A/N: 'galdricge' means 'enchantress' in Old English.

She was sitting, cross-legged, at the top of the small rise just outside of the village, the bottom of her sketchpad resting on her lap, oblivious to everything but the drawing of her family that she was working on. It should not have been hard, since it was just her mother, father, and brothers, after all, but it was hard to picture their faces in her memory now. She'd struggled to remember Elrohir's lopsided smile or the scheming glint that always seemed to be in Elladan's eye and had she been taller than 'Dan or had he been taller than her? It frustrated her that she could not remember those details as she tried to remember her family and that it was Rheda, Algar and their sons that came to mind the quickest now. That was why she had started the drawing, so that she would have something to look at and remind her where she had come from and who she had left behind.

She had been at it most of the day and now, finally, it was nearly complete. All that was needed was a slight adjustment to 'Dan's cowlick and-

"Luthien."

Cearo shrieked and tossed the sketchpad away. The drawing had spoken! Had she been in the sun too long? That was probably it.

She let out a shaky sigh and leaned forward to grab her sketchpad. She had just had too much sun. She would go inside, get a drink of water, and take a break from drawing until tomorrow.

The drawing spoke again, and this time Cearo saw Elrohir's lips move, calling her 'Lulu'.

I've been in the sun i way /i too long,' she thought to herself. "This isn't real," she said out loud.

Elrohir continued to speak.

"We miss you. Come home."

He took his hands out of his pockets and hugged himself just like Cearo remembered him doing. Next to him, Elladan put a hand on 'Ro's shoulder and looked up at her sadly. Cearo stared at the drawing, unable to look away. What was going on? Did the Valar have something to do with this? If they did, they had taken their fine time showing up again.

"Why did you leave us?" 'Ro started to cry, little pencil tears running down his cheeks.

"I didn't want to," she said, kneeling. "I wasn't planning to. I wanted to come home but the Valar wouldn't let me."

"Huh?" 'Ro asked. "What'd you say, Lulu?"

"I said I didn't plan to leave and I'd come home if I could."

'Ro was still looking confused. She repeated herself again, slower that time. 'Ro scowled.

"Speak English, Lulu," he groused. "What language is that? Black Speech?"

Last night's orc attack flooded through her mind and she began to shake. "Don't i ever /i say anything like that ever again," she said through clenched teeth. "Of course I'm speaking English. What-" With a start, she realized she'd been speaking Rohirric. She took a steadying breath. "Better?" she asked her brothers, this time in English. They nodded. "I thought I was speaking English. Guess I'm getting too used to being here." She smiled weakly.

"Come home, Lu," 'Dan said, his tone slightly pleading. "Mom and Dad are a mess. 'Ro and I miss you a lot."

"No one else has a computer to hack?" she joked.

"Come home."

"I wish I could." Something dripped onto the paper and Cearo realized she was crying now as well as 'Ro. "I don't know how."

"Take my hand." To her surprise, Dan reached toward her from the paper, his flat, off-white hand extending out into the air in front of the pad. "Take my hand. I'll pull you back to us."

Still wondering if this was all the product of a sun-addled brain, she set the pad down and took the small paper hand.

Suddenly, something was seizing her shoulder and shaking her. "Time to get up," a rough voice said in Rohirric.

Cearo's eyes flew open and reality crashed down on her like icy water. It had only been a dream. The talking drawing was only a dream. Her gut twisted with disappointment, making her swallow hard and dig her nails into her palm to keep from crying.

By then, her brain was awake enough to register that it was Helm who had woken her up and was now striding toward the front door, the family cows and sheep following after him, most likely on his way to the barn to get Sherwyn before taking the animals out to a fresh pasture for the day.

"Another glorious day begins," she murmured dryly under her breath as she turned onto her left side so she could wake Wilone, who was clinging to her arm like lichen on a rock.

Cearo had long since given up trying to keep the little girl from using her arm like some sort of security blanket because every time she had tried, Wilone had slept poorly and woken up crying from nightmares which, in turn, woke everyone else up. She also refused to sleep next to anyone but Cearo. Rheda had brushed it off as just a phase and said she did not care but Cearo could tell she had been hurt by Wilone not wanting to sleep near her.

"Good morning, Little Bird," Cearo said softly as she gently prised out of Wilone's iron grip. The little girl shifted slightly and groaned as she joined the waking world. "Time to get up."

"Don't wanna get up," Wilone grumbled, eyes still closed.

