The Melody of Swords

Disclaimer: Let's face it, most of this isn't mine.

Chapter Four

Ri attempted to walk back to the room with the piano but she soon found herself completely lost in the maze of identical corridors, she tried to trace her way back but realized she had managed to get herself completely lost. She walked around a bit more and eventually spotted a comfortable looking couch upholstered in red in a little corner, she reckoned it was better than nothing and that someone was bound to find her at some point so she put down her lute and bag and stored them under the couch before laying down on it to go to sleep.

She was woken sometime in the early morning by someone calling her name.

"Ri?" said the voice. She quickly opened her eyes and rolled over to see a girl a little younger than her in the palace servant's uniform.

"Yes?" she said sleepily.

"Are you Ri?" asked the girl.

"Yes, I am what's wrong?"

"I was sent by Lord Boromir to find you miss, I'm to take you to him immediately."

"Oh you are are you?" asked Ri yawning and stretching; almost falling off the small couch she had been lying on in the process.

"Yes I am miss," replied the girl.

"Oh for goodness sake stop calling me miss, you know my name." Said Ri, grumpily getting herself of the couch. "What's your name?" asked Ri.

"Penny," said the girl.

"Well, Penny…" there was a pause as she picked up her lute and stretched again "shall we go?"

"Yes miss, umm Ri," said Penny and headed off quickly down the corridor.

"So, how long have you been working here Penny?" asked Ri, she had once considered taking a job like Penny's at the palace and she was intrigued as to how her life could have turned out.

"Coming up to six years now," Penny answered.

"And do you enjoy working here?" asked Ri.

"Sometimes," said Penny "I don't like some of the jobs I have to do but Lord Boromir is good to me and that makes all the difference," Penny gave a sheepish smile.

"So what is your post exactly?"

"I'm a maid to Lord Boromir miss, I report to him directly, of course it didn't always used to be like that, I used to take my orders from the housekeeper, she's not a nice lady," said Penny sadly and then glanced sideways a Ri "Sorry, I shouldn't be telling you this, its not my place," she said.

"No, go ahead and say what you want, I'm not going to say anything," Ri assured her. They walked in silence for a bit then Penny spoke.

"Do you mind if I asked you something?"

"Not at all," said Ri.

"Why did Lord Boromir send you? Pardon me saying but you don't look like a noble to me, camped out on that old couch and all," Penny said. Ri laughed.

"No, I'm not a noble woman, I actually live on the last level," explained Ri, there was a little in take of breath from Penny "It's not all that bad, really," Penny didn't look convinced "anyway, I came up here to play my lute at the concert last night," Penny nodded and then stopped at a door on the right and knocked.

"Come in!" called a voice that Ri immediately recognised as Boromir, she noticed herself smile involuntarily.

They both walked into the room, it seemed to be a sort of study come library, the walls were lined with rows of leather bound books, the floor was oak panelling that creaked as they walked in. The air smelt musky. Borormir was sat at a dark wooden desk with pens a paper all around him. He got up as they walked in.

"Ri for you sir," said Penny who did a tiny curtsey then left.

"Good morning Ri," said Boromir, walking up to her. "Did you sleep well?" he asked. Ri noticed that he didn't think to ask where she had slept, he was probably used to having such technicalities sorted for him.

"Very well thank you,"

"I'd like to thank you for playing last night, it was beautiful. I realize that you are anxious to be back to your home but I needed to make sure you know that I appreciate you giving up your evening last night."

"No problem," said Ri "But as you said, I must be going, thank you for allowing me the use of your piano, have a nice day," she said and turned to leave before she was dragged into anymore palace concerts.

"Ri," Boromir called before she could leave. She turned in time to catch a small black missile that seemed to be heading her direction. It was pouch; she looked inside to find a rather large number of gold coins. "For your services," said Boromir.

"Thank you my Lord," said Ri gratefully and then left the room. She found herself in the corridor and having no idea which way to turn. She sighed at her own lack of directional sense and turned back into the room.

