A Change of Heart

Minas Tirith: Houses of Healing: Garden

A path of blue-gray pebbles stretches away from the garden\'s entry to meander around and through the trees and lawn which dominate this garden. Flowers and rocks of varying heights and colors have been arranged at intervals along the path. To either side of the lawn wooden arbors have been constructed. The lush greenery of wisteria and ivy twine up and around their pillars creating a living ceiling across the top with vines dangling randomly down toward visitors below, where carved wooden benches can be found. Raised planter boxes are set between the pillars containing a number of different herbs, flowering and not. Pots filled with other herbs and lush flowers hang from the arbor supports. Along the low wall at the edge of the garden, purple and pink phlox creep, winding their way across the top of the stones. Beyond the wall, the entire plain beneath Minas Tirith is visible.

The dark of night has fallen across the city, the flickering of candles and lanterns easily discernible in the rings of the city below. Lanterns carefully hung beneath the arbor light the pathways there with a soft golden glow.

[Arashen(#24692)]

The sun lowers in the west, poised upon the peaks of Ered Nimrais, a glowing globe brightening the cloud-cover that oppresses the city. The air is hazy, humid and makes the skin craw unpleasantly. The Halls of Healing are unbearable, the garden at least, has a weak breeze.

Several residents of the Halls have found refuge in the garden, not least among them is the Blue Squire, Arashen Telpkehor. He walks along the gray-pebbled paths as briskly as he dares. His movements are still stiff and he holds his abdomen with his right hand. A few beads of perspiration mark his brow.

\"You\'re looking better.\" A voice breaks the quiet of this area of the garden: It\'s Ceredir, sitting on a bench near the path, half hidden by the vines that hang down around the space. His arm is still in a sling, but otherwise the drawn look that had come to his face with his injury is slowly disappearing.

\"Careful,\" the Scout then continues, with a wry grin, \"they\'ll have you back out against that troll in no time at all.\"

[Arashen(#24692)]

\"Ceredir,\" the squire greets, coming abreast of the Scout and grinning. \"I\'ve been looking for you.\"

Carefully, Arashen lowers himself to the bench. He lets out a long sigh. \"I don\'t think it is my turn to fight the troll yet. We are working on rotating shifts, you see. We go to Osgiliath, get wounded, spend a week in the infirmary there, get transferred to the Halls, then we are allowed home for a week or two, then they work us to death, then it\'s back to Osgiliath and the dance begins anew.\"

The Scout extends his good hand to help Arashen sit, but when it\'s not needed, he withdraws it. \"Guess I\'ll be back against the troll soon, then,\" he says. \"They say I can start training again next week. The sling will be gone tomorrow. Mainly they kept me here because of the fever I had...\" Ceredir, frowns, though, as he glances to the squire. \"They won\'t put you back there -that- soon, will they? From what I heard, that troll nearly sliced you right open. Should take a long time to heal fully from that, shouldn\'t it?\"

\"Why were you looking for me?\"

[Arashen(#24692)]

\"I will be released for duty in two weeks,\" Arashen replies, stretching out his legs before him and crossing them at the ankles. This, like all his movements these days, is done slowly and with great care. \"As it happens, I will be allowed to leave the Halls tomorrow morning.\"

\"I came looking for you because I wanted to ask a question.\"

\"I think they\'re clearing most of us out,\" Ceredir grins. \"Probably tired of our whining and complaining or some such. You\'ll go to stay with your family here in Minas Tirith?\"

He pauses, waiting for Arashen to shift, then nods. \"By all means, ask.\"

[Arashen(#24692)]

\"I am,\" Arashen confirms. He grins then, \"How would you like to come stay with us until you are fit for duty again?\"

\"Or would you prefer to convalescence in the barracks under the tender mercies of Laeghen?\"

\"Laeghen!\" Ceredir chokes on the name, then laughs at the same time, triggering a fit of coughing that makes him wince. \"I can\'t think of anything I\'d rather do less than recuperate under Laeghen\'s care. Even cleaning out the latrines beats that. So..yes...please.\" He pauses, squinting a bit at the squire, looking puzzled. \"Are you certain? You really are inviting me?\" he asks, not quite believing it, it might seem.

