Compromise

"They say all marriages are made in heaven, but so are thunder and lightning."
― Clint Eastwood

Heather had to wonder if Draco was slipping potions in her tea as she calmly listened to Guiomer rant for the third time without feeling any headache.

Merlin, it had only been three months after the wedding and their arguments had started. Heather knew married couples had arguments, but this was ridiculous. Who had arguments every other day?

"Guiomer," Heather interrupted. "Just give me the gist of it. What exactly is the problem?"

He stood stock still before throwing his hands up in frustration. "She doesn't listen!" he yelled. Aggravation was in his every feature. He was the very picture of a very put-upon male. For Salazar's sake, he even got the perfect pose to go with it.

Luckily, Heather had listened to Hermione in lessons regarding psychoanalysis. The "he/she doesn't listen" thing was an old classic.

Firstly though…

"Calm down, will you?" she said mildly. Heather allowed a hint of steel to filter through in her tone. Guiomer knew her well enough to know that she was serious and on her way to be really annoyed. He gulped as he took a seat.

"The thing with that complaint," she continued with the same mildly threatening tone. "Is that it usually means the one complaining is the one not listening."

Predictably, he bristled at the implication.

"Mater," he stated. "I do listen to Cailyn."

Heather only raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she said. Her tone was as sardonic as she could manage. "Okay, so let's say I believe you. What has Cailyn been complaining about?"

Guiomer opened his mouth, no doubt to give a rude retort, and he stopped short. There was a listening sort of silence and then he flushed in embarrassment.

He cleared his throat. "Mater, I'm sorry. I know you've been busy."

She gave him a knowing look. "Go and find your Cailyn," she said instead.

She kept her composure until she was sure he was out of earshot. And then she collapsed on top of her desk, almost sending the papers every which way.

"I don't think I signed up to be a marriage counselor when I signed up to be a mother," she muttered to the Form of a Building Construction permit.

Sadly, the form didn't answer her.

At least her efforts yielded some success, however small. When she went home for lunch, Guiomer and Cailyn were being civil and not yelling at each other. It was an improvement.

"Who did – " Heather started.

"Felicia," Hermione cut in. "I know, because after Cailyn went to Felicia, Felicia came to me and borrowed my psychology books."

All four of them sighed in unison.

"Run this by me again," Draco muttered. "Just what makes this so bleeding difficult?"

With a long-suffering expression, Hermione repeated the explanation she gave to all of them the moment the arguments started, "It's just an adjustment phase, along with some minor issues that usually comes up. But it's not just that, Draco. It's the clashing of a different set of cultures. Cailyn practically raised herself so she's independent. Guiomer was taught to take care of women. So of course it would be difficult."

The couple in question didn't notice the whispered conversation between the four of them. They had gotten past their stiff awkwardness and were currently speaking in whispers and giggles.

Heather found it a smidge bit unfair for Cailyn. The girl was the one at a disadvantage whenever she and Guiomer argued. Guiomer had the security that he would always have Heather but Cailyn didn't have parents, otherwise known as the sounding boards for complaints. The only thing that comforted Heather in the inequality of it was that the assistants seemed to have found a liking for her and taken up the role of marriage counselors with aplomb.

"I'll be in the Training courts for the rest of the afternoon," she told the table as she pushed away her plate. "Anyone looking can find me there."

Hermione sent her a frown. "Really? Is that wise? I, for one, know that you haven't placed a dent in that paperwork I left you."

Several occupants at the table winced at the word paperwork.

"I'll pull an all-nighter for it tonight," Heather reassured Hermione. "I haven't overseen Eomer's training in a week. We mustn't make him feel neglected."

They all murmured in assent as Heather strode away from the table. Really, having foreign dignitaries visiting were a pain, but having foreign dignitaries learning from you was a backache, a migraine and an ulcer all rolled into one.

That, and I really need to let out my frustrations before I hurt somebody who isn't equipped to handle it, she added in her mind.

The Training masters all gave her a nod of respect when she entered the Training court. The rest followed with the same movement. Heather approved since she'd long disabused them of the notion of bowing to her. She didn't allow her men to get used to the idea of placing their necks in such a vulnerable position. She was paranoid like that, but it had earned her their respect.

"How's the little lord today?" she asked the Training master she'd assigned to Eomer. His name was Fallean.

Fallean gave a nod of grudging respect in the direction of Eomer. "Managed to disarm me. I made him work for it though. He's getting proficient with that sword."

Wow, that was news.

Heather felt like jumping even as she directed a smirk at Fallean. "Are you sure you don't want to retire yet, Fallean? A fifteen-year old disarmed you."

He gave her the look that deserved. "He's getting fast. Almost as fast as you. Whatever you've been teaching him is sticking in there and working," he said.

