Disclaimer: All the characters and places belongs to Tolkien
The sunset light began to dance. Rohan's typical autumn afternoon colors was as delightful view just like always.
Somebody whose delicate shape was covered with a soft and bulky cloak sat in one of the wooden ornamented bench in Meduseld's palace. She was leaning against the wall.
The new Queen of Rohan was staring at the scene before her eyes. She put out her hood to feel the last weak sunlight rays.
Most of the sunsets she had ever seen in her life had been accompanied with a very different background: a deep blue sea landscape and the sound of ocean waves. But nowadays her new life's scenery was full of towering mountains with the wind whistling ceaselessly down in their valley.
It has been only a month since she had became the Queen of that passionate and long-suffering people, and since the day after her marriage she had spent her time trying to know them the best she could, from the royal council to the craftsmen's workshops. They treated her with the most respectful manner a ruler deserved, but she could not help noticing the subtle and curious looks from the inhabitants. She felt herself observed like some kind of a strange or even exotic creature maybe due her long dark and straight hair, although her sense of duty was stronger than the light concern she had begun to feel. Or maybe it was Morwen of Lossarnach's ghost's fault who still remained in the rohirrim's memory like a cold and distant Queen who earned the nickname of "Steelsheen"
Lost as she was in her own thoughts, she was startled by a sudden and warm touch in her fingers. She looked at him, her heart still racing, wondering how long must it take for her not to feel those butterflies in her stomach.
Éomer was smiling softly at her. He was catlike quiet in spite of having that great warrior's demeanor of his, and Lothíriel wondered why he was always so warm and enticing to throw herself to his strong arms and forget completely about the world.
"You came back before than expected, I thought you would return tomorrow at night," she said, nervous and trying to hold her feelings.
"Well, we were able to resolve the problems sooner than expected," the King answered.
Éomer had left Edoras with a small retinue a few days after his marriage with the princess of Dol Amroth. Although leaving his Queen in the Golden Palace was a really annoying thing, some important issues in the Eastfold needed to be solved quickly, and he thought it was a bad idea make her accompany him; his delicate wife had travelled recently on horseback the long distance between her homeland and Edoras, so he didn't want to cause discomfort to her. In addition the need to face the problem was huge; winter was coming and the losses of the war had been painful and dangerous in a hard way. He didn't want his people starve, so he wanted to see the situation by himself.
Éomer was used to be the Third Marshal of the Mark, leading his men and finding strategies. But he was not used to rule as a King nor to deal with so important issues. No one had taught him to be a good ruler so, deep inside, he felt insecure and, in addition, Théoden was now resting in peace. The weight of that load was very heavy, but no matter what, he wasn't going to give up easily.
But the very moment he looked at her face under the orange-yellow light was like his problems faded away.
He remembered the first time he met her, in Aragorn's coronation. It was so crowded he felt like running away from the pretentious Gondor's noble multitude. He was so used to another contexts that he felt completely out of place. And then, when he was finally overwhelmed by the situation, he decided to run to a balcony. But in the middle of his own desperation he didn't realize that there was somebody already in there, and it seemed like she hadn't noticed his presence neither. She was looking up the sky and drawing with her fingers in the air. And she was so absent minded and out of the celebration he felt intrigued by her.
"What are you doing?" he asked without thinking. "My apologies. I shouldn't had interrupted you," he declared feeling embarrassed. And he was ready to leave when she spoke.
"Please, my lord, don't worry about it. I'm just trying to find some sense in all that constellation patterns that appear in astronomy books," the grey eyed woman replied bowing. And she was blushing like roses in spring.
Since that very moment he decided to be prisoner of such enigmatic look of hers and a few weeks later he asked for her hand in marriage; and that was, by far, the most impulsive action he had ever made in his full life. But talking to her was too fascinating, and also the thought of another man courting her made Éomer terribly anxious. In addition, asking for her hand was the perfect chance to suppress his advisors whispers, who were always remembering him the importance of having an heir.
Leaving her behind just married had been really painful for him.
But now, there she was in a balcony like the first time, and the thought made him chuckle with a relief he had not felt in a long time.
She laughed as well and asked: "What are you laughing at?"
"Thanks for sharing this burden with me. Although future is uncertain and tough, I feel more confident with you by my side," the rohir declared.
And then, with no warning and before the young Queen could give him another reply, he kissed her. And the taste of her lips made him felt blessed again.
Apparently, balconies were always full of good times.
Thanks for reading! Well, this is my first time in the english fandom (I come from the fandom in spanish). I don't know why but Eomer and Lothiriel had become in my OTP, I really love the fanfics about them.
Please let me know what you think!
And special thanks to SyadWorld who has been my beta in the translation. This work ("Al ponerse el sol") was written originally in Spanish and I have published in this website too, some years ago.
Greetings from Chile!
