Mortal Elf Chapter 25, a lord of the rings fanfic

A/N: As always, I own nothing.

***Chapter 25***

**Deirdre's POV**

"Tonight we remember those who gave their lives to defend this country." Theoden proclaimed as he raised his goblet in a toast. "Hail the victorious dead!"

"Hail!" I said along with all the others in the hall.

Aragorn and Gandalf had talked Theoden into allowing me to attend the celebration. Their argument had been that I had saved many lives by killing half of the army that would have come to slaughter the people of Rohan, for that I was rewarded by being accepted into the feast. Theoden still wasn't the happiest with me, but he at least was willing to accept that I had helped his people.

So now I sat, with Saffy and Nimiwen to one side and the hobbits to the other. I took a swig of my wine, drinking the toast to the fallen warriors. Saffy tried to press me to eat once more, but I merely shook my head.

"Di, you need to eat." She attempted to persuade me.

"I'm still full from the Lembas bread." I replied plainly, my nausea had returned at the sight and scent of the food.

"Fine." She huffed at me. "But you are eating tomorrow."

I shrugged my shoulders, not agreeing but knowing it would get her off my case for a while longer. I chugged the remains of my wine, followed by an angry glare at the inside of the glass. What I wouldn't give to be a lightweight right now. I set the glass back down on the table, my eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. Then I pushed up from the table, earning me a look of confusion from Saffy.

"Where are you going?" she questioned, concern was evident in her tone.

"To get something a little stronger than wine." I replied, the first hint of a smile in my eyes.

Worried passed over her face but she must have realized that I wasn't going to change my mind anytime soon. I only hoped that she wouldn't worry too much about me tonight and enjoy the celebration with Nimiwen. Personally, my plan for the evening involved getting shit-faced. I wandered over to where there were great barrels of ale. I filled a tankard and downed the barley-based drink. I wrinkled my nose at the taste, not really enjoying either the taste or the odor coming off it. But, the desire to kill pain in any possible way won out, as I refilled my tankard and downed it once more. Thankfully, the liquid wasn't quite as vile the second time. As I was filling the tankard for a third time, I was approached by some of the men of Rohan. The man in front had a great smile on his face as he neared me.

"I see you have taken a liking to the ale." He commented, grinning as he watched me drink once more.

"Works as a sufficient pain-killer." I commented dryly, raising my left hand slightly to show them. Followed by another drink of my ale, I was taking more time with this drink.

"Care to enter into a drinking game then?" he questioned with a smirk.

"Why not?" I questioned almost absent mindedly.

Not exactly sure why that just happened or how it led to this, but I was sitting at a table with several of the soldiers of Rohan while another man began filling tankards. I guess the men just wanted to watch a woman fail at drinking, it would be entertaining to watch. However, I had one thing on my side that they didn't know about. I had good strong drinking blood flowing through my veins, a lovely mixture of Scottish and Irish. Sure, there was some other nationalities mixed throughout, but it definitely gave me a bit of an advantage.

As the contest got going, more people began to circle around us. Several men were now filling the tankards to supply our group. Within the first three drinks at the table a man or two excused themselves from the contest, I figured that they had already started drinking prior to joining. But as the number of tankards that I downed piled, I grew greatly confused. It was about the point where I had drank six full tankards during the game alone, the other three not included, that I was wondering why I was not being affected by the drink. On my seventh tankard the thought struck me, it must have been an elf thing. After all, Legolas could best Gimli in a drinking contest.

My mood which had slowly been rising with the alcohol consumption fell once more. The idea that I could simply drink away any pain was not going to work it seemed. As the tankards continued to pile up, reaching about fifteen per person at least, some of the men began to fall. The noise erupted even louder, everyone around was enjoying watching the drinkers make fools of themselves.

"Looks like the maid can handle a few drinks." I heard one soldier shout out, laughing as he did so.

"It's going to take more than this to knock me down, darlin'." I replied with a laugh, slipping back into my old habit of calling everyone darling.

