Lord of the Rings 1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing that Tolkein wrote. I am simply borrowing them for the purpose of this story as a form of entertainment for other. I am by no means making any money off of this. So suing me will not be necessary. The only person that is I own is Alexandra Mathews.

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Alexandra Mathews was 24 years of age. She lived alone on her family ranch out in the woods of Northern Vermont. Her only other companion was her horse Thunderfoot. Thunderfoot was a beautiful pure black horse, who stood 20 hands high and when he would run across the fields it would sound as if a thunder storm was rolling across the plains, hence his name Thunderfoot. 

Alexandra had acquired Thunderfoot when he was just a day old. His mother had died during his birth, so Alexandra took care of him night and day. Bottle feeding him until he was strong enough to eat on his own and from that point on the two of them were inseparable.

Alexandra herself stood at a relatively normal height of 5'5". She was in relatively good shape because of all the work that she did around her ranch and all the activities that she did as a child. She had slightly wavy brown hair with natural blonde high lights, which fell slightly below her shoulders. She had a natural tan skin tone, due to her Mexican and Indian heritage. She also had a rarity among her ancestry; she had light/bright blue eyes.

Alexandra's parents were self made millionaires; they were both killed in a tragic car accident when she was only ten. Alexandra's parents had made sure that she received the best of everything in life. They gave her everything that they never had, the best schooling with the best teachers. From the day she was born her father made sure she was around horses and given equestrian lessons in both side saddle and the western saddle. Her father who wanted to always protect her but knew that he could not always be there, made sure that she was given the best self defense lessons. Alexandra also on her own while in school took up fencing and archery. She had done fairly well at both but she was by no means the best.

When she was 18 Alexandra was given full ownership of her families estate and turned her parents companies over to the CEO's, she sold their family town house took Thunderfoot, bought the ranch in Vermont and moved away from the city and all the 'evils' that it held. And for the next 6 years she lived by herself only going into town when she needed to pick up supplies. She had very little contact with others and the outside world, the only people she talked to where the store clerk who she occasionally had a nice conversation with, and with the CEO's of her parents companies, when they would call to inform her on the success of the companies. But that was all abut to change.

* * *

Alexandra walked out to her barn with a set of saddle bags full of food and containers of water. She also had with her a duffle bad with cloths init and the basic necessities for female living. She had a bed roll and a blanket, plus a tarp with rope incase it rained. Strapped to her back was a bow with a quiver of arrows, and strapped to her upper right thigh was a small knife/dagger. When she made it to Thunderfoot she made sure that the sword her father gave her for winning her first fencing competition was attached to his saddle. She really didn't think she would need any of them but 'better safe then sorry' she always said. Besides she only planned to be gone a couple days. She was just going to take a ride around her property line and make sure that no one was trapping or baiting on her land, she had been having a problem with that lately. Once she had everything mounted to Thunderfoot's saddle, Alexandra swung herself up into the saddle and headed out. 

Alexandra and Thunderfoot had been riding around for about 2 hrs. and she had not seen anything that would make her believe the baiters had come back. So she decided to stop and give herself and Thunderfoot a little rest. She turned Thunderfoot towards a small clearing that housed a small natural pond, but as Alexandra and Thunderfoot crossed the boarder of the forest and the clearing something happened. Instead of ending up in the clearing with the pond she and Thunderfoot ended up on some plains with vast mountain ranges. To say Alexandra was a little surprised would be an understatement, looking around Alexandra exclaimed to Thunder foot,

"Well boy I don't know what happened or how it happened but whatever did happen I know one thing for sure. We are sure as hell not in Kansas anymore". Thunder foot pawed at the ground and shook his head up and down agreeing with his mistress

Looking around the plains Alexandra could not see anything in any direction so she decided that when in doubt head north. After figuring out which way was north Alexandra and Thunderfoot took off at a well paced cantor. After a good 30 minutes of riding Alexandra heard the pounding of a thousand hooves on the far horizon. After glancing around and not seeing anyplace that she could hide, Alexandra decided that the best course of action would be to continue on her way and act as normal as possible.

Pretty soon the pounding of hooves got closer and closer. Alexandra knew that the people on the horses were right behind her, but she did not turn around to look at them. She kept her back straight, and her head held up as she bounced along in Thunderfoot's saddle across the plains.

As the first of the riders past her Alexandra fought with herself not to look at them and to keep her eyes straight ahead, but she ended up losing that battle. Especially when the riders that pasted her turned around and blocked her path. Alexandra pulled Thunderfoot to a halt and had him stand at a stand still as the rest of the riders caught up to her and surrounded her. Thunderfoot shifted from side to side in unease as he and his mistress were surrounded. Alexandra leaned forward slightly and rubbed his neck while whispering in his ear soothingly, to calm him down. As Alexandra sat back up in her saddle she was approached by one of the riders.

"Who are you? What is your business in the Riddermark?" the rider asked in a very authoritive and commanding voice. The tone that he used gave Alexandra the impression that this man would not hesitate to kill her if she stepped out of line. So being the smart person that she is Alexandra decided that it would be better to play along for not, at least until she found out the information that wanted to know.

While she was lost in her thought the rider that had spoken to her became irritated by her slowness to answer and snapped at her.

"Come on, quickly now! Are you deaf or just mute?" The riders' voice broke through her thoughts and pulled Alexandra back into the reality of the situation.

"I'm sorry", she said "I was lost in my thoughts. My name is Alexandra Mathews, this magnificent beauty is Thunderfoot" she said while patting his neck. Thunderfoot tossed his head from side to side as if to say 'that's right'. "As fro my business here… I didn't even know where here was until you told me just now." Alexandra finished.

"What is your business here?" the man asked again in a very tight/stressed voice.

Alexandra became a bit peeved with the man because she had just told him that she hadn't even known where 'here' was, so how could she have business.

"I just told you, I didn't even know where 'here' was until a few moments ago when you told me. So how could I have business here?" Alexandra said. "God, with the way you go on one would think that you believed me to be a threat to you."

The man moved his horse closer to Thunderfoot, causing Alexandra to look into his dark brown eyes. "Are you a threat? How do I know that you are not a spy of the dark lords'?" The rider asked with malice in his voice.

Now in most situations Alexandra is very calm and collected but there are those rare occasions where her temper is quick to flare and run away with her. This just happened to be one of those times.

"Look buddy," Alexandra said moving her head closer to the rider so that they were nose to nose. "I don't know who you are or what your deal is, but you have a serious attitude problem and you need to back off before I make myself a threat to you."

The two of them sat there on the back of their horse's nose to nose, helmet to forehead for a good five minutes before the rider backed off by sitting back in his saddle.

"Forgive me mi' lady. These are dark times and all have become suspicious of strangers in their lands".

Alexandra also sat back in her saddle, but eyed the dramatic change in the stranger wearily, but took what he said as meaningful.

"That's ok; I can understand your trepidation around people you do not know. I know that I would act the in the same fashion as you if I found strangers on my land. But how about we clear this up and are strangers no more. I have given you my name, but you have not given me yours. I think it only fair you return the gesture", Alexandra said.

The rider bowed his head and removed his helmet. "Of course mi' lady you are correct, it is only fair. My name is Eomer son of Éomund. I am the Third Marshal of the RidderMark. These are men are my eored, all of who are loyal sons to Rohan."

"Well Eomer son of Éomund it's nice to meet you." Alexandra said. "Now that we are no longer strangers perhaps you could explain to me where exactly I am and could you perhaps explain to me who this dark lord is that you mentioned before?"

Eomer looked at her a little strangely when she asked him to explain who the dark lord was. Surely she must have been joking; everyone in all of Middle Earth knew who the dark lord was. But coming back to his senses Eomer nodded his in agreement toward Alexandra.

"Of course mi' lady. I will tell you what you need to know, but first we must ride a bit further before we make camp and when we make, we will talk" Eomer said. After turning his horse around he turned toward Alexandra to see what her answer would be. She of coursed agreed and told Eomer so. Nodding his head Eomer called out some orders to his men in a language that Alexandra had never heard and motioned for her to ride next to him near the front of the column.

* * *

Alexandra and Eomer, along with his eored rode in silence for many hours. There were a few times when the men would talk amongst themselves and every now and then Eomer would ask her if she was ok, but that was about it. Finally when it started to get dark Eomer called a halt to his men, before giving out orders. Once the men started to turn and go about completing their orders Eomer dismounted his horse and motioned for Alexandra to do the same. Once she was down Eomer lead her over to where some men had set up a temporary holding pen for the horses. Motioning to a young solider Eomer turned to Alexandra.

"This is Eothain; he will take care of your mount and make sure that your things are brought to you".

However when Eothain reached over to take Thunderfoot's bridle from her, Alexandra pulled Thunderfoot out of his reach. The two men looked at her a little surprised.

"You do not have to fear mi' lady. You are among the horse lords, your mount will be well taken care of", Eomer told her hoping to ease her fears.

"I do not doubt yours or your men's skill with horses Eomer and I do not fear for the safety of Thunderfoot" Alexandra said.

"Then what do you fear mi' lady" Eomer asked

"I fear for the safety of your men" Alexandra replied.

Eomer gave her a strange look causing Alexandra to laugh quietly before explaining.

"Thunderfoot does not take well to strangers. Many a men have tried to get close to him and received naught for their attempts except for some bruises and the occasional broken bone".

With a thoughtful look on his face Eomer walked up to Thunderfoot, looked him in the eye and patted him on the nose and neck. "He seems to be fine to me. I see no reason why you should not leave him in our care".

Alexandra gave him a mischievous smile and decided to let them find out for themselves what Thunderfoot could be like. "Alright Eomer you have proven that you are truly horse lords. I'll leave my fears aside and let your men take care of Thunderfoot".

"Good. Come with me and I will show you where you will be staying while in our care and company."

Eomer and Alexandra had walked no more then 10ft away when they heard Thunderfoot neigh loudly and they heard Eothain cry out, whether it was in fear or surprise no one could really tell, but when Eomer and Alexandra turned around they saw Eothain laying 3ft away from Thunderfoot, who was prancing in an agitated way. Some of the other men ran over to help Eothain, why a few others tried to get Thunderfoot. But this only caused him to become more agitated and he started to turn around in a circle trying to get away. Eomer had a look of surprise on his face while Alexandra had an 'I told you so' look. Crossing her arms and leaning into her hip she looked at Eomer, who looked back at her and addressed the situation.

"Well aren't you going to do anything?" he exclaimed.

"But, I'm in the presence of the horse lords. I would think that you could handle one horse" Alexandra said in a slightly amusing and mocking tone.

