The dawn was just breaking when the riders crested a rocky rise. The valley below heaved and churned with the mass of orcs below. Ari felt fear settle in the pit of her stomach. There were too many of them. She looked up to see that Eomer had found his way next to her.

"Fear not—we shall take the day."

"I know." Ari did know. Eomer and Gandalf started down the mountain at full speed, the rest of the riders following.

The fighting was intense and there were several moments when Ari feared for her life, but she always managed to come out OK. Once she was knocked from her horse and was nearly trampled by the orcs surrounding her. She head-butted the orc that tried to pick her up by the edges of her armor and kicked the one behind her. She grasped her horse's saddle and re-mounted. It was many hours before all the orcs were defeated or sent running. The Rohirrim had lost many men but victory was indeed theirs. Once inside the deep they found Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas. Gandalf and Théoden, King of Rohan, spoke with each other while Eomer sought out his sister. Ari looked at the man Gandalf was talking to. This was not the same King that had imprisoned her. This man was vivacious, a rosy pink color burned in his face and he was well kept. Who was the sickly imposter who had imprisoned her? Was that really the Théoden that didn't care whether his son lived or died? Ari decided to try to keep these thoughts from her mind and began to loosen her horse's saddle.

"Eowyn, I'd like you to meet Ari Carver." Ari turned abruptly and stared into the bright eyes of Eomer's sister.

"Glad to meet you." Ari pulled her helmet off and let her dark hair fall over her shoulders.

"Back at'cha"

"But, you're a woman!"

"Yes ma'am." Ari heaved a great sigh as she pulled at her armor. It was still a little ill fitting and was starting to chafe.

"Come with me—we'll find you something more suitable." Eowyn grasped Ari's hand and drug her to a small room within the fortress. Eowyn helped her dress in an actual gown and another woman combed and braided Ari's hair. Ari felt suddenly very girly and out of place.

"I don't like this either, but it's expected." Eowyn said when she saw Ari's slight look of distaste.

"It's just that I don't usually wear dresses." Ari and Eowyn could not find the men and spent time ministering to the sick and wounded refugees that had fought within the keep. Eventually word came that they would all return to the Golden Hall at Rohan. While everyone prepared to make the long march back to the great city, Ari went to walk upon the great wall. Thought it had been destroyed in places, she could still tell that this wall had been immense.

"Ari!" Eomer charged up the stairs and looked upon her with wonder. "You look…I mean—"

"I know, I look like a girl." Ari said leaning on the battlement. She flicked the loose pieces of pebbles off the wall and stared out onto the battlefield.

"I was hoping you'd be returning to Rohan with us." Ari saw the look on Eomer's face and realized he was fishing to make conversation.

"Yeah—I mean, I don't have anywhere else to go." Besides, you'll be there. She thought, but didn't say the last out loud.

"Eowyn will be happy—she doesn't often get any female companions."

"OK—"

"OK?" Eomer echoed, not fully understanding the slang. He escorted Ari around the mighty fortress and to the room she was to share with Eowyn.

Ari pulled out her board shorts and stared morosely at the holes in them.

"I could fix those." Eowyn said as Ari poked her finger through a large hole in the ass of the shorts. Ari looked up and found Eowyn staring at her. "I can mend them if you like."

"Really?" Ari watched as Eowyn patched her shorts together and could barely tell where the stitches had been made.

"Wow—you're really talented with that needle."

"You don't know how to sew?"

"Not really—I mean, I can sew, I'm just not this good." Ari put on a tank top and her newly patched shorts and quickly fell asleep on the big fur blanket spread on the floor.

The next morning Eowyn and Ari dressed and packed their meager things away. They met in the great hall.

"I know your face…do I not?" Ari turned to look into the face of an elder man. His eyes seemed familiar, but Ari couldn't place him. She looked again and realized who she was speaking to. Eomer was standing just behind the man and his gaze became shadowed.

"You were brought before me…weeks ago. I thought it a dream." Ari didn't respond to King Théoden, she didn't know how. This was the man who had sent her to prison.

"This is Arianna, Uncle. She is a friend of Eomer's." Eowyn didn't know everything about how Ari and Eomer had met, nothing of the imprisonment.

"She's been traveling with me, ever since her—escape—from prison." Eomer waited for everyone's reactions to this.

"Yes—I do remember you now. I beg your forgiveness, lady. I was not in possession of myself at the time of your arrival." The King looked sadly into her eyes and in his eyes she could see that he was truly sorry.

"I understand." The king nodded and moved on through the thronging crowd of refugees prepared to leave Helm's Deep. Upon their departure, Eomer and Théoden rode at the head of the column, followed by Eowyn, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. Ari chose to stay back, near to where the men of Eomer's company rode; men she'd been riding with for weeks now. Eomer dropped back briefly to speak with Ari. "There is to be a great banquet tomorrow evening. You will attend won't you?"

"Will you be there?" Ari didn't take her gaze from Eomer's face.

"Aye."

"Then I'll go."

"And if I had said I wasn't?" Eomer's mouth twitched with the beginnings of a smile.

"I'd probably have said 'Good, because I didn't want to see you there anyway.'" Ari arched an eyebrow and Eomer laughed, something Ari had never seen him do.

"You are a very confusing woman, Arianna." Eomer moved his horse away before Ari could respond. It was late evening when they returned to the Golden Hall. Eomer disappeared with the men and Eowyn and Ari helped get some of the wounded situated before they too retired. Ari lay down and slept a few hours before she was awake and feeling restless. Ari quietly slipped from the room and wandered the halls aimlessly. She gazed at the big tapestries and wood carvings. She was still wandering the halls when Eomer found her.

"Are you lost?"

"No. I just couldn't sleep." Eomer gazed at Ari and took in her looks. Her legs were long and muscular. Her bare feet padded silently on the smooth, cool stones of the hall. Her ankles still bore marks from the metal shackles that had bound her during her stay in jail. The long shorts clung low to her hips and her white tank top elongated her slim torso. Ari's dark hair was bound in a high, tight ponytail; the ends of it just brushing past her shoulders. She was by far the most stunning and strong woman he'd ever met. "Eomer?" He came out of his brief reverie and shook his head.

"What?"

"Are you alright? You had this funny look on your face…"

"Yes, fine….weary from the night's watch." Eomer walked past her and into his own room. What was it about this girl that un-nerved him so? He undressed and lay upon his bed, instantly falling into a deep and blissful sleep.