No lie this is a pretty self-indulgent moment. I'm basically writing this story for me and two other people (you know who you are). This is an AU of sorts of Where Heroes Lie, but any new readers are welcome to take this as a standalone. Just be warned, this is pretty OC-centric.

I. Princess of the White Castle

"You know what I don't get?"

Toven stepped outside the movie theater, holding the door for Quinn to follow him, and the warm late-night air of New York City greeted them. "What's that?"

"Why did they spend all that time disarming the bomb when they could have just shot it into space?"

He shoved his hands in his pockets as they began walking down the street. It was a couple hours past midnight, and they had the sidewalk to themselves for once. "That bothered you, but not the part where the alien lizard survived being stuck in a freezer for two days?"

"He's an alien lizard. He can do whatever he wants." She stretched and folded her hands behind her head. "I really want carbs. Let's stop and get something before we head back, yeah?"

"Sure." This was a monthly tradition of theirs, hanging out at a bar and then catching a midnight showing of whatever crappy indie film was being played at one of the smaller theaters. Tonight had been Galaxy Demon Conquest IV.

"Hey." Quinn pointed to a White Castle across the street. "I'm getting fries."

Toven shook his head and followed her. "I still don't understand how you can eat that stuff. The food is so…"

"It's two in the morning, I'm a little bit high, and we just watched people run around in rubber lizard suits for an hour and a half." She shrugged and pulled open the door. "I'm in the mood to eat gross, crunchy fries."

"Fair enough." Toven squinted slightly as he stepped inside the restaurant. It always felt like this place had their lights on a little too bright.

There was only one other customer inside, a woman with long blonde hair who was arguing with the short woman behind the counter.

"There must be somewhere I can obtain a horse," the blonde was saying. "Can you at least tell me who is the lord of this land?"

As he drew closer, Toven realized the woman was wearing a full-length white dress, and pursed his lips. He turned to ask Quinn if they could find a different fast food joint, but she was already walking up to the counter.

"Everything cool, here?" Quinn asked, leaning an elbow against the white linoleum.

The woman behind the counter, whose name tag read Helena, fixed the blonde with the look of someone who was several hours into their shift and was reaching the dregs of a very deep well of patience. "You can order something from the menu, or you can get out."

"You will not help me?" the blonde asked, and there was genuine hurt in her voice.

Before Helena could reiterate her point in an even less friendly manner, Quinn interjected. "Hey, maybe I can help you. Mind if I get some food first?"

The blonde turned to her, and Toven was able to get a better look at her face. She had elegant features punctuated by a pointed nose and gently arching brows. She dipped her head in a slight nod.

"Why don't you find us a table?" Quinn said to Toven, then turned back to Helena. "Can I get two medium fries?"

Toven nodded for the blonde to follow him, and led her to a booth in the middle of the restaurant. She gathered up her skirts and sat across from him, folding her hands in her lap. He busied himself with checking his phone, reluctant to start a conversation. It was two in the morning, and this was New York, which didn't give him a ton of confidence regarding this woman's sanity.

Quinn appeared with two containers of fries in her hands. "Scooch."

Wordlessly, Toven moved over so she could sit beside him. She slid one of the containers across the table to the blonde and sat back.

"So, what were you asking that lady for earlier?"

"I need to find my way back to Minas Tirith," the woman said. "By some strange circumstance, I have come to this foreign land, and I find myself utterly lost."

Okay, she's crazy. Toven went back to scrolling through Twitter.

"Minas Tirith? Where's that?" Quinn asked.

"It is the capital city of Gondor." The woman's voice became pleading. "If I could see a map or something to help me find my way…"

"One sec." Quinn pulled out her phone and began typing into it. She let out a long hum. "Is Gondor in Europe, or something?"

"It is to the south of my own kingdom, Rohan," the woman said, a note of desperation entering her voice.

More typing. "Are you by any chance referring to the…commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France?"

Toven glanced at the Wikipedia page she was reading from. Right, that should have been obvious from her non-existent French accent.

Quinn set her phone down. "What's your name?"

"Éowyn, daughter of Eomund," the woman replied, brow furrowed.

"I'm Quinn, and this is Toven. Also, how do you spell that?"

"Look," Toven interjected. This was clearly going nowhere, and the fluorescent lights were starting to give him a headache. "How did you get here from…wherever you came from?"

"I saw that this place was called the White Castle, and I thought I could seek aid here." Éowyn cast a frown at the counter. "It seems I was wrong."