Eomer just gave her an irritated look causing her to laugh, but when she heard the cries of Thunderfoot and the men who were getting thrown around, she sobered up and turned to the scene at hand.

Whistling she called to Thunderfoot. "Thunderfoot, eso es suficiente, viene aquí!" Hearing his mistress calling him, Thunderfoot took off at a run toward Alexandra, causing many men to jump out of the way, or end up getting run over.

Thunderfoot came barreling over to Alexandra and Eomer, now Alexandra was perfectly calm, but Eomer was slightly nervous because it appeared as if Thunderfoot had no intention of stopping. But just as Thunderfoot was about to run into Eomer and Alexandra and right as Eomer was getting ready to jump out of the way… Thunderfoot stopped and put his head on Alexandra's shoulder, nuzzling his head into her.

Alexandra just rubbed his neck and spoke softly and calmly to him. "It's alright, calm down boy. Your ok, it's alright. I'm sorry I left you over there, I won't do it again, Calm down, shhh"

Eomer just looked on in awe of the young women who had this great beast nuzzling into her shoulder looking for comfort from the scary situation that he had just been in. Alexandra turned to look at Eomer as she re-guided Thunderfoot to the temporary holding pen. As she walked with the mighty horse the men he had thrown murmured among themselves about the crazy horse. Alexandra glared at any man who called her horse crazy and sent them limping away. Eomer came up to Alexandra as she was taking off Thunderfoot's saddle and took it from her as she pulled it off his back.

"Thank you" she said.

"You're welcomed" Eomer replied. "Is he alright?" he asked while gesturing toward Thunderfoot.

"Yes, he'll be fine. He just needs to calm down. He was quite frightened, but he'll be ok. Won't you boy" Alexandra said while petting down Thunderfoot.

"I'm sorry that I did not listen to you. He is your horse and you would of course know him better then any one even the horse lords" Eomer said with a slightly guilty smile.

Alexandra smiled at him, "It's ok I should not have let your man take him. I should be the one apologizing to you because I knew exactly what would happen when I left him alone".

"Why did he act like that? My own horse does not care for others, but not even he has acted like that before" Eomer asked.

Sighing Alexandra turned to look at Eomer, "The thing that you have to understand is that since the day he was born I have always taken care of Thunderfoot. His mother died shortly after he was born. I was the one who found him laying next to his mother; he was so small and helpless. He couldn't even stand on his own legs he was so weak. I went for help immediately; some of the farm hands were able to get him to the family barn. We called the vet to come check him over and after looking at him the vet said that he was to weak, to small to make it. He said that the best thing to do would be to humanly euthanize him" Alexandra pauses here to collect herself and rub Thunderfoots' neck in a calming fashion. "I remember that after the vet had said that I kicked him and started screaming at him. I don't remember what I said, but whatever it was it made him leave, after he left I didn't. I lived in that barn for a month and a half, I took care of him, nursed him back to health, I trained him once he was strong enough and when I left the family farm to live on my own I took him with me" Alexandra said as she gave Thunderfoot a pat on the hind quarters to send him on his way into the holding pen. Turning to Eomer who was looking at her with a thoughtful look on his face and continued to speak. "He's my best friend, he's always been there for me when I needed him and I have always been there for him. He takes care of me like I take care of him" Alexandra finished up.

Eomer looked at Thunderfoot as he munched on some grass in the holding pen before looking back at Alexandra and voicing his thoughts.

"I understand that you both have a close bond with each other, my own stead and I have a very close bond, he too had been with me since the day he was born, but I still do not see why Thunderfoot acted the way he did".

Alexandra sighed again and new that she had to tell him what caused Thunderfoots mistrust of others.

"One time when I was 15 I had to leave, I was needed for some important business and I could not take Thunderfoot with me" taking a deep breath Alexandra turned to look out over Thunderfoot and the other horses, "I was only going to be gone for two three says tops. I thought that I was leaving Thunderfoot in the safe and capable hands of the head horse trainer on the family farm, but I was wrong, so very wrong. When I came back I immediately went to see Thunderfoot. When I can to his stall he was backed up into the far corner and would not come to me, so I went into his stall. When I got to him…" Alexandra's voice faltered "When I got to him I saw… I saw…" Alexandra's voice failed her as she chocked back a sob. Covering her mouth with her hand to quiet her sobs Alexandra turned from looking at the horses to stare at the ground.

Eomer seeing the crying girl walked up to her and laid his hands on her shoulders, trying to offer her some comfort. He was surprised when she turned around and buried her face in his chest as she cried. Once Alexandra got herself under control she removed herself from Eomer's arms.

"I'm sorry" she said sniffling and whipping at her face.

Eomer just smiled and whipped away a few stray tears that she had missed. "It's alright little one. Do you think that you can continue or is it to painful for you to talk about?"

"No its ok, its better that I talk about it, besides you deserve to know why Thunderfoot acts that way. When I went into Thunderfoot's stall I saw on his hind quarters and on his back switch marks. I guess that while I was gone he didn't act the way the lead horse trainer wanted him too so he took a switch to him to make him obey. Ever since then Thunderfoot has always been weary of others especially men. I know your probably wondering 'why then did he not act that way around me', well it's because I was standing right there next to the two of you and Thunderfoot knows that I wont let anything like that happen to him again"

"What did you do to the man who beat him?" Eomer asked.

"I fired him and told him that if I ever saw him near any horses or animal in general again, I would take a switch to him, I also told the horsing community about him so no one would hire him"

"Well that was kinder then anything that I would have done" Eomer replied

"What would you have done?" Alexandra asked

Eomer looked away from her fro a few moments before turning back and replying "I would have killed him where her stood, run him through with my sword" Eomer said, then walked away. But before he got to far away he stopped and motioned for Alexandra to follow him.

* * *

After Eomer showed Alexandra to a tent he left her to go see how his men were doing. Alexandra fro the most part explored her new surroundings. As she was looking around she discovered a bag, being the curious person that she is Alexandra decided to take a peak inside. When she opened the bag she found cloths and pieces of parchment that appeared to be letters. When she picked one up to read she discovered that they were indeed letters and not just any letters but letters to Eomer. Alexandra let out a gasp as she realized who's tent she was in.

While lost in her thoughts Alexandra failed to realize that Eomer had reentered the tent. She was brought out of her thoughts by Eomer as he ripped the letter she had been reading, from her hands. Shocked and surprise Alexandra looked up to see Eomer glaring angrily down at her.

"Eomer… I didn't hear you come back"

"Obviously not, for I'm sure you would have put everything away before you could have gotten caught had you heard me coming back. Who do you think you are going through my things, reading my personal letters ?"

"Eomer, I'm sorry. I just found the bad and my curiosity got the better of me. I did not realize they were your things until I started reading the letter. I am truly sorry, I meant no disrespect" Alexandra said in a rush.

Eomer stared into her eyes and saw no lie in her eyes. Sighing he took a deep breath to help calm his anger. "No, I am sorry. I should no have acted so rash, you are not from here and you are only curious about your surroundings. In fact you remind me much of a young colt being allowed into the field for the first time" Eomer said

"Yes, that might be true my dear horse lord but do you know what the difference between myself and a young colt is?" Alexandra asked

"No" Eomer replied

"The difference my dear horse lord is that" Alexandra said as she came to stand in front of Eomer so she could whisper in his ear "I am not as easily tamed as a young colt is" she whispered breathlessly into Eomer's ear sending shivers down his spine.

Alexandra turned and left Eomer standing in the middle of the tent with his mouth hanging open. When she reached a pile of furs that she assumed was the bed, she turned around to look at Eomer. She let out a round of laughter as she saw Eomer standing in the same spot with his mouth open.

"Close you mouth there horse lord, or else your going to end up catching flies like that"

Hearing Alexandra snapped Eomer out of his stupor. He just looked at her sitting on the pile of furs and collected his thoughts.

"Forgive me. I was lost in thought" Eomer said

"Sure you were horse master, what where you thinking about that caused you to blush so?" Alexandra asked

This caused Eomer to blush even more. He cleared his throat trying to cover up his discomfort, this caused Alexandra to laugh some more.

"If mi'lady will excuse me I will let you rest, for I am sure that you are tired and wish to rest. I have things that I must attend to so I will bid you good night" Eomer said while heading for the tent flap.

"Good night horse lord, will I see you in the morning" Alexandra asked

"Yes, I will come and fetch you in the morrow" Eomer replied then left

Once he left Alexandra flopped back onto the pile of furs and let out a tired sigh, before sitting back up. She looked down at her dirty and now uncomfortable clothing, she didn't want to change it her clean cloths because then they wouldn't be comfortable to ride in tomorrow. So looking around the tent her eyes again fell onto the bag that help Eomers' things. A smile made its way onto Alexandra's face as she got up and made her way towards the bag.

* * *

**Translation: "Thunderfoot thats enough, come here"**

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**AN:** Alright this is my first time EVER writing a Lord of the Rings fanfic. I love the movies and have watched the hundreds of times and I am in the process of reading the books right now. But as a watched the movie I fell in love with Eomer. One because Carl Urban plays him, but also because of the way he is portrayed, the hero yet not thrust into the lime light, he is like the silent hero to me. But please I ask you for reviews, if there are not enough people who like how I am going to be doing this then I will not put anymore chapters. I know a lot of people dislike Maine Characters with OFC's but I feel I write stories better this way. So just let me know what you all think of it and if I should put up another chapter or two. 

Bunny


	2. Sleeping arrangements

Disclaimer: I own nothing that Tolkein wrote. I am simply borrowing them for the purpose of this story as a form of entertainment for other. I am by no means making any money off of this. So suing me will not be necessary. The only person that is I own is Alexandra Mathews.

**AN: There is a VERY important Authors Note at the end! Please read it.**

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Alexandra had been laying down and in a light sleep for about an hour, when she heard the flap of her tent open and close. As she laid there and listen to the person move closer to her inside the tent, Alexandra slowly turned her self around under the fur covers, hoping not to alert the intruder. Once she was on her stomach she slowly reached her hand up and under the pillow that she was using. She felt around until her hand came to rest on the small knife that she had placed there, she didn't know why she did it, she had never really used a knife or sword for that matter, outside of the fencing lessons that her parents made her take while she was in school. But when she had been getting ready for bed she saw the knife among her possessions and decided that it might be a good idea to have it close by, and now she was glad that she had decided to do that. 

When the person came close enough Alexandra sprung up, pushing out of the bed with her arms, and knocked into the person forcing them to the ground. After a few well placed kicks, bites and pulling of hair, Alexandra was able to gain the upper hand. As she straddled the person and held the knife to his throat, not that it would do much good she had forgotten to take it out of its sheath. But she didn't let that stop her from keeping the upper hand.

