i literally have no idea what i'm doing

[valoris]

You seek to control me like a puppet. To allow my fate to be determined simply by your whims.

I will not be bound by this cage. Nor any other.

Comments

[ninefingered]

And what of destiny, Lady Éowyn?

[valoris]

Destiny is hardly decided by whim.

[No matter what, there is one thing above all about this scenario that she cannot stand for. She watched as her uncle declined, his mind poisoned by the controlling influence of Saruman. Her mind will not be poisoned by whatever witchcraft this invisible stranger can conjure.]

[needsnoking]

[Boromir inclines his head, and he speaks mildly:]

'Tis only a cage if you make it so, my Lady.

[valoris]

[Éowyn, of course, has never met the eldest son of Denethor II. He was dead long before Rohan answered Gondor's call for aid. Before, even, Gandalf released Théoden from Saruman's hold. So there's no specific recognition here.]

There is nothing else to see in it, my lord.

[ihearyouthink]

Good for you, miss. You know how to speak your mind.

[valoris]

It is the only weapon I have.

[One thing is clear. This battle will not be won by a sword.]

[ihearyouthink]

The mind can be the most powerful weapon out there. From it all other weapons have sprung.

[therangerking]

Will you not make this cage your own, my lady, as you once had?

[valoris]

[Aragorn. How it lightens her heart to see this face. But there are darker matters at hand.]

I will fight before the bars set in around me.

[therangerking]

[ 'Tis been long since he has seen her face, and Aragorn gives her a smile. Then, softly: ]

'Tis only a cage if there is much that you have left behind, and there are no familiar faces around you.

[tiriel]

[ He understands that sentiment; the feeling of ones' fate being swept from them. But time has taught him that it is not entirely the case. ]

Fate is not determined only by whence one goes or what one does. We still have much to say where it is to do with our own fates.

But if you cease moving forward and if you stop fighting then it would become very much so like a cage.

[valoris]

[It is a notion that terrifies her in a way that nothing has for quite some time. That nothing is her own. That this enemy, this enemy that seeks to take everything from her, cannot be seen. She cannot slay it with her sword.]

I will never stop fighting. [A pause] But I can only hope that my pleas will not fall upon deaf ears.

[theleadercansingbass]

A noble conviction.

Though I find myself looking forward to having someone to fight over fate's fickle ways.

[valoris]

[To fight. That is what she has always wanted, is it not? A chance for valor. But this... this is not what she wanted.]

It is an enemy that is unseen. [Something twitches in her face that betrays her discontent.] We cannot fight it in the ways we know.

[theleadercansingbass]

No battle ever goes as you imagine it. We will find ways, if we must.

[bofur]

Beggin' yer pardon, m'lady, but no one such as yerself should ever befall such a horrid fate.

[valoris]

[There's just a touch of a reminder she sees in this stranger. That of a friend. Gimli. A small smile briefly touches her lips before fading once more.]

It would seem that others do not agree.

[bofur]

[ In a sudden act of heroism, he raises his mattock and stands at the ready for a battle not quite at his feet. ]

Then, together, we shall see to it that you are the keeper of another fate, m'lady! One befitting of both your beauty and your wisdom. [ Ever the charmer, our Bofur. ]

[meant]

A cage can protect as well as entrap, can it not?

( she thinks she knows a little bit about being caged; a pretty little bird with stupid songs in her head, singing them all day long. she was caged at king's landing, her fate decided by other players of this game of politics; now the eyrie is both a cage and an isolation, a protection.

alayne's tone makes it clear: no one gets to choose what happens to them, especially not women, and not noblewomen ( she looks like a noble, alayne is a bastard who still remembers ). learning how to move within the confines provided to you is the only option. )

[dwarvling]

[Kili is so young and so unused to beautiful humans. All he had seen before the journey were traders who came down to the Blue Mountains, and none were Ladies. So excuse the staring.]

Who is holding you captive, my lady? It seems you need the strength of a dwarf to free you!

[tocarry]

Oh, well, I'm sure if you don't wish to be bound, then you won't have to be. I reckon it's amazing how we can choose our own paths.