Merry and Pippin popped up within the next two tankards, great smiles on their faces. I smiled back at them, it seemed that the ale was definitely improving my mood. They cheered me on, while most everyone else cheered for the men of Rohan. Another of the men dropped, falling backwards from the table and crashing to the floor with a great thud. Laughter ensued as people lifted the now unconscious man from the floor and dragged him off. I could feel my head getting lighter with the effects of the ale, but I wasn't going to give up when there was only two more men competing.

"Come on, lads. You can beat a woman." One man called in an attempt to encourage the men who were still drinking.

One of the two remaining men laughed, while the other fell backwards after drinking his twenty-second tankard. I laughed as he was hauled off as well, a smile was constantly on my face at this point. The last man pointed at me from his place across the table.

"Why don't you just give up now? After all, we both know I'm going to win." He said with slurred words.

"Where's the fun in that?" I questioned, my words were barely slurred. I raised my tankard up into the air in a toast. "To victory!"

He crashed his tankard against mine and we both downed our tankards. With the next offered tankard, he raised his glass with a smile.

"To Rohan!" he cried out, earning a cheer from everyone around.

We knocked our tankards together, and once again downed the liquid. I was rather impressed that we both had lasted this long. I was actually beginning to like the taste of ale, which probably meant I was getting fairly drunk.

"To Ale!" I shouted as my next toast.

We continued back and forth, each making a toast before downing our drinks. I was running out of things to toast, so I called out "To Hobbits!"

This earned me a cheer from Merry and Pippin and a laugh from the rest of the men around. The other man moved to clink our tankards together, but he must have lost his balance, as he missed my tankard and instead fell backward falling unconscious. I stood up from my seat, stumbling a little, and glanced down at the man on the ground to the other side.

Cheers went up as I chugged one more tankard and slammed it down on the table. Both Merry and Pippin climbed up on the table and grabbed my hands. I gave a shout when my left hand was grabbed, it was quickly released.

"Join us, Deirdre." Pippin encouraged, he and Merry were both standing on the table with tankards in their hands.

"Yes, Deirdre. Sing with us." Merry tried.

"I don't think we know any of the same drinking songs." I called up to them, a smile on my face.

"Fine, but you're singing after us." Was the only response I was given.

You can search far and wide.

You can drink the whole town dry.

But you'll never find a beer so brown,

As the one we drink in our home town.

You can drink your fancy ales,

You can drink 'em by the flagon.

But the only brew for the brave and true…

The hobbits sang, dancing around and causing laughter all down the long banquet table. The men sitting on the sides clapped their hands along with the dancing and singing hobbits and moved their drinks out of the way. Pippin paused for a moment in the dance, staring intently at Gandalf for a second.

"Pippin!" Merry practically scolded, causing Pippin to return to their song.

Comes from the Green Dragon!

As the two finished, they slammed their tankards together and downed their entire drinks in one go. Everyone around laughed and clapped for the two hobbits. However, I was apparently not safe. As I was hauled up onto the table by the hobbits, who shoved another tankard of ale into my hands.

"Your turn, Deirdre." Pippin told me with a laugh.

I smirked at them, but began stomping my foot on the table to set up a beat and sang a drinking song quite off-key. But I was smashed enough that I couldn't bring myself to care.

So the years rolled by and several died
And left us somewhat reelin'
Johnny strummed his Tommy gun
Left blastin' through the ceiling
So what became of rebels
Who sang for you and me?
Grapplin' with their demons
In the search for liberty

Suffers who suffer all
Can swim upon the desert
Where avarice have ravaged all
In spite of good intentions
Don't fill your mouth with gluttony
For pride will surely swell
But nothing's unforgiven in the four corners of hell

Sail away where no ball and chain
Can keep us from the roarin' waves
Together undivided but forever we'll be free
So sail away aboard our rig
The moon is full and so are we
We're seven drunken pirates
We're the seven deadly sins
We're seven drunken pirates
We're the seven deadly sins
Envy and its evil twin
It crept in bed with slander
Idiots they gave advice
But sloth it gave no answer
Anger kills the human soul
With butter tales of lust
While pavlov's Dogs keep chewin'
On the legs they never trust

But It's the only life we'll know
Blagards to the bone
So don't wreck yourself
Take an honest grip
For there's more tales beyond the shore

Ah the years rolled by and several died
And left us somewhat reelin'
In and out came crawlin' out
And spewed upon the ceiling
So what became of rebels"
That sang for you and me
Grapplin; with their demons
In the search for liberty

The men around cheered and called for an encore. I laughed when they did this and began dancing around on the table once more, drinking as I went. I began to sing a traditional Irish drinking song.