Cearo chuckled. "Neither do I but we have to." She sat up and pulled her sister into her lap. "If you don't, I'll tickle you until you do."

Wilone opened her eyes and gave a sleepy giggle. "What if you don't get up and you stay asleep with me?"

"Then Kenric will come and tickle us both!" On the last word, she tickled Wilone's belly, making the little girl shriek. Everyone in the house looked over and saw Wilone draped across Cearo's lap on her back, giggling loudly as she was tickled

"You can play later, daughters," Rheda chided, smiling. "Cearo, come help me

with the porridge."

"You're safe for now," Cearo told Wilone as she slid the girl onto their sleeping mat, "but I'll get you later." She tickled the little girl quickly one last time before slipping on her shoes and going over to help Rheda make breakfast.

"We'll talk about last night after we eat," Rheda said as she slowly poured a bowl of oats into the kettle of boiling water over the fire.

"What about the baking?" Cearo asked, suddenly wanting to be anywhere else but in the kitchen.

"We'll do that tomorrow. Grindan needs to finish grinding the grain."

"Oh." Cearo looked down at the bowl in her hands and tried to think of something else she could use to stall the discussion. "What's so important about what I heard last night? Why's it a big deal Aelfrid went out riding and why do you need to talk to me?" She looked up at Rheda and affected her best confused expression. "Am I in trouble?" Maybe if she could convince Rheda she did not know anything, they would not have to talk about it.

"No, dear, you're not in trouble," Rheda reassured her. "It's-we'll talk about it later. Bring me the bowls. The porridge is ready."

After breakfast, to Cearo's dismay, Aelfrid stayed at the table when everyone else left. 'Horse balls,' she grumbled silently, keeping her gaze down to avoid accidentally meeting Aelfrid's eyes. 'Why couldn't Aelfrid have just stayed in last night and why did Brego have to go and say anything and kiss me? I hope both of their manhoods shrivel up and fall off!'

"I don't bite," Aelfrid teased, reaching across the table and putting a hand over hers.

"Don't touch me," she snapped, jerking her hand back as if she had been burned. "Just leave me alone." A moment later, she moved both of her hands into her lap.

"What's wrong?" Aelfrid, to her annoyance, was playing stupid.

"Don't act like you don't know why Ma and Pa want to talk to both of us," she

said, her tone clipped. "If you'd just listened to them last night, none of this would be happening."

"So I went riding last night. What's the big deal?"

Cearo looked up from the tabletop. "You know what the 'big deal' is, Aelfrid. You know why they didn't want you to go riding and so do I. Brego told me last night."

Aelfrid's already-pale face lost what little color it had. Cearo took a slow, deep breath to try and steady her jangling nerves.

"Is it true?" She knew it was. His reaction to her statement had confirmed that, but she wanted to hear it from him.

"What did he tell you?"

'Where do I start?' she wondered dryly. "That I'm the one you said you missed when you were on patrol and the only reason you haven't said anything to me yet is because I'm not twenty yet and you were going to talk to me next month." She swallowed thickly and willed her queasy stomach to settle.

His eyes met hers and she willed herself not to look away.

"Yes."

It was amazing, she decided later, how much could change with one little word, how you can suddenly feel like you do not know someone you have known for years and nothing will ever be the same ever again. What she saw in his eyes scared her. He was not supposed to be looking at her that way, like a man looks at a woman, the same way Brego had been looking at her last night. It was not supposed to be like this. She looked away.

Rheda and Algar chose that moment to sit down at their usual places at the table. "Talking about last night?" Algar asked. Aelfrid and Cearo nodded. "What did you tell her?"

"Nothing," Aelfrid said. "Other than telling her that what Brego told her last night was true."

Algar's stern gaze turned to Cearo. "And what was that?"

Cearo told him what she had told Aelfrid. "He also said it was hard to see me as a sister and he kissed me," she added, figuring Algar and Rheda deserved, or at least needed, to know Aelfrid was not the only son seeing their 'sister' in a very un-brotherly way.

Algar did not say anything for a long, uncomfortable moment. "He kissed you," he said flatly, voice taut with an undercurrent of anger.

Cearo nodded slowly, wondering what he was thinking. He was not happy, that much she could tell, but how upset he was was anyone's guess. Rheda and Aelfrid's expressions left absolutely no question of how they felt. They were both Very Mad and both looked as if they wanted to work Brego over. 'I'll be hiding under the table now, if anyone needs me,' she silently thought. 'Any loans of amour are greatly appreciated.'

