The next day, Emma's second official day in Rohan, Carling woke her up earlier. "Mrs. Smith said I'm to take you to Madge before I start on my chores."

"Mrs. Smith?"

"Sinead."

"Oh right, I forgot you called her that," Emma sat up and yawned, "what time is it?"

"Just after dawn," Carling answered, "I've got to help with breakfast and Mrs. wanted you at Madge's as early as possible."

"I bet she did," Emma murmured under her breath.

Carling gave a small chuckle, "I know she's a bit rough around the edges but Mrs. Smith is a good woman, she'll warm up to you soon enough."

"Sure she will," Emma said as she stood. Carling helped her into the same awful dress from yesterday and led her out of the hall.

"It's good you're wearing that dress," Carling said as Emma raised her eyebrow, "the healers' house can be pretty filthy, especially if there's injured men in there."

"Filthy?" Emma asked, that didn't bode well for the health of the Rohirrim.

"Just a bit disorganized, Madge has herbs and powders everywhere and then there's the men who come in with their scrapes and bruises." They had arrived at a small home not far from the hall where they were greeted by an older woman. Her hair was gray and her face was wrinkled, her hands were covered in a dark red pigment and her dress was covered in stains, Emma understood now why Carling recommended the ugly old dress, not that Emma had anything else until Blythe was done with her order.

"Madge, this is Emma, I think Sinead's told you about her."

"Ah yes, our new guest. You've made quite an impression on Sinead you know," Madge said with a chuckle.

"Not on purpose, I promise," Emma replied.

Madge laughed, "Sinead isn't a fan of strangers, and she's a bit jealous of any women who get near Eomer, she sees him as a son and is protective like a mother bear."

"Oh, I'm not near Eomer at all!" Emma protested, "she has nothing to worry about."

Madge smiled, "who knows, pretty lady, handsome lord, the story writes itself!"

"That's enough teasing Madge," Carling jumped in, "poor Lady Emma doesn't know that's just how we talk around here."

"You don't let an old woman have her fun," Madge gave her the stink eye, then turned to Emma, "but I supposed we do have more important things to do today." She turned and ushered both of them inside her home.

"This is where I leave you Emma," Carling said, "Sinead'll have my head if I'm not back soon."

"I'll take good care of her, don't you worry!" Madge turned to Emma, "So, old Sinead said you know a little about healing?"

"Just a bit really, I can do some stitches and CPR and such," she said, "its not much..."

"It's a start at least," Madge nodded, "although I don't know what CPR means."

"Well, basically, it's a way to resuscitate people who stop breathing," Emma tried to think of the simplest way to explain.

"Well that sounds handy," Madge patted her shoulder, leaving residue of the red powder on the dress, Emma thought it was an improvement. "I can teach you the herbs I use to heal, and some of my spells," she winked.

"Spells?" Emma questioned.

"Everyone thinks it's a bunch of nonsense but I find that adding a spell always helps the wounds heal quicker, gives it a bit of a push," she winked again.

Emma took a look around the room. There was a fireplace in the corner, large jugs of water, herbs and powders everywhere, in no particular order, and other rudimentary tools. Like Carling had described, the room was a bit of a mess.

"Can I help you straighten up before we start?" Emma offered.

"Oh, dear no!" Madge exclaimed, "Don't touch anything, I know exactly where everything is! I have a system!"

"Right, of course."

"You'll get the hang of it soon," she laughed.

The rest of the morning was spent going over the layout of the room, Madge wanted to make sure Emma knew exactly where everything was (the lack of any kind of coherent system made this take much longer than it should have), and learning the use of some of the more common healing herbs. Emma recognized some of the plants, but many she had never heard of. They were interrupted briefly by a young boy who had fallen while riding his horse and had a large cut on his leg. Emma cleaned out the wound properly and stitched it back up under Madge's watchful eye, she seemed to approve of her work.

Madge sent Emma home a few hours before dinner, Carling helped her clean up a bit and then put her in the other dress Sinead had given her.

"Won't Eowyn mind that I ruined her clothes?" Emma asked.

"Oh no, Lady Eowyn hasn't worn these dresses in ages. Besides, she's been living in Edoras with King Theoden for the last couple years. We haven't seen her around here in a while."

"Doesn't she come to visit Eomer?"

"Lord Eomer usually sees her when he goes to Edoras. It's dangerous to travel around in Rohan these days, especially for a lady," she gave Emma a pointed look, probably referring to Emma and her parents' "attack."

"Right, of course."

"Well, this'll have to do for now. It's a bit better than the brown dress, I didn't have to hem it as much, I think this is from when Lady was younger."

Carling was right, this dress, while still too large, fit significantly better than the first dress. Emma thanked Carling and they both headed down to the hall. Emma once again sat at the head table in what must be her temporary seat during her stay. She sat next to Cedric but noted that Eomer's chair was empty.

"Good evening Cedric."

"Good evening Lady Emma," he replied kindly.

"Is Eomer not joining us for dinner?"

