It's never too late

by Estel la Rodeuse

This drabble (220 words) was prompted by 'it's not too late'. It captures a moment between Eomer and Lothíriel when Rohan and Gondor are at war after the war of the ring. It's obviously slightly alternate universe. We catch them after a remark Eomer may have made about Lothíriel's father who is now Rohan's enemy alongside any other Gondorian.

Quiet footsteps interrupted Eomer's angry musings. His wife was standing in front of him with a defiant stance:

"I cannot stay here," Eomer crossed his arms in front of him:

"Well then, I can give you an escort!"

She didn't move. Cold silence had never been their province. They never chose flight over fight. They would argue until one of them forgave or begged for mercy; but not today.

Perhaps, they were both intoxicated by the violence and confusion of this never ending war within the kingdoms of men. Lothíriel studied his eyes trying to find remorse. He lowered his gaze and his arms slackened to his side. She spoke again with a softer voice :

"He's my father, Eomer."

He nodded as his armor crumbled: the woman in front of him was his faithful wife, not a traitorous ally.

Gondor and Rohan might have broken their troth but not Eomer of Rohan and Lothíriel of Dol Amroth.

He took a step towards her as she cradled gently his face with her hands and she murmured:

"I can never leave you but..." he cut her off as they both knew that the shadow of their kith and kin would always be hovering:

"I'm sorry min heorte(1)," she kissed his forehead and his lips as she breathed, "I forgive you... Come back to bed."

Tomorrow the King of Rohan would go back to battle against Gondor but tonight he would find solace in the arms of his Gondorian Queen.

---

(1) my heart in Old English and Rohirric.

Eomer and Lothíriel are one of my favorite couple in The Lord of the Rings. It's been a while since I've thought about them but I was going through an Eomer phase and then I decided to challenge myself to a drabble. It's not 100 words long because in the end, I thought it wasn't that important. My writing prompt was 'It's not too late'.

For this drabble, I've imagined a AU vision of Middle-Earth after the war of the ring. I was in a cynical mood and was thinking that it wouldn't be surprising indeed if after defeating their common Ennemy,Rohan and Gondor, like all human kingdoms, would end up fighting each other. And then what would happen to Eomer and Lothíriel? I might use it as a starting point for a full fanfic.

Anyways, thanks for reading!