Gurda, Cearo's best friend, elbowed Olva sharply.
"Look. To the left," she said tersely, suppressing a grin until Aelfrid had passed the two young women. "My father gets that look when he's first breaking horses to saddle. I am not sure if Aelfrid is very determined or a total fool."
"He is a very determined fool," Olva declared, smirking. "I tried to tell him he should leave her alone until she calms down, but...." She rolled her eyes.
Gurda nodded. "He thinks he knows her better than we do because they spend so much time together." Both women laughed. "If he were having a problem with his short sword in battle he would not ignore advice from one more experienced than him." She shrugged. "This foolishness will not cost him his life but he may well end up bleeding and bruised."
"He will end up at a disadvantage regardless of how much blood is spilled. Maybe after he, understanding Cearo so much better than we do—" the women laughed again "—has made things worse he will realize he should have listened."
"We can hope. Come. Let us get closer." Gurda took Orva's arm and pulled her friend with her through the crush.
As they made their way over to Cearo, they noticed Aelfrid had been stopped by some of his friends. Orva silently gave thanks to Bema they would be able to reach her before he did.
When Orva saw the expression on Cearo's face, she stopped dead and tugged on Gurda's sleeve. Cearo was smiling, but not in a good way. Orva knew she only smiled like that when someone had seriously upset her and she was picturing them in uncomfortable, embarrassing, or painful situations.
"Look at her," Orva told Gurda. "We have to do something."
"Oh, Bema save us all," Gurda said with a sigh. "Did he say anything about why he's so determined to talk to her?"
Orva nodded. "Cearo told him outside earlier she had promised Brego a dance and that she preferred Brego's company tonight and he is convinced she prefers Brego now. I told him it would take more than one day of Brego not being himself to change her mind and he really should wait to talk to her until tomorrow when she had calmed down, and he said all the horses in the Mark would vanish before he did nothing to stop his brother from stealing her."
"He truly thinks—foolish man! Foolish and drunk." Gurda looked over at Orva. "We need to do something before those two make another scene and completely ruin this for Helm and Elfhild. Do you think if we talked to her she might calm down enough to at least listen to him? We can grab her and hold her down if she starts to move to attack him."
"If you want to try and change her mind about Aelfrid, you're on your own."
"Do you really think I am that stupid? Convincing her to let him court her and that she loves him is for another day. I just want to calm her down and try to keep things from becoming worse."
"Hopefully he will be with his friends long enough for this to work."
Cearo's smile of sick pleasure wavered when Gurda and Orva suddenly sat down next to her.
"I told him to leave you alone," Orva said in a rush. "We—Gurda and me—think he is a complete fool, but he is drunk and refuses to listen."
"Don't forget hardheaded and drunk enough to think I find insults and fighting attractive," Cearo said sarcastically, tone clipped.
"He is jealous. Of Brego. Yes, truly," Orva said when Cearo looked, surprised. "He said all the horses will vanish from the Mark before he will let Brego steal you from him." Orva sounded amused. "I told him it would take more than one night for you to change your mind about Brego."
"A lot more than one night." Cearo scanned the crowd, her expression becoming stony and eyes narrowing when she saw Aelfrid with his friends. "It's not the way Brego's acting he should be worried about; it's his own behavior." She turned and looked at her friends, her smile cold and brittle. "He'll be completely hungover and surlier than a warg tomorrow, so if he's not back to himself two days from now, he can add getting back into my good graces to his list of what he has to do before I'll agree to let him court me."
"You are going to avoid him?" Orva asked.
"I won't be going out of my way to spend time with him. Why would I want to spend time with someone who's being petulant, insulting, and rude?" Cearo balled the material of her overdress in her fists tightly and stared blindly ahead, biting the inside of her lip to keep from crying. "I wish none of this had happened. I wish I could go back and not run out of here, and maybe then things wouldn't go to shit like they have."
Gurda put an arm around Cearo's shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "At best, that would only delay the inevitable. Aelfrid still would have said something and you would have run off somewhere, Aelfrid would still get totally drunk because you didn't declare your undying love for him like he thought you would—" she struck a pose that set Orva and Cearo off in gales of laughter "—you would still be irritated because people would still tell you to stop being foolish when they heard what had happened, and Aelfrid would still ignore Orva's advice to leave you alone because—" she deepened her voice "—all the horses in the Mark would vanish before I will do nothing and let Brego steal her away!"
Gurda's over-the-top impersonation of Aelfrid set the other two off laughing again.