"Turn right out of this door and then right along the next corridor, the door at the end will lead you out," said Boromir as soon as she had put her head back in.

"Thank you," she said.

"And Ri?"

"Yes?"

"I'll see you soon," said Boromir. Ri just gave a brief smile and left.

She followed his instructions to get out of the palace and then began the long walk down all the levels of the city. It took her a while and she stopped periodically and played her lute to whatever street she happened to be in. She bought herself some food with the money that she had been given on the way down and even allowed herself a look in some of the fashionable lady's clothes shops she found, but didn't see anything to her taste, they were mostly too frilly or had corsets sewn in – an item of clothing that Ri strongly objected to on principle.

The next day Ri was sitting on her bed with her lute testing out tunes when she heard an urgent knocking at her door. Slightly puzzled she went to open it. Outside was a most apologetic looking Captain of Gondor.

"Good morning Ri," he said in greeting. "I trust you are well?"

"Perfectly adequate my lord, and yourself?"

"I actually have a small problem which I was hoping you might be able to assist me with,"

"I'll do my best to help,"

"Well, there's this girl-" began Boromir.

"Oh at last!" interrupted Ri happily "I think the city was beginning to think you preferred men,"

"The girl is not of my choosing," said Boromir patiently.

"Oh so you do prefer-"

"I do not, it is simply that I find... many of the women that I associate with lacking in... personality and, well, soul," Ri raised her eyebrows "present company excluded of course, " added Boromir "anyway the point is my father in his wisdom has invited a foreign young lady into the city,"

"and his intentions for the both of you are only too clear, am I right?" asked Ri with a twinkle of amusement in her eye.

"Indeed, and your land, well room happens to posses a most excellent outlook on main street which she will probably be arriving by-"

"and you wish to spy on your bride to be?" Ri said with exaggerated disapproval.

"No! Well in way… it is human to be curious is it not?"

"Of course it is, but can't you wait until she gets to your palace at least and greet her properly there?"

"If I went to the palace I would have to wait at least two days," explained Boromir "Please, Ri, I promise I am quite well behaved in people's houses."

"What about other people's bedrooms? For this is not a house by any stretch of an imagination."

"Well I suppose that that remains to be seen," said Boromir, smiling slightly cheekily.

"Very well, as it is most impolite to leave one's Capatain standing on one's doorstep in the cold I will have to let you in," said Ri, smiling coyly and standing aside to let him pass.

"So," said Ri when she had closed the door "when can we expect her?"

"Any time now, the watchmen sighted her not long ago"

"She was glowing that brightly? She must have quite a complexion," said Ri jokingly.

"Well they saw what they assumed was her entourage." He explained.

"I see," she said "So what else do you know about this lady?"

"Not a lot," said Boromir, sitting himself in Ri's chair, "she is supposed to be quite a beauty, she can ride well and she also draws and plays the piano,"

"Quite an accomplished young lady, if she can play, maybe you should show her your Glokner?" Ri suggested.

"I doubt she would be interested, even if she were it would probably not be considered appropriate, it is as you know next to my bedroom"

"Why ever not? You let me have a look,"

"I'm afraid you're different, for one you came in to tune the piano and secondly it wouldn't cross anyone's mind that anything inappropriate might be going on between us in the room next door." Said Boromir. Ri laughed with amusement.

"I see men are the same whether they live on the top level or they live down here!"

"I'm afraid we are,"

Just at that moment there was a loud banging on the door and Ri scrambled over to answer it. Dalin was outside, panting and flushed.

"What's gone wrong this time?" she asked amused.

"There's this lady in town, a proper sight she is, not like us folk, she's all beautiful and all, and Ri she bought an apple from me!"

"You came all this way to tell me that?"

"Well that and partly cause she's coming by this way and so I thinks to me self here's a chance to get another look at a pretty young lady, may as well take it!"

"Am I going to receive all the enchanted young men of Gondor? My room is only small," she said as Dalin pushed pasted her and then stopped abruptly when he saw Boromir who had by this time stood up and was offering his hand.

