Heareda

Over fifteen years before the cousins met at Helm's Deep once more ... 

He had found her house for the first time on a summer night many years ago. He had been doubled over by the doorframe, white hands trembling; she hardly recognized him at first.

He had barely slipped over the wall when he saw her. In the long shadows of evening, it was easy to hide; the guards were changing shifts and the bleary-eyed afternoon watch stood no chance of finding his silhouette in the shade. Yet her eyes cut through the gloaming to meet his, the set of her mouth drawn tight and thin.