As the hours passed, Eowyn's mind could not find the rest that seemed to have come to the others. Eothan, still clinging to life, slept quietly beside her while Gimli, Legolas, and Aragorn had taken their rest around the fire. Gimli had carried some harsh liquor in a flask at his belt along with his weaponry and he had offered it to her before his eyes closed in sleep. The drink had warmed and burned, but the flask was long since empty. The liquor's power no longer affected a warming in her limbs but still served to slightly dull her mind. Watching the final embers of the tiny fire fade, Eowyn felt the last feeling go out of her hands and feet, sensation stolen by the bitter chill. Her hope for their rescue had abandoned her long ago, despite the fact that Aragorn and Legolas believed that King Theoden and his men would find them. She had been called the White Lady of Rohan, The Ice Maiden of the Rohirrim. Now it seemed that these titles would become quite literally true.

She had been able to keep her fears buried as she cared for Eothan, but now that she was without a task she could not hold her feelings down and she started to cry. For what had become of her life and how it would soon end, but also for all the loss she had known. And for her own loss of innocence and her breaking heart. At first she made no sound, but soon her weeping grew in intensity, until she started to sob, taking in great gasps of air.

She felt a hand on her chin, forcing her head up. Aragorn was close to her - his hand remained under her chin, warming her skin. "Lady Eowyn," he said softly. She did not respond immediately and so he continued. "Please do not weep. There is no cause for weeping."

She laughed through her tears, a sound that was hollow to his ears. "Perhaps not," she said coldly, "for we may still die here. There is some consolation in that."

"We will not die," his tone was even and he looked her in the eye, reaching out to stroke her face. She caught his hand in her own and clung to it desperately, but lowered her eyes from his piercing gaze. It was as if he could see right into her. How did he know her so well? How could he see her so clearly? This stranger, with the deep eyes and voice, the strong hands and broad shoulders, how could he guess her feelings so accurately, when her uncle and brother barely suspected the storms she carried within?

He spoke again, "Look into my eyes, Éowyn." It was like her brother's tone and she knew to obey that voice. Slowly she grew calmer as she looked into his deep blue eyes. She had a focus; something to distract her from everything. Her sobs ceased, and her breathing returned to normal. His eyes looked, almost familiar, somehow, but. whatever it was, it would not come to her. "Do you trust my words?"

Her feelings overwhelmed her and she found her voice suddenly betray her heart, "I trust you, my Lord." The well she carried within her began to overflow, after years of being kept down, and she was unable to resist. His face came ever closer and soon the warmth of his sleep laden lips met the coldness of her own. The heat generated from his kiss consumed her and was hotter than any fire she had ever been near. She melted deeper into him, his hands leaving her face and wrapping around her slight frame. Her arms found their way around his neck and her fingers were lost in the darkness of his hair, and a low moan escaped his lips as they ravaged hers. Éowyn could feel herself slipping, into what she did not know. Aragorn was a man already bound, and her heart could not contain another wound. But he had been binding her to him with every kind word, every piercing glance she had felt herself sinking. She did not know how much further she could sink without harm. But still, she could not pull away from his embrace and the warmth it brought to her frozen body and spirit.

She knew not what might have happened next, for she heard clearly through the wind a voice calling from outside the shelter. Eowyn pulled herself from Aragorn's embrace as Legolas and Gimli rose quickly from their sleep, all five reacting with a mixture of panic and relief. None of them were foolish enough to stay silent. They called out to their rescuers and suddenly a voice she had thought never to hear again, called out, "Éowyn!" Her brother was first through the cave entrance and she jumped from her stupor, looking beyond Aragorn to the face she held most dear. She sprang from her place by the fire and ran to him. He embraced her, and she was lost in the warmth of his strong arms. He had found her. Nothing could be bad when her older brother was there. She looked up into his face, which was graced with a rare wide smile. Éomer's smile seemed to shower her with his love, and she wondered anew how she had survived without him.

"Have you come to harm?" He asked, searching her face while running his strong hands up and down along her arms to bring warmth to her cold body.

Shaking her head, she found her voice, "I did not think you would return." she whispered.

He gave her a piercing look and said, "You ought not let Gríma's lies poison your thoughts, sister. Mithrandir found us and led our search party here. King Theoden waits for us at Helm's Deep and his concern for your welfare is growing with each passing moment, I am certain. Come, let us get you into his waiting arms."

A wave of tiredness hit her as she tried to speak, and she started to sink under it, drowning in her own exhaustion. She felt Éomer catch her, and steady her slight frame. She felt shamed - she was uninjured and her brother was spending time on her while a child lay dying around them. "Eothan," she began, but saw that Aragorn had already swept the child up into his strong arms and was heading for the cave's entrance. He met her eyes only briefly before disappearing through the opening where Eomer had appeared.

TBC...