"Don't move or you'll be breathing out your throat" Alexandra said menacingly, but all the time she was thinking 'yeah, right hopefully he doesn't realize I still have the sheath on my knife'.

"Mi'lady do you treat all you hosts like this or is it just me?" the person asked

Alexandra looked down at the man startled. "Eomer?" she questioned

"Yes, mi'lady it is I" Eomer said

Alexandra hurriedly got off of Eomer and helped him stand. "Oh my god Eomer I am so sorry. I did not realize it was you. Did I hurt you?"

"Only my pride, not that you could have hurt me with your blade stilled sheathed. Which leads me to ask why you carry such weapons with you?"

"Oh, well when I stumbled into your lands I was actually walking the boarders of my lands looking for any signs that trespasser might be baiting and trapping on it. I carry the weapons for protection, not that they would do me much good"

"What do you mean?" Eomer asked

"Well my sword was a gift from my father, he gave it to me for winning my first ever fencing competition, and I never really ever use it. I only really know how to fence actual sword fighting is a little beyond me, I take it with me because it's sharp and can come in handy when I need to cut up some wood. The bow I carry because that's what I would use to scare trespassers off with. I took archery lessons for fun, well actually it was an agreement my parents and I made. I would do the activities they wanted me to do, as long as I could do the ones I wanted to do" Alexandra explained

"Well one who has such a beautifully crafted sword should know how to use it properly. I will have to teach you some basic moves when we have more time" Eomer said while looking at Alexandra's sword.

"Yes, that would be lovely" Alexandra said as she took the sword from Eomer and setting it back down with her other things. As she turned back towards Eomer she let out a sigh, and then hauled her fist back and punched him on the shoulder. "You dolt! What did you think you were doing sneaking in hear in the middle of the night scaring me practically to death!" Alexandra exclaimed

"I'm sorry mi'lady. I did not mean to scare you. I only wanted to get a change of cloths" Eomer said while rubbing his shoulder.

"Oh, well why didn't you let me know it was you?" she asked

"I was trying to be nice and not wake you" Eomer said through clenched teeth

Alexandra just looked at him, before she hauled back and smacked him on the shoulder again.

"Ow! Could you quit doing that?" he asked

"No!" she smacked him again "You of all people should know not to sneak up on people at night" Alexandra exclaimed as quietly as she could, so she wouldn't alert the other soldiers.

"Well I know not to sneak up on soldiers because they could run you through, but I did not expect you to be armed while you slept" Eomer replied

Alexandra smacked him again "Haven't you ever heard the expression 'expect the unexpected'? If you haven't you have now, so why don't you get what you need, I'm going to go back to sleep" Alexandra said

"I would, but it appears that you are wearing my clothing. I could if you prefer take them off of you, so I could be on my way and you could go back to sleep" Eomer said

Alexandra was a little shocked by the images that were running through her head, all of which were courtesy of her subconscious. Shacking herself out of her stupor she addressed Eomers' comment.

"Yes well I am wearing your shirt. It was much more comfortable then the cloths that I was wearing before and it was big enough so that when I put it on it would act as a lovely night shirt, so I thought I would borrow it. You can have it back if you like" Alexandra said as she moved to take off the shirt.

"No, no, that's quite alright" Eomer said while stopping Alexandra from lifting the shirt off of her person. "You may wear it does look better on you then on me" he said

Alexandra ducks her head and acts bashful while saying "Why my dear horse lord I bet you say that to all the ladies and I just bet that you think your shirt would look even better off of me"

"No my dear lady you are the only one who I say that too and yes I do believe that my shirt would look even better right now if you were not wearing it" Eomer replied

The two just stared at each other for a few moments before the role playing spell was broken by both Eomer and Alexandra laughing. Finally after what felt like forever, Eomer was able to gain enough control to form complete sentences.

"Mi'lady I must applaud your skills with words. Not many can play that game with me. I am glad to meet someone who can finally keep up with me" Eomer said with a laugh in his voice.

Laughing slightly still Alexandra was able to form a reply. "Yes mi'lord I must agree with you, it is most difficult to find someone who will play the battle of the words with me"

The two continued to laugh until, they both finally calmed down enough to talk with out doubling over with laughter after only a few words.

"Well I suppose we should both get some rest tomorrow for tomorrow appears to be a long day" Eomer said

"Yes I suppose you are correct" Alexandra said while glancing around the tent before turning her eyes back to Eomer. "You are welcomed to stay her mi'lord, this is your tent after all and there are enough furs for both of us to share and I do not mind sharing if you do not"

"If you are sure mi'lady, then no I do not mind sharing" Eomer replied

"Good, then its settle" Alexandra said while turning around and climbing back into the pile of furs and covering her head.

Eomer looked at her strangely and questioned her actions. "Mi'lady what are you doing?"

Alexandra peaked her head out from under the furs before replying "Well you have to get changed and I am trying to be polite and give you come privacy" as she finished Alexandra ducked back under the furs.

Eomer chuckled quietly to himself before turning to get ready for bed. He stripped himself (gosh isn't that a pleasant thought?) of his armor and removed his boots and his shirt (even better thought) so all that he was left in was his leggings. Once he set his things aside her turned and climbed under the furs with Alexandra. When she felt him climbing in next to her, she pulled her head out from under the furs and turned to look at him. She raised an eyebrow at him when she noticed he had no shirt on, she just continued to look at him with a raised eyebrow so Eomer decided to return the look and raised an eyebrow at her. Without saying anything further to him Alexandra turned over on her side and settled in for the night. Eomer soon followed Alexandra's lead and turned on his side facing the other direction and prepared for sleep to claim him.

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**AN:** Hey everybody. I want to thank those of you who have reviewed my story so far; krillball6, wondereye, Anduril1043, I really appreciate it and I have taken thought to your comments. I hope that I was able to make Alexandra less perfect, I guess that would be the word to use. I didn't want her to come across as the whole 'damsel in distress' character, but I also didn't want her to be so perfect at everything already. So I am hoping that I did better with her character development in this chapter. If any of you have any suggestions on how I can make Alexandra's character better please let me know by either review or email. I also want to apologize for how short this chapter is, but the big battle scene at Helms Deep is coming up and I know that it is going to take me awhile to get the scene just right and how I want it. But I am open to any suggestions that you guys might have on how to do it properly. 

But I didn't want to leave you guys hanging, so here is something to tie you over with, and I PROMISE! That the next will be longer… a lot longer. But please keep the reviews coming and if anyone has reviewed recently and I missed them, I am really sorry, but the people I have named are the ones that show up on my stats page so far. So once again thank you all so much for reading and reviewing.


	3. IMPORTANT NOTICE PLEASE READ!

Hi everybody,

This is just a quick author's note. I am writing the next chapter right now, I have gotten through the battle scenes thanks to my extended DVD collection of The Lord of the Rings. So no worries if everything goes according to plan you all should have the next chapter soon, two to three days tops.

But now to the reason that I am writing this little authors note, I have been checking my reviews, because I look for any comments that will help me in my writing and for any ideas that a reader might have that I could possibly work into the story, but also to get inspiration to keep writing. Now today I checked my reviews and I had two from the same person that made me and my betta a little upset.

This review saw fit that out of the two chapters I have posted so far to point out just two little mistakes that both myself and my betta over looked. Those two mistakes were the misspelling of the names Tolkien and Karl. This review also made the comment about me not having read the books.

So in response to this review I would like to say, thank you for reading the story, I'm sorry that out of the two chapters all you could pick up on where the misspelling of two names. I would like to point out that I mention that I have not read the books yet and that I also mention I am in the PROSSES of reading the books. As for the mistakes in the name, both my betta and I have auto correct in our Word Programs, so it fixes things like names, and it just so happens that Tolkien is in the computer dictionary but is spelled as Tolkein and Karl since most spell it as Carl that is how I wrote it, that was my fault and if a flurry of key typing is how I spelled it. Once again I am sorry that these two little things were all that you got from my story, both my betta and I have fixed the error in our programs, so now when we write Tolkien it comes up as an error and we can see whether or not it is spelled correctly. As for the whole Karl thing, simple miss type on my part.

To all of my other readers and reviews thank you so much for your positive comments and ideas. wondereye I am taking your idea into consideration and I am in the process of finding a way to work it in to the next chapter, hopefully you will like the way I go about this. Arien's Shadow thank your for your thoughts and I will take them into consideration, To all my other reviewers THANK YOU all so much, please keep the positive comments coming and please if you have any ideas or comments for or about the story just let me know either by review or email and I will see what I can do to make the story better.

Yours Truly,

Bunny


	4. Wake Up's, Battles and Stories

Disclaimer: I own nothing that Tolkien wrote. I am simply borrowing them for the purpose of this story as a form of entertainment for other. I am by no means making any money off of this. So suing me will not be necessary. The only person that is I own is Alexandra Mathews.

**AN: All the information in this chapter about Sauron was taken from the website 'The encyclopedia of Arda: A reference guide to the works of J.R.R Tolkien, if anyone would like the web address let me know and I will post it with the next chapter.**

* * *

As the sun rose the next morning casting a warm blanket of light across the plains of Rohan, the men of Eomer's eored began to wake up and start breaking camp, all except for two, two who were still sleeping soundly inside their tent, both laying close to the other with out even realizing it. One with their head upon the others chest, the other with their arms around the other and both with their legs softly entwined and neither aware to the things taking place outside their tent. But that was not going to last long, for one of the soldiers was coming to wake up Alexandra and all were in for a surprise. 

"Mi'lady. It is time to wake up" the soldier called out from outside the tent flap. When he did not receive an answer he decided to peak his head inside. "Excuse me Lady Alexandra. It is time to wake up" the soldier said again while walking up to the pile of furs, the soldier moved to shake Alexandra awake, but stopped when he noticed that there were two bodies inside the pile and when he looked at the other person he became so startled that he stumbled back and tripped over the pile of armor resting on the floor. The clatter that arose from the soldier stripping caused both Alexandra and Eomer to spring up awake. Eomer holding his sword ready to kill who ever it was that woke him and to defend Alexandra, and Alexandra was up and looking around sleepily simply because her pillow had thrown her into a sitting position when it too sat up. The soldier just sat there on the floor in shock and surprise. The silence that had settled over the tent and the people inside was suddenly broken by Eomer.

"Elfhelm what are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry mi'lord, but you had asked me last night to wake up the lady Alexandra if she was not up by the time we were almost done breaking camp. I did not realize that you were here. I was just so surprised to see you when I went to rouse the lady Alexandra that I stumbled back and tripped over your armor" Elfhelm explained in a rushed voice, you could also detect a slight blush on his cheeks.

