Scarburg Meadhall

[Mnemosyne]

Wynflaed had finished arranging her personal effects just so on a sideboard--Lilige would see them there, remember their exact positions, and ensure they were always where they were supposed to be--when she heard the scuffle of swift footsteps coming down the hallway.

It was Lilige, looking moderately flustered, and--AEdre? Her daughter had dust on her dress, and--her mothering heart surged in her--blood upon her fair face. Wynflaed could not stop the look of horror on her countenance.

"AEdre, what happened?" she said. Then, more calmly, "Lilige, a basin of water and some soft rags, please. I shall, when you are finished, wish to know how you learned of this."

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

After the rest of the things have been unloaded, the soldiers followed the tall guy - Thornden was his name, if Hilderinc remembered correctly. The barracks were but one room, not too big for all people to fit in – Hilderinc could tell that many of the soldiers disliked it on first sight. Well, this is where we are going to live, he thought, we need to cope with that. Given the overall state of the Mead Hall, it was nothing that could not have been expected. Of course, Hilderinc was used to all kinds of places from his long life as a soldier – some better, much larger spaces, furnished almost luxuriously for everyone. But he had seen also many barracks far worse than this one. It was not that bad for a soldier's taste – it would probably score among the average ones. Maybe in the top of the lower half. At least it was clean. And Hilderinc also noticed that it was easily accessible, and all parts of the Hall were easily accessible from here, it was easy to get to the courtyard, to the stables, to the kitchen...

Kitchen... that reminded him of how hungry he was. He really hoped that the meal will be ready soon. And he was probably not the only one, he thought, looking at the rest of the soldiers moving around the place and unpacking their valuable possessions. Even Áforglæd said...

Now the idea struck Hilderinc. Áforglæd spoke about food. Was it possible that he would go to the kitchens, and that was why they could not find him? Inspired by the idea, Hilderinc immediately turned around and went to confirm his theory. He walked outside into the great hall, where he stopped. Another sudden stroke of inspiration flashed through his mind. The kitchen outbuilding was set next to the Hall itself. Wouldn't it make sense that there was another entrance from inside the Hall? He looked around curiously. Small door in the corridor on one side seemed to confirm his thoughts. Encouraged to test his theory, he marched to it and dauntlessly opened it.

He was right! It was the kitchen, warm and full of steam and smoke. Air was filled with pleasant smell of food being prepared. To Hilderinc's slight disappointment, though, there was no sign of Áforglæd, only four women busy around the fireplace.

"Good day to you!" one of them welcomed him with a smile. She was about as old as him, he noticed, or maybe a bit younger. She did not look like most of the Eorling women, her hair was even darker than Hilderinc's, but her eyes again slightly lighter than his. Despite being far from the image of a perfect Eorling woman as most of the soldiers would see it, she had some dark beauty about her. "How can I help you?" she asked.

"Good day to you too," Hilderinc replied politely, looking down at the woman; she was slightly shorter than him. "I am sorry to disturb you, I was hoping to find here one of our soldiers who has gone missing, he... oof!" At that moment, something heavy bumped into him from behind and he lost his balance, but quickly regained it again and turned around. The man standing in the door seemed vaguely familar. Hilderinc did not manage this far to get into much contact with the locals, but the man's dark hair and eyes were once again something not completely usual here. Was he perhaps one of those who were in the courtyard with that Lithor fellow?

"Pardon," the newcomer said. "Apparently I'm not the only one looking for something to eat."

"Well, I was not strictly looking for something to eat, as I was just saying to the lady here before I was interrupted," Hilderinc said in a calm tone. "Although I am also looking forward to some meal, that's for certain." He turned to the kitchen-woman and then back to the newcomer.

"But I was looking for one of our men, about as tall as you, long blond hair, actually you might have seen him in the courtyard, didn't you?" he finished his question with an implication. If the man was indeed one of those who were with Lithor, he would remember Áforglæd.