"Dalin I believe," he said. Dalin just stared in shock and then looked round at Ri.

"You're supposed to shake his hand, it's a common greeting Dalin," Dalin quickly shook Boromir's hand, nodding vigorously.

"It's an honour to meet you sir," he said then looked back at Ri with a look that demanded to know what was going on.

"Ok, your over active imagination can stop right there Dalin, Lord Boromir is here for the sane reason you are." Boromir gave her a look. "Well perhaps slightly more honourable than yours, but that's debatable."

"The lady has been chosen by my father to entice me into matrimony, I merely wished to see her before she saw me, people often act differently in my presence." Explained Boromir.

"Well if I may say so sir. She s quite a girl, bought one of my apples she did,"

"So I hear,"

"It's sure to be a bad sign," said Ri, positioning herself by the window "My lord I would recommend caution, she could be mentally damaged,"

"I'm sure that remark is-" but Dalin never heard what Boromir thought because Ri had spotted the escort.

"She's here, she's here!" she squealed excitedly. Both men rushed over to the window.

"You're in the way Ri I can't see anything," complained Dalin.

"Well it's my room so I get first look," proclaimed Ri.

"Well?" asked Boromir. There was a few seconds of silence as Ri waited for the lady to come properly into view, then there was an intake of breath.

"Wow…"

"What did I tell you?" asked Dalin proudly, proper looker she is,"

"How does she get her hair to look like that?" whispered Ri, more to herself than anything, subconsciously moving a hand to finger her own hair.

"What does she look like?" asked Boromir.

"Long fair hair… in little waves running down her back, absolutely smooth and perfect. Blue eyes like the sea… her skin is as white as my jug," both men turned to look at the jug by Ri's bed. Ri turned to look back at them and laughed. "Ok, ok, you can have a look now,"

Dalin scrambled forwards. "Not you! Let Boromir have a look, after all he could have to spend the rest of his life with her." This seemed fair to Dalin so he reluctantly backed away from the small window.

Boromir stared for a minute before he said anything.

"Well she is defiantly one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen," he said and moved away from the window to let Dalin look.

"Beautiful, no way!" said Dalin enthusiastically "she stunning! Oh look, she just smiled! It lights up the street, nay the whole city! And, and she doesn't ride, she glides, on her beautiful white cloud, and her hair, Ri your description of it as 'fair' itself was not so, her hair embodies the sun itself and her eyes, the starry sky. I want to write poetry for her Ri."

Ri raised her eyebrows. "So I can see, I'm impressed Dalin I never knew you had such a way with words."

"When I am inspired by such beauty I feel I could do anything." Sighed Dalin

"Good for you," said Ri sarcastically.

"And alas! She turns a corner and the sun is hidden from me as when day turns to night!"

"Dalin, do you need to talk to someone? I think you're taking the poetry thing a bit far" said Ri, beginning to get concerned by her friend's unusual behaviour.

"Only her… I must leave, thank you Ri, it was a pleasure to meet you Lord Boromir, I wish you every fortune with the fair lady," Said Dalin as walked out.

"Just remember" Ri called "If you ever want to talk I'm always here,"

"I know," he called back.

Ri shut the door and turned to Boromir.

"First impressions?" she asked inquisitively, going to sit cross-legged on her bed. Boromir paced in front of her fireplace.

"She beautiful defiantly… maybe too so,"

"How can she be too beautiful, don't you think you're being a little hard on her?"

"All I mean is why would she ever like me, a woman of such beauty will have many admirers to choose from, take your friend Dalin for example" here Ri had to suppress a laugh "I do not have to eloquence with words he does never mind the confidence to use them."

"I wouldn't worry about it" said Ri, putting her elbows on her knees and resting her chin in her hands "these women are bred to find rank the most attractive characteristic of a man, and in that respect you are certainly not lacking."

"How do you know that that is the case?" asked Boromir, still pacing.

