Sorry for the long gap between updates, I've been having some trouble trying to get the second chapter of 'Faramir's Chance' out of my head and onto the computer! Argh, writer's block!

Thank you for the reviews; sorry I can't write a 'thank you' to all of you individually, but I'm trying to eat my breakfast and type at the same time! Not easy!!

Iana POV

We began walking back to the Golden Hall, when Father suddenly stopped. Éomer and Éowyn looked confused, as did Théodred and I; but Father was thinking. Then a look of revelation passed across his face.

"I knew I'd forgotten something," he muttered, turning and heading off to the main gate to the city. I looked at Théodred for an explanation; he just shrugged his shoulders, took hold of my hand and pulled me after Father, Éomer and Éowyn following. The guards stared at me as we passed them; I realised I was still wearing clothes from the Other World. I knew I'd have to wear stuff like that Éowyn or Théodred wore eventually, but it didn't feel right to get rid of them, not yet…

The gates were opened for us and we slipped out. Father led us down the dirt path, past the burial mounds of the Old Kings of Rohan and out towards the plains beyond. I thought it was a bit strange for the King to go so far from his city without a guard; but then I remembered that Éomer and Théodred were with us, more than making up for the lack of protection. Father stopped abruptly, looking out to the horizon. I followed his gaze; suddenly I felt so small, and the world felt so big… I realised that I was nothing in this world, just another tiny pawn in the giant plan of the Gods…

Théodred looked at me, wondering what was wrong, if I was upset by something. He was still holding my hand and gave it a little squeeze, trying to comfort me. I looked up at him; he smiled down at me and gave me a quick hug. It made me feel a little better, to know that there were people here that loved me and wanted to protect me, that I wasn't alone… But what about Silver?

Father turned to look at me, a smile on his face. Suddenly, I wondered what I had got myself into; what had I done now? I gulped as Father beckoned me towards him, motioning for the others to go a bit further back. I looked at Théodred; he smiled at me reassuringly and winked, I smiled back at him weakly. Father took my hand and led me further away from the city and the others; eventually we were almost 500 yards away. He stopped and turned to me, placing his hands on my shoulders.

"You've been away for a long time," he told me quietly, "And now you must reacquaint yourself with some old friends…" I frowned, not knowing what he was going on about. Seeing my confusion, Father smiled and turned to look over the plains again, keeping one hand on my shoulder. With the other, he raised the fingers to his lips and gave a piercing whistle. I stood still, shocked at the sound. We waited for what seemed like an hour, when in fact it was only a couple of minutes; then I felt a rumbling beneath my feet…

"They'll be so pleased to see you again…" Father sighed; I looked down, wondering what on earth was happening; Father didn't seem to be affected, or else he just ignored it and carried on watching. Suddenly, two horses - one a light grey, the other black - appeared on the horizon, approaching at an amazing speed. I gasped as they swiftly reached and passed us, turning around and coming back. I kept turning around to watch as the two of them circled us, making sure they couldn't come up from behind me.

"What's going on?" I breathed, terrified. The horses were huge compared to me. Admittedly, I was smaller than Father, but still; the ears of the black horse were a foot and a half above my head… The grey horse was slightly smaller than the black one, but looked older.

"Just calm down and stay still," Father advised; I nodded and forced myself to stand next to him, trying to control my breathing. Finally the horses stopped circling, almost as if they were pleased by what they had found for them. Father sighed with relief and stepped away from my side as the grey horse came forward, its nose almost an inch away from my face. I held my breath and screwed up my eyes, waiting for something dreadful to happen. But it didn't. The horse gently touched my forehead with its muzzle, breathing warm air on me. I opened my eyes and the horse lowered its head, bending its knees to bow to me. I stared, unable to comprehend what the horse was actually doing. Was this meant to happen? What was I supposed to do for it? I looked at Father, who just smiled and said nothing. Turning back to the horses, I discovered that the grey horse had stood back up. It began nudging my chest, almost as if it wanted me to stroke it.

Very hesitantly, I raised my hand and touched its nose, feeling the softness of its coat, the warmth of the skin. I reached up and stroked its cheek, then its neck, smoothing down its mane. I smiled as the horse gave a little whinny and put its head over my shoulder; I wrapped my arms carefully around its neck. Suddenly, pain exploded inside my head. New images flooded through my mind, too quickly for me to make any sense of them. I tried to take a step backwards and fell over. I stayed there, lying on the ground, holding my head in my hands. Father had rushed over and was kneeling beside me, trying to pull my hands away from my head to see what was wrong. As suddenly as the pain had started, it stopped; I lay there shaking, wiping tears of pain away from my eyes.

