Éomer of Rohan returns to Gondor to visit his sister and Faramir in Emyn Arnen. There also he finds a changed Lothíriel, or a changing Lothíriel - something unexpected and inconvenient, anyway. Amidst diplomatic disasters, chats about the weather, and the fair woods of Ithilien, Lothíriel ponders what she wants in life, and Éomer must decide what he wants in love.