[littlemanpoet]

Eodwine's eyes grew misty as Bêthberry sang.

Until the punchline. He had not guessed that the song was about Giedd until toward the end. He looked Bêthberry in the eye, a rueful smile growing on his face. He had not told his friends everything about his conversation with Giedd just an hour or so ago. They had sent Gudryn to go to market to buy bread and cheese while day lasted, and they had talked while Giedd cut cloth she would be making into jerkins, trousers, and scarves for the oncoming cold.

"I thought you were on an errand for the King," she had said.

"As did I. He has relieved me as king's messenger."

"Why?"

Such a simple question, such a maze of an answer. There was an answer that could be told simply, but it was the mere glint of the glaciers that topped Snowbourne looming above Edoras.

He made me an ealdorman."

Her eyes had widened, her hands halted. "What does that mean?" she asked, but he could tell that she had understood; it was in her eyes. Her fingers began to work with a nervous tremor as she fiddled absently with her cloth.

"The King has made a landed noble of me," Eodwine said in a quiet voice, watching for her reaction. She said nothing, did not look up at him, busy with her cuttings. "I own a farm from my longfathers, away in the Gap where the Isen flows, but that is a mere scrap laid side by side to this new land."

She swallowed as if her throat was dry. "Where is this land?"

Since the ascension of King Elessar to the throne of Gondor, and King Eomer to that of Rohan, the lands that had been beyond the borders of the Eored had become empty. The Elves were leaving Lothlorien, and the lands between the Nimrodel and the Wood had opened to the Rohirrim. Would that King Eomer had landed him there! But the folk of Dunland had fared ill after the War of the Ring, partly at Eodwine's own hand, and they chafed at the wealth of the Rohirrim. Eomer had made him a Marshall upon the new borders of Dunland.

"Just nigh of Dunland. Its border can be walked in a week."

She looked up. Her eyes were wide and she looked at him as if he were a stranger she had just met. Eodwine's heart misgave him, and so he had decided then and there to make his intentions clear, hoping to discover if this new life was too big for her.

"Giedd, I seek a mother for my daughter. This I think you have guessed already. You had been mentioned to me as a likely woman for such a role in my daughter's life, as well as mine."

Giedd had nodded, her mouth unsmiling, tight, her eyes still big with what she was hearing.

"I would know from you today whether you are willing to walk by my side a while to see if such a life is agreeable to you."

Her hands had stilled, and she had regarded him seriously. "Eodwine, I find you honorable, and I did guess." She had paused. Give me a few hours, let me spend more time with Gudryn, and I shall bring her to the White Horse and give you answer."

He had agreed. Not long after, Gudryn had come back from market, grinning at her achievement, having found the best bread and cheese the market would part with for the coin Giedd had given her. Eodwine had taken his leave and left the two together.

Eodwine looked now at Bêthberry, and asked for the song again. As he listened, he saw Giedd as the one who did all the song said.

The lady Giedd may choose you yet
Should she her freedom not regret.

Sing noddy, hey noddy, sing noddy all day.

Eodwine said,
"Yea, she may welcome such a one,
or fear o'ermuch a life begun
trammeled by ways ne'er known before,
wishing to flee through a new-closed door."

He watched Bêthberry, who cocked her head, wondering what mysteries might be stirring in the head of the former king's messenger.