Chapter Two
A Visit from Felipe
The child slowly opened her eyes. She saw that the sun was shinning down on her from on open window to her left. Out side she could hear many people talking amongst themselves as they continued their daily routines.
Suddenly thoughts from before came flooding back to her. She remembered wandering around the hills and finally sighting the great golden halls of Edoras. She remembered seeing a man watching her. She also remembered falling and laying there for what seeming life an age. A magnificent white horse had come before her and a man with a kind face had lifted her up and looked worriedly at her. That was all she could remember. She could remember anything that had happened the hours, days, or even years before. Her memory was completely blank.
She sat up slowly and closed her eyes as her head spun. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and looked around. Her bed was low to the floor. It was of soft packed dirt. Next to the bed was a small table. There was a small cup and bowl on top. Inside the bowl were small shreds of leaves and herbs. The cub had a green liquid in it and it had a very sour smell. An old woman was stirring a pot of soup. She was bent over the fire, murmuring as she worked. Suddenly she turned. Her gaze fell upon the child.
"Ah, at last, you are awake," the woman poured a spoonful of the soup in to a cup. She walked over the child, sitting on the bed beside her, "Here, drink this. It will help your head."
The child took the cup into her small hands and drank the soup slowly. Gradually her head stopped throbbing.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"You are in the house of healing in the country of Rohan. My name is," she replied.
"How long have I been asleep?" the child questioned.
"For two and a half days, my child. Felipe has come to visit you often," seeing the puzzled look on the child's face she continued, "The man who rescued you. Do you remember him?"
"Yes I remember only a little from that night," the child replied. Just then there came a knock on the door.
"Come in," Bashar called. In walked Felipe. The child studied him. His face was very kind. He looked to have just come out of his teenage years, but his face told her that he had seen much in his short life. Too much.
"I see that you have finally woken," Felipe said as he set a small bouquet of Lilacs in a vase on the stand next to her bed.
"Thank you for doing what you did. Bringing me here," the girl said quietly.
"A few more minutes and I may have not been able to save you," Bashar said, "You had a very severe head wound. You were also very dehydrated and exhausted beyond belief. What in Middle-Earth happened to you?"
"I can not remember," the girl replied, "I do not remember anything other than coming here."
"What is you name? Can you at least remember that?" Bashar questioned.
The girl thought for a moment. Several letters seemed the flash in her mind, nut no words came to her. "No," she replied simply and turned to look out the window. The sky was cloudless and the birds were singing a joyful song. The girl began to hum a song to herself. She did not know where it came from or how she had remembered it but she kept on humming. Slowly words came to her:
Across the Shinning Sea,
Lies a fair wondrous place,
Filled with happiness and joy.
Luscious green hills and
Forests with trees to climb.
Sweet waters to drink and food a plenty.
Many pools to swim and rivers to cross.
Across the Shinning Sea,
Lies a wondrous place,
Far from this treacherous place.
Her song ended and she lay back down. Felipe thought that he had glimpsed tears in her eyes before she had closed them and drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
Later that day the girl woke again. Both Bashar and Felipe were gone. She stood up and wandered to the door. She looked around for a moment and silently slipped out the door. Many people were still hustling about. They hardly gave her a glance as they passed her by. Eventually she had found her way to the great stable. She wandered in, admiring the magnificent horses. Several stuck their heads over the stall doors, but most were noisily munching on hay. She patted each one that came to greet her. As she rounded the first corner she saw a large greed wheel barrel half filled with manure sitting next to an open stall. Someone was tossing more manure in from somewhere inside the stall. She walked up to see Felipe scooping up the last of the spoilt bedding. He must not have seen her because when he shut the door and turned around her nearly fell over from shock.
"Hullo," he said as he wiped the sweat from his brow, "Shouldn't you be with Bashar?"
"No, I am fine now," she replied simply. After a moment of awkward silence she asked, "May I help you?"
"Well of course," Felipe replied, "How much experience have you with horses?"
"A little," the girl replied brightly.
"Great…how do you know? I thought you couldn't remember anything?" Felipe questioned.
"I'm not sure. I just know," the girl replied.
"Well you can take the other wheel barrel and fill it with straw. Then spread it around evenly in all the stalls that I have cleaned. The wheel barrel is around the next corner," Felipe said.
Without another word the girl hurried down the isle. Felipe continued his work. About a half hour later the girl startled him again.
"I have put bedding in every stall that you have cleaned. What would you like me to do next?"
A bit surprised, he paused and scratched his head, "I only have two left to clean. You can bed those and then we can start exercising the horses." She just nodded and returned back to her wheel barrel.
Felipe emptied her wheel barrel into the heaping manure pile and set the wheel barrel down next to it. Moments later the girl appeared pushing the oversized wheel barrel with ease. She set it down gently next to the other one and looked up at Felipe with brilliant, shinning eyes.