Part 112 of the Elfwine Chronicles. The Elfwine Chronicles are a series of one-shots built around the family group of Eomer, Lothiriel and Elfwine. The total number will depend on how many ideas I get for new vignettes.

A/N: Another one "out of nowhere".

Day's End

(June, 2 IV)

Wearily Eomer entered his bedchamber. It had been a very long day and he was grateful to finally see it end. In the low light of the candles illuminating the room, his eyes fell upon his wife, brushing out her lovely dark hair. She was smiling tenderly at him in the looking glass, and he moved to take the brush from her hand, beginning to make long, sure strokes through her black tresses. He loved brushing his wife's hair. There was something soothing to his soul about the act.

The first time he had done it, he had foolishly compared it to grooming his horse. Had she not loved him so much, and had a very good sense of humor, he might well have found himself sleeping in his study that night! In truth, he had not meant it to sound the way it came out. He was merely attempting to convince her his skill was adequate so as not to be disagreeable to her, thinking she needed persuading to allow him this privilege. But she had merely looked at him with laughing, trusting eyes and handed over the brush.

As the last of the tangles came loose, he laid the brush aside and twined his fingers in her hair, pressing a kiss to her head. Leisurely his hands stole free, and his arms slipped around her shoulders as he pressed her back against him. "I love you," he whispered, savoring this quiet moment, of which he felt there were far too few in his life.

Pulling slowly free of his embrace, she stood and moved around the bench to ease her arms around his waist, and turn her face up to gaze lovingly at him. "That is very good news, my lord, for I should be quite distraught to learn my feelings were not reciprocated!" she teased.

With a grin, he claimed her lips and they became lost to all else but one another for several long moments. As they broke apart, Lothiriel smiled and ran a single finger over his lower lip before saying with mock seriousness, "The king is in fine form tonight. I fear he may have his way with me this evening, and I shall not be able to resist!"

She gave him a wide-eyed, innocent look and he laughingly snugged her closer against his chest. "Indeed? That is an excellent development! I believe I had best leave a note for the servants not to disturb us in the morning. I, for one, will be far too exhausted to do more than lie abed on the morrow!"

As Lothiriel's laughter rang out, Eomer hefted his wife into his arms, favoring her with another kiss. Perhaps this day was not so bad after all. It was certainly ending in a pleasing fashion!

THE END

12/26/06

End note: It is best that you read the Elfwine Chronicles in the order they were written. The more of them that I wrote, the more likely I was to make reference to one of the previous ones and something that happened there. If you want to read them in order, go to the top of this page and click on my name (Deandra). That will take you to my profile page. Scroll down and you will find all the stories I have written. The Elfwine Chronicles are in order from bottom to top since ffn shows them in the order they were posted. A few were posted out of number order, but you can read them in posting order or number order since those few won't be affected in the story content.