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Summary:After losing his wife two years ago, lonely Beregond has found the ideal wife in Prisca, an idependent woman who is trying to break free from the restricting bonds her father and grandmother have set for her.
After returning to Minas Tirith from a ten-year stay in Dale, Prisca thinks things have changed after she is warmly welcomed home by her cold father and ambitious grandmother, but when she reveals how an accomplished lady she has become, her dreams of being on her own, and the large amount of money she had inheirited from her dead mother, her father and grandmother instantly squelch her dreams, withold her money, and force her to marry a pompous officer she hates, but she rebels against their plans when she meets Beregond, but can their love stand strong when the city is under seige?
Minas Tirith
September, 3018
It was a cold, rainy, and foggy morning in Minas Tirith. The fog was thick and heavy, like a warm wool cloak, wrapping the city and its surroundings in its warm embrace. But it was so thick, that the boats along the Anduin had to drop anchor or else face a collision. Several passangers on the Breland were complaining to the Captain, they were eager to be home after a long month at sea. Prisca, the Lord of the House of Healing daughter, didn't mind it. She lived for foggy mornings and she was glad of the delay, it had been ten years since she had seen her father and grandmother.
Ten years ago, her young, naive, and unhappy mother ran off with a smooth talking Ranger of the North, leaving her to her morose father and priggish grandmother, who both constantly blamed poor Prisca for the episode while trying to cover up the embarassment, with some sucess. In truth, Char, the house keeper, had set it up, believeing that the Mrs. of the Houses of Healing deserved better then a morose,depressing man who discussed graphic surgery procedures at supper. However, the incident was quite tramatic for her father since he had loved his young wife dearly and he became more darker, blaming Prisca everyday and beating her for it. Grandmother was no help either, she just sat by the fireplace and watched, cautioning her son to be easy with the girl as he whipped her for the smallest things from looking at him funny to dropping a spoon on the floor.
Salvation came two months later on Prisca's ninth birthday when a letter from her mother came, demanding an anullment and her belongings. Her father replied by sending a rather nasty letter, granting the annulment, her things, and Prisca. "You belong to your mother now, may she see you as a hateful reminder of our short days together." He harshly spoke as they said good byes on the deck of a ship that was to carry her to Dale. Her grandmother, however, offered a small strand of hope. "It'll only be a little while Prisca. Papa and I need some time to recover. Things will change...you'll see." That was the last she saw of them for a long time.
Prisca stood on the deck, slowly opening her eyes as she swallowed the last of the bitter memory. She drew the heavy, worn cloak tighter around her night gown and pulled a letter from one of its pockets. It was a short message from Granmother, written in July, it had come in August and it told Prisca she was being a burden to her relatives and it was time to come home. No I love yous, no news, just a simple, cold paragraph. She had been unwilling and reluctant to go, but Aunt Benign had insisted, she needed to go, and if she still felt unhappy she was more then welcome to come back.
Prisca clenched the letter as she trodded through the memories. She responded two days before she left that she was coming home on the ship, Breland in a month. She hoped that they had recieved it in time and they would be at the berth waiting. She ripped the letter and let it fall overboard. She smiled, feeling a little peace as she watched the pieces float helplessy on the water...
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Prisca lay on the brass bed in her cabin, staring at the wood ceiling, unable to sleep. The Captain, who was incharge of her, had sent her down her cabin after giving her one of his famous "You'll get a cold wearing a that" lecture after he caught her wandering the deck. She sighed out of boredom and decided that breakfast was more exciting then lying on a bed and thinking of nothing,
She got up, dug through her trunks and found a teal overdress with black flowers. Too lazy to change, she put it on over her night gown and went to breakfast, armed with a romance book. The dining room was a long room with blue tapestries and a chandlier over head. The tables were long, easily accomodating all of the passengers. Usually full, today there were only twenty people, each scattered at different tables, some complaining of the delay, others discussing what next after they disembarked.
Prisca found an empty table and sat down, engrossed in her novel, only looking up when the cook came and asked what she wanted for breakfast and delivering her hot oatmeal and corn muffin, accompianed with a steaming cup of coffee drowned in cream. She ate while reading, carefully avoiding getting food or drink on the pages. It was a good novel, a hopeless romance about an elf and a human during the last days of Numenor. It was a good read and she had read it a hundred times.
