Declarations of Love

[Cordelia(#1394)] The Pony is slowly filling up with regulars on this early evening at the end of October. The inn\'s staff hurries about, filling orders, smoke is slowly clouding the air, and a buzz of conversation is gradually building. At a table near the hearth, Cordelia sits with a bowl of stew and mug of ale, nursing both slowly. She wears a plain brown dress of some coarse material, and her dark hair is bundled up into a plain kerchief.

[Arabella(#19996)] Entering the common room is a face none have seen in Bree since the late summer months. There\'s Arabella Methven, with her very dark hair and little pixie features. She\'s wearing an unmistakably stubborn expression, as though she\'s had to steel herself and conquer some sort of fear before showing up around here. The girl has grown a little taller, though her frame is still thin, and she\'s wearing a dark, dirty cloak over her tunic. Green eyes flash, sighting an empty table. It\'s only upon sitting down and getting settled that she sees Cordelia nearby. Recovering from her surprise, she gives a hesitant wave.

[Cordelia(#1394)] Cordelia is looking drawn out and weary, dark circles under her eyes, and her face still as thin as it was after she had returned from the months-long trip on the road. Her hands and forearms are also reddened, too, but she keeps tugging down her sleeves. As Bells waves, she looks up, drink in hand, though she pauses, then hesitantly waves back before taking a sip. \"Join me if you want..\" she shrugs to the girl.

[Arabella(#19996)] Arabella looks over at Cordelia, her eyes widening at the invitation. After a moment, she nods and rises from her seat, trading it for one at Cordelia\'s table. The girl seems weary from a day of work, but not nearly so tired as Cordelia. Bells is more than a little curious as she studies the older girl\'s haggard appearence. Still, she keeps most of her questions to herself for once. She\'s only been back in Bree for a day, after all- it\'s not time to meddle, yet. \"Have you been well?\" Bella can be very polite, when she pauses to think about what she\'s going to say.

[Cordelia(#1394)] \"Yes,\" Cordelia answers with a small sigh. \"I\'m just tired from working at the healers\' this week. It takes us days and days to do laundry, and it\'s exhausting. How have you been?\" she answers, perfectly polite.

[Arabella(#19996)] Bells can\'t help it- her lower lip begins to pout just a little. \"Well,\" she answers sadly, \"I am beginning to believe that Seeker and Muirgheal really aren\'t coming back. Things in Archet have been...dreadful quiet, really, except for the wedding plans.\" That last brings a hint of a smile back to her face. Bella purposefully doesn\'t bring up the still tender subject of the healing house. She raises a hand to wave a serving girl over. She\'s got a bit of money to spend on dinner.

[Cordelia(#1394)] Smiling slightly at the girl\'s words, Cordelia attends to her stew again, setting her mug down and picking up her spoon. \"So you\'ll marry and ....work on a farm? What does your husband do?\"

Keldean is ahead of the caravan, having made his way to town more quickly to collect his belongings. First he went up to the attic, grabbing up the belongings he has stowed up there and now the young man is making his way into common room in search of his sister. He has a bundle under one arm, the young man dirty and travel-worn, but there\'s a look of excitement on his face. \"Jacquelyn??\" He calls through the buzz of the room, trying to gain the girl\'s attention if she\'s here.

[Arabella(#19996)] Bella shakes her head. \"No, we don\'t have a farm. But perhaps one day..for now, we\'ll get a little house and Sam will keep on working for his father, the lumberman. I\'ll just keep doing what I do, the jobs here and there.\" And then a serving girl with mousy, curly hair has come to the table to take Bells\' order. Only after she\'s decided what she wants does she look toward the lad who\'s called over the noise of the other patrons. Recognition darkens her face. \"Oh, I remember him..\" she mutters.

[Cordelia(#1394)] \"Lot of call for that,\" Cordelia answers between small sips of her ale. \"Who....?\" she then asks, stifling a yawn. It\'s not as if she doesn\'t hear Jacquelyn\'s name called out here every day, but she turns and looks nonetheless, yawning again for real now.

\"Keldean....\" she says, her eyes widening at the teen as she wakes up suddenly. She stands up, but doesn\'t say his name.

Keldean looks around, trying to find his sister but failing. Instead he sees Arabella and wrinkles his nose at the girl, not fond of her either. His brown eyes stray to the black-haired woman that Bells sits with and the teen grows still, staring in shock.