"I see." The outer corner of Algar's left eye twitched slightly and after another long pause he said, "I should talk to Brego. Rheda, come with me." As he stood, he turned to Aelfrid. "We'll finish discussing this later. Stay here."

To Cearo's surprise, Aelfrid stayed at the table, even after Algar and Rheda left. She waited for him to get up and go somewhere else but he stayed sitting, saying nothing while he stared at her, hands resting on the table. "No sneaking out after them?" she asked dryly to break the uncomfortable silence. "I'm surprised. I thought you'd be going after Brego."

"I'm in enough trouble right now and Pa is already thinking of sending you to live with Deagol until after your birthday."

That was news. "Who told you that? Pa didn't say anything to me." She hoped it was just talk. She and their eldest brother had never had more than a politely distant relationship and the idea of having to live with him and his wife, even for a short time, made her want to cry. He did not much like her and had always been suspicious of how she had gotten to Rohan and the vague answers she gave whenever someone asked her about where she was from.

"He wouldn't. He's just threatened to me to do that."

"If I'm going anywhere, I'd rather go stay with Elfhild or Gurda." She bit the inside of her lip, hoping if Algar made anyone go live somewhere else it would be Aelfrid, and studied a stain on the table which looked like a very warty ball.

A toad had played with it, she decided, which is why it had warts. Maybe it had tossed it around with all its toad friends and played catch. She giggled at the mental picture of toads playing catch on the bank of a creek and made a note to tell Wilone, who was playing on Cearo's sleeping mat, about the toads that came out at night to play catch and tag on the bank of the stream behind the house.

"What's funny?" Aelfrid asked.

She glanced up and found herself looking in his eyes. "Stop staring at me," she said crossly, unnerved by what she saw there. "I was just making up a story about a stain on the table." She pushed back the bench and stood up, suddenly anxious to be anywhere but here. "I should tell it to Wilone before I forget it." Anything to get away from him and his ceaseless staring.

She took her sister outside to play not far from the creek in the shade of a willow tree. The weather had been unseasonably hot and even early in the morning, it was already warm enough that Cearo wanting nothing more than to strip off her wool clothing, or at least chop off the sleeves and most of the skirts. She had suggested the idea of altering clothes for the summer months to Rheda her first summer here and been soundly shot down. Decent and proper women, it seemed, did not go about with arms and legs uncovered, no matter how hot the weather and as long as Cearo was living under their roof she would live by their rules. There was a nice, hidden pool upstream from the house very few people seemed to know about so Cearo went there to swim when she could to get relief from the heat. If the early morning temperatures were any indication, Cearo knew she would be going there again today.

Wilone loved Cearo's story about Tom the Toad and his toad friends, Larry, Curly, and Moe. "They have funny names," was Wilone's opinion.

"They do," Cearo agreed. "And they're very silly toads, always tripping over each other and falling down and poking each other in the eye." Wilone giggled. "Sometimes, Tom and Larry and Moe and Curly go swimming with," she searched her brain for more names, "Laurel and Hardy, minnows that live in a pool we go to and they have swimming races and play games in the water."

"Like tag?" Wilone asked. Cearo nodded, trying to keep a straight face, and Wilone lit up. "I wanna play with them sometime. Do you think they'd let me play with them?"

"I don't think Ma would let you stay up to play games with them, Little Bird."

"Maybe she'll let me if you say you'll be with me."

"I don't think so. I'm sorry." Wilone's face fell. "I'm sure Tom and his friends would love to play with you. Maybe when you're older."

"Like next month?"

Cearo pushed a lock of hair behind Wilone's ear. "Maybe next spring."

"But that's so long! I don't wanna wait! Maybe Tom and Larry and Cully and Mo will leave by next spring and I won't get to play with them."

"I know," Cearo said, pulling Wilone into her lap and hugging her. "It's hard when you're a big girl and people think you're still little."

"I'm hot." Wilone squirmed out of Cearo's arms and began pulling her tunic off.

"Don't." Cearo grabbed her wrists. If Wilone ran around with no clothes on and Rheda found out, she'd be in trouble for letting her sister not wear any clothes.

'I really should cut the sleeves off our shifts,' she silently groused. 'Who cares if I get in trouble? At least we won't roast to death!'

It would, though, waste fabric because there was no easy way to reattach the sleeves when colder weather came so the shift would only be good for warm weather. For cold weather, they… no, i she /i would have to make an entirely new shift (Rheda would make sure she did it all by herself as punishment. That would mean making the fabric (which was a major pain to make, especially carding and spinning the wool and then dying it) and there was no way she was going to deal with all that just so she could cut the sleeves off in the summer.

