Chapter 14: Encounter

It was strange. Very strange.

Éomer was in a library. He even found it strange when at one point it hit him like a ton of bricks that he was looking at a book. Rather a book of maps, but still a book. And all around him were texts. Books of all different kinds lined the walls and as he looked around he became more and more perplexed.

He had just needed a map of the lower regions of Rohan where it merged with Gondor. His men had been commissioned to find another path to Gondor. The paths of the dead and been open to them since the war, but they had yet to try it. Now would be the time to take their chances with an old superstition.

It shouldn't have bothered him so much that he was in a library, but it did as he spun around. And then it got worse. He saw a young woman sitting in a chair opposite him. Lothiriel was reading intently so he had hoped to get out before she saw him. His attempts failed.

"My lord?" she had looked up from her book and just as confused about his presence in a library as what he had.

"My lady," he said back with a bow. She got up and crossed to him as she tucked a hair behind her ear. She seemed brighter than she had before. She even almost smiled at him as she walked over, though her eyes were slightly downcast—the way a modest lady looks.

"I did not know you read," she said tucking her book between her arms as she approached him.

"Of course, I do. Well, I mean, I can read. I can read all languages of Middle-Earth. I just don't like reading."

"Then why are you in a library?"

"Maps." He answered simply.

"Ah, I see. Well, I still wonder…"

"What?"

"You say you can read all languages. Does that include Elvish?"

"Yes, Legolas taught me some things on our journeys together. Now we correspond in elvish. It is very basic, in the least, but he is trying to elevate my mind."

"Well, good for you for trying so hard." (Was that a compliment? Éomer wondered.) "Have you ever read the lay of Gil-galad?"

"No, I have not."

"Hmm," she looked like she was concentrating as she looked at his face. "You remind me of him. Perhaps it is simply his name, but I think it might be more."

"What does his name mean?"

"You tell me. You are the one studying the language."

"But you are the one who knows the answer without even having to think about it." Lothiriel crossed her arms, though, and so Éomer thought about it. "Is it star—something?"

"Yes."

"Star Radiating."

"Star of Radiance, actually, but close enough."

"Why would that remind you of me?"

"Because that very much describes you. So do his characteristics. Proud, strong, firm."

"Am I simply a machine?" he asked slightly insulted.

"No, you are also cautious, insightful, and…well…radiant…er…beautiful if you must know."

He did a double check and then opened his mouth wide when she didn't say, "just kidding."

"That's quite the compliment, my lady. I fear I don't deserve it."

"Oh, no you don't," she said matter of factly, which shocked him even more than her compliment. He almost fell over but she kept talking. "But I can't blame you for being a lousy git. You were born that way, for all I know."

"Maybe I shouldn't have said anything," he said weakly. Lothiriel could restrain no longer; she exploded into laughter.

A/N: Sorry it is kind of short, but it's a cute chapter. Hope it didnt take so long that you all gave up on me. I know it has been a while. So, how bout reviews?