Here is an update! I'm in a huge hurry and don't have much to say about it, except brace yourselves. It's getting real. Enjoy!

Chapter Fifteen (Eomer)

Before I knew it a month had passed and our small family was settling into a routine. I was shocked every night when I came back from tending to official business to see Lothiriel sitting in the rocking chair near the window with the small bundle that was Artanis in her arms. Perhaps I was shocked because I had come so far from the exiled soldier I had been only a few years. I was a King with a competent and kind Queen and a beautiful daughter.

I cared not that our first child was a daughter. Lothiriel and the babe were both healthy which indicated that we might have more, a son if Bema willed. If He did not, I would change the law so that my daughter might rule. There was no doubt in my mind that she would receive sensibility from her mother. I had made up my mind the moment I laid eyes on her the day she was born that I would plow through every opposition to see her sit my throne if no male child was born to Lothiriel and me.

"You are up late," I said one night as I came in from my study to see Lothiriel sitting near the window with Artanis cradled to her chest, nursing.

"You worked late. This is our midnight feeding. Normally you sleep through it." Lothiriel gave a gentle smile. Motherhood had brought an overall gentleness to her features that had once been sharp, like her brothers. "What have you been working so diligently on?"

Lothiriel had removed herself from politics and council meetings for the time being, though I knew she was eager to rejoin us in the way she offered advice late at night when all I wanted was to shut her mouth with a kiss, pull her into me, and sleep.

"Planning for the spring. I was drafting a letter to your father thanking him for his generous loan and inviting him to meet his granddaughter when the snow thaws and roads become passable once more as well as going through the ledgers of the seed store."

Lothiriel nodded as Artanis dozed off. She righted her sleeping slip, but before she could raise our daughter to her shoulder, I stepped over and took Artanis into my own arms. I had to laugh. Our daughter was stubborn and was fighting going back to sleep, her eyes, which had slowly changed to match mine, struggling to stay awake. I put her to my shoulder and patted her back firmly until the air bubbles were expelled from drinking so much so fast.

"She is getting quite heavy," I mused quietly as I laid her on her back in the bassinet that rested at the foot of our huge bed.

"She eats constantly and is fairly gluttonous. She reminds me of someone else I know," Lothiriel smirked in my direction. She stood by the bed, braiding her long raven hair as she did every night before bed.

She caught me staring at her as I stripped from my own clothes, preparing for bed.

"Stop looking at me," she said a flush coming to her cheeks.

My once confident wife had been brought rather low after the birth of our daughter. I had not seen her without a slip that reached her knees since before Artanis was born. Lothiriel had compared herself exasperatedly to a heifer that was only built to feed her young after a trying day of altering many of her dresses to allow room in the chest area.

I averted my gaze as she demanded. "Lothiriel, you are quite ridiculous, you know?"

When we were both finally in bed, I propped myself on an elbow and leaned over to place a kiss on her lips. I kept my hands away from her body as that had not gone over well the week past.

ooooOoooo

One interesting courtship seemed to pop up due to Artanis' early arrival. Every time I saw Amrothos he was following Dernhild around like a lost puppy.

I had taken to eating all of my meals privately with Lothiriel, so as to give myself a reprieve during the day and also to spend time with my family. One such day, I walked into our private dining room, to see that we would be joined by the young lovers.

Lothiriel was watching them with a knowing smile as I entered and took Artanis, who was cooing to herself, from the bassinet in the other room.

"I thought surely you would be on your way home by now, Amrothos," I said as I sat at the head of the table with my daughter cradled in my arms. I received a sharp kick to the shin under the table from Lothiriel.

"I found myself not wanting to leave," he said simply, a slight coloring coming to his cheeks. Though I had not spent much time with the young man I knew he was quite accomplished with the ladies and I had never seen him blush around one, like a maiden.

Dernhild's son was not present at our lunch, which I found interesting, but I waited until after they had left to say so. The lunch passed rather pleasantly and I was stalling in our room while Lothiriel nursed Artanis before her afternoon nap, putting off going back to work for as long as possible.

"So that was quite interesting," I said with a smile. "What is going on between the two of them?"

"I know not. I can only get either one to say that they are fond of the other. Neither will give me any more information."

"Does Amrothos know about Bregdan?" I asked curiously.

"He does, but Dernhild has not brought him around the child yet. I believe she wants to be certain of their relationship before taking such a step," Lothiriel said as she switched Artanis to her other side.