[Arabella(#19996)] Well, Bells must not have grown up too much, for when she sees Keldean\'s little gesture at her, her hackles raise and she all but bares her teeth. The girl crosses her arms and stiffens, not getting up from her seat, but averting her eyes to Cordelia. She\'s had enough trouble in Bree- she won\'t borrow more by antagonizing Keldean. That\'s just too easy. She mutters something, and waits for her food to arrive.

[Cordelia(#1394)] \"Keldean....\" Cordelia says hoarsely, though there isn\'t as much shock on her face as there is on the teen\'s. \"I...when did the caravan get back? I ...I hadn\'t heard...\"

Keldean had thought he would never see her again and in the weeks since he\'s had a hard time getting over the woman. Now she stands before him, returned. \"You came back?\" He asks, his voice almost lost amongst the noise in the room, but he takes a few steps towards their table, hesitant in his approach.

[Arabella(#19996)] Bells picks up on a lot of emotion in both voices, Cordelia\'s and Keldean\'s. Well -this- is interesting. And the serving girl has returned with her food. Happily tucking into her meat pie, she watches, eyes flicking back and forth between both their faces. Of course, she\'s thinking of even more questions she can\'t ask yet.

[Cordelia(#1394)] \"Grey came and....I....\" Cordelia is trying to answer Keldean somewhat coherently, but it\'s obviously not happening. \"I had to leave..you know that....after what happened...but....they wouldn\'t let me,\" she finally manages, then bites her lips. \"Come sit with me?\"

\"Grey came and what? He wouldn\'t let you leave? He brought you back?\" The teen asks, his tone guarded. Keldean looks very uncertain, strong emotions conflicting on his face. It\'s a mix of surprise, fear, and pain.. but in his voice there\'s the barest hint of hope. He closes the distance to the table, but doesn\'t sit.

[Arabella(#19996)] Sometimes, Bella just can\'t help herself. It looks like this is one of those times, as she opens her mouth to greet Keldean, \"Good evening. Kidnap anyone\'s husband lately?\" Then she goes back to eating her pie, not really expecting an answer to that at all. Instead, she watches Cordelia.

[Cordelia(#1394)] A sudden wariness comes to Cordelia\'s face and her eyes flick toward Bells, her expression thoughtful. She seems to decide something and opens her mouth to answer Keldean, but then the younger girl speaks, and some anger flashes in Cordelia\'s eyes. \"We can go someplace else to talk Keldean,\" she says. She takes a step away from the table.

Keldean turns a glare on Bells, \"Shut your mouth!\" He snaps at her, his tone hard. He tears his gaze back to Cordelia, his breathing heavy and thick with emotion. \"Talk about -what-? You didn\'t come back here for me.. \" His words are accusing. \"I\'m leaving. I can\'t.. I didn\'t think... \" The boy shakes his head, fighting his turbulent feelings. \"I\'m going with the elves, to Imlad. I don\'t have a lot of time.\"

[Cordelia(#1394)] \"Keldean!\" Cordelia lunges forward, trying to reach for the teen\'s arm. \"I tried to leave. I was days along the road from here--I had to get me and Liuni away from here. But Grey and another elf...name of Maglind, I think...they tracked us. _Made_ me come back here and gave me to the Breeguard. Put me in jail, even though I gave back Galharth\'s dagger voluntarily. And now the mayor is making me work at the healers until the turn of the year. They won\'t let me leave, at least not until then, and maybe never....It hurt me to leave you, Keldean...do you have to go away again?\"

[Arabella(#19996)] Bella looks quite unruffled by Keldean\'s outburst. She only shrugs and continues to eat her dinner. Still...she watches the exchange with interest. And when Keldean speaks about Imladris, she really looks like she wants to open her mouth again, but she doesn\'t yet.

The teen was looking around, seeking out his sister again when Cordelia grabs \"Leave again?! You left me! Remember? You think it didn\'t hurt -me-? I took the fall for you, again and again! And you left.\" Keldean says the last in a low tone, his emotional pain getting the better of him. \"Why should I stay?!\" He demands.

