Thank you all for your reviews! Sorry it took so long to update, I spent forever on this chapter. I hope you all like it. It may be a little angsty, but I don't know, and you get to learn a little more about Avelina in this chapter.As always, let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Lord of the Rings.

Chapter 9

Éomer furrowed his brow and followed after her. "Avelina!" he called and the woman came to a stop just outside her door. Éomer moved to her quickly and put his hands on her shoulders. There were only two torches that lit the corridor and one was just above her head. Avelina wanted to push him away and turn around to go into her room, she wanted to, but couldn't. "A memory?" he asked in a whisper. The effects of the night's ale disappearing as he looked at her shadowed face. "You are such a mystery to me Avelina and I find myself trying to understand what has brought you here, but nothing comes to me. I wish for you talk as freely with me as you do Eothain. Even my sister has the honor that I do not." At that Avelina's tear filled eyes looked up at him as she frowned. "Tell me of this memory that made you frightened of me." Avelina shook her head and blinked her tears away.

"It is nothing," she whispered and his frowned deepened.

"You lie. I can tell by your eyes. You even fear the white wizard Gandalf, when there is no reason to fear him. Confide in me. That is all I ask of you." Avelina looked away from his face and swallowed hard. The concern she saw in his eyes was enough for her to want to confide in him, but she had known him for such a short time and he was a lord. He was high above her station. Even in his world, there was no reason for him to so such care as he did for her.

"Why do you care so much?" she asked before she returned her eyes to his. Éomer could see the slight confusion that filled her eyes. "In Rohan, my status remains the same. Why would a lord, and heir to the throne, care so much for a servant?" Éomer shook his head and his grip tightened slightly on her shoulders. "Would your uncle, your king, not look down upon you for doing so? Will I not be punished for socializing like an equal with you and your sister?" Éomer took a slow and deep breath. He was a warrior, and all his life he had never been good at expressing how he felt through words, but at that moment he gathered all the things he wanted to say in his mind before he let the words fall from his lips and to the woman who thought so little of herself.

"I know little of your homeland, Avelina, and it appears as though you know as much of mine as I do of yours. It is true what you speak. I am the sister-son to the king, the heir to the throne since my cousin's death, but you misunderstand my uncle." Éomer moved his hands from her shoulders to her upper arms and gently held them in his calloused hands. "It is also true that your status remains the same, but my uncle knows your story for Eothain told him of you when I went to retrieve you after the battle. If you do not already know, he has agreed to give you a home in the hall and a position as Éowyn's handmaiden if you wish it. I know that Éowyn will be glad to have you for she has longed for a companion close to her age that she can trust enough to confide in. I know she trusts you, just as I do." Avelina just looked at him with surprise clearly written across her face. She had not yet been informed of the king's offer and she felt honored for even the thought of his proposal.

"My uncle will not punish you," he whispered as he raised his right hand to her cheek. Avelina swallowed the sudden lump that formed in her throat as his warm fingers caressed her cool cheek. "You have done nothing deserving of punishment and befriending my sister and I does not call for punishment." Éomer knew he had one more question of hers to answer, but he wanted her to ask it again. Avelina just looked at him before she took a moment and found her voice.

"Then your land is much different than mine, but you have yet to tell me why you care so much for a servant," she said gently. Éomer's dark eyes remained locked with hers as he shook his head.

"I am afraid I do not know the answer to that question, but I know that I would die before I see you come to any harm." Avelina was surprised by the fire she saw in his eyes as he made his confession to her. It was something she only saw during their battles with orcs as he brought down another enemy. The normally battle minded warrior seemed to show a new layer before her very eyes and it was one that frightened yet excited her at the same time. Once again, his thumb caressed the soft skin of her cheek as he looked deep into her eyes. Éomer did not know what had caused him to become so bold with her, but ever since he had returned to the hall after getting some fresh air, he found a deep need to speak with her. "Will you confide in me?" he asked and Avelina found herself nodding and Éomer leading her down the corridor and into a small study where a fire was blazing.

It all seemed like a blur as she sat down on a soft chair near the fire. Avelina's mind was still buzzing from Éomer's words in the corridor and now she sat alone with him in a study readying to tell him things she had yet to even share with Éowyn. And she found that the thought did not discomfort her as it once had, but was slowly creating a sense of peace in the back of her mind. Éomer sat down in a chair opposite her and looked at her as he waited for her to speak.

"Tell me of your memory," he said gently as he looked at her. Éomer watched as she once again pulled her knees to her chest, carefully so that her skirt of her dress remained over her legs and feet. Her eyes moved from his form to the fire burning at her left and even from the distance he sat he could see that she was looking for the right words to begin her tale.

"It happened about three months ago. I had finished my duties after Lord and Lady Wilmington's banquet and was retiring to my room for the night when I was pulled into a darkened room," she paused and Éomer saw her squeeze her legs tighter. "Lord Wilmington had had took much to drink during the banquet and . . . he was the one that had pulled me into the room. He asked me why I tempted him, but I did not understand what he meant." Éomer frowned but continued to listen. "He had lit a candle on the table before he came over to me and I was trapped against the wall. He asked me why he didn't take me as his wife because I would not be so cold to him and he . . . he ran his hand down my neck slowly." She raised her right hand and rested it on her throat as she closed her eyes tightly. "There was only two other times in my life that I had been that frightened of anything, and I began to panic as he touched me. I grasped onto a small statue and knocked him unconscious. I left the room and prayed to the heavens that he would not remember what he had done that night and that I would not be punished for striking him." Avelina lowered her hand but her eyes remained closed as he looked at her.