"I do not think Aelfrid is the only one who has had too much ale tonight," Dagmar observed dryly.
"I haven't had any ale," Cearo said. "Just cider, and I'm fine. Gurda was just being really funny."
"Ale, cider, whatever." Dagmar waived a hand dismissively. "Be careful or all of you will have trouble walking home tonight."
"So says the tavern keeper's wife," Gurda said in a low voice. "No more cider for us!" All three girls giggled. "I didn't think I was that good."
"You were not angry enough," Orva remarked. "He seemed furious any man would not realize you were already spoken for and try to take away what Aelfrid considers his. That it's one of his brothers…I would be angry, too, if one of my brothers—I mean, sisters tried to take the man I loved away from me, too."
"What am I, a horse?" Cearo groused. "I can't believe he actually assumed because we were friends he had some kind of claim to me, and he decided my future for me and thought I'd just go along with that? I can't believe him! It's my life and my decision, not his! Algar is the only man who has control over my life right now and even he can't decide for me who or when I'll marry." She snorted. "I hope…ten other men come asking to court me, and that the theign's son is one of them. His eldest son." She smiled broadly. "I definitely don't feel bad now for making him sweat and worry."
"He thought that would be his father, not you." Orva giggled.
"He's not the only one, though, who assumed it was a foregone conclusion I'd agree to his courting me and we'd marry before the summer was over." Cearo gave both her friends irritated looks. "Everyone had my life planned out for me and now everyone is upset because I'm not meekly and quietly going along with that." She sighed deeply. "Elfhild told me I could come live with her and Helm—not immediately, of course—if I'd agree to at least consider Aelfrid. I'll get no peace from anyone until I do, so you two—" Her friends shrieked with excitement and glee, cutting her off. "You can stop acting like fools anytime now," she muttered under her breath.
"I knew you would come around! I knew you would see we were right!" Gurda grabbed Cearo in a tight hug.
"I didn't say that," Cearo snapped. "I never said I'd consider anything, nevermind having 'come around' or realized you were right, or anything like that. I'm not going to consider anything other than how to avoid Aelfrid until he's acting like himself again. After that, we'll see. The more people harass me about how the world will end horribly if I don't let Aelfrid court me, the more likely I am to let that happen, and I'm telling everyone else that, too. If that's not good enough for you, tough." She stuck her tongue out at her friends.
"Eww! Aelfrid is not the only one acting like a child." Orva grabbed the tip of Cearo's tongue and gave it a gentle tug.
"He must have heard his name. He is coming this way." Gurda smiled slyly. "If he acts like too much of an ass, Orva and I will drag him outside and dump him in the watering trough."
"No, the pigs' slops trough!" Cearo said, pleased by the thought.
"That is so disgusting—and perfect!" Gurda laughed. "Does that mean you've decided not to thrash him?"
Cearo answered after a moment. "Not as much as I did before. I may want to again, though." Her expression of wry amusement briefly lingered, replaced by one of thinly veiled annoyance as Aelfrid walked up.
"If it's about how I'm being unfair and mean and the villain in all this, you're wasting your time," she said coldly before he had a chance to speak. "I heard you earlier just fine."
"I am sorry. Dance with me. Please," he blurted.
"Dance with you?" That wasn't what he was supposed to say. He was supposed to scowl and make some scathing retort or sharp remark, not apologize and ask her to dance "please". Taken completely off guard, Cearo had no idea what else to say.
Aelfrid nodded. "If you want to."
'Who are you and what have you done with Aelfrid?' she wondered, confused by the sudden change in him. He became more belligerent, not less, the more he drank and there was no way he'd suddenly become sober, and there weren't any bruises or cuts that she could see, so no one had thrashed some manners into him. What in the name of Arda had happened with him?
"Are you asking because you want to, or because Ma told you to?" she asked, certain Rheda, and possibly Algar, had put him up to it.
"Cearo, what are you doing?" Orva hissed in her ear. "I thought you did not want to fight!"
"I don't," Cearo replied in a low voice, eyes never leaving Aelfrid's face. "Can you think of any other reason he'd suddenly act like this?"
"Why does it matter? Dance with him! You know you want to."
"Enough, Mother." She gave Orva's hand a pinch.
"I want to." Aelfrid shifted his weight. "Will you? Dance with me, I mean."