"Are you okay?" Father asked, helping me to sit up. I nodded, looking at the horses; the black one had come closer to me, standing not far behind Father, who supported me as I stood up.

"What happened?" he breathed, pushing my hair away from my face, taking care of the cut; I stared at the horses.

"I remember…" I whispered, before walking slowly up to the black horse. It rolled its eyes at me and snorted, backing away slightly; the grey horse turned around and whinnied sharply at the black one. It stopped moving and allowed me to approach it, and then to touch its nose.

"Naiad…" I whispered; the black horse looked at me with its warm eyes, and then put its head over my shoulder in the horse equivalent of a hug. I threw my arms around its neck and smiled. I remembered the time when the grey horse, Florian, was mine; when I rode her. Then she had given birth to Naiad and he had belonged to me as well. But I had left before he had grown up; he was now fourteen years old, a Mearas entering his prime. It was unusual to find a black Mearas, and I had known that when Naiad was born. The Mearas were ordinarily white or grey, like Florian. And as Shadowfax was Naiad's father, I would have expected Naiad to turn out white or light grey. But his colouring suited me down to the ground; it must have been nature preparing Naiad for my future return after I had changed… Father came over and put a hand on my shoulder; I turned to him smiling.

"I remember them…" I breathed; Father grinned happily.

"Yes, now make them remember you…" he told me, walking to Florian's side. I frowned and then realised what he was implying; my mouth dropped open.

"Without a saddle and bridle?" I asked, astonished. Father raised an eyebrow; I realised that the Mearas wouldn't take being tacked up lightly…

"That's how you were taught…" Father sounded slightly upset; I smiled weakly at my forgetfulness and placed my hand on Florian's withers. Just as he was bending down to give me leg up, I swung myself up onto Florian's back with ease, stroking her mane; Father looked surprised.

"Silver and I took lessons in the Other World, "I explained, "I was the best, then Silver. We both got awards for picking it up so fast…" Father smiled.

"Another skill that remained with you in the Other World…" he declared, I grinned and settled myself on Florian's back, holding onto her mane lightly, "Be careful…" he advised, stepping out of the way. Florian gave a haughty neigh, almost as if she was asking Father whether he thought she'd let anything happen to me. Father laughed and gave her a quick pat on the neck; she snorted at Naiad and turned towards the east.

"I don't know when I'll be back…" I told Father, trailing off as I wondered what I'd do if I ended up riding in the dark; Father shrugged his shoulders.

"You'll be safe with a Mearas, even more so with two," he grinned, "I wasn't expecting you back until these two had shown you just what they can do now anyway. If it takes until tomorrow morning, you'll still be riding then!" I raised my eyebrows; were the Mearas really that strong? I'd read about their speed, but nothing about their stamina… I shrugged my shoulders and blew Father a kiss before Florian took off.

I gave a whoop of joy, hanging on for dear life as Florian left Edoras behind. I'd ridden fast horses in the Other World, but nothing like this! This was amazing! I turned around and saw Naiad following us at an ever so slightly slower pace; not much, but enough to leave a 6 metre or more gap between the two. I turned back to the front; the wind hit me like a slap in the face, making my eyes water. I wanted to wipe them, but had visions of unbalancing and falling under Florian's pounding hooves. Bit by bit, I raised one hand to my face and quickly brushed my eyes, grabbing Florian's mane as soon as I had finished. It was only a couple of minutes later, when I realised that I hadn't even wobbled when I had done it. I smiled and tried again, keeping my arms up for longer. I kept doing it; soon I could hold my arms out to the sides for minutes at a time without unbalancing. I realised that I would have to be balanced in order to fight on horseback and to perform various other tasks.

I was quite pleased with myself; that was until I spotted a large stream in front of Florian. I gulped, aware that I had no saddle to protect my bottom, nor no reins to hold onto as she jumped. We were on top of it all too soon. I could feel Florian's muscles tense underneath my legs as she prepared to leap over the obstacle; I gripped with my knees and held her neck with shaking hands. But I needn't have worried; Florian cleared the stream perfectly, as can be expected from one of the Mearas…It wasn't even uncomfortable; it was actually better than when I had jumped with a saddle in the Other World. She landed softly despite her speed and carried on galloping swiftly; I heard Naiad land behind us and continue following. I looked over to the right and saw that we were passing a large forest; my mind thought back to the books that I had so hurriedly stuffed into my bag three days ago. I wondered if everything here was the same as it was in the books and the films. If it was, then I had just jumped over the Mering Stream, and the forest on my right was Firien Wood. If I was riding east from Edoras, then I was already in Gondor, the Mering Stream being Gondor and Rohan's common border. I laughed as I realised that I had travelled almost 125 miles already! I couldn't believe it; these horses were more than I could have expected from the Mearas. I knew they were fast, but in the films it took Gandalf almost a day and a half on Shadowfax to get to where I was. And neither of them showed any signs of stopping yet…

