A/N: Woo! Into the double digits now! Let's get started with the commentary
MDRobin: Thank you for reviewing. And I completely agree. Meeting one day and getting married the next is completely unrealistic. However, I'm putting out the call to everyone to let me know when my pacing gets a little slow. You'll learn what I mean when we get into Chapters 20-35.
Certh: Thank you for your in-depth review. You're always good for them :) And yes, I know I misspelled Eowyn. Before I started writing, I put all of the names of the characters into the Auto-Correct feature on Microsoft Word. But when I put in Eowyn's name, I misspelled it. Now it won't correct me if I use the second 'e'. So just be patient and point it out when I do misspell anything. I'll go back and fix it as quick as I can.
Willow: I try to be clever, and sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. I'm glad I'm not missing. And honestly, the competition isn't quite as fierce as one might think.
Thanks to everyone who reads this and put it on Story Alert, or favorites it. I wouldn't continue writing this story if I wasn't getting such positive feedback. I hope you enjoy another chapter. Now on with the story!
I made my way back up to the Golden Hall trying to control my tears. I found that Théoden had been removed from his throne, so I made my way to Èowyn's chambers. She had not returned from her bath, something I could tell from the discarded dress that lay on the floor. I quickly gathered it up and put it with her other clothes that would need to be laundered. I moved around the lady's room, tidying up the relatively neat room. The door opened, and Èowyn came back into the room. She relaxed upon seeing me, and I started to help her dress. I said nothing as I laced her stays and styled her hair.
"You went after my brother." She said after a few moments of silence.
It was less of a question than a statement, so I chose not to respond.
"Why?" she asked.
I sighed, and stopped styling her hair. "I'm still not entirely sure. But it felt good to release some of my anger verbally at the men that hurt him." I said a little spitefully.
"You walked with him to the gate. I saw you pass. Did he say anything to you?" she asked, her voice a little too casual.
I sighed again, debating on whether or not I wanted her to know what was exchanged between Èomer and I.
"Please tell me. I want to know what my brother said." She pushed after a moment.
"He asked me to look after you, which I promised that I would continue to do." I said, deciding on a partial truth rather than a full lie.
"Anything else?" Èowyn asked, her voice a little more forceful.
I felt a lump rising in my throat again, and I stopped trying to style Èowyn's hair.
"He asked me to save my heart for him." I said, my voice choked by tears.
I sat in a chair by her fire and buried my face in my hands.
"He asked you what?" Èowyn asked shocked. She moved to the other chair opposite me.
"He said that he wasn't sure if he would return to Edoras alive or dead, but he asked me not to give away my heart until he returned." I said, speaking through my tears.
I had not cried like this since the days right after my banishment from Gondor, when I felt that my despair would consume my soul.
"And what did you say?" Èowyn asked, sounding very concerned now.
"I said that I could not promise him my heart because I gave it away to another long ago and it was never returned to me." I said, starting to calm down.
"You had a lover in Gondor?" Èowyn asked, now slightly confused.
I nodded, and I wiped away my tears.
"Who was he?" Èowyn asked.
I sighed, and I felt my regret rising. I had promised that I would never lie to the royals again, but I did not want my friend Èowyn to lose respect for me when she found out the truth of my past.
"If I tell you this, you have to promise me that you will not reveal this secret to anyone." I said seriously.
She looked a little surprised, but she nodded all the same. I took a deep breath, and then I looked at my hands in my lap.
"I was in love with the son of the Steward, Boromir." I said slowly.
I looked up at Èowyn, and he shock was written across her face.
"You were in love with Boromir? Did he return your affections?" Èowyn said softly, as if she suspected someone of listening in on our conversation.
"Most adamantly. He wanted to marry me." I said, my voice growing warm at the memories.
"How did it all begin? Tell me everything." Èowyn said, turning to face me more directly.
"It is a long story." I said, shaking my head a little.
"I wish to hear it all, even if that means not sleeping tonight. I suspect that neither of us would get much sleep tonight regardless." Èowyn said, her tone a little dark.
I sighed and looked at her. She had that stubborn look in her eyes, and I knew that I had started this conversation, so I must end it.
