I could tell we were good after that and I was happy he wanted to join me. I do not know how I had convinced myself I would have been fine on my own, as I was no good at pinpointing the starting point of an ambush nor was I able to hide myself, and, as it turned out, I was no good at directions, either.

'The route you took is leading you out of the Entwood. Was that on purpose?' I could lie…

'No, it was not. I thought I was going straight through,' I decided against lying. We had mounted our horses again and resumed the journey. Even though I was leading us on a detour.

'It might work out for the best. I feel trapped in these thick woods and would be happier out in the open, where we can actually see where we are going,' Ryce said.

'We must make haste to Rivendell, going out of Entwood might take longer,' I argued. He was silent for a bit.

'It might make no difference. The further we go into the woods, the harder it will be to determine if we're going North. The time we spent on figuring out if we are still on the right path could very possibly be as much as when we take a route outside of Entwood,' he said. It made sense. Thicker woods meant less sun and if we could not see where the sun shone, we could not see where it would rise or set, so we could not use that method to decide where the north is. We would have to rely on the moss on the trees, but I had never been good at that.

'Alright, we'll leave Entwood and make our way to the Anduin and follow it up. How does that sound?' I said. If we were going to journey together, we had to agree. He nodded approvingly.

'Excellent. How do you manage it?' he asked surprised.

'Manage what?'

'Messing up but finding a solution in the mess? It's a thing you excel at,' He laughed out loud. Here I was, thinking he would compliment me on thinking of the Anduin as a guide to the North, but at the same time, finding a way to insult me a little. Despite myself I laughed with him.

'It's a talent, really,' I said, smirking. Then I remembered something.
'I want to follow the traveller. He - uh, his name is Boromir,' I waited for it to click and it took Ryce a while.

'You think he went through Entwood?' he asked.

'That would be a short route to reach Rivendell,' he was silent for a bit.

'We should continue as we agreed. Leave Entwood. I do not think he would last long in these woods, so he probably will avoid them. Our biggest chance of finding him would be close to the river,' Ryce said. I could not read his expression at all.

/ / /

It did not take us many days to reach the end of Entwood, I guessed I had set out in the wrong direction to begin with. The air felt less thick and sounds of animal life were returning. I could even see some open land behind the treeline.

'How long do you reckon until we reach Limlight?' it was a small river that eventually flows into the Anduin and we would have to cross it, as I knew there was no bridge. Even though Ryce was a good swimmer now, I knew he would rather avoid it.

'Depends. If we wish to decrease the changes of any delay, we ride day and night and reach it in two nights. If not, four. I would rather make haste. The open fields of the Wold might not be as safe as we hope it to be,' he was right again.

'Alright, on we go, then,' I agreed.

There was a question burning inside me and I could no longer hold it in.

'How did Aldin take your leave?' I asked. His good mood vanished, but his displeasure was not directed towards me.

'I had no time to tell him as I was afraid I had lost enough time with Eomer and did not know what to do if I could not find you. Your trail is hard to track,' Triumphantly I looked at Hefrics backside, where his tail was swooshing around happily. Hefrics tail was very thick and bushy and consisted of a lot of hairs that reached the ground, being a Friesian horse. Sometimes it was necessary for messengers to travel without being tracked so they would train their horses to swoosh their tail on the ground a lot, erasing any hoofprints. This would only work if the horse would not have to go faster than a trot and if the soil was not wet. Suffice to say it does not always work. It could be quite challenging in forests, too, as branches could break and leaves could crush, but a well trained messenger horse would have secure footing, looking for patches with only dirt and the occasional branch, all the while swooping its tail for leaves to fall and cover up any traces. For now I felt Hefric's long tail would come in use, but I might have to trim it when the need arises to travel faster or if it seemed as if we would be in battle, as his tail could hinder Hefric then.

It took me that long to realize what Ryce had actually said just now.

'You have not said goodbye to Aldin?' that surprised me.

