Chapter 24; The Wait

I awoke with a start as the clang of steel on the stone floor rang cruelly in my ears. I sat up quickly in my bed and saw Èowyn kneeling on the floor, picking up two matching metal cups.

"Good morning Laura." She said as she stood with the metal pitcher in hand. "Are you better?"

"Yes," I answered hesitantly as I stood. "Thank you for letting me stay, Èowyn."

"Your welcome my friend. You look anew! You did sleep for a long while though." She answered with a smile. I smiled, collected my things, and rearranged them on the floor before walking to the window. "What was the matter?" she asked sincerely, "Yesterday, I hardly saw you…" I shook my head as I said,

"I had a very disturbing dream and I was not well at all." I shook my head slowly as I continued, "I am better today than I was yesterday and I am glad of it." Èowyn laughed as she replied,

"Good, because I worried for you. Besides we need a strong girl like yourself to help with sorting the food." I laughed as she continued, "Yes, I know…" she said with a laugh, "Not the most chivalrous task but it must be done." She then poured water from the pitcher into the cup and handed it to me. "But you will still assist me?"

"Of course I will." I replied as I took the cup and drank. At what she said, I remembered what I told Lady Galadriel in my dream. "I will not walk away from Rohan, the Fellowship, or the war."

"Good! Then we shall go now." Èowyn said as she sat the pitcher and cups on the floor. "I will take you there." After I swallowed all the water in my cup I said 'All right.' And went with Èowyn to the storage rooms.

"This isn't enough!" Èowyn exclaimed angrily as she looked on the large pile of food. There were baskets of bread loaves and many other foods that would not soon perish, but she was right; there wasn't enough to feed them all. I had worked along side Èowyn for the greater part of the morning collecting food and recording how much there was. Èowyn rested her hand on her forehead as I moved one more basket into the pile.

"What are we to do then?" I asked as I stood. Èowyn dropped her hand as she told a nearby soldier.

"Move all of this food into the first storage room; it may not be much, but it is still sufficient enough." Three or four men came to the pile and began to move it after Èowyn and I climbed the stairs to tell the king of our findings. Èowyn pushed open the great doors of the hall and entered; the highest officers of King Théoden surrounded him at his table. When she entered he took attention of her and stood.

"Èowyn." He said.

"My lord," she said and lowered her head slightly.

"My lord," I repeated as I bowed. He nodded to us before Èowyn began,

"My lord, there is not enough food."

"What?" Théoden asked obviously surprised.

"There is not enough food." Èowyn repeated strongly. "I have sent it into storage anyway, it will be enough though not enough to completely fill the stomachs of our people." Théoden nodded and looked down as he replied,

"I see. Then yes, for now that is all that can be done." Èowyn nodded and I bowed once more; before we began to leave Théoden stopped us. "Wait, before you both take leave I must tell you something." We both turned around to face him once more as he said, "Laura, Èowyn, I must ask you both, when it is time, to go into the caves with the woman and children and see to their safety. I put them in your charge." At this I was utterly shocked and surprised.

"My lord?" Èowyn asked, visibly she was as stunned as I. Théoden walked before us and stood tall as he said,

"It is my will that you accompany the other woman and children into the caves…" he began to open his mouth to say more on the matter but stopped himself. He then nodded and turned away from us. I looked at the back of his head in disbelief and in a moment of courage and anger I brushed past Èowyn and said strongly,

"But why!" the king stopped and my eyes widened in shock at what I had said. He looked at me and I quickly got on my knee as I said apologetically, "I mean, my lord. Pardon me, but I ask you hear me speak." I slowly looked up from the ground to see his answer. His face was slightly offended and annoyed but I could tell he was willing to listen. "My lord, I understand that you are currently…occupied and I do not mean to take your time…"

"Yes, Lady Laura." The king said to me. I looked at his face as he answered, "I am 'occupied' and you are using my time so I ask, if you have a point to make it with haste." I looked back to the floor, trying to suppress my anger and replied,

"Yes, my lord, I am sorry, I will be short." I cleared my throat before I said, "My lord, I ask that I should not go into the caves but fight this battle beside your men." there was a pause as I waited for an answer. I slowly looked back up from the floor to his face as I waited.