We'll drink a drink a drink
To Lily the Pink the Pink the Pink
The savior of the human race
She invented medicinal compound
Most efficacious in every case

Now here's a story, a little bit gory
A little bit happy, a little bit sad
Of Lily the Pink and her medicinal compound
And how it drove her to the bad
Well Ebenezer thought he was Julius Caesar
So they put him in a home
And then they gave him medicinal compound
And now he's Emperor of Rome.

We'll drink a drink a drink

To Lily the Pink the Pink the Pink

The Savior of the human race

She invented medicinal compound

Most efficacious in every case

Freddie Klinger the opera singer
Could break a glass with his voice tis said
Rubbed his tonsils with medicinal compound
Now they break glasses over his head.
Johnny Hammer had a t-t-terrible stammer
He could hardly s-s-say a word
And so they g-g-gave him medicinal compound
Now he's s-s-seen but never heard

We'll drink a drink a drink

To Lily the Pink the Pink the Pink

The savior of the human race

She invented medicinal compound

Most efficacious in every case

Uncle Paul he was very small he
Was the shortest man in town
Rubbed his body with medicinal compound
Now he weighs only half a po-

However, I didn't succeed in finishing the song. As I was rather drunk and the edge of the table was nearer than I thought that it was. I went tumbling off of the table and was headed straight for the ground when I was caught by someone, who I successfully sent to the ground underneath me. I raised my head from their chest and saw it was Aragorn. He was turning out to be my savior. I couldn't help but smile up at him, before quickly moving off of him.

There was a good deal of laughter behind me, as the men apparently found it hilarious that I had fallen off of the table. I gave Aragorn my hand to help him up, but as I pulled him to his feet I went stumbling backwards into a column.

"I think you're drunk, Deirdre." He commented with a smile.

"Nonsense, I'm Irish." I told him with a grin, only to receive a confused look in return. "An Irishman is ne'er drunk, so long as he can hold onto a single blade of grass and not fall off the face of the earth." My words were slurred, but still carried an Irish brogue as I spoke.

Aragorn laughed at this, as did all the other men around, it seems that I had been talking rather loud. However, my attention was drawn away from the raucous laughter as I saw that I had spilled a half-full tankard of ale when I fell.

"Shit!" I cursed loudly, earning more laughter.

"What is it?" Aragorn questioned with a hint of worry in his tone.

"I spilled my ale." I looked at him with a mortified expression.

He laughed at me once more, I suppose I was rather funny when I was drunk and acting like this.

"You cold hearted man. Don't you know that every drop of liquor that you spill is put into a great vat. And when you die, you get hung upside down into the vat. If you drown, then you go to hell." I practically shrieked, it was another of those old sayings that my parents had taught me.

"Well, let's hope that you haven't spilled too much more then." I heard Saffy say as she approached, she was laughing as well.

"My immortal soul is in danger here, woman." I slurred back at her, causing only more laughter to explode from the people around here.

"I thought that you were going to hell no matter what?" she commented with a laugh.

"Well, I suppose I am." I commented with a grin. "However, if I'm going to survive my elevator ride down, then I'm going to need to drink more."

"Are you planning on dying now?"

"Nope, but I have to start storing it up now." I replied as I began walking back in the direction of the barrels of ale.

However, I tripped on my own feet falling to the ground. I groaned at the pain, but was quickly picked up by someone. I opened my eyes, to find that Aragorn was carrying me. Unfortunately, everything was spinning in a whirl of colors with my eyes open. So I just shut them again, leaning against Aragorn.

