CHAPTER TWO

By the time they reached Hornburg, the girls were too relieved to complain about their hunger (besides having grown hardy enough from their adventure thus far to endure it). Some were frostbitten, some hypothermic, all were malnourished and looking nearly dead when they arrived, yet still too happy they had suffered no further loss to the group. The princess thanked them all for their endurance and hard work, and ordered them all to the infirmary.

But then the blow fell upon the princess, for in the triumph they felt upon finally arriving, she was informed that Hama her younger brother had been lost in the snow some months back, word had long reached the Deep of her elder brother Haleth's death before the doors of Meduseld and nothing had been heard of her father, who'd left weeks earlier, and of whom no news had reached them since they heard his horn blow on that one morning of sun some ten days earlier.

As the other girls were taken care of, the princess, sinking through depths of her heartbreak, wandered out on to the Dike. She gazed out into the cold white desert with some vain hope she might see some sign of her father, and her shame returned anew. She had been here only a few hours, and though she had not yet revealed the purpose of her journey, she was already resigning to her failure. The people here appeared to be sorely in need – they certainly could not spare enough food and supplies to sustain Dunharrow through the rest of the winter. She began to wonder if it was not truly now time to forfeit and appeal to Wulf himself for help.

It was there on the Dike her cousin Frealaf found her. He implored her to come to the castle for rest and food, but she resisted. She continued to stare out over the valley for a long moment, straight and still as a solemn statue, but just as he turned to leave again she swiftly told him the sum of her story in the grim manner to which her family was wont, from the moment she left Meduseld, the situation at Dunharrow and the purpose of her journey through the mountains.

He stood in amazement, understanding all too well what kind of a journey one would endure in the mountains during this kind of winter. Her brother and father had both been lost to the snow, and the fact that she and her entire party made it all the way from Dunharrow alive was beyond extraordinary to Frealaf, who himself had suffered such hardship when he made the journey to Helm's Deep in the cold and snow, after battling long in the Westfold, no less.

"You are indeed your father's daughter, princess," he said at last. "If not truly a Lady of the immortal High Elves, as the lore masters say."

"If that were true," she replied sadly, "I might then have had the better wisdom to remain with the people I led in Dunharrow, where I might be of some use. I cannot help them now, nor can I help anyone here. It is over." And she turned at last and walked back to the castle.

Frealaf was overcome with pity over her grief, and went to bed restless, certain the princess was wrong about her failure. He wondered that she, having been so near to Edoras, had been able to avert Wulf, and he thought it a very strange twist of fate that she survived such a journey through the mountains when the Winter had already taken her brother and even her father the great Helm Hammerhand.

First thing in the morning, just as dawn broke, all those in Frealaf's closest counsel were called together. He had summoned the princess, and just as the men were getting impatient, he silenced them. "Your ladyship," he began when she arrived. "You have made the long, treacherous journey here all the way from Dunharrow, seeking help you say. What now are your intentions?"

She paused a moment and looked at him, wondering what now were his intentions, and said, "I intend to seek out as much supplies as I can gather from those who can spare them, and prepare a return journey as soon as possible."

The men looked at her questioningly, and Frealaf replied, "But for what, your highness, when you said yourself you had failed and that it was useless to continue?"

"I did say so, cousin, but all there is left for me to do now is fulfill my quest and honor the trust I made with the people at Dunharrow. I shall return, whether it aids them or no."

To that the men sat silent, in soft pity and grave respect. "Besides," she added, "the many in need at Dunharrow lack also protection. If I cannot find supplies I should like to at least gather a few good men to return with me, for we have few and Wulf's ambitions are limitless."

At last one said, "What is it you are leading to, Marshal? Tell us already, for the winter lasts while our supplies do not."

"Let us not worry for much supplies, princess," he said. "We shall assemble a company of soldiers, and you shall lead us back down the path you took. The cold is already beginning to wane, and the snow will soon be melting. The journey should be a little less hazardous. But in any case, I shall return with you to Dunharrow, and descend upon Edoras from the South."

His counselors and friends broke into an uproar of debate. But the princess stood there silent, and though her face remained grim her eyes seemed to light up, for she knew there could be no better plan. "I assure you all there is no other way," he said to their questions and complaints. "We are all weak with need and soon the snow will melt, at which time Wulf will proceed to pursue his ambitions to the fullest and in the condition we all are in, Rohan will be no more. We must move now, and strike as the winter breaks. It's the only opportunity for victory we have with such meager resources."

The men continued to bicker, though with less conviction. For the chance of failure was high, so thus was their anxiety over such a daring move. The princess had little doubt over the idea, yet for a long moment stood in thought. She thought of everything she had been through up to that point, back through her lonely life as a lady of the palace. In the search for purpose, few can ever see fate's intentions. She suddenly realized why she was here, and that she could bring back help to Dunharrow after all.

"Silence, your graces, please," she interrupted. Their conversations halted. She faced them all, and in a firm tone her pleasantly deep voice drew out her words. "This line of Eorl has come to an end. But I say the kingdom of Rohan shall continue anew. Let us make this hour of weakness our last. This is the hour of judgment, and through it I will remain your sovereign as the last of my father's house. My order is to execute this attack on Edoras, and redeem our victory."

Her resolve to follow this new course she demonstrated clearly, and they asked no more questions. She removed all doubt from their minds, and the doubt that had continued to haunt her left her, as she at last fully accepted the charge over her people that had been passed to her.

EPILOGUE

When Edoras was retaken the princess remained in power until the end of the year, when she made the decision to pass her rule to her cousin Frealaf, so as to continue the house of Eorl in Meduseld. She remained one of the king's most trusted counselors until the end of his reign. Those that remembered the actions of the Riddermark's first, last and forgotten queen remarked her a gift of the West, whose wisdom was blessed by the gods.