"I'm hot and I wanna!" Wilone whinged.

"I know. So am I." Cearo flopped back onto the grass and lay out with arms and

legs spread, willing her body to adsorb the cool of the earth. "I wish we could take our clothes off but if Ma finds us I'll get in trouble."

"We do when we go in the water!"

"Yes, but the pool is well-hidden and this spot isn't."

"Anyone could ride up and see us."

"Let's go to the pool," Wilone said, sounding as if she was annoyed to be pointing out the obvious to her sister.

"When Ma gets back." Wilone pulled a face. "I don't want to wait either but

she'll get worried if she doesn't know where we are."

"Let's go find her." Wilone grabbed Cearo's hand and tried to pull her up.

Cearo 'let' Wilone pull her into a sitting position. "I don't know where she is, sweetie. She and Pa went to find Brego to talk to him."

"Oh." She plopped down. "Tell me more about Tom."

When Cearo ran out of stories about Tom the Toad, they went to the barn to look at the kittens. One of Cearo's favorites, a tabby she had named Morwen, had just given birth behind the hay pile. The brothers did not understand why Cearo cared about the cats in the barn and they had teased her for months when she brought the runt of one litter into the house two years ago and hand-raised it, going so far as to name him Aelfwine. She had ended up having the last laugh, though, as Aelfwine was one of the best mousers they had ever had. Now that Aelfwine had proven himself useful, Cearo's strange attitude toward keeping cats around was tolerated and she was allowed to bring a kitten into the house each year. Morwen's kittens were almost old enough to be taken away from their mother now and Cearo had promised Wilone she could pick a kitten to be hers.

The kittens were nursing, little ears moving back and forth as they suckled, while Morwen lounged on the hay, purring loudly and looking very pleased with herself. Her narrowed eyes widened when Wilone grabbed one of the nursing kittens and she began to stand. "Let the kitty finish eating," Cearo told Wilone gently. Morwen settled back when the kitten was plopped back down among its siblings and returned to nursing greedily. "You have to be nice when you're touching them. You can't grab them or they get scared and their mommy doesn't like that."

"Sorry," Wilone said. "They're cute and I wanna hold them."

"I know. Watch me when I pick them up and do it like I do."

"Will they be done eating soon?"

"I don't know. Let's sit and watch. Maybe Morwen will let us pet her. Be soft," she cautioned. "Like this." She lightly stroked Morwen's back. Wilone copied her and Morwen began to purr louder, making Wilone grin. The cat sniffed Wilone's arm and gave her a lick.

"The kitty licked me!" Wilone exclaimed. "She likes me!"

Cearo chuckled. "I think she does." She sat back against the hay and watched Wilone pet Morwen and tell the cat what a good kitty she was and that she was soft and had pretty babies and how she was going to take one and love it a lot and pet it a lot and name it Galdricge.

"Where'd you learn that, Little Bird?" Cearo asked. Big word for a small kid.

"Brego says that's what you are," Wilone responded brightly. "He says it's a better name for you than 'Cearo'. He's right. You aren't sad so why do they call you 'Cearo'?"

"Because I used to be before you were born." She idly scratched behind Morwen's ears. "When I first came here, I missed my family a lot."

Wilone crawled up into her lap. "Do you miss them now?"

"A little. Sometimes."

"Would you miss us if you went away?"

"Absolutely." She gave Wilone a hug. "I'd miss you the most."

"What about me?" Cearo and Wilone startled at the sound of Aelfrid's voice.

"What about you?" Cearo replied, irritated he had been standing there listening and had not said anything. "What do you want?"

"I heard you and Little Bird and came to see what you two were doing."

"Wilone's picking out a kitten and we're waiting until they're done nursing, " she explained. "Slide off my lap," she said to Wilone. I can't reach around you to pet Morwen." She hoped if she ignored Aelfrid he would go away and stop making her feel uncomfortable.

To her supreme annoyance and discomfort he came over to the hay pile and sat down next to her. "What do you like so much about cats?" he asked.

She moved to the other side of Wilone to lie on her stomach. "They're nice to pet and they're good company."

"They just lay around and sleep all day and they don't come when you call them."

"So? They smell better than dogs and they don't jump up on you or shake water all over you or roll in dead things and horse crap. And dogs don't get rid of the mice."

"That's the only thing cats are good for."

