Chapter 12.

The sun was rising slowly, setting all the fields ablaze as Éomer led Brynefot out of his stall the next morning. Dengal, a man named Anborn and ten others were still in the stables preparing their own horses for the ride to the city of Aldburg in the Folde where Eorl himself had held his seat as king. Now it would be the base of operations for Éomer as Third Marshal of the Riddermark.

The system of marshals had quickly fallen into disrepair after Théoden had resigned his post as first marshal of the mark after becoming king. Théodred was formally called Second Marshal of the Mark; however he was vainly trying to defend all the lands himself. This was the reason he was no longer at Edoras and Helms Deep as his base of operations had seemed to become his second home.

He mounted Brynefot as Dengal led his horse out of the stable. Since the incident with the village the boy that had once been a rabbit had seemed to become a man. Dengal acted with a new respect for Éomer and had even volunteered to serve under him while he served under his new post as marshal. Éomer now felt him a trustworthy companion and was glad to have his help on this new venture.

When the sky had wholly risen above the plains Éomer and his newly formed éored rode southeast on the Great Road towards the Folde and Aldburg known as the bosom of the world in the Eorlings tongue. It would take half the day to reach the fort.

Éowyn watched from the terrace as her brother left and a single tear fell down her cheek. She vowed silently it would be her last and the tear turned to ice in the cold. She turned silently to the Hall and the opening doors seemed a large, gaping, hole waiting to swallow her whole.

The Folde was dotted with farmsteads and horse herder settlements across its length. Many Eorlings looked up from their work as the passing men and near noon a woman invited them to eat what provisions she could provide. The men accepted the offer gratefully and the bread, cheese and wine she gave them seemed a feast after riding through half the day.

They continued on until after the stars began to appear in the sky and the faint light of the sun lit the edge of the world up in purples and deep reds.

When they arrived it seemed a comfort to see the city enclosed by tall walls and watchtowers very much the same as Edoras. On the watchtowers stood only a few and they did not yell out in question at the riders but let the gates open to them without challenge. The great city had degenerated greatly since its former days told of in many minstrels' songs.

As they entered they saw the city and the halls. Three thatched buildings stood in the middle arranged in the shape of a square with a statue of a mounted man at the side closest to them. The buildings were not large but it was easy to tell they had once been the homes of great men. They soon found out that opposite the statue stood the main hall and the buildings on the left and right were the stables and what was called The Quarters. This was where all the people of the halls slept as the main building held only a dining and meeting hall where the original seat of Eorl had once been.

There was no light to examine the buildings more closely and a man bearing a lamp approached them. He bore a familiar face. Éomer peered closer, in the faint lamplight he could see the man had a short beard, graying around the edges. His hair was red-gold with gray as well, but there was something in his face that made Éomer search his memory. The man laughed when he saw Éomer's perplexed face.

"Do you not know me? But of course I have not seen you since your mother's funeral and I was considerably younger then." he said his voice the essence of laughter: welcoming and loud.

"I am sorry my lord," he had noted the man's rich apparel, "I know your face but I cannot place it."

"I am your uncle, the husband of Elfreordyn, who is the sister of king Théoden."

"Then you are Lord Ceneleod? I am sorry, but I had not recognized you!" Éomer exclaimed as his uncle started to lead them to their quarters and the stable hands took the horses.

"Then you have lived here at Aldburg since…"

"Since I was a boy. Your aunt married me and we continued to live here, that was thirty years ago. She and I are the resident nobles of Aldburg as you might say. We live here with our three daughters. Tomorrow you shall meet all of them, but now I am sure you all are tired and need to rest. Come this way."

The next morning the soldiers woke satisfied from a night on comfortable beds. Éomer was summoned to meet Ceneleod before breakfast and he brought Dengal with him. He was nervous of meeting all these newfound relatives alone. They were able to see the Square (as the inhabitants called it) much more clearly in the sunlight. The statue was of Eorl charging on his horse, his sword raised to the sky.

The main building that they were led to had two great doors crowned by connecting beams and two carvings of horse heads facing both left and right. As they entered Éomer could see the glint of gold that was inlaid in the inner pillars. They met Lord Ceneleod in a small room that connected the dining and meeting halls. It was furnished richly, though not in such extent as Edoras was. The Lord himself was dressed simply in a green tunic like Éomer's own and wore his hair back in a half ponytail.

