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Degas drew Gleowyn to a halt and half turned to look at his sister, concern and fury etched into his features. "Which leaves you with none of the wealth and power you were promised upon marriage to the most powerful lord in the region."
Saeryn was silent, but angry and helpless tears sparkled in her eyes as the wind pulled her hair from its neat coif.
"Perhaps," he growled, "in Harad or in Umbar are the noble ladies relieved of their authority and their belongings when their husbands fall ill, but not in Rohan. In Harad and Umbar, yes, the line of succession has more to do with who has more physical strength than in who has the right to a place. In Harad, yes, usurpers wait for any moment of weakness to claim the land as their own and the ladies as their thralls, but this is not Harad! Your husband is not dead. Upon his return, will Athanar and his people quietly return his authority to him? And will he be pleased to hear that his lady wife was relegated to household staff, there for the convenience of those who are merely stewards?"
Gleowyn pranced at his tension, and Saeryn closed her eyes tight to keep her tears from flowing.
"Saer, if the king desired to strip Eodwine of Eorldom due to illness, he would not also strip him of his lands. He would still be the voice of authority in his own home; you, in his absence, are that voice. The proper course of action if Eodwine was no longer Eorl would be more or less what Eodwine experienced: lands would be bestowed, and the seat of the Eorldom would go to where the new Eorl settled. That the king would gift the lands rightfully belonging to you to a new man while your husband yet lives, instead of gifting uninhabited lands wherein Athanar could establish his own household and rule...
"Would a new king have stepped forward when Theoden King fell to the bile of Grima Wormtongue, casting aside Theoden King as a relic, claiming the rights and responsibilities of king while Theoden still lived? Saeryn, it is a farce. There is something wrong here. Regardless of Athanar's place as Eorl, he has the rights of guest and Eorl over your estates, but not the place of lord. Saeryn, he's not the bloody lord of Scarburg, unless Eomer King has stripped Eodwine and you of your titles and lands, and if this is so, the nobles will rise to defend you."
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