Éowyn's POV

I watched as Uncle Théoden whistled for the horses for Iana; I smiled as Iana spun around as the horses circled her. I knew that she was wondering what they were doing; I remembered Théodred being the same when it was his turn. But I wondered how the horses were able to let Iana ride them; the rule had always applied to the King and his sons, so Iana must be the first female that they had allowed to ride the Mearas since the deal was made with Eorl…

"What's happening?" Théodred asked, standing up from where he had been sitting, messing around with bits of dry grass. I looked back at Uncle and Iana, realising that I had been daydreaming. Instead of standing with the horses, Iana was writhing around on the floor, Uncle trying to help her. I bit my lip, wondering what was going on. Théodred started to run to her, but Éomer grabbed his arm with both hands, shaking his head; Théodred looked worried.

"I know she's only just returned," Éomer explained, "But you can't run to her aid every time there's a little bit of trouble." Théodred turned to him with a frown, then nodded and stood there, watching Iana and Uncle.

Iana had sat up with help from Uncle, and stood up as we watched, using him for support. The black horse was standing nearer to them; Iana walked over and stroked it, then mounted the grey horse. I couldn't remember the name of the black horse; he wasn't seen around here very often. His mother, Florian, was always around here, giving help to the riders if their horses were playing up. Florian was the perfect mount for anybody, never mind a woman; there was many a time I had wished that I could try riding her, but I knew that she would never carry me. I looked down and discovered that I was still holding the sword that Iana had used in the practice with Théodred. I looked at the sheath, noticing the scratch marks and blackened parts; I gulped, knowing full well where they had come from. I looked back out to Uncle and Iana, feeling tears pricking the back of my eyes in memory.

Suddenly, the grey horse took off, galloping away as fast as the wind, Iana giving a loud cry of joy. I smiled as Uncle stood there for a couple of minutes and then came back to us.

"What happened?" Théodred burst out as soon as Uncle was close enough, unable to keep his concern contained any longer; Uncle frowned.

"The same as before," he sighed, "A small portion of her memory has returned; enough for her to remember the horses, but nothing else." Théodred grimaced.

"How bad was the pain this time?" he asked; Uncle looked away. Théodred bit his lip and looked back out over the plains to the speck that was Iana, disappearing fast. I sighed and took Uncle's hand, leading him back to the city; Éomer put a hand on Théodred's shoulder and steered him towards the city.

As soon as we got to The Hall, I sent one of the women off to get something for all of us to eat, and hot drinks for Uncle and Théodred. I helped Uncle to sit down on a bench at a table and I sat next to him; Théodred sat opposite Uncle, Éomer across from me. It felt weird without Iana, even though she'd only been here for two days; Théodred was silent, obviously wondering where she was now. Soon, the woman reappeared with a tray of food and drinks. I thanked her and dealt the food out, passing Uncle and Théodred the hot drinks. I looked at Éomer as neither of them touched the food nor drinks; Éomer frowned, looking slightly worried.

After what felt like a couple of minutes, the two of them decided to head off for bed, not wishing to stay and dwell in each other's misery. I stood up and stacked Éomer's empty plates and mine up on the tray, along with the ones untouched by Théodred and Uncle. I sighed and picked up the cups with the drinks in, also untouched, and put them on the tray. I looked around and realised how dark it was; we must have been sitting here for two hours at least…

"Where do you think she is?" I asked Éomer quietly; he looked at me with his comforting brown eyes and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know how fast those horses can go," he sighed, running a hand through his hair, "But I'd guess somewhere between Minas Tirith and Firien Wood…" I looked at him with wide eyes.

"That far…?" I whispered in awe; Éomer nodded and picked up the tray, standing up.

"You go to bed," he told me, "I'll sort this out," I smiled at him, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and walking towards the stairs that led to our private quarters.

"Éowyn?" Éomer called; I turned around, "Don't forget this," He threw me the sword that I had left on the table. I caught it and smiled at him in thanks; I would take it to Iana's room and leave it there for her. I was pretty sure that Uncle would want her to have it; after all, it had belonged to her mother…

I know, a bit of an exaggeration with the distance that the horses travelled. But who wouldn't want horses that can run like the wind?!

Hugs!

Iana XxX