A/N – I don't understand the confusion. When I wrote the 'Princesses and
Miscreants' chapter/story I clearly stated that from then on it was no
longer the main story. I don't want to post these as a individual stories
on because having to explain each time who she is and having people
understand her background and the little pieces of information you gain
from reading the main story is too much hassle. I couldn't write with
familiarity if I were posting anew each time, because every time I
mentioned something from a prior tale, or from the main story I would have
to explain it in detail and that would rather spoil the moment. And also
some of these are very short and I wouldn't feel right about posting a 2000
word story and just leaving it at that.
:) I thank you for the reviews, you guys are the best and I love hearing from you and I'm sorry I confused you, but it's so much easier this way!
The heir of Théodred
Elfwine: Part Three
As the young princess' story came to a close she was shaking slightly with the emotion of it all. The boys looked to each other eyes wide with how much she had been through in her short life and right then and there the magic surrounding Mayda took hold of their hearts and forever afterwards she was special to them.
" Children," a voice called from the corridor. The children shook themselves out of the moment and looked up to find Eowyn walk into the open doorway. "Lunch is ready, I can imagine you boys must be famished!" The boys smiled gratefully and climbed to their feet looking their new friend in the eye. A wordless connection grew between them and they all grinned before rushing down to the formal dining room ahead of Eowyn. Faramir and Elboron were already seated and the children fell around them.
"And what do you think of my house?" Faramir asked the boys. They shook their heads.
"From what we have seen it is a very fine house sir," Huor said politely. Faramir laughed and looked to Mayda in surprise.
"You have not taken them for a tour of the place, I thought that would be one of the first things you did," he remarked with a smile and then he turned on the boys. "And please, less of the sir business, you are my cousins and guests in my home, call me Faramir." The boys looked uneasy at this, but nodded all the same. "So tell me, how fairs your mother?" The boys looked slightly glum.
"She is with child again," Huor explained. Faramir suppressed a chuckle.
"Again?" The boys nodded in unison.
"You would think after having eight sons she would give up on the hopes of a daughter," the older boy said sounding putout. "I cannot now remember a time when there was no baby crying in the night and waking up the entire house!" Mayda looked alarmed, was having a baby in the house that bad? Eowyn saw this in an instant.
"But having a baby is also such a magical experience," she said looking to her own son fondly, he had managed to cover most of his chin with the stew they were eating. "Do you not remember holding Elboron when he was little Mayda? I recall you loved it!" Mayda thought back to the days when her cousin was a baby and she nodded. She had loved it that was true and she had missed having him around when the small family returned to Ithilien. Across the table from Mayda the boys were whispering. Dior looked very angry with his younger brother about something, so Mayda reached under the table with her foot and kicked one of them hard: Huor. He looked up questioningly and met her curious face.
"Uh sir...I mean Faramir?" Dior said sounding worried. " It would seem my brother has forgotten to bring down a gift that our father wished we present to you at our first meal, to toast your generosity at housing us here." Faramir smiled at them.
"It is not the end of the world, you can just go and fetch it now," he said kindly and Dior gave his little brother a stern look as he rushed out of the room.
'Twitchy little things,' Faramir thought to himself, though he was not surprised. Once in his youth he had visited his relations in Tolfalas and had been unpleasantly surprised by the formality of simple occasions such as lunch and dinner and also at the discipline if the slightest thing went wrong. Though what was quite strange was the stark contrast of the inhabitants of Tolfalas to the Lord's house, as the inhabitants had a very relaxed and informal pace of life. Faramir was thinking to himself that perhaps having them come away from their strict life at home would be just the thing these impressionable young men needed. Moments later Huor came bounding in again and he bowed as he presented the bottle of fine Tolfalas wine to his host. Faramir thanked him cheerily and ensured that everyone, including young Elboron, had a goblet of the fine wine, though he also made sure that the aforementioned person had a very small amount in his goblet.