Realizing that there was no threat and no was going to get killed Alexandra flopped back down onto the furs rolling over onto her side while mumbling something about 'stupid men' and prepared to go back to sleep. Eomer just looked at her shaking his head and chuckling softly before turning his attention back to Elfhelm who was still sitting on the floor. Getting up out of the pile of furs Eomer made his way to Elfhelm to help him up.

"It is alright Elfhelm. I did not expect to be here either, but Lady Alexandra felt bad about kicking me out of my own tent that she offered to share with me so I did"

Elfhelm just looked at Eomer with a look that said 'Yeah, sure you just shared, please I know you better then that'. Eomer just shot him a look that clearly said 'don't you even think about saying a thing or else'. To avoid the topic that Eomer knew was going to be brought up he quickly asked Elfhelm about the men.

"Are the men ready to leave?"

"Almost mi'lord. Yours and Lady Alexandra's tent is one of the last ones still needing to be packed up" Elfhelm replied.

"Good, good. Finish everything else, the lady Alexandra and I will be out shortly" Eomer said while he finished putting on the last bit of his armor.

Elfhelm nodded his head, bowed and left the tent to finish helping break camp and prepare the troop for departure. Eomer buckled the last strap of his armor, strapped on his sword and turned to the difficult mission at hand…waking up Alexandra.

Carefully Eomer approached the pile of furs, knowing how Alexandra could react when surprised. When he was close enough and still standing, Eomer grabbed a hold of the fur that was currently wrapped around Alexandra and pulled. This caused Alexandra to fly out of the pile of furs and land with a loud 'thump' on the floor of the tent. Alexandra a little disoriented from her tumble, picked herself up and got into a standing position while straitening out her clothing, before setting her sites on the person who flung her from her nice warm bed. Eomer just stood there holding the blanket with a sly grin on his face as he watched Alexandra try to get herself together.

"Good morning mi'lady did you sleep well?" Eomer asked

Alexandra just gave him an evil look and if looks could kill well lets just say that our favorite horse lord would not be with us any longer.

"Yes, well I suppose you did seeing as you took the liberty to use me as a pillow last night" Eomer continued, not even acknowledging the look Alexandra gave him. His statement however did cause Alexandra to snap back into reality.

"Excuse me, but I seem to recall you being the one to use me as a teddy bear last night" Alexandra retorted

The two once again found themselves in a stare down, before once again bursting out laughing.

"I believe we are both at fault mi'lady, do you not agree?" Eomer asked, once he had caught his breath.

"Yes, I do agree, but I must ask you one thing mi'lord"

"And I will allow you to ask me this one thing mi'lady"

Chuckling Alexandra replied "Thank you mi'lord, what I must ask is that you do not call me mi'lady. My name is simply Alexandra; there is no 'lady' in front of it. If you do not wish you call my Alexandra then you may call me either Alex, Lexy or simply Lex will do"

"Of course, 'Lexy', but I must ask the same of you, please call me Eomer"

"Alright 'mer. You call me Lexy, I will call you 'mer and we shall be very good friends, deal?" Alexandra asked

"Deal" Eomer said taking her hand and shaking it. "Now get dressed, pack up your things and we will be on our way" Eomer said

"Alright I'll be out in a few minutes will you saddle Thunderfoot form me?"

Eomer looked at her a little skeptically.

"Don't worry I'll take care of it" Alexandra said. Walking to the tent flap Alexandra stuck her head out, whistled and then called out to Thunderfoot "Thunderfoot Permita la silla de Eomer usted, él no le dolerá prometo. El es un amigo de la mente y de suyo".

Eomer stared at Alexandra, still perplexed by the strange language that she spoke. Turning back to Eomer she told him that it was ok, Eomer nodded his head and then left the tent to go ready the horses.

* * *

Alexandra had just finished dressing and packing her things when she heard a great commotion from outside the tent. Thinking that something might be wrong, she grabbed her things and quickly left the tent. When she stepped outside she saw pure chaos or at least what she thought was chaos, all the men were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Alexandra tried stopping one or two to get some answers but they all ignored her and just kept running back and forth, deciding that she was not going to get answers from the men Alexandra started looking around for Eomer. When she found him, he was standing near an old man dressed all in white, 'strange' thought Alexandra. She also took note that Eomer was holding both his horse and hers. Hefting her saddle bags onto her shoulder and grabbing up her other things, Alexandra started to make her way toward Eomer and the strange old man. 

When she approached Eomer's back was to her so he could not see her, but the old man saw her and the look on his face told her that he was surprised to see her among the eored.

'Probably doesn't see many women in camps full of men all too often' Alexandra thought to herself. When she came closer she just nodded her head to him and then moved to take Thunderfoot's reigns from Eomer. When she touched his hand, Eomer jumped slightly in surprise, not expecting her to suddenly appear.

Taking the reigns from him, Alexandra led Thunderfoot a few feet away, before dropping the reigns and moving around to attach her things to Thunderfoot's saddle. Eomer and the old man just stared at her before turning back to each other and conversing in hushed tones. After a few minutes they both turned back to her and Eomer called out to her.

"Lexy, come here for a moment please"

Alexandra picked up Thunderfoot's reigns and made her way over to the two men. Once she had reached them Eomer began speaking again.

"Lexy, I would like you meet Gandalf the white, Gandalf this is Lady Alexandra"

"It is a pleasure to meet you mi'lady, I am however sorry though that it is at a time of great peril"

"The pleasure is mine Gandalf, but what do you mean by a time of great peril?"

"Gandalf had brought news of a great host of orcs who are marching on Helms Deep, a strong hold of my people. He had come because my men and I are needed" Eomer answered.

Alexandra looked thoughtful for a moment before turning and mounting Thunderfoot.

"So what are we doing standing around here for? Which way is it to Helms Deep?"

"You must understand that Uruk-hai are not normal creatures and that this battle is no place for a woman"

Alexandra just gave Gandalf an annoyed look and as she opened her mouth to speak, but Eomer beat her to it.

"Lexy, Gandalf is right, there is too much of a risk. You are under my protection and I can not allow you to go needlessly into a battle you have nothing to do with. You will travel with us to Helms Deep, but once we get there you will hide and you will stay hidden until either I or one of my men come and get you"

Alexandra look at Eomer with an unreadable expression upon her face, before turning Thunderfoot away and trotting him over to where the men were and settling in to the ranks towards the back of the group.

Eomer just sighed, before turning back to towards Gandalf and nodding his head, "Let's go, the sooner we get there the better". As he mounted Firefoot, Eomer looked over to Alexandra, but she would not look at him, in fact she refused to look at anything except Thunderfoot, who she would occasionally whisper to.

Eomer just shook his head and sighed. Gandalf, who had by now also mounted his own horse, placed his hand on Eomers' shoulder.

"Do not worry my friend she is merely upset, she feel you do not wish for her help simply because she is a women. She will come around once she realizes that you are merely trying to protect her"

Eomer just looked at Alexandra once more and nodded his head, before calling out to his eored "Rohirrim! We ride for land and King, to Helms Deep!" The men let out a mighty cry of agreement before heading out.

* * *

They were coming closer to Helms Deep, Eomer knew this and he knew that he had to talk to Lexy before they reached the battle field. So reigning in Firefoot he fell into step beside Alexandra and Thunderfoot. Thunderfoot gave a snort of recognition but Alexandra did not even acknowledge that she knew he was there. After a while when she did not even look at him Eomer broke the silence that had settled over them. 

"Lexy, please understand why I am doing this. I do not want to go into battle with bad ties between us, you have become a close friend in the short time that we have known each other and I do not want you thinking I am only doing this because you are a women, because that is not why I am doing this" Eomer stopped and looked over to Alexandra to gauge her reaction. He saw her sigh before turning to gaze at him.

"Then why Eomer… why are you doing this? You have become a good friend to me and as a friend I want to help you like you have helped me, why won't you let me help you?"

"Well for one thing you yourself have said that you do not know how to properly wield a sword, but also you would be helping by doing this for me. By knowing that you are safe will help me concentrate better in battle. If you were fighting along with us in battle I would be distracted with thoughts of whether you were ok or if you were hurt or worse if you were dead!"

"Oh I see I am distraction to you then, well I am sorry Lord Eomer I will just leave you alone so I won't distract you anymore" Alexandra exclaimed in a hurt tone and made to ride off, but Eomer grabbed her hands holding the reigns and stopped her.

"Lexy that is not what I mean and you know it. You said that you were my friend and wanted to help, well this is how you can help, by hiding and staying safe"

Alexandra sighed and looked at Eomer, nodding her head. "Your right, I know your right, but that doesn't help quench any of my fears"

"What fears?" Eomer asked

"That you'll get hurt or that you'll die, because I wasn't there to help you"

Hearing her fears Eomer stopped both horses. Once they were completely stopped he grasped her hands and looked her straight n the eye.

"I will not die this day not will I get hurt, I promise you this, and you do not have to fear for me"

"But how can you promise me something you have no control over, you do not know what will happen you can not see the future"

"I know that, but I also know my skill in battle, I will be fine you do not have fear little one, trust me. Do you trust me?"

Alexandra looked at Eomer for a long moment. She study his face and his eyes searching for the truth, the truth that he meant everything he said, when she found what she was looking for she answered him. "Yes, Eomer, I do trust you"

"Good, then you have nothing to fear" he said while reaching up to cup her check, "I will not leave you alone little one, not this day, not any day soon either"

Alexandra smiled softly at him and he returned, but before either of them could say anything more Gandalf called to Eomer, they had reached Helms Deep.

Looking back towards Alexandra Eomer once again spoke reassuring words, when he saw the uncertainty in her eyes once again. "Do not fear, I will not leave you little one" and before she could reply Eomer rode off towards Gandalf.

Alexandra stared after him and softly whispered "That's what they said too".

* * *

Eomer approached Gandalf at the front of his eored, the sun was just about to rise at their backs, and they would soon be in the thick of battle. Alexandra had been shown safely to a near by cave where she would wait for someone to come and collect her once the battle was over, but if the battle were to go badly then she was given instructions to ride toward the white city of Gondor with all hast and deliver the news about the fall of Rohan to the Stewart. Eomer smiled slightly to himself when he thought about the tongue lashing had he received for even suggesting that he and the other would fall in battle. 

Gandalf snapped Eomer out of his thoughts by calling to him. "Théoden King stands alone"

"Not alone" drawing his sword Eomer calls out "Rohirrim" and a mass of men collects around him and Gandalf.

