A/N: Interesting chapter, once again. From the reviews I received, I understand the last chapter wasn't as good as expected. Any reasons why?? Review!
This one goes out to Susan, again, for always being there when I need someone, if just to rant to about my future plans, or for suggesting ideas, or telling me what's wrong that I need to change.
Welcome Shallindra! Pity that good men have to die sometimes?? I'm just glad that Faramir didn't... at least not in battle. Poor Hector... okay now I'm getting into Trojan mood again. I'm glad you like Theodred though. I couldn't bring myself to demonize him, but I'm falling in love with him as I write. Bad!!! Gah. No one's better than Faramir... ::sigh::dreams::
Chapter 34: Ailments and treatments
Theodred awoke before daybreak, and as he looked to the east, he could just barely see the faintest trace of the Sun making its way up. Gently, he nudged Elentari, until she groaned, which he knew, meant she was awake; unhappy, but awake. She had wanted to see the sunrise, and wanted to breathe the fresh morning air, and it was the only time she could get out without nurses and healers fussing over her, and of course Eowyn, who had moved back into her room for the night, leaving the couple alone. She had made Theodred promise, after much persistent convincing that she could handle it, to wake her before daybreak, so they could witness the dawn breaking together.
"Elentari," he murmured tenderly, "Come on. You told me to wake you at this hour."
Finally, she groaned, and turned over, exposing her drowsy face, "Since when did you listen to what I told you?"
He laughed, "I keep my promises. Come. It's nearly daybreak." He rose out of bed, and after donning a coat to keep himself warm from the chill, he carried her, blankets and all, outside, to the chairs he had ordered placed there the night before. She drew her blankets around closer, and leaned against Theodred, burying her head into his chest, doing all she could to push Faramir from her mind.
He worked his fingers through her soft hair, the one part of her that had not changed; and began humming an old traditional Rohirric tune. By the time he was done, Elentari groaned, lifted her head, and said, "Please Theodred, if you do nothing else for me, promise me you won't ever sing in public."
Feigning offense, he swelled up; "See what happens when I leave you with Eowyn for too long? I happen to enjoy my melodious voice. She somehow always convinces everyone that I am absolutely horrific."
Elentari couldn't help but giggle, for he looked and sounded so much like Boromir whenever she and Faramir insulted his enlarged nose. Theodred then whispered, "I apologize that Eru did not grant me with such a beautiful voice as he did for you." She smiled again, and squeezed his hand, but her eyes were shadowed, "I do not sing much anymore."
"Why not?"
Her eyes progressed from shadowed to dim, "I find no reason for it."
With his finger, he gently lifted her chin so that she would meet his eyes, "Are you unhappy here, my love?"
She shook her head, averting her eyes once more, "I am no more unhappy here than I ever was."
"Do not lie to me," Theodred whispered, his voice was sad.
"I am not," the force in her voice unmistakable. There was a significant silence, and Theodred then asked remorsefully, "Do you wish to go back?" She knew where back was, back home, back to Faramir. Yet Theodred was so good to her, and the truth would break his heart, and so, she went back to a skill she had honed for years, answering a question, yet not really giving an answer. "I was given to you, was I not? A woman dwells where her husband does, was it not always this way?"
He sighed heavily, and then gazed out into the horizon, his eyes distant and heavy. The sun was steadily rising, casting prisms of light across the plains, splitting itself into a thousand different pats, each more beautiful than the last, turning the sky into variants of red, gold, vermilion, and azure. He had drifted into another world, but the sudden, soft notes of her song lulled him back into hers, however haunting the melody was.
I follow the night
Can't find the light
When will I begin
To live again?
One day I'll fly away
Leave all this to yesterday
What more could your love do for me?
When will love be through with me?
Why live life from dream to dream?
And dread the day when dreaming ends
One day I'll fly away
Fly, fly away
He saw her eyes close as the notes faded, as if making a silent wish, and he kissed the crown of her head, "If only I knew what to do for you."
She smiled, a rueful tinge to it, returning his kiss, "You do enough Theodred."
Elentari had fallen asleep out there, just as Anar had made her ascent to the heavens above, and after carrying her back inside, kissing her, Theodred made his way out. Striding across the Great Hall, ignoring the first servants hurrying to prepare for the morning meal, and to the quarters of the three healers assigned to attend to, and cure his wife.
It took all his lessons in etiquette to stop him from barging into their chambers, regardless if they were awake or not. Taking a deep breath to compose himself, he pounded on the door.
He heard a shuffle of activity, and a voice call, "No we are not ready for our meal." Fool, he evidently thought that Theodred was a serving maid. He pounded once again.
This time, curses were muttered, but the bolt was drawn back, "I told you we do not—oh, my Lord Theodred. What brings you here so early? Is the Lady well?"
"No thanks to you," Theodred barked, striding into the chambers, with the healer scurrying after him, "You are not known to be one of the best healers in Rohan for no reason Wodyn."
The middle-aged man nervously tugged at the collar of his nightshirt, and replied, "We've tried remedies my Lord, but none to seem to have an effect. We have never seen anything like this. We—He did not finish, as Theodred, many times stronger and fiercer, grabbed the small man by the collar and pinned him against the wall. The man seemed dazed by the force exerted, and shocked, for it was the young Lord Eomer was already known for his brash impulsiveness and fiery temper, not the Prince Theodred, who was always composed and kind, even more so than his father.
"Listen to me," Theodred practically snarled, "You are not paid and kept to do nothing. I would know what is ailing my wife, and how to cure it, or you might find yourself wandering the hills with nothing."
