I had indeed started my cycle a few days previous. I was sitting on a blanket in the shade of a tree and was watching the spectacle that is court life. It was a small intimate outing designed to foster good relations with the new kings, planned by Lady Broniel and her husband. They were quite powerful at court with many allies related by marriage or blood to half of the nobility of Gondor. Lothíriel had been invited, and the nobility had learned long ago that she would not come to any kind of social event to which I was not invited. Which was why I was here, sitting on a blanket under a tree.

It had been decided that we would go on horseback here before having a picnic. I was quietly being miserable over by my tree while Lothíriel flittered among the crowd, going from person to person. She had a real gift with people, when she was not being the ice princess of Dol Amroth, that is. As I was cataloging my various bruises and scrapes from my training session this morning, I noticed a presence hovering behind my right shoulder. I turned to see who it was and was surprised to find Éomer standing behind me. Startled, I got to my feet with some dignity to greet him, wondering what he could possibly want.

"Éomer King," I said as I dipped into a curtsy.

"Lady Taravel, you are closewith Lady Lothíriel." It was not really a question but I answered it anyway.

"Yes."

"Perhaps you could help me then."

"Maybe."

There was silence as he seemed to be staring off into the distance. "It would help me to know what the problem is." I prompted.

"Her behavior is at best erratic, I cannot understand her. Just when I think I do she does something that forces me to reconsider."

"And your question?"

"Who is she, really? Is it the woman who took my horse from the stables without my permission, or the Lady who was polite but made every statement sound like an insult?" He was pacing now but stopped and looked at me expectantly.

I blinked once before I began to speak. "Lothíriel is both. At her core she is the woman that you first met but you challenged her, claiming that she was not really a Lady. She wanted to prove you wrong, which was why when you next met her she acted so different. How you behave towards her is a good indication of which side you will get."

"I see."

He went quiet again as I linked my hands together behind my back. "Forgive me for prying, but is there any particular reason you are speaking to me about Lothíriel and not to her?"

His gaze snapped back to mine and it seemed as if a door had slammed shut.

"No reason at all. Good day Lady Taravel."

"Good day," I repeated faintly as he seemed to have already been out of earshot.

With a grumble I settled back down on my blanket and resumed people watching. Just as I had arranged my skirts to my satisfaction I was interrupted, rather rudely I might add by my brother Thelion. I was scooped up into the air and all of my protesting and swatting at his hands was ineffectual. He only laughed. Yes, laughed. I refused to give up and continued to struggle. Then I saw where it was he was taking me and my struggling became much more violent and my voice got louder.

"Thelion! If you dare throw me into the river you will regret it for the rest of your miserable life!" This did not have any effect on him so I tried a new tactic. It was a tried and true method, though inherently childish I admit. I threatened to tell mother.

This got the desired result. (Sort of) Instead of throwing me in the nearby river, I was dropped rather suddenly on the grassy riverbank. The extremely wet riverbank. I jumped up immediately but the damage was already done. I stared down at the hip I had landed on to see a large grass stain. I crossed my arms and faced my brother, furious with him.

"Look what you did to my dress!"

"I do not see why you are so upset, you never cared before."

"It is one thing to play around when it is just our family but some of the most influential people in Gondor and Rohan are here. This is not the time!"

"I'm sorry."

"No you're not," I huffed. "You just don't want me to stay mad at you."

"Look, if I had known that you would be this upset about it I would not have done it. I used to do it all the time at Dol Amroth."

"Just don't do it when we are around other people."

"So I have your permission when we are back at Dol Amroth?"

"That is not what I meant and you know it," I called after him as he walked away, grinning.

Too lazy to walk back and rejoin the group, I stayed by the river. Then I became bored and wandered up and down the river bank, occasionally stopping to pick a flower. I had not made a flower crown in ages and was wondering if I still remembered how. Once I had gathered the desired amount of flowers, I started to weave them together. I was surprised that I had actually remembered, and was pleased with the result. I held it loosely in my hands as I turned to go back the way I had come. I then discovered that I was not alone.

"Tara? Thelion sent me to look for you."

I rolled my eyes. "Not likely Maenor but thank you for looking." He smiled good-naturedly as he offered me his arm to escort me back. Maenor was one of my brother's friends that he had met during the war. We did not see each other often but always got along well.

