Haeneth, whilst hunting for clues to the disappearances in Dunland, is visited by Agamaran, to share his duty.
Haeneth |The camp was small, crude, and cleverly concealed, tucked in a glade of rocks fallen off the hillside, the fire nestled in a dry basin made smooth by the accumulation of rain. It was no easy climb to reach it, and only the faintest smoke drifting across the moon gave any indication it was even there.
Agamaran slowly trudged up the hill toward Haeneth. He made no attempt to hide or conceal his movements. Not now. He reached the camp and sat down on a log opposite of Haeneth. He felt at his ankles and wiped the sweat off his brow.
Haeneth kept still as a doe in the grass when she heard the noise, hoping it was mountain goats. When he came into view, her breathing remained quiet, but her hand strayed from her hunting knife—a new one, the horsehead bone-hilted blade stayed behind in Fréasburg, where it couldn't give her allegiance away. She reached beside her and took out a cup—she only carried one—and filled it with water from her skin to offer him.
Agamaran gladly took the cup from her, taking steady sips. He look at her between the sips, catching his breath. "You were easier to find this time," he said, finishing the cup of water with a few gulps.
Haeneth smirked, letting the breath she held out once he'd spoken. "The trail was not quite so cold."
Agamaran pulled out his own waterskin and poured some more water into the cup. "It was far easier when you roamed the lands I had long walked for many years." He put the stopper back into the waterskin and placed it on the log next to him. He took in a large gulp of water and then wiped away at his lips. "Out here in these lands, I am the stranger."
Haeneth looked out into the treeless sky above the peaks of hills and fallen rock. "I never thought I would fall in love with this land, but...it has grown on me. I did not appreciate it when we rode through it over twenty years ago."
Agamaran looked up from the cup. "This land? Do you mean Rohan?" He looked around the wilderness surrounding them. "I suspect you are not as welcomed here in these lands as you are in the lands to the east."
Haeneth shook her head, returning her gaze to the fire. "No, not Rohan." She tugged the shawl tucked around her loose mask freer of the skin, too warm from the fire. "I have never really been welcome anywhere, but you know what that life is like."
Agamaran intoned a low grumbled agreement as he pulled down his hood past his sweaty curls. "You should see the lands of Pinnath Gelin in Western Gondor. It reminds me much of the Shire. Rolling green hills, few people save for farmers and other hardy folk. The valley is largely untouched, for the mountains north contain it from any threats of the Druwaith Iaur or the Druedain across the River Lefnui." He took a sip from the water. "You'd like it there, I think. It is far removed from the outside world and its troubles."
Haeneth only glanced at his hair before her gaze dropped to his stoic face. "If I ever give up this life, I'll have to go there," she said softly, but with a wry smile. "Somehow, though, I don't think I ever will."
Agamaran removed one of his boots and emptied it of a small troublesome pebble. "I think you once felt the same way of the Bree-lands," he said, keeping the boot off for a moment to wiggle his toes. "You never quite know where your life will end up taking you."
Haeneth 's smile turned sad. "No..." she said faintly. "No, you never do."
Agamaran | "So," he said, leaning forward and slipping his boot back on. "What have you heard about these raids? I assume your nose has led you here for a specific purpose?"
Haeneth paused a moment, wondering if there was a chance at a step back, return to the thought she had before he changed the subject. She knew her heart was still bruised, but she hadn't realized it was bloody. "They're small groups," she said, instead. "Lightly armoured, and they move quickly, never taking the same path twice, never in the same camp two nights. I've not caught up with them, yet, but they are cunning in their pick of targets, and they are organized. The same night will see raids on both sides of the Isen, almost identical."
Agamaran nodded as he fit the boot snuggly back onto his foot. "If it is the Dunlendings, then they will be skilled warriors, perhaps the best a clan has to offer."
Haeneth swigged some of the water from her flask. "It's both," she said with certainty. "The Cymry and the Eorlings," she said, using the word for each race in their own languages. "They know the land too well to be anyone else. Or they have help."
Agamaran raised an eyebrow. "You think your own people are involved?"
Haeneth leveled a look on him. "I know they are. You have seen the treachery they are capable of." She'd always had dark shadows under her eyes, but now they were lined and lean. "The curse of corruption reaches deeper every year." She bowed her head, her green gaze in the fire. "No matter what I try and do to stop it."
Agamaran sighed slightly. "Sometimes it takes more than one person to make that difference," he said, and it sounded like one of his lectures of old. "Sometimes, you need help."
Haeneth smiled wryly. "I have help," she said. "I have made many new friends, from Dale to Dunland. I would not be able to do the work I do without them."
Agamaran nods slowly. "I am glad to hear of it," he said, removing his gloves and rubbing his hands next to the fire. He said nothing else, simply ending on the hang of his words.
