Xander blinked at the soft glow that filled his body as a scent of life and joy seemed to fill the air.

Letting his eyes focus, he looked up at the stern face of Aragorn, "Did you heal me just to try to glare me to death or is there a reason I'm back among the living?" Xander asked as he tried to remember how he got to this room. In a flash it all came back to him.

iHe was charging into the Orc army, trying to keep up with the more able bodied horsemen and not get his head lopped off at the same time. Losing sight of Eowyn in the confusion and rallying around the King's banner at his command and then the terror came. Shrieking from the sky, it felt as if the cold hand of death itself reached into Xander's soul and took a grip on his heart.

The fear held him for only a moment before he managed to shake it off and see the danger. Steeling himself against the inevitable pain, Xander had leapt from his horse as the King's mount had reared in terror before crashing to the side.

The last thing he remembered was a great shadow falling over him as Theoden landed several feet away before the crushing weight of the horse had finally forced him to black out./i

Reaching up, he grabbed the Ranger's arm in concern, "Aragorn, the King, is he…?" he couldn't finish the question as he tried to ignore the knot in his gut.

"Theoden sits with his niece in the next room. I will tell him of your worries and send him to allay your fears." Aragorn said calmingly before placing Xander's hand back down beside him. "You have had a taxing day, Alexander. Sleep and then some food will do you more good than my presence right now."

Nodding, Xander let a sleepy chuckle escape, "Yeah, food good…Well good foods good, some of the stuff is kinda odd. Like that Elf bread. Between you and me, I've had about as much of that as I can stand." He said before relaxing back into the pillow. The lovely scent that had brought him out of sleep was slowly replaced by a less pleasant, but no less welcome scent of tobacco leaves being smoked, wafted in as someone in the neighboring room lit a pipe. "At least the hobbits are okay," he whispered before finally drifting off to sleep.

--

Xander looked out over the thatched houses of Edoras and at the burial mounds as he thought back to the hectic weeks following the war.

Both Aragorn and Eomer had ceded him lands on the border between the two kingdoms. He forced the swell of sadness down at the thought of Theoden falling at the Black Gate after surviving so much.

Shaking the thought off, Xander turned his mind back to his lands and smirked at the memory of Gimli's slack expression when Xander had brought the silvery metal to him to identify. It seems none of the miners or metal workers on his lands had ever seen Mithril before. A small deposit to be sure, nothing like the fabled mines of Moria, but more than enough to keep Xander's lands out of debt for the next several generations.

Generations, it appeared he was here to stay. Gandalf and Galadriel had spoken to him at length about the portal that brought him here before shaking their heads at the thought of sending him back.

It looked like the Valar had had a hand in bringing Xander to Middle Earth and not even Gandalf the White was willing to cross them, which meant that he had settled down to the life of a lesser noble on the lands between two allied nations and tried to make the best of it.

Turning at the sound of the large wooden doors opening, Xander swallowed as she stepped out of the Hall and nodded for him to enter.

Now came the scariest moment of his life.

Gripping his sword hilt at his hip so his hand wouldn't shake, Xander passed into the Golden Hall to beg King Eomer for Eowyn's hand in marriage.