Arianna remembered the day she and Eomer had met as if it was yesterday. She'd been fleeing a Rohirrim prison; he the third Marshall of the mark had aided her jail break. When she'd been forced to leave middle earth and return to her time, she thought she'd die from the heartbreak, but then miraculously he'd appeared. She was remembering the first night they'd shared together; mostly the incredible sex.

"That's probably because we just had a repeat performance." Arianna thought slowly as her reverie came to an end and she absently reached out to wrap her arm around him. When she didn't feel him in the bed beside her, she opened her eyes and looked around the room slowly. It was still dark, not yet three o'clock in the morning according to the clock, and the room was bathed in shadows. Ari rolled over and gazed at the rugged figure of the man standing at her window staring blankly at the world outside. She wrapped the sheet around her naked body and went to stand beside him.

"Erik?" He'd taken the name Erik to blend better with her world. Eomer insisted she call him Erik even when alone to prevent a slip up in public. She looked up into his wonderful green gold eyes and saw how dark and troubled they were. "What is it? What's troubling you?"

"Merely dreams…nothing you should be concerned with." He said finally taking his gaze from the houses outside and looking down at her. "Nothing you should be concerned with….the dreams of a warrior who saw far too much."

"It's Middle Earth isn't it." Ari said as he wrapped her in his arms. It wasn't a question.

"Have you been crawling about in my head? What would make you say such a thing?"

"It is Middle Earth isn't it?"

"Aye."

"It calls to you, Eomer." She snuggled closer to him. "Just as it calls to me."

They'd taken to living together a few months after their return and had enjoyed every moment of it. Though they were engaged, they'd agreed not to get married until things were more stable for them. Erik was trying to buy a bit of land and get a stable and riding school established. Ari was helping in that endeavor. Her mother, who had been thrilled with the idea of engagement, was less than thrilled at the delays in the wedding.

"Would you two just elope already? I'd dearly like to be able to call Erik my son in law, but can't. I might as well, you two live together already."

A few days later Ari had a horrible nightmare. She and Eomer had been riding in a beautiful field, the blue sky above them was clear and the wind played gently with her hair. Eomer's horse spurred past her and headed straight for the lip of a deep canyon. Ari sat up and gasped for breath. Erik was still lying beside her completely unaware of what had scared her so. The next morning at breakfast Ari and Erik moved around their apartment in silence. Ari flung herself over the back of the big couch and landed in Erik's lap.

"Let's go visit Mom and Dad." She said wrapping her arms around his neck. "Let's go get the horses and go ride out on the ranch."

"And listen to your mother berate you on how we should be married already and be producing grand-children?"

"I can survive it. I just have this driving need to get out of the city. Besides, she's not evil incarnate. We battled Sauron and won, I'm thinking we can hold our own against my Mother. She's not as bad as him."

"You're right she's not as bad as him…..she's worse!" Ari pinched Eomer's side as she got up and stalked away. Eomer laughed. "Alright, we'll go! I too would like to leave the city."

It took them a week to prepare for the trip to the ranch in Oklahoma and the two of them leapt from the truck when they had pulled into the driveway. They took their horses straight from the trailer and brought them out to the barn with the rest of the Carver horses.

"I thought I'd heard the truck pull in." Ari's father said as he came into the barn. He hugged his daughter and shook hands with Eomer. "Nice trip?"

"It was alright." Ari answered as they made their way up to the house. "We're starved though."

"Well, you know your mother; she's cooking for an army. I think she hoped you'd have a little'un in toe."

"Is she ever going to stop harping on us about that?" Ari asked as they stepped up onto the porch?"

"Not until she has that baby in her arms to spoil and you know it."

Ari and Eomer stared at the ceiling above the bed in Ari's old bedroom. Something had brought them both out of their slumber and it wasn't the first night it had happened. They'd been at her parent's home for four days and this was the third time they'd been awakened. Eomer's voice broke the silence of the room.

"A man on a dark brown horse wearing a cloak of gray wool riding across the plains…"

"Dark trees and mountains beyond…he rides into the woods and disappears." Ari continued.

They faced one another in bed and almost in unison said "The horn of Gondor calls."

"What do you think it means?" Ari asked. "Why are both of us having the same dream?"

"I don't know…I do not understand it. We are no longer a part of that world."

"We'll always be a part of that world…maybe that's the problem."

The next day the two of them went out on a long ride. Ari's mother had given them the task of inspecting the far south fences.

"Whitmore's cattle keep busting through. Let me know if there are any gaps in the fence and we'll get out there in the truck to repair it." She gave Ari a sack lunch and sent her and Eomer on their way. It was approaching noon when they found themselves riding beside the old creek bed on the south side of the ranch. Ari spurred her horse on goading Eomer into a race. She turned her horse away from the uneven ground of the creek bank towards the rolling plains of the interior, Eomer's horse hot on her heels. He over took her and after turning his horse around a low bit of brush and took their race back towards the creek and raced along the high ridge. The land leveled out to their left and the creek cut a deeper channel, creating more of a canyon. Eomer and Ari were neck and neck when something caught Eomer's attention and he pulled his horse up. Ari stopped her horse as well and brought it back to where Eomer was looking.

"Did you see something near those trees?"

"No. Did you?"

"I must have been mistaken." They took it slightly slower, giving their horses time to breath, and continued on down the line to the top of the ridge of the creek. That's when Ari saw what Eomer had seen. A troop of about thirty men, all clad in green cloaks were riding at a good pace on the other side of the canyon. They disappeared in a low rise. Ari spurred her horse higher up the ridge on their side of the creek to get a better view. The emerald green standard bore the white horse of Rohan as well as something baring a strong resemblance to the horn of Gondor. She could hear the hooves of Eomer's horse behind her tearing up the earth. She could hear the sound of the hooves of the other riders as well and she could hear the gentle snap of the standard as she listened to the wind. Eomer's horse broke past hers and headed straight for the edge of the canyon, Ari's following suit without her bidding it.

She was experiencing De ja vu. This was the same field she and Eomer had ridden through in her dream. She shouted out to him as the horse he was riding leapt into the air. Hers followed suit and for a moment Ari lost all track of what was going on around her. There was a bright flash of green and silver light and an intense cold feeling enveloped Ari part way through the jump. It felt as if a hook had stabbed through her and the horse and she felt the beast beneath her suddenly turn in the air.

Ari opened her eyes slowly and looked around. First she moved just her eyes and then slowly turned her head from side to side. She wiggled her fingers and toes slowly and only then did she risk trying to sit up. Ari looked around the tent she found herself in and wondered if one of the Whitmore men had found her and decided it best not to move her. She stepped out of the tent and looked onto a scene she never thought she'd see again.