Faramir then raised his glass to the boys and toasted to their welcome and their health and they returned the gesture with a toast to his generosity and then Faramir made his niece blush in front of the boys by toasting her an extended welcome. One thing that could be said for Tolfalas wine was that its strength was at least double that of Northern wines, so that when Mayda had finished her goblet she felt quite light headed and had to shake her head ardently to stop Eowyn refilling it for her. The boys seemed of course resilient to its toxicity as they had grown up with it, but they did find it highly amusing that Mayda started swaying slightly.
By the end of dinner the girl had of course fully recovered and had promised her uncle and aunt to take the boys on a tour of the house and of the lands, so that is what she did. She took them into every room that was not locked and by the end of it the boys were very impressed.
"You may wish to put on thicker britches, it is very cold outside," Mayda remarked as they stood by the doors leading out into the gardens, ready to venture out into the lands. The boys looked slightly forlorn.
"We have no thicker clothes," Huor said worriedly. Mayda studied him for a moment.
"Well you could probably fit into a pare of mine though they might be a bit short for you, though I must say they are long for me," she said and Huor nodded gratefully. Then she looked to the taller boy and looked him up and down feeling very conscious of the fact that he was watching her intently as she did so. "We might have to ask my aunt if you can borrow some of hers, you will not fit into mine." Dior went crimson.
"I cannot ask your aunt!" he whispered. Mayda grinned charmingly.
"You will not have to, I will," she said, but seeing the boy was not wavering she leaned over and pushed the door open slightly. Air so cold the boys had never experienced wafted in and in an instant Dior nodded quickly.
"If you could," he said quickly. Mayda grinned and nodded before leading them up to her room where she rummaged around for a pare for the shorter boy. As she wheeled around with a particularly large and thick pair she found them staring around themselves in shock.
"What?" she asked defensively. The boys suppressed a smile.
"Nothing princess," Dior said and he rushed out of the room only to burst into laughter in the corridor beyond. Mayda quickly grabbed Huor's arm to stop him from doing the same.
"Tell me, what is so funny?" she demanded, her feisty nature showing through. Huor grinned and indicated the messy room.
"We have never met a girl who is..." he began shaking his head. " Well who is messy like a boy!" Mayda's jaw dropped in outrage.
"Well by the sounds of it you have rarely ever met a girl if you live with six brothers back in Tolfalas," she complained. Huor shrugged, this of course was true. "And if you must know...I was...sorting out a few things." With this she strode from the room leaving Huor watching her in adoration.
Fifteen minutes later after Mayda had received Eowyn's permission the children strode out into the snow, all wearing not only the thicker britches, but their thinner ones underneath and heavy furred cloaks. Mayda showed them the extensive gardens before leading them down a path into the valley. She led them by moonlight through the sparse forest along a track barely visible until they came to the site she had most wanted to show them.
"This," she said grandiosely, motioning a rock pool of bubbling and steaming water. "Is a hot spring, it is gloriously warm all year round and is very good for your health....well, so my aunt tells me." The boys stared at it in wonder. They had never seen any hint of seismic activity as Tolfalas was well clear of the volcanic Mordor. Along the Mountains of Shadow however, and to a lesser extent in the hills of Emyn Arnen, these springs were common and well used by the inhabitants of Ithilien.
"How warm is it?" Huor asked creeping towards the edge of the rocks.
"Well feel it and see," Mayda laughed and she too ran to the water's edge and dangled her bare arm into the deliciously warm water. Huor gasped at the touch.
"Brother, you must feel it, it is wonderful!" he called and Dior rushed over to feel. Seeing their gleeful faces and idea crept into Mayda's head, but for these two boys she was going to have to sell it very well.
"How brave do you think you are?" she asked them calculatingly. They looked on her with bold faces and puffed out their chest.
"As Brave as any soldier!" Dior said proudly. Mayda grinned.
"Brave enough to try an old Gondorean tradition?" The boys nodded firmly; once more the reply Mayda sought. So she sat up and kicked off her heavy boots and started to peel off her cloak and her tunic. The boys stared at her in wonder.
"What are you doing?" Huor asked once she started to pull off her shirt to reveal her skinny shivering form.
