A/N: Shortening the stay that Arwen has at Minas Tirith. By one day. Sorry, forgot about that. And, yes there is more of the conversation with Gimli...but I don't want to put it in. And those words are italics so that you know that they are not mine. Have I ever said I hate working in cannon?


Arwen and her party left the next day. Arwen bid farewell to Éowyn and promised to see if Faramir was fairing well. Éowyn thanked her and watched them departure before going back into the Meduseld. She felt a little better that Arwen would try, though Éowyn did not know how, to help change Éomer's mind.

A month passed and everything seemed to be ready for Éomer to go and retrieve Théoden's body. He was worried about Éowyn though. He noticed that she had seemed distant again, and he tried his hardest to bring her back. But all he seemed to get out of her were smiles that did not reach her eyes. He told himself it might be her way of mourning Théoden's and Théodred's. He then began to convince himself of that fact.

Éomer announced that he would be leaving to retrieve Théoden's body soon. Éowyn took notice of the date and inquired to Éomer if he would be staying long in Gondor. Éomer told her not very long, that he would send a messenger with the exact date once they reached Gondor.

The night before he was set to ride out, Éomer decided that he wanted to make sure that he had someone there to keep an eye on Éowyn, if not for her own good than to keep his own mind at ease. He knew a good man by the name of Éodwig. He knew that Éodwig was staying in Rohan and that he would be in a position to keep an eye on Éowyn.

Éomer found Éowyn absent-mindedly eating her dinner of stew. Or he thought she was eating. Éowyn was more pushing around the food in her bowl, trying to convince herself that she should be hungry and that she should eat. She turned when he said her name.

"Éowyn I have someone I would like to introduce you to." Éomer then monitored to Éodwig to come closer. "This is Éodwig, he was part of my éored, and should be receiving command of his own shortly."

Éodwig bowed slightly. "A pleasure to meet you, Lady Éowyn."

"And you as well." Éowyn replied curiously. Éodwig then offered to retrieve a fresh mug of ale for Éowyn and offered one for Éomer. When Éodwig returned with the ale, Éomer excused himself, claiming to need to prepare more for his departure in the morning.

Éowyn sat and politely took a few sips from her mug and listened while Éodwig seemed to control the conversation. She spoke a little. She did not even try to touch her stew, knowing that trying to eat was useless at this point.

Éowyn kindly excused herself after she had finished most of her ale. She did not want to stay and talk, or rather listen to Éodwig any longer. Once in her room she curled up in a ball on the bed, trying hard to get warm and not give into what she felt.

The next morning she awoke early and helped with the final preparations for Éomer's departure. After they had a hasty breakfast, Éowyn said farewell to Éomer. She took up the place that had been hers many times before outside Meduseld and watched Éomer and the others ride away.


The party to Minas Tirith made good time and they arrived faster than Éomer thought they would. He knew that the return trip would not be so speedy, and certainly it would have an air of sorrow around the whole trip. Éomer also knew that there would be more joining the party.

They decided when they arrived to leave the next day, and that the party leaving would be one fitting a king's funeral procession. Éomer had sent a letter earlier telling Aragorn when he was leaving and Aragorn had said that was a good time.

Aragorn welcomed the party to Minas Tirith and that might they were all at one table in Merethrod, the Great Hall of Feasts.

Éomer joked with Gimli about whether Arwen or Galadriel was fairer. It was all in fun, and as soon as the conversation finished, Éomer caught a glimpse at a lady he had never seen before. She was talking with Faramir, and from what he could see she looked a little familiar. He turned his eyes away from her, to take a swig from his mug and when he looked for her again, she was not there.

"Lord Éomer," he heard his friend Imrahil say. Éomer turned and saw Imrahil had with him three men, and the lady he had been staring at. "My I present to you my children. Lords Elphir, Erchirion, and Amrothos and Lady Lothíriel." They bowed and Lothíriel smiled. Éomer thought she was very pretty.

The evening progressed and Éomer spoke with Lothíriel for most of the rest of the evening. She kindly excused herself when she noticed how late it was and Éomer stared after her. He was beginning to like her, but did not want to admit it. Imrahil had watched this the whole time, and decided it was time to speak to Éomer.

"My daughter is a very charming lady is she not?" He asked as he sat next to Éomer.

"Aye, that she is." He replied, looking over to Imrahil.

"Her brothers care for her greatly. They would protect her with their lives if it was necessary."

"I feel the same about Éowyn." Éomer replied.

"Yet, they know when to let her make her own decisions, at least some of the time."

Éomer knew this was more about him than about Imrahil's children, but he didn't want to think about Éowyn at the moment. He was beginning to feel guilty over his stubborn attitude and knew that he needed to do something about how he acted. He resolved to talk to Faramir sometime on the journey, since he found out that Faramir would be going as well.


