~oOo~

"The word religion can find its roots from the Latin religio, meaning 'restraint', or relegere, according to Cicero, meaning 'to repeat, to read again', or, most likely, religionem, to show respect for what is sacred, and is consistently an organized system of beliefs and practices revolving around, or leading to, a transcendent spiritual experience. There is no culture recorded in human history which has not practiced some form of religion. In ancient times, religion is practically indistinguishable from mythology. Concerning itself with the spiritual aspect of the human condition, gods and goddesses, or maybe a single personal god or goddess, the creation of the world, a human being's place in the world, life after death and how to escape from suffering in this world or in the next. Almost every nation has created its own god in its own image and resemblance. This will be the main topic of research for this semester."

Andrea looked out at the sea of semi-conscious faces before her. It was a full class this semester. But then lectures usually did start out full at that the beginning of the year, only to thin out to the devoted few who managed to pass the exams or make it without to many absences. Andrea dimmed the lights and turned on the power point. This would be her first semester lecturing as an adjunct professor at the university. It was what she had been working towards since she had started school and should be excited at her accomplishment.

She should be.

But instead she allowed herself to be . . . preoccupied.

She did not know why she held on to this resentment for as long as she did. It was not as if she had never been blown off before. And she hardly even knew the guy. It was only one date. One date! Meaningless and insignificant in the grand scheme of her life. And while it was never a great feeling when one was brushed off, she had always bounced back, as dry and sardonic as ever. So why was this time so different?

She had tried to call him after that night and even, against her better judgement and usual cynical habits, left a message. What a horrible experience that had been.

"Hey, so um, I was just calling . . . this is Andrea, in case . . . anyway, I just wanted to see how you were. You left in a hurry so . . . Ihadagreattimeandhopetoseeyousoon."

Katherine had stood there shaking her head as the last part came out in a rush and jumble of words. Could she sink any lower?

She had not heard anything of course. Andrea was disappointed in her own disappointment at not being called back. Katherine, ever the optimist said that maybe he was one of those guys who waited three days before they called back, something Andrea detested. She wanted to write him off like so many others but some small, pathetic part of her still held out hope that he was simply preoccupied and unable to call. He did travel, perhaps something had happened and he was called off to some far off destination, unable to contact her before he left . . . or while he was gone because a week went by and she heard nothing. Katherine kept up with the list of various reasons as to why he would not call.

"Maybe he's really sensitive about his ears you know? Like, he didn't want to show you till the second date or something. Maybe he's just really embarrassed."

But then the second week passed and she jumped on the "what an asshole" train and worked on trying to make Andrea feel better. Andrea had simply laughed at the appropriate times, rolled her eyes at the appropriate moments and answered with the appropriate sardonic comments. This was nothing new. She was used to it. He was a pretty boy anyway. He talked like a bad renaissance festival performer. What a loser. She could care less.

But she did care, and it was eating her up. The events of that night played through her mind again and again. The night had seemed so wonderful, they were enjoying themselves. Other than that strange moment at the end when she had discovered his odd genetic trait. But surely that could not be the reason. He had to be used to reactions by now. Unless he really is hyper sensitive about them. Maybe she had offended him somehow. Well so what if she had. That was his problem not hers. The last thing she needed was more issues in her life and decided that she was better off without the pretty blonde who carried around baggage about his ears.

Now if only she could get the dreams to stop.

They had become intense as of late. At times she would find herself in some state of paralysis, unable to move or call out and yet aware. She would stand before some precipice, facing a sky filled with countless stars, railing against the wind and rain that battered her. She screamed till her lungs felt as if they burned, and perhaps they did because a great fire raged before her, engulfing everything, the sky, the stars, and a figure. This was the part that Andrea found most disturbing. In the past the figure had always been unknown, a faceless shadow that she seemed to have both anger and need for. But the figure had a face now, and instead of some shadowy ghost, Agner stood before her. His hair was long and wild and his eyes were filled with the pain of sadness and fear, reflecting the light as he stared at her. She could see what he was wearing now as well. It was as if now that he was given an identity, minor details that had been overlooked came to have more detail. He wore armor and a cloak or cape of some sort and the way he would shine! When she woke up she still had the dark spots in her eyes as if she had stared into the sun.