"That is a wise decision. Your brother does have quite the reputation with women."

She raised an eyebrow in my direction. "As do most men. However, I think he feels quite strongly for Dernhild. I get the impression that are spending a lot of time together."

I lingered for a while longer. "I should get back to work," I finally said.

"Must you?" Lothiriel asked as she went to lay Artanis in the bassinet. "I generally try to nap when she does. Could you not join us this one time?"

Lothiriel was looking at me with a slight pout.

"Well I cannot resist that face," I chuckled and slipped from my over clothes and under the covers. Our bed was piled with furs as it was the dead of winter. Artanis had a small fur as well to keep the chill away from her.

When Lothiriel got into bed, she actually, of her own accord, snuggled into me, her back to my chest. I waited a moment, holding a breath before I wrapped my arms around her. She did not protest and so I pulled her tightly against me. She had not let me sleep like that since Artanis was born.

ooooOoooo

One night a week or so later, I had come to bed very late after reading over petition after petition in my study. Lothiriel and Artanis were both asleep and the torches were out. I figured I had worked so late that I had missed the midnight feeding. I fell asleep nearly as soon as I hit my pillow, but not before pressing a gentle kiss to Artanis and Lothiriels' foreheads.

I did not feel as though I slept for long before I was being jostled awake by Lothiriel moving out of the bed. I could not understand why she was being so rough; normally I did not feel her movements when she got up for our daughter's early morning feeding.

"Eomer!" Lothiriel shrieked and I sat straight up in our bed, looking around frantically, cursing the dark.

"Eomer, she is not breathing!" Lothiriel practically screamed. My eyes finally adjusted and I could see Lothiriel bent over with her ear pressed against the tiny chest. I moved faster than I ever had in a battle and pulled my breeches on making my way to Lothiriel's side.

"She never woke for her second feeding," she said frantically.

Without a word, I scooped Artanis into my arms and sprinted out of our rooms down to the healing wing. I crashed through the door, rousing the dozing healers. I could hardly hear Lothiriel's barefeet hurrying after me over the pounding in my own hears.

Everything seemed to slow down. The eldest healer took my daughter from my arms and laid her on an examining bed. I could only watch as they felt for a pulse and for her breathing and I knew before they turned back to me that there was nothing to be done for the babe, my daughter, my first child who I had grown so attached to so quickly.

Lothiriel knocked into me as she flew to the table where Artanis' still motionless body was lying.

"These things happen sometimes, Your Graces. There really is no explanation. I can assure you it was nothing you did. I am truly sorry."

I watched as my wife stroked the babe's cold cheeks and forehead. I let it go on for a moment, before I reached for her arm. "Lothiriel," I whispered. "Come."

She jerked her arm away from and lashed out in my direction. "I cannot leave her!" She exclaimed. Her hair was a mess from sleeping and running, fraying out of its braid and curling around her face.

"Please, Lothiriel."

Just then the door opened again and Dernhild came rushing to Lothiriel's side. One of the healers must have sent for her. She spoke lowly to my wife and I could not hear what she was saying, but in a few moments time Lothiriel was leaving the healing wing, tucked under the taller shieldmaiden's arm, with one last lingering touch to Artanis' cheek.

I followed them blindly into the corridors and back to our bedroom. A servant came in and handed Dernhild two goblets. She then gave one to me and went to where Lothiriel was sitting on her side of the bed staring blankly out the window where the sun was rising. My wife seemed unable to function at all on her own. Dernhild kneeled before her and put the goblet to her lips.

"Drink this Lothiriel. It will help you sleep for a while." My wife obliged like a child.

I felt Dernhild helping her to get settled under the blankets and furs as I drained my own goblet in one pull. I laid back on the pillows myself, hoping to escape the nightmare that I had woken up in.

"I will see to everything, do not worry," I heard Dernhild say before I was lost to the world.

Dernhild would be able to go to Bregdan's nursery and hold him a little tighter when he woke, feeling sorry for us and our loss, but thanking her stars that her son was still with her.

ooooOoooo

More goblets of the magical liquid kept appearing by my bedside and Lothiriel and I were kept in a sleepy haze until the funeral three days later. I sat at our table in the corner of our bedroom and watched Lothiriel run a brush through her hair. Though she had slept for nearly three days, she looked exhausted and defeated.