Cearo looked up at him, angry words on the tip of her tongue, and saw he was grinning. He'd been baiting her. She rolled her eyes and silently berated herself for letting him get to her. If things were not so totally messed up she would have enjoyed going at it with him over which were better: cats or dogs.

"You can tell cats anything and they won't tell anyone else and they're nice to cuddle."

"So are dogs."

"Depends on the dog. They still smell."

Wilone tugged on Cearo's sleeve. "The kitties are done eating. Can I pet them?"

"Be very soft."

"I will." Wilone gently scooped up a kitten with both hands and slowly brought the mewling ball of fuzz to the hay in front of her where she stroked it lightly with one finger. To her annoyance, the kitten continued to cry and tried to return to Morwen. "Make it stay!" she told Cearo petulently.

"Why don't you go sit by Morwen and pet the kitties there? I'm sure the kitties will let you pet them if they're with their ma."

Wilone nodded, put the kitten back, then scrambled over the hay to lay down on the other side of Morwen. Cearo smiled at the sight of Wilone petting the kittens lightly with one finger, an expression of concentration on her face as she made sure to be soft. "She looks so sweet," Cearo said softly, wondering if her parents had ever felt so full of love and amazment they could burst when she'd been Wilone's age and learning how to pet nicely.

"She does," Aelfrid agreed. "People treat cats like this where you're from?"

She nodded, still watching Wilone. "We keep animals around for their company. Lots of people do, strange as that sounds."

"Why?"

"Because we want to. It makes us happy. I haven't heard you complaining about Aelfwine."

"He does a job."

"He's also a nice companion."

"What about us?"

"You and your brothers?" She rolled her eyes. "You smell and you're loud and you harass me and you like to beat me at swordplay." 'And, lately, you kiss me without warning and you tell me you see me as a woman and turn everything upside down,' she added silently. "Aelfwine helps me relax and makes me smile and laugh."

"And none of us do?"

"He doesn't harass me and use swordplay as an excuse to hit me."

"You do the same to us."

"And? Wilone, be soft. Don't hold the kitty so tight." Wilone set down the wiggling, mewling kitten she'd been gripping around its belly. "You like snakes and bugs and all those nasty things but I don't tell you it's stupid."

"Yes, you do."

"Only when you dangled them in my face or dropped them down my shift to scare me and make me scream. I didn't used to be afraid of them, until you brats started scaring me with them."

"If we didn't like you, we'd ignore you."

"That must mean Brego adored me," she said sarcastically, then felt herself go red. "You know what I mean," she muttered.

He put a hand over hers. "Yes. Cearo, we need to talk."

Her heart began to race. "No, we don't." She knew what he was going to say and she didn't want to hear it. "Let go of my hand." He was holding it too firmly for her to pull it free.

"Yes, we do," he said in a low voice. "We have to at some point."

"Then we'll do it later," she shot back. "Let go of my hand."

"Not until you listen to what I have to say."

"No."

"You don't have a choice!" he snapped, frustration thick in his voice. "If you don't now, you will at your birthday when I ask Pa for permission to court you."

She looked up at him. "And what if I don't want to hear it?" She could see the hurt her words caused reflected in his eyes, making her heart twist. What was she supposed to do, lie to him? "What if all I want is a brother and a friend?"

"Is it?"

"I—yes." She looked away. "You're my brother and my best friend, Aelfrid. You're not supposed to want—to see—this isn't how it's supposed to be."

"You've never been a sister. You were sixteen when you came to us. Maybe for Grindan and Tellan, but not the rest of us."

"Brego said something like that last night and how it would've been easier if I was 'a plain little stick'."

"He's right." He lightly ran his thumb over her palm. "But there's no sense in wishing for what might have been. You're not and you're nearly of age and I don't want to be your friend anymore."

'Stopstopstopnonono i no /i ,' her mind cried, willing him to shut up and stop talking about love. "Let go of my hand. I don't want to talk about this. Leave me alone."

"Cearo-"

"Let b go /b ," she snapped, jerking her hand from his. "Just leave me alone, Aelfrid. I said I don't want to talk about it." She scrambled away to sit next to Wilone. "Did you find a kitty you like, honey?" They were all so cute with their large bellies full of milk and big blue eyes.

Across the hay, Aelfrid had not moved and Cearo knew he was watching her and Wilone. She took a slow, deep breath and held it for a moment. 'Just ignore him,' she ordered herself as she let the breath out through her nose soundlessly. If she ignored him and refused to acknowledge he was there, he would go away soon enough.