Before the man said anything, another voice intervened, "Perhaps, my Prince, it is you who carry the answer, though you may not know it."
Theodred loosened his grip on Wodyn, and looked to the elderly man standing next to him, the most experienced of the healers, and the most revered. "What?"
"There is a possibility that we know what ails Lady Elentari, and that it may not be an ailment at all," the elderly man said calmly, "And I would be most happy to discuss it with you, my Lord, if you would release my colleague here before he needs to use his skill to heal himself, for he has much to contribute to this."
Theodred looked apologetically at Wodyn, and released his grip, and the small man hurriedly scurried away, a good distance away from Theodred.
"Continue." It was an order. "How do I carry this answer?"
"Willingly, my Lord," he seated himself, "It has been many months since you have wedded and bedded our Lady. There is talk, and significant evidence, to show that she may not be subject to some disease, but merely, carrying your seed, my Lord."
His words hit Theodred, who could not reply. Could it be that she was with child? He could not think about the prospect. She was too frail, was she not? And that did not explain the cough, nor the blood.
"Now I must ask you, my Lord," the healer went on, "Since you have not been home for a little over two months or so, to your best recollection, when was the last time you bedded the lady?" He did not even falter at that, nor did he color. He seemed indifferent, tactical about everything.
"I do not remember," he did not want to tell them. This information was too close to his heart to disclose.
The healer seemed to know that Theodred's thoughts "Come now, my Lord, to your best recollection. I know I need not remind you that this is in the Lady's best interests."
He struck a nerve, and Theodred muttered bashfully, his face coloring, "The night before I left. Less than three months ago." Now that he said it, he ached to be in her, to feel her, and he did not realize it had been so long since he had.
"Three months," the healer calculated, "Yes. That is enough time. The constant vomiting can be attributed to it as well."
The younger man whom Theodred had threatened piped up, though he was still wary of him, "And it is rumored among the washing women that the Lady has missed her courses. There was no stain on her sheets."
"It is merely a rumor," Theodred knew all too well what servants could create in their idleness.
"But it must be accounted," the older healer refuted quietly.
Wodyn spoke again, "This could also explain why she does not seem the least bit worried about her own condition. She smiles sometimes at us, while we are examining her, as if to mock us, as if she carries some secret that we do not know of."
Theodred let the words sink in. They did not know Elentari, he almost shook his head, she would not admit her illness till it carried her to her deathbed, and even then, she would hide it.
"Ask her, my Lord," the man encouraged, "Only she can tell you for certain."
She was awake when he returned, Eowyn telling her about the newest foals, though Elentari insisted that she would never ride again. She had grown up with Talcalina, and no other horse could ever carry her like the mare had. "Besides," she joked, "Why would I want a Rohirric horse?"
Her eyes alighted when she saw him standing in the doorway, "Theodred!" As her cousin and his wife embraced, Eowyn said, "She was afraid you were riding away without coming to tell her."
Elentari smiled abashed, and lowered her eyes, and Theodred grinned; "Now why would I ever do a foolish thing as that? I love you too much not to keep away for too long."
Only Eowyn saw the waver in Elentari's eyes as she heard these words, and without returning them, she kissed her husband.
Theodred mounted Brego heavily, his eored behind him, as he prepared to leave his home once more. Eowyn stood outside, bidding him farewell. He had left Elentari earlier, after a meal. He had kissed her several times, promised her that he would return to her as soon as he could, made her promise that she would try to get better, and looked at her closely, trying to catch a trace of the despair she had shown earlier, but she could hide so well.
He had held her for a long moment, not willing to let her go, but his mind wandered, "Could it really be that she carries my child? It cannot be. She does not feel any different, only lighter, and is it not true that women grow fuller and plumper during childbearing? How can I ask her? If she were, she would tell me. She would never hide something like this from me."
As he was about to order the ride, his words stuck in his throat, as the early morning sun caught in his eyes. Yet it was no mistake. Elentari, attended by a maid on either side of her, made her way slowly down the stairs of Meduseld, towards him.
Without hesitating, he leapt off Brego, and ran towards her. As she embraced him, she murmured, "I couldn't let you ride off without seeing you again." Hearing no reply from him as he breathed in the scent of her hair, she continued, "I wanted to apologize for my behavior this morning."
He shook his head, "You have naught to apologize for, my love." She felt that guilty pang once more, the same one she felt whenever he addressed her so.
"And," she added humorously, "I needed to prove to Eowyn that I can walk, so she can stop fussing over me. Can you not order her to leave my bedside?"
Theodred laughed, "I would have thought that a good thing, to have her care for you so. It is good for the both of you." He looked her over. Her clothes were looser on her. Even for his scant knowledge, he knew that it should be the opposite if what the healers said was true.
"Don't let Eowyn hear this," Elentari warned, "She'll have both of our heads." Taking her into his arms once more, he kissed her passionately, which caused the men in his company to jeer good-heartedly, and Elentari to blush fervently.
"You should go," she motioned awkwardly, "Remember, you promised to come back soon."
"And you promised to get well soon." With that, he mounted Brego, and after kissing her hand once more, rode into the horizon. Why was it that every man she cared about left her? It did not matter if they were going to Osgiliath, Henneth Anun, the Fords of Isen, the Gap of Rohan, or even Ithilien. Every single one of them, from Boromir, to Theodred, to Faramir, rode off; leaving those that loved them behind, not once looking back.
A/N: PLEASE review! And if there's something you don't quite like, please tell me why! Song from Moulin Rouge, though I altered a line slightly.