"To prove our valour, and also, I have been told, as a way to keep the body in good health, we sit in the pool until every muscle is relaxed and then we jump out and run in the air to revive your sleeping bodies and then you down lie in the snow for as long as you can take it," she said as she walked over to the side of the hot spring dressed now in her thin britches alone. She stood by the water's edge, her very bones frozen to the core, drawing out the awe she had gathered from the boys still safe and warm in their cloaks. "The question is, are you brave enough?" Instantly the boys too started pulling at their boots and cloaks and soon they too were standing at her side in only their thin britches.
"When do we climb in?" Dior asked hugging his frozen body. Mayda grinned at him sneakily.
"When you cannot bear the cold any longer," she said and so the three stood side by side, each trying to prove their valour over the next, until even Mayda, well used to this type of thing, was frozen solid. " Shall we each climb in together?" she finally asked through gritted teeth. The boys could utter no reply, but instead nodded jerkily in assent. " On three! One...two...three!" All three leapt forward and landed in the gloriously warm water all at once. Though their skin started stinging from the sudden difference in temperature, they did not care and settled into the submerged smooth bench hewed into the side of the black rocks.
"Tell me princess," Dior began once he had recovered. Once more Mayda's stomach was fluttering wildly. "As you explained this uh...ritual to us you spoke as one of Gondor. Are you not Rohirric?"
"Did you not listen to my story?" Mayda asked and she was surprised at how disappointed this made her. "I grew up for a large part in these hills, only more towards the Anduin, remember my mother was a Lady of Numenorean descent as are you, all we children were playing in these springs when we were little." Dior nodded.
"Of course," he said sounding annoyed at himself for not working it out. " And yes, I was listening to every word you spoke!" Mayda smiled a proud smile and looked away at the snow thinking it had been a long time since she had carried out this bizarre ritual and wondering whether she still had the courage.
"Why is it that you fear your foster-parents having a child?" Huor asked. Mayda looked at him in surprise. Where had that come from?
"Well I..." she began and both boys looked to her curiously. "They might..."
"I understand," Dior said with a distant smile. "For the longest time it was just Huor and I," he explained seeing Mayda's questioning face turned on him. "Then when I was eight and he six, our mother announced she desperately wanted a daughter and since then has never really been without child if you understand my meaning." Mayda giggled and nodded. " And with every brother we gained, her desire for a daughter grew tenfold and it became easy to feel unwanted." Mayda nodded. "But you know what?" Mayda shook her head. "Her love for the two of us never wavered. She still loves us the same as she did the day we were born," he said and Mayda hung her head.
"She was there the day you were born, she is your mother," she said gloomily. "I know that uncle Éomer and auntie Lothiriel love me now, but how will they feel when they have their own baby and have no need for me anymore?"
"Am I not mistaken," Huor began catching Mayda's attention. "But did they not love you so much that they wanted you to be their daughter?" Mayda smiled slightly and nodded. "Well then, the fact that they choose to love you as their own, and are not obliged to, should make you feel tenfold more special than us!" At this Mayda's face cracked into a beaming smile as the boy's words touched her heart. This was of course true!
With a new found energy she jumped to her feet on the bench, almost managing to ignore the sudden chill that swept over her whole body.
"Come on, prove that Tolfalas boys are braver than little girls, join me!" she cheered. With one last grin at each other the brothers jumped to their feet also and all three children climbed – with great difficulty as their bodies felt like lead after the warmth and weightlessness of the water – out of the pool and ran around it as many times as they could bear before falling down into the snow.
"Ah!" Mayda shrieked with delight. "I am frozen!" With this she grabbed two handfuls of snow and pushed them into the faces of the boys. A snow war developed and soon all three were lying in a tumbled heap giggling fit to burst.
"Come, we ought to get dressed before we catch our deaths," Mayda said and she crawled over to her clothes and pulled her shirt over her pounding head. The boys looked longingly to the pool. "Trust me," Mayda laughed. " It is near impossible to climb out if you go in again now!" The boys nodded in agreement and soon the children were dressed. They had pulled off their thinner britches – Mayda behind the shelter of a large tree – and now were dry enough to make their way back up to the house. And so they did, now a band of kindred spirits.