'I had to make a choice. Quickly,' he said. I looked over at him but he was looking ahead.

'The last time you chose me over him did not go so well, Ryce. I am not more important than your-' he interrupted me.

'You are equal. I share things with you I cannot with him, and I share things with him that I cannot with you. He knows that, I know you know that and I know you do not agree,' we have had this discussion before and I still had the same opinion.

'Indeed! How can I be the equal of the man you love?'

'Simple. I love you, too,'

'Romantically!'

'You are not going to say it back?' from his profile I could see he was holding back a smirk. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

'One of these days… I love you as well, Ryce, but not the same as I love Eomer,' at this he looked at me.

'That is fine. You treat me no different than him, except for the recent snogging. I have never noticed any difference in your behaviour towards me after you found out you loved him. That is how I know Eomer and I are equal, even if you do not see it so,' it bugged me to no end that he could formulate his thoughts so effortlessly. It would have taken me three days to come up with an answer like that.

'Why would I treat you different after I fell in love? That would make no sense. What I mean to say is, if we were in battle and I was attacked at the same time as Aldin and only you could save only one, who would you chose? I am not trying to provoke you, I am only trying to make you understand my definition of equals,'

'Do not ask me something you could not answer, either.'

'What do you mean?'

'You cannot convince me that you would be able to chose. You would find a way to sacrifice yourself, as would I. I would not choose, nor would you,' I bit my lip, he was right.

'Okay. How about this. Aldin and I both love honey bread. If there was only one piece of honey bread left in the whole of Middle Earth, and it was yours, but Aldin and I both wanted it, who would you give it to?' he laughed out loud.

'I fear that day will once come. But, it is simple. I would share it between you two,' I grunted, 'it is no battle, Sorrun. Like I said before, I might sometimes forget we are not the same person, but it is a fact nonetheless. That I see you and Aldin as equals and Eomer and I as equals, that does not mean you have to share that opinion. I do not expect it from you nor do I blame you that you clearly do not agree,' he took a bite of his pear and I pondered what he said in silence. Before I could make up my mind on what I wanted to say, he started talking again.

'I think it would be a good idea for us to set some secret phrases we could use to warn another, if it is not safe to directly say it. Back at camp you were slow to catch up on what was happening, before the attack,' he said. Again, his tone was not patronizing but I felt a flush creep up on my cheeks nonetheless. I still had so much to learn, but was eager to. So I nodded.

'First off, another name. I will go by Raeza,' he said. A third name, should be fun. Raeza was not a Rohirric name, but I did not know where it did hail from.

'How about Ariadne?' he said. I let out a very womanly snort.

'Ariadne? Most holy? You must be joking,' I said.

'I was. Odile then?' where was he getting these names? They were not Rohirric.

'Odile?' I asked

'It means she who prospers in battle,' he was not amused by my amusement. He was very serious, but I started giggling.

'Ah, yes. I prosper in battle. It suits me indeed,' my tone could not have been more sarcastic, but Ryce either chose to ignore it or was oblivious to it.

'You choose your battles. I like it. Dilly for short,' I raised an eyebrow.

'You must remember when we were younger and you thought it was a good idea to shorten my name,' I said dryly.

'You were Sorry a lot,' he said, smirking.

'Don't go there again,' I warned.

'Why? You never Run away for anything,' I did not respond, 'except for Runny bowel movements,' he burst out in laughing at his own jokes. I was reliving my childhood and all my 'friends' that enjoyed making up jokes and puns from my name. He stopped laughing after a bit.

'What does Saoirse mean?'

'Freedom,' I said. At this he looked up at me.

'Fitting,' he said. There was no change in his mood, he still seemed chipper to me, so we were making more progress on the whole I-am-secretly-the-daughter-of-a-disliked-Steward thing.

'Odile it is, then. Let us continue now and figure out the secret phrases and codes while riding,' I said and he nodded before standing up and gathering his things.