She allowed herself a momentary feeling of triumph for giving him a stronger measure of survival. Eomer's future wasn't as bleak as Theodreds but it was still pretty bleak.

"And the little lady?" she asked after a while.

A flush went up his cheeks. "She's getting better. Faster than her brother, even. She threw Hama on his back the last time they sparred."

There was a heartbeat of surprised silence, and then Heather broke it by chortling. Hama was one of her grumpiest and angriest Training master. He also used to be a thief and one of the best knife fighters in the entire city. On a good day, when his joints weren't aching, he could really make Heather sweat for a victory.

"Was Hama alright?" she managed to ask when she could speak without giggling.

"The only thing bruised was his pride," came the dry answer.

Heather stifled her amusement as she observed Eowyn moving against a Trainee older than her. Initially, she had wanted to learn the sword but it was all too heavy for Eowyn to lift. So Heather had her slotted in knife-fighting lessons and she had taken to it like she was born to hold knives.

"I'll take Eomer for the rest of the day. Thank you, Fallean," she told him.

The man nodded and left.

Eomer straightened up even as she approached him. When he looked like he was about to bow, heather raised an eyebrow and he nodded instead.

"My lady," he said. "I missed you to days ago."

She sighed. "Paperwork. Now, Fallean told me you managed to disarm him."

He gave a nod like an eager puppy.

Heather allowed a wicked smirk to cross her face. "Good. That means I can now upgrade those weights I gave you. You've obviously adjusted to them so you'll need further challenge."

Horror was etched on his face but he knew her well enough not to complain since she would probably – and sadistically! – double the weights instead of just adding to them.

She worked him until he could no longer stand, or manage to let go of his weapon. And then she turned to the next student – target, victim, really, the words were almost synonymous.

Eowyn had seen her coming and gulped. She had a moment's debate whether to run or not, but the Lady was fast and would work her to the bone either way.

Heather was very well acquainted with her office. It was sort of inevitable when she spent most of her time in it, right next to the Training courts. She could probably count the thirteen steps it took to teach her chair and the twelve steps it took to reach the File cabinets behind her.

She was also very well acquainted with her door and the methods people had in opening it.

Guiomer, for example, was responsible for loosening the hinges in it. Hermione had a brisk sort of knocking that would be just as brisk as her manner of discourse. Draco didn't bother knocking at all, but would immediately start talking. Luna was always special and would have that rhythmic sort of knocking that almost seemed to border on Morse code.

So when that really distinctive knocking sounded on her door, she immediately knew it was Luna.

"Moonbeam!" she cried out. "What can I do for you?"

Luna gave her an absentminded sort of smile and that set alarm bells ringing in Heather's mind. Luna only got that look when she had something seriously bothering her. It meant that she was thinking of so many things at once.

"Uhm, feather?" she started. "Kreacher hasn't been placing anything in the food, right?"

Seeing as Kreacher would rather chew on his own leg than hurt any of them…NO.

"Luna, what is this all about?" Heather sighed.

"Well, that's the most farfetched explanation I could think of, right next to Cailyn being pregnant," Luna said dreamily.

Heather hummed and then the words registered in her mind and then whoa!

"Wait, what?" she choked.

Luna nodded, ignoring the cardiac arrest going on in Heather. "I'm hearing another voice near Cailyn. I thought I was dreaming again or that Guiomer's voice had changed. Then I realized it sounded like a new soul."

Heather felt like her brain had just changed to mush. Then something rewired in her mind and unmitigated joy filtered through.

"I'm going to be a grandmum!" she exclaimed.

Luna blinked, almost like she was shaking off sleep, and then she started smiling in a more sincere manner. Almost like she just realized what that meant too.

"Grandaunt!" she remarked. "That's just brilliant!"

They exchanged smiles and laughter. Heather abandoned work since she knew she wouldn't be able to remove that thought from her mind for the whole day and be as useless as anything.

"Let's get smashed," Heather laughed.

Even if Luna was just as giddy as Heather, she was still a Healer and she gave a disapproving frown. "No. It's bad for your liver. Let's go find a pastry shop instead and indulge in the sweetest thing we can find."

Heather pouted but acquiesced since she burned off thousands of calories every time she went to the Training courts.

And then in-between killing a cake and wondering if the baby would be a boy or a girl, a thought occurred to her.

"Hey," she said. "Do you think my dearest son knows?"

Oh, the probability of that was low. Even if Guiomer was an accomplished specimen of his kind, he was still male and they were unaccountably ridiculous and dense in those sort of matters.

As one, almost as though the same thought had occurred to Luna, they smirked at each other.

"Do you think?" Heather asked.

Luna nodded. "Let's go look for Hermione."

Even if Hermione wasn't a prankster by nature, she still had a highly analytical mind and she knew them very well. She guessed that letting Guiomer discover for himself would be more amusing.

"Besides," she said to a sulking Heather. "Waiting makes it better."

