"I swear he did it just to make me angry." Ciara sighed and put her head down later that day in the kitchen.
"Oh, do you really believe that?" Bregor, another servant and the cook looked at Ciara.
"Yes, he did it out of spite. I can tell already, he hates me." Ciara nodded.
"If he hated you he would have left you in the dungeon, trust me. Or he would have given you to any number of different men in the city." Bregor assured Ciara.
"Then he likes to give his servants a very hard time."
"Maybe it is because you are from Gondor." Bregor shrugged.
The Gondorian messenger arrived at Rohan's gates, he told so many different guards and people his business in Rohan he wouldn't be surprised if the whole land knew by the time he had gotten to the king.
"The king cannot see you right now but his most trusted advisor will see you." One of the many nameless guards told the messenger.
"Yes, son of Gondor?" Theoden's most trusted advisor entered the room.
"I am hear to see if there has been any news of two missing Gondorians in these lands." The messenger asked.
"Ah, yes, we found two bodies, very Gondorian in appearance both, dead. A young man and a young woman. Could those possibly be the two?" Theoden's advisor asked.
"Dead?" The messenger stood in shock; this was something no one had expected.
"Yes, we have the young man's body still and some items of the young woman if you want to see them and make sure they are those who you are looking for." Theoden's advisor offered.
The messenger stood, silent, praying silently it wasn't the body of Elfhelm.
"I'll have them brought immediately." The advisor turned to a servant standing near the door.
Ciara followed Baran down the long hall towards the main hall where they were going to clean the floor. The two were stopped right outside the door by a guard attending the room.
"You can't go in Theoden's advisor is meeting with a messenger. You'll have to wait a few minutes." The guard informed the two. Baran and Ciara nodded and headed towards the smaller hall next to the main hall to wait.
As Ciara and Baran passed the open doors to the main hall both looked in to see Theoden's advisor talking to a dirty looking messenger who appeared to be very upset.
Ciara accidentally splashed some water on the floor and both Theoden's advisor and the messenger turned towards the noise. Ciara quickly bent down to wipe the water off the floor, hiding her face from view as her hair fell to cover her face. The messenger never recognised her.
"Ahh, here is the body and the few items found from the young woman." The advisor motioned towards the guards carrying in the wrapped body and the clothing from Ciara.
"Is this your missing man?" The advisor asked as the sheet was pulled away from the face to reveal Elfhelm's pale, lifeless face.
The messenger took in a sharp breath and nodded gravely.
"And the clothes? Familiar at all?"
Again the messenger nodded, that was certainly a dress only the steward's daughter could wear.
"Do you wish to carry the body back with you?" The advisor asked as he gently handed the clothes back to the messenger.
"It is too long of a ride. Will you give it the proper disposal?" The messenger asked as he felt the hot tears slowly start to gather in his eyes.
"Yes, that much we can do. We are sorry for your lose." The advisor bowed his head, "I regret our meeting was so short but I must attend to the King now. Have a safe journey." The advisor left the room with the guards carrying the body with them.
The messenger turned and slowly made his way back to his horse, carrying Ciara's clothing with him
'The body?" The guards asked the advisor as they left the room.
"Feed it to the wolves." The advisor waved his hand and left them.
The guards looked at each other and silently came to an understanding. Late that night a blaze could be seen in the forest, the blaze from one lone body that couldn't be fed to wolves now.
Ciara and Baran finished washing the front hall and headed back towards the kitchens to dump the water and get something to eat for their diner.
"Baran, where is Moriana?" Eomer appeared in the kitchen and all life seemed to cease existing as soon as he appeared.
"She is right over their, my lord." Baran motioned towards Ciara who was helping wash up dishes.
"Moriana." Eomer called. Ciara didn't answer, "Moriana!" Ciara suddenly turned, she still was not used to being called Moriana.
"Yes?" Ciara saw it was Eomer talking to her and she immediately corrected herself, "Yes, master?"
"Come with me." Eomer commanded and walked away. Ciara shot a quick, frightened glance at Baran as she walked out of the door.
"My lord, where are we going?" Ciara asked quietly as she followed Eomer down the hall.
"I am giving you something." Eomer answered cryptically and Ciara wasn't at all sure what this meant.
Finally they were back in Eomer's room and he was pulling out a jewellery box. Jewellery? That didn't make any sense, why would Eomer be giving her jewellery?
"I want you to wear this." Eomer handed Ciara a bracelet for her ankle.
"Why?" Ciara stared at the bracelet, it had tiny little bells all around it and they made a lovely jingling noise whenever the bracelet was moved.
"So that every man in this realm will know that he is not to touch you because you belong to me. And I can find you easier when I need you now." Eomer waited until Ciara had secured the bracelet around her ankle before looking away.
