A/N: First, HAPPY TWO YEARS OLD, STORY! Okay, now the boring stuff:

1) I know rabbits aren't rodents but no one told Luthien that (or if they did, she forgot). ;)

2) 'Leoflic' means, among other things, 'dear'.

3) In Anglo-Saxon society, women had final say on who they married and Tolkien modeled Rohan on the Anglo-Saxons.

Cearo and Wilone were in the house eating their midday meal when Rheda and Algar returned with Brego. 'Somebody has a burr under their saddle,' Cearo thought snidely Brego entered the house and she saw the thunderous expression on his face. 'Pa must've told him to stay away from me.'

"Where's your brother?" Algar demanded, his expression equally dark, entering close behind Brego.

"Which one?" Cearo replied.

"Aelfrid."

"I don't know. He was with Wilone and me in the barn for a while when we were looking at the kittens but he left before we did."

"Why do you waste your time with those beasts?" Algar asked crossly.

Cearo bit the tip of her tongue to keep from giving him a flip answer. "Because I find that they're sweet and I enjoy petting them and hearing them purr."

"Did you see where your brother went after he left the barn or were you too busy with the cats to notice?"

"I don't know where he went, but he didn't take Osric." 'I wasn't so busy with the cats I didn't notice that,' she added silently. How was she supposed to know where Aelfrid had gone? It was not her job to keep track of him and he was more than old enough to go about on his own without supervision.

"How long ago did he leave?"

"I'm not sure. Not too long. He stayed in the house until Wilone and I were in the barn with the cats." Algar 'hrumph'd and stalked back outside.

Brego waited until their father was gone to sit down next to Cearo and put his hand over hers. "Why did you tell Pa and Ma I kissed you last night?"

"Because they have a right to know Aelfrid isn't the only one who wants to court me. Take your hand off mine." 'Sweet Eru up a tree,' she sighed mentally, 'not again. I do not want to deal with another man who fancies himself in love with me.'

"They want to send you to live with Deagol."

"Aelfrid mentioned Pa was considering that." She tried to jerk her hand out from under his but he was holding it firmly. "Let go of my hand, Brego. i Now /i ."

"In a minute. Pa is definitely going to send you to live with Deagol. I heard him telling Ma. He doesn't want you and me and Aelfrid all under the same roof." He laced his fingers through hers and ran his thumb lightly over the palm of her hand.

" i Let go /i of my hand b now /b ," Cearo snapped, panic rising inside her. "Let go! Brego! Stop!" She looked up at him only to wish she had not. That Look was in his eyes again.

"Calm down." He placed his fingers on her lips. "Don't yell or Ma and Pa will come running, thinking I'm attacking you." He smiled wryly. "You're fine. You need to get used to men holding your hand, i Galdricge /i ."

"Don't call me that!" she snapped, pushing his fingers off her lips. "Leave me alone. Go away and leave me alone!"

"Stop hurting her!" Wilone yelled before bursting into tears. With a start, Cearo remembered her sister, who was sitting near her and had, until then, been quietly eating her bread and carrot pieces. "MA!"

Brego dropped Cearo's hand like it were a hot rock and moved down to the far end of the bench from her. "Stupid brat," Cearo heard him mutter under his breath.

"Say that again and I'll geld you before the sun sets," Cearo snapped, anger at his remark quickly replacing the panic and fear. She turned to her sister and pulled the crying little girl into her lap. "It's okay, honey. I'm fine. Everything is going to be okay." When Pa came back, she was going to ask him if instead of going to live with Deagol, she could go live with Elfhild or Gurda. She had to get away from Aelfrid and Brego or she would go totally out of her head.

Rheda burst into the house a few moments later. "Where's Wilone? What's wrong?"

Cearo turned to face her foster mother. "She's fine, Ma. She just got upset when Brego wouldn't let go of my hand when I asked him to."

Her words had the desired effect. Rheda's drawn expression became one of barely suppressed anger. "Brego, what did your father tell you about leaving her i alone /i ? We're only just home and already you're ignoring him!" She strode over to Brego and cuffed him on the back of the head. "You can't be forward like she's a tavern whore, you oaf!"

"I let go of her hand when she said so, Ma," Brego protested. "Wilone was already upset because Aelfrid tried to hold her hand earlier and she didn't want him to."

Rheda cuffed him again. "You should not have tried to hold her hand at all." To Cearo, she said, "Did Aelfrid try to hold your hand this morning?"

"No," she lied, surprising herself. "He was going to but I told him not to and he didn't." She hoped that it didn't show on her face she was lying. She had no idea how she'd explain it because she had no idea why she had.