Cearo stared at him for a long moment, saying nothing. Of course she'd dance with him; only a total fool would've refused, but she couldn't shake the feeling the sudden lack of hostility was as much a façade as Brego being reasonable and undemanding. For now, it didn't matter. If he was sincere, she'd actually gotten an apology she hadn't expected and Dagmar would be entirely justified in gloating about being right. If he wasn't—she wasn't going to think about that. Unless she found out otherwise, she was going to trust he'd come to his senses.
"Yes, as long as you promise not to step on my feet too much," she said with a wry smile as she stood. "They've been trampled enough."
"You will?" His guarded expression gave way to one of unfeigned pleasure, erasing any doubts he might not have been sincere. Gurda and Orva, still sitting, looked at each other with knowing, satisfied smiles.
"As long as you're careful not to mash my toes." Hopefully whatever had improved his attitude had also made him steadier on his feet, but even if he wasn't, who cared? Aelfrid was himself again. What were a few mashed toes compared to having him back?
He stared at her for a moment, grinning foolishly, before realizing they were just standing there. Turning red, he muttered an apology and offered Cearo his arm.
As she left with Aelfrid, Cearo glanced back over her shoulder at her friends, both of whom were wearing huge grins, and gave them a look as if to say "I know what you're thinking and you're wrong, so stop". She and Aelfrid were making up after a fight, nothing more. They wouldn't have giggled and traded significant glances if she and Kenric had argued and she went off with Kenric after Kenric apologized. After everything they'd been saying for years about how she thought too much of love and needed to be practical, it was ironic they were the ones hung up on love and romance and she was the one being practical.
Cearo was chiding Aelfrid about being a weakling, saying he needed to go sit down after only two dances, when the musicians played a long chord to get everyone's attention and Algar moved to stand on top of one of the tables. When the din of laughter and voices and drunken singing died down, he spoke.
"Thank you, everyone, for coming and celebrating the marriage of Helm and Elfhild." He tried to continue speaking, but was drowned out by cheers and shouts, so he waited until it was quieter again before continuing. "While they do not need to rise early tomorrow, everyone else here does so I must, unfortunately, tell you all that the next dance will be the last. After that, if you do not leave on your own, Brecca's and my sons will be happy to drag you outside and leave you lying in a puddle."
As he stepped down from the table, the musicians began playing again. Cearo opened her mouth to tease Aelfrid about how she hoped he could dance one more time with her without falling down when he grabbed her hands and pulled her into the circle of dancers.
The song was a fast one, leaving Cearo breathing heavily and holding onto Aelfrid to stay on her feet by the time the song ended.
"Who is a weakling now?" he teased as they made their way over to rest of the family.
"I am not the one who complained about being tired and needing to rest. We were dancing so fast, I had to hold onto something or I'd have fallen down. I feel like I could dance for hours." 'I could dance all night,' she thought blithely. 'Just like the song.' Smiling, she began to hum the tune under her breath.
"Is that a song from…your home?" Aelfrid asked tentatively.
Cearo nodded. "Mom would—sing it all the time. It was one of her favorites." When she was in elementary school, her mom wasn't always busy doing whatever lawyer stuff she'd been doing when Cearo left and it wasn't uncommon when her mom was home to hear the sounds of Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews coming from the family room whenever her mom was home.
"It's better than being hooked on drugs or alcohol," her mom would say any time someone told her she watched My Fair Lady too much. "Besides, if you don't want to hear it, there are other places in the house you can go." Cearo usually joined her mom when she wanted to try and avoid doing homework and chores but it rarely worked. Almost every single time, when the credits began to roll, her mom would say, "The homework isn't going to do itself" or "Your chores aren't going to finish themselves" and tell her to go get to work because she wasn't eating dinner until it was done. She'd always been surprised her mom knew and wondered if her mom could read her mind and knew all her secrets, like that Elladan wasn't the one who kept leaving his bike outside or Luthien had tubes of colored lip gloss hidden in the bottom of the front pocket on her backpack and she put it on at school so her mom wouldn't know.
"It sounds nice," Aelfrid said. "Not as strange as the one you taught me and Haleth."
"There are a lot of songs that aren't as strange as the one I taught you and Haleth," she said with a laugh. "Even where I'm from, it's considered kind of weird." Much to Cearo's amusement, Aelfrid looked relieved by the information. "You could have told me you didn't like it. I wouldn't have been offended."
"I did not say I did not like it. It was just very…different than our songs. Here in Rohan, I mean."
"I know what you meant." She patted his arm. "Tomorrow is going to be difficult, with as much as everyone's been drinking. I have a feeling no one in the village will get much done."
