Héodis returned to her duties a short time after, and after she had finished helping Éowyn with tending to the king, her ladyship stopped her for a moment as she made to take her leave.
"I am sorry about your brother, Héodis. He was a good man."
Héodis stopped just in front of the door. "Thank you, my lady..."
"I hear from Saewyn that you plan to give him funeral rites this evening?"
Héodis nodded. "I wish I could take him back to our home village, to bury him with Mother and Father..."
"But the roads are too dangerous..."
Héodis sighed and nodded. "He deserves proper rites, so I hope that a pyre will suffice."
Éowyn came to stand with her, putting a hand on her shoulder for a moment. "Would you like company?"
Héodis looked at her, her eyes brimming with tears. "It would be welcome, my lady."
"Then I will be there with you when it is time."
Héodis nodded, offering her a meek smile, then excused herself. As she left the room, though, she saw that Éomer was coming down the hallway and kept her head down as she stood off to the side of the hall, offering him a small bow before hurrying off.
Éomer's brow furrowed as she disappeared around a corner, his heart heavy as he turned away and entered the king's chambers.
"Brother," Éowyn said in greeting.
Éomer came to stand at the foot of the king's bed as his sister smoothed out the covers and made sure their uncle was warm enough. "How is he?"
"He seems to be feeling better with some rest."
Éomer watched his uncle for a moment, seeing more evidence of weariness etched in the wrinkles that were becoming more pronounced on his face by the day. "I will see to his duties until he can return to them."
Éowyn nodded, bringing her arms up to hold herself for a moment. "If only he had not sent Gandalf away, perhaps he would have recovered by now..."
"It can't be helped now..."
They stood there for a moment or two in silence, but Éowyn turned to her brother and said, "Héodis plans to say farewell to Héoláf this evening."
Éomer sighed. "I heard..."
"You should be there, Héoláf was like family to us."
"Héodis would not want me there..."
Éowyn reached for her brother's hands. "Éomer, she needs time to grieve and sort through her emotions. She may blame you now, but she will come to see that it was not your fault." She reached up to touch his cheek for a moment. "As will you. Héoláf's death was not your fault."
"And yet he died protecting me..." Éomer leaned into her hand a bit. "I promised her that I would look after him, that I would keep him safe..."
"And you did your best, right up until the very end."
Éomer managed a small, albeit sad smile at that. "Thank you, sister."
The hours of the day passed by rather slowly after that, but Héodis finished her duties and spent the rest of the day trying to chop wood to build a pyre in the burial grounds. Only a short time had passed once she began before the men of Éomer's eored began joining her- helping her chop wood, build the pyre itself, and even brought farewell gifts for Héoláf, too. Some of the men carried Héoláf's body down to the pyre, placing it gently and stepping back as people placed their gifts around him. Éowyn had also joined them, standing with Héodis after she lit the pyre. A Rohirric lament was sung for Héoláf as the fire consumes him, and people began to depart once they had said their farewells. Héodis herself remained even after the fire had burned itself out and nothing but smoldering ashes remained.
As dusk settled over the land, Éomer made his way down to the burial grounds to say his farewell- having watched the funeral rites from afar- and was surprised to find Héodis still there. She had taken a seat on the hill next to where the pyre had been built, to watch the flames burn out, but had passed out with her cloak wrapped around her. Éomer knelt to lift her in his arms and carried her back to Meduseld, setting her down in her bed. When he left the room, he noticed Éowyn nearby and simply nodded in acknowledgment of her presence before making his way to his chambers.
When Héodis woke the next morning, she was confused as to how she had made it back to her bed- the last thing she remembered being the last of the flames dying out. She was not aware that Éomer had found her by the pyre and carried her back inside, putting her to bed, nor was she aware that he had even paid his respect to her fallen brother.