-Kristen-

I was excited to travel without getting chased by a Nazgul. I was also excited to take Gordion on a trip that was longer than a few laps around the stable. I was a little nervous about leaving Faramir behind, but he assured me that I was in need of a few adventures of my own.

So, I hoisted on the new pair of riding pants Wendil had made for me. It was her goodbye gift, even though I would be returning in a week and a half.

Aragorn had left the stables by the time I had made it there. Claire gave me his gift, the dagger Eruaistaniel, and I hadn't gotten to thank him. Legolas assured me there would be plenty of time when I returned since he and Faramir would be spending all of their time together.

I was not looking forward to riding three days straight on the back of my golden steed, however. But we traveled leisurely, stopping often enough and sleeping throughout the night.

While the trip was to be somewhat of a happy occasion, it was also a somber one. Though few had been lost in the Battle of the Black Gate, many Rohirim perished in the Battle of Pelenor Fields. I learned that most of them had come from outlying small cities in Rohan, and the soldiers that accompanied us back were people of Edoras, the capital of the country. Since all of the bodies had been trampled by Oliphaunts or forced to sit around for five days, none of the dead accompanied us back to Edoras, but there would be many families that grieved. I was somewhat relieved that I wouldn't have to be around that in Gondor this week and I found myself in high spirits knowing that Beregrond had survived for Wendil and Bergil.

In the evenings, Claire and I would practice with Rachel. She trained with Erkenbrand while Eomer and Legolas taught the two of us. I guess Eomer didn't want to pretend to hit Rachel with a sword. It was interesting, switching between a Man and an Elf, since the two styles were so different. At first, Claire didn't want to learn, but Legolas persuaded her, knowing she may need it on their upcoming travels. I trained because it wasn't fair that Rachel got to be the only badass of the group and I figured Faramir would get a kick out of it.

Rachel was practically glued to Eomer's hip as the two shared stories of their pasts. Claire and I had begun to tell Legolas and Gimli all about our lives back on Earth.

"You have been in education for sixteen years?" Gimli asked us one day. "And you still have another to go apiece? What could you possibly have left to learn after all that time?"

"Well, after the first thirteen, you change to a different system called college or university where you focus on one particular area of study," Claire explained.

"And what do you two study?" he asked.

"I study history education," Claire said.

"I'm mathematics." I said.

"And what of Lady Rachel?"

"She's creative writing." I thanked God none of us were something different, like film or broadcasting. Then we'd be explaining new concepts of technology to the dwarf all day.

"Fascinating. You spend four whole years learning just mathematics. Here I've lived my entire life only needing to add or subtract."

I laughed. "It can get a bit more complicated than that."

The trip continued to be just that pleasant until we arrived in Edoras. I have to say, I much preferred Minas Tirith.

The land looked to be pretty barren, save for the large crops that grew out in the distance. Small houses and buildings lined the area below the giant hill in the center. On it stood a massive building that could only be Meduseld, made out of mostly wood and some stone. On its roof sat yellow straw that appeared to glow when the sun hit it just right, and I understood why they called it the Golden Hall. I noticed Rachel smile as we strode through the small city and I understood immediately why she loved this place. Its little cabin-like houses and large fields reminded me of her summer camp. I would always visit her on her birthday, which was over the summer, so I knew how closely it resembled this small city.

We were greeted by smiling faces of children, elders, and some women who had stayed behind, not wanting to join the fight. I noticed Rachel's friend Maywen jump off of her horse and run to a preteen boy, pulling him into her arms.

Some children couldn't find their fathers. I didn't want to think about it.

I followed King Theoden up the hill where we all dismounted. Our horses were taken to the barns by a few of the riders. I stuck with Claire as we were ushered inside.

I don't know what I was expecting, but the inside was a pretty big letdown. It was basically just a long, somewhat narrow room for its size. At the other end was a simple throne. On the walls were intricate tapestries with different depictions of Men and their horses.

"As my guests," Theoden said, walking over to me and Claire. "You can stay here, in the Golden Hall. I'm afraid absence from the war has left us slightly staff-less. I hope you ladies can manage on your own?"

He was asking if we needed hand maidens. It took everything I had not to laugh out loud. I'd managed twenty-one years without one. I was sure I could survive four days.