"Where are we going?" I questioned him.

"Away from the ale, Deirdre. You are too drunk for your own good." He chuckled.

"No!" I practically shouted, struggling in his arms towards where I thought that the ale was.

My hand was beginning to give the occasional throb of pain, and my mood wasn't as high as when I was drinking. I was really hoping that this intoxicated state would last a good deal of time.

"Come on, let's get you some air." He replied with another light chuckle.

I crossed my arms in front of me and pouted in his arms. But he just continued to walk, carrying me as though I weighed little to nothing. I huffed once and settled more into his arms, deciding that I would just have to wait to be set down if I was going to try and get anything more to drink.

"I don't want air." I griped like a child when I felt the frigid night air encircle me, as he carried me out into the night.

A shiver passed through me, he pulled me a little more into his chest as I did this. He lowered my feet to the ground, but wrapped his arms around my torso. He was attempting to keep me somewhat warm at least, but the cold of the night wasn't really helping. It was then that I noticed just how thin the gown I was wearing was, as well as how windy Edoras was.

"I know it's cold. But if you had stayed in there any longer you would have gotten another drink and passed out." He explained, sounding almost guilty that he was making me so cold.

"For the record, I am not as much of a lightweight as you apparently think. Another drink wouldn't make me pass out." I tried to convince him, but I doubt that the way that I was slurring my words was convincing at all.

"Deirdre, you can't walk without tripping and falling." He commented.

"I can't do that most of the time when I'm sober either." I argued back, causing him to laugh.

"True, but you are quite drunk."

"Yes, but not drunk enough." I replied with a smirk, but it disappeared as I shivered once more.

As much as he was trying to keep me warm with body heat, it wasn't working. Goosebumps had risen and now covered my flesh, and every few moments I would shiver against him, though the warmth that he was providing from where he held me was rather nice.

"Stay out here." He ordered, pulling away from me.

The cold air slamming against the last parts of my skin that were being kept warm, my last bit of warmth was dissipating rapidly. A harsh shiver jerked my body as I tried to suppress it.

"Are you fucking joking?" I slurred angrily. "I'm going to freeze to death."

"No you won't, stop over-exaggerating. I'm going to grab you a cloak." He informed me as he walked back into the hall.

I scowled at the now closed door and wrapped my arms around myself. I gave a short growling noise at the door before moving over toward one of the columns to lean up against. From here, I was somewhat protected from the wind. Though there was one bonus to standing in the cold, at least from Aragorn's point of view, I was beginning to sober up. The only thing that could of have been more efficient would be dunking my head in ice water. Better not mention that to Aragorn, I thought.

Suddenly, the door to the hall opened. I saw the light cast onto the ground from the doorway, but refrained from turning back around. The door shut behind the figure and I could hear the footsteps nearing me.

"Is freezing me punishment for drinking?" I questioned, most of the slurring in my speech was dissipating.

"Why would I be punishing you?" asked a confused voice.

I spun around quickly, which really just meant that I pitched forward again. Thankfully, I was saved from the fate of falling onto my face once more. I was caught by Eomer, who had walked out of the hall.

"Sorry," I slurred a little. "I thought you were Aragorn. He has some strange notion that I shouldn't be drunk."

"Why would he have this idea?" he asked with a chuckle, he obviously hadn't had too much to drink.

"I think it may be because I fell off the table." I replied happily, there was more warmth sinking into me as Eomer's body heat provided me with a little heat.

"That may be a good indication."

He placed me back on my feet, then he began to move away. As a shiver passed through me, I reached out my hand and grabbed Eomer's. He stopped in his movement to look at me, but I moved in close and wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my face in his chest.

"Deirdre, I don't think this is entirely appropriate." He spoke deeply, his voice rumbling through his chest and into me.

"Eomer," I stated, causing him to look down at me. "I'm cold. Hugging you gets me some body heat. And since I'm supposed to stay out here until Aragorn gets back with a cloak, I need the warmth."

I was quite impressed with myself for that, I had managed to form a reasonable argument when I was this intoxicated. Then again, the alcohol seemed to be wearing off a little too fast for my liking. I was going to duck back inside and drink a little more, renew the buzz.