Ciara wanted to say something but what could she say? There was nothing for her to say.
"You may go back to the kitchens, and remember. If you try to run away someone will hear you and know that you are mine. You can't that bracelet off now." Eomer paused as Ciara looked down to see that the lock could not be undone except for with a key and the chain was not likely to break easily. Eomer turned and left Ciara alone with her anger.
The messenger stood before the doors of the hall of the King. He held the clothes in his arms. Slowly he walked forward to Denethor where he was sitting in his great onyx chair.
"What is the word from Rohan?" Denethor demanded immediately.
The messenger held the clothes out to the steward, not saying anything.
"Does this mean- "Denethor's voice trailed off.
"They are both dead. They were found by some of the Rohirrim dead." The messenger said quietly.
Denethor held Ciara's clothes to his face and buried his face in them, "Get my sons."
An attendant went to fetch Boromir and Faramir so they could learn of the news.
They entered the hall in a hurry, they knew something was not right.
Denethor held the two sets of clothing out for his sons to see.
"She's dead!" Boromir gasped.Denethor nodded, he couldn't say anything."No!" Boromir stumbled backwards and ran into one of the great columns that decorated the hall. Faramir immediately went to his brother's side. Both lamenting for the loss of their lovely sister.
"We must keep this secret from Gondor. None shall ever know or we will have great strife. Ivorwen will take Ciara's place permanently." Denethor demanded.
Fingulas and Morwen both wept over the loss of their revered mistress but had to keep things to themselves.
"Look!" Ciara stormed back into the kitchen where the few servants and the royal house were now all assembled except for the king's own advisor.
"What is it?" Baran turned to see Ciara with tears glistening in her eyes.
"My ankle." Ciara let out a little sob and thrust her leg forward, with it came the sound of the bells jingling."Ah, you've been given the bells." Baran nodded knowingly, "It's not as bad as you really think it is. All personal servants have some sort of thing like that on them so everyone knows who their master is." Baran explained.
"That's barbaric!" Ciara shouted and headed towards the table to sit.
Algund, another one of the servants in the house sat across from Ciara, "It's okay sweetie, I have this necklace." He motioned to the thick rope tied around his neck in the fashion of a necklace.
"It's not a necklace, it's a collar!" Ciara couldn't help her tears. Baran stared at Ciara for moment and an understanding came to him, she had not been a servant before she came here. She couldn't have possibly have been in any way. She didn't accept the fact that she had to obey, she had been a free woman, a very free woman. A great woman in her land and now she was reduced to a servant.
Boromir sat in his room holding Ciara's dress. Boromir still couldn't quite believe that Ciara was gone and she was never coming back. He wanted to ride to Rohan and show them how he felt but knew that would only cause more problems between their lands that they really didn't need right now.
Ivorwen knocked lightly on Boromir's bedroom door, "Boromir, can I come in?"
"Yes, yes." Boromir placed the dress on a table in his room and turned to Ivorwen. She was dressed in one of Ciara's old dresses and it caused a lump in the back of Boromir's throat. It was sickening to see her in one of Ciara's old dresses. He wanted to rip it off her and hold it to him, he wanted to see Ciara's room just the way she left it, ready for her to return to it.
"I wanted to see how you were doing? I didn't see you this morning or this afternoon at lunch." Ivorwen stayed in the doorway, she had felt Boromir's coldness towards her ever since the news of Ciara had come.
"Fine, thank you." Boromir answered, though he wouldn't look at her.
"Boromir, why don't we talk anymore? We used to be such good friends." Ivorwen ventured to ask.
"I think we should get you a new wardrobe, and perhaps change the things around in Cia- your new room." Boromir suggested. Ivorwen understood what he was feeling though and didn't protest.
"Of course, Boromir, as you wish." Ivorwen nodded and left the room.
Morwen and Fingulas sat in Ciara's old bedroom and talked quietly to themselves.
"What do you think of this Ivorwen?" Morwen asked.
"I don't like her, not one bit." Fingulas said honestly.
"Me either. She's not nice to us like Ciara was. With Ciara we were friends. With Ivorwen we are servants." Morwen sighed and no sooner had she finished Ivorwen returned.
"I need new clothes immediately, Boromir wishes it." Ivorwen demanded.
"What exactly do you need, my lady?" Fingulas asked politely.
"An entirely new wardrobe. I want this old clothes gone!" Ivorwen tore the dresses our of the wardrobe and both Morwen and Fingulas looked on in complete horror.
"Here, I will take care of these for you." Fingulas hurried to pick the dresses off the floor.
"I want all this clothes gone, like they never existed." Ivorwen warned Morwen and Fingulas.
"Of course, of course." Morwen nodded and helped Fingulas.