Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Rings. They all belong to Tolkien
Summary: See previous Chapters
A/N – This chapter will be seen from several different perspectives. Also, there will be some foul language.
Chapter Nine
Eowyn's Point Of View
We are riding through Fangorn Forest.
'We' consists of myself, my Uncle King Theoden of Rohan, my brother Eomer, my new and very dear friend Natasha, her cousin Bella and the Fellowship of the Ring, which currently consists Gandalf the White, Boromir of Gondor, Aragorn – a ranger of the north –, Legolas the elf, and Gimli the Dwarf. From what I hear, we are on our way to find two other members of the Fellowship, Merry and Pippin.
Natasha and I ride side by side, taking turns riding with four-year-old Bella.
Bella is currently sitting in front of me while Natasha talks with Boromir about something. I glance over my shoulder and let out an exasperated sigh. My idiot brother is staring at Natasha again.
He has been acting like this ever since they met after the battle of Helm's Deep, although lately he has been throwing in the odd glare in Boromir's direction. My guess is that it is because Boromir seems to be the Fellowship member Natasha spends the most time with.
To his credit, Eomer has not been gazing at my friend with a star-struck expression like just about every other unattached male in Rohan. Instead, he looks at her with a mix of curiosity and fascination, as if he has never seen anything like her before and does not know whether to approach or flee.
I allow my horse to slow down, coming alongside my brother's. It takes a rather solid poke, but I get his attention.
I give him a cool look. "What are you thinking, Brother-mine? And do not try to pass it off as 'nothing'."
Again to his credit, Eomer does not bother to deny this. "Your friend is a mystery, Eowyn. A very complex mystery I am trying to unravel. I see that you have taught her to handle a sword, yet she seems so gentle with children. She intrigues me, but I know little more than her name."
I give a slight nod of my head. At least he is honest about it. He was not getting off the hook (a phrase Natasha is fond of) that easily, however. "Just be aware. This is the first friend I have had in a long time. Hurt her and I will make you regret the hour you first saw daylight." That was another of Natasha's quotes, which she tells me appeared frequently when dealing with her sisters.
Eomer's Point Of View
I acknowledge my sister's threat. She and Natasha are obviously close and seem to be very good for each other. I cannot recall the last time I saw my sister so happy.
Ahead, the object of my thoughts is laughing at whatever the son of Gondor's Steward has just said. I glare at him. She has a very nice laugh, but, irrationally, I want to be the one to cause it.
As I told my sister, I know little of Natasha aside from her name. I know that she is nearly nineteen, with an identical twin and a younger sister. She is the eldest of three girls and works taking care of children. She is from a far away land and while she seems happy enough here, I know she misses her home. She seems to be full of life and joy, but there is sorrow in her past. For some reason, I wish to know that sorrow and help to ease it.
She is intriguing, and I want to know more of her. I want to banish the sorrow in her, see the way her eyes light up on the rare occasion that she does laugh. I want to stand by her side, even if only as a friend, and curse the fact that I find it so hard to talk to women.
But Natasha is so unlike the women of the Riddermark, and seems able to hold an intelligent conversation, perhaps she will be easier to speak with, and certainly worth trying.
Isengard comes into sight. It is absolutely flooded and there are four figures at the gates. Two appear as children while the other two seem almost grown women. Interesting. I had thought we went to find the two hobbits, nothing was said of these two young women.
Boromir's Point Of View
I watch as Natasha laughs at my attempt to assure her that my injuries are fine. I will admit that it is becoming something of a game, much like Legolas and Gimli trading insults. She has come a long way from the scared maiden we met near Lothlorien. Since that meeting and the present time, she has quickly become a confident young woman, mature beyond her years. Then again, she already seemed older than a mere eighteen in the first place.
Farther back along the trail, I can feel Eomer of Rohan glaring at my back. He has been doing so ever since Natasha and I began to ride near each other when we set out and, frankly, it is starting to get annoying. It is not my fault that he is smitten with her. Nor am I to blame that Natasha is convinced that I am down-playing my injuries. She is far too perceptive.
I do not think that I will ever marry, and my initial exposure to three active children has made me seriously consider leaving the line of succession up to Faramir. People find a friendship between a man and a woman to be unusual, but I am glad to call Natasha that. Truly, I begin to think of her as a younger sister, to be loved and protected, regardless of whether or not she wants or even needs the protection.
Lady Eowyn rides up beside us, handing over an exited four year old. Natasha smiles at her; the two of them became fast friends in a very short time. Eowyn flicks her eyes back the way we came, looking amused. Natasha turns to see what is so funny and catches Eomer's gaze, smiling at him.
The nephew of King Theoden looks momentarily like a deer caught in a hunter's line of sight before he returns it, then looks past her to the gates of Isengard. Natasha follows his gaze then freezes, taking on the appearance of a marble statue.
