AN: And another big thank you to Naomi Hirshfeld, my second reviewer! I was so excited to see your review I promptly stopped doing the revision that I probably should still be doing and wrote this chapter :D I haven't really checked it through as it's quite late now, but I hope it's alright...
DISCLAIMER: Nothing is mine, though I sometimes wish it was so I wouldn't have to get a degree and a proper job...
Her reunification with her family had been emotional for Lothíriel, especially after hearing the stories of the battles that they had faced, worse than even her imaginings in Dol Amroth could possibly have created.
Elphir was speaking now of the march to the Black Gate of Mordor. "Our numbers were greatly diminished, indeed we hardly thought it possible that anyone would return alive from such an endeavour. All the men were calling it a suicide mission. Easterlings and Orcs ambushed us on our journey; this pushed our numbers back to less than 6000, taking into account those that did not have the courage to go on."
Lothíriel gasped to hear how pitifully small the Army of the West had been, and she had to double check to see that her family were indeed all intact and unharmed. It seemed like the Valar themselves had been protecting them. Erchirion continued with the story.
"We were greeted by an evil creature when we arrived, the Mouth of Sauron, who lead us to believe that the Ringbearer was in his captivity…"
Amrothos chipped in, "You remember me telling you about the hobbits don't you sister?"
Lothíriel smiled at her brother, "Of course brother, who could forget such an extraordinary tale?" Amrothos looked exceedingly pleased with himself, whilst Lothíriel beckoned Erchirion to continue.
"This news saddened us greatly, especially as it now seemed that our lives would be sacrificed in vain. The mood became bleaker when a great host, that outnumbered us nigh on ten to each man, surrounded our forces, so that it seemed we were trapped in the eye of a great storm!"
It was at this point that Prince Imrahil, who had been sitting off to the side of the rooms that they had been assigned, got up and headed towards his children. He put a hand on the shoulders of his two eldest sons.
"I was very proud of you that day my sons, you did great honour to our family with the courage that you showed. Indeed Lothíriel, we would surely have lost, eventually, had it not been for the courage of those hobbits; may the Valar bless them. One moment it seemed as though we were on the precipice of disaster, then the eye of Sauron moved towards Mount Doom and the Nazgûl departed, leaving some of our enemy confused, allowing us to regain some of our position. Suddenly there was a great tremor and Barad-dûr, the Black Gate and the Towers of Teeth all collapsed to ruin, allowing us to defeat our foes, even against such overwhelming numbers."
It took a moment for the tale to sink in, but Lothíriel thought she would never again hear of such an epic battle. At least she hoped that she would not. Even though she knew how to fight, her father had made sure of this due to the uncertain and dangerous times in which they lived, she knew that she would never have had the courage to walk up to the very front door of the dark lord. She was also tired of being cooped behind city walls and fearing for her life every time the corsairs attacked Dol Amroth. Perhaps now she would have more freedom.
"You are all very brave my lords, I'm sure your names will be remembered for generations to come in great ballads!" Lothíriel responded, touching her brother Amrothos's arm in a show of solidarity.
Prince Imrahil smiled warmly at his youngest child. "My Lothíriel, you have grown up so much these past few years, to my shame I have hardly noticed it! You are almost in your twentieth year are you not?"
Lothíriel curtseyed, "Yes my lord, this summer shall be my nineteenth."
Her father looked thoughtful for a moment, and then frowned, "I have been neglectful of you daughter, but fear not I shall do my best to remedy this oversight. Now my sons I must talk with you in the study, Lothíriel do what you wish. This city is beautiful, perhaps you might take a servant as a guide?"
Again Lothíriel curtseyed as her father and brothers left the room. She decided to follow her father's advice and sought out a servant to lead her around the city. Although she had been to Minas Tirith before many times as a young child, she had not been recently due to the danger, and the city had changed much, not least due to the recent devastation that the siege and battle on Pellenor Fields had caused.
