shieldmaiden_rohan | For Maedhros

Eowyn's dwelling had been built by the Lady Galadriel for Aragorn. The Lady had built the cabin so that Aragorn might dwell not far from her, and for herself she had built a house in the trees. Eowyn had never entered the house in the trees, for it was not built for her. She did not think the Lady nor Aragorn would mind that she lived in his cabin, and that she had expanded it so that also there was a paddock and a stable for Bleod, but she would not enter the house in the trees.

She had decided, though, that she would tell Maedhros of the Lady's treehouse, in case he might wish to dwell there. And so it was that she had invited him to accompany her on a ride from the stables, and thus brought him into the clearing that contained the treehouse, her home, and the paddock.

Their conversation on the ride had been light and casual, but she fell silent as she gently instructed Bleod to halt so that he might look upon the thing she wished him to see.

[Description of the treehouse here: https://thecityneversleeps.dreamwidth.org/1412387.html]

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Maedhros isn't really expecting to recognize any of the names she lists, and indeed he does not, but translating unfamiliar Sindarin names into Quenya is a habit of centuries at this point, something he does without even really thinking about it, and Alatáriel... Alatáriel he knows.

"The Lady Galadriel?" he asks lightly. It would explain a few things. "Short, high-minded, hair like the light of the sun and moon and all the stars combined?"

She would not have described the Lady as short, but Maedhros was so tall that perhaps all were short to him. The rest of it, she would agree with entirely, though she had not known that the Lady was of an age with him. Elves were indeed long-lived.

"That describes her well," she agreed, and then chuckled. "Gimli son of Gloin spoke of her hair with great reverence, and I did not entirely believe him. When she arrived, I understood."

"Everyone spoke of her hair with great reverence, back home," he says, amused. "You should have heard my father go on about it." Though Fëanor had changed his tune quickly enough after she had refused him a strand.

He considers the door for a moment, suddenly hesitant. Now that he's looking for it, he can indeed see Artanis' hand upon the treehouse, and though the two of them had gotten on well enough in Valinor, he doubted she had forgiven his family for Losgar and the Ice. From the outside, the house doesn't feel hostile to him, but the same might not be true of the inside.

"She was here, then? And didn't remake the entire city in her own image? I find myself shocked."

"She did not," Eowyn replied. "I do not know the events that occurred, but another who was here, one who was heir to the throne of Gondor, spoke briefly of a 'test' when he spoke of her. Perhaps it changed her, or perhaps the passage of years did so."

She had never spoken to the Lady so casually, but Aragorn had known her far longer as one of the Dunedain and knew more of her.

"Artanis changed, and changed that much," Maedhros murmurs, half to himself. "Will wonders never cease?"

It occurs to him, suddenly, who he is - or, more specifically, who he is not - talking to, and he slips from the tree with an apologetic half-smile.

"Do not think I speak of her with disrespect, or think of her with disdain! We are kin" - and here he chooses the broadest term for 'kin' he knows, to imply relations but not quite family (his Rohirric has improved markedly since his arrival but 'half-cousins' is not a term Eowyn has had cause to teach him) - "and I am the older, besides. It is my job to tease her, even if she is not here to appreciate it."

The word he used could mean any number of relationships, from those who were considered family but not truly related to those who were so distantly related that it mattered little what the exact term might be. She nodded.

"Indeed so. Kin must tease each other," she agreed, though there were few that teased her other than Eomer, and occasionally Theodred. He was older than they and heir, so he had many more responsibilities.

"I do not know what rooms are present in this place nor if you would find it comfortable."

"I will certainly find it more comfortable than the place assigned to me by the city, if only for the height of the ceilings," Maedhros says, dryly, "but I suppose I should see for myself, if it will let me in. Will you not come up?"

The house was not built for her or her people, and so she had never entered it, but she had been invited by one of those for which it had been built, so perhaps she might enter.

"I will," she agreed. She stepped carefully onto the first platform of the home and then onto the main platform. She did not dislike heights so much as her brother Eomer, who preferred not to be higher than the back of his horse, but she did not think she would dwell easily off the ground all the same.

"A cleaning cloth would be well in this place. I shall bring one to you anon."

The house had been empty, and so there would need to be some cleaning of it.

For Maedhros

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