With one slam of the door behind him, he was off with his men to fight the newest battle that he himself as King no longer could ignore. He heard the vase from their bedroom table crash against the door, while she screamed at him in a language he never could dream of beginning to understand let alone learn. All he knew was that he was leaving, and the last thing he wanted was a quarrel with her. The anger against her burned in his chest as he walked with angry stomping steps. he tried to shake it away but was enraged further when all the Ladies of the Court, and the wives of the men entered to bid them all a safe, short battle, and fast return.

"My Lord, where is the Queen?" one of Ladies asked with a worried look.

"She has fallen ill after the news, and had not the strength to leave her room." Eomer replied trying not to sound too angry.

"Shall I go to her my King?" She asked worried. Eomer looked at her and shook his head with a large drawn out sigh. He slowly moved to the task at hand, ordering for the Eoreds to be rallied, and plans to be sent out to their Marshals.

"She will come out," he thought, "she must save for the people to see her bid us farewell?" However his heart knew better, and the Queen he wed but four months ago would hold fast and not come. Her stubbornness seemed to be something from legend once anger set in.

The men he ordered to rally troops and horses did his bidding within minutes of his call while Elfhelm brought forth Firefoot for him which he leaped on.

"She will not even come out to bid you farewell will she?" Elfhelm whispered under his breath.

"No," Eomer replied looking him straight in the eye, "that demon wouldn't dream of doing something that considerate."

Elfhelm looked at him with a grin, "Another war?"

Eomer nodded his head "It is not funny. She doesn't understand the state of things, her wishes and demands don't meet the everyday peoples needs. She wants everything for her own selfishness."

Elfhelm shrugged his shoulders "Perhaps?" was all he said till he pushed his horse forward while the rest of the Eoreds followed behind them and the other Marshals. As they reached the edge of Edoras, Eomer felt a strange urge to turn back to his home perched atop the highest hill. Standing there on the up most steps in front of the the great Golden Halls stood a small figure dresses in a blood red dress with a gold glittering on her head. She seemed to have felt his gaze, and then immediately turned, and reentered through the doors. He said nothing of it to Elfhelm as it would only cause more jeering about his failure of a suggested marriage.

For three weeks they were away fighting to keep their borders safe against the raiding bands of Orcs, and Uruki that remained loyal to the vanquished Dark Lord. Rain meet them, blood, death, and cold winds followed. Eomer longed for the safety and warmth of his home even if that meant seeing his tiny terror of a wife.

On the last night of the journey when camp had been made he and his closest Marshals sat around the fireside exchanging stories of things they longed to return home to. It had been far too long since they all had meetup in this fashion, it had unfortunately stopped once he became King. They laughed and boastfully spoke of wives, and lovers. However Eomer sat quietly saying nothing as he ate his dinner.

"My Lord Eomer! Now that we are in an informal setting," His third in command spoke, "tell us... How does the Queen fare?" Eomer glared for a moment, and bowed his head causing roars of laughter from the men "Clearly by the look on your face, bachelorhood seemed to have fared much better!" They all laughed at Eomer's annoyance.

"She can not be all bad at least she has good looks my King!" another one of the Marshals spoke out hoping to comfort his friend and King. "You have not broken her though? For such a tiny thing she seems a hard mare to tame?" Again they all, burst into laughter. One of the biggest jokes for weeks before his wedding was that due to her tiny stature Eomer would break her in two.

"No," Eomer said softly, "She is just hard to understand, she is not like the Ladies of these lands, or any I've met actually."

"In what way?" Elfhelm replied to his Lords words, as though trying to understand what Eomer felt about her.

"She is too well read in many things I've never heard of, and will never understand." Eomer spoke rising from his seat and set off in a frustrated pace back and forth in the firelight. "When Faramir was here for the wedding they spoke of things that seemed to be of a different language yet I could hear the words perfectly." he added running his fingers through his dirty gold hair as he continued to walk, "Coffins always with these coffins, names of gods and people I have never heard of! Talking about book after book about an ancient people from a far of desert land whom are all dead now, or ancestors to Haradrim they suppose? They talk of peoples behavior, and customs! Always with a book to her nose with such titles with phrases I couldn't even explain, because I don't understand them! She is frustrating! I couldn't begin to tell you of how she is! She leaves piles of parchment all over the study with piles of books, which lead from there to our bedroom. She screams at me when I move or touch anything, I have no free reign of my own home! She seems not one bit interested about Rohan, she looks at us in my opinion as backwards people who muck around in mud with horses! I do not know why I agreed to this marriage? I know she hates it here, she leaves the Great Hall all day to where I don't know? Anytime I ask she says "You wouldn't understand." and walks off! She comes and goes with piles of books in her bags, and anytime I ask one of the Ladies at Court where the Queen goes off to everyday they lie, and say they don't know? I know some of them go with her... I know they do! Do you know what she asked me today before I was told about this recent raid!? Before any of the men could answer he continued, "A LIBRARY! She wanted a LIBRARY! I became so infuriated that I didn't give her a chance to explain already knowing her reasons why she would want it! I know she sent Fairamir a letter asking him to have copies of books sent here from all over the Gondorian Libraries! Our country in such a state! People all over our lands on the brink of starvation, and she wants a LIBRAY! I told her that she needed to keep her selfish desires to herself, and that her request was that of a spoiled unthinking woman!" He added as he pointed and talked loudly with his hands.