"I mean, how did you get to New York?"

She straightened. "I arrived in Minas Tirith to meet my betrothed, but an old man summoned me to the top of the White Tower. When I reached the uppermost room, a strange orb in the center cast a bright light on me, and I felt myself falling. I emerged from a round hole and found myself in the streets of this place you call New York."

"Wait, you came out of the sewers?" Quinn asked. "Like a teenage mutant ninja turtle?"

"Okay, sidebar." Toven put a hand on Quinn's shoulder, nudging her out of the booth. Éowyn made to follow them, but he motioned for her to stay put. He led Quinn to the other side of the room and crossed his arms. "What are we doing, here?"

Quinn scratched the back of her head. "I wanted to give her directions, but I'm really confused now."

"That's probably because she…doesn't really have it together."

"Well, what are we going to do? We let her wander around, someone's probably going to call the cops on her. That would suck."

Toven let out a sigh through his nose. "I don't want that either, I just…"

"Let's give her a place to stay for the night. We can figure things out in the morning."

He was silent for a long moment. Quinn didn't always have the best judgement, but he couldn't resent her for her kindness, not after everything she'd done for him. "I'm sleeping with my door locked."

"Thanks, T." She patted his shoulder and strode back to the booth. "Hey, Éowyn, it's getting pretty late. If you want, you can spend the night at our place, and in the morning we'll figure out how to get you back home."

Gratitude melted over her gaze. She didn't really look unstable or delusional, but she'd spoken that outlandish story with such conviction that Toven didn't really know what to think. "I owe you a great thanks."

"Sure thing. And eat your fries. They taste even worse cold."

The next morning, Quinn was jolted awake by a scream. She pressed her face into the pillow with a groan, wondering if the neighbors were being weird again, then remembered the woman from last night.

She rolled out of bed, nearly banging her head on the nightstand, then stumbled into the living room. Toven was already there, and Éowyn was sitting on the couch with her knees pulled up to her chest.

Quinn pushed her hair out of her face. "What happened?"

Toven gestured to the corner of the room. "She got scared by the…"

She followed his gaze to the cardboard cutout near the window. "What, this? It's nothing." She moved to the cutout and turned it so Éowyn could see it was two-dimensional. "Just a little decoration."

Éowyn nodded, a slight blush rising to her cheeks. "Forgive me. I did not see it last night, and I was startled…"

"All good." She put the cutout back in its original place. "This is Master Chief. I stole him from a Gamestop."

Éowyn looked around the room, her gaze roaming over the TV, the Nerf rifle hanging over the fake fireplace, the crochet Mr. Mime on the windowsill. "Are you…a thief?"

Toven's eyebrows shot up, and Quinn snorted. "Not as, like, my job. I make an honest living."

Her blush deepened, and Éowyn swung her legs over the side of the couch. "I did not mean to offend you."

Quinn waved her off. "No worries. You want breakfast?"

"I'll make some coffee." Toven walked into the kitchen.

Éowyn looked up as Quinn perched on the arm of the couch. "If you do not mind me asking, what is your profession?"

"QA. I'm a bug tester." She gestured to the TV. "I basically play video games all day, and I get paid pretty good money for it. It's kind of my dream job."

She tilted her head. "I have never heard of such a thing."

Quinn shrugged. "I get that a lot. I'm pretty sure if more people knew about it, everyone would want to do it."

"Quinn, do you know where the bread is?" Toven called from the kitchen.

"Uh…"

"Okay, better question: why is the bread in the microwave?"

"Well, what is a microwave if not a cabinet that also heats things up?" She turned and muttered to Éowyn, "He has this thing about keeping things organized."

She smiled politely. "Well, it is good to have a husband that keeps an orderly household."

Quinn frowned. "What? No, Toven's not— We're just roommates."

Éowyn tilted her head. "But you live together."

"Yeah, that's what roommates means. If anything, I think of him as a younger brother." She crossed her arms and looked the other woman over. "Speaking of, did you mention a fiancé last night?"

"My betrothed?"

"Sure. What's he like?"

"I have heard that he is kind and gentle. We have exchanged a few letters, but it is difficult to judge a man's character by the written word."

"Wait, you've never met this guy?" Quinn asked, and Éowyn shook her head.

"So it was an arranged marriage." Toven emerged from the kitchen with two mugs of coffee. He offered one to Éowyn. "Careful, it's hot."

