This was the product of late-night plot bunnies and an abiding love for Eomer and Lothiriel's relationship, which I've never expressed before in fanfic. It also struck me that I could call it 'Mer and La Mer, but I decided not to for the sake of keeping my readers from groaning loudly. :D
Disclaimer: Eomer and Lothiriel are Tolkien's. The sea, however, doesn't really belong to anyone.
These were my thoughts as I stood in awe on the beach, the salt air intoxicating me with its smell and the sand creeping up my boots to settle in the folds of my breeches. I had never stood on the beach before, never been stunned by the force of the ocean with the seagulls crying overhead. How strange it was, I thought, that the King of Rohan had such limited experience with the world.
Do you intend to stop your gawking any time soon? Tis only the ocean. Her voice startled me out of my trance, belligerent and challenging. I looked over at Lothiriel of Dol Amroth, and managed a raised eyebrow once I was finished being struck by how her eyes could have been stray flecks of seawater themselves.
I would not say only the ocean, I informed her and turned back to squint at the horizon. The wind whipped my hair into my face, and I let it.
Lothiriel came up beside me and stood, silent for a rare moment. When she spoke, her voice was almost gentle for once. It is something, is it not?
I nodded mutely.
My ancestors came up out of the sea themselves, you know, she told me, pushing stray locks of dark frizzy hair out of her face.
My ancestors did not dare try, I replied, a corner of my mouth twitching with amusement.
Of course, Lothiriel mused, you cannot ride a horse across the sea. I tore my gaze away from the waves and looked at her.
She was grinning, revealing those quirky teeth, slightly crooked, the one to the left of her front teeth chipped a little. I could not for the life of me figure out what, in the life of a princess, could be a dangerous enough activity to chip a tooth doing it. But that was the thing with Lothiriel - there was always a surprise waiting. The first time I'd seen her, in the great hall at Dol Amroth, she had been a perfect image of a court lady, standing up straight and nodding politely, none of her hair flying wild like it did today, no grins suddenly seizing her face. She had looked at me with that stony court-lady face, and I was suddenly reminded of Eowyn in the time before the war, when she was caged in her own life and aching for escape. And then I had wanted to know more about the Princess of Dol Amroth.
Suddenly, said princess took off, running wildly along the shoreline, flinging up sand in her wake. Bet you cannot keep up! she threw back at me, laughing.
Oh, really? I jumped forward and began to sprint after Lothiriel, legs pumping furiously. Running was almost as good as galloping, feeling the wind in your face and reveling in your own strength, rather than that of the horse beneath you. Something told me Firefoot would like the beach as much as I did. I would have to take him down here as soon as I got a chance, I thought as I flailed my arms, trying to keep up with Lothiriel.
Running in the sand was harder than I thought, I realized as my heavy boots sunk into it and slowed me down. Not - fair! You are not wearing - any shoes! I called out to Lothiriel as I gasped for breath.
Right you are, she laughed, circling back to meet me. I told you you could not keep up, she said smugly. Only a few months my elder, yet always trying to show me up. But, of course, I could not say I disliked it.
She dropped to her knees, then collapsed, giddy and careless, flat on her back into the sand, letting the waves wash over her toes and soak the hem of her skirt. She didn't seem to care that she was getting sand all over her back and in her hair, which snaked out like roots from her head and spread over the ground in dark tendrils.
I was still a bit wary of the sea, so I remained standing, looking down at her with a bemused expression.
Take off your boots, she ordered, closing her eyes in bliss as she wiggled her toes in the wet sand.
I shrugged and did as she suggested. Yes, Your Highness, I mocked her as I tugged off the second boot.
She gave me a look. And your socks also, Eomer King Your Majesty, my liege, sir, she shot back.
I bit my lip. She did have a point there - I had much more mocking-for-being-royalty potential than she did. I was still getting used to answering to Eomer King, and it always startled me when peasants bowed to me in the streets of Edoras. This was one of the reasons I loved visiting Dol Amroth: no one knew who I was. The other reasons were things I had not quite admitted to myself yet. Imrahil made good conversation and welcomed me with open arms, and that was what I told myself I was coming for.
The socks came off, and I felt the very odd sensation of my feet being sucked under the sand.
I must have made some sort of strange face, because Lothiriel burst out laughing. She reached up, grabbed my hand, and pulled me down to sit next to her. At first, I grimaced at the feeling of sitting in the wet sand, but then I realized it actually felt rather good. Good thing I had worn my oldest breeches, I thought, my mind laughing at me as I was swept up in Lothiriel's flight of fancy.