She would look at him and it was if he were a world away and yet next to her in that strange way that dreams do. Always she was trying to reach him but her movements were sluggish and heavy and the fire continued to roar between them. And then she would finally wake, feeling bitter and alone.

It did not make sense. Was it some sort of displacement due to Andrea's own feelings of bitterness at being rejected? It would make sense, she supposed, if she were bitter. But she was not bitter. And no one was going to tell her otherwise.

Besides, they were just dreams. Just a subconscious memory of her inner most insecurities. Meaningless really. She did not have the time to be bitter anyway. She was teaching now. Well kind of teaching. She was in charge of the lab for the religious theory and discourse. It basically was a way for future grad students to acquire research skills and so on through a series of "guided exercises". It was a lot of busy work really. For many this would be a filler course, something required to fill in credit hours or the like. And Andrea was pretty certain no one else wanted the position.

But there was still a class full of bright eyed college undergrads eager for knowledge. And who would not want to know about religion and the theories behind it? Andrea was not particularly religious herself. But she has always been interested with the study of religious traditions within a historical context. It was fascinating the influence that religion has held throughout the ages and the similarities and conflict that arose from its existence. Unfortunately, she was not so certain that fascination extended to the current class before her. It was not entirely their fault though. She had allowed her mind to wander as well.

She suppressed the urge to sigh and resolved herself to the lecture at hand. It was not fair for the class to suffer because she was distracted. She chided herself for mindlessly talking through her power point presentation and brought the lights back up as she scanned the room.

And froze.

For in the very back row, off to the far side near the exit, sat Agner.

When the hell had he come in here? It must have been during the power point because Andrea would have noticed him. He was kind of hard to miss. Even sitting he was a head taller than those around him and his shaggy blonde hair curling out from beneath the hat he wore indoors seemed to make him all the more conspicuous. And then of course, there were his eyes. Even from here she could see the way they would reflect the light, almost like a cats eyes.

A slight movement and the sound of someone clearing their throat in front of her snapped her back to attention. As she had stood there, her mouth agape, several students had begun to fidget and look at each other curiously. Andrea could hear a few soft snickers from somewhere in the room.

Dammit, she thought, annoyed. What a perfect first day.

"Ah right, sorry. So," she turned and bumped into the table, "shit-," ARG! "- ok, so check your syllabus and schedules. You will be responsible for a series of activities and will meet here once a week for discussion. If you miss, it will only hurt you, not me. That's all for today thank you."

The abruptness of her dismissal seemed to stun the class for only a few moments before they eagerly began to grab at their belongings and head out the door in the back.

She stood there at the front of the room, her arms crossed in front of her chest, leaning against the table and watched him as he walked down through the exiting throng. She began to feel the start of a slow burn inside of her.

She was angry at him of course. She was angry at him because she knew he had blown her off. Not bothering to contact her after she had messaged him at least three times, which for her was equal to about a dozen since she rarely messaged anyone other than family. She was outraged that he had the gall to turn up in her class room on her first day, surprising her with his presence and causing her to look a fool in front of her class. She was infuriated that he had somehow found a way to creep into her subconscious and start hanging around in her dreams, causing a serious lack of sleep for her.

Of course it could be argued that the last two were not entirely his fault and that perhaps Andrea was being somewhat unreasonable, but as far as she was concerned, reason had no place here at this moment in time.

But what she was the most upset about, the most resentful towards, is the fact that she felt excited to see him. Her emotions were trying to betray her now, because she could not help but feel some thrill at his being here. That deep inside she prayed that he had some legitimate reason for not answering her for so long. Sickness, work, death, she did not care, just let it be anything other than not interested. It was those feelings that truly rankled her. And she was furious at him for it.

