A/N: Hey hello and good day to all my faithful readers. I've had some requests to get off my ass and update my story, so here it is. I really should be writing y two major works, but I had a bout of the flu and some inspiration, which I used as an excuse. So, here, by popular demand, the next chapter of the beloved sequel to Hope in the Darkness (yeah, I know, I'm carrying on here), Hope in Minas Tirith, Chapter 6: Illusions.
Disclaimer: Just to clarify, I don't own these characters, they are Tolkien's. I only use their personalities, they're writing this story. Many say I am a very canon writer. I guess I am. I know almost every inch of history written on these people, and I'm testing my theory for romance between Aragorn and Éowyn, and, if there had been any chance of it, how it might have happened. Besides, these characters have a mind of their own. This is my answer to all you people telling me I'm too repetitive. IT'S THEIR FAULT, I SWEAR IT! I HAD NO SAY IN THIS! IF I WAS WRITING THIS THING, ARAGORN WOULD HAVE JUMPED ÉOWYN BY NOW, THEY'D BE MARRIED WITH 279 KIDS, AND ARWEN WOULD BE ON THE FIRST SHIP TO VALINOR WITH ELROND SO THEY COULDN'T PROTEST! But, as it happens, I'M NOT! And being the typical angst writer I am, that probably wouldn't have happened anyway (what can I say, I'm too much like Éowyn). Also, if we were going from where we are now, I wouldn't have made Éowyn put up with all this crap.
Chapter 6: Illusions
Aragorn tossed and turned in his sleep that night. Had he done the right thing by bringing Éowyn back to the city? What would she think of his decision? No. He knew what she thought. But why had he done it? To hold her captive against her will in a place she did not desire to be, by a man she despised at present. Why did he feel compelled to keep her in his presence?
He remembered how she had been when first they met. He had thought it only a shadow of what she believed it; but had it become more. She was only a child when first they met; she knew not what love was. But now, grown, a lady, a woman. Her will more fearsome, her heart more determined, her memory as sharp as ever.
She remembered better than he, his harsh words and the hurt they had caused her. She had not forgiven him for that. His heart and mind battled against each other. Why could he not accept the truth? Why did he continue to deny it? She had not forgotten why she had left, and why she had no desire to return.
Neither had he.
Aragorn climbed out of bed and walked to the window. From there, he could see over the entire city. It was very late that night, and seemed that nothing stirred in the city. The whiteness of the stone buildings softly touched with moonlight.
Minas Tirith glowed with an eerie, ghostly light that made him shiver. A breeze blew gently through the citadel. From his window, Aragorn looked the first level of walls and out over the Pelennor Fields. The grass swayed in motion, an ocean, churning in the wind. His eyes moved back up through the streets and over the walls of Minas Tirith. All was silent and still.
Something caught his eye. Something pale. In the gardens of the Houses of Healing, on the wall of the city, stood a figure, robed in white, golden hair softly lifted in the cool night air. Aragorn watched the figure.
It was Éowyn.
He saw another figure appeared behind her, as if from nowhere. Éowyn did not turn, but the figure moved to her side, wrapping a royal blue cloak, embroidered with silver stars, around her shoulders. It was Faramir. How had he come to the city without him knowing?
The two stood, their hair mingling in the breeze, raven and gold, as they gazed out over the city below them, wrapped in each other's embrace. Éowyn turned her head slightly and rested her cheek on Faramir's shoulder. Faramir kissed the top of her head, as they both stared out.
A gust of wind rose up and both the figures evaporated into the air, as if borne away. Aragorn shook his head and looked away, closing his eyes. It had been no more than an illusion, his mind playing tricks with him. But there had to be a reason for this vision.
What could it mean?
Éowyn had woken from her deep slumber. It was not yet daybreak. The stars still glinted in the inky blue sky, and on the horizon, a pale glimmer of pink and purple beginning to appear. Nothing had yet stirred out. Éomer's words still ran through her mind. Did she still love him? Was that flame that had once burned so brightly and come to so little, still live somewhere in her heart, or indeed his?
But he would never allow it to rekindle. He had told her so. To him, she was only a child. How it angered her so to hear that from his lips. How it had stung. A child she was never. It had been snatched from her at a young age, forced into the world of reality.
She had been only seven years, but the image of her dead father, blood-covered, lying on the stretcher as the men bore him to her mother's side, was still etched in her memory. Théodwyn had wept, bitterly, crying to the skies. 'How could this have happened?' 'What did he do to deserve this?'
To watch her mother in such grief, only then to see her suffer, slashing her wrists at night. For Éowyn to find her the next morning, fainted on the floor. To see her uncle beg with her to eat, maids forcing food down her throat, only to see her spit it back up. It was the same torturous scene, day after day, for months on end, until it became too much for Théodwyn. She had starved herself to nothing. Théoden was beside her when she let her life slip away from herself, she had watched from the doorway as he sat, sobbing.
She and her brother were taken to Edoras the following day, with the body of their mother, to be buried with the royalty of the house of Eorl. She had laid flowers on her mother's chest before she entered the tomb; simbelmynë they were.
Although she refused to admit it, in her heart, she knew they were gone forever.
Éowyn rose from her bed and wandered over to the window that looked out over the gardens in the Houses of Healing. She stood, gazing blankly out of her window at the gardens below. Her face showed little emotion, but her eyes told a different tale, weeping for a loss.
She noticed a figure seated on the bench in the gardens not far from her window. She could not see the face of the figure, but it was clear to see that it was a man. His hands were resting on his knees, head bowed low over them. As he lifted his head, he revealed the brand of the White Tree and the Seven Stars on his dark robes.
It was Aragorn.
He turned to glance behind him, and Éowyn's attention was diverted to the figure approaching. The figure was dressed in a hooded cloak of black velvet. Éowyn could see that it was a female Elf, her pointed ears peeked out from the hood of the cloak. She drew the fabric back from her face.
It was Arwen.
She glided over to where Aragorn sat, placing a porcelain hand gently on his shoulder. Aragorn lifted his head and stared into her eyes, lifting his hand to lay it over hers. They stood, both unspeaking.
A gust of wind blew up, and the two figures were carried away on it. Éowyn only blinked. It had been only a figment of her imagination.
Éowyn returned to her bed, her head still spinning. She would go to see him tomorrow. She must speak with him before she did anything. She desired his counsel and comfort before daring to face Aragorn. She needed time to cool before then.
A/N: Ok, I've calmed down after my little outburst 2½ pages ago. How was that? Maybe a bit rushed and rusty, but it's been a while. At least we're clearing up some serious questions and issues that have been plaguing them for the past 68 pages or so. Aragorn admits, to us at least, he loves Éowyn. Yeah, I know, he's done it before, and nothing's become of it, but this time, something will. We're not going into any more follow ons. We all just want them to get married, or at least kiss (no, the rating for this story is not going up. No sex scenes. Just angst. I have issues with raunchy LotR, unless it's really good parody). And Éowyn's going to talk to him. I know, I know, a lot of help that did last time, but now it gets interesting. I have been waiting for this confession since I first started. Hehehe, just wait.
Read and review, if you liked it! More chapters, at least 2, on the way soon!
Mousie2