A year ago.
"Do you ever intend to marry?" — Theodred said lightly, but though it looked like teasing, Eomer felt instantly — there was more to this question that his cousin wanted to show. He frowned.
"Don't think so. I never met a gal worth talking to, save spending a lifetime with. "
They rode some time in silence. Rohan was delightful in the summer twilight. Even now, when an unnamed shadow laid on every patch of land. Odd. Theodred never talked to him about marriage or women. Why did he chose to talk about it now, patrolling the Fords? Unless… no, that's impossible.
"Well, I thought just like you". — Theodred spoke softly. "But not anymore. I need to tell you something, though you look all sceptical. If I am to survive this war, I guess I'll give Rohan a queen it deserves."
"I'd never thought you to be into matrimony, brother."
"I never was. Until a met her. I can't talk to my father about my hopes — not anymore. But I want to talk about it with you."
Eomer felt unwell. It wasn't a pleasant conversation for him, but he felt to his core — it was an important one. Whomever Theodred chose would become a queen of Rohan in the future. And his, Eomer's queen.
"Tell me then about your pet." — he muttered, all eyes to the trees on his left, but all ears to his cousin.
"She's kind and good, wise and strong. She knows how to rule and how to laugh…"
"I am all that, marry me then." — joked Eomer, feeling a bit bored with Theodred's sweetheart already.
Theodred roared with laughter, but checked himself on the spot. Their riders were just a hundred feet away.
"Her name is Emerald." He paused. "She is a Haradrim".
Eomer went white. He gritted his teeth and felt an urge to draw a sword.
"Tell me you mock me".
"By no means."
Theodred looked solemn and serious.
"But how…"
"Last winter I chased the orcs south with my eored, if you remember. And I was lost and wounded, laid unconscious on the battlefield." Theodred sighed. "I still don't know how but after the battle I woke up in a most beautiful room with carvings on the ceiling and windows of colored glass. The princess herself healed me. Her province lies close to Harondor. She soothed me and tended me. She sang me lullabies and told legends most whimsical. And after that she gave me…"
"A love potion?"
"No. A horse of her own stables."
Eomer remembered now how Theodred came out of nowhere a month and a fortnight after being lost, on a beautiful horse with slender legs and very unusual looks. Theodred was devastated when it was killed some time later. Now it was obvious — not only he pitied the beast itself, but also a gift of a beloved one.
"Were lullabies in Haradric so charming that you quite forgot yourself?"
Theodred cast him an angry look, but his answer was kind.
"She sang in Rohirric. A well educated princess she is. Wait till you see her."
Eomer thought that he would kill that princess on the spot, if he saw her. Just like any other Southron. But he was clever enough not to push on the subject. The war was unlikely to be a short one, of course Theodred would forget his bloody Haradrim before it's over.