Haeneth watched him, feeling the same twist in her gut as when standing at the very edge of a cliff, with only a moment to turn back. "Agamaran..." The fifteen years since she had last spoken his name flew like a gale across her eyes. "Why are you here?"
Agamaran laid out his gloves on the log next to him. "I am here for the same reason why I am anywhere: duty." He took a couple of sips from the cup of water. "I am beginning to think my purpose here and your investigation are somehow linked, even if I find that possibility quite unlikely."
Haeneth slowly nodded, but inside her gut clenched and would not yield.
Agamaran continued. "For a short time, I believe I may be able to help, although I cannot say how long I will remain in these lands before I am called back to my duty."
Haeneth 's voice had half the life in it than before. "Of course."
Agamaran looked down at his boots for some time before he spoke up. "Haneth," he said, looking up at her. "Keep your daughter safe."
Haeneth stared at him, then started to laugh. It rang hollowly betwixt the stones. "There is no satisfying you." She shook her head as the chuckling rippled further, like a stone skipped across a quiet pool.
Agamaran looked rather confused at her reaction. "I am not sure I understand," he said, looking a little irritated.
Haeneth looked a little lighter for allowing herself the laugh. "Can you ever not give me advice that I do not already know? Everything I do is for my daughter." Her smile slipped away, and the strength returned to her voice. "Everything."
Agamaran leaned a little further on the log toward her. "This is not like the years of past. There is a danger that surrounds all free peoples." He finished the cup of water. "It will not be defeated by sword or spear. It is a danger far worse than orcs, goblins, or wargs. Far worse than any fell spirit we have encountered." He slipped his gloves back on. "If your daughter has turned out to be anything like her mother, then you know better than anyone that she will not sit idly by when that darkness stretches across the lands of Rohan."
Haeneth firmed her gaze on him. "I know of the threat in the East. Why do you think I brought her here, to the Western end of the Mark, rather than see her fighting on the borders of Old Anórien?" She turned fully to him. Her shoulders had broadened in the decade past. "I have spent every moment of every day working to lift our Exile so that she can return to the Mark, away from Talath Anor and all its dangers. When she was fifteen, she had dreams of fighting in Osgiliath to earn her own word-fame. Do you know how hard, how long, I've tried? The sacrifices—" She stopped, hearing the tremor shake her voice. "I...gave up a life with you. For her. All for her. And she still resents me for it."
Agamaran shook his head. "I do not know why. It was for the better, I think." He tucked his waterskin back into his belt and rose up from the log. "In any event," he said grimly, "I believe I have overstayed my welcome here."
Haeneth stood up so quickly she beat him to it. "Wait," she said, her eyes the brightest green around them. She did not know what next to say.
Agamaran held up a gloved hand in protest. "It is alright, Haneth," he said. "I will remain hidden, and out of reach...as I should be." He turned to leave, pulling up his hood as he does so. He half-turned back to her and said: "I will find another way."
Haeneth 's eyes shimmered and trembled. She thought she'd stood on the brink before, but now she felt herself leap. "I am still in love with you. You...are the most vivid of my dreams."
Agamaran froze in place. He said nothing for awhile before offering her his kind eyes—eyes he had not shared with her in a very long time. "It cannot be so, Haneth," he said slowly. "It—it has been..." He was at a loss of words.
Haeneth |It broke her heart to be allowed past the walls again, even for a glimpse of his tender spirit. "I only ask that you forgive me." She tried to round the fire between them, but her feet would not move. "Please."
Agamaran looked at her for a long while, saying nothing. His face grew softer before some strength returned to it. "There—there is nothing to forgive," he said finally and firmly, clearing his throat. "I was always a fool to think I could keep you to myself. Your heart...it truly belongs out here," he shrugged around them. "Out here in the wilds. Untamed, free."
Haeneth choked on the feeling that rose in her throat. He'd never meant to cage her, all those years ago, but every scowl, every rebuke, every show of disapproval for the passion she had for this life had driven a rift between them. "Out here is where I can love you. Here, where there's just us. You weren't supposed to keep me. We were both meant to be free, together."
Agamaran shook his head. "I do not know what I would do with freedom." He turned back around to leave. "I do not know if I wish to be free."
Haeneth 's words smoothed, sensing his retreat was nigh. "Please. Let me show you how."
Agamaran shook his head. "I cannot," he said at last. "I must keep...I must keep to my duty." He started off for a moment before stopping. "Farewell, Haneth," he said. "We will meet again."
Haeneth |It took all her strength to let him walk away. She held on to his last words, trusting them, and it was only that hope that kept her from crumpling. "Namárië, Agamaran." She watched him walk away and stood, staring at the space he had left behind.