I leaned back on my elbows and watched the ocean pulsing, my eyes following each wave as it moved to strike our feet, almost hypnotized. Then I looked up at the sky, and the clouds that looked like assorted things that I didn't even bother to name, and the seagulls wheeling overhead. So this was what peacetime brought, I realized. Peace was more peaceful than I had imagined it for all those years at war, when I thought I had all that I needed in my horse and my eored. I knew now that I had thought wrong.
A contented sigh beside me, and my eyes were drawn to Lothiriel's face, placid, content, completely at home. Yet somehow, her eyes still managed to dance with mirth, and her hair danced on the wind, almost completely escaping its ties at the back of her head. I languidly traced the profile of her face with my gaze, drinking in her image so I could remember it forever.
And, since this was a day of realizations, I made another one. This one had been very slow in the coming, but now that I had it, I knew I could not dismiss it so lightly.
But what would she say, this fierce, challenging, independent woman, who could outrun me in a race on the beach? I would not have put it past her to laugh in my face.
Have you ever been to Rohan, Lothiriel? It slipped out before I could think about it.
She looked at me and shook her head, and there was a glint of curiosity in her eyes.
It is beautiful. The plains are like the sea; they seem like they go on forever. Although I am not sure you would like them... I trailed off, not sure what I was trying to say.
You love your country, do you not? Lothiriel's brow was furrowed, and I wondered what she was thinking.
I replied truthfully. Yes, I do.
Then I am sure I would love it as well. She had rolled onto her elbow and leaned in a bit, and now she looked at me with an unquestionable sincerity. Anything you love, Eomer, I am sure I would not find too horrible.
My mind had stopped hearing her after Anything you love. Her eyes held mine, and my breath caught in my throat. My palms were sweating, and I knew I should tell her, but the words would not come, and my heart hammered almost painfully, and I teetered on the brink, not fully willing to go one way or the other, not wanting to give up and not wanting to take the chance, terrified. I hated how blissfully oblivious she was, just sitting there with the wind in her hair, staring up at me, confused.
And then, somewhere in my mind, I almost laughed at myself. I could face a mumak with twenty men and feel no fear at all; I laughed in the face of death and destruction; I took on dozens of orcs single-handedly, and yet here I was immobilized by one woman, and an unarmed one at that. The surf pounded my toes in the same rhythm that my blood pulsed in my ears, screaming at me: TELL HER! TELL HER! TELL HER!
Her voice was the final thing I needed.
I gritted my teeth, stopped teetering on the brink, and took the plunge, thinking of battle cries and victorious charges and bravery.
Lothiriel, I - I paused, then thought of cries of and pounding hooves. I need to tell you something. I do not know what you will think, and I do not know how to say this... Our faces were so near, I could feel her breath on my cheek.
I know, she interrupted me, and then I could say no more, because her lips were on mine, fierce and sudden at first, then gentler, as we both savored the bliss we brought each other. Her arms were around my neck, and my hands tangled in her silky, sand-dotted hair, and my chest felt like it would burst with surprise and joy and all the unfamiliar things I felt for her.
We parted reluctantly and just lay there in our embrace, content just to take each other in, memorizing every detail of each other's faces. She smoothed my hair, and I slung an arm around her waist and stroked the groove of her back with hesitant fingers - I had no experience with this, as I had courted women before, but never anyone I had felt so strongly about. I had never been so content in my life, and though something in me, perhaps the warrior used to only death and loss, told me it could not be real, it was.
And suddenly, I was motivated to finish what I'd started. I love you, Lothiriel, I breathed, and it was out.
Of course you do, she said, satisfied - it was a very Lothiriel thing to say. And I love you. I was wondering when you would figure that out.
I gave a half-smile. Am I really that clueless?
she grinned, you are. And I love you anyway.
We walked back to the city holding hands, bumping into each other occasionally, unable to stop smiling. It was like the pieces of a puzzle had fallen into place. We would worry about the technicalities later, such as what Imrahil would say when he found out. For now, all we needed to think of was each other.
And behind us, the steadfast sea kept on pulsing, continued to go on forever. Because it was, after all, the sea, and it had a job to do, regardless of two mere mortals who happened to find love with the help of its presence. The waves continued to crash, and I looked back on it and nodded my thanks.
Then I shook my head, wondering why I was thanking the sea.