We were soon both laughing as we took turns telling stories of my brother's mishaps. Thelion had a knack for finding trouble even in the tamest of situations, so we both had plenty of stories to share. My flower crown started to slip off my head and without pausing in his story, Maenor righted it for me. He had placed it on my head as a sort of joke and I had not bothered to remove it. It was only when Lothíriel popped in to my line of vision not even a second later that I realized we were back with the group. Maenor relinquished his hold on me once we back with the group, easily taking notice of the fact that Lothíriel wanted to talk to me, urgently.

"Tara, thank goodness you are back! I had a really strange conversation with the horse lord."

"And what was so strange about it?"

"He was nice! He is never nice to me. Not in any encounter that we have ever had before. At least, not since we first met before he learned my name."

"And him being nice to you is bad because…?"

"I never said it was bad; I just said it was strange. I mean, I have always known exactly what to expect from him before. He is polite enough but he could never hide the faint look of disgust whenever we speak."

I still did not see why she was so flustered over this and told her so.

"Because it upsets the natural order of things!" She hissed. "Now that he is being nice I have to be nice back."

"Well you don't have to be nice back if you don't want to."

"But I have to be. When someone is nice to you, you are nice to them. That is how the world works."

"No, Lothi, that is not how the world works. There are a lot of people who are rude to those that are nice to them."

"Really? All people aren't like me?"

She said with such seriousness that I just about lost it, but managed to keep my giggling to myself at Lothíriel's flabbergasted look.

"People have to be nice to you because of who you are. It would be social and political suicide to do otherwise when you are nice to them."

"It is still strange. What do I do?"

"You have three options at this point. You could keep speaking to him like you have, you could actually be nice back to him, or you could ignore him."

"You are not being helpful."

"What? You asked me what to do and I gave you options. What exactly were you expecting me to say?"

"Something more helpful than that."

"Well I'm sorry that you don't like my advice, but it is all I have."

The next few days followed a similar pattern. Training every other morning with Elessar, archery on the other days with one rest day and lots and lots of social events. It was then that I started to notice something odd. I would actually enjoy talking and dancing with a lord and then a day or so later they would take one look at me and walk the other way. The only one seemingly unaffected by this phenomenon was Maenor. When I asked him if he knew what was going on he had only said that "I would figure it out." I began to get more and more frustrated as I continued to not have any answers.

At least Lothíriel and Éomer were speaking much more civilly to each other now days. Their conversations were not nearly as awkward or entertaining as they used to be. Still, I had my pick of awkward, entertaining conversations at balls. I could easily pick out which ladies were actively seeking a husband and which ones were not but were forced to go through the motions by their parents. Of course this worked both ways and the lords were usually far more entertaining when they were being pushed by their parents to find a wife.

I had just finished a dance with Lord Aegnor when Elessar was suddenly there. It had become a tradition of ours to share at least one dance together, but the particular dance varied. This dance happened to be a slower one, and as we danced there was silence between us, something that was a rarity. I decided that he would have to be the one to initiate the conversation for once, and I was content to dance without saying a single word. Apparently he was comfortable with this as well as he did not say anything either. The dance was over sooner than I thought. I curtsied as expected and he bowed as expected. Then with only a 'Taravel' he was gone.

I retired for bed soon after that, utterly confused by Elessar's behavior, annoyed by Maenor's cryptic statement, curious to see where this new 'being nice' thing would take Lothíriel and Éomer, and worried for Laili. Frankly, it was exhausting and I decided to skip my usual archery session tomorrow in order to catch up on some sleep.

Morning found me penning a letter to Laili, it helps me to get all my thoughts out on paper. For practice, I decided to write the letter completely in the language of Harad.

Dear Laili,

Things have been interesting around here since the coronation. Éomer and Lothi are actually being nice to each other and are slowly learning more about the other. I honestly can't decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing. You know that her father would like the two to marry and I am not too sure about their compatibility. Lothi has not said if her feelings towards him are romantic or not, but she does no longer says negative things about him which is a step in that direction, I suppose. Éowyn is busy with wedding preparations, and I have not seen her very often.

My brothers are there usual selves, nothing seems to keep them down for long. My parents went back home yesterday but before my mother left she made me promise a strange thing. She had me promise to always have my bow with me if I ever left the city without Lothi. I promised her, but only because she insisted, and of course now that I promised her I have to keep it.

Has your father talked any more of sending you as an ambassador to Gondor? I am anxious to actually practice speaking your language out loud with a native speaker, and I would like to see you again, we both would. And Gondor needs all the allies that it can get right now, if the situation in Near Harad is as dangerous as you say.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Tara

A/N Well, what did you think? I do want to hear from you! Thank you to those who have reviewed this story and to the ones who have followed/Favorited it.