[Cordelia(#1394)] \"Because you and Liuni are the only two people in this world who mean anything to me,\" Cordelia answes quietly, letting her grip on Keldean\'s arm go. \"Because you told me you love me and I believe you and it was what gave me courage to try to go on--when I let you and Liuni go and I stayed and tried to help Rhifaroth, the only thing that kept me from just slitting my own wrists was knowing that you two were safe. And then when I left you after Galharth...I knew the road would be dangerous and the elves might come after me, but I knew you\'d be safe, and I could keep going. If you want to leave me now and have nothing to do with me....if the fact that I love you means nothing to you....\" Her voice stays quiet the whole time, and she fights back tears.

[Arabella(#19996)] Oh, it\'s all so romantic...Bells silently takes in all the tearful words exchanged. She\'s finished with most of her meal now, which sits forgotten on the table before her.

Keldean moves a step back from Cordelia, looking down at the floor, his eyes squeezing closed as he struggles to fight two strong desires. \"I don\'t know, Cord. I don\'t know.\" He shakes his head, his auburn curls bouncing heavily. \"Did.. did you bring the horse back?\"

[Cordelia(#1394)] Cordelia nods, her own eyes tearing up--she doesn\'t stop the tears that now start to roll down her cheeks. \"The horse is back. Elfaron is back. I\'m at the healers\' house until January, though I go to my uncle\'s in Combe once a week. Liuni is there. If you want me to leave, Keldean, I will in the spring. Liuni and I will walk to our home. I\'ll do what you want me to do, Keld. If Grey lets me. Maybe he\'ll let me leave now, even, though travel in the winter will...well...it doesn\'t matter.

\"I asked you to stay before.. \" Keldean says, his words softer now and filled with anguish. \"They said I could go with them to Imlad. Seeker is there and I want to try and help him. I can come back in the spring. I\'ll take the horse and then I can ride back when the snow melts.\" He looks like he might begin crying as well, his feelings for her rekindling stronger and stronger each moment that he stands here talking to her. \"Wait for me, like I said I would wait for you.\"

[Arabella(#19996)] Even Bella cannot interrupt this moment. Her supper finished, she slips from the table and out the common room door, now having something new to mull over: Seeker is with the elves..

[<#1394>] \'I\'ll wait..if I can,\' Cordelia says, one tear slowly rolling down her face. She moves closer to Keldean, her voice dropping. \"I\'m scared, Keldean...I ...the whole thing with that elf Galharth really spooked me. And then Grey coming after me..why would a ranger care about what I do here? It scares me. I don\'t know why he\'d be interested in keeping me here and what he is possibly going to do, but I keep -feeling- like he is going to do something. And I don\'t know what...\"

Keldean draws back again, scared that if he lets Cordelia too close what little resolve he has left will crumble. \"No.. I have to go. I can\'t wait. They\'ll leave me behind.\" His brown eyes meet hers and there\'s deep desire within them. He still loves her and it\'s plain on his face. \"You want me to do the right thing.. don\'t you?\" He asks in a whisper.

[Cordelia(#1394)] \"Seeker...\" Cordelia frowns. \"I tried to free him, Keldean, I really did. You don\'t know what it was like at the end there....I thought I was going to do. I _wanted_ to die. Anything to escape, but I wouldn\'t leave Rhifaroth to them...and he didn\'t want me to end it for both of us....\" SHe exhales slowly, her eyes dropping to the floor. \"If you see him...he will hate me. He will say terrible things about me. I\'m afraid...that I\'ll lose you, Keldean.\"

\"I wanted to die when you left.\" Keldean replies, his words barely a whisper. It\'s the remembered pain that keeps him from being lost to the abyss of his love for her again. \"Tell Jacquelyn I tried to find her and that I\'ll be back in the spring.\" The teen hesitates a moment longer, \"I\'m taking the horse.\" Then he turns and heads for the door, his need to hurry returning and driven now by a fear that if he waits any longer he\'ll never leave.

[Cordelia(#1394)] \"Keldean!\" Cordelia calls out, not caring who hears now, for certainly many of the patrons now turn to watch. She frowns at that, but still continues. \"Be careful. If I wait for you...will you still want .. will you still love me when you get back?\"

Keldean pauses at the door when she calls his name. He looks back, pain of heartbreak on his face. He nods in answer, then the youth turns and is gone through the door.

[Cordelia(#1394)] Cordelia stands there a long time starring at the door for so long that the patrons in the Pony get bored and turn back to their ale and food--now having something new to gossip about. Very slowly the girl goes back to her table to finish her ale and stew, though here is no sign of the tears that were on her cheeks moments ago. Instead, for those who can see it, there is the fire of anger in her eyes.