She picked up the black veil that was lying on her vanity and covered her pale face with it, securing the whole ensemble with her thick gold circlet.

"Are you ready?" Her voice was hoarse from disuse.

I stood and nodded, offering an arm, which she latched onto tightly.

"I do not think I can do this, Eomer," she murmured before I pulled our heavy bedroom door open.

"We must. I am right here with you, Lothiriel, right by your side." I looked down at her. "You are not alone. You will never be alone in this."

She gave a resolute nod and we went to lead the funeral procession out to the burial mounds.

We stood aside, near the entrance as the tiniest coffin I had ever seen was walked past us. I choked back a sob and tried to remain stoic as the men placed it in the earthy tomb. Lothiriel took a step toward her concealed child and I felt her legs buckle. I gripped her elbow tightly to keep her on her feet and hauled her back into my side. I wrapped an arm around her, as she had no will to keep herself upright through her own strength.

I wanted to hide. Everyone was watching us with the most pitying looks on their face. I had spent far too much time among these mounds. My parents were buried near to Theodred and Theoden and now my daughter. I prayed for them all to watch after her because I no longer could. Though the healer had said that it had been nothing that Lothiriel and I had done, I woke on the day of the funeral with a terrible feeling of guilt that was almost suffocating.

The keening song of mourning had ended and the mound was closed once more. Lothiriel did sob then, her entire body shaking beneath my arm. I shielded her from view and we made our way back into Meduseld and into the sanctity of our bedroom.

As soon as we were there Lothiriel flung the crown and veil from her head with a chilling scream.

"What did I do to deserve this?" She demanded wildly. Her hands went to her hair and she began to pull.

"Lothiriel, stop!" I said alarmed. I was unnerved. I had never seen her behave in such a way. She was normally in control of herself, almost to a fault. I took her hands in mine and stayed them. There was hair twined around her fingers. "You do not deserve this," I said, choking on emotion to see her in such a state.

"I did everything I was supposed to! I listened to the healers, I was never negligent of her! Everything was fine! She was healthy!" Tears were spilling onto her black dress and she made no move to wipe them from her cheeks. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly and she seemed to be gasping for breath.

"You must calm down," I said worried for her. I began to undo the buttons on the back of the funeral gown, until she was free of its tight confines. I moved her toward the bed and laid her down gently after giving her the fresh goblet that was on the bedside table.

ooooOoooo

The next day, Dernhild and Amrothos came to our rooms.

"I am going to the stables," I said. I had not tended to Firefoot or his colt since before Artanis had been born.

Dernhild nodded and I took my leave of the stifling chamber.

When I got to the stables I went into Firefoot's pen and rested my head on his neck. I saddled him up and we left the stables. Once out of the city I ran him as fast as he would go for as long as he could stand it until we were both breathless.

I had not been outdoors in days and the fresh air and flying over the plains with Firefoot was refreshing. When we finally returned to the stables, the sun was setting, but I stayed, brushing Firefoot and feeding him and the ever growing colt that was a little over a year old then. I ran my huge hands over the animal thinking of my own child that I would never hold again.

I would never see her first steps, hear her say 'Papa,' teach her how to ride a horse, give her to some young man on her wedding day. There was so much she would never do and my heart shattered to think about it.

I trudged up the steps back into the Golden Hall and through the corridors to our bedroom. It was deserted. I went to look for Lothiriel in the bathroom not being able to imagine that she would have left our chambers. What I found sent my heart into my throat.

Lothiriel, seemingly passed out from the looks of the entire flagon of wine near the bathtub, was dangerously close to slipping beneath the water. Her raven hair floated eerily around her and the water itself had a pink tint. She was still holding a goblet in her limp hand and it was dripping its contents into the bathwater.

I quickly scooped her out of the water, not caring that I soaked myself in the process. I laid her on the bed, dried her hastily, and covered her, hiding her from the cold.

"Eomer," she slurred my name weakly.

"What were you thinking?" I demanded in a whisper. I was enraged. Enraged that that was our situation. It seemed that nothing would ever be easy for us. Anger licked at my very being.

I turned and saw the bassinet still standing at the foot of the bed.

"What is this still doing in here?" I roared. I picked it up and hurled it against the wall, where it shattered and splintered, crashing to the stone floor.

I hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought!

Happy reading,

Avonmora