But what was a funny secret quickly turned real a week later when Cailyn became moody and irritable. Considering her sweet disposition, Guiomer was alarmed enough to take the matter to Luna. She had simply taken one look at his worried face and told him.

It made the women rather guilty that he didn't even seem angry at them, just extremely grateful for explaining it.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "She's just pregnant." Then his eyes widened. "Pregnant?"

Luna counted to ten…and then Guiomer's rapidly paling face turned red with happiness. Then she laughed outright when he reached to her and then swung her around like a pebble on a string in his exuberance.

When Heather heard it, she allowed herself to feel guilty for a second before shrugging it away. She knew her son's disposition best out of all of them and knew that he couldn't hold a real grudge even if his life depended on it.

Draco took one look at their faces and rolled his eyes. Then he patted Guiomer on the back and simply said, "Congratulations."

That set the theme for their party that night and it was filled with laughter. Cailyn, despite being the pregnant mother, was the last to know. Then she looked down to her slightly protruding stomach and said, "Oh!"

The twins were appalled. "You're spawning," Phobos said to Guiomer. "Soon, Haven will be overrun by little demons," Deimos added.

Dense demon was always what the Terrible Two had called Guiomer. Anyone else might have been offended, but Guiomer merely laughed and answered back, "Yes, spawning, otherwise known as reproduction. You ought to know, you're the Healers."

Then they grinned and exchanged back pats like the best of friends. The women looked at each other and sighed in unison, "Men."

The message came in the earliest part of the morning, when the sky was only turning a faint pink. It worried Heather slightly, because that meant the one that sent the message knew her well enough to know what time she got up for her morning ablutions.

"Who's that from, Hafny?" she asked.

The owl gave off the impression of horses and then let out a really imperious hoot as she dropped the rolled letter on top of her lap.

Rohan! Well, wasn't that worrying?

She read it and then sighed sadly. The contents were almost exactly the same as the one she received when the king called back Prince Theodred to Rohan. This time, it was for Eomer and Eowyn and she wasn't even nearly finished in training the both of them. Especially Eowyn. The girl thrived when given weapons and thrown along with hunting parties, never mind the fact that she was only thirteen-years old.

"I'll probably have to write a manual for the rest of their training," Heather muttered. And then her head shot up so fast that she almost got a whiplash. "In fact, why don't I write a book about it?"

Scrambling out of bed, Heather ran to Hermione's room and forgot why she was sad in the first place. Hafny, alone in Heather's room, would have rolled her eyes if owls could manage it. Instead, she picked up the enclosed letter that was meant for Eomer and flew towards Eomer's open window.

Really, it was a wonder that Heather managed Haven. But then again, she was friends with Luna. Enough said.

OMAKE:

Why Eowyn slammed a Training master on his back

Eowyn was a gentle girl but she was also very vindictive.

It was rarer that it came out, but Eowyn had a sharper sense of justice than Eomer. She turned to watch Hama the Training master pick on a new Trainee that was younger than Eowyn and did not have the breeding of kings to help him.

Eowyn scowled. "I'm gonna make him hurt," she muttered.

Eomer gave her a skeptical look, but she knew he didn't believe she could do it. But she was motivated this time.

So when the Lady came to spar with the men, she watched how the Lady placed her feet and how she balanced herself to leverage against the bigger men.

When she finally managed to do it, Eowyn became the heroine of the younger Trainees.

Sorry for the delay. I couldn't find time to type it. I hope you enjoyed. So, these are the list of questions that people had. Anything I missed will be answered via PM.

What happened with Hermione and Elladan in the previous chapter?

Okay, think of it this way. Elves are very sensitive to music. Hermione's magic and her gifts makes her very perceptive to the subtleties of people. So when he started to feel the music, Hermione's magic reacted to enhance it, shocking the both of them. Just to clarify, there is no such thing as bonding in this story.

Will the others visit the Shire?

Uhm, maybe? Let's just see how this goes.

Am I aware that Aragorn was a child during the Hobbit?

Bugger. As I state it again and again, I am a fanfic author. I am not perfect. This site is practice for me, so if I make a mistake like timelines, please don't nitpick on the brushes but focus on the tapestry. I can rewrite this when I'm done, if it makes you happy.

Fiendfyre on the Ring?

Dude, do you seriously want the story to end that quickly? Well, I have no such qualms, but I think some of my readers will complain.. Lol.

I think that's all of it. To the people who keep poking me to update, I will reiterate it again, just coz you don't read all of my author notes. At the very start of this fanfic, I promised that I would finish this coz I've read too many unfinished LoTRxHP fanfics and the thought of adding this to that list makes me unhappy.

I may update late, but I will never abandon this.

~Hallen

P.S. On a side note, Avalance has finally reached 200+ reviews. I did a small dance when I found out. Thanks for that guys.