Notes: I wish I could write some more battle scenes, honestly. The last chapter was a blast to write. This one is a little bit calmer, but no worries. I'm sure someone will do something dramatic sooner rather than later.

It was high noon when she awoke and the sun streaming in hot and bright, burning her eyes. She was not naturally an early riser, but neither had she seen the midday from her bed in years, could not imagine that she had been allowed to sleep so late unless she had been very ill, or something truly terrible had come to pass. She did not feel sick, though her body ached, and so she tried to come to standing.

The room swam dangerously around her as her feet touched the cold marble floor. The dull ache in her muscles flared into a high scream. She took in her breath in a sharp gasp of pain, reaching for the pillow simply to have something to hold. She felt like she had been punched over and over and could not find any air to draw into her lungs. She remembered the battle, itself vivid in her dreams and fuzzy in her mind now, but she did not remember being so sore. Feeling so ill. She tried again to shift herself to standing and again found herself unable to.

"I wouldn't do that, My Lady." She turned her head suddenly and almost cried out. Éomer moved towards her, from the corner of her eye she could see Éowyn asleep at her bedside. That alone marked the divide between what she was sure was a dream, and what could possibly be reality.

"I wish you had told me before," she said through gritted teeth, "and I might not have done it." I am so glad to see you, she should have said instead, I'm so glad that you are alive. I am so glad you are here.

He moved to cradle her gently back to her bed, when at last Éowyn stirred, rubbing at sleep heavy eyes.

"You're awake." Her eyes looked over Ella like she was a gift, her desperation there for a moment and then gone just as quickly as she forced lightness into her face. "Your family will be glad to hear it-"

"Are they all right? My family, did they all-" Ella bolted up to look at Éowyn, and the girl sighed, gently pressing her back down.

"They all survived the battle Ella, they fought well... And they're mostly unscathed."

"Mostly?"

"Elphir- Elphir lost his hand."

That was terribly irresponsible of him. A hand is a large thing to misplace. Ella felt a wave of hysteria flow through her and she closed her eyes and bit her lip to keep down the laughter before it turned into tears. Poor Elphir. He wouldn't be able to pick up both his children at once anymore like he did. One under each arm, his stern face transformed as he pretended to be a troll for them. He wouldn't be able to hold his wife and block the world from the two of them. He wouldn't be able to fight anymore. Not like before. What would he do?

"Can you let them know I'm awake now? I imagine there's a great deal to do now that they've returned, but I'm awake now, and I'd like to see them. I'm sure they'll tease me for sleeping the day away."

"Ella..." There was something in Éomer's voice that made her pause, she turned questioning eyes on him.

"Yes?" She squinted, looking directly into the light of the window trying to make out if it was mid-day or early evening.

"You've been asleep for four days. We couldn't wake you for the world. Your family waited for days by your side, but there was business to attend to."

Ella frowned and was about to tell them that it wasn't possible before she thought better of it and closed her mouth. Though her wounds ached fiercely, it wasn't with the same urgency that she remembered from the battle. She did not feel that she was bleeding. That she might die. It began to make sense... this time-line they offered her. She thought about the four days she had been senseless. How her family must have worried... she remembered the days and weeks they all lost while sitting by Mother's side as she had wasted away from them into an early grave. Poor Father. Her poor brothers. She wanted to see them. She wanted to promise them she wasn't going anywhere. She wanted to wipe the worry from all their faces, even Éomer and Éowyn who watched her closely.

"The healers doused you in poppy milk like they thought it might quench your thirst." Éowyn said slowly, as if to explain how this could have happened.

"I wouldn't judge them too harshly," Ella reached for the girl's hand and grinned brightly. She didn't like the concern in Éowyn's face, or the way Éomer was tucking the blankets around her like she had turned to crystal. It didn't suit either of them, Éowyn with her rigid back, and Éomer with his scrapes and scars from true battle. "I'm sure I was a terribly loud patient. I've never been in such pain."

"No, Ella." Éowyn came to standing and held Ella's hand so hard it began to hurt. Ella said nothing. "You lay as still as one in her grave. You never once cried out. I thought you died in my arms on the parapet. I thought I would present your father with a corpse upon his triumphant return!" Never had Ella seen Éowyn so upset. Never had she thought to be the cause of it. "Lothiriel, you left enough blood on those stones to cure a drought. Did you think you had some to spare? Did you think you might move faster without it?"

Ella shook her head, she tried to catch Éomer's eyes to plead for help, but he would not look at her. "I did not think at all." She admitted, not seeing any point in lying. "The woman next to me was a true warrior. She should not have died."

Éowyn shook her head and turned to Éomer, "I'm going to tell her family. Keep her from reopening those wounds."

She turned on her heels and left the room. Ella groaned and leaned her head back on her pillow.

"Don't begrudge her her anger. She was worried about you. We all were."

"I'm only concerned that I caused her so much trouble. That I caused you all such trouble."

"That would be a first, Princess."

Ella turned her head sharply, only to realize he was laughing at her.

"I'm very injured, you shouldn't be so mean to me."

"Yes, I know."