He finally made it down to where Andrea stood. Ok, she thought to herself, just be cool. You are not in the least bit bothered that he never called you. You could care less about his being here. This is no big deal.

"Can I help you."

And fail.

It did not come out as a question at all and Agner simply stood before her in all his golden glory with a small smile.

"I suppose that remains to be seen," he answered almost sheepishly.

Andrea looked him over, tilting her head slightly as she spoke.

"Are you a student here?"

"Pardon?"

"Are you a student? Did you sign up for this class?"

"Well -" he began.

"Because if you aren't you are not supposed to be here. Classes aren't free and you are taking up time that I could be giving to paying students."

It did not matter to Andrea that everyone had left and they were the only two in the room, she was trying to make a point.

"I was -"

"I would hate to think that you took a seat from a registered student who should have been here but could not."

Never mind that the lecture room can accommodate three hundred people and there were seats to spare. Agner considered her for a moment, his smile never faltering as he appraised the situation.

"I see," he finally said, "I have come at a bad time. I will try again later."

Andrea blinked in disbelief as he turned to leave and spoke before she realized.

"Wait, that's it?"

Agner turned partly around and looked at her curiously over his shoulder.

"What do you mean it's a bad time?"

Agner turned to face her, still looking confused.

"Well," he said, "it is just that you do not seem as if you really wish to see me right now so I –"

"Don't wish to see you right now?" Andrea interrupted. "What makes you think that I don't wish to see you right now? I am here talking to you aren't I? Taking time out of my schedule aren't I? All I did was ask if you're a student. That's it. How does that seem like I don't want to see you? Did I do something to make you think that?"

Agner watched Andrea as she spoke. She leaned back against the table, arms crossed protectively across her chest, her hands balled into tight little fists and her head would do some strange little side to side motion, causing her shoulders to hunch sporadically while speaking.

"No," he answered evenly, "of course not."

"Well, then what is it then? You had to come here for something."

"I was hoping to take you to lunch."

It was Andrea's turn to look confused. And she did. She looked at Agner in utter bewilderment.

"You . . . want to take me to lunch . . ."

"Yes."

"To lunch."

"Yes."

Andrea looked down at the floor. This was it she supposed. The moment she had been waiting for. She could tell him to get lost. She could tell him just what to do with his lunch. Or she could just blow him off much as he had done to her. Tell him that she had better things to do. Things that did not involve him. It was quite presumptuous on his part to think that he could just walk in here and ask her lunch and actually think she would accept.

She walked around the table and gathered her belongings placed them in her bag which she then slung over her shoulder. She turned back to Agner with a shrug.

"I have a little bit of time."

She turned and walked towards the door.

Andrea contemplated the man across from her as he ordered. Just coffee for the moment. Andrea ordered a side of fries with a glass of water. She did not plan on staying long.

"Coffee in the middle of the afternoon?"

Agner smiled and shrugged. "A weakness I have acquired I suppose."

Andrea just nodded slightly as she chewed on her bottom lip and flicked at a French fry. She was aware that he stared at her but said nothing. She hated awkward silences but at the moment did not feel the need to fill it. Instead she chose to enhance it by avoiding looking up at him.

"I enjoyed your lecture."

Her tactic was derailed by that simple unexpected statement as she looked up at him in surprise. Andrea gave short self-depreciative laugh. "Oh? Well at least one person did."

"You draw an interesting parallel between myth and religion."

"That is because religion is myth."

"It is based on myth."

"No it is myth and God the personification of it."

"In your opinion of it."

"From my studies of it."

"I take it you do not believe in God?"

"I didn't say that."

"But you said that God is the personification of myth."

"Yes but you are assuming that I define the word myth as a lie or fiction. This is not my definition of myth in this context."

"Then you do believe in God."

"I didn't say that either."

