I really wanted to grab my bow, but it was just a little too far away that I could grab it and have it seem casual. What a great way to start off my journey, I would have to be in close combat already. Were we waiting for them to attack us or were we to make the first move? My question was answered for me as I heard a horn - our horn - being blown and then there was chaos. I shot up and quickly assessed if there really was no way for me to use my bow, but there were too many of our men around me and I was worried I might shoot them instead of the enemy. We were on level ground, but there were trees I could climb. I also saw we had to deal with orcs and I quickly grabbed my bow and arrows, strapped them on my back, grabbed my dirk and headed for the trees. I cursed, the oil had not been soaked up completely and it would be challenging to hold onto it firmly.

I now saw that the campfire I was at, was at the center of the camp, so the orcs had not reached us yet. I searched for Eomer in the chaos, but I could not find him and that worried me. I suddenly understood why men did not wish for their beloved women to be in battle as it is quite distracting to have to focus while being worried. The closer I got to the trees, however, the closer I came to the invading orcs and soon enough I found myself face-to-face with a particularly ugly one. His rusty sword was swaying from left to right as he charged me, but I was faster and I could not help but feeling there was no strategy to his attack, as I so often felt when facing orcs. They were fighting machines, yes, and they had stamina men were jealous of, but the way they fought was in no way the same to ours. There was no anticipating moves, there was no defense, there was just charging and offence.

I ducked a blow from his left and cut his knee where his skin showed through his leg piece. He shrieked and grabbed his knee and I saw and took this opportunity to drive my dirk in the side of his neck. Soon he dropped to the ground and I kept moving forward. I was only thinking about getting to the trees and fighting any orc that crossed my path - and there were several - that I took no heed of how the rest of the men were doing. They were better fighters than me and this was not a particularly big band of orcs; I used those thoughts to sooth my mind from worries. When I had killed another orc I took three seconds to look around me and saw there were only a few orcs left and there was no need for me to use my bow anymore. I also saw that Ryce had kept close to me and was also without a foe and our eyes met. Half a second later his face grew grim.

'Sorrun!' he warned and I turned around and saw another orc charge me. I wasn't ready. I swerved to my right, where I took just a second too long to secure my footing and it pushed me with all his weight and fell next to me. It had fallen on its sword, but it had not pierced him, and it was struggling to free it from beneath him. That was all I needed and I drove my dirk in the gap in his armour beneath his armpit, a particularly painful place to get stabbed.

I had no time to get on my feet on my own as I was hoisted up by who I thought was Ryce, but turned out to be Eomer. I swallowed, he looked furious as he looked me up and down.

'Are you alright?' he demanded.

'Yes, are you?' I quickly looked him over and could find no cuts and saw only orc-blood.

'Fine. Why were you going to the woods? Did you not see that was where they were coming from?' oh. Beginner's mistake, I thought to myself. I knew I was going to sound foolish in my explanation, but there was no way out of this.

'I searched for a vantage point so I could use my bow. I thought I could either use the cover of the trees or climb one,' I did not know it was possible he could get any angrier, but as always, he loved to prove me wrong.

'We are mostly in an open field with the edge of a forest on one side. It did not occur to you that that was the only entry point for the orcs to attack us?! If you are not certain of your abilities, you should not be in battle!' he said. I could only look at him, I did not even felt anger, only hurt. His shoulders were rising up and down he was breathing so hard. It took him a little while to realize what he had said and he closed his eyes and exhaled before speaking again.

'What I meant to say was-' he started. I did not let him finish .

'That you were worried? Then say those words, Eomer, and do not treat me like a young soldier on your training fields! Tell me something. If bows and arrows were the standard weapon of choice in battle, but you felt more confident using a sword, you would do anything to try and use your sword, am I right? You would use a bow and arrow only when absolutely necessary, not because you are not able to handle one, but because you know you are more lethal using your bow. That, Eomer, is why I made for the forest,' I paused and he actually had the decency to look half ashamed and somewhat astonished, 'but you were right. I had not seen them coming from the woods. I shall be more cautious next time,' I wanted to walk away, but I knew he hated it when I did that and I also knew the conversation had not yet come to an end.

'I had not thought of it that way. I am - sorry, Sorrun,' he lowered his voice a bit, 'I was worried. I could not find you in the camp after I came back from patrolling the other direction, and the scout that searched the woods said they were clear. I should send another party to make sure as that forest is part of your journey,' I had forgotten about that. I looked back at the woods and swallowed.

'Have they not charged us with everything they had?' he smiled a small smile and touched my cheek.

'It does not always work that way, Sorrun,'

'Well, no matter. I do not think you should send anyone out, I have a bigger chance of slipping by on my own unnoticed if there are any orcs still lingering there,' not to say I would not have him sacrifice men to make the start of my journey easier.

'No,' he simply said.

'What do you mean, no?' I was confused.

'I will send men to scout before you leave tomorrow morning. You have not given me any compromise that allowed me to help make your journey easier, so that I will do. No matter your objections,' as stubborn as always, but he looked so determined. From the corner of my eye I suddenly saw Eothain, waiting for us to finish our conversation, looking extremely uncomfortable at overhearing what was said.

'Yes?' Eomer said, while still looking at me, but addressing Eothain. His hand fell from my face.

'Eomer, the camp is secure again,' he started.

'Good. Have we lost any men?'