[Gwathagor]

It was Hilderinc, Crabannan realized - the fellow who had come in with the new lord. He smirked."Tall with long blond hair? You're going to have to give me a little more to work with than that, since you described your entire race to me. Though - I can't say I've made a point of trying to get to know any of your men."

He started to walk past Hilderinc.

[Folwren]

Despite the awful day, Cnebba’s answer amused Saeryn. She grinned broadly and under normal circumstances would have laughed, but matters had been too disappointing so far today for that. Still, Cnebba always said something funny with his attempts to sound grown up.

“Very well. Talk about kids’ things, but not in Flíthaf’s stall. I think he might get tired of so much company.” She unlatched the stall door and opened it to let the boys file out. As Javan passed her last, she grasped his shoulder and held him back while she fastened the door again. “Alright, Javan, tell me what’s up.” She hadn’t missed his downcast expression. The two younger boys huddled at the corner of the aisle, peeking around the stall corner to watch.

“If it please you, my lady,” Javan said, “I’d rather not tell you. You’ll probably hear it from someone else soon enough. You’ll be angry, like everyone else, and you won’t understand.”

“Try me,” Saeryn said. “If you’ve done something wrong, I’m the first person you should tell because I can help you more than anyone else. Plus, I can understand a lot. Trust me.”

“You can’t help me with this. Lord Athanar will be very angry and I doubt anyone will be able to stop him from doing whatever he decides to do.”

Saeryn looked quizzically at him and he looked at the ground. “Javan. . .what did you do?”

“I punched Ædre.”

Saeryn felt her heart beat a little harder just for a second. “Who’s Ædre?” she asked, but she had already guessed.

“Athanar’s daughter,” he said, meeting her eyes fleetingly, just to get an idea of her reaction. She had no reaction but shock for a moment, her mouth open a fraction and her eyebrows raised in surprise. “She was bullying Cnebba, see,” Javan said, “and I came up to stop her and she wouldn’t stop and . . . it just happened. She hit me and then I hit her. And now the whole mead hall knows, ‘cause it happened in the courtyard, where all the new men were, and captain Coenred came over, then Garstan and Stigend, and then Lilige, the maid, came and took Ædre to her mother. . .”

“Oh, no,” Saeryn finally breathed.

“I know. I’m sorry I caused trouble today. I was doing so well, Eodwine would have been so proud of me, and then I did this.” Neither said it, but they both knew how disapproving Eodwine would have been. “What will Lord Athanar do?”

“I don’t know. But I’ll see to it that it’s not terrible, or anything. Don’t look like that, Javan. Athanar won’t kill you, anyway. You’ve hit his daughter, you’re going to have to take the consequences.”

Javan squared his shoulders. “I know. I will.”

“That’s it, lad. Now come on. It’s best to meet the trouble halfway, rather than hiding and making them look for you.”

“I wasn’t hiding.”

“No, I guess not, but it’ll be best if you make a clean breast of it to the lord and lady.”

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

"Tall with long blond hair? You're going to have to give me a little more to work with than that, since you described your entire race to me. Though - I can't say I've made a point of trying to get to know any of your men."

"Well, I can't say I would know any of the men here, either," Hilderinc replied. "But I guess that will come in time," he added more calmly. "Maybe even knowing you."

He looked more closely at the man as he tried to move past him. Now that it came to it, Hilderinc was pretty certain that he was one of those who have been in the courtyard.

What was occupying Hilderinc's thoughts now, though, were some of the man's words. What did he mean by "your entire race"? Was he not an Eorling? Well, when it came to that, he didn't really look like one. But what was he then? A Dunlending? No, not that, Hilderinc was certain. Hilderinc knew a Dunlending when he saw one, yet this man had no features resembling a Dunlending. In a way, he did look like an Eorling – some of his features were like that, but no Eorlingas Hilderinc knew had such hair, skin-colour or even the overall build.

"Are you a Woodman?" he asked suddenly without thinking.