"So, this is how Miss Prisca spends her morning, food and a good book for company." Prisca tore away from her book and smiled at the shorty, gap tooth girl who sat before her. "It's true, Nel." She replied with a wry smile. Nor laughed and stole Prisca's corn muffin. Nor was tall and fat with laughing green eyes, jet black hair, a long nose, and large mouth that always was smiling or laughing. Despite her ugly looks, she was a nice person...one of those people who would go out of their way to help you. She was from Dale, an orphan, and was heading to Minas Tirith for a better life. Unlike Prisca, who came from a wealthy family, she was poor, having only a small fortune, she had spent most of it on the voyage. Her gown was plain, a rough brown one, made out of itchy wool, but despite that, she was happy.
They sat in silence throughout the rest of breakfast and then went to Prisca's cabin to pack. It was a large cabin, it contained a brass bed, two night stands, a small sitting area, a basin for washing up in, a vanity with a comfy chair, and a dressing screen. Prisca's three trunks sat by the unmade bed, colthes spilling out. She chose a white undergown and over it a sky blue overdressand a silver sash, and went behind the dressing screen to change. Nor folded colthes put them in the largest trunk, often stopping and feeling the soft velvety skirts or silk vests.
"You're lucky to have a cabin to yourself, I have to share with Widow Hyde." Nor complained, tossing a pair of slippers into the trunk. "It can't be that bad, sharing." Prisca asked, peering over the dressing screen. "It is! You can't read into the morning or make a lot of noise because the Widow will complain, plus she smells funny...like feet."
Prisca laughed as she emerged from the dressing screen, tying the silver sash. She proceeded to her vanity and brushed her hair, putting it up into a hasty bun, and adorning it with a large hair ornament depicting a scene of the white tree. She put on her mother's gaudy garnet heart-shaped necklace with the pearl and diamond dangling from the heart's tip. The finishing touch was a pair of antique topaz earrings from her grandmother. Prisca stepped back and admired her refelction in the mirror and began to help Nor pack by grabbing the three jewelry and comb boxes that lay scattered on the vanity and put them in a small case. When they were finished, they decided to go up on deck to see if the fog had cleared up any.
"I hope it has cleared. I'm tired of being on water. I want to be on land agan." Prisca said as she grabbed her black wool coat from the bed. Nor nodded in agreement and put on her leather coat, a cast off from her uncle who had been a ranger before he was killed by a bear.
The fog had cleared to the point of visibilty and the Captain announced they would pull up anchor and sail to the small man-made harbor. A boat-cart would take the passengers from the berth, across the Pelennor Fields, then to thier destinations in the White City. They would dock in an hour. Prisca smiled, feeling a little relieved and frightened. It had been ten years since she had been home. Would her father and grandmother still be the same or different?
"What awaits for you in the White City?" Nor asked thoughtfully, gazing to far-away mountains. "I go home, and wait." Prisca replied, turning away from the city. 'Wait for what? Don't you have dreams.?" "I don't know. I guess wait for a man to come and take me away." "Please! I have heard that too many times! And your family, do they know if you're coming.?"
"No, but I can't wait to see thier faces." Prisca said eagerly, her eyes brightened. "What awaits you when you get off?" She asked Nor. "First, I'm going to the Rose and Soldier on the third level, then find a job. I heard the Boy's House on Lampwright's street needs help, and if not, maybe the Houses of Healing, could you ask your father about me and a job?" Prisca nodded. Nor continued on,"Then I'll find myself a flat and when the whole business with Sauron is over, I plan to move to Ithlien and farm...by myself, I shall not marry." Nor's plan was daring to Prisca and she quickly changed her plans to match Nors. The idea of liviing on your own and having your own money attracted her, she had always lived according to other people's rules and had depended on them to support her, but living on your own meant being your own mistriss. "Yes, that's what I'll do." She whispered and looked to the White City, eagerly awaiting it's challenges.
_________________  Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future.
It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step Joni Erickson Tada
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