"Yes, but your elf friend may not take a liking to this." He replied, there was clearly worry in his tone.

"Currently, I don't give a flying fuck about what Legolas likes or dislikes." I muttered, turning my face into his chest and warming it there.

I guess he gave up arguing with me, as suddenly there were two warm arms wrapped around me. As the heat began to fill me, I released a contented sigh.

"You're warm." I informed him.

"Actually, I was getting a little cold." He chuckled. "Why does Aragorn want you to remain out here?"

"To keep me away from that wonderful ale." I grumbled into his chest.

"How much did you have to drink?" he asked with a laugh.

I shrugged my shoulders, then took a moment to think about it. Sometime during the contest I had lost count, and then I had that tankard afterward. I truly didn't have an idea how much exactly I had had to drink.

"Dunno, I lost count somewhere in the twenties." I replied lightly.

"You are full of surprises." He said with a single short laugh.

"I don't know why no one thinks I can hold my liquor. I may be small, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm a lightweight."

"No, you most definitely aren't a lightweight at all. You drank more than most grown men could."

I pulled away, thinking that he had made a comment about my age. It had bothered me slightly over the years that I was always the youngest in my group of friends, even when it was only by around a year. What was worse was that everyone forgot that I was younger, and while normally my acting more adult was a plus, this meant that they would mention things I couldn't do because I was too young. Don't get me wrong, I don't go around complaining about how much younger I am than everybody else, and it only really comes up on occasion. But it must have had something to do with the alcohol and the poor mood that I had been when I started drinking.

"I'm not that young." I retorted with a pout. "In fact, I'm almost entirely considered an adult."

Eomer looked down at me, smirking when he saw me pouting about age. I suppose it was a little contradictory, but when I kept the pout in place he laughed. Now my pout turned into a slight frown as my eyebrows furrowed.

"Don't laugh at me." I complained, playfully smacking him on the arm.

"I'm not." He swore in his defense. "It's only that you are pouting about being treated like you are young."

I turned my back to him, but with the cold air decided to lean back against him. His arms wrapped around me once more. I was glad that he was doing that, as the likelihood of my falling over right now was rather high.

"How old are you?" he questioned, he had leaned down so that I would be able to hear him better.

"I'm seventeen. But I'm going to be eighteen in about a month or so. Or I would have been." I ended sadly.

"Why wouldn't you be now?" he asked, worry came into his voice about the sadness in my response.

"Well, I was only a little under a month away from my birthday when I died. Then I woke up here and it will be months now until my birthday."

"You died?" he questioned shocked.

"Yes, apparently because I came to middle earth I died back home."

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, don't be. I didn't even know that I was dead at home until Saffy got here. She was still back home when they found my body. So if it hadn't been for her telling me, I wouldn't have known. Besides, it doesn't really bother me."

"But you can never go back home." He reasoned.

"True, but I feel like I belong here. Like maybe, I could do something to help people. Stop some of the pain. I know I wouldn't be able to do that back home."

"Why do you feel that you belong here?"

"Something in me feels at peace. Like when I used to go to the ocean, when I wasn't there I felt restless. But I don't here, at least I didn't."

"What's changed?" his low voice rumbled from behind me, the depth of his tone was soothing.

"Ever since I came back from Isenguard, I feel like no one truly wants me here. That I am still to blame for the lives lost at Helm's Deep. And for those lost when the Wargs attacked." A single tear slid down the side of my face, and I was glad that Eomer couldn't see it. I hated to cry in front of people.

"Deirdre, many people want you here." He reassured me.

"No, Eomer. People tolerate me here, but if I wasn't then they would still be perfectly happy."

"What about Saffron?"

"She has Nimiwen, I mean, sure she would be sad for a time but she would grieve and that would be it."

"Aragorn, Gandalf, or Gimli?"

"They don't actually need me. Everything would work out if I had never come."

"What about Legolas?"