Everyone in the midst of battle down below stop and gaze up at the sight that now greets them with the rising of the sun. A group of the Uruk-hai break off from the others and flank to the bottom of the hill that Eomer and his eored stand upon, they draw their weapons point them towards Eomer and his men, thinking that when they come charging down the hill at great speeds they will impale themselves. King Théoden softly says to himself 'Eomer'.

Back up on the hill Eomer looks down on the scene before him and with a mighty yell he screams "TO THE KING!" His men let out a similar yell in response "To the King!" they all cry and with a kick of their heals Eomer, Gandalf and the Rohirrim take off down the hill.

The closer they got the louder the roars of the Uruk-hai became. Charging down the hill the men got closer and closer, and just when they are about to be impaled on the spears of the Uruk-hai the great sun in all her glory rises behind them, causing the Uruk-hai to become blinded and disoriented. In an effort to get away from the blinding light of the sun the Uruk-hai move, thus allowing Eomer, Gandalf and the Rohirrim to charge into them without getting hurt.

Galloping into battle Eomer and his Rohirrim drastically turn the tides of the fight, taking out Uruk-hai after Uruk-hai and also giving new hope to the soldiers of Rohan and their king. The battle at Helms Deep raged on for what seemed like hours more, when really it was over with in a few moments. Eomer and his Rohirrim had taken out many of the Uruk-hai's and what ones remained turned tail and ran before they suffered the same fates. Cries of victory went up as the Uruk-hai fled, the Rohirrim took chase, trying to kill as many as they could before they all got away. Seeing where the Uruk-hai were headed Eomer let out cries of warning.

"Stay away from the forest! Don't go near the trees!"

Stopping some feet away from the trees the soldiers of Rohan were amazed and scared to see the trees moving and hear the cries of the Uruk-hai as they were slaughtered. Once all the Uruks had been destroyed the men returned to Helms Deep to start cleaning up. Men where dispatched to pile the bodies of dead Uruks in huge mounts for burning, other men where dispatched to prepare the fallen of Rohan for burial and others were sent off to make the burial mounds for the fallen.

Eomer, who had been reunited with his sister, was now with both his sister, uncle, Aragorn, the elf Legolas, the dwarf Gimli and Gandalf. All were inside the main hall discussing the damage that had been done and what needed to be done for the journey back to Edoras. While this was all going on inside, outside something entirely different was going on.

* * *

It had been about three or four hours since Eomer had left Alexandra in the small outcropping of rocks on top of the hill and Alexandra was becoming impatient and upset. Feeling like she had been forgotten Alexandra stepped out around the outcropping of rocks and moved with Thunderfoot towards the top of the hill. Peering down over Alexandra noticed that the battle was indeed over with and that the cleanup process was beginning; now feeling like she really had been forgotten Alexandra mounted Thunderfoot and started off down the hill. 

Most of the men that noticed her stopped what they were doing and stared at the strange woman who was galloping down the hill on a huge beast of a horse. Some of the men that belonged to Eomers' eored looked up and started to explain to others around them that the woman was a friend and that they should not worry. A few others were quietly talking amongst themselves and were betting on how bad the blow up was going to be, judging by the look that Alexandra had on her face it was going to be a bad.

Elfhelm, who was also outside among the men helping clean up the battle field, noticed too the look on Alexandra's face and ran to intercept her before she got her self killed and in turn getting him killed, because that's what Eomer would do to him if she got hurt.

Reaching Alexandra before she dismounted Elfhelm reached up and offered her his hand. "Lady Alexandra, allow me to assist you"

"Thank you. What was your name again I do not believe we have been properly introduced"

"Elfhelm mi'lady, I am second in command next to Lord Eomer" Elfhelm replied.

"Well it is a pleasure to meet you Elfhelm, now if you could tell me where Lord Eomer is right now that would be lovely"

"I am sorry mi'lady but my Lord Eomer is with his uncle the king and Lord Aragorn discussing what actions are to be taken next in the fight against the Dark Lord"

"Again with this 'Dark Lord'" Alexandra exclaimed "Who is this 'Dark Lord'? Eomer never did tell me like he said he would"

"I can tell you about him if you wish mi'lady, but it will have to be while I am working" Elfhelm offered.

Alexandra thought for a moment, but then nodded her head "Alright, sounds like a plan and hey I can help you with your work"

"No, mi'lady you should not do what I am doing" Elfhelm replied

"Why not? Look Elfhelm I know that I am woman, but I can still pull my own weight, besides some of these men where part of the eored. I might not have know all of them, but I still owe all of you for taking me in and keeping me safe, this is the least I could do" Alexandra said

"Alright, mi'lady come with me" Elfhelm lead Alexandra back to where he was working previously. "What we are doing mi'lady is dragging the bodies of dead Uruk-hai over to those piles" Elfhelm pointed over to a remote area where huge piles were already being burned. "Once the pile is large enough or we have gathered all the Uruk-hai we set the pile ablaze. Will you be able to handle this mi'lady?" Elfhelm explained and asked.

"Yeah I should be fine. I'll just pretend that they are really big bales of hay, that's all. Is there some place that I could put Thunderfoot so he's not in the way?"

"Sure. Do you think he would behave for a stable hand?" Elfhelm asked, knowing first hand how the great stallion could behave.

"If I tell him to he will, why?"

"Well we have stables inside the wall and all the horse have been placed there to be groomed, fed and rested"

"Ok, well you get the stable hand and I'll talk to Thunderfoot" Alexandra said as she and Elfhelm split ways for a moment. Walking up to Thunderfoot, Alexandra brought his head down so she could look him in the eyes before speaking. "Thunderfoot, quiero que usted sea tiene para la mano fija que Elfhelm traerá. ¿Le tomará la mano fija y le se cerciora es arreglado, es alimentado y es cuidado de, bueno? Ahora usted es un chico bueno y no mata nadie." Thunderfoot shook his head up and down in understanding, even though you could tell he wasn't happy about being away from his mistress. "¿Eso es un chico bueno, yo le daré un gusto especial cuando vengo y le veo después que yo soy hecho ayudando aquí bueno?" Alexandra said and again Thunderfoot nodded his head up and down, but this time with a little more pep, especially with the promise of a treat. Alexandra was rubbing Thunderfoot's neck and speaking to him softly when Elfhelm came back followed by a young boy who could be no older then 12 and was as small as one could be at his age.

The young boy looked up in amazement at Thunderfoot. The huge stallion towered over the young boy and could easily crush him with one of his hooves, the young boy knew this and it scared him.

Alexandra could sense the boys discomfort and knew it would be better to calm his fears, both for the boy's sake and Thunderfoot's.

"Hello there. Are you the young boy who is going to be taking care of my mount?"

"Ye…yes mi'lady" the young boy says stuttering of his words and looking at the ground.

"Alright well what is your name son?"

"Its Andy mi'lady" the young boy replied still looking at the ground

"Well it's very nice to meet you Andy. Now I would like you to meet Thunderfoot." Alexandra said as she brought the great horse closer to the young boy. "You do not have to be afraid of him Andy, he wont hurt you I promise" Alexandra said when she noticed the young boy shaking.

Hesitantly the young boy lifted his hand to Thunderfoot's nose. Thunderfoot let out a huge snuff of air as he took in the young boys' sent, before lowering his head some more and allowing young Andy to pet him. With a smile on his face Andy became braver at the acceptance of Thunderfoot and began to stroke the great horse's neck and rub behind his ears. Thunderfoot loving the attention he was getting nearly knocked the poor boy off his feet trying to get his head closer to his hands. Laughing at the antics of the horse the young boy rubbed behind Thunderfoot's ears with more enthusiasm.

"You see young Andy, there is nothing to be afraid of Thunderfoot is just a big push over anyways" Alexandra said with a hint of amusement to her voice.

"Yes, mi'lady I see what you mean. If it pleases mi'lady and mi'lord I will take Thunderfoot to the stable now"

"Yes, yes go right ahead my boy we have to get back to work anyways" Elfhelm said to the young boy and sent him on his way. Turning to face Alexandra he spoke once more "Shall we get started mi'lady?"

"Of course, but first I must ask you to please stop calling me 'mi'lay'. I am simply Alexandra or Alex or Lexy, which ever you prefer to call me is fine"

"Alright mi'… I mean Alexandra, I wish it also that you just call me Elfhelm" he said as he picked up an Uruk-hai by the ankle and began to drag him towards the piles.

Alexandra seeing what Elfhelm was doing quickly looked around found an Uruk-hai and started to drag him as Elfhelm was doing. "Alright its deal, you call me Alexandra, I'll call you Elfhelm and we shall be friends" Alexandra finished as she dragged the body of the Uruk-hai to rest on the growing pile.

"Deal" said Elfhelm. "Now let me keep my other end of the bargain and begin to tell you of the Dark Lord Sauron. I will tell you all that I know from stories and old legends told to me as a child and around the camp fires" Elfhelm explained before continuing his tale. "Sauron was originally a Maia of Aulë's people; Sauron was early corrupted by Melkor and became his most trusted lieutenant. In the Wars of Beleriand, Sauron was the most feared of Morgoth's servants, but after the War of Wrath and the expulsion of the first Dark Lord, Sauron rose to become the greatest enemy of Elves and Men in the Second and Third Ages"

Placing another dead body of an Uruk-hai Alexandra turned to face and address Elfhelm. "So your telling me that this guy Sauron was the apprentice of this guy Melkor, and when he was killed, Sauron took over his position as head Dark Lord and now he is waging war over everyone in hopes of regaining power over all the lands" Alexandra questioned.

"Yes, Sauron looks for power; others say he looks to avenge his master Morgoth's death at the hands of men and elves." Elfhelm said throwing another body on the pile.

"What do you think it is Elfhelm?" Alexandra asked

"I believe that Sauron only looks out for himself. I believe that he seeks power and power alone. He has set himself no less a goal than the conquest of Middle-earth, and perhaps even of Númenor itself. Behind the fenced and mountainous land of Mordor, he had begun building his mighty Dark Tower of Barad-dûr and there he forges a fierce army, one that has only one goal... to completely destroy Middle Earth as it is now, to leave none alive except for those who are loyal to Sauron and Sauron alone" Elfhelm finished.

Alexandra was quiet for a while, as she and Elfhelm continued to drag and pile dead Uruk-hai bodies. Once they had the pile big enough Elfhelm called some men over and they set the pile ablaze, while Elfhelm and Alexandra started making a new pile of dead bodies. When Alexandra did speak her question it caught Elfhelm by surprise.