X X X
Éomer looked to the sealed letter in his hand with a heavy heart. He recognised the script, it was his niece's fine handwriting. Lothiriel nudged him in the arm.
"Go on my love, open it. Let us see what she has to tell us!" she urged. So with a deep sigh Éomer opened the letter and began to read aloud to his wife.
"She says, to my dear auntie and uncle," he began and he looked up with a small smile; that was a very affectionate opening.
"Read on!" Lothiriel ordered with her hands clasped before her in giddiness.
"I am very well and am enjoying my time here very much," he carried on. " Uncle Faramir and aunt Eowyn have been very kind to me and I have found new friendship in Faramir's young cousins. They say that I am a lot of fun and quite brave, even though I am a girl..." Both Éomer and Lothiriel laughed, and Éomer continued to read on about Mayda's exploits and her adventures, finally though he came to a part that brought a smile to his face before he read it.
"What?" Lothiriel asked eagerly. "What does she say?"
"She says," Éomer began and his smile would not fall from his handsome face. "I have been silly and after thinking it through I believe I was very hurtful to you both and I am very sorry. I was afraid, still am afraid I suppose, but that will pass. I want you to have a baby and I want it to be a girl, because boys can be quite strange I have found after living with them." Lothiriel laughed through her tears that had started to fall. " I miss you both very much and I will return when spring starts to wane, as that is when my friends return to Tolfalas. Please forgive me, love from your Mayda..." Éomer closed his eyes and smiled broadly. "I must remember to send my sister a casket of our finest wine!" he eventually said and he rushed over to his wife and took her hands.
"We are going to be a happy family after all," she said gleefully. Éomer laughed boyishly.
"Well that remains to be seen!"
X X X
It's not over yet!
A/N – About the wine drinking, now it hasn't been brought up by any reviewers yet, but just in case you're wondering... I grew up in Europe (Holland to be exact) and in many countries in Europe it isn't unusual for children to have a glass of wine at a meal with their parents (I say 'in Europe' because I have no idea what the custom is in the USA for example, so if it's the same every where else then ignore this little note). I personally didn't do it very often (I was more a champagne child – seriously I was stealing my parents glasses even as a toddler), but in some countries it is done a lot more widely. This is how I see children being treated in Gondor and Rohan (more so in Rohan I suppose), so that is why the children (even young Elboron a little) are encouraged to have a glass with the meal.
:) I thank you for the reviews, you guys are the best and I love hearing from you and I'm sorry I confused you, but it's so much easier this way!
The heir of Théodred
Elfwine: Part Three
As the young princess' story came to a close she was shaking slightly with the emotion of it all. The boys looked to each other eyes wide with how much she had been through in her short life and right then and there the magic surrounding Mayda took hold of their hearts and forever afterwards she was special to them.
" Children," a voice called from the corridor. The children shook themselves out of the moment and looked up to find Eowyn walk into the open doorway. "Lunch is ready, I can imagine you boys must be famished!" The boys smiled gratefully and climbed to their feet looking their new friend in the eye. A wordless connection grew between them and they all grinned before rushing down to the formal dining room ahead of Eowyn. Faramir and Elboron were already seated and the children fell around them.
"And what do you think of my house?" Faramir asked the boys. They shook their heads.
"From what we have seen it is a very fine house sir," Huor said politely. Faramir laughed and looked to Mayda in surprise.
"You have not taken them for a tour of the place, I thought that would be one of the first things you did," he remarked with a smile and then he turned on the boys. "And please, less of the sir business, you are my cousins and guests in my home, call me Faramir." The boys looked uneasy at this, but nodded all the same. "So tell me, how fairs your mother?" The boys looked slightly glum.
"She is with child again," Huor explained. Faramir suppressed a chuckle.
"Again?" The boys nodded in unison.
"You would think after having eight sons she would give up on the hopes of a daughter," the older boy said sounding putout. "I cannot now remember a time when there was no baby crying in the night and waking up the entire house!" Mayda looked alarmed, was having a baby in the house that bad? Eowyn saw this in an instant.
