Disclaimer: The Lord of the Rings, all characters, places, and related terms are the sole property of J. R. R. Tolkien's estate and New Line Cinema.
Dedicated: To Tommyginger.
Her Hope in the Darkness
"Stay…"
Eowyn had no place to call home, not anymore, wandering from place to place, exiled. The few times she felt like she was settling down somewhere, always something happened and she was driven on her way, the Wormtongue's curse nipping at her heels.
None knew her identity, and few what she was now. (Would her nurse and uncle recognize her, the eight-year-old child banished almost fifteen years ago – blamed for the loss of the king's daughter?) She had learned to survive on her own, loneliness her only constant companion as evil threatened to consume Middle-Earth.
"Stay."
It was something she'd never been offered. Food, shelter, and assistance, yes, yet always with the knowledge she would be moving on. But this… "I would have you stay."
It was five months since she had snuck into the ball to seek out Gandalf. And before Eowyn could slip away after failing in her search, however, a hand was extended to her, she was requested to dance. And her world turned upside down.
"Stay here. With me."
Those unexpected words had not left her since that night, despite her efforts to forget them. They clawed gently at her heart, wiggled under her skin, wrapped around her like an embrace. Boromir's words and mixture of wonderment, desperate hope, and tenderness in his face during those last moments before she fled down the stairs was a fate Eowyn never anticipated would be open to her.
But it was so long ago. Surely he had forgotten all about her by now.
"Hurry, lads!"
The shout shattered Eowyn's thoughts. Her heart started racing. It is time. Quickly she finished strapping on her sword and tugged firmly on the helmet that completely covered her face except for her eyes. She walked with the other soldiers out of the armory.
"I would have you stay here. With me."
Instead of pushing away the memory she held on to it, let it wash over her. Who could say what would happen after tonight: if Middle-Earth became covered in gloom and despair, whether Eowyn lived through the upcoming battle. As she waited for this fierce conflict to finally come to an end, Boromir would be her hope in the darkness: to see him again, that he remembered her.
THE END