"Come with me," Eomer said, leading us down the hall and behind a tapestry. It was a small corridor with multiple rooms. "The stairs lead down to the kitchens and servant's quarters. But down here are some guest rooms." He opened a door that lead into a large room with two beds. It looked like Claire and I would be sharing. "I hope you'll be comfortable?"

"Oh, we'll be fine," Claire said. "I'm just happy to actually get a room this time."

"Yeah, thanks Eomer," I said. He struck me as a stern man, but one who was capable of great feeling. Clearly, he set many emotions aside, but that was good for Rachel. He held her arm now, not in a protective manner. He seemed to just want to be close to her.

They left us in the room. I assumed Rachel was taken to a permanent room, since she'd be living here. "Dibs on the bath!" Claire said, pulling her blue cloak off her back and walking behind the separator off to the side of the room.

"I'll never get used to baths being in the bedroom," I said, sitting on one of the beds and pulling off my boots.

"Baths are nothing. I'll never get used to piss pots."

I thought she was joking, but sure enough, there was a small copper pot under my bed. I missed Gondor. There, the latrines were public, but the height of the mountain allowed for an aqueduct and plumbing system.

"What do you think the ceremony will be like?" I asked.

I heard the pumping of water. "I spoke to Theoden last night. It's not usually a big deal, but he's planning on decreeing a law that makes basic defense skills necessary for both genders, allowing girls, when they get older, to join his armies. Rachel doesn't know. He wants to surprise her."

"She really got the better end of the stick in this journey, didn't she?" I said.

"You jealous?"

"Maybe. Aren't you?"

"I'm not really a weapons type of girl. I don't know if I could do what she did at the Hornburg or Pelenor, but I don't think I'm jealous of it."

"But you are jealous?" Claire was an open book. It was never hard for me to read her tone of voice or her expressions.

"Well she…I mean, both of you…you just seem to have everything figured out. I just seems so easy for you."

"It is easy," I agreed. "Only, it wasn't at first. I mean, how could it have been? I had no clue where I was or what was going on. You and Rachel were nowhere to be found. I was stuck in a cave, getting questioned by Faramir, not knowing the answers. And that stupid Ring…"

"What was that like?" she asked. "The Ring?"

I thought long and hard about my answer. I had visited Frodo before the party. I wanted to see for myself that he was fine. And he was, on a certain level. On the other, that Ring had seriously messed with him. "I felt like I had to have it," I said. "Whenever I saw it, I wanted it. And it seemed like Frodo didn't. And if he didn't want it, then why couldn't I have it? I didn't know what I could do with it, but I knew it was powerful and I thought I could…I don't know…keep it safe."

I heard the plug getting pulled from the tub drain. "That's pretty much how I imagined it would be," Claire said, coming out from behind the separator wearing a towel.

"Claire?" I said, fingering the place where my scar had been. "If the Ring did bring us here…how could you get home without it?"

She started running a comb through her hair. "That's exactly what I'm going to ask Elrond."

We both ignored the part where I said "you" and not "we".

The next day, we didn't see Rachel at all. The few times we managed to run into Eomer, he was busy with something, but he told us she had been at the smithy all night and would have to stay there this morning. They were building her custom-made Rohirim armor. Eomer wouldn't tell us what he was up to.

So, Claire showed me around the city, which took about half an hour total. There really wasn't much to see that I couldn't make out from my window in Meduseld. We ended up killing a bit of time in the kitchens, helping prepare some of the food for the feast tonight. It was to double as a memorial service to the soldiers that had been lost from Edoras. So, while I would be celebrating, most of the city would be collecting a compensation out of a free meal. That was a bit depressing.

After I burnt a batch of bread, the cooks politely told Claire and me that our help really wasn't needed. There was also some excuse about being the King's guests and he wouldn't approve. That left one thing…

Legolas and the archery range. I had a pretty good time with that and had managed to get quite a few shots into the red center circle at fifty paces.

"Why do you fight with a bow, Legolas?" I asked him. "Why not your long swords?"

He smiled, sliding his hand down his intricately designed bow. "Most of my kin do fight with long swords, it's true. But I have always preferred the bow, my lady. It always came more naturally to me than the sword, though I can be just as aggressive with either weapon."

He had also insisted that Claire learn some of the Elvish language, Sindarin, before traveling to one of their kingdoms. And since I had nothing better to do, I joined in. By the time the sun had started to fade, we could hold a basic conversation.