"Yes he did!" Wilone sniffled, lifting her face from Cearo's shoulder. "I saw him."

"He wanted to but I told him not to and that was it," she explained to Rheda. Aelfrid owed her for this. "Everything's fine." She stood, holding Wilone, and walked over to where Rheda stood by the doorway. "The garden needs weeding." She set down her sister and went outside.

Taking care of the garden was hot, sweaty work and between cursing the rabbits and other rodents eating the vegetables, the weeds which refused to be pulled up, and the prevelence of bugs that wanted to eat the plants to stubs the whole issue of brothers who refused to stay brothers was far from her mind while she attacked the weeds, tied up straggling vines, and dropped bugs of all life stages into a bucket of old ale kept around for that purpose.

When the sun slipped below the tops of the trees by the creek, Rheda called for her to come inside and help with the evening meal.

"The garden is growing like someone put a spell on it," Cearo said as she cut up dried beef to add to the pot over the fire. As much as everyone hated the heat, it meant a longer growing season and that meant more crops to store away and sell and more time to enjoy things fresh, instead of hard and dried. She was looking forward to when the berry bushes would start producing fruit. Wilone needed to learn the fine art of berry picking and eating your fill before your parents caught you and yelled at you for putting more berries in your mouth than your bucket. With what berries actually made it into the buckets there'd be pies and jams and fresh berries with cream. Just thinking about it made Cearo's mouth water. Berry season would not come soon enough.

"The garden isn't the only thing with a spell on it," Rheda remarked. "Brego and Aelfrid are-"

"I don't want to talk about that," Cearo said.

"You cannot avoid it forever."

"I can try."

Rheda chuckled and came over to where Cearo was working. "You'll drive all of us mad in the process, leoflic." She gave the girl's shoulder a squeeze. "I know this is hard and uncomfortable. It is for all of us. Your father is worried about you and your bro-Brego and Aelfrid and so am I and what it will mean for our family. Talk to me."

"I wish both of them had never said anything and I wish they'd both leave me alone." She scooped up the pieces of beef and carried them over to the pot. "The whole thing…I just want it to go back to normal." She didn't want to talk to Rheda about it, to tell her what she was thinking only to have her go and tell Algar everything. If he knew it scared her to have Aelfrid and Brego intersted in her, he'd probably tell her to stop being weak and she should be flattered two men were interested in her. For all she knew, he'd want her to marry one of his sons. She shuddered slightly. She did have final say in who she married but it would be an incredibly uncomfortable situation if she were to refuse to marry Aelfrid or Brego if Algar wanted her to marry one of them and where would she live if that happened? Wilone would be crushed if she wasn't around anymore and Rheda needed her to help out. As she dumped the beef pieces into the pot, she imagined one of them was Brego, bringing a smile to her lips.

"I want to go live with Elfhild's family or Gurda's family."

"You do?" Rheda sounded surprised. "What brought that up?"

"I know Pa wants me to go live with Deagol. I'd rather live with Elfhild or Gurda."

"Who told you that?"

"Aelfrid said Pa was considering it and Brego told me he'd decided I should go live with Deagol. What else needs to be done?"

"You can cut the bread. Your pa hasn't decided anything." She muttered something under her breath about boys and driving her to murder.

"I think I would still like to go and live with Elfhild or Gurda, if they'll have me. I don't know if I can live around Aelfrid and Brego with everything and not go out of my mind."

"I understand. I'll talk to Pa and see what we can do. I'm sure Elfhild would love to have you there to help prepare for the wedding."

Oh. Duh? How could she have forgotten about Helm's wedding? "We can say that's the reason I'm going there."

"No, I'll tell Pa the real reason. He needs to know what is going on and why."

"I didn't mean him. I meant Brego and Aelfrid." She stabbed the loaf of bread with the knife and sawed the loaf into halves. "I tell them to leave me alone but they don't."

"Men do that."

Cearo stabbed the right-hand loaf and hacked off a thick slice. "Then they're stupid. When someone tells you to leave them alone, you leave them alone."

"Men are hunters. They like to chase after things."

"I'm not a deer."

Rheda laughed. "No, not at all. You're like a fox, all bright red hair and cunning."

'I wish I was bald,' Cearo groused mentally. "I wish they'd leave me alone. Why can't they go after some girl from the village?"

"Because they've decided you're the one they want, leoflic."

Cearo stopped murdering the bread and looked over at Rheda. "Why? What's so special about me they both decided they wanted me? And if they think I'm so great, why are they always making fun of my hair and the way I ride and tugging on my braid? If they like me, why aren't they nicer?"