Helm and Elfhild left soon after to a chorus of bawdy advice and suggestions, and once all the guests were gone the families left as well.
Cearo hadn't even taken four steps toward the door before Brego was beside her. Irritated, she ground her teeth slightly and moved quickly toward Kenric and Aelfrid. After what he'd pulled earlier during their second—and last—dance, he was the last person she wanted anything to do with and had the balls of an oliphant if he thought she'd welcome his company.
"Don't mind me," she said breezily as she pushed her way in between the brothers. "Just finding more enjoyable company."
"What—oh." Kenric glanced back in the direction she'd come from. "What happened? You were laughing with him earlier."
"Leopards don't change their spots. Orcs don't become sweet and gentle," she amended when Kenric looked confused. "The second time we danced, he was more like how he usually is, arrogant and rude." She scowled and rolled her eyes slightly. "Guess I was right about him being decent just being an act. He's such an—ow! What was that for? Why'd you pinch my arm?" She gave Kenric a hard look.
She got her answer a moment later when Brego insinuated himself between her and Aelfrid.
"What did my brother say to you that you forgave him?" Brego asked jovially. "The other men in the village are very upset because now Aelfrid will keep you all to himself again." He dropped an arm around Cearo's shoulders and pulled her against his side. "Do not let him keep you all to himself, Ce'ro. He is not the only man who wants to enjoy you and you should ride home with me so another man can." He belched loudly. "That's better."
"Let go of me," Cearo snapped loudly, pushing at Brego's arm to dislodge it from her shoulder. "I know who I want to ride home with and it's not you!" Successfully pushing his arm off her shoulders, she moved quickly to put Kenric between them. "I'd rather ride with…an orc! A big, hairy, smelly, nasty orc that drools and slobbers all the time!"
"She is mad at you!" Gram, one of Elfhild's brothers, shouted to Brego as he mounted his horse. "You need lessons from Aelfrid on how to charm her!" Elfhild's family laughed.
Cearo groaned and leaned against Kenric, who stumbled slightly under the sudden weight.
"I want to ride with you," she whinged with a sigh. "No one cares what I do with you."
"People—certain people care more than you think, and that is why I refuse to let you ride with me."
"What?" Cearo squawked indignantly, straightening up. "What do you mean, you refuse to let me ride with you? Why?"
"Because you asked me right after saying you'd rather ride with a smelly, drooling orc," he teased, laughing when Cearo smacked his arm hard.
"You stink as bad as an orc," she retorted as they reached the hitching posts. "Stop being an idiot and let me ride with you."
"Not tonight. Ride with Aelfrid," Kenric told her as he walked past her to untie Aldor's reins from the post.
"And what if I don't want to?"
Kenric stopped what he was doing and turned to face her.
"Ride with Brego, then. Stop," he said, cutting her off when she started to speak. "I do not want to deal with whoever is worse than a warg tomorrow because you would not ride with them. They can take it out on you, not the rest of us like they have the past month."
"It's not my fault if they act like idiots!" Cearo protested. "I haven't even been there!"
"That is why they have been impossible to live with and no one else is to blame for them being horses asses but we have had to endure them anyway. Move unless you want Aldor to trample you." He mounted his horse and, after Cearo moved to the side, trotted off.
"Horse balls," she muttered under her breath, sticking her tongue out in the direction he had ridden off in. Being the brunt of hangover-fueled anger was exactly what she'd wanted to avoid by riding with Kenric. She hoped Kenric's hangover tomorrow was particularly intense and agonizing.
"No luck finding an orc?" Brego, about a dozen feet away, asked with a laugh. "I promise not to slobber and drool on you."
"Do you also promise not to let your hands 'accidentally' wander like they did the second time we danced? I did not have a problem tonight with other men holding me too close or too tightly or not realizing where their had ended up." She started toward where Aelfrid was standing with Osric.
"I did not do that!" Brego protested hotly. "I would not do that!"
"Do not treat me like I am too stupid to know where someone is touching me! Maybe your woman near the Gap is but I'm not. I didn't say anything then because I didn't want to risk causing another scene or more trouble. I'm also not stupid enough that acting like you're suddenly polite and care about someone other than yourself and getting what you want for a few hours will totally convince me you're a changed man and I should give you a chance. The only woman who wants you lives near the Gap, Brego, so go marry her."
"Cearo, truly—"
"Shut up." She stopped walking when she reached Brego and spit next to where he was standing. Meeting his eyes, she said, "Save you excuses for someone who'll believe them."