"But having a baby is also such a magical experience," she said looking to her own son fondly, he had managed to cover most of his chin with the stew they were eating. "Do you not remember holding Elboron when he was little Mayda? I recall you loved it!" Mayda thought back to the days when her cousin was a baby and she nodded. She had loved it that was true and she had missed having him around when the small family returned to Ithilien. Across the table from Mayda the boys were whispering. Dior looked very angry with his younger brother about something, so Mayda reached under the table with her foot and kicked one of them hard: Huor. He looked up questioningly and met her curious face.
"Uh sir...I mean Faramir?" Dior said sounding worried. " It would seem my brother has forgotten to bring down a gift that our father wished we present to you at our first meal, to toast your generosity at housing us here." Faramir smiled at them.
"It is not the end of the world, you can just go and fetch it now," he said kindly and Dior gave his little brother a stern look as he rushed out of the room.
'Twitchy little things,' Faramir thought to himself, though he was not surprised. Once in his youth he had visited his relations in Tolfalas and had been unpleasantly surprised by the formality of simple occasions such as lunch and dinner and also at the discipline if the slightest thing went wrong. Though what was quite strange was the stark contrast of the inhabitants of Tolfalas to the Lord's house, as the inhabitants had a very relaxed and informal pace of life. Faramir was thinking to himself that perhaps having them come away from their strict life at home would be just the thing these impressionable young men needed. Moments later Huor came bounding in again and he bowed as he presented the bottle of fine Tolfalas wine to his host. Faramir thanked him cheerily and ensured that everyone, including young Elboron, had a goblet of the fine wine, though he also made sure that the aforementioned person had a very small amount in his goblet.
Faramir then raised his glass to the boys and toasted to their welcome and their health and they returned the gesture with a toast to his generosity and then Faramir made his niece blush in front of the boys by toasting her an extended welcome. One thing that could be said for Tolfalas wine was that its strength was at least double that of Northern wines, so that when Mayda had finished her goblet she felt quite light headed and had to shake her head ardently to stop Eowyn refilling it for her. The boys seemed of course resilient to its toxicity as they had grown up with it, but they did find it highly amusing that Mayda started swaying slightly.
By the end of dinner the girl had of course fully recovered and had promised her uncle and aunt to take the boys on a tour of the house and of the lands, so that is what she did. She took them into every room that was not locked and by the end of it the boys were very impressed.
"You may wish to put on thicker britches, it is very cold outside," Mayda remarked as they stood by the doors leading out into the gardens, ready to venture out into the lands. The boys looked slightly forlorn.
"We have no thicker clothes," Huor said worriedly. Mayda studied him for a moment.
"Well you could probably fit into a pare of mine though they might be a bit short for you, though I must say they are long for me," she said and Huor nodded gratefully. Then she looked to the taller boy and looked him up and down feeling very conscious of the fact that he was watching her intently as she did so. "We might have to ask my aunt if you can borrow some of hers, you will not fit into mine." Dior went crimson.
"I cannot ask your aunt!" he whispered. Mayda grinned charmingly.
"You will not have to, I will," she said, but seeing the boy was not wavering she leaned over and pushed the door open slightly. Air so cold the boys had never experienced wafted in and in an instant Dior nodded quickly.
"If you could," he said quickly. Mayda grinned and nodded before leading them up to her room where she rummaged around for a pare for the shorter boy. As she wheeled around with a particularly large and thick pair she found them staring around themselves in shock.
"What?" she asked defensively. The boys suppressed a smile.
"Nothing princess," Dior said and he rushed out of the room only to burst into laughter in the corridor beyond. Mayda quickly grabbed Huor's arm to stop him from doing the same.
"Tell me, what is so funny?" she demanded, her feisty nature showing through. Huor grinned and indicated the messy room.
"We have never met a girl who is..." he began shaking his head. " Well who is messy like a boy!" Mayda's jaw dropped in outrage.
"Well by the sounds of it you have rarely ever met a girl if you live with six brothers back in Tolfalas," she complained. Huor shrugged, this of course was true. "And if you must know...I was...sorting out a few things." With this she strode from the room leaving Huor watching her in adoration.