"As I've said before, my mother was the nursemaid to both Boromir and Faramir when the time came. She practically raised the boys, especially after their mother died. I was raised alongside them, despite being only a servant's daughter. Eventually, the sibling affections sprang into something deeper. But we knew it was love shortly after the start of summer of our twentieth year." I said, smiling at the memory.
We had snuck away from the festivities of the Mid-Summer Celebration. We laughed as we held hands and ran through the dark alleys of Minas Tirith. We had given Faramir the slip, and I could feel the wine starting to go to my head. Shame on Boromir for getting me to drink too much. But we eventually ran out of breath from running and laughing so much and stopped in the shadowed alley in a village I couldn't quite recognize. The space was quite small, so we were forced to stand quite close together.
"I hope Faramir knows how to talk as well as he writes or reads." Boromir said, gently teasing his brother's more academic mind.
"He's going to have to if he's going to get away from Helga. She was quite insulted by his not returning her affections." I said, laughing at the situation that Faramir had gotten himself into.
"There are many that do not return another's affections, despite those affections being displayed quite boldly." Boromir said, his voice husky in my ear.
I looked up at him questioning, and his eyes were glinting strangely in the light from the lanterns. I could see his lips moving toward mine in slow motion, and it almost felt like a dream when their velvet soft surface touched mine. After the initial touch, we pulled away and looked at each other, quite struck dumb with the action. But then he grabbed the back of my head and pulled his lips to mine for a much more passionate kiss.
"After that day, we often snuck off together and shared affections in shadowed corners in secret. He was the Steward's son and his father kept his schedule quite tight. And as a maid, I could not escape my duties. But we found the time." I went on after a moment of silence.
"Boromir. Quiet, or we will be discovered." I said, my voice coming out as gasps as Boromir kissed the tender spots on my neck.
"Then let them find us. I would rather have our courtship be out in the open rather than having to sneak away from our duties all of the time." Boromir said, his voice rough with passion.
He came back up and claimed my lips in another passionate kiss.
"I cannot risk that, my love. You know what your father would do to me if he were to find us out. Or what he would do to you, or to your brother for even being involved." I said, my mood completely soured by the thought.
I pushed Boromir away slightly and forced him to look at me. He sighed, but continued to hold me tight to him.
"I know you are right. But promise me that one day, after my father loses sway over me, that we will make what we have known to everyone. I hate to hide such a beautiful relationship from the world." Boromir said somberly.
I smiled and agreed and we shared another passionate kiss before departing.
"We continued to meet in secret for many months, and I knew that we were taking bigger and bigger risks with each meeting. His brother, Faramir, had helped to provide support for Boromir when his absence was questioned. My mother had passed by this time, but she never knew of my relationship with Boromir. Despite his want to take our relationship public, he remained perfectly respectful when we were together in front of anyone that mattered." I said.
I stopped and Èowyn looked at me expectantly.
"What happened then?" she asked when I was silent.
"The inevitable." I said, my voice shaking as I remembered it.
Boromir and I stood in his chambers. He was dressed in full armor. He was to be sent out to help defend his country. It was what he had been planning to do with this life, but I couldn't help but fear for him. I had my arms around his neck and he had his around my waist, holding me close. His armor was cold, but I could endure that just to be near to him.
"Please try to return to me. I know how eager you are to die in the field of battle." I tried to tease him.
It was a failure because I had tears streaming down my face. He wiped them away as best as he could, by kissing them away.
"I promise I'll return to you. I have something to return to, so dying in the glory of battle is not as appealing to me." He said softly laughing.
I could not help but chuckle at his laugh. We locked our lips in another passionate kiss, and I could feel all of the emotions I felt for him rush through our connected lips. We pulled apart, and he put his forehead to mine.
"I love you, Braedia." He whispered to me.
"I love you too, Boromir." I whispered back with a smile.
He kissed me again, and we let it linger. But then suddenly, the door to his chamber flew open, and we both looked to see that it was Denathor. We detangled our limbs and sprang away from each other quickly, but the damage was done. He had seen us. We had been discovered.
"So then you were banished for loving the Steward's son? Where is the crime in that?" Èowyn asked heatedly.
