[Envinyatar]

Evening of the next day

Eärnil sat on his bed, cradling his new dog on his lap. Four months old, and one of the larger of the wolfhounds, it draped over the boy’s knees, its four legs in the air, its floppy eared head lolling on the pillow Eärnil had pulled up beside him. The boy’s hand ruffled through the soft, grey puppy fur on the dog’s belly, and occasionally stopped to give a rub at certain spots found to make the pup scratch in the air with his hind leg.

‘Find everything you needed?’ Gaeradan peeked his head in through the opened door, and was about to step in, when a low growl warned him off. The pup, now alert, had placed himself on the floor between Eärnil on the bed and Gaeradan in the doorway. His hackles were not raised, but he stood alert, his yellow eyes fixed on the man.

‘Sit, Huan!’ came the authoritative voice of the boy as he scooted off the bed and stood by the dog’s side. This was followed by a slight tug up on the hound’s collar and a gentle pressure on his hind end. Eärnil smiled up at Gaeradan, still standing in the doorway. ‘The Huntmaster told me he would be a good companion, and he showed me a few commands to work on with him. They start them young in the stable, so it’s not too hard for him to follow what I want.’

‘Huan, eh?!’ said Gaeradan, smiling at the name from the old stories, ‘A fine name, for a fine hound.’ He noted that the dog sat placidly enough at the boy’s side, but his gaze never left the ‘intruder’. ‘Good,’ he thought to himself. ‘He’ll need all the protection he can find. The hound will guard him physically, that leaves me to focus on the poisoned words that may get flung his way.’ He smiled again at Eärnil. ‘Introduce me as a friend to Huan, if you will, we need to be less wary of one another if you and I are to spend time together.’

The boy and man sat together on the small cot talking of the young man’s day. Gaeradan was well aware of each moment of his charge’s day, but he was interested in hearing his take on what he thought interesting and what he found quite boring. And most important, his opinions and comments on those he interacted with. He found Eärnil’s young perspective quite refreshing and often very amusing.

He wound their chat down when Eärnil showed signs of tiring and started to yawn. ‘Take Huan down the hall and say good-night to your parents, if you’ld like. I just spoke with your Father in their apartments. I’m sure they’d like to see you.’ Miriel, he knew, despite her brave face, was still nervous about Eärnil being so far from her. And she had pulled Gaeradan aside earlier that day to his assurances that he was seeing to the safety of her son. Tarciryan’s assurance that Megilwë and Caeran would stand guard for Eärnil had not completely resolved her worries.

The boy and hound were half-way down the hall, Megilwë following close behind, when Gaeradan called out to them. ‘Remind them, if you will, that tomorrow evening is the dinner party with the King and Queen. Tell them I’ll come speak with them again tomorrow about it.’

Eärnil reached down and scratched Huan’s ears. ‘Will Huan be allowed to attend?’ he asked, in a hopeful tone of voice. ‘I don’t see why not,’ returned Gaeradan, contemplating whether the Queen’s cats would also be nosing about. The boy beamed at the answer, and Gaearadan could hear him addressing Huan as they continued down the hallway. ‘This means a bath for you, you know. And I shall have to ask the Huntsman if we can find you a suitable collar.’

[ July 30, 2003: Message edited by: Envinyatar ]