"No." he said simply and turned back to his table. I rose up behind him and said strongly,

"My lord I beg you reconsider!" he turned and looked me straight in the eyes. After a few seconds of not moving I got back down on my knee again and said, "Please, my lord, I beg you reconsider." He walked to me and stood so close I could see his feet as I looked to the ground. "I-I know…" I began but he spoke over me,

"I shall speak no more of this." He turned from me again.

"My lord I have followed you into battle before!" I said fiercely in return. I heard his boots stop and I continued. "I fought against the Warg riders alongside your soldiers. I fought for the safety of Rohan's woman and children that day and I lost a close friend. Please, let me honor Aragorn by taking his stead." I looked at Théoden once more and at the mention of Aragorn some emotion crossed his face although I could not tell what it was. He turned and walked back to his table as Èowyn got me off of my knees and took me out of the hall. Once the doors shut behind us I growled and pounded my fist against a stone pillar outside. "I cannot BELIEVE THIS!" I exclaimed through clenched teeth. "How can he disregard how I fought beside his men?" I asked Èowyn; she began to answer but I cut her short. "Does he not remember? Did he just forget what Aragorn-"

"Aragorn is dead Laura!" she spoke over me. I did not know how to respond to her. I knew what she told me was true but it was so hard to accept it. Èowyn grasped my shoulders and said in a strong voice as she continued, "Laura, I do not know where you came from, or how, in fact, how you came to Rohan but I do know this. You are a woman, what's more you are twenty years old." I clenched my jaw as she finished, "I do not know how things work where you came from, but in Rohan, women are not warriors. One day our chance of valor and glory will come Laura; perhaps it will not be this day, or the next day, but it will come. Please, heed what my Uncle has said." All my emotion seemed to seep through my skin; I was livid and I was no longer afraid to wear my emotions on my sleeve. In the past minute, Èowyn had tried to place upon me every belief that I had fought against my entire life: the restrictions of my age and my sex and all the discriminations that should have died out decades ago.

"Èowyn," I said with calm anger, "If you think that I will sit and wait with tied hands and feet for death to come and claim me then you are wrong!" I walked away from her a few steps before I turned around and said, "I will not have that fate! I refuse to let that be the road I take! I will not be-"

"Then you leave that fate to me? What of me Laura!" Èowyn exclaimed, "What would I do then? Say that you do fight in this battle, say all your hopes comes to pass, what would you have ME do? You are not the only one who must wait, blind in the shadows of the glittering caves! I can fight! And with each passing day my fear seems to grab hold of me!" At this I could not reply. She was right, totally right. "What if I am to be bound all my life until in my darkness I accept it? I fear this fate with my all heart and each time I sit aside I feel this doom crawl closer. Remember what you fear Laura! Remember what you have to lose!" I could not take anymore of what she was saying; before she said anything else I turned from her and ran for the chamber where I had slept. I ran past the haggard looking men, women, and children and tried not to look in their eyes; with each glance from them, the more I realized Èowyn was right.

Chapter 23 Reply Reviews

Merenwen Luinwel: Well, the thing to remember is that What she had was, in fact, still a dream and that there are a lot of things that go on in our brains that make absolutely no sense to us! I see it as Laura dreaming of two people exemplifying two different lengths of love: Galadriel being love from respect and her father being familial love. It's funny to talk about her future in reference to the sea and all. I've told people how the story is going to turn out and they are totally shocked by it but yes it does involve the sea. Thanks for the review!

TriGemini: Yeah, poor Laura, she is really having a hell of a time right now. When one of my friends read this she asked me, "Hey, umm, is Laura PMSing or something?" It REALLY made me laugh. No she isn't, it has more to do with overwhelming stress.

Ms. Unknown: Thanks for squeezing in a review for me!

Dissolved Starr: Thanks! 'Character' means a lot to me in stories like this; it makes sense because ¾ of the people reading these stories have read the books and how is there going to be any credibility if the characters aren't believable?

Elvenladygreenleaf4ever: Oh my gosh! I KNOW! I am so sad that I can't get to that site anymore! What happened? But thanks for reading over and I'm glad you can see and improvement!

Isabel: Haha! Thanks, but actually, my birthday is June 15th. No sweat about it though! Thanks for the lovely review!