"I was a distraction from his duties as Captain of Gondor. And I was only a chambermaid. The court at Edoras has been more than generous by promoting me to a position at your side. I was never this highly ranked at Gondor." I said, trying to get her to understand.
"But all you ever did was love him." Èowyn said, still in disbelief.
"Yes, I know." I said softly.
I looked back down into my lap and we were silent except for the crackling fire.
"Where is Boromir now?" Èowyn asked.
I shrugged. "I never had the chance to say good-bye. Boromir was fighting with his father when I made my leave. I left a message for him with his brother." I said, feeling the familiar regret sweep through me.
"Could it have been helped?" Èowyn asked.
I looked at her, confused.
"Could your love of him been helped?" Èowyn asked to clarify.
I shook my head with a chuckle. "If we ever visit Minas Tirith, and you meet them, you will see that it could not have been helped. I was younger than Faramir, but it was inevitable that our innocent love for each was to blossom into something deeper." I said.
"He must have been very handsome." Èowyn said with a little smirk. I laughed a little at this.
"Yes, he was. Both men were. Faramir was a little more delicate in his features than Boromir, but that came from spending his youth with his head in the books. Boromir had the brawn; Faramir had the brain." I said with a little laugh.
"I do hope to meet them someday." She said with a little longing sigh.
"Are you not betrothed?" I asked confused.
Most women of the court, at least in Gondor, were betrothed from the cradle, if not before then. Èowyn shook her head.
"When I was young, there was talk of my marrying Théodred. But we grew too close to consider it. It felt wrong, and my uncle won't make us marry someone we do not love." Èowyn said with a smile.
I smiled a little back. Èowyn looked at me questioningly for a short time, but then shook her head slightly and looked away. I questioned her look and she sighed and looked back at me.
"I remember when you first came here. You barely looked off the floor long enough to reply to a direct question. And even then, you would never look at any of us directly, as if we hurt your eyes if you did. And you never smiled. And even if you did, it was a dead smile that never reached your eyes. Now we can carry a full conversation, and you smile more." Èowyn said.
I looked thoughtfully at the fire for a moment. I nodded in her direction and then a thought struck me.
"Èomer said that he liked my smile." I said a little sad.
"What are you going to do about him?" Èowyn asked after a moment.
I looked at her. "What would you have me do? I love another, but I doubt I will ever see him again. And Èomer has confessed that he wishes to have my heart, which I'm not sure that I still have." I said with a defeated sigh.
Èowyn sighed as well. "If it matters, I would be proud to call you my sister." Èowyn said, reaching out and taking my hand.
"But I could never marry your brother. I am not of noble birth." I said in disbelief.
"I'm sure that my uncle could make an exception for his favorite nephew." Èowyn said with a sly smirk.
I looked at her with a half scolding, half jesting look, and we laughed. Then Èowyn went silent and pensive.
"I wish to check on Théodred." She said.
I nodded and I stood. We went to his room and found that healers were still tending to his wounds.
"My lady, we would only be in the way if we linger. I shall keep you company while we wait. Please send word when you have finished tending to his wounds so that Lady Èowyn may see her cousin." I said first to Èowyn, then to an apprentice healer that stood a little apart from the healers leaning over his bed.
The boy nodded and I took Èowyn by the shoulders.
"Let us get you something to eat. Neither of us have eaten since this morning." I said softly with a small smile.
Her face had gone white as a sheet, and she was frozen. But she nodded stiffly and let me guide her to the kitchens. The walk was a little long, because the kitchens were detached from the main hall. It prevented any fires that might start there from reaching the main hall. I sat her down at a small table that was in the room, and went about fixing her something to eat.
"He looks like he is on the door of death." Èowyn said after several minutes of silence.
"Théodred is strong. He will pull through." I said, trying to remain bright.
"You did not see his wounds. I fear for him." Èowyn said, shaking her head as if to remove the image from her mind.
"It is only right to fear for someone you care for. We will just have to wait for the outcome." I said with a soft smile.
I placed a plate of pie before her with a fork, and she smiled at me.
"This is not the time for proper meals. You only need comfort in this dark hour." I said with a laugh.
We both ate small bites of the food I could manage to find for what felt like hours. After we finished our meal, we returned to Èowyn's room.