Found:
1 teenaged boy.
Life has been very strange of late.
Between jaunts to local ruins and time spent amongst the scholars learning how to read Old Arnorian, I'd been returning to Eordion. It's odd just how comfortable I had become with him and within his home. I was actually enjoying having a place, and a person, to go back to after digs. To make it all the better, he was far more understanding than any other man would have been in his place. He knew my foibles and accepted them, he didn't try to keep me bound in place with routines or responsibilities and never asked more of me than I was willing to give. My time with him was as close to perfect as I have ever known.
Alas, all good things must come to an end.
And so it happened. A business venture for him that may take him from Eriador for a year or more, and my refusal to accompany him to his destination resulted in an argument. Words were said in the heat of the moment, ones that can't be unsaid... at least, not if we never speak again, which I sorely suspect will be the case. I returned in the early hours of the morning to find the bed empty, his bags and horse gone. He surely can't expect me to follow, so I can only conclude that he would rather be done with me.
Rohan. Is there nothing you will not take from me if given the chance? Beautiful on the surface, but poison beneath the soil. To the depths with you, Sun Lands, and with him if he thinks I'll relent.
I still have the key to the house, but I'll not use it. What's the purpose in having access to a bed when it lies cold? True, I could warm it with the body of another, but that just seems... wrong somehow. The house itself, devoid of his presence, feels ominous, oppressive. An irrational part of me feels that if I were to stay there alone, the walls might close in around me, trapping me within. Were I of a more introspective nature, I might theorize that such ridiculous notions stem from an innate fear of commitment. Luckily, I'm not that way inclined!
I wish I could say that the digs I have been on over the past weeks were at all fruitful, but the ruins I have visited have largely been picked clean. This would be a depressing time were I more given to downbeat emotions.
There has been a light in it all, however. Aidennan. A youngster, barely entering manhood. I joined a game of hide and seek with him a few days past. Who knew that such games could actually be fun? He's lightened my heart considerably and with naught more than a cheeky grin and a child's view of the world. I've arranged reading lessons for him that he might finally communicate properly with Nelly, a young mute girl whom he calls a friend, but I don't think that's enough. I'm working on something else, something beyond mere ink and some hot meals.
I need to find Aevalyn. She might be able to help.
