Earl of the Dunmarch, a border holding in the Aldmark.

Aldhelm is the kind of minor lord that the fallen kingdom produces in abundance: a man of real local authority and limited broader power, holding a march territory in the 

 through a combination of inherited title, personal will, and the absence of anyone stronger pressing his claim. The Dunmarch sits on uncertain ground, border country that requires tending, and an earl who knows it.

He is not without resources or ambition. His betrothal to 

 was a calculated move, an alliance with one of the southern baronies that would have strengthened his position on two fronts. When she vanished the night before the wedding, he did not wait for his watch to investigate, he put coin in front of a party of adventurers and sent them north into the 

 without hesitation. Whether that speaks to pragmatism, genuine feeling for his bride-to-be, or simply the refusal of a political investment to go to waste is difficult to say.

Diera was recovered. The wedding proceeded. Aldhelm now has a wife who came back from a 

's barrow with something unspoken behind her eyes, and a debt of sorts to the adventurers who made it possible.