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Mellonin watched Ędegard, and a frown formed on her brow. Mellondu waited, and Mellonin shrugged.
"What shall any of us do? I sought my brother; he is found. And then I sought Raefindan; he also is found. I am content." She looked from Raefindan to Mellondu, and back to Ędegard. "And you? In the depths of your heart, what brought you so far from home? Why did a wheelwright of Rohan ride to Lorien and thence to the Entwash, and now into Gondor? I have no answer for you, son of Rohan; my own heart calls me home. " She turned and looked southward, then looked to Mellondu. "How glad mother and father shall be to see us again."
"Indeed, " he said quickly, with a smile that faded when she looked away.
Mellonin looked to Raefindan. "You will return to your labor at the Inn, will you not? " Without waiting for an answer, she clapped him on the shoulder. "And then I shall have both brothers, the younger and the older, the old and the new! And our parents will have a new son, if they so choose; for you would make any mother and father proud. But fear not, for if they do not adopt you, never the less I shall keep my bond. My brother you shall be."
Raefindan's jaw muscles worked, and she clapped him again on the shoulder, and turned to Ędegard. "Yet perhaps that is my answer to you, " she said with a shy smile. "Perhaps if there is no brother for you to adopt, perhaps-- well, perhaps, " she said with a soft laugh, "you should build a family in the more traditional way. There, now, I have spoken well beyond what is seemly! Yet you did ask." She giggled and blushed, and then talked faster still. "And you, Mellondu, no doubt you shall be eager to settle down, after this long journey. Yet you have a while to wait, before you may wed. Men must wait so long! Yet I doubt you shall lack for admirers. There, I am talking overmuch again! Hear me prate! I shall blush about this in the morning, no doubt."
And with that, she placed a finger over her lips, then drawing her knees up to her chin, she hugged them, and fell silent.
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