Agner shook his head and laughed. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. "Now you are just talking in circles. In what sense can a myth be true?"

"Were you even listening to my lecture," she cocked an eyebrow at him and gave a little smirk, "it goes back to our habit of looking at myths as historical events of the past. I consider this to be a mistake."

"You do not believe that the foundations of mythology comes from historical events from the past?"

"Not in their entirety," it was Andrea's turn to lean forward against the table, "I don't believe that early civilizations looked at history in the way that we understand the term. It was not linear to them but cyclical, the past is but a prefiguration of the future."

Agner's face became still as he looked at Andrea. "No event is irreversible and no transformation is final," he whispered. Andrea smiled.

"You've read Mircea Eliade,"she grinned. Agner nodded slowly.

"He was not the first to say that you know."

"No? Well he was the first to publish it then."

"I would very much like to hear more."

"There is not enough time between now and my next lecture," she laughed.

"Then perhaps we can make some time?"

Andrea stopped laughing and looked up at Agner. For a moment she thought that perhaps she had stepped back into one of her dreams from the way he looked at her now.

How did you find out about my class?" she asked. Agner leaned back, away from the table and against his chair. Andrea hated the space for coming between them.

"Ah, well you had mentioned before about the adjunct position and so I looked it up. It was not that hard." He held his cell phone up before her.

"Oh, so you know how to use one of those things do you?"

Andrea's tone was light and had a playfully sarcastic tone to it, but the message was clear to Agner.

"Ah yes," he replied somewhat abashedly, "about my lack of response. It was rude of me and I cannot apologize enough. That is the reason why I am here. I did not want to simply call you but preferred to see you in person. To apologize in person. I am sorry."

Andrea leaned back in her chair. That was it? No, I was busy, I was in the hospital, I'm not interested? Just 'I am sorry' and that's it? Andrea waited till the server finished setting down their order before saying anything.

"What were you doing?" she asked as she dumped ketchup on the plate.

"Nothing."

Andrea looked at him in all out disbelief.

"Seriously? Seriously?! That's it?" she pressed her fingers to her temples and shook her head. "I seriously don't know whether I should scream at you, throw a drink at you, or just laugh at you. I mean, are you trying to piss me off? I just can't tell."

"I am trying to be honest with you Andrea,"Agner said as he leaned over the table and casually slid her drink closer to him, "so I hope you will do none of those things. I also hope that you will allow me to make it up to you with dinner tonight at my home."

Andrea continued to stare at him in disbelief, her eyes narrowing as he spoke. After a moment she stood up.

"No," she said as she gathered up her belongings and pulled out her wallet, "I will not be going to your home." She grabbed a wad of cash and counted out her portion of the bill and a tip and slapped it down on the table. She slung her bag over her shoulder and looked down at Agner. "But you can come to mine, say around seven thirty, for dinner. Nothing fancy to don't get your hopes up or anything. Do you remember where I live?"

Anger nodded.

"Good," she said, "then I will see you then."

Agner watched her as she strode out of the café.

~oOo~

"Were we not just here?" called out Angrod with a chuckle.

Aegnor shifted slightly on the back of his horse. They were on their way once more to Ladros to meet with their brother at the house of Lord Boromir. The enemy seemed to have become restless as of late and Finrod had felt as if some threat was moving across the land. Could the days of the long peace be coming to an end? Aegnor would be lying if he said he did not believe it himself. While he did not have the gift of foresight to the extent that his eldest brother did, he did have it, and his heart had felt heavy as of late.

Something was coming. He could feel it.

He shook off the dark thoughts that had plagued him and turned his attention to the task at hand. They were once more at the home of Lord Belemir to escort his niece back to the home of her father. Angrod was right, it did feel as if they had just been here. But upon seeing the lord Belemir, Angrod knew that the passage of time had not been as fleeting. Angrod took notice of the considerable amount of grey in the man's hair and beard from when they had last seen him. The land was harsh on the race of Men. It pained him to see them fade so.

