[Mithalwen]

POSTED TO PROPOSAL ~*~ PIO


"Well they have gone, Leif" Elfride murmured turning her face into the grey horse's mane as those she loved most in the world, her son and her brother. Elwin, and his family, finally disappeared from view. Elfthain had looked so happy, the excitement of the adventure for now overriding distress at parting temporarily with his mother. He had wanted to ride Leif himself, disdaining his old pony but this his mother had refused. It was one thing to let him ride his father's warhorse in the paddock at home, another across the open plains of Rohan. As a compromise she had offered him her own horse. The smaller and sweet tempered palfrey would take care of his rider and give her one less thing to worry about but would give her beloved boy the dignity of riding a proper horse.

'Thain had tried to take his father's sword too but Elwin, seeing the distress in his sister's eyes had told him he must earn it first. For Elwin the scene was too close to the one that had taken place but a few yards from this spot three years before when he had led Leif back to Edoras and placed Theomund's sword in his sister's hands. The empty saddle had brutally broken the news of her widowhood before word could be spoken.

He wished she would join them on his new assignment. It was not healthy for a young woman to live surrounded by ghosts. He had thought that she would not allow herself to be parted from the boy and trusting to this he had been forceful in his arguements. He had been astounded when she had permitted her son to go without her and refused to explain beyond saying that her affairs at the farm and in the village could not be arranged so quickly. He knew she had promised her son that they would not be long separated and hoped that she would join them ere long.

If Elfride was not ready to leave the ghosts of her past, neither was she ready to face them in her otherwise empty house. She would go to the inn and take a meal she felt no hunger for in order to delay her return and avoid the forlorn task of cooking for herself alone later.

She entrusted her horse to the ostler and brushing down her blue riding habit she entered the inn. This was rather finer garb than she would have worn had the journey not involved an encounter with her sister in law, of whose refined Gondorian manners Elfride still was somewhat in awe. Many in Edoras thought Elwin, Captain of the Mark, quite good enough a match for a lady's maid. The fact was that Gilwen had been a handmaid of Queen Lothiriel and spoke the elf tongue as easily as the Westron. The sisters in law had grown fond of each other but Elfride still had moments of feeling like a peasant in comparison.

The inn was quite busy and she drew little attention in her quiet corner, eating little, absorbed with her own thoughts it was a while before she realised that she was not the only person from the village in the inn. She knew the girls of course, but not especially well. They were not so far apart in age but Elfride felt much older. They were still children when she had arrived as a young bride and her swift progression to motherhood had placed her more often in the the circles of older matrons than younger maids. They were nice girls but she was not sure she wanted company just now and it seemed as if they had concerns of their own.