The long wait

Chapter 1

March 18th, Third Age

Halbarad is resting calmly in his private room in the Gondorian wing of the Houses of Healing and is trying to sleep a bit. He doesn't have anything else to do because the warden and his cousin have forbidden him from leaving his bed without aid. This still annoys him greatly as he wants to be out in the air and not stuck in this room. Halbarad knows that he wants to see what is happening for as much as he will be able to see from Minas Tirith. He has never been able to cope well with having no influence over important things nor be able to watch them. It makes him feel useless. The only thing he can do now is resting and sleeping as there is nothing for him to occupy himself with besides brooding. The visits from Aphadon Halbarad greatly enjoys as it takes his mind of any possible brooding. Aphadon is a friend from his youth and also a captain. He has told him not to brood and to take all rest he can while he has the time for it. That way Halbarad will be up and about earlier. When Aphadon comes to visit Halbarad can talk to someone about what is on his mind. This is really refreshing as it calms him down from worrying.

Just as Halbarad is about to fall asleep he hears the door to his room opening and turns to look to see who is coming to visit him. He is surprised to see that it is the warden, master Neston. Halbarad learned his name during one of the warden's previous visits. It still surprises him that the warden himself checks on him. Halbarad believes that Neston has enough work to do and doesn't need to take on more work when one of the other healers is more than capable of doing it. When he mentioned it to Neston Halbarad got an annoyed reaction. Master Neston told him that he always personally checks on the important patients in the houses of healing. After a short discussion, Halbarad admitted defeat for it became clear to him that he wouldn't be able to win. Ever since he has allowed master Neston to check on his wounds.

"Good morning, my lord. Did you rest well tonight?" Master Neston asks with an expected look on his face.

"I had a good night and thus rested well. In fact, I was trying to sleep a bit more when you came in." Halbarad tells master Neston. He gave this answer for he could tell that master Neston expected such an answer from him.

"That is a good thing, my lord. I do hope you will be able to rest a bit after I have checked on your wound." Master Neston says while moving closer to the bed Halbarad is lying in. He doesn't show any particular reaction to the reaction he got on his question. Master Neston takes his time to carefully check the wound. He doesn't want to miss anything that could cause troubles in the future. Once master Neston is satisfied that he has seen everything he needs to see he turns back to Halbarad and says.

"My lord, your wound is healing well. I believe that only a scar will be left by this wound once it is fully healed."

"That is good to hear. Does that mean that I can finally leave this room?" Halbarad asks hopefully. If he is honest with himself than he has had enough of spending so much time inside. He feels that urgently needs to spend time outside or he will lose his mind. He knows that he never liked spending much time inside buildings unless it is considered necessary. Even then he takes every opportunity he can find to leave the building and spend some time outside.

"No, my lord. You need to rest for another two days. Afterward, you can go outside for a short time if you wish to do so. You can't be outside for long in the beginning as you need to build up strength again. You need to slowly increase the time you spend outside. That way you won't get a setback." Master Neston explains and waits for an answer from his patient.

"Thank you, master Neston. It greatly eases my heart to know that I soon will be able to go outside. I will, of course, take someone with me the first few days that I go outside." Halbarad tells the warden in an attempt to pacify him.