"Were you?" he asked suddenly and her eyes snapped open and met his now blazing eyes. Avelina cleared her throat and swallowed with some difficulty.

"Punished?" she asked and he nodded. Avelina shook her head. "No, but he never met eyes since then. I believe he was ashamed for what he had done." Éomer nodded and let out a deep breath. Avelina's gaze turned back to the flames and Éomer studied her once again. Her copper hair seemed to glow just as fiercely as the fire itself and it flowed freely around her form, just as Éowyn often wore her hair. To him, Avelina could pass as a woman of Rohan with no trouble. She had a fondness for horses, and she worked hard and helped when needed without question or complaint. He wanted to know more so he ended the peaceful silence.

"You said you were only frightened to other times as greatly as you were that night. Would you share those times with me?" Avelina moved her eyes from the fire to his face once again. She could see that he wanted to know her and that was why he asked her the questions he did.

"The first you know of, it was the day my father was killed." Éomer nodded, he remembered she had said that her father died during the peasant uprisings, but he still wanted to know if she was willing to share the story with him. "Our farm was the last to support the king. My father had great faith in him, even though the taxes were taking the food from our mouths, we managed and my father would not go against his king. We had just sat down for dinner and we heard a commotion outside. My father went to see what was happening and my mother and I followed. I hid behind her skirts when the shouting began." Avelina closed her eyes and shook her head. "That night I watched my father die at the hands of a man I had known my entire life and who my father considered one of his closest friends." Éomer watched as a tear rolled down her cheek from her closed eyes.

"They were about to rush the house when I ran to my father who laid dead on the pathway to our door. I cried and looked up at him and asked him why. I asked him why he killed my father as the tears fell from my eyes. My mother did not move from where she stood. She only could look on in horror as her love and husband laid dead and her six year old daughter cried at his side asking his murderer why." Her eyes slowly opened and she looked at Éomer. "He had no answer for my question and the group of men that surrounded him stepped back from him. He dropped the dagger he stabbed my father with and shook his head as I looked at him. He just turned and left with the men following behind him." He wanted to go to her and take her into his arms, something he found to be strange. Éomer stood from his chair and walked over to her. He knelt before her and once again raised his hand to her cheek. He wiped away her tears and kept his eyes locked with hers.

"Was that the man Gandalf reminds you of?" Éomer asked trying to keep his voice in line from the sorrow he was feeling for her.

"No," she whispered and Éomer lowered his hand but remained kneeled before her. She lowered her legs and clasped her hands in her lap. "The man Gandalf reminds me of was a traveler, who my mother rented the shed room to for a summer. He worked on the farm for his meals and rent. However, he claimed that he could see things. He claimed that he could read a person's future by a simple glance in their eyes. He gave me my future when I was ten, but some of what he had said has yet to pass, if it will even pass at all." She did not tell him everything of the man. How he looked the age of seventy but had the energy and abilities of a man of twenty and how there were days when just a look from him would frighten her by the darkness she would see in his eyes.

Éomer looked at her with a tilt of his head. Avelina could not help but smile at the gaze he gave her. She was surprised that by just a simple touch and look, he could get her to forget the pain of her past and feel better. Éomer returned her smile, relieved to see the pain slowly disappear from her eyes.

"What did he say was your future?" Avelina shook her head.

"He told me I would experience a great loss within seven years of my meeting him. When my mother passed, I knew that was what the loss was. The rest I cannot tell you," she whispered. "He said I must keep it secret if I wish it to come true. I talked with my mother often about what the loss would be, but she knew not. However, the loss happened but I do not want to chance the rest from happening."

"Then the rest is something you wish to pass?" he asked. Avelina nodded.

"Aye, for it is something I have longed for, for a long time." Éomer nodded and looked outside the small window. His eyes moved back to Avelina. The pain in her eyes was gone and he held out his hand to her. Avelina looked at his hand and tentatively put her hand in his.

"I am afraid I have kept you too long," he said gently as he pulled her from her seat. Avelina just looked up at him when she realized how close she was to him. There was little space between them and Avelina felt herself blush. Éomer met her gaze and cleared his throat before he stepped back but kept her hand in his. "I will take you to your chamber." Avelina nodded and walked quietly with him from the room.

They stopped outside her chamber and Avelina looked at him once more. She slowly removed her arm from his and Éomer found the situation awkward. "Good night Avelina," he said with a pause, "and thank you for sharing some of your past with me." Avelina smiled and bowed her head.

"Good night, my lord," she whispered before she looked at him once more and smiled. She turned and opened her chamber door and entered her room for some much deserved rest. As she closed the wooden door she rested her form against the solid door and raised her hand to rest over her heart. She knew not what made her speak so freely with the horse lord, but she did not mind because he did not look down on her or shun her. With a deep sigh she stepped over to the vanity and poured water into the wash basin before she readied herself for bed. She knew what she was doing she not be done. She knew she should not be so free with him, even though he had said no punishment would be warranted. Avelina just knew that if she was not careful she would lose her heart to the man. However, what she did not know is that she had already given him a large space there, and it was slowly growing.

Once Éomer was in his own chamber he began to ready for bed when he thought of the coppered haired woman and how she had seen much but yet was frightened of the shadows. She was naïve and young and that was all the more reason he felt the need to protect her.

Where most women who had seen battle and death were bold, strong willed, and stubborn, Avelina was timid, uncertain, and frightened easily. He had meant what he said when he had told her he did not know why he cared so much, and that he would die before any harm befell her. He had meant those words with everything he had, and silently swore to himself as he crawled into his bed that he would be certain to keep that promise.