"Do you think that Sauron can be defeated, I mean he can be beaten right? It's not like he is totally indestructible right, he has to have a weakness something that can bring him down"

Elfhelm stopped what he was doing and ponder Alexandra's question for a moment before answering. "I do not know Alexandra, but speaking as a free person of Middle Earth; I can only hope that he does and that we can over come his evil and be rid of him forever"

Alexandra just silent nodded her head and returned to dragging the dead bodies of Uruk-hai off to be burned. She and Elfhelm worked for many more hours before stopping and taking a break. By this time Alexandra was dirtier then she had been when she started and felt that a nice long bath was in order.

"Elfhelm"

"Yes Alexandra"

"Is there any way that I could get a bath, I'm starting to smell as bad as the dead and burning Uruk-hai over here"

Laughing Elfhelm replied "Of course Alexandra follow me I will take you inside to wash up, I can not guarantee a bath, but you should at least be able to wash up a little bit. I am afraid the bath will have to wait until we return to Edoras"

"That's all right, as long as I can get semi clean I will be able to wait a little longer for that bath" Alexandra said

"Well then follow me"

"Oh, Elfhelm on the way can we stop at the stables so I can check on Thunderfoot?" Alexandra asked

"Of course we will go there before heading inside the Keep"

* * *

On their way inside Elfhelm and Alexandra passed by Eothain as he was taking a break from his work. The three stopped and talked for awhile, Alexandra apologized for Thunderfoot's bad behavior and promised to make it up to Eothain and the rest of the men who had gotten knocked around. Eothain assured her that it was fine and that she did not have to do anything but Alexandra insisted that she did and refused to hear anymore argument on the subject. Eothain seeing that he was not going to win let the subjected dropped for now. Once they had finished conversing with each other Eothain went back to work and Elfhelm and Alexandra continued onto the stables. 

When they reached the stables there were few other men there checking on some of the other horses and all of them were surprised to see Elfhelm enter the barn with a woman. The young Andy seeing them enter the stable quickly made his way over to them.

"Hello mi'lady, mi'lord."

"Hello" both Alexandra and Elfhelm said

"I have put Thunderfoot in one of the best stalls mi'lady. I have removed his saddle and your belonging they are all placed inside his stall in the corner. I have also brushed him down and given some oats and grain. I have also cleaned and worked the leather on your saddle mi'lady, I hope that is alright" Andy explained as he led Alexandra and Elfhelm to the stall that held Thunderfoot.

"Yes, Andy that is fine. Although you did not have to do that, I would have taken care of my saddle in due time. But thank you anyways, you are a good man my boy"

Andy literally glowed with pride from Alexandra's praise of his work. Thunderfoot hearing the voice of his mistress stuck his head over the gate of the stall, while stamping his front hooves and snorting.

Alexandra laughed to herself and walked quickly up to the stall door. Opening it she walked right in and began to pet the massive animal as all the other men in the stable looked on in awe.

"Hey there boy, how you doing? Where you good for Andy?" Alexandra asked Thunderfoot while looking back over to Andy.

"Yes mi'lady he behaved very well did not act up one bit he didn't" Andy replied

"That's good, that's very good" Alexandra said while turning her attention back to Thunderfoot. "I suppose you will be wanting your special treat now right boy?"

Thunderfoot shook his head up and down showing Alexandra that she was indeed correct and he wanted his special treat for being such a good boy.

Moving over to her belongings Alexandra shuffled things around in one of her saddle bags before moving back toward Thunderfoot carrying a small clothed bag. Untying the bag Alexandra reached in and pulled out four small white cubes. Seeing what she was holding and not knowing what it was Elfhelm questioned Alexandra about the substance.

"Alexandra, what is that you are giving him?"

"These? Well these are sugar cubes, Thunderfoot loves his sugar cubes don't you boy?" Thunderfoot snorted in reply as he munched on his cubes. "I only give them to him when he has been good or done something to deserve them, too many of them over a period of time could make him fat and lazy and we don't want that happening do we boy?" Alexandra asked scratching behind Thunderfoot ears. The horse shook his head in agreement, no he did not want to become fat and lazy but boy did he love his sugar cubes.

Petting him one last time Alexandra grabbed her things before leaving the stall and shutting the gate, while promising Thunderfoot that she would come back and see him real soon, but until them she told him to mind his manners and behave for Andy, who she had officially declared to be Thunderfoot's stable hand.

Once they left the stables it did not take Elfhelm and Alexandra long to reach the Keep. Once inside Elfhelm showed Alexandra to a room that was not being used and told her that she could clean up in the room, and that he would go and get her some water to wash up with really quickly and then he would leave her to do what she needed to do. Alexandra told him that that was fine and while Elfhelm was gone she went through her bags collecting things that she needed. When Elfhelm returned with a basin and a picture of water, he told Alexandra to take her time and that he would be waiting in the main hall, that they had passed through on the their way in, for her when she was done.

Alexandra thanked him and as soon as he was gone she walked over to the door and bolted the lock. 'No need having someone walk in on me when I am getting cleaned up' she thought to herself and she removed her filthy shirt while walking back toward the table that held the basin and the pitcher of water. Pouring out a little bit of water, Alexandra grabbed the washcloth that she carried with her and began to clean her arms, face and upper torso as best she could, once she was done with that, she emptied the dirty water into a near by bucket, then settled her head over the basin and began to pour the rest of the water over her hair hoping to clean it somewhat until she could properly take a bath. When she was finished Alexandra rung her hair out as best she could before walking back over to her things Alexandra grabbed a clean shirt and looked down at her jeans deciding that they would have to do until she could get them properly washed. When she had finished packing up her things, Alexandra made sure to throw out the dirty water before she left, checking the room over once more to make sure that she had not forgotten anything, Alexandra shoulder her bags and left the room.

As she made her way toward the main hall Alexandra took the time to look at her surroundings and she had to admit to herself that the buildings were remarkably done, especially for being made out of stone. As she entered the hall Alexandra spotted Elfhelm standing in front of a group of men and one woman. Most of the men were average height, except for one who was really short and hairy, they were all dirty which she assumed was due to the battle. The one woman Alexandra noticed was pale almost white, she had long blonde hair, much the same color as Eomer's. Speaking of Eomer, Alexandra noticed that he was among the men that Elfhelm was talking to.

Since they had not noticed her Alexandra continued to walk towards them. As she got closer one of the men, the one with long blonde hair who was also carrying a bow, Alexandra noticed as she got closer, raised his head in her direction. Alexandra was startled at first when she came in contact with his eyes. They were the most remarkable blue she had ever seen; they kind of reminded her of the afternoon sky on a bright sunny day. The others soon became aware that she was there once the man with blonde hair noticed her. All turned in her direction, but they where soon focused on Eomer as he called out to her and made his way to her.

"Alexandra. I thought I told you to stay where you were. Elfhelm just told me that you came down the hill on your own. What were you thinking, you could have been hurt or worse, what if the battle had not been over with or we had lost what then?" Eomer said as he approached her.

Alexandra was happy to see Eomer that was until he opened his mouth. "Excuse me, but did you just sass me? I would think that your first words to me would have been 'Alexandra I am glad you are safe, please forgive me for forgetting about you', but no you just have to sass me for not following your orders. Well let me tell you something Eomer, I do not appreciate being stuffed between some rocks and then left there and forgotten. When you did not come back and no one else came, I took things into my own hands. Yes I came down the hill on my own, but that was only after I peaked over it to make sure the battle was over with. When I saw that the men were cleaning up the battle I rode down. I ran into Elfhelm here and he told me that you were with your uncle so I figured I would leave you be, I asked Elfhelm what he was doing, he told me that he was helping clean up so I offered to help also. Once I convinced him to allow me to help I had him help me find a place for Thunderfoot, he brought me a nice young stable boy who is now currently taking care of Thunderfoot, but that's beside the point. I helped the men drag the dead Uruk-hai bodies into piles and Elfhelm here was also kind enough to explain to me who this Dark Lord fellow is seeing how you forgot to, but then again you seem to be forgetting a lot of things" Alexandra said in a slightly tight voice which left everyone else stunned.

**

* * *

Translation:** 1) Let Eomer saddle you, he won't hurt you I promise, he is a friend of mine and yours. 

2) I want you to behave for the stable hand that Elfhelm is going to bring. The stable hand is going to take you and make sure you are groomed, fed and taken care of, ok? Now you be a good boy and don't kill anyone.

**

* * *

AN:** Alright here it is the next chapter; I want to thank all of those who have been reviewing: wondereye (did you like how I fit other soldiers into the story? Tell me what you think and how I can make it better), krillball6, Anduril1043, Mesphia, Arien's shadow, Mesphia, madrone, Van/Dracula. Thank you all soooo much for your lovely reviews, please keep them coming and remember please let me know if you have any thoughts about the story that you think would help me make it better, I take all of them into consideration and I try my best to see if I work them into the story. I hope this chapter was long enough for you all, it might take me a bit to get the next one up but I will try my best to get it done soon. So keep reading and reviewing, until next time, 

Bunny


	5. Kisses, Arguments and Celebrations

Disclaimer: I own nothing that Tolkien wrote. I am simply borrowing them for the purpose of this story as a form of entertainment for other. I am by no means making any money off of this. So suing me will not be necessary. The only person that is I own is Alexandra Mathews.

* * *

"Eomer who is this woman and how do you know her" Théoden King asked his nephew. 

"Her name is Alexandra uncle; we found her riding across the northern lands after we had been banished. She traveled alone and did not know where she was, I made her come along with my éored for protection, I could not leave her to try and survive on the plains of Rohan on her own. She has been traveling with us since then, when Gandalf came to get us for the battle we had to bring her with us, I did not allow her to fight instead I told her to stay hidden in an outcropping of rocks at the top of the hill and not to come out until myself or one of my men came and got her. Obviously she did not listen to me" Eomer explained, while giving Alexandra a strained look of displeasure.

"I see. Well Lady Alexandra, where is that you come from and how did you come to the land of Rohan" Théoden King asked

"Well your majesty, I don't exactly know. All I know is that I went out for a ride to check my property over and as my horse Thunderfoot and I were crossing the threshold between the trees on my land and a clearing, we somehow ended up on the plains of Rohan. I don't know what happened or how it happened, all I know is that your world is not my world, I cannot explain it but it's true. Well it has to be true because if its not then I am freaking crazy and this is one hell of a dream" Alexandra said speaking to the King.

"Hmmmm, interesting. You say you were crossing between the boarders of a forest and a clearing, yes that is very interesting indeed" Gandalf mumbled

"Do you know something Mithrandir about how this girl came here?" Legolas asked

"Yes I believe I do. You see I believe young Alexandra here somehow stumbled onto a portal, a gateway if you will, from her world to ours"

"A portal you say" Théoden King said

"Yes, it is a very, very rare occurrence for something like this to happen, but there are tales of it happening in some of the ancient script. The last occurrence I believe happened many years ago, over a thousand now" Gandalf went on to say.