She accepted it with a smile and gently blew on the contents. "It was arranged by my uncle before he passed, as a way to reforge the old alliance that existed between our kingdoms."

Quinn propped one foot on the couch. "So are you a princess, or something?"

She nodded. "My brother is the king."

Toven's brows lowered. "Let me guess—you don't have any money to get home and you need our credit card numbers."

Éowyn's brow furrowed. Then she set her jaw, put her mug on the coffee table, and stood up. "You seem to think me dishonest and deceitful, though I have done nothing to earn such judgement since I have met you."

"You really expect me to believe you come from a kingdom that by all accounts doesn't exist, and some magic orb teleported you into the sewers of New York?"

"I understand my story strains the bounds of belief, and I have found myself incredulous of many things in this city. Yet I have still given you my trust, and all I ask is that you would do the same." Éowyn shifted her weight, as if she wanted to storm off but didn't know where.

At that moment, the toaster pinged in the other room, and Quinn stood up, desperate to relieve some of the tension in the room.

"Come on, I need help getting my toast." She grabbed Toven's arm and pulled him into the kitchen. She dropped her voice to a whisper. "That was a little harsh, dude."

He frowned down at her. "Are you saying you believe her?"

"I mean, I've been scammed before, and I'm not getting that vibe from her. And who are we to judge whether or not she's telling the truth? What if that kid beat E.T. with a shovel instead of helping him out?"

"Do you want me to start listing movies where the alien should have been beaten with a shovel?"

"Look, just trust my judgement on this one." She squeezed his arms. "I know this makes you nervous, but I don't think she's a bad person. And if anything does go wrong, I'll do the dishes for the next month."

His expression softened. "And you'll stop storing things in the microwave?"

"Promise."

"All right. Fine." He led the way back into the living room.

Éowyn was standing at the window with her arms crossed, watching the cars pass by below. With the sunlight illuminating her golden hair and white dress, she really did look like a princess.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier," Toven said, causing her to turn. "I shouldn't have accused you of being a liar without getting to know you first."

Her expression remained aloof, but Éowyn dipped her chin in acknowledgement. "I accept your apology."

"I'm going to get dressed," Toven muttered, and disappeared into his bedroom.

Quinn grabbed her toast and ventured back into the living room. "Don't worry about him," she told Éowyn. "There's a lot of people in this city who try and trick you, and he's just a naturally suspicious person."

"I did not know that." Éowyn turned back to the window. "This place is unlike anywhere I have ever been before. It is a little overwhelming."

She smiled. "Everyone feels that way when they first get to New York, but I promise this place is really cool. Maybe we can show you around."

"I would like that." Éowyn hesitated. "But I must find a way back home."

"I'm sure we'll figure something out." Quinn sat on the back of the couch, her feet propped on the cushions, and took a bite of her toast. She didn't exactly want to say that they didn't really have any magical teleportation orbs here. "But if you ended up here, you might as well make the best of it."

Toven emerged from his room, pulling on his jacket as he went, and she waved him over.

"Hey, you wanna take Éowyn around the city today? I would, but I have work."

Toven raised an eyebrow. "You work from home."

"Yeah, well, I don't think she wants to watch me run into walls for eight hours." Quinn slid down onto the couch and started looking for her headphones.

Éowyn tilted her head. "You run into walls?"

"Among other things." She rolled onto her stomach so she could start rummaging under the couch. "I like the job, but I don't want you to get bored."

Éowyn blinked several times, then seemed to give up on whatever question she'd been about to ask. "I would not want to serve as an undue distraction."

Quinn finally touched something plastic and pulled out her game controller. "Huh. That works." She turned to Toven and gave him a pointed look.

"Okay." He turned to Éowyn, making a visible attempt to lighten his expression. "If you want, I can show you a couple interesting spots in the city."

"I would appreciate that," Éowyn said, making a similar effort to keep the stiffness out of her tone.

Quinn realized the headphones had been on the coffee table the whole time and slung them over her neck. "Awesome. Have fun, you two!"

Toven attempted a smile as he made for the door, motioning for Éowyn to follow him. Quinn watched them go, and kept staring at the door for a few minutes after it shut behind them.

She didn't know what the deal really was with Éowyn, but she'd learned not to question the weird stuff in life. Between that and Toven's skepticism, they managed to balance each other out most of the time.

But maybe taking a chance would be good for him.