Natasha's Point Of View
Oh, no.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
This cannot be happening.
If Bella had not been less than a meter away, I would have turned the air blue with curses. As it is, if I ever find out who is responsible for my two sisters appearing out of nowhere…
Having to look after Bella and myself in a strange land was bad enough. Now I also had my twin and younger sister to look out for. Alice will only go camping or bush walking if there is no possible way to avoid it, not to mention she is almost incapable of maintaining a civil attitude to strangers. On the other hand,Sarah has an amazing gift of blurting the most tactless things out at the worst possible moment. If that were not bad enough, I would have to keep her and Sarah from each other's throats as well, which is not as easy as it may sound.
OK, finished with the mental rant.
The others of our party were dismounting and coming to see what was with the unexpected arrivals. I handed Bella down to the nearest person, who happened to be Aragorn, and managed to dismount without falling flat on my face, a step forward from all the other times I had ridden a horse. Even so, I staggered, bumping into Eomer, who steadied me.Alice and Sarah came running toward me as I took Bella back from Aragorn, ignoring the relieved expression on his face.
I will admit that the kid can be a handful, but if he and his elven sweetheart ever get married, he needs all the practice he can get.
Both of my sisters grabbed me in a hug, cutting off my air supply, and then both started talking at once, making it impossible to understand whatever they were saying. I held up a hand, getting them to quiet down slightly. I pulled them away from the main group, leaving Gandalf, Aragorn, Theoden and Gimli to talk to Treebeard and the Hobbits.
Alice instantly started up again. "Where did you go? Mum is in a panic, the whole family is in an uproar and Dad even came back from America when all this happened! Not that he is likely to stay for very long, though. He is too obsessed with his girlfriend for that. Who are all these people and what is with the dark haired man. He looks like he hasn't had a wash in years!"
I took a deep breath. "Unbelievable as it seems, we are in Middle-Earth. Look around and you should be able to recognize most of them. The dark haired one is Aragorn, he looks a mess because we just finished the Battle of Helm's Deep and because the Dunadain have a scruff factor built into their genetic make-up. Also, could we please not turn this into a rant about Dad and Pat?"
Alice scowled but let it lie. Then Sarah spoke up. "But who is the little girl, I don't recognize her?"
I sighed, "The little girl is Bella, one of the kids in the centre. I think I told you about her before."
Alice smirked, "The one who asked if you were married and pregnant just because you were a teacher?"
I chose to ignore the burst of laughter from where the rest of the group was trying to look as though they were not eavesdropping. I glared at Alice, "Yes, that one, and don't you start."
Sarah started up again. "I'm glad we found you again. I don't know how much longer I could have managed with only Alice to talk to."
I closed my eyes. Had my sister ever even heard of tact? Now they were going to start arguing again.
Sure enough… "Thanks a lot. That makes me feel just great!"
"Well it is true. I like talking to Natasha better than you!"
I doubted that I would be able to stay out of this one, but there was no harm in trying. I wandered back to the rest of the group and started to explain who my sisters were and what was going on.
I was about half way through when Sarah and Alice, who had finally managed to drag me into the middle of the argument, interrupted us.
"Natasha, you agree with me, right?"
I tried to head that off. "I do not have the faintest idea what you are talking about and furthermore, I plan to stay out of this argument."
I failed and they were off again.
Sarah: "But you're my twin! You should agree with me!"
Alice: "She just said that she had no idea what we were talking about, idiot! But that isn't fair! She always takes your side just because you are her twin! Besides, why didn't she try to come back home?"
And so on and so on.
They continued like this for a while, until I finally blew up at them.
"Will the both of you think about someone else for once in your bloody lives! I don't even know what you are arguing about and I do not always take Sarah's side! Her comment was uncalled for and I was taking Alice's side on that. If you wish for that to change then by all means keep fighting! I am not the fucking be all and end all and I am sick of you both treating me like I am! Do either of you ever think about how Mum and I feel when you tell us to choose between you?"
I paused for breath and continued. "I have spent almost two months here in an environment where everything is strange to me, I had no way of knowing if I would ever get home and I had to take care of two four- and a three-year-old by myself! I had a chance to return but I stayed because only two of us could return and the price of Gretal and Collum returning was that I would stay here for a while longer! You think I didn't want to go home? I had no way of getting in contact with my friends, my family or anyone to tell them I was even alive! As to your supposed inability to be civil to one another; I managed for nearly fifteen years, surely you could have managed a few months! You have no idea what has happened to me recently and until you do, I would prefer that you keep your comments to yourself!"
Patience is a necessity when working with children and I tend to have a very long fuse when it comes to temper. I take after Mum in that. Sarah and Alice both got Dad's much shorter one.