The servant of course stayed far away from the first level, which Lothíriel remembered to have shops, due to the great fires the orcs had cast there. Her family had been staying in deserted noblemen's houses on the fifth level due to the high number of important guests staying in their usual accommodation on the seventh level; there was a market on the fourth level and her guide thought it would be unwise for her to go to the lower levels, as they were mainly for the poorer families and tradesmen. Lothíriel wanted to protest, but she didn't want her father to hear that she was causing trouble, especially as he seemed to be coming up with 'plans' for her. Now was definitely the right time to be staying in the Prince's good books.
That left the seventh level, where the great palace was, along with the other houses of lords; Lothíriel was interested to know who would be staying in her family's usual quarters; and the sixth level.
It was on the sixth level that Lothíriel met her cousin Faramir again. She caught sight of him in the gardens of the house of healing and immediately ran over, throwing decorum to the wind, to envelope him in an affectionate hug.
"Faramir, oh how I have missed you!" she cried.
"Baby cousin!" he replied, though seemed to frown as he looked down at her. "But my how you have grown, these last three summers have been particularly kind to you, my fair lady."
Lothíriel blushed at this, in truth she had always looked up to her dashing elder cousins who always seemed so confident. Of course being older than her, they had often led her astray on her visits to Minas Tirith, leading to Denethor thinking that she was a particularly wicked child at times. This thought reminded her of Boromir and suddenly she was very grave.
"He truly is gone isn't he?" she whispered.
A look of great sadness crossed Faramir's face as she understood her question, "Yes, Boromir fell. But he fell a hero, his death being crucial to the safe passing of the ring away from a great host of orcs."
"Then I am glad it was not all for naught, he would have wanted it that way."
"To die a hero…" Faramir's voice trailed off at this.
Immediately Lothíriel knew of his thoughts and she reached out to comfort him, "Please do not be sad cousin, I have heard of your deeds, and they are just as heroic as his. You deserve to live just as much as any of us, and you must be strong for the trials that lie ahead."
He smiled briefly at his younger cousin, "Thank you Lothíriel. It is true I did not expect to outlive my brother, nor did I expect to have any power whatsoever. Aragorn, though you know him as Elessar, has entrusted me with the stewardship of Gondor in his absence…"
Lothíriel quickly interrupted at that point, confusion written upon her face, "His absence? You mean to say not all the lords are back from battle yet?"
"No they are not. Elessar and his men, and the horselords of Rohan, including the new King Éomer, are encamped on the Field of Cormallon, where they are celebrating along with the newly returned hobbits."
"But why? Why not come back to Minas Tirith?"
"Aragorn swore he would not return until his coronation, so we shall see him in a matter of days when he is crowned on the first day of May."
"Ah…" replied Lothíriel. In truth she was disappointed. She had been hoping to see the new king, to see if the stories about him were really true. Also, she was interested to see the riders of Rohan, as she had never been to that Kingdom, nor had she attended any feasts where any horselord had been present.
Faramir sensed her disappointment and quickly added; "However the sister of the new King, Éowyn, is under this very roof."
"Well what are we waiting for then?" Lothíriel laughed, "It is discourteous of you to keep me so long when we have royalty to attend to!"
And with that an eager Lothíriel took her cousin's hand and dragged him back towards the healing rooms.
It didn't take much searching to find the lady, Faramir knew that she preferred the solitude of the reading rooms, and he smiled apologetically at Éowyn as he introduced the princess.
"My lady, may I introduce the Princess Lothíriel of Dol Amroth, my cousin." He said with a slight bow. Éowyn looked up from her book and was almost startled to see the princess smilling eagerly down at her.
"My lady." She said inclining her head.
"Please," the girl cried. "Call me Lothíriel, for I am sure we shall soon be firm friends."
Éowyn had to chuckle at Lothíriel's enthusiasm. "Well then, you must call me Éowyn. Now Faramir, you did not tell me that you had such a fair cousin."
Faramir blushed and stammered, "No more beautiful than you my lady!" Then a wave of embarrassment seemed to cripple him and he quickly took his leave.
The two women giggled at his obvious discomfort, then Éowyn turned to Lothíriel. "Now I wish to get to know you, but I feel trapped inside this building, do you think that you could get me out of here?"
A glint of mischievousness shot through Lothíriel's eyes. "But of course! Follow me."
AN: Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, but could I ask you a huge favour *puppy dog eyes* pweese review? Danke, gracias and merci! :D
