Hear our singing
Hear our longing
We will go home across the mountain

We will go home
We will go home...

Aragorn could not take his eyes off of her as the words of her song brought comfort not only to the young boy, but also to his travel weary companions. As she sang and stroked the young boy's face, he remembered the words her uncle had spoken to him earlier in their journey. Such sorrow she had seen in her life. Death and abandonment was almost commonplace. Her father, Eomund, was Chief Marshal of the Mark and was slain by orcs on the Eastern Marshes when she was very young, and she saw his body before they could clean it. King Theoden told him that she didn't speak for nearly a year after that. All who loved her feared she might die from despair, like her mother. But she survived. When her uncle fell under the spell of Saruman, the duty of caring for Theoden fell to Eowyn. For five years she watched her beloved uncle grow more frail and she felt helpless and useless. Grima, her uncle's counsellor who Eomer suspected of poisoning the King's mind, used cunning words to heighten her despair, and she began to believe that both she and the royal house of Rohan had lost their honor. Theodred died, Eomer was banished, and Eowyn was left alone with her ailing King. And now, here she was again watching death take it's toll on another she had come to care for.

He could tell that she was unconscious of the feelings she inspired in those around her. In the short time he had known her, he could see that the Lady Éowyn had no desire to have windows made into her soul, and fled from those who would try. After her many battles with the Wormtongue, she had learned to fear those who could see into the hearts of others. She feared their sight almost as much as she feared their protection. Yet somehow Aragorn knew that, will or nil, she would endure both before her course was run. He wondered if she was ever to be a symbol of survival of suffering to him. Could her happiness ever become real, or was it as elusive and improbable as his so often seemed?