Part 24

They set out for home on the second day of Narwain.

The Reeve gave his son a brief, impersonal hug; Lady Morwen, though she was bearing her sorrow bravely, could not hide the heartbreak of watching her only child leave the nest, and Arador spent a few minutes talking to her quietly before hugging her, and kissing her goodbye.

Everything had changed, and a profound sense of loss was in every breast.

On the outskirts of Newhome, the trio paused to bid farewell to the elderly couple who had helped Eowyn when she had fallen into the muddy boar trap.

The old woman was especially pleased to see them. “My Jemmy,” she told Eowyn “said that you said he should come and visit me. He’s not a bad boy, my Lady—even his father admits that—though he does sometimes let other people lead him astray...”

...

As they crossed the River Tavor, and neared Eryn Hollen, the storm they had been riding towards broke, unleashing a torrent of drving rain, and they hurried into the shelter of the trees.

“Do you still wish me to make the blue-works safe, my Lord?” asked Arador, wiping the rain from his face. It was the first he had spoken since they had left his father’s house, for he had been deep in his own thoughts.

“I do,” replied Legolas, “if you are still willing.”

The young man nodded. “Then I should like to collect some proper samples—from the stream, and of the soil around the dying trees—to take back to Eryn Carantaur. Belecthor says that if it rains on Lady Day, you can expect a wet winter, and—from what I have seen—it will not take much to break the dam and flood the salt pans again. We shall need act fast—Master Eldacar will know how to improve the dam, and perhaps Master Amdir can spare an Elf or two to to supervise the work, and then Master Nirorn might know a way to heal the soil...” As he was speaking, he opened his leather satchel and checked its contents.

Legolas glanced at Eowyn, and the pair exchanged a small smile.

“I will help you with the samples,” said Eowyn, dismounting. “We do not want it to take too long—we need to put the worst of the Doro Lanthron road behind us before nightfall.”

...

Crouching beside Arador, Eowyn pulled the stopper from one of Master Eldacar’s ingenious glass vials, and used the tiny spoon to scoop up a quantity of crusty, grey-white soil. “What was it you threatened,” she asked, casually, “to make your father change his mind about marrying you off?”

“I cannot say, my Lady.” Arador dipped his vial in the stream, and held it there.

“But it was something other than the blue?”

Arador did not reply.

“You do realise that, once Legolas has sent his report to the King, Aragorn is likely to investigate all of your father’s dealings?”

“He will find nothing.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I know my father.”

“You mean...” In her mind’s eye, Eowyn saw the Reeve frantically destroying evidence, and she wondered how far a man like that might go to cover his transgressions. “Is it just embezzlement, Arador, or is it something worse?” She was serious now.

Arador sighed. “In some ways, my Lady, my father is a good Reeve—he fights tirelessly for his people’s rights, and in matters of justice he is thoroughly impartial—and he is not the only official who sees the chance to levy the odd additional ‘tax’ as part of his due. But in the past,”—he lifted the vial from the stream, and carefully inserted the stopper—“when he was young, my father and an accomplice used to rob houses.”

“Jemmy the Key,” said Eowyn, intuitively.

“I will let you judge whether that is worse... But they were like brothers, apparently, until they had a falling out. I knew nothing about it until Ma let something slip when she was trying to persuade me to join her and Jemmy. And I did not want to use it against him. We may not be close, but he is still my father.” He sighed again. “Sometimes, you have no choice but to defend yourself. And I had to be willing to expose him, or he would not have taken me seriously.”

“It is so hard to believe,” said Eowyn. Then, when Arador looked at her sharply, she added, “That your father and Jemmy made a living climbing through windows, I mean. For they are neither of them small men.”

Arador chuckled. “You are a very sensible person, my Lady.”

One by one, he stowed the vials in his satchel. “I have promised my mother that she can come and visit me whenever she wants.”

“Of course she can.”

“But it may mean having my father come, too.”

“There is always a price to be paid,” said Eowyn, and they both knew that she was referring to so much more than the Reeve’s potential visits.

“Thank you, my Lady.”

“Are you finished?” asked Legolas, joining them.

Eowyn glanced at Arador; the young man nodded.

“Good,” said the Elf, holding out a hand to his wife. “Then let us go home.”

THE END