Disclaimer: The characters, events and places you recognize are copyright to J.R.R. Tolkien, his estate and heirs, Peter Jackson, New Line Cinema, and their licensees. Any characters, events or places you don't recognize are my own creation and copyrighted to me.

Thank you to Rhyselle for beta-reading and the good advice.

A Hidden Hope – Chapter Three

By Dancingkatz

Late February T.A. 3019 - Edoras – Theodred's Bedroom

Eowyn rubbed a weary arm across her eyes and sighed. It had been nearly a day since Eomer had brought Theodred from the Westfold and she hadn't slept. She was no healer but all the women of the Mark learned how to care for the injured. She knew enough to clean and dress a wound and to use such simples as willow tea or elm bark but little more.

With the Healer positive that there was nothing to be done save to await the prince's last breath, it fell to Eowyn to try to turn Theodred's steps away from Bema's door.

She had no choice. Her uncle was under Grima's evil spell of words and as good as dead to her. Her brother had been banished for treason. Theodred was all the family she had left.

She dared not hope too much, but the fact that her cousin had lasted this long with such a wound and not succumbed to fever was a good sign.

"Shall I sing for you, cousin? I haven't the gift of a bard but I can at least carry a tune." She slipped her hand in the one that lay so slack upon the coverlet, and continued, "Shall I sing to you of Eorl and his Lady?"

It had to be her imagination.

The slack fingers had tightened the slightest bit around her hand.

"Oh, Theo! Can you hear me?"

His eyes didn't open, nor did he turn his head, but his calloused fingers squeezed hers once again.

Thank Bema! Tears that she'd been holding back now fell from Eowyn's eyes. "You'll have to help me remember all the words."

"Gold was the sunlight that fell on the Westfolde

Gold was the colour of the crown on his head

Gold was the hair of the lady…"

"…lady…" The word was whispered so faintly that Eowyn would have thought she imagined it save that she had seen Theodred's lips move. "…Edlyn…"

Was that his wife's name? Eowyn continued singing and watched in hope for further signs that her cousin was turning aside from Bema's door.

Helm's Deep – Late February T.A. 3018

The miracle had happened. Theodred stroked the flank of the newborn filly that stood straddle-legged next to her dam, suckling her first meal. He'd already greeted her sibling, a colt that had arrived only minutes earlier, who was just as eagerly feeding . Idesgrǽg had gone into labor the previous night and the colt had been born just before dawn. The filly had followed just as Anor's rays lit the eastern sky.

He turned then to Idesgrǽg and made much of her, crooning in the half-spoken, half-sung voice that he reserved for praising a horse who had well. The rose-grey mare turned to rub her face against his shoulder, then sniffed and nibbled at his brown hair. She didn't see what all the fuss was about since dropping a set of twin foals was something that happened quite naturally every year; but she still appreciated the gentle hands on her neck and shoulder.

Theodred didn't turn at the sound of footsteps on the stone of the stable. The steps were too light to be one of his men and the mares' stable was the most secure building in all of the holding. His back to the newcomer, he was able to identify the visitor by a voice that whispered, "Oh, she did it!"

Edlyn stood in the corridor of the stable, her hands on the top edge of the door of the box, her cornflower blue eyes—when had he noticed that they were that particular shade?—wide with delight.

"You'll have to tell your brothers that they've lost another bet," he said with a smile. "A colt and filly; and the first of this years crop."

Edlyn didn't enter the box stall but leaned over the door, her eyes on the two foals. "They're both dark…"

"The filly will be a grey. But her brother, now, if I'm not mistaken, will be a black." He'd closely examined the dark muddy coat and found not a hint of light coloured hairs anywhere on the colt, save for a small white star between the eyes. The filly was just as dark but there was a scattering of white hairs around her eyes, indicating that in time her hair would lighten, possibly to the point of being nearly pure white. She also bore a star on her brow.

"Have you named them, your highness?" Edlyn asked after a while, her eyes still on the foals who were single-mindedly finishing their first breakfast. She was staying outside of the box by sheer force of will. She wanted to go in an fuss over Idesgrǽg and the foals but knew better than to do so. Once the foals had finished eating they'd fall asleep and their mother would be more tolerant of another human in her box.

With a final pat for the mare, Theodred joined Edlyn in the stable corridor. "The colt is Æðeltungol and the filly Léohtstyrr. Good names for good omens." He looked at the other boxes along the corridor, each containing a mare near to giving birth. Tonight was just the beginning.

Edlyn considered the names; "Noble-Star" and "Bright-Star," then looked up at his face. "Why do you name the first foals as soon as they're born? The others don't get named until they're weaned and some not even then."

Theodred thought about his answer before speaking and she looked away, wondering if she'd offended him. She was about to apologize when he finally spoke.

"It's a promise to myself that the foal will live and thrive and so will we all in the coming year."

"You have two promises this year, your highness. It seems that this year will be an especially good one." She turned to look at him as she spoke this time and finally, saw how weary he was. "Oh, you have been up all night with Idesgrǽg and need to eat and rest. Come, and I'll get you some breakfast before you sleep."

After a last look at the now sleeping foals and their drowsing mother, he nodded and gestured towards the stable entrance.

The rest of the keep's population was beginning to stir as they entered the meadhall where the communal meals were served and the prince was intercepted by a number of men (and a few of the women, as well) who wanted to know the outcome of Idesgrǽg's labour.

When he stopped to answer their inquiries, Edlyn slipped away to the kitchens. He had not just looked tired but exhausted and under a great strain, in spite of the arrival of the foals. Ever since speaking with him in the pasture a month ago, she found herself noticing the way he would stint himself to ensure plenty for his men, whether it was sleep, food, or drink. He rose early and slept late and when returning from patrol made sure everyone of his eóred was provided for before taking his seat at table or seeking his bed. Her father sometimes grumbled that the Second Marshal was unappreciated and deserved far better than he got. Well, this morning at least she would make sure he got a good meal and then went to rest, if not to sleep.

As she bullied the cooks into a more generous breakfast than they initially provided, she wondered why it was that the man she'd known her whole life as her father's commander and the King's son had suddenly come into focus as a person instead of a position. She was forgetting to call him by his honorific more and more. He hadn't called her on it, and luckily it hadn't happened when there were others present. Oh, Bema, if she slipped and Erkenbrand ever heard her call the prince by his given name….

She hadn't said it yet, but in her mind she no longer thought of him as His Highness or the Second Marshal, or the prince. He was Theodred and someone she was growing to care about.

When she carried the tray into the Hall she saw that he hadn't yet sat down. Frowning, she put the tray down on the table and picked up the pewter beaker of small ale. Then, ignoring the fact that one of the men standing with him was her father, she crossed the room, put the beaker into his hand and pushed Theodred towards his chair. "Your breakfast shall get cold, your highness."

Theodred took his seat and raised an eyebrow at the amount of food on the platter before him but picked up his eating irons as his stomach informed him that it had been far too long since the last time he ate. He gave her a smile and she couldn't miss the gratitude in his almond eyes. The smile widened as she blushed.

Erkenbrand wasted no time in letting his daughter know he was displeased with what he termed her disrespectful behaviour towards the Second Marshal, but where normally Edlyn would be utterly humiliated by being taken to task in front of everyone in the Hall, she let his words fall over her unheeded. She nodded and tried to school her face into an expression of regret, but couldn't help smiling herself when Theodred began eating.

Glossary:

Idesgrǽg Grey Lady

Æðeltungol Noble Star

Léohtstyrr Bright Star