'No, sir. No one is particularly hurt either, we have been lucky. The orcs must have misjudged our numbers and attacked thinking it would be an easy victory. We found several of our horses a little way into the woods. Stolen horses, from one of the villages close by,' at this, Eomer looked at Eothain.

'How could the scout miss the horses? Take me to them,' he said but he looked back at me and did not move away. Eothain took the hint and went to stand out of earshot.

'I saw you fall when that orc charged you. Are you sure you are unhurt?' I had fallen on my hip and I knew it was going to be a big bruise, but thought it unnecessary to voice that.

'I'm fine, Eomer. I'm not bleeding,' at this he nodded, looked me over once more, and for half a second I saw a puzzled look cross his face before he bend down to plant a kiss on my forehead. I was unable to move after that while he walked away. He had never done that before. He had kissed the top of my head a dozen times before and I loved it when he did that, but this was new. In a daze I walked back to Ryce, who was grinning ear to ear.

'Not a word,' I said.

'Would not dream of it. Let me take you back to your tent,'

/ / /

'Are you alright?' Olfete said as soon as she saw me approach our tent.

'Yes, it was but a short fight and I am not wounded,' she let out a sigh of relief.

'Short fight or not, a lot of damage could have been done and I was to stay inside this tent! The audacity of some of the young men, thinking they can order me around like that,' I smiled. Olfete was by no means a fighter and she would have never charged outside of the safety of the tent to take part in the battle. She did, however, love to pretend she would and then complain that others had stopped her. In truth, she was thankful for such protection.

'I will take my leave with my mind at ease that I left you in the capable hands of Olfete,' Ryce said, gave me a nod and gave Olfete a small bow, all the while grinning from ear to ear before he added, 'I will see you in the morning,' and walked off.

His last comment caused a great shift in my mood, as I had thought of a new plan that no one would be happy about when they found out in the morning. Olfete was oblivious to my change in mood as she walked back inside the tent, talking about the shrieks and other sounds of orcs that disgusted her.

'Olfete, I am going to leave soon,' I said. Her back was turned to me and went rigid before she pulled herself together again to face me.

'Not tomorrow morning, then?' but she did not sound surprised. I shook my head.

'I thought you might come up with a silly idea like that. Why?' I sighed and looked down.

'Why postpone the inevitable? I am-'

'The truth, my dear,' how was she always able to do that?! I looked her right in her eyes as I gave her what she wanted, the truth.

'Eomer wants to send out a patrol to sweep a part of the forest that I am to journey through, and I do not think it a good idea. A waste of time, energy, and possibly men. I am faster on my own and my chances of slipping by unnoticed are higher when I am alone. He disagrees,' she was silent for a bit.

'I agree with you. Are you going to say goodbye to him? No one would like it if you just went without a word,' I sighed.

'I am afraid he will stop me,'

'Only if you allow him to stop you, Saoirse,' why did everyone feel the need to shock me today? First a kiss on my forehead from Eomer, and now Olfete used my true name. I had not heard her say that in a very, very long time. I felt my eyes fill with tears as I knew this was our final goodbye. She hurried over to me and pulled me in an embrace.

'I know, sweetheart. Let it all out,' and I did. I do not know how long we stood like that while I cried like a babe, but I let it all out. The fear I felt was overwhelming and what I wanted most at that moment was someone that would tell me everything would be alright. But no one knew if it would ever be alright again, so no one could ease my mind. I was afraid of so many things. Of what I would encounter on my journey to Rivendell. I was afraid if they would even let me in Rivendell, if they would even let me join the meeting, if they would even include me in what was to happen after. I was afraid I would die. But as Olfete held me and I was quickly running out of tears to shed, I told myself this was the last time I would allow the fear to coarse through me. I would accept my fate, I would carry myself as a true representative of Rohan. I gave myself five more seconds of fear and as I counted down from five to zero, I felt myself grow easier and my tears had stopped. Olfete let go of the embrace but kept me at arms length, holding on to my shoulders.

'I know you will do what is right, Saoirse, you always do. I feel your part in this is great and I will take pride in everything I have taught you that will be of use to you. Remember to stay true to yourself, my dear, your lightheartedness and retorts will make anyone forget the peril they are in,' I do not remember the last time I saw Olfete cry other than the handful times her eyes welled up, but now the tears were rolling down her face. If I thought I had shed all my tears, I was sorely mistaken as I felt my cheeks getting wet again.

'Try not to let your anger take over and please try to be more patient with people,' despite her words - which were true and honest and a bit painful - I laughed.

'I will try,' I said, 'thank you Cellien, I will cherish all you have taught me and the thought of you will comfort me in harder times to come,' I moved to one of my saddlebags where I kept the books and other keepsakes from home. I pulled out the books.

'I wanted to ask if you could keep these safe for me,' I said and I gave them to her. She looked them over and recognized them immediately. She looked back up at me and handed me back one.

'Take this one with you,' she said, 'I'm sure Hefric can handle the little bit of extra weight,' I looked at the book she had given back to me and recognized it to be the one that Eomer had given me. I felt new tears well up, stop crying, I told myself. I held the book tightly as I walked back to my bags and put the book back before picking up my bags. Enough time had passed that the camp had settled down and I hoped I would not attract everyone's attention when I left.

'Westu Hal, Sorrun,' she said.
'Westu Hal, Olfete,'