I went rigid in his arms. He seemed to mention Legolas an awful lot tonight, or maybe it was just because I didn't want to talk about him. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be back inside and drinking all my cares away.

"He would be happier if I went back to Isenguard and tossed myself into the underground and drowned." I spoke coldly, my anger at what he had said during our fight returned. I knew that he had only said it because neither of us were thinking about the words coming out of our mouths. But that didn't mean that it didn't hurt.

"Deirdre, we both know that isn't true."

"Then why did he tell me that I should run off to Sauron." I nearly growled, all the happiness that I had managed to gain was gone.

"When did he tell you that?"

"Last night, when we were arguing."

"That is exactly why he said it, you were fighting. I won't claim to know your elf. But when I met him after we had found Saffron, he looked crushed that we didn't have you too. And when we were on our way to Isenguard, he was tense and angry."

"It's not like I didn't give him a perfect reason for him to be pissed off." I said sadly.

"Deirdre, if you want things to be alright for you and Legolas. Then you should be talking to him in there, rather than me out here." He laughed, it was the first time he had laughed since this part of the conversation had begun.

I nodded my head, knowing that he was right. I pulled out of his arms, only to turn around and give him a hug.

"Thank you, Eomer." I told him, smiling as I did so.

"Come on, I'll walk you back inside."

We turned to walk back inside, but I paused for a second. Without thinking, I looked over at him and said his name. Then I rose up on my toes to give him a kiss on the cheek, but he had turned his head to look at me from when I said his name. Our lips brushed and I could feel the scratchiness of his facial hair. That was definitely something that I liked about Legolas, no beard. But right as our lips touched, there was a light cast against the ground that seemed far too bright for this late at night.

I dropped back down so I was standing flat-footed. I looked over at the brightness of the light, only to see Aragorn standing there with a cloak in his hands and Legolas at his side. My eyes widened when I took in Legolas' angry face. The fury was radiating off of him, his hands were clenched into fists at his sides. After a second of our eyes meeting, mine scared as they met his dark fury-filled eyes, he began moving past Aragorn towards us. I didn't have any time to react from the shock as he slammed his fist into Eomer's face. But once the hit sounded, I jumped into action. I shoved both my hands against his chest, falling into him as I shoved.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I yelled at him.

He stumbled backwards with me held against him, my arms were still trapped against his chest after I had shoved him away. His hands closed tight around my upper arms, I nearly winced with the force that he was using on my flesh.

"Why don't you answer that question yourself?" he snarled back at me, it seemed that the days where we never fought and enjoyed each other's company were gone. I only hoped that this wasn't going to be a permanent thing.

"I was talking to Eomer because he was nice enough to keep me company while I was waiting for Aragorn to come back."

"Yes, I remember your talking." He replied sarcastically.

"Ugh!" I screamed in frustration. "You're impossible."

I said before pulling my arms from his grasp and began storming toward the hall. I was most of the way there before I was caught by Aragorn's words.

"Deirdre, where are you going?" he asked concerned, though his voice still held a hint of shock from before.

"I'm going to get a drink. And maybe another and then another. Until either I'm in a fucking fantastic mood or I pass out on the floor." I replied harshly. "Whichever one comes first."

And with that I stormed back into the hall and made my way over to where the ale was kept. I took care of filling my own tankard, again and again. My mood began improving slightly as my head got lighter. But I didn't stop, I really was planning on drinking until I passed out. And it was beginning to look like that would be coming soon. After a few more tankards full of ale, I made my way over to one of the rather more comfortable looking chairs. I settled down with my final tankard of ale, and chugged it down. Then I relaxed until I lost contact with everything that was happening around me.

***End Chapter 25***

So the two songs in there, that weren't from the movie, were Seven Deadly Sins by Flogging Molly and Lily the Pink by the Irish Rovers.

Emma: Thank you so much for your inspiration piece there, it gave me the idea to have the little bit of bonding between Eomer and Deirdre, as well as the peck.

Megan: Yeah, Deirdre and Saffron are actually based off of me and my best friend. Deirdre is pretty much me with a name change, which is why I try to write mainly from her perspective.

Read and Review XD