Fifteen minutes later after Mayda had received Eowyn's permission the children strode out into the snow, all wearing not only the thicker britches, but their thinner ones underneath and heavy furred cloaks. Mayda showed them the extensive gardens before leading them down a path into the valley. She led them by moonlight through the sparse forest along a track barely visible until they came to the site she had most wanted to show them.
"This," she said grandiosely, motioning a rock pool of bubbling and steaming water. "Is a hot spring, it is gloriously warm all year round and is very good for your health....well, so my aunt tells me." The boys stared at it in wonder. They had never seen any hint of seismic activity as Tolfalas was well clear of the volcanic Mordor. Along the Mountains of Shadow however, and to a lesser extent in the hills of Emyn Arnen, these springs were common and well used by the inhabitants of Ithilien.
"How warm is it?" Huor asked creeping towards the edge of the rocks.
"Well feel it and see," Mayda laughed and she too ran to the water's edge and dangled her bare arm into the deliciously warm water. Huor gasped at the touch.
"Brother, you must feel it, it is wonderful!" he called and Dior rushed over to feel. Seeing their gleeful faces and idea crept into Mayda's head, but for these two boys she was going to have to sell it very well.
"How brave do you think you are?" she asked them calculatingly. They looked on her with bold faces and puffed out their chest.
"As Brave as any soldier!" Dior said proudly. Mayda grinned.
"Brave enough to try an old Gondorean tradition?" The boys nodded firmly; once more the reply Mayda sought. So she sat up and kicked off her heavy boots and started to peel off her cloak and her tunic. The boys stared at her in wonder.
"What are you doing?" Huor asked once she started to pull off her shirt to reveal her skinny shivering form.
"To prove our valour, and also, I have been told, as a way to keep the body in good health, we sit in the pool until every muscle is relaxed and then we jump out and run in the air to revive your sleeping bodies and then you down lie in the snow for as long as you can take it," she said as she walked over to the side of the hot spring dressed now in her thin britches alone. She stood by the water's edge, her very bones frozen to the core, drawing out the awe she had gathered from the boys still safe and warm in their cloaks. "The question is, are you brave enough?" Instantly the boys too started pulling at their boots and cloaks and soon they too were standing at her side in only their thin britches.
"When do we climb in?" Dior asked hugging his frozen body. Mayda grinned at him sneakily.
"When you cannot bear the cold any longer," she said and so the three stood side by side, each trying to prove their valour over the next, until even Mayda, well used to this type of thing, was frozen solid. " Shall we each climb in together?" she finally asked through gritted teeth. The boys could utter no reply, but instead nodded jerkily in assent. " On three! One...two...three!" All three leapt forward and landed in the gloriously warm water all at once. Though their skin started stinging from the sudden difference in temperature, they did not care and settled into the submerged smooth bench hewed into the side of the black rocks.
"Tell me princess," Dior began once he had recovered. Once more Mayda's stomach was fluttering wildly. "As you explained this uh...ritual to us you spoke as one of Gondor. Are you not Rohirric?"
"Did you not listen to my story?" Mayda asked and she was surprised at how disappointed this made her. "I grew up for a large part in these hills, only more towards the Anduin, remember my mother was a Lady of Numenorean descent as are you, all we children were playing in these springs when we were little." Dior nodded.
"Of course," he said sounding annoyed at himself for not working it out. " And yes, I was listening to every word you spoke!" Mayda smiled a proud smile and looked away at the snow thinking it had been a long time since she had carried out this bizarre ritual and wondering whether she still had the courage.
"Why is it that you fear your foster-parents having a child?" Huor asked. Mayda looked at him in surprise. Where had that come from?
"Well I..." she began and both boys looked to her curiously. "They might..."
"I understand," Dior said with a distant smile. "For the longest time it was just Huor and I," he explained seeing Mayda's questioning face turned on him. "Then when I was eight and he six, our mother announced she desperately wanted a daughter and since then has never really been without child if you understand my meaning." Mayda giggled and nodded. " And with every brother we gained, her desire for a daughter grew tenfold and it became easy to feel unwanted." Mayda nodded. "But you know what?" Mayda shook her head. "Her love for the two of us never wavered. She still loves us the same as she did the day we were born," he said and Mayda hung her head.