"I know a girl who works for a grand house on the top level, she knows these things,"

"Well if that is true, I'm certain I won't like her anyway, for if a woman cannot see past my position in society how are we ever going to live in harmony as a man and wife should?"

"I thought you would know more about that than me, I thought there were many arranged marriages at your level."

"There are, some work out well, but many are also complete disasters."

"Then I'm afraid all you can do is hope that yours isn't," said Ri. Boromir nodded and then got up.

"I won't intrude any further on your hospitality, you've been very generous, thank you," he said and walked to the door.

"Anytime!" Ri said and opened it for him.

"I'll remember you said that!" he said smiling before heading out onto the street.

Ri looked out, it was cold but bearable and there were a reasonable number of people outside. Ri grabbed a shawl and her lute and left her room. She walked through the streets strumming her lute lightly until she was stopped in her tracks by Sol stepping into the street directly in front of her as if out of nowhere.

"Ri!" He exclaimed

"Sol! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" she said.

"Well you deserve it, Miss I-promise-I'll-return-at-the-end-of-the-day." Said Sol folding his arms. Ri winced.

"Your spanners…"

"Where are they?" he demanded in an uncharacteristically sharp tone.

"In my room!" Ri said defensively "Come with me now and I'll get them!"

"Lead the way!" he said, his voice still slightly cold. Ri frowned; it wasn't like him to make such a fuss over an issue like this. She turned and walked quickly back to her room with Sol a pace behind her. She let herself in and rummaged in her bag until she found the pouch of tuning spanners that Sol had lent her.

Ri turned back to Sol to find that he had closed the door and his face had softened considerably. She gave him a questioning look.

"You spent a night in the palace didn't you?" he said flatly.

"Yes," said Ri she had a feeling of what he was saying but she tried to make out that she had no idea what he was talking about. "And?"

"And I just don't want you to get messed up in all the comings and going of the palace, they're not like us, you'll get rejected before you know it and-"

"I know what you're thinking and I didn't spend the night with anyone, in fact I wasn't even in a bed I was on a couch not that it's any of your business!" she said and pushed the spanners into his hand.

"Ri, it is my business, I care about you!" he said and took step closer to her "we all do," he said in a softer voice and brushed a strand of brown hair out of her face. There was a long silence. Ri suddenly realised that she was holding her breath and let go of it. She turned away from him and took a cloth and started dusting her table, even though she had already cleaned it that morning.

"I know you do," she said, looking at the table rather than him "but you can't stop me from doing what I want, and Lord Boromir isn't such a bad guy anyway," she said turning back to look at him. Sol rolled his eyes.

"So this is what it's all about, Lord Boromir?" Sol demanded, raising his voice slightly "how much did he pay you to spend the night up there?"

"Twenty gold," Ri said without thinking. Sol raised an eyebrow "Just to play at this concert thing they had that's all!" Ri said quickly.

"Twenty gold coins just to play something?" asked Sol.

"Yes! He has a lot of money Sol!" Ri said, waving the duster in frustration and causing a haze of dust to form between them. "Look," she said grabbing some of the coins out of her bag and trying to put them in Sol's hand, "take it! I don't want it! It's not why I played there, not for the money."

Sol looked steadily at her, completely ignoring the gold that she was trying to force onto him. "He offered you twenty gold for one night and you say it wasn't for the money?"

"Firstly, stop making it sound like it was something it wasn't and secondly, I didn't know how much he was going to pay me before I agreed to it and thirdly, I only went up there because he said I could try the Gloker he has!" Ri shouted.

"He has a Glokner? I thought there weren't any left!" said Sol, sounding impressed.

"Yes, it's a beautiful instrument… and it's the only reason I went up there!"

"Ok, fair enough, I just don't want you to get caught up in all the upper level business, you belong down here, with us."

"I know," she said and got up to give him a hug. "But I still want you to realise that if I decide to leave for a day or two, that's my business," she said.

"Not when you've got my tuning spanners it isn't!" replied Sol, smiling.

"Fair enough" said Ri with a broad grin.

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