A/N: Well, here we are - last chapter. Thank you so much for joining me on this ride.

September - Dol Amroth - Prankster

Henneth looked at her mistress doubtfully. "Another layer of powder, my lady? Are you sure?"

"Quite sure." Lothiriel was already as white as the chalk cliffs of Amroth. She carefully selected her colors: rosebud red for her lips; a thin black eyebrow pencil. "Please do the makeup as you did when I was betrothed to my Lord Boromir."

"Yes, my lady." Henneth hesitated. "I have heard that they are less formal in Rohan. Isn't that true? Perhaps a lighter lip color and some more of your natural face?"

"Exactly as it was, if you please."

The elaborate braids weighed on Lothiriel's head like a bad cold. She made her way down the hall, and Erchirion nearly passed her by.

He did a double take. "I haven't seen you like that since you went to Minas Tirith," he said. He chewed his lip for a moment before adding, "Lottie, Eomer is not a man to stand on appearance. I think he might rather like you with a little less..." Erchirion waved his hands. "Getup."

Lothiriel smiled. "Yes, perhaps." She took his arm. "Shall we?"

She knew how Eomer was with Niniel. Would he be the same way with the Princess of Dol Amroth? Would he welcome an errant-born son from a princess the way he welcomed Ecthelion from a washerwoman?

September - Lossarnach and Dol Amroth - Princess

Eomer understood what had been wrong with his engagement as soon as the young lord meeting their escort dismounted. The man swept his cloak aside in order to bow, revealing the sleeves of a beautiful green woolen sweater that Eomer had watched being knit. The lord made a deep but quick obeisance, and then his hands flew to Princess Lothiriel's reins, and he drew the horse of the rejected bride forward.

Eomer made some brief goodbyes that were perhaps not noted very carefully by the couple.

Dol Amroth was a few days' ride hence, and in the sitting room he remembered was a woman bedecked with jewels.

"Princess," he said formally. He was not sure if he could take another round of courtships, but for Imrahil's and the princes' sakes, he would try.

"King Eomer."

"Please, ah, just Eomer." He tried to read her expression through the thick veil of her makeup. She looked familiar, but then, of course she would, being the sister of his friends.

The princess inclined her head. After a few moments of weighty silence, she spoke.

"We are both well aware of the advantages of a marriage of state."

"Yes, Princess, of course- although I would try my best to be a warm blanket - er - husband."

"A warm horse blanket for a mare like you," was the phrase from the song. Lothiriel fought a smile off her face, for Eomer must be nervous, and answered coldly.

"Has my father has mentioned I have a son?"

The set of Eomer's shoulders in his fancy dress cloak relaxed slightly. "Ecthelion son of Boromir will be welcome at Edoras. You must understand he cannot be in line for the throne, at least not in the Riddermark, but his father was a fine man and soldier. And of course the boy is now nephew to my sister and myself."

"Very well. I see no obstacles." She turned to the adjoining room. "Ecthelion?" she called out.

Eomer raised his eyebrows in surprise, for although the little boy wore an unaccustomed velvet, he was certainly the same little boy Eomer knew so well, whom he had been envisioning on the seat of a fine horse he was training.

"Captain!" the little boy crowed with delight.

"Echi, you rascal," he said in Rohirric. He had heard Niniel had moved from her cottage. He glanced up at the doorway, hoping to see Niniel, and also looking for the son of the Princess, who must have Echi as a playmate. "What are you doing all the way here? Where is mama?"

"Mama is right here."

Eomer stopped looking at the doorway. He looked at the grinning boy he had in his arms who was trying to blow raspberries on him. Echi could be short for Ecthelion. Eomer turned slowly. "Niniel?" He took a step towards the Princess. It was Niniel, underneath the jewels. "Niniel! You tricked me."

"You cannot be angry with me, Fanbern," she said pointedly.

Eomer began to smile, and to pick out in his mind the Meara she would have.

Epilogue - Edoras

Here is the horse and here is the rider,

They eat some oats and get a little bit wider.

Who is the wider, the horse or the rider?

"The rider, I thought, for the horse can work it off."

Lothiriel smiled at the voice behind her and relaxed into her husband's arms. She had thought that she would keep Boromir in a corner of her heart forever, but it was not true. The heart, the loving heart, was not a thing to be divided. It grew and it changed, just as she did, and her love for Boromir grew and changed with it. She held that love for Boromir and her son together with all of her loves, including her love for Eomer, and found that her heart was not divided, and was indeed whole.

Ecthelion son of Boromir discovered, to his delight, that he had a frame born for fighting. His father's prowess mingled with that of his mother's family, and he grew tall and strong. He would not stay at court forever, and with his mother's kiss and his foster-father's hand clasp, he left with the Dunedain for the wild reaches of the Wold and beyond.

***The End***

A/N: There we are. Happy trails to our golden couple. : ) I hope you enjoyed the story!