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Old 04-25-2006, 03:34 PM   #271
Folwren
Messenger of Hope
 
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: In a tiny, insignificant little town in one of the many States.
Posts: 5,228
Folwren is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.Folwren is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
‘And therein lies the problem when the opinions and decisions under consideration concern me. . .’ Thornden wondered what sort of trouble the three wives and the elderly mother could possibly cause Rose when such questions were under discussion. He glanced at her curiously. Surely she didn’t have too many troubles, living out here among family that loved her. He’d seen and heard stories of young people hating their life at home and having to run from it, but she didn’t appear to have that problem.

‘What about you?’ she asked, breaking his thought abruptly. ‘Didn’t I hear you say you were the oldest in your family? I envy you, as I’m the youngest in mine. I wonder. . .it must be easier, isn’t it? As the oldest child and a male, to boot, to be able to avoid your mother and sister’s whims and plans, as you so ably put it earlier.’

Thornden broke into his easy smile and laughed softly. ‘Don’t envy me,’ he said, shaking his head and looking away briefly. ‘It’s not easier being oldest. And it may be even harder when you’re a male,’ he added, nodding slightly. ‘More is expected of you - when you’re younger anyway. If something bad happens and you’re part of the pack, you’ll probably be the one blamed for the ruckus, whereas the younger chaps get off free because “they didn’t know any better.” Of course, as I started getting older that didn’t happen quite as often.

‘But then there were other problems. Father wanted me to stay and take over the land and the breeding, raising, selling, harvesting, storing as the seasons required. I was oldest, I should take it on.’ Thornden made a short, soft laugh again, a regretful look crossing his face. It was clearly an old disagreement. “But that wasn’t what I wanted to do. I don’t want to raise cows. I may have patience to train horses, but I don’t have the interest. As for wheat and barley, corn and whatever else that would need to be raised - well, it’s all very well and good, so long as the farmer likes what he does and doesn’t mind it, but I wasn’t willing to go out day after day, hope that it rains, lug water if it doesn’t. Crops and animals wasn’t what I wanted to do all my life.

‘As you can tell, I didn’t stay. I guess, in some given lights, I should of. It may have been my duty, but I don’t know. I went to Edoras. I went there because when my father went off to war and came back with stories, and his wound, I knew I wanted to fight. As I got older, of course, I realized that I wouldn’t want to fight, necessarily, but to just guard our king would be enough. And it was, while it lasted. Father agreed, finally, that I should go. . .I guess he didn’t have much chance to disagree, seeing as I told him I was leaving whether he liked it or not. It wasn’t a wise thing to do.’ Thornden shook his head. ‘I’m not usually hasty, and that may have been another thing in which I should have tried again to talk it over.

‘It was hard,’ he said, winding down towards conclusion. ‘Being oldest definitely isn’t easiest. I have to set examples for the younger children. Especially for my youngest brother, Javan, who used to think I couldn’t possibly do anything wrong. It’s hard to live up to that standard, you know?

‘But the whims and plans of my mother and sisters that I said I avoided. . .that was only in marriage. And it’s not like they didn’t put me through the ringer at times to gain their own ends. They tried everything, I imagine. . .everything that came within reach. After I moved to Edoras, I got letters almost every week from both of them, and in almost every one they asked if I had met anyone and to be sure to tell them if I planned to get married. As though I wouldn’t! The inquiries have gotten less, though, and I’m in the hopes that they’ve fair forgotten that I’m still lacking a wife. Medreth now has a son that keeps her pre-occupied, and my mother is still busy with four children still at home - one still only twelve.’ He smiled at Rose, a merry light in his eye. ‘By comparison, our family is much younger than yours, you see.’
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