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Old 05-12-2008, 05:18 PM   #91
littlemanpoet
Itinerant Songster
 
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: The Edge of Faerie
Posts: 7,072
littlemanpoet is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.littlemanpoet is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Eodwine at table with Saeryn, Modtryth, and Rowenna

“Does your brother hunt you again?”

Saeryn looked up from her plate. The way she jumped when he spoke might say many things to those watching her.

“No. My brother does not hunt me. He will never hunt anything again. Fenrir was killed and I barely escaped.”

"So you were back home again." Eodwine had had a hunch that she had gone there. "What happened?"

“Well, yes,” Saeryn began slowly. “Yes, I went back home.” Her brow knit slightly, then, as she concentrated on how to answer his second question. ‘What happened? How should she answer that? Her right hand crept about and pressed against her left side almost without her thinking.

“There was an upheaval,” she said at last. “A…that is, one like what happened here, maybe.” She nodded in the direction of the burned ruins.

Eodwine noticed Saeryn's hand stray to her left side. Did she have an injury? She had not yet said what she had come to say, and Eodwine now scolded himself for steering the talk away from her need and toward his own wish to know . . . what he could hope for and trust from her. Inwardly he scowled at himself for the apparent bitterness he harbored over her rejection. Eodwine, do you care about this Eorling lady or do you not? He was sure that he did, and that he still did care for her as well, although he was unsure he wished it to become more than that.

So with his mien softened, he said, "Forgive me. I have sought after news when I should have asked you to say what you came to say. Please say what you need to."

Searyn sat up a little straighter and seemed to draw herself together for a previously planned speech. But what came out was quite simple.

“I have come to ask you if I could stay here again. I have no place else to go.”

Eodwine's brows lowered briefly in confusion. "Of course you may. I wonder that you believe that you need to ask. However, with the passing of your brother, it seems that you no longer need the protection you once required. I am sorry for your loss." There was still unsettled the matter of what she would be to him, and he to her, on more than one level. "What role do you seek here in Scarburg?" There. It was an open ended question, and she could choose to answer it on as many levels as she chose. He schooled himself not to expect or hope for more than was meet. He glanced up a moment at Rowenna, who had quietly listened to everything; he could see in her eyes that her mind was busy at work, whether with implications or questions he could not guess.

Searyn tried to keep all her senses together. She felt weariness creep in again with all these questions being asked all at once. Still, she tried to answer. “What role do I seek?” Then she stopped, realizing suddenly what he might be asking her – what he could be asking her. Her answer likewise could be any number of things.

She felt confused, disoriented, as though her mind were closing like a door with crooked hinges, always prone to shut without being pushed. She tried to rise, and tried to retain control of the situation. “My lord,” she began, but stopped. She had sat back down again, her legs refused to obey. Her hand again went to her side and it didn’t leave. She leaned her forehead on her left hand, murmuring, “I am sorry, my lord, I am so sorry.”

Eodwine was surprised by how unwell Saeryn apparently was. It was time to end talk and take action. "Ladies, it appears that Saeryn is not as well as we thought. Take her to the women's tent and see to her needs. Modtryth, I place her in your care. When you have done all you can, send Rowenna to tell me what you have learned."

Modtryth, who had followed the discussion in silence, brow furrowed, nodded. "Yes, my lord. I'll take care of her. Come, Saeryn. Can you walk if Rowenna and I help you?"

Saeryn nodded and raised her head and with Modtryth and Rowenna once more walking on both sides of her and giving her support, she was led to the women's tent.

Last edited by littlemanpoet; 05-12-2008 at 05:24 PM.
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