Rheda laughed. "The same reason Helm drove Elfhild to distraction before he finally got up the courage to talk to her father."

"They're scared to tell me the truth?" Cearo found that hard to believe. "If they're so scared about talking to me because I might tell them to go bug-kiss an orc, making me sore and bruised when we spar and tugging on my braid when I tell them not to are stupid things to do to make me inclined to listen to them." She'd nearly used 'go bugger their horse' but, thank Bema, caught herself in time. Rheda had no idea all the really great words and phrases she'd learned from her brothers when they didn't know she was listening and what Rheda's ignorance was her bliss.

"If they like me, why don't they bring me flowers or help me with chores?" Cearo finished slicing the bread.

"Because that's how most men are."

"It makes no sense."

"Men rarely do." Rheda picked up the long spoon and stirred the mixture in the pot. "Don't try to understand them. No woman can."

Cearo didn't know who was behind it but when everyone sat down for the evening meal, Kenric, Grindan, Tellan, and Helm moved around so that neither Aelfrid nor Brego could sit next to or across from her. "Thank you," she told Helm in a low voice while leaning across the table to grab a slice of bread.

"For what?" he replied with a wink. "Come riding with me after dinner."

"So you can sell me on Aelfrid's good points?" she teased, though only half-joking.

"That would be an impossible task," he quipped and was hit in the head a moment later with a chunk of something from the stew. "She knows you well enough to make up her own mind, Aelfrid." He threw the chunk back at his brother, hitting him in the chest.

"Why are you mad at Aelfrid?" Tellan asked. "Is it what he said on patrol?"

She felt herself grow red. "And other things," she said quickly, suddenly interested in the food on her plate.

"What'd he say? When did you find out? What did he do?"

"Nothing you need to know," Algar interjected. "Eat your meal."

Cearo couldn't get out of helping Rheda with clean-up two nights in a row so the ride with Helm had to wait until the dishes and table were wiped off, the scraps fed to the pigs, and the stray bits of food were scraped off the inside of the pot back into the stew, which would be heated up again for the evening meal the next night.

"So why did you want me to come riding, if you're not going to try to convince me to marry Aelfrid?" Cearo asked as she followed Helm to the the pasture with Sherwyn's bridle and saddle.

"I thought you'd like to get away from the house for a while and you might want to talk to someone about what's going on."

' i Lovely /i ,' she thought sardonically. 'Someone else who thinks they have a right to know everything going on inside my head.' "And what if I don't want to talk about it?"

"Then you can teach me more of your songs and we'll race rabbits and watch owls hunt after the sun sets." He took the saddle from her and settled it on Sherwyn's back. "Elfhild said you might want someone to talk to."

"You told her about this?" She was going to kill him.

"No. She told me before I left on patrol that when you came of age and men started asking Pa to court you, you would want someone to talk to other than Ma."

"Oh. She's right." She handed him the bridle. "You won't tell anyone what I say."

"Only if you want me to."

"Good. Have you told anyone?"

"No." He gave her a leg up into the saddle. "I'm not Brego. I don't go around telling things to whoever asks."

"Thank Bema for that," she remarked dryly. "I'm surprised he said anything last night about Aelfrid if he wants me, too. He said I deserved to know."

Helm snorted. "The only 'deserving' person he cares about is himself. He told you because it serves his purposes."

"What, to make me want nothing to do with him or Aelfrid? Whatever he thinks he was going to get out of telling me, he didn't do himself any favors and after earlier I want even less to do with him."

"What did he do?" Helm's tone was clipped.

"He refused to let go of my hand when I asked him to and said I needed to get used to men holding my hand and he called me 'Galdricge'. Wilone told me that he says that's a better name for me than 'Cearo'."

"He has the manners of an orc."

"Don't insult orcs." They both laughed. "Wilone yelled for Ma when I got all upset and she came running and that was it because I went out to the garden then. Thanks for talking to Kenric, Grindan, and Tellan and getting them to move around so I didn't have to sit near Brego or Aelfrid tonight. I'd have been too nervous to eat if I'd hada to be near them and I know at least one of them would've tried to sit near me."

"Pa told me earlier the boys had said too much and you were looking tenser than a bow string because of it."

"I love you, Helm. As a brother. Hope you're not disappointed," she added dryly.

He chuckled. "My broken heart shall never heal."

"Be thoughtful like that to Elfhild and you'll make her a very happy woman and the other women in the village wish they'd gotten to you first." She sighed and settled back against him. "Brego and Aelfrid both said you older boys never saw me as a sister, or at least had a hard time seeing me as a sister. How did you manage to escape going stupid over me like they have?"