Angrod watched as the lady Adanel and one of her hand maidens made ready the child's belongings on the wagon. He had tried to take on the responsibility himself and save her the trouble but she had shooed him away with a stern look. He had learned some time ago not to cross her when she was of that mind. He glanced around the yard for the child but when he could not find her he reigned his horse over to where Angrod spoke with Belemir.

"Are you sure you do not wish to respite here tonight and leave on the morrow my lords? You have traveled far and still have some distance to go."

"No that will not be necessary lord Belemir, but we thank you for your generosity. If the weather permits we will reach the Tarn Aeluin by nightfall to camp and then to Ladros by late morning. Perhaps we can take you up on your offer another time for I am certain we will be traveling through here again."

"You are always welcome my lords, always. Although I must warn you that my wife may not be as pleased since you are taking her favorite student with you."

Aegnor smiled as Angrod laughed.

"You may tell your lady that we will look after the child as if she were our own," reassured Aegnor.

"You may tell the lady yourself my lord," called the lady Adanel as she walked over and stood at the side of her husband. Aegnor had always found her a wise and knowledgeable, if not slightly imposing woman. Her long grey hair hung in a loose braid over her shoulder, and while she was not tall, she had a way of seeming like she was standing over you. He and Angrod would often jest at what the outcome would be if they could ever get her in the same location as Artanis. The battle of wills would be legendary.

"Then I shall," laughed Aegnor, "her well-being is now my top priority."

"We'll see," the lady Adanel countered with her own wry smile, "ah, here she comes."

Aegnor turned to see the lady Adanel's hand maiden approaching on a mount and for the briefest of moments was confused. This could not be the girl they were take to Ladros. This was a young woman, still flush with some youth certainly, but a young woman nonetheless. Her long dark hair fell over her shoulders like a curtain as she leaned down to lay a parting kiss to the lord and lady of the house. Had not the child they left been fair haired? This could not be her.

But then she straightened in her saddle and her gaze fell on Aegnor, and her eyes, those eyes that seemed to pick up the hues of almost every color and were an endless source of fascination to Aegnor, confirmed her identity. Angrod and Aegnor both inclined their heads in greeting.

"Lady Andreth," Angrod called, "it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance again."

"The pleasure is mine my lords. I hope that my presence will not be a hindrance to your journey."

"Not at all my lady," replied Angrod, "to have any company other than that of my brothers is always welcome as far as I am concerned. You are doing me a great favor with your presence."

Aegnor gave his brother a flat look.

"You must forgive my brother, he has a habit of letting his mouth runaway with him when there is an audience in attendance." Aegnor turned back to the young lady before him. "That said, it truly is a pleasure to see you again."

Andreth smiled but said nothing as she turned once more to her aunt and uncle.

After several more rounds of farewells and promises to return, they were on their way. But once they were out of the sight of the manor Andreth suddenly pulled up to a stop. Angrod and Aegnor reigned in next to her concerned, watching her as she moved around in her saddle.

"Is there something wrong lady Andreth," Angrod asked, his look of concern turning to confusion and wide eyed surprise as she began to hike up her skirts, "are you in need of some . . . assistance?" Angrod's tone was becoming more and more uncertain.

"No," Andreth answered, "no, not at all. I just – oof –", as she spoke, she unhooked her leg from where she sat and swung it around so as to sit astride her mount instead of sidesaddle. Once she accomplished this, she began to arrange her skirts around her seat. "I just wanted to make myself more comfortable for the ride ahead. I just couldn't do that till we were well out of my aunt's eyesight or she would have hauled me back to my uncle's manor and given me quite the earful." She finished arranging her skirts and looked pleasantly up at Angrod.

"Alright then, I am ready if you are."

The brothers looked at each other for a moment before Angrod barked out a laugh.

"I have a cousin you would get along famously with," he laughed.

Yes, thought Aegnor, the little girl has turned into quite the lady.