A woman stood beside him wearing a plain red gown, "This is my wife Elfreordyn, your aunt." the lady smiled with an expression that seemed purely maternal. She reminded Éomer painfully of his mother. She was much older than she would be however if she were still alive. A small girl came, flying into the room her red hair flying around her shoulders.

She walked straight to Éomer and held out her hand, "Hello, you must be our cousin. I am Leofwyn."

"This is our youngest, she is but eight years but she is not shy of strangers, she takes after her father," Elfreordyn said softly her voice lilting and melodic. Two other maidens entered shortly, one around the age of fifteen and the other (presumably the eldest) seemed around twenty-five. The younger took after her mother and had honey-gold hair while the eldest possessed the same golden-red mane as her father.

"Girls, this is your cousin Éomer, recently assigned the position as third Marshal of the Mark and his friend Dengal. These are my daughters Éowine and Hild the eldest," Ceneleod nodded to each in turn and Éomer bowed his head. Dengal stood still and the eldest daughter looked at him strangely until he came to his senses.

"It is an honor to meet you," he said still staring at Hild, "all," he added as Éomer jabbed his shoulder with his elbow.

Ceneleod glanced from one to the other and then at his eldest daughter, "I hope you will join us for breakfast sister-son, Dengal?"

They assented and followed the family to the great dining hall, where many of the men were already eating. Leofwyn took his hand eagerly and led him to sit by her. She continued to chatter on for the rest of the hour much to the amusement of Éomer. He saw Dengal across the table trying to start a conversation with Hild and Éomer almost laughed aloud.

It was good to be here, in this new place with new acquaintances that seemed so familiar. He felt comfortable, a part of this family and happy that the shadows of evil did not seem to reach to this city. He sat back contentedly and listened to Leofwyn ramble on about her horse.

Note: Hey everybody, yes I'm finally updating again! Yes and I will finally respond to you wonderful reviewers, big sloppy kisses from Brynefot for all of you. Oh a quick note on some meanings of names! All old English of course, and I made them all up except for Hild.

Ceneleod- cunning man

Elfreordyn- one with the voice of an elf

Éowine- friend of horses

Hild- battle (old feminine name from Helm Hammerhand's sister)

Dengal- from the root for bell (completely random, I didn't think he would be this much of a developed character but I guess some people just have weird names)

Ok and now for responses to reviews!

dd9736- Thanks for the review on chap. 9 I hope you're still reading the story! I know the age jump this time was a bit confusing but I'm in the midst of editing it so the change isn't so dramatic…

Eokat- Thanks for faithfully reading and reviewing! I'm glad Grima seems creepy sometimes I think my descriptions of him must sound cheesy, thanks!

Southern son- Thanks for the review! Ya Théoden might have turned into a frog, you know Grima is pretty evil.

Angel of the Night Watchers- Thanks for the review! I like your pen name, it's cool. I was wondering if anyone would notice the "cowed" part and hoping nobody would think Éowyn was mooing at him :)

Prince Tyler Briefs- Thanks for the review! I don't know how to do Elfwine yet, though it is a little ways down the line. I like the backstory on your pen name. Thanks for the feedback on the Éowyn bit, I was worried it may sound a little strange.

Beling- Thanks for the review! I hope you like the next chapters as well!

Domlando Blonaghan- Love the name. Thanks for the praise! Make sure to give me examples of the "cleaning up" did you mean grammar? I need as much help as I can get :)

diamondrose57- Thanks for the review!

isilhen- Thanks! I'll be sure to remember the sugarless candies when I visit. I appreciate your support so much! I hope you can read the rest, I know how hard the computer screen can be on older eyes.

Mystikal- Thanks so much for the review! I always imagined it that way as well but when the time came to write it, the idea just popped into my head. I don't know how I am going to write his death scene either…

charliegirl2- Thanks for the review, I'm glad the story didn't disappoint. I hope you post your story about the girl in Rohan soon that you mentioned on your bio page. Thanks for the advice on semicolon's I am so terrible with those. Basically Éomund was a marshal of the mark and as such lived in the Eastfold slightly north of where Éomer is in this chapter. He and his family lived there and then Éomer and Éowyn were taken to Edoras when their mother died of grief. Stuff you have to search out in the appendices. Thanks again!