"Eomer went out on a patrol this morning with a few riders, he may be back late tonight."

"Oh." Emma was quiet for a moment, having no idea what to say to the man next to her, "did you have a good day? I haven't seen you since yesterday morning I think."

"Yes, my lady, I believe you missed a few meals yourself," he laughed.

"Apparently my new duties will keep me very occupied," she laughed in return.

"It's good to keep busy, a good distraction from our problems," he said, like they shared a secret, which, she supposed, they did.

"Definitely."

Emma was relatively quiet during dinner. She mostly listened to Cedric and Eadgar chat about politics and the ongoing trouble in Rohan. She knew a bit about it from her knowledge of the movies, but not really enough to have anything meaningful to say. Besides, it would look odd for a foreigner such as herself to know much about Rohan after being here all of two days. Halfway through the meal, Declan showed up. Among all of Eomer's men, Declan had been the friendliest, and Emma struck up a conversation with him instead. Declan mentioned that there was to be a celebration of sorts. "It's a yearly contest for the men, there are horse races and duels. I'm going to win this year!" he boasted. Cedric and Eadgar, who had caught the last few minutes of their conversation, laughed. "You won't win anything Declan, Eomer wins every year and you know it!"

"Well, things can change," Declan said with confidence, "will you cheer for me, Lady Emma? It'll bring me good luck."

"Sure I will Declan, it sounds like fun," she said with a smile.

"Eomer won't be pleased his guest isn't cheering for him," Cedric said jokingly.

"Well, he should've asked me first," Emma quipped, the men laughed. Emma was glad to finally be having what was a, relatively, normal conversation.

The next week passed in a similar manner, Emma would spend her mornings working on the hall's accounts and then head to Madge's in the afternoon. She would see Eomer infrequently, he always seemed to be leaving when she arrived. Their interactions were limited to short greetings at mealtimes and nods when they crossed paths. Eomer was too busy training the Eored and going out on patrols to spend much time worrying about his "guest," he trusted that Sinead and Madge would keep her occupied.

Sinead had yet to warm up to Emma and she began to doubt that the woman ever would, they only spoke when Emma needed help with the accounts and their interactions were perfunctory and brief. Mostly, Emma spent time with Carling and Madge, an arrangement she preferred anyway. She began to like Madge very much. The woman was, in her own way, wise and knowledgeable. Emma felt that she was learning how to treat patients with the very little resources available to her, although she missed some of the technology that her EMT training had provided her. Madge loved her practical jokes though, and was often pushing Emma to talk about Eomer. The old woman was a meddlesome romantic. Emma always responded the same way, she barely saw Eomer and didn't have much to say about him.

"Well, one of the other riders then, must have caught your eye," she pushed.

"Not really," Emma replied, "I've been too busy spending time with you, and I think I prefer it that way. Men just bring trouble with them," she laughed. As if on cue, Eomer entered the hut, supporting Declan, who seemed to have a large cut on his shoulder.

"What happened?" Madge asked, tersely.

"It's just a scratch gram," Declan bit out.

"Gram?" Emma questioned.

"This fool here is my grandson," Madge grumbled.

"He got injured doing a stunt on a horse," Eomer explained.

"What have I told you about your stupid stunts?" Madge wacked Declan on the head.

"I was practicing for the tournament! Lady Emma's cheering for me, I've got to make her proud," he grinned.

Eomer turned to Emma with a dark look in his eyes.

"Ah, showing off for the ladies then," another thump, "what have I said about that too?!"

"Maybe we should get that taken care of," Emma jumped in before Madge murdered her poor grandson herself.

"Right, you take care of this child," Madge said, "I'm going out to talk to his mother." Declan seemed very nervous for a grown man.

"You seem afraid," Emma said with a small smile.

"You haven't met my mother," he gulped. Emma laughed and, once again, Eomer gave her an unreadable look.

"I can take care of the cut if you're busy," she said to him.

"No, I'll supervise," he said shortly.

"Supervise?" She raised her eyebrow, "I didn't realize you knew much about healing?"

"I've had to clean wounds out on patrol," he challenged.

"If you don't trust me to handle it," she waved in the direction of her supplies.

"Just fix his shoulder," Eomer cut in.

"Fine." Emma grit her teeth. "I'm going to need you to remove your shirt," she addressed Declan.

Declan gave her a flirtatious grin, "whatever you want my lady."

Emma laughed but it was Eomer's turn to glare at Declan, "show some respect for the lady," he bit out.

"It's okay, really, it's just a joke," she laughed. One look at Eomer's face, however, made her turn back to her supplies and start cleaning out the wound. She took her time stitching Declan back up, she didn't want her work to look sloppy, and she hadn't had much practice. She and Declan chatted amiably the entire time while Eomer glowered over the both of them. When she had finished Eomer pulled Declan up and rushed him out to finish his duties.

"He should really rest that shoulder while it heals," Emma remarked.

"He'll be fine," Eomer responded, "I'll see you at dinner," he nodded to her and left.