"So is there anyway I can go back or am I here to stay?" Alexandra asked

"I am terribly sorry my child but there is no way to send you back, the only way that you could go back is to by chance find another portal, but the chances of that happening are very slim. I am sorry" Gandalf said

"No, no it's not your fault Gandalf. I'll be fine, so long as I have Thunderfoot everything will be fine" Alexandra said with a very positive voice.

"How can you be so happy? You were just told that you are in another world and you can never go home, are you not upset at all?" Éowyn asked

"Well no not really. In my world it was only Thunderfoot and I, and I do not see how getting upset would help me at all, my mother always use to tell me 'Don't worry about anything. Worrying never solved anything, all it does is distort your mind' So you see mi'lady there is no reason for me to get upset, getting upset will only succeed in getting me no where's. But if I take things positively I will get where I need to be" Alexandra said.

The group of men and one woman just looked at Alexandra stunned by the wisdom that she had just bestowed upon them.

"So you do not find it strange that you have just magically appeared in another world" Asked the one Alexandra had heard Gandalf call Legolas

"Well normally I might, but you see when I was a little girl I read a story called 'The Wizard of OZ'. It was about this young girl and her dog that by chance during a really bad storm got sent to another world known as the Land of OZ and after I had read that story I asked my parents if that could really happen. They told me about how my people believe that there are different worlds and how sometimes one could cross over to another world. From then on I really believed that I could go to another world, but as I got older I forgot all about other worlds and magic, I had decided that my parents had been wrong. Who knew I would find my very own 'OZ'?" Alexandra explained.

"Well this certainly answers a lot of questions" Eomer said "I had wondered about your odd clothing and such when we first met, but at that point it was not the right time to go into questioning you"

"Yes, well I am just glad that you did not cut off my head like you appeared to plan on doing when we first met" Alexandra said

"You thought I was going to cut off your head?" Eomer replied

"Well with the knowledge that I know now, it would not surprise me if you had thought about doing it. I know now that these are very dark times, thanks to Elfhelm explaining to me about the Dark Lord"

"You know who Sauron is" the man with brown hair asked

"Yes, well I do now, before I had no idea who this Dark Lord was, but Elfhelm explained to me who he was, while we were cleaning up outside" Alexandra replied "Oh I am terribly sorry we have not been properly introduced have we. My name is Alexandra Matthews; it is a pleasure to meet you all"

"The same mi'lady, my name is Aragorn or Strider as some call me, this here is Legolas of the Woodland realm, this is Gimli son of Glóin, and you know Gandalf already as well as Eomer" the man Aragorn explained while allowing Théoden King to introduce himself and Éowyn.

"I am Théoden King and this is my niece Éowyn, sister of my nephew Eomer"

"It is a pleasure to meet you both" Alexandra said

"It is a pleasure to meet you also Lady Alexandra" Éowyn replied

Once all introductions had been done, everyone went back to the topic of what to do now that the battle was over. Théoden King said that he would take Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Eomer and Gamling and make for Isengard to comfort the wizard Saruman. He told Éowyn that she was to lead the people back to Meduseld, where she was to get the wounded taken care of and make sure that a great feast was to be prepared in honor of the victory and the dead. Théoden King also ordered that Alexandra go with Éowyn to Meduseld and help any way that she could.

"Whoa wait a minute here" Alexandra exclaimed after Théoden King had finished speaking "You want me to go with Lady Éowyn and help her plan a party while the rest of you get to go off and confront a wizard? Nope not happening I am going with you and that's all there is to it"

Every one lapsed into a stunned silence at Alexandra's outburst. Some were surprised that a women would speak that way especially to a King, others where surprised because they thought for sure a woman would be happy to amongst other women after having traveled with men for such a period of time. If only they knew how wrong they all were.

Eomer was the first to react. He walked up to Alexandra and grabbed her by the arm, literally dragged her from the main hall and into one of the connecting hallways. He continued to lead her by the arm until he found an empty room, pulling her into the room Eomer shut the door and turned to face her.

"Would you be quiet" he said in exasperation, for Alexandra had not stopped yelling at him since he started pulling her from the main hall. "What do you think you are doing? You cannot defy the orders of the King…"

Eomer would have kept going on lecturing Alexandra about how she could not do things like defy the King, but Alexandra did not feel like being lectured at the moment.

"Excuse me but he is not my King, where I come from we don't have Kings anymore, so I don't have to follow his 'orders'" Alexandra said and before Eomer could speak she continued "And another thing, don't think that I don't know what you are doing, because I know exactly what you are doing"

"And just what am I doing" Eomer asked

"You're trying to send me with your sister so you don't have to take me with you; you don't want to have to take me because you don't want to have to feel obligated to protect me. Well let me tell you something Eomer" Alexandra said while pushing on Eomer by the shoulders "I don't need protecting I can take care of myself. So why don't you just take you macho-ness and stuff it up your horses behind, because I am going with you and that's all there is to it" Alexandra finished with one last shove and then turned to head out the door. But before she could reach it Eomer grabbed her by the arm and pinned her up against the wall.

"Now you listen to me. You are going to go with my sister back to Meduseld and you are going to help her do everything that my uncle has asked you to do. If have to tie you to your horse you will do as you are told, do you understand me?" Eomer got out through clenched teeth.

His face was so close to Alexandra's that their noses where touching. Eomer was not moving away and Alexandra wanted to be let down, so she devised a way to get Eomer to let her go. She looked him in the eyes, leaned in and kissed him. Eomer was so surprised by the kiss that he backed up away from the wall, thus allowing Alexandra to get free. Once she was freed Alexandra broke the kiss, backed up a little and then hauled back and smacked Eomer right across the face.

"What in Béma was that for?" Eomer asked holding the side of his face, he was still in a mild state of shock, he has absolutely no idea what has happened with in the last few minutes. First Alexandra was kissing him now she was decking him.

"That was for being an egotistical prick and assuming that just because you say 'jump' that I am going to say 'how high'. And another thing I will go to Meduseld with Éowyn, but only to get away from you and your attitude, not because you or your uncle the King told me too" Alexandra said leaving Eomer stunned as she left the room and slammed the door.

* * *

Éowyn and Alexandra where ridding in the front of the people from Rohan as they made their way back to Edoras. Alexandra had not said much since she talked with Eomer, in fact she had not said anything to anyone. When she had made her way back to the main hall, all present could see that she was not happy, in fact they could tell that she was down right furious. As she passed the group she quickly called out that she would be in the stables and that when Éowyn was ready to leave to let her know, and then she was gone. When Eomer reentered the room, the group was quite surprised to see the angry red mark on the side of his face, when his uncle had questioned him about it, he simply said 'She has agreed to go with Éowyn' and then he to left the main hall. 

Éowyn was growing impatient with the woman next to her. They had been riding next to each other for a while now and she had not said two words to her. So not willing to wait any longer Éowyn broke the ice.

"Why did you strike my brother?"

"Because he is a male chauvinistic pig and he had it coming to him" was Alexandra's reply

"He's a what?" Éowyn asked

"A man, a man who thinks that women are incapable of taking care of themselves and that they always need to be protected and by him. I mean really who does he think he is, the almighty lord? Well I have news for him he isn't and if I have to smack him again to prove that then I will" Alexandra said turning to look at a stunned Éowyn.

"What" Alexandra asked?

But all she got for an answer was Éowyn's laughter. "Oh my, I must say you are correct about my brother Lady Alexandra he can be extremely over protective and stubborn to boot" Éowyn said as laughter filled her voice once again. "Eomer is a dear but when he sets his mind to something very few things can change it, yes stubborn is my dear brother's middle name"

"Yeah, well I just wish he would be more understanding. I know that I can't exactly wield a sword as well as he can, but I am an ok shot with a bow and arrow, I can fence too, so I am not totally helpless, but I don't think he understands that" Alexandra said with a sigh.

"Yes, well I wish for the same thing, but it does not seem that he will anytime soon. Now what is this about you being able to use weapons?"

Well I wouldn't say I know how to use weapons, but I can shoot an arrow from a bow, and I can fence. I guess you would call that a form of sword fighting, but it is more an art then a battle technique. Your brother actually promised to teach my how to properly handle a sword, but I do not think that he will be keeping his promise"

"Why is that Lady Alexandra?" Éowyn asked

"Well I don't think that he is to pleased with me right now, especially since I smack him, but that is alright, I will just wait and once I get myself settled I will find someone to teach me how to use a sword properly" Alexandra said

"You do not have a place to stay Lady Alexandra?"

"Nope really didn't plan on winding up in another dimension so I didn't really make living arrangements" Alexandra said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Well then I formally welcome you to live in the halls of Meduseld, until you feel like leaving or until you have left the land of the living, and do not worry about my brother teaching you the use of a sword, I am a shield maiden of Rohan, I will teach you how to properly wield a sword" Éowyn declared.

"That would be great. But if I may ask you, what is a Shield Maiden?" Alexandra replied

"Oh well, some years ago the women of my country learned long ago that those without swords could still die upon them, so some women would train and became Shield Maidens. I myself would tag along with my cousin and brother to their sword lessons and I learned the skill of the sword, thus becoming like the ancient women of my country, a Shield Maiden" Éowyn explained.

"Wow that is amazing. So why did you not fight in the battle at Helms Deep?" Alexandra asked.

"I suffered the same fate as you, both my uncle and Lord Aragorn felt that I would be better suited to stay in the caves with the women and children, they felt that it would be better for me to help them instead of fighting and helping protect my home" Éowyn said with a bit of disdain and contempt in her voice.

"Yes, it appears that we are both the victims of over bearing, pig head, protective men"

Both women looked at each other and burst into a fit of giggles. Many of the villagers walking near them looked at the strangely, not seeing how they could be laughing when many were mourning the lost of loved ones.

* * *

The rest of the ride back to Edoras was filled with talking and merriment. Both Éowyn and Alexandra spent the time talking, exchanging stories, and just basically getting to know each other. The group stopped for a quick rest along the way and Alexandra introduced Éowyn to the joys of beef jerky, when Éowyn first saw it she was a little skeptical of it, but once she tried it she was sold. Wanting to know how it was made Alexandra told her that it would be easier to show her how to make then trying to explain it, so she promised that she would when the got back to the city. 

When the group arrived back in Edoras it was just slightly past the mid-afternoon meal. The people of Rohan immediately went back to their homes and began to get their lives back into order; always strong are the people of Rohan.