The men listened quietly to him slightly sympathetic to the Lady they addressed as Queen Lothriel. She was indeed a unique young woman with long dark unruly curling hair, golden almond shaped eyes, and a tiny figure that was always dwarfed by their King, comically so. She also did indeed talk obsessively about these ancient people and these coffins of which he complained about, and many other strange and interesting things. Elfhelm even once stopped to listen to her, and she even showed him one of the books that contained a few images and descriptions of them. He found them to be not just beautiful and interesting, but he also enjoyed hearing the Queen tell him about them. He knew how happy they made her when he remembered the spark in her eyes, and the smiles when she talked about them and the people they belonged to. He suddenly wished Eomer would take a moment out of his day to truly listen to her. If he did he too would grow to truly love her as they all did. He humored Eomer a bit longer and once he was done he looked at his dearest friend and smiled.

"WHAT?" Eomer said loudly in anger.

"I know why she's been gone all day, and why she asked you about the Library." Elfhelm whispered as he rose up and pulled Eomer off to the side and led him off to his tent. Once safely inside he sat Eomer down poured him a large goblet of ale and one for himself. Eomer looked at him pleadingly for answers, but he merely grinned and drank down his ale.

"Well!" Eomer said "What has she been up to?"

"This time Eomer you should take a page from the Queens book, and search in the libraries of people in Edoras for your questions." Elfhelm replied. "Or you could simply ask her?"

Eomer glared at him and spoke, "As King of Rohan you will follow suite to my request, and tell me what my wife has been up to!"

"As KING?!" Elfhelm replied with a laugh," As your friend... I shall not humor you! All I will say is she had good reason to ask that of you for her selfish desires as you called it."

"Just tell me one thing." Eomer pleadingly asked, "I did I make a mistake marrying her?"

"All I will tell you is that, I know in my warrior's heart... You did not make a mistake." Elfhelm replied looking Eomer in the eyes in a way he knew he was not telling him a lie. "We ride for Edoras in the morning my lord, perhaps you shall find your answers by night fall?"

Eomer sighed and drank down his gobblet "OR, you could just tell me now!"

Elfhelm looked at him and smiled and simply stated "Eomer... if you will not take the chance to know your wife, then you do not deserve her."

"She is indeed a demon of Mordor if she made you say that just now!" Eomer replied.

"She is not, nor will she ever be a demon of any lands. She is much too beautiful to be one, and her heart is pure, even if you know it or not." Elfhelm retorted, "Eomer, all I will tell you is she loves children and wishes to have them rich or poor have every opportunity to advance themselves. That is all I will say." Eomer looked at his dear friend and said nothing more of the subject. "Speaking of children," Elfhelm added, "how does the marital bed of the King fare?"

Eomer sighed extremely loud this time, "Except for the disaster of a wedding night, there is no such relationship when it comes to carnal or reproductive matters."

"Another reason why you've been in a terrible mood." Elfhelm laughed and punched him in the arm, as Eomer gave him a dirty look. "Yes that's it also, I would feel the same way if I too had a young beautiful new wife and was not able to", "DO NOT, remind me of my shortcomings with my wife." Eomer interrupted him with a sideways glance, he sighed again and topped it off with a moan of frustration.

"How is it possible that Eomer, son of Eomund who wooed, and bed his fare share of the ladies of Rohan and elsewhere is unable to woo and bed a maiden of Dol Amroth more than once? We both know that night does not count!" Elfhelm spoke this time without a single tease in his voice.

"She is not like the other maidens! She makes me feel like a barbarian oaf!" Eomer truthfully replied "I don't know, I'm surprised I haven't done what most men do in this situation?"

"You must like her more than you may know yourself, if you haven't done that Eomer." Elfhelm commented, as he clasped his shoulder affectionately.

"I suppose I do, however... I still think she's a demon from Mordor." Eomer laughed while Elfhelm chuckled.

"I think its time we turned in, we have a long ride ahead of us tomorrow my King." Elfhelm suggested as he rose from the chair in front of his friend and King.

"You are right, it will be a long day." Eomer said quietly as all sorts of ideas began to rush into his head. Elfhelm left shortly after hoping that he put some hope into the young king.

That night Eomer was restless and hardly slept, his dreams were troubled by all that he and the men spoke of, but especially the conversation he had with Elfhelm. The unwelcome shake of his shoulder from his Paige at dawn solidified the thoughts that were place into his mind from the night before. The entire ride back to Edoras the young King remained silent compared to the joyous revelry around him he heard from his men. They all spoke of children they missed, wives, and lovers they longed to see, feel, touch, and smell. He felt distant when it came to those things, but felt a bit better once he thought of the feast that would be held in their honor when they returned. He knew that Lothriel would have the feast prepared for them at sundown, he was sure of it since it was a part of the Rohirrim culture, and she learned of that well, just not much anything else. He just wished that she took to his people the same way, but then he thought of what Elfhelm said, then figured that he might have been slightly wrong about her.

"My lord Eomer King!" the scout ahead of the company shouted "Edoras flies the banners welcoming us home!"