Delioron watched from behind the balustrade as the rider approached along the Cape Road from the direction of Central Gondor. The rider stopped at the crossing where a private road forked from the Cape Road and descended down to Delioron’s yard. There was no signpost to tell who the house belonged to; the rider could have just stopped to admire Gondorian architecture and move along shortly. Instead, the rider glanced over their shoulder and spurred the horse on down the private road to Delioron’s house.
Delioron removed his dagger from his belt and put it down carefully on the base rail of the balustrade for an easy reach. Then he just stood out in the open, waiting for the rider to arrive.
Delioron had been alone in his house in the Cape of Belfalas for two weeks. He had not spoken to anyone barring one trip to Cathlond for supplies. In the evenings he sat alone in the house, watching flames roar in the huge stone fireplace and sipping chilled wine from a silver goblet. He spent his evenings in the unbroken silence of the house in front of the flames, feeling their warmth. He slept a lot. He slept so much that his nightmares were beginning to fade. Sometimes he would awake with no memory of having dreamed at all.
The rider stopped the horse in the yard, having spotted Delioron standing motionlessly by the stairs. The rider was quite tall and slender, cloaked in a dark green cloak and hood. The rider pulled the hood back off their head and shook it. An astonishingly long mane on red hair gushed out and cascaded down the cloak.
”You’re not making this easy”, Radawen said.
Delioron said nothing. He took the dagger from the base of the balustrade and sheathed it on his belt.
”It was not easy to find you”, Radawen said, dismounting her horse. Her hair was so long that she would have to be careful not to sit on it.
Delioron still said nothing.
”You told me to come see you here when we first met in Imloth Melui”, Radawen said in a teasing tone of voice. ”You weren’t kidding me, were you?” She was smiling now.
”I never believed you would actually come”, he said at last. ”I never thought I’d see you again.”
”Here I am”, said Radawen.
Delioron said nothing. He watched Radawen for a long time without saying a word.
That night they ate and drank a bottle of wine in silence. They sat on the bench in front of the fireplace for a long time, watching the flames until they became sleepy and the wine made them see faces and stories in the flames. They made love without explanations or apologies.
When Delioron woke up in the morning Radawen was already up. She was standing naked in front of the stained glass windows of the upstairs bedroom, basking in the sunlight. Delioron thought that she looked like a River-maiden, beautiful and ethereal.
”It’s a little like the house I grew up in, in Ost Anglebed”, she said, walked over to Delioron and took his hand. ”I think you might like it. It’s quiet over there, just like it’s quiet here. Maybe I will show it to you some day.”
Delioron put his finger on her lips.
I love you, Radawen, but please, never make me any promises, he thought. Promises cannot be kept.