Upon arriving Éowyn and Alexandra dismounted their horse, as soon as they were down a solider and Andy came up to the two women and took the horses; that was after a few words from Alexandra to Thunderfoot. Once the horses were taken care of Éowyn showed Alexandra into the Golden Hall, quickly pointing out the main hall or throne room, Éowyn took Alexandra down a hall to the left of the main hall and showed her where she could stay, and get cleaned up.

"This will be your room, mine is just down the hall on the right, Eomers'; room is also down this hall but on the left, my uncles room is at the very end of the hall" walking into the room Éowyn walked over to another door opening it, "This is your wash room, I will have some maids bring up some hot water so you can bath" walking over to an Armoire Éowyn pulled open the doors, then reached in and pulled out a dress, chemise, stockings and shoes. "This dress will look lovely on you, after you bathe and dress I will help you do your hair, and don't worry about your other clothing I will get them cleaned for you" Éowyn explained.

Alexandra looked around in wonder the room was amazing, there were intricate carvings of horses along both the ceiling and floor based boards, the bed in the room was nice and big, it had four posts and a canopy over it with curtains falling from the top and from the looks of it soft and warm. Along the far wall, there were huge bay windows that lead to a nice size balcony, along another wall there was a fire place with chairs seated in front of it and a table was along the wall near the door. Overall Alexandra thought it was lovely and absolutely fantastic.

"This is amazing Éowyn, I love it. Thank you so much; I don't know how to thank you for all of this" Alexandra said

"Oh don't worry about it, you don't have to thank me for anything Lady Alexandra, you are now an official guest in the Golden Hall" Éowyn replied

Walking up to Éowyn, Alexandra wrapped her arms around Éowyn giving her a great big hug.

"Thank you so much for every thing Éowyn, but I must ask that you call me Alexandra or something shorter, I don't care which, but if we are to be friends we can not be so formal with each other" Alexandra said.

Éowyn looked at Alexandra for a moment before bursting out into excited squeals and hugging her once again, this time jumping up a down a little while she did it.

"Friends you wish to be friends!" Éowyn exclaimed

"Well yes, what else could be? I mean we could be sisters, but then I would have to marry Eomer, and I just don't know if that would work" Alexandra mused to herself with a thoughtful look on her face.

Laughing Éowyn replied "Yes I rather do think that would be most unlikely, but that would be a wonderful thing if it did happen"

The suggestive tone in Éowyn's voice did not go unnoticed by Alexandra.

"Oh no, get all thoughts of matchmaking out of you head right now missy. I will not have you playing cupid with your brother and me as your test subjects"

"What? I would never do a thing like that Alexandra, I have no idea where you got that thought from" Éowyn said with an innocent look on her face.

Before Alexandra could reply Éowyn walked to the door while saying that she would have maids bring up some hot water and that she would be back to do her hair, but for right now she was going to go start the preparations for the celebration.

* * *

Alexandra was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the fire place, she was happily brushing out her hair and enjoying being clean. They maids who brought the hot water came in a little while and cleaned up the bathroom, Alexandra felt bad that they were doing all of this, but when she had tried to help the maids had just pushed her out of the bathroom and told her to go sit down. So here she sat as she waited for Éowyn to come back and help her with her hair. The second after she had finished thinking about it Éowyn came walking in through the door of her room. 

"Well, don't you look lovely" Éowyn said as she made her way over to Alexandra

"Ha ha, very funny, I don't see how you can wear these things. This dress is killing me, I feel like I am being squeezed to death" Alexandra said while pulling at the bodice of her dress.

Her dress was a lovely shade of pale blue, it sat off the shoulder, the bodice was stiff and tapered off to a 'v' at her waist, and the skirt of the dress flowed out slightly at the hips and then went straight down (for the top think Bell's ball gown from beauty and the beast, and for the bottom think Éowyn's dress from TTT, the white one that she has on when the fellowship arrives at Edoras).

"Oh don't worry about that you'll get use to it after a while. Now let's see what we can do with that hair of yours"

Éowyn had Alexandra move over to the vanity that sat by the armoire. Once she was comfortably seated, Éowyn began to work on Alexandra's hair. First she brushed it out, to make sure that there were no knots or snarls. Then she began to style her hair by pulling a bit back from around Alexandra's temple and braiding it. Once Éowyn had braided to a certain point she instructed Alexandra to hold the braid so that it would not come undone while she braided the other side, when she was finished with that braid she again instructed Alexandra to hold it, and then she began to make one last braid this time it was at the back of Alexandra's head. After both sides had been braided and the back had be slightly braided Éowyn took the two braids from the side of Alexandra's head, pulled to the back of her head and braided them together with the third braid, thus creating one big pleated braid. The underneath portion of Alexandra's hair was left down due to the way that Éowyn braided, so taking the brush back up into her hands Éowyn quickly brushed out the underside of Alexandra's hair and when she was done she proclaimed Alexandra beautiful.

"It's lovely Éowyn thank you so much. I usually just throw my hair up into a messy bun or pony tail, I don't think my hair has ever looked this good" Alexandra exclaimed.

"Well your welcome, but come we must go now, my Uncle and the others have been back for sometime now and I am sure that everyone is egger to eat and begin the celebration"

"Oh really, when did they get back?" Alexandra asked

"Shortly after I left your room to go and get the maids to prepare your bath water" Éowyn replied

"So they have been back for a while now, did your brother ask about me?"

"No he didn't, well not to me at least. Why is there a reason you wished him too?" Éowyn asked

"No!" Alexandra exclaimed "I was just wondering, but I am glad to hear that he has not asked about me"

"Hmm, I see" Éowyn said in a tone that clearly said 'I don't believe you for one moment'

"Well lets go, I am quite hungry myself" Alexandra said as she headed out the door.

Éowyn agreed and followed Alexandra out the door with a very amused look on her face.

* * *

Théoden King moved to stand in front of his throne, with Eomer to his left, Éowyn approached Théoden King and handed him a chalice full of wine and then moved to stand on his right side. 

Théoden King raises his chalice "Tonight we remember those who gave their blood to defend this country" every one raises their mugs, "Hail the victorious dead" Théoden King cries out

"HAIL" everyone else shouts in response and then drinks from their mugs.

The feast had gone well. The food was excellent and every one made sure to compliment Éowyn on a job well done. Everyone sat at tables in the throne room of the golden and there was much merriment and talking. Éowyn and Alexandra talked a lot during dinner, from their seats. They were seated across from each other much to Alexandra's dismay, because this caused Eomer to have to be seated next to her. Éowyn on many different occasions through out dinner tried to lure Eomer into conversation with herself and Alexandra but neither Eomer nor Alexandra would speak to each other to keep the conversation going, so eventually Éowyn gave up.

Eomer left the table and moved to be member of his Rohirrim. Éowyn had left the table not long after, thus leaving Alexandra by herself. Not feeling like sitting at a table by herself Alexandra got up and decided to walk around the room and see if she could run into anyone she knew, or maybe find where Éowyn had run off too.

As she walked around Alexandra ran into Eomer as he dictated a drinking game between the dwarf Gimli and the elf Legolas. Standing near by behind a pillar Alexandra listened in.

"No pauses, no spills" she heard Eomer say

"And no regurgitation" Gimli chimed in

"So it's a drinking game" Legolas questioned

"Last one standing wins" Gimli said before chugging at his mug of ale

Alexandra peaked out from around the pillar and saw the look of question and curiosity on Legolas's face as he tried his first sip of ale. Alexandra giggled at the peculiar look on his face as he began to chug his ale, only more politely then master Gimli. Deciding that this might take awhile Alexandra wandered off to look for Éowyn.

She found her just as she was approaching Lord Aragorn. Alexandra saw Éowyn walk up to Aragorn and hand him a chalice much like she did her uncle. Éowyn spoke to Aragorn but Alexandra was to far away to hear what was being said. Alexandra watched at Aragorn took a drink from the chalice before handing it back to Éowyn with a smile and walking away. Before she could approach her and ask what happened, Éowyn was approached by her uncle. Éowyn and her uncle conversed for a short while, again Alexandra could not hear what was being said, but she guessed that it was morbid talk from the look on both the Kings face and Éowyn's. After her uncle had left Alexandra was going to go up and talk to Éowyn, but she heard a commotion from the area where Legolas and Gimli were having their drinking contest and decided that she would have to talk to Éowyn later, she really wanted to see who would win the contest.

When she finally made her way back to the pillar that she had been standing by before, she was able to see that both Gimli and Legolas had gone through what looked like close to 20 mugs of ale. Gimli was unembarrassed as he let out some very foul smelling bodily functions before saying 'It's the dwarves that go swimming with little hairy women'.

Alexandra couldn't help it she let out a peal of laughter at Gimli's words, the sound of her laughter caught Eomer's attention. He turned and looked over at her; they stared at each other for a moment before smiling gently at each other. Their attention was torn from each by Legolas speaking.

"I feel something, a slight tingle in my fingers. I think its affecting me" Legolas said with a look of alarm on his face.

Gimli laughed at the elf while saying "What did I say he can't hold his liquor" Gimli's voice trailed off as his eyes crossed and he fell backwards unconscious out of his chair.

Everyone stared at him a few of the men laughing. After a while Legolas spoke.

"Game over" he asked.

Alexandra couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. She was laughing so hard that she had to clutch at her sides as they began to hurt. Her laughter caused many of the others around her to burst out laughing too.

Gimli was dragged off to a room to sleep off all the ale that he had consumed and not too soon after the party started to break up.

* * *

Alexandra had left the party not to long after Gimli had passed out. She left and made her way to the gardens of the Golden Hall. As she walked in the gardens Alexandra took in the peacefulness of the night and wished that it could always be like this, but she knew in her heart that it could never be like this. As she was walking she was so lost in her thoughts that she did not see the other person in the gardens until she literally ran into them causing both to fall to the ground. 

"Oh my gosh I am so sorry. I was not looking where I was going, I did not hurt you did I?" Alexandra asked as she hurried to pick herself up off the person she had run into

"I assure you it would much more then you falling on me to hurt me Lexy"

Upon hearing the voice Alexandra's head snapped up and she stared into the blue/grey eyes of Eomer.

**

* * *

AN:** Well that was it, the next chapter. I hope everyone liked it. I want to thank everyone who has been reviewing, wondereye, krillball6, Anduril1043, Mesphia, Arien's shadow, Mesphia, madrone, Van/Dracula, Gitana Dragon, Lali-chan 

I want to thank **Lali-chan** for their review: I hope that this chapter helped a lot. I loved your review and I was not upset with your view. It really helped me find a major flaw in my story that I had missed. I thank you once again for your review. Please keep them coming. I also want to thank **krillball6,** you are an awesome reviewer I look forward to your reviews they always can make me smile and when I am in a