She was held in his arms for a few moments, no words or actions being exchanged as the moments edged by. Eomer looked into her alarmed eyes, his own wide with fear. 'Tinioniel is in my arms.' He smiled slightly but then he pushed her away. Tinioniel scrambled backwards as did Eomer.
"W-What just happened?" Tinioniel asked, looking around frantically.
"This fools even me." Eomer confessed looking at Tinioniel longingly. 'Does this mean I can get near her? Does this mean things can go back to normal?' Eomer wanted to reach out to her, but afraid of the consequences.
"Maybe, maybe he didn't see us?"
"Do you know anything of magic?" Eomer asked, hoping that she did, and that she was right.
"Only what is in the books." Tinioniel offered her information and Eomer sighed.
"You are probably right. Maybe he didn't see. We better not chance it." Eomer looked around as Tinioniel allowed her stare to fall on Eomer. 'Did that spell I mistakenly cast protect us for that brief moment? Will it have the same affects later?'
"Good idea." Tinioniel looked in the direction she was headed. "Which way are you going?" Eomer nodded in the path that he was going to take. "Well good. I am going the other way, so, if you stay as far as you can on that side, then I will do the same over here, and we can pass unharmed right?" Eomer shrugged his broad shoulders.
"It is better then having to wait things out in a hallway. Press yourself against the wall and let it guide you. That way we can be as far away as possible." They took tiny steps in reverse paths, inching slowly away from each other. Tinioniel broke off into a run as Eomer looked on towards her. When she felt it was safe, Tinioniel ceased her running. She glanced back at Eomer who stood unmoving in the middle of the hall.
"Stop looking so glum!" Tinioniel slid her shoe off her foot and threw it at Eomer. He ducked in an attempt to miss the flying shoe, but failed and it hit him against his head.
"You had better be glad that you are safe by some spell girl. I will keep your shoe instead." Eomer picked up the shoe and started to walk away.
"W-Wait! Where are you going? You can't take my shoe!"
"You should have thought about that before you threw it at me." Eomer walked past a window and threw the slipper out of its aperture, descending upon people down below. Eomer, propping against the window sill, smiled contentedly as Tinioniel looked on with massive horror. A strange noise, however, startled them as they heard an infuriated yell.
"Eomer!" Aragorn bellowed upwards, making Eomer flush. "I don't know who you think you are, but you may not throw shoes out of a window!" Eomer smiled mockingly at Aragorn. "Do not give me that look! Stay right there!" Aragorn stormed away from the open area and made his way towards a door. Tinioniel folded her arms with contentment as her mouth curved into a sassy smile.
"Not scared of him are you?" Eomer backed away from the window as his look turned from slight alarm to delight.
"You can get your own shoe back, if you can hobble down there fast enough before someone else finds it." With that, Eomer made his way hastily down the hall. Tinioniel pivoted on her heel, growling as irritation flared in her eyes. She looked out the windows she passed by, absorbing the breath taking beauty of the sunrise that streaked the sapphire skies with scarlets and golds. Then she heard it; a voice in the distance reprimanding someone.
"What did you think you were doing throwing a shoe out of a window!" Tinioniel smiled as Aragorn's voice filled her ears pleasingly. With confident strides, Tinioniel made her way down the corridors to find something to eat.
- ~ * ~ -
Idly she sat on the bed, finishing the little scraps of food she was given. Tinioniel detested acknowledging the fact that she missed the elf's company that he so devotedly gave. With out warning, a feeling of sheer isolation besieged her mind. Tinioniel did not belong here, and she knew that. 'Why am I fighting for them?' She thought to herself. 'Is it because I feel pressured to do so? No. Maybe guilty if I do not? I can not shake this feeling that something will happen if I do what was asked. If I fight, I feel some…. Shadow…. Watching ever move I make, and in the end, I feel like it will consume me.' Tinioniel shook her head, trying to purge the worries that were seemingly overriding her. 'Why was I so quick to say 'yes' to Gandalf? Have I condemned myself? What will happen if I don't fight? What will happen if I do?' Her eyes were fixed upon the unadorned concrete that covered the floor. Tinioniel had abandoned the real world, and instead looked in her thoughts, her fears, her doubts. Suddenly, visions filled her mind of a beautiful park with a small waterfall nearby. Trees with their long limbs unfolded covered her from the sun, protecting her. A level even rock was near the water's edge and upheld Tinioniel. Closing her eyes, all her reservations and suspicions were dismissed as if they were non existent. Divine rays of sunshine bathed her face in its warmth as she filled her worried void with sounds of the wind weaving their way through the trees like thread in a loom. So immersed in her artificial palace, the opening door in her existent world was not heard by her. Gandalf looked at Tinioniel whose eyelids covered the jade hue. She had a slight smile upon her face and was emitting a soft glow. The radiance was weak and barely seen, but its presence was still noticeable. Gandalf stepped loudly over to Tinioniel who did not stir from her reverie. Gandalf situated his body in front of hers, looking directly at her grinning form. Closing his own eyes, he traveled into her mind. Gandalf spotted Tinioniel quite easily as he walked over to her. Tinioniel's ears heard footsteps coming towards her and her eyes snapped open. Briskly, she whirled her body around and saw Gandalf. When their eyes met, Tinioniel was pulled from the haven and was placed back into the well-known room of the Deep. Gandalf's eyes were still locked onto hers, and she was filled with fear, for the intensity in his eyes was not present in the azure color before. They eventually softened as Gandalf continued to look at her.
"Congratulations. You are expanding your mind and bringing comforts to you. That is a sign that you are using your magic indeed." Tinioniel looked at Gandalf, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Gandalf, you scared me!" Tinioniel finally remarked, dismissing the somewhat confusing statement he just made.
"Have you eaten?"
"Yes." Tinioniel replied dryly, but her eyes brightened at the encounter with Eomer. "Gandalf! Something really weird happened! I accidentally ran into Eomer, and nothing happened! Nothing! No light, no pain! What does that mean?" Gandalf smiled at her eager question.
"You have the craft of magic. The spell that you involuntarily cast in the practice room countered Sauruman's hex. He directed the spell towards a human girl, not a magical being." His words soaked into her mind.
"So does this mean what I think it means?" Gandalf's mouth curved with a knowing smile as Tinioniel returned it.