The downside of that, however, is that a laid-back attitude only makes the explosion that much more spectacular when I do lose my temper.
Sarah chose this moment to open her mouth again. "If that's how you feel I hope you don't come back! I wish you were not my twin!"
Only a person who isa twin themselves can understand how much that particular statement can hurt. I reeled back as though Sarah had physically struck me, feeling as though both an emptiness and a great weight had torn into my heart and set up shop. This was just too much to handle right now.
I burst into tears, spun on my heel and ran off into the trees.
Theoden's Point Of View
Mithrandir, Aragorn, the two halflings, the Elf, the Dwarf and I finished our conversation with Treebeard and turned back to the others just in time to see the normally quiet Natasha start shouting at the two strangely clad women.
From what Merry and Pippin had said, they were related to Natasha and had not stopped bickering since they appeared. Indeed, I had heard them start up again as we spoke with the Ent. If they were always like this at home, it was no wonder Natasha was so quiet and even-tempered. As she was the eldest, she was probably required to mediate some of the time.
Now, however, their arguing – combined with the strain everyone had been under lately – seemed to have driven her too far.
Even as we watched, Natasha turned and ran into the surrounding forest, tears falling down her face.
The rest of us stood there, staring in open-mouthed shock. Her blonde sister was the first to recover, shouting after her, "You'll get lost and won't be able to find your way back!"
Natasha's voice floated back to us, "Good! Maybe then you might find a way to solve your own problems without dragging me into the middle of it! Maybe I won't have to listen to people making the most tactless comments known to history, either! Also, both of you can fuck off!"
That managed to shut everyone up.
From the expression of shock on the two new women's faces, I am guessing that this strange word meant something rude and was not often spoken in polite conversation. My next thought was that I hoped that the blonde sisterwas not being literal about Natasha getting lost, as I sort of wanted my niece and nephew where I had a fair idea of their exact location when I needed them, not have the two of them running all over Middle-Earth after that woman. I have not seen Eowyn this happy for many years and I am pleased that Eomer is finally taking an interest in the fairer gender, but still.
Eowyn and the little girl, Bella, recovered next, glaring at the two of them and starting after her. Eomer and Gimli followed them, leaving behind two very subdued young women.
Gimli's Point Of View
I would never have expected that out of Natasha. Her outburst was almost worthy of a Dwarf woman, and that is saying a great deal.
We finally found her curled up at the base of a Willow tree. There was nothing left of the carefree maiden she sometimes allowed herself to become in Lothlorien, no trace of the strong woman who had managed whatever Middle-Earth had thrown at her with an enviable calm. The figure who hid her face in her arms was a scared, lonely child who yearned for the comfort of something, anything, familiar. Whose wish was granted, only to have those two somethings fight and place her in the middle and deal her a most grievious blow to the heart.
Eomer and I exchanged uneasy glances. We had no experience dealing with upset females. Bella and Eowyn, however, moved toward her, Bella wriggling her way into Natasha's lap and Eowyn putting her arms around the both of them. Eomer braced himself as though he was about to put his hand into fire then sat down on Natasha's other side, carefullyputting an arm around her shoulders. I seated myself near them as we waited for her to calm down. I was brought back to the present by Eowyn asking, "Are they always like that?"
Natasha nodded her head, "Most of the time, yes. It's the first time Sarah has ever said that phrase to me, however."
Eomer offered her the corner of his cloak, commenting, "Then it is a wonder that you have such a sweet nature in comparison. I have seen how gentle you are with children and if it were not for the similar appearance I would hardly think you related. Managing that for fifteen years tells of a strength I do not have." He paused. "Though I thought your younger sister was sixteen."
Natasha dried her eyes and gave him a watery smile, unconciously leaning into him. "Thank you, that helps. Alice is sixteen, but she had to learn to talk before they could start arguing."
Eowyn shifted into a more comfortable position. "What do you suppose is happening back with the others?"
Natasha gave a wicked little smirk, "My sisters are getting lectured by everyone else. Sarah is slightly indignant about being told off by a tree." At our confused expressions, she elaborated. "Identical twins share a sort of bond. It is nothing specific, but I can sometimes get a general idea of what is happening to her and what Sarah is feeling. Part of why that comment hurt so much."
Bella put her arms around Natasha's neck and said something into her shoulder when she returned the embrace. Whatever she said, it did cheer Natasha up slightly. She rose, went over to a nearby stream, washed her face, then came back and lifted Bella into her arms.
We started walking back to Isengard.
I hoped the journey back to Helm's Deep was not as eventful.
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Thanks go to everyone who reviewed.
A/N#2 – Sorry if Natasha seems a bit too emotional in this chapter. Just remember, she has been under a lot of stress and was bound to have a breakdown at some point.
Review and tell me what you think.