The return party to Edoras was larger than the one that came. Éomer and Aragorn rode in front of the party, and there were guards of Rohan and Gondor surrounding Théoden's body. Éomer planned that half way through the journey he would send a rider ahead to tell Éowyn of the large party that was going to be arriving. He was also trying to find a time to speak to Faramir. During the times when they made camp, Éomer was occupied with other matters. When he was not occupied, it seemed that Faramir was as well.

Midway through the journey came and still he had not spoken to Faramir. Lothíriel, on the other hand, he had spoken to a couple of times. He was really taking a liking to her, and he hoped she was to him as well.

Finally, Éomer had a night of peace and he decided to speak to Faramir. Faramir sat alone, not having anything to attend to himself either. Faramir looked up when he heard footsteps drawing closer and tried to hide his surprised face at seeing Éomer.

"May I have a word with you, Lord Faramir?" Éomer asked in a pleasant voice.

"I can not see a reason why not, Lord Éomer." Faramir replied. Éomer sat next to Faramir, not speaking for a moment.

Éomer cleared his throat and began. "I may have been a little harsh before, Lord Faramir. I will have you know, however, that my actions were only out of concern for my sister. I thought I lost her not long ago and then it seemed like I did not know her." He paused and took breath. "All I want for her is to be happy. I have come to realize that she is not going to be happy if I stop her from doing what she wants. So I have a question for you, if you were to marry Éowyn, would you ever stop her from doing what she wanted?"

"I would never, I want her to be happy as much as you do." Faramir said, hoping that he was saying the right things.

"I think that we agree on that. Now, I believe that we are going to be starting off early tomorrow and that I must get some sleep." Éomer said excusing himself. Faramir hoped that the conversation that he had just had with Éomer meant that he was going to be with Éowyn.


The party slowly made their way to Edoras. On that day that they were to arrive, Éowyn stood watch out side Meduseld for the riders. She always liked watching them come and go, even if it was early in the morning. She had done this since she was little, waiting with her mother for when her father would return home. The only time she had missed them was when her father was brought back dead. Part of her watching now was to see Théoden's final return home.

She stood there, and watched them approach, watched the gates of the city open and her brother and Aragorn lead the way in. She searched the crowd for Faramir, but could not find him on her first look. As they came closer, she saw him. She saw him talking and smiling with a dark hair woman. Something twisted in her chest and she felt a cold ache come over her. He had done only what she had told him to, find a woman better suited for him. Part of her wished that he had not found her and that he would never be happy with her. That part of her also wanted to hurt the woman, but she knew better. And the other part of her wished Faramir happiness, even if she was not the one with whom he could have that.

She went down the steps when Éomer was close and greeted him when he had dismounted. She apologized and said that she had things to attend to before she could say anything more. She knew that she was running, but did not want to see Faramir at the moment.


That night, Éowyn sat with her brother and Éodwig, staying close to both of them. She had made a promise to herself now that she saw Faramir with the woman, both of whom were not there, to talk more with Éodwig. She knew him to be noble and a good man, things that she cared about.

She tried to avoid Faramir as much as she could. It was not as hard as she thought it would be. Mostly she kept to the back round and to making sure that the plans she had made for Théoden's funeral were being carried out and that his body was in a safe place. She cried at times, but was careful not to let others see.

In the afternoon of the second day that the whole party was there, all her trying to stay away from Faramir failed. She was walking back from the stables, having decided to take a look at Windfola, trying to clear her head, when she saw Faramir walking around the outside of the Golden Hall.

She inclined her head to him and said, "Lord Faramir," before continuing on her way back inside.

"Éowyn wait." He called.

"Please do not tell me to, I have things to do." She pleaded with him. They were standing in front of each other now.

"Éowyn, would you speak with me, please?" Faramir's voice only held tenderness and Éowyn wished that it did not.

"I am sorry, my lord, but I do not have the time for words right now."

"When would you then, my lady?" He asked softly.

"I am afraid that not until Théoden King is put to rest that I will have time to speak. Excuse me, my lord, but I must go now." She said, keeping any emotion out of her voice.

"Goodbye then, Éowyn." Faramir said to her turned back.

Éowyn did not speak or see Faramir again until she had to, the day of Théoden's funeral and Éomer's coronation.


A/N: Back from the dead I am! See, I do update. I swear I do. And want to know something that is good about finishing this story? I have the next chapter mostly done already and have had it done for a while. A really long time actually. Try since August. But I have had college and other stories and, well, original stuff. So I am sorry. And may I just say that I hate working in canon. I really really do. Hope you liked it, and please review and I will update next weekend, because I have it done. See, gives you a week to review. And I will respond to reviews with the cool new review respond feature, and no longer here.