"She was there the day you were born, she is your mother," she said gloomily. "I know that uncle Éomer and auntie Lothiriel love me now, but how will they feel when they have their own baby and have no need for me anymore?"
"Am I not mistaken," Huor began catching Mayda's attention. "But did they not love you so much that they wanted you to be their daughter?" Mayda smiled slightly and nodded. "Well then, the fact that they choose to love you as their own, and are not obliged to, should make you feel tenfold more special than us!" At this Mayda's face cracked into a beaming smile as the boy's words touched her heart. This was of course true!
With a new found energy she jumped to her feet on the bench, almost managing to ignore the sudden chill that swept over her whole body.
"Come on, prove that Tolfalas boys are braver than little girls, join me!" she cheered. With one last grin at each other the brothers jumped to their feet also and all three children climbed – with great difficulty as their bodies felt like lead after the warmth and weightlessness of the water – out of the pool and ran around it as many times as they could bear before falling down into the snow.
"Ah!" Mayda shrieked with delight. "I am frozen!" With this she grabbed two handfuls of snow and pushed them into the faces of the boys. A snow war developed and soon all three were lying in a tumbled heap giggling fit to burst.
"Come, we ought to get dressed before we catch our deaths," Mayda said and she crawled over to her clothes and pulled her shirt over her pounding head. The boys looked longingly to the pool. "Trust me," Mayda laughed. " It is near impossible to climb out if you go in again now!" The boys nodded in agreement and soon the children were dressed. They had pulled off their thinner britches – Mayda behind the shelter of a large tree – and now were dry enough to make their way back up to the house. And so they did, now a band of kindred spirits.
X X X
Éomer looked to the sealed letter in his hand with a heavy heart. He recognised the script, it was his niece's fine handwriting. Lothiriel nudged him in the arm.
"Go on my love, open it. Let us see what she has to tell us!" she urged. So with a deep sigh Éomer opened the letter and began to read aloud to his wife.
"She says, to my dear auntie and uncle," he began and he looked up with a small smile; that was a very affectionate opening.
"Read on!" Lothiriel ordered with her hands clasped before her in giddiness.
"I am very well and am enjoying my time here very much," he carried on. " Uncle Faramir and aunt Eowyn have been very kind to me and I have found new friendship in Faramir's young cousins. They say that I am a lot of fun and quite brave, even though I am a girl..." Both Éomer and Lothiriel laughed, and Éomer continued to read on about Mayda's exploits and her adventures, finally though he came to a part that brought a smile to his face before he read it.
"What?" Lothiriel asked eagerly. "What does she say?"
"She says," Éomer began and his smile would not fall from his handsome face. "I have been silly and after thinking it through I believe I was very hurtful to you both and I am very sorry. I was afraid, still am afraid I suppose, but that will pass. I want you to have a baby and I want it to be a girl, because boys can be quite strange I have found after living with them." Lothiriel laughed through her tears that had started to fall. " I miss you both very much and I will return when spring starts to wane, as that is when my friends return to Tolfalas. Please forgive me, love from your Mayda..." Éomer closed his eyes and smiled broadly. "I must remember to send my sister a casket of our finest wine!" he eventually said and he rushed over to his wife and took her hands.
"We are going to be a happy family after all," she said gleefully. Éomer laughed boyishly.
"Well that remains to be seen!"
X X X
It's not over yet!
A/N – About the wine drinking, now it hasn't been brought up by any reviewers yet, but just in case you're wondering... I grew up in Europe (Holland to be exact) and in many countries in Europe it isn't unusual for children to have a glass of wine at a meal with their parents (I say 'in Europe' because I have no idea what the custom is in the USA for example, so if it's the same every where else then ignore this little note). I personally didn't do it very often (I was more a champagne child – seriously I was stealing my parents glasses even as a toddler), but in some countries it is done a lot more widely. This is how I see children being treated in Gondor and Rohan (more so in Rohan I suppose), so that is why the children (even young Elboron a little) are encouraged to have a glass with the meal.