Summary: Aragorn and Eowyn disagree on her involvement with the coming war, and Aragorn embraces who he is. Rated K+ by Savannah (Eowyn & Aragorn)
March 7-8, 3019
Eowyn blinked her eyes adjusting to the dark, she rolled over on the makeshift bed, and the wind whipped the flaps of their tent. She heard Aragorn murmur in his sleep and sat up, leaning over him. "Aragorn," she called, worry in her voice as he began to toss, his murmurs growing into cries. "Aragorn, wake up," she said again, shaking him.
Suddenly he flew up inches from her face, his chest heaving. They stared into each other's eyes then a voice at the door of the tent interrupted their gaze. "My lord," the man said, "the king awaits you in his tent." Then he disappeared again into the night.
Aragorn looked back at Eowyn then crumpled onto her, his giant shoulders stooped, his forehead resting on her shoulder. Eowyn wrapped her arms around him, taking a deep breath and resting her cheek on his head. "I have them too," she said. "The nightmares."
Aragorn sat up and pressed Eowyn to his chest, holding her as if he would never let her go. "I see you laid out before me every night since the battle, it's always the same," Aragorn said. "Your eyes are closed and I think you're asleep, but as I walk toward you I understand that you will never wake."
"It's alright, I'm here, I'm alive," Eowyn said, pressing her face to his chest.
Aragorn held her for a second longer then let go. Looking down into her deep blue eyes, he touched her cheek then climbed from the bed, pulling on his shirt and boots and striding from the tent.
Eowyn laid back down seeing herself as Aragorn had described her in his dream. She saw herself dressed in white, her skin faded to the same color, and her body laid out as if for a burial. She shuddered, pulling the blankets up around herself and closed her eyes, trying to push death from her mind.
..::..
"Put aside the ranger, become who you were born to be," Elrond said, placing the blade in Aragorn's hands.
"Narcil," Aragorn said, unsheathing the sword, his eyes filled with wonder.
"No," Elrond said. "A reforged blade; a new king, a new name, Anduril."
Aragorn nodded, the blade reflecting a strip of light onto his face.
..::..
The moonlight shining on the camp illuminated the tents, they called to Aragorn like beacons in the night. He walked to the only one with a light shining from the inside and pulled the flap up and walked inside. He saw Eowyn sit up again at the noise and look at her, her eyes filled with questions. He sat down beside her and touched her hair, letting its silky strands run through his fingers. "What is this?" she asked, touching the sheathed blade that lay on his lap. He unwrapped the cloth covering then slid the blade free a few inches to expose the steal inside. Eowyn reached out her hand to touch the cold metal. "Narcil," she breathed.
Aragorn shook his head. "Anduril now," he said. "Reforged and renamed."
"It's beautiful," Eowyn breathed, her eyes still fixed on the sword. "A blade for kings," she said. "Who brought it to you?"
"Lord Elrond is here," Aragorn answered. "Before Arwen left Rivendell Arwen told her father to have the Elves reforge the sword." Eowyn looked up at him, but he was far away in his thoughts. "She asked me why I feared the past," he said under his breath. Eowyn reached out her hand and placed it on his cheek, he looked down at her sitting across from him but his mind was still in Rivendell. Arwen had come to him dressed as white as if in a dream, that moment she seemed not of this world. "She told me who I was," he said, finally torn from his daze. "And what I was born to do, I must ride to the paths of the dead and call the armies that wait there."
..::..
Eowyn stood at the edge of the army encampment, looking out over rows and rows of tents, the camp fires beginning to glow in the growing dusk like stars in the sky. She heard hoof beats coming toward her and she turned, the cold winter wind blowing her white dress around her. Aragorn threw his leg over the horses back and slid off, hitting the ground with the horse still moving toward her. "I leave tonight for the paths," he said, reaching out to Eowyn, but she turned back to the cliff in front of her. "I have been searching for you for hours," he said, resting his hands on her arms. Eowyn looked up at the sky and realized that the stars now glittered in the black night. "I must leave before dawn," Aragorn said.
"Go then," she said, in her words lay all the pain and sorrow that lay festering in her heart. Her face contorted in pain and tears springing into her eyes.
The breath in Aragorn's lungs left him and every part of him clenched in sadness, seeing her before him so broken. "Eowyn," he said, tenderly touching her cheek and forcing her to look at him. But when her eyes met his again all that fire that had burned in them before was gone. Aragorn stared into them, their dark blue beauty turned black by the night.
She looked at him a second more, her eyes lifeless, then turned her back. "I told you to go and let me be."
"Eowyn," Aragorn said. "I will not leave when I may never come back with nothing from you but a sad glance and an empty stare."
"What do you want from me, Aragorn?" Eowyn asked flatly. "Do you want me to weep for you, to beg you to stay?"
Aragorn stared at her, not knowing the woman who stood before him, she had become hard and cold as steal. "I do not ask anything of you," Aragorn said, taking a step away from her.
"Then why are you here?" She looked deep into his silver eyes.
"We are one flesh," Aragorn said quietly, staring back at her. "You are mine and I am yours."
"Then why do you break our bond to one another?" Eowyn interrupted. "Why do you send me away from your side? Why do you leave me on the eve of battle? Why do you ride to what could be your end and tell me I cannot come with you?" Her voice grew louder and louder with every word until she finished, her voice piercing. "Aragorn, I love you," she added under her breath." Aragorn looked at her in astonishment, one second she was screaming at him and the next she looked at him as vulnerable and helpless as a child. "I would have followed you down to the end," she said. "I would give my life to save yours, my captain, my king, my love."
Aragorn looked at her, hot tears brimming in his eyes. "It is because I love you that I bid you stay."
Eowyn shook her head. "Do you not love Arwen? I know that you do and yet you do not make her part from you."
"Arwen is not mine as you are," Aragorn said.
"You say that you love me but you do not even know me, Aragorn. You know that I cannot stay and sit by, it will kill me just the same as any sword."
Aragorn shook his head, running his hands through his hair.
"Aragorn," Arwen's voice called through the trees then her horse trotted into view. "Aragorn, we must leave. The hour has come and gone." When she saw Eowyn she stopped, pulling her horse to a stop beside Aragorn's and slid from its back.
Eowyn turned back to look at Aragorn and realized that his eyes had not left hers.
Arwen walked up to them and stopped to stand beside Aragorn, her arms crossed, Aragorn's gaze stayed fixed on Eowyn. Arwen looked between them for a moment then stepped toward Eowyn. "Farewell," she said. Eowyn nodded as Arwen embraced her. "His only thought is to protect you," Arwen said in her ear.
"Don't leave me as well," Eowyn said, holding onto Arwen even tighter.
Arwen let go and smiled down at her. "We will always meet again."
Eowyn nodded and watched as they both climbed onto their horses' backs, leaving her standing alone in the dark. She walked to Aragorn's side and looked up to where he sat. "If you leave me now then it will be the last time, there will be no coming back."
Aragorn looked at her. "You know that this is what I must do, it is our only hope, Eowyn."
Eowyn looked at him, her eyes filled with tears. "Goodbye then," she said. "I have loved you with every part of me."
Aragorn nodded. "Goodbye," he said tenderly.