Éomer and Éowyn sat atop their horses, weapons drawn defensively, as the other two riders came close. Éomer rode slightly forward of Éowyn, who quickly closed the gap again. In an unyielding voice Éowyn commanded them to halt. They complied immediately and, much to her brother's annoyance, she rode further ahead of Éomer to question them.

"What is your business in Gondor?" she demanded.

The two strangers looked at her, then to Éomer, and back to Éowyn again. "One might ask what business a lady has acting as a guard," one of them said, not entirely disrespectfully.

Fortunately for the strangers Éomer read the situation and was able to again jockey ahead of his sister to cut off her outburst before it began. "Lords of the South, i am King Éomer of Rohan. This is my sister, the Lady Éowyn, whose husband is Steward of Gondor," Éomer explained, taking pity on the unsuspecting strangers.

Quickly the two southerners dismounted and knelt, begging pardon, which was granted. Éomer bid them rise and again asked them, a little more genially, what their purpose was. It was rather amazing how quickly he had gone from rash warrior to consummate diplomat.

"We have come to seek the Steward, as it so happens. Allow me to introduce myself," said one of the men. "I am called Castamir, and i again beg the pardon of the fair Lady Éowyn," the dark man said genteelly bowing.

"And i, Calimehtar, also beg the pardon of the Lady, fair and fine," spoke the other man, every bit as courteously.

"I accept your apologies, but i am afraid that the Steward is away, and may be for some time," Éowyn said flatly.

Éomer noted the touch of distrust in his sister's voice and thought he had best take over again. After all, Aragorn had made peace with these people, so he had heard. "He and King Elessar seemed to have urgent business in your southerly lands. But if you will, we can take you to Queen Arwen, perhaps she can aid you?"

The two men were silent for a moment and looked at one another as if making a decision. Finally Castamir spoke, "We should not wish to trouble your Queen. If we could but take lodging in the city until the good Steward returns?"

Éomer, unfortunately, had to look to Éowyn to give her answer, though he was wary. She stared back at her brother in response. "I am sure we can find lodging for you. There is an inn on the fourth level, is there not?"

"You would know better than i, dear sister," Éomer replied, backing out of knowing anything at all about that certain tavern.

Éowyn turned quickly and silently and went toward the North Gate, Éomer bidding the visitors to follow. He caught up with his sister just as they were entering the city. "And think, you would have had them run through before learning their purpose," he whispered teasingly.

Éowyn glared at her brother and returned his whisper tersely. "I do not trust everyone simply because there is an accord written on a scroll somewhere. You should be more vigilant!"

"And you should be less intolerant," Éomer retorted, still keeping his tone low. "Can you really believe that all men of the South would have warred against us willingly? I do not know what you have learned, and i know that Faramir and i disagree on much, but i have come to understand what he says about respecting even one's enemy. How many of those Haradrim were lied to or forced into going to war against us?" Éomer then rode on ahead of Éowyn, bidding her to return to the Citadel while he lead Minas Tirith's guests to the Merry Widow where they might stay until the King and Steward returned.

Infuriated, Éowyn galloped past them without even bidding the visitors a good day. Éomer turned to Calimehtar and Castamir, offering his apologies.

"Your sister, she is a free woman indeed," Calimehtar said. "It is only to be understood that she is wary, there has been enmity for so long. But it is that which we seek to put an end to, and we had hoped to have the good Steward's help."

Éomer considered only briefly before replying, "Lord Faramir is a man of overreaching compassion. It is because of such that he is away at this time. I feel certain that he will assist you however he may upon his return. He did not expect to be away long, a month at most and he has been gone several days now. I hope that you shall stay. King Elessar is a friend and ally to me, and on his behalf, i bid you welcome."

"We shall stay, King Éomer, until our purpose is fulfilled," Castamir said with a friendly smile and Éomer led them into the tavern.

---

I know, these lastchapters have been short. But on the up side, that means posting more often. Still, i hope everyone is enjoying :)

linda: I doubt she was really cut out for life in Minas Tirith. It can still be hoped, though, that the home Faramir has been planning in Emyn Arnen would be better for her. We shall have to see. I think her childhood was at least more bearable than Faramir's. Yes, she had expectations upon her to be a lady of the court, i would suppose, when she wanted to go to battle, but i personally can't imagine that being harder than being expected to go to battle when all you want to do is learn.

As for Aragorn and Denethor, i definitely thought that they could have been related. I'm not sure how central this is to this story, but i wanted to bring it up anyway. Just one of those "shadows" of chaos. Perhaps i shall write more on this separately.

Faramir's nightmare... he will have more nightmares ahead, for definite. Only he won't be merely sleeping!