"I could tear my stitches from your impudence alone."

Éomer lifted both hands and dragged them down the length of his face, but Ella could see the relieved grin he wore underneath. She laughed, and instantly regretted it, she managed, for a moment to keep the pain hidden, but then she grit her teeth and the air hissed through them, and Éomer knew.

"No more jokes, Ella."

"That seems unfair. No more good jokes."

"Ella…"

The lightning that had spread across her back finally settled and she took a deep breath and sunk into her bed. "You're getting awfully familiar with my name now, King Éomer. Not a 'Princess' in sight. I suppose I left a great deal of my royal blood soaking into stones, but I still deserve at least a 'Pr'"

He shook his head, and she thought for a moment she had gone too far, but again a smile cracked the surface and she smiled back. He came to sit beside her, and Ella, feeling that she could claim some sort of poppy milk residue affecting her, took his hand and examined it. He had many callouses and she could see where he put the weight of his sword when he swung it. He wore a ring that had left a dark mark around his index finger. On the back of his hand his knuckles were scraped and scabbed over. She found herself fascinated, did everyone have their lives so clearly shown in the palms of their hands? How had she never noticed?

"I don't recall you being nearly so snobbish when I left." Éomer flipped their hands so he could examine what her hands said about the changed girl in front of him. Though she had been washed, he could see dirt under her nails, could feel where the skin of her hands had hardened under labour. He could see the way the wrist tapered into a forearm that held some muscle now. It was a fascinating change. "I suppose with your token tucked into my sleeve, I imagined we might still be friends when I returned."

Ella grinned at him, "I'm glad you kept it. I was worried you would toss it to the wayside the moment I was out of view."

Éomer looked at her and brought her hand to his lips. He was suddenly serious. Suddenly, he studied her like he had never seen another of her ilk, which she knew could not be the case. She had not been offered a mirror, but she had a sneaking suspicion that her hair was tangled from four days in bed, and she thought suddenly of hitting her head on the stones. She tried to raise her free hand to her face to feel if she had broken anything, but it protested her movement. She forgot about Éomer and his lips and her hand and turned to the damage of the battle in shock. The whole arm had swelled, though the worst of it by far was her shoulder and bicep. Never had she been bruised so viciously, it looked like someone had taken a piece of wood to her and though the wound itself was bandaged, there was fresh blood on the gauze. She looked to Éomer in askance.

"Is this arm the worst of it?" She turned to him and did not wait for answers, she knew it was not, she could feel it in the lightning on her back. She tried to come to sitting. In the process she pulled herself from him, she had to see the whole of it.

"Ella. Ella." Éomer had one arm pinning her down on her good shoulder, and the other around her back, loosely, holding her upright and afraid to let her fall. "What in Brema's name are you doing? What in all-"

He was looking at her, bewildered, and she saw herself reflected in his eyes. "Don't move. Don't move." It was hard to make out details, but the twin versions of herself still looked human and mostly un-scarred. She could see a sharp scrape across her nose and a bandage had been wrapped high around her forehead. She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again, refocusing on him. "I thought I might have... That is, I don't mind if I've maimed myself for Gondor, but I don't want it being a surprise. I want to see how bad it is."

His shifted his hand to her lower back and slid her back to the mattress, he held his hand there in case she tried to move again, his other hand still on her shoulder. "I have seen worse, My lady, much worse. If you stop shifting around like you're trying to undo those poor healer's work, you might even manage to avoid some scarring. You're damned lucky to be alive with four damned black arrows in you, are you trying to finish the work they started?"

She looked like she might be considering his words. Like she would finally settle, and maybe even acknowledge that he was right and she was wrong. She cocked her head to the side for a moment, "I hope you don't plan on holding me like this until my father comes. I don't mind much, but I do doubt he would call it appropriate."

He had to remind himself that she likely had never been wounded before, that she must be scared and uncertain. He sighed and slid his hand out from underneath her and released the pressure from her good shoulder. He came back to sitting, keep a sharp eye on her for any sudden movement but she made none, her face betraying the pain she was in. Eventually she reached out and snuck her hand into his again. That was her way of apologizing, he supposed.

"How long will you stay in the Capital?" She peered up at him, and almost imperceptibly her grip tightened on his.

"A week. Two at the most. My people need their King."

"Oh." She knew that she should not have expected any longer, but she realized she would like as not still be in this bed when he left. That his last memory of her would be of a girl tucked under blankets like a child. That bothered her more than she could say. She smiled brightly at him, "I wonder where Éowyn is. I fear she's lost her way."

"I imagine trying to gather the whole of your family might be quite a task."

"I do not doubt it. We should have fetched a servant or two, they always seem to know where everyone is. They see everything. Probably because they're actually looking." She looked up at the ceiling, already bored of that view. She wanted to lay on her side, but she couldn't. She wanted to cry but she couldn't. Be strong. You're alive, and that should be enough. "Éomer."

"Yes?"

"I will miss you very much when you leave."

"That is kind of you to say, Princess."

What he should have said was I will miss you too. I am glad you are alive. I am so glad you are here.