[Arashen(#24692)]

\"Of course, I\'m inviting you,\" Arashen laughs. \"I\'ve already asked my mother and fa...Sir Barsaphad.\"

\"But you must be on your best behavior,\" He warns with mock seriousness. \"No picking your teeth at the dinner table!\"

\"I\'m...I don\'t know what to say..Sir Barsaphad..and your mother. I haven\'t even met your mother,\" Ceredir answers, somewhat distracted and quie flustered. Doubt creeps onto his face, though, as he bites his lip despite the squire\'s jesting manner. \"I know basic courtesies, of course, but Arashen, ...I was raised in the tannery. The closest I\'ve been to nobility..well, you saw that the other day, and I would hardly call Elenur noble.\"

[Arashen(#24692)]

\"Do not worry so much,\" the young Telpekhor laughs again. \"You won\'t be attending a State dinner. It is just my family. My cousin, Lissiel lives with us as well and she is close to our age.\"

\"Just be polite and you will be fine. Follow my lead if you are uncertain.\"

\"Right. Don\'t pick my teeth. Got it.\" Ceredir grins now, his manner easing. \"I\'ll have two hands to help carry your stuff, too. The healers want me to start using it again, with small things first.\"

[Arashen(#24692)]

\"A servant is coming to do that,\" Arashen replies, slapping his friend on his good shoulder, \"You are my guest. And you are among the honored wounded. No labor for you.\"

The young man\'s grin wanes a little bit. \"Have you heard anything more about your actions of the other day?\"

\"That may be so,\" Ceredir grins, \"but I\'ll carry something nonetheless. At least for a bit--I want to get this shoulder back to normal, and if I baby it too much, it will never happen.\"

\"No...\" The Scout sighs quietly at the change of topics. \"But I have no doubt that I will. And that Elenur will try to make good on his threat to see me hanged.\"

[Arashen(#24692)]

\"I do not believe striking a knight is a capital offence,\" Arashen replies, offering his friend a sympathetic look. \"And I will speak as witness if you are brought to judgment on this. While it is true you did lose control, Sir Elenur is not without his own guilt. He was very provocative.\"

\"Thank you. For that...and for trying to put him in his place, even though you could barely sit up. Ceredir looks away quickly. \"It means a lot to me,\" he says quietly.

Still looking out absently into the gardens, he continues in the same tone. \"I should give it up. Stop trying to be what I\'m not. Just accept that I\'m neither Bragollach nor tanner...nor anything. Can\'t even make a good scout. But...well, people care so much about blood and houses and heritage. And all I can say is, \'I\'m Ceredir. Noone\'s son.\'\"

[Arashen(#24692)]

Arashen says nothing for a few moments, he looks down to the ground, his brow creased in thought. \"You need to give up on Sir Elenur. Someone is lying either the man who raised you or Sir Elenur. I think you should give it up. Leave them both behind. Name your own destiny.\"

\"If you are not a good Scout,\" the Squire looks up to his friend, \"It is only because you have allowed this matter to eat away at you.\"

\"Apologize to Sir Elenur, take whatever punishment the Company gives to you without complaint, and build your life in their work. You can make a name and find meaning in the Company of Ithilien.\"

The scout mulls over this, reaching out to pluck a leaf off a nearby vine, then rolling it between his fingers and sniffing it. \"Apologize...\" he repeats the word, frowning and considering it. \"Do you think it will work? Do you think he\'d even agree to see me? I can\'t exactly call on his household.\"

\"And how exactly does one find meaning in building your life around the Company of Ithilien? Look at Laeghen...he did that and look what it turned him into.\"

[Arashen(#24692)]

\"Work? What do you mean work?\" Arashen says, a little exasperated. \"You do it for yourself, because it is the right thing to do. It doesn\'t mean you think he\'s right, only that you acknowledge that you were wrong to lose your temper and strike him. But you must be ready to take any further insult from him stoically. When you are ready, I will speak to him and see if he will listen to your apology.\"

\"Take satisfaction from the fact that you are keeping Gondor safe from the Enemy and when you are of age, find a good wife and start your own family - treat your children better than you were yourself treated, earn your name from your work and pass it to them with pride. Forget Laeghen, if you are not Bragollach, you are certainly not him.\"

The squire\'s words take a long time to sink in, as at first Ceredir just turns and stares at the other youth, his mouth gradually falling open at what Arashen suggests. \"When you grow up the lowest of the low, stinking and in poverty, you win your way through only with anger and fists,\" he finally answers, without anger in his quiet tone. \"If someone insults you, you take your pound of flesh there and then, or else the whole neighborhood will be stepping on you next. You grab what you can, because any minute it could be gone.\"

He pauses, looking out of the gardens and then back to Arashen. \"But...one of them is lying, as you say. And both have rejected me...and I have no recourse, it seems. I\'ll do it your way. Whenever you\'re healthy enough, go speak to him for me.\"

At that, the scout falls silent, and though Arashen\'s mention of a wife and children makes him blanch momentarily, he says nothing more on it for now. \"Let\'s either walk or get back in and find some water. Too damn hot out here,\" he notes.

[Arashen(#24692)]

\"Sir Elenur wants nothing to do with you,\" Arashen says. \"He won\'t step on you again.\" This harsh truth is spoken with compassion however and the lad slaps his friend on the shoulder again, \"Let us forget about all this for the nonce and go inside to find water.\"

With that, Arashen rises carefully and walking beside Ceredir, the two follow the gray-pebbled path back into the Halls of Healing - and apt destination should the Scout follow his advice.