Éowyn's hand is tight around Galinda's wrist, and it does not seem like quite the time to say that she had not wanted to marry Éomer - had not wanted to marry anyone, for that matter; had not wanted to become a wife and mother, to bear child after child until she died or her courses dried up. And now, see - she would have been a widow, and her children threatened or even killed 'in the confusion', and she is certain that she would not have been able to flee as Éowyn has.
It takes a moment for her to catch her breath once the other woman lets go, and by the time she has, it has become clear she's made a misstep.
"I am sorry - it is only that everyone says it - " Galinda tries, guiltily aware that this is no excuse. But it is what everyone says, even her parents; the world speaks of Éowyn's husband, whether or not they choose to call him king or king consort.
She is unused to such strong emotions as Éowyn has, and is both fascinated and a little afraid. All her life has been a series of lessons in how to be courteous and bland, a perfect ornament in a great court, not someone who would ever show anger in public - or even in private, even if she were entirely alone, which she never is. Galinda swallows, and tries for a smile, for what else is she to do?
"Well," she says, after a long hesitation, "you can go back, and with an army, and I dare say none of them will do anything but admire you if you do." Because she is a woman, and women are feeble; she is a queen, fighting against a king, and queens do not win in that kind of fight; she does not hold the crown and the throne, and he does. But Éowyn has one advantage that most women, most queens, do not: Galinda's father, and the army he has sent to put her on her throne, even if they both know it will create a debt she will find it hard to repay.
"Will you stand up, and I will help you rinse off?" Galinda offers, not knowing what else to do or say, only that Éowyn must be clean by now and perhaps does not know that she can command whatever she likes. She bites at her lip and watches the other woman, ready to stand or reach out if it should seem Éowyn needs any help - but not about to make any assumptions about this fierce, broken woman she has been sent to care for and report back on.
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sforzinda
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Date: 2025-07-04 09:36 am (UTC)It takes a moment for her to catch her breath once the other woman lets go, and by the time she has, it has become clear she's made a misstep.
"I am sorry - it is only that everyone says it - " Galinda tries, guiltily aware that this is no excuse. But it is what everyone says, even her parents; the world speaks of Éowyn's husband, whether or not they choose to call him king or king consort.
She is unused to such strong emotions as Éowyn has, and is both fascinated and a little afraid. All her life has been a series of lessons in how to be courteous and bland, a perfect ornament in a great court, not someone who would ever show anger in public - or even in private, even if she were entirely alone, which she never is. Galinda swallows, and tries for a smile, for what else is she to do?
"Well," she says, after a long hesitation, "you can go back, and with an army, and I dare say none of them will do anything but admire you if you do." Because she is a woman, and women are feeble; she is a queen, fighting against a king, and queens do not win in that kind of fight; she does not hold the crown and the throne, and he does. But Éowyn has one advantage that most women, most queens, do not: Galinda's father, and the army he has sent to put her on her throne, even if they both know it will create a debt she will find it hard to repay.
"Will you stand up, and I will help you rinse off?" Galinda offers, not knowing what else to do or say, only that Éowyn must be clean by now and perhaps does not know that she can command whatever she likes. She bites at her lip and watches the other woman, ready to stand or reach out if it should seem Éowyn needs any help - but not about to make any assumptions about this fierce, broken woman she has been sent to care for and report back on.