feel equally out of place in any clothing they gave her, might as well let them have their fun.

When they were finished with their consultation, Emma pulled out her bag of coins to pay Blythe.

"No need Lady Emma," Blythe protested, "Lord Eomer has already sent payment for the dresses and your other necessities."

"But he gave me these coins to pay for the dresses," Emma said, confused.

"Perhaps you can keep it in case you need something else in the future?" Carling suggested.

Emma nodded, she wasn't sure what he was about giving her money when he had already paid for the clothing, but she agreed that she may need it for a rainy day. After thanking Blythe, who assured her would send the dresses as quickly as possible, Emma and Carling made it back to the hall. They had spent most of the day at Blythe's and Sinead chastised Carling for not making it back to prepare dinner, glaring at Emma like it was her fault. Carling apologized profusely, while Emma did take the blame, "Please Sinead, it really was my fault, I couldn't decide and lost track of time."

"Well maybe next time you'll realize that there are more important things going on here than your vanity," Sinead bit back. Emma wanted to snap at her but didn't want Carling in any more trouble than she already was.

"Maybe I will," she said.

"Most of the men have already eaten," Sinead told them, "Carling will bring you something to eat after she's done with her chores." Carling and Emma took this as their hint to make themselves scarce. Carling left to finish her chores, Emma went up to her room and tried to find something to do with herself. She daydreamed about home: taking a hot bath, watching some Netflix, ordering Postmates, by now she even missed studying for biology.

Eventually, Carling came up with a tray of food. Once again it was simple fare, bland compared to the food she was used to, but Emma ate it dutifully. She knew that every meal was a sacrifice in Rohan, and she wouldn't disrespect the people by wasting it. Emma thanked Carling and said goodnight, she went to bed early as she had nothing else to do.