Prologue
Something you must understand about my country is our long lasting practices and traditions. Our ways are all but steeped in our hearts, some even say it runs through us like the majestic horses run through the open plains of our land.
We are governed by our lord and king; we live in relative equality between men and women. In Rohan a woman is capable of many things, not just maintaining the home. Depending on your station, your limitations can be as big or as small as you make them.
My name is Anda, daughter of Indomun; Head Trainer and Ferrier to the King. However, I have pressed my limitations to their fold, wishing to be a warrior rather than a home maker. I have all the same tendencies that one would expect in a soldier, I am proud, belligerent at times, and stand in the strong belief that there is a time for talking and a time when talking will do me no more good. I have one sibling, a brother. His name is Eolas, and he is six years my junior; he is in training to become a member of the Rohirrim. He is coming of age as my story unfolds. He is just like any other brother I would imagine; an annoying twit when he wants to be and my most favorite sparring partner.
My family isn't the strong house that it was before "The War of the Ring" as we've come to call it. You see, when the king activated all there was of the Rohirrim, my father went to war, but he never came home. Fortunately, I was of age at the time which allowed me to assume responsibility for my brother, and leaving me with little choice but to fill in his stead as Trainer and Ferrier. I am sure that you would like to inquire as to the placement of my mother; well that is simple, she was long dead at this time. For many years it had been just father, Eolas, and I. Mother died of sleeping sickness when I was only seven years old, leaving me to learn to care for an infant and a grown man. I have known the role of a woman in Edoras for many years.
I beg that you not misunderstand me; I love the members of my family- they have brought nothing but honor and courage to the family name. I however, have not. My rebellion was a constant source of whispering as I grew up. My father bore it well, the king at the time; a dear friend of my fathers, sought to help by introducing me to his niece and hoping we would balance each other out. Theodin, nor my father knew what they were in for. Eowyn had been my dearest friend for many years, until the war that is. She took her chance and rode to war. I, trying to do the right thing asked before I went and found myself in hotter water than I could have imagined. My father was not at all pleased with the idea of his only daughter going off to wage war, and he saw to it that I didn't move. Eowyn never came home from battle and I have always thought that if I had been there, things would have been different.
But Eowyn's loss wasn't the only one suffered following the war. My father as I said never returned home, neither did Theodin. Our country was in a state of grief, leaving no one to take the throne but Eomer, nephew of Theodin and brother of Eowyn. Eomer was a good man and an even better soldier, but I despised him. But as his subject, I do as he requests; there fore I tend his horses.
This is how things have been for the last five years. Five years peace or relative peace that is; some where unhappy with the king, feeling him unfit to rule. I personally believe that Eomer has shown he is worthy time and time again, but there are always those that are unhappy. My friends and I have lived in Rohan all of our lives, and we formed a secret society at a young age, seeing that all of us would rather fight in war than tend a fire and home. We call ourselves the Rohirrian Shield-Maiden Society. It is a spin off of an ancient group that held true to the same sort of ideal we did. Eowyn was a member of our society, but was also a true to life Shield-Maiden, due to her station.
This seemed to be the plight of my life. I was always one step behind those that I sought to follow. I would have like to of been a boy, then none of this would have mattered, but for some reason the Valar chose for me to be a girl. I have never thought myself a beauty to behold, but plain, rather ordinary in fact. Here in lies the tail of how I found my true purpose, taking my plight and making it my perfection. Through love, despair, and a few bumps and bruises along the way.