"Mae g'ovannen," I greeted.

"Mae l'ovannen," Claire would respond. "Goheno nin, u-bedin edhellen annen."

"Agoreg vae."

And we continued like that for about two hours out in the grass with our Elf friend. Gimli stopped by towards the end. He had come to tell us that the ceremony would start in about an hour, so Claire and I made our way back to Meduseld to get dressed.

Mae g'ovannen- well met

Goheno nin u-bedin edhellen annen- I am sorry, I do not speak Sindarin well.

Agore vae bedin- You are speaking fine

-Eomer-

Never in my life did I think I would find this person. I remember being very young and spying on my mother and Eowyn in my sister's chambers of Meduseld. Theodwyn told her that she would grow up to find a man who would love her, not just for her beauty or grace, but for her stubbornness and nerve as well. Theodwyn had never given me a talk like that, but I took her words to mean that when I found the woman I loved, that I was obligated to love all parts of her, even the ones that could be construed as negative.

I knew now that it was not obligation. I loved that she was reckless. I loved that she was blunt. Most of all, I loved how she never gave up on what she stood for. And made my country better for it.

Rachel stood clad in new armor with a new sword at her hip as Theoden declared to the people that she was to join my ranks. And when he announced that all women of Rohan would have the opportunity to rise in rank as she had, I saw something in her look at Theoden I had never seen her give him. It was a look of admiration. But more than that, it was a look of love.

I heard many women mutter about the new decree throughout the hall, but it was too jumbled and quiet to make out anything individually.

"More than this new declaration," Theoden continued. "Many lives have been lost to this bloody war. Husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers. Blood of Rohan valiantly spilled to a glorious victory. Tonight, as we had one month ago, we remember them. Our brothers and sisters."

Rachel made her way back to the crowd. I thought she was walking to me, but instead, she went out the door as a toast was made. I placed my goblet on the table and followed her.

She knew I was behind her, but she didn't stop for me to catch up. She led me down the hill and to the east. We walked for a few minutes before we reached the giant stone door of the tombs.

"I wish she was here," she whispered, speaking of Eowyn. "I wish she could have been a part of this."

"Truly she would have basked in this glory."

"All she ever wanted was to be free from a cage. Here we've gone and locked her in another one."

I grabbed her gloved hand with my bare one. She leaned into me, resting her head on my chest and I breathed in the scent of her hair. The smell of clean grass and fresh flowers I knew not the name of. "We cannot grieve her forever, my love," I said.

"Everyone in Middle-earth grieves for their dead tonight. She is the one I lost. And I have little to distract me from it."

"Perhaps a gift?" I said. I had been working on it vigorously since our time of rest in Gondor. I took great care in hiding it from her on the three-day journey back.

"You got me a present?" she said, her head jerking up in surprise.

I smiled, pulling her back up the hill. "It is at the smithy," I said.

She frowned. "I spent all day in the smithy. How did you hide it?"

"You knew not to look for it. So I hid it in plain sight."

I grinned at her confused expression as we reached the workshop. I had never been excellent at masonry, far from my greatest skill. I led her inside and pulled the silver piece from its hiding place behind a spare breastplate.

"You made me a helmet," she said, taking it from my hands and fingering the intricate designs on the side. That had not been my work, rather the help of one of our masons. They depicted her figure on the back of a bucking horse, her fingers gripping the hilt of a sword. It was the way I had seen her at the Battle of the Hornburg. The day I fell in love with her, though neither of us knew it then.

Her fingers ran through the chestnut plume of the helmet at the top. "From Theybrush's mane," I said. "He was your friend and the only family you had in this world for a while. I thought his presence would bring you luck."

Suddenly, her arms were around my neck and her lips were upon mine. I felt the chainmail on her arms dig into my shoulders, but I didn't care. "No one in this world is luckier than I am tonight," she whispered, breaking the kiss only to say that. And then her lips returned.

I thanked the Valar we were not interrupted this time.

A/N: Bit of a crap chapter, but there you have it. Sorry I've been gone for a week. College life can get you like. Anyway, send a review. Any suggestions on what you want to see between now and when the last ship sails to Aman would be welcome! I can most definitely fit them in if they work with my story.

In my spare time i have been writing an M-rated fanfic on the life of Rachel and Eomer. It is some smut, but a lot of fun. And sad. Any takers?

i will shut up now.