"You weren't blonde and named 'Elfhild'."

She laughed. "So if I'd changed my hair color and name, I might have three brothers wanting to court me?"

"The not speaking Rohirric would've been a problem."

"Good point. I do now, though."

"You would have to remove the real Elfhild and I have trouble believing you'd be successful with that."

Cearo laughed in what she hoped was an evil manner. "I have my ways."

"Leave my betrothed in peace, Lig! You have two of my brothers wanting to court you. Set your sights on a man who isn't in love with another!"

"That's too easy, Helm! I like a challenge!"

He gently tugged on her braid. "Find your challenge elsewhere."

"If you insist. Seriously, why are they so interested in me? I'm nothing special and they've seen me when I'm dirty and messed up and in a horrible mood and I've driven them crazy with tricks and spying on them and telling on them to Ma and Pa."

"Brego, I have no idea, but you and Aelfrid have always been close."

"We're friends. Like you and I are friends."

"You and Aelfrid have always been much closer than you and me."

"So? He told me the only reason he didn't tell me go leave him alone when I first arrived is because he felt sorry for me and because I'd do his work for him and I've helped him play pranks on the rest of you and I'm good at getting him out of trouble. He also said one time it was easier to let me keep talking than to get me to be quiet."

Helm laughed at the last part. "Is that when you broke his teeth?"

"Yes." Helm laughed harder. "How can he want to court someone he thinks talks too much and breaks his teeth?"

"So he can be sure you'll always be there to do his work for him."

"Haha, funny," she groused, elbowing him. "I haven't done his work for him for a while now-I haven't been able to, so he's out of luck on that."

"Cearo, if that's what he still thought, he wouldn't be friends with you and he wouldn't want to court you. You're a very pretty girl with a nice smile and a nice laugh and you're sweet and understanding and you keep your word. It's not hard to understand why a man would want to court you."

"I thought you said you had no interest in me," she teased.

"You talk too much. Hey!" He rubbed his side where she'd elbowed him a second time.

"Didn't your mother teach you it's rude to say things like that to a lady?"

"Yes, but I'm not talking to a lady. OW! Stop with your elbow!"

"When you stop insulting me."

"Jab me again and I'll push you off Sherwyn and you can walk home."

"And what if I'm kidnapped by orcs? How will you feel then? You'll never be able to show your face in public again if you leave your poor, defenseless sister all alone to walk home when there are orcs about."

"I know how you fight. You are i not /i defenseless. And don't you keep a dagger with you?"

"Yes, but if I'm taken by orcs unexpectedly how can I grab it in time to defend myself? A search party will find my dead, mangled body in the grass and it'll be all your fault for leaving me out here alone. Elfhild will never want to marry you after that."

"You'd make an excellent wandering bard, making up tales of hardship and woe."

"And I can stitch designs on clothing and draw pictures for a few extra pennies on market days," she quipped. "All I need is someone to travel with me."

"Let me know if you find anyone."

"I'll do that. Thank you."

"For what?"

"Saying I'm pretty and sweet."

"It's true. Not as pretty and sweet as Elfhild, though."

Cearo chuckled. "Of course. I'm sure even Nessa or Vana would fall short in your eyes. Were you serious about wanting to learn another of my songs?"

"Yes. Who are Nessa and Yavanna?"

'Smooth move, using Elvish names,' she chided herself silently. "Bema's sister and wife."

"Is that what they call them where you're from?"

"Yes." Among other names.

"What language is that?"

"Sindarin," she said, thinking fast. "One of the Elven languages."

"Elves are real?" Helm sounded like a little boy who'd just been told Santa was sitting in the living room.

"Yes. They live to the north and west of here, on the other side of the Misty Mountains."

"You met them?"

"No, unfortunately. I've only learned about them. I want to meet them. How'd you like to learn a drinking song?" Definitely time to change the subject.

Helm chuckled. "I didn't think fine ladies knew those sorts of things."

It was her turn to laugh. "Who says I'm a fine lady?"

"What else could you be? Your hands were soft and your skin was white when you arrived, you knew nothing of everyday work, and you know how to read and write in your own language and you learned at least one other language."

"What if I told you that where I'm from, even the poorest children are taught to read and write and we have developed ways of doing things that make it easier to do work like cooking and cleaning that don't leave your hands rough and worn?"

"I would say your home sounds like a wonderful place and I wish it were possible to bring those things here."

"So do I." She sighed and stared up at the sky, wondering if it was the same sky her parents and brothers were looking at.