As promised i am now in my boring lecture i shall post the next chapter. Hopefully this is more interesting than comparitive politics. (Not hard i'll admit - though there is the godsend in the form of the lecturer's rather annoying voice going)

Wrath's Recompense 3

Eönwë watched Riona play for them, singing gently in her own language, one that lilted slightly as she spoke. The lilt was oddly comforting and when combined with her songs, worked perfectly.

After an initial shock, his generals had gotten used to her with the instrument and singing and she was accepted amongst their little circle, especially as she played for them day and night. Eönwë couldn't help smiling at the content looks on their faces as they watched the woman play gently for them. Shifting Daffyd on his lap (for the boy had taken to staying with the Maia while his aunt played, an oddly welcome burden for the ancient being who held him), he reflected on the interesting conversation of the day.

*Flashback*

The generals were looking over a map, not really in much of a rush for once when one of them seemed to have an idea and gestured Riona over. She was once again mending, this time another of the generals' shirts – she had taken over mending all of the top generals' clothing simply to fill her time as she mended faster than they could damage clothing. She seemed surprised to be called over.

When she was by the map, he waved a hand over and after a second, Eönwë realised that the Elf was asking where she came from. She frowned as she examined the map and after a minute or two of close inspection, shook her head.

He speculated for a second that maybe she'd never seen a map before and might not know where she came from was on a map, but she then picked up her wax tablet and stylus and began to draw. She then showed them the image – a rather cruder map of what he suddenly realised were two islands and wavy lines that seemed to indicate sea between them.

Riona pointed to one blob and said one word before pointing to herself. She then pointed back to the island and stated:

"Ireland." She then pointed to the other island, which he suddenly noted was divided by two other dotted lines and after pointing at each section, she would say another word.

"Wales, England, Scotland." She then made a circling action over the bigger island, a peculiarly long thin shape that took a bend to the left at the bottom, almost at a right angle, the entire thing tilted anti-clockwise. After the action she said two more words. "Great Britain."

They all looked at her in pure surprise. As far as they could make out, she was saying she came from a place none of them had ever heard of. All the generals looked at Eönwë to see whether he was familiar with this place she was pointing out. He shook his head and saw the disappointment in Riona's face. She obviously realised the implications of them clearly having no idea on the place she came from – she would probably never go home.

With a look of almost desperation she pointed to one part of 'Ireland' and said another word.

"Waterford." Then she pointed to 'Wales' and said another word "Caerleon" she then said Daffyd and looked at them again. Was Riona saying Daffyd came from another country, that he wasn't the same nationality as her?

She then flipped the tablet over to reveal another wax tablet Eönwë had never noticed before and drew another of her family trees like the one she'd used to explain Daffyd was her nephew and pointed to the one that was her brother and said what he guessed was her brother's name, 'Jamie' apparently. She then flipped back to the map. She used the stylus to indicate that he'd gone over the sea and married in 'Wales', which explained how he'd be another nationality, and his different accent.

It had taken some time to notice that Daffyd spoke with a different accent since the boy rarely spoke, but as he'd got used to Eönwë, he had begun to speak more and so the Maia had noticed his accent. He left his musing, as he noticed that all of the other males in the room staring at her.

She sighed dejectedly and went back to her stool in the corner of the tent, picking up a candle on the way. Absently she began to sing under her breath, a sad, depressing tune, as she melted away the pictures on the wax.

*End flashback*

Riona had been slightly depressed since then. A part of him wanted to comfort her, another try and ask more questions, but he knew that the latter would have to wait until she grasped their language better, for any question he wanted to ask would be too complicated – with a far too complicated answer to mime or draw.

XXX

For a moment, Eönwë observed the armour laid out before him, reflecting on the fight he was going into. They had moved forward again, but hadn't gone as far as they had wanted because the scouts had reported another force setting up for a battle and so they had stopped and prepared to fight them. With a sigh, he blinked and was about to reach for a piece when he saw Riona holding it up for him. She looked pale and very grave – clearly she understood what was going on.

In silence, she helped him put on the elaborate plate-armour and then his weaponry. Once they were finished, they both stood in silence, not sure what to do. Riona was staring at the ground, biting her lip before she managed to surprise him once again. To his absolute surprise, she suddenly bounced up and hugged him, and then kissed his cheek.

When she pulled back, Eönwë was still staring at her in surprise. Riona let out a nervous giggle, the type that sounded as if the other option was crying. Without knowing exactly why, he smiled back at her, hoping it reassured her.

The returned smile was rather weak and she went back to biting her lip nervously, a strangely endearing habit. She then placed both hands over her heart and then extended them to him and then placed both palms on his chest over his own. Some sort of well-wish, he guessed.

Riona carried on surprising him with another set of actions. She pointed at his chest, and then her hand flopped before she shook her head vigorously. Was she telling him not to die? He mimed dying dramatically then shook his head at her and she nodded. Apparently so.

Eönwë raised his eyebrow at her, surprised that she apparently worried about him. It was a strange sensation to be worried about, to have someone to leave behind and thus come back to. He grinned at her, pleased that she seemed to care, which resulted in her placing a hand on each shoulder and kissing both cheeks before she let him go.

XXX

Eönwë sat on his roan stallion and drew his sword with a certain reflectiveness. It was the first time that he had drawn sword not just to defend a generic idea – the people of Arda or the orders of the Valar – this time he had a specific person, who he cared about individually, to fight for. It made him both more cautious and braver.

It didn't even occur to him to think about that statement. The fact that he cared after the strange pair he had found was such a given that it didn't even occur to him that fighting for an woman he'd only known for a few moons spoke loudly of her effect on him.

Thankfully, no one noticed the glint in his eye as he led the charge. As he hacked at the spawn of Morgoth, he mentally promised he would get back alive to Riona. He didn't know exactly why, but he had to get back to her – she had asked it of him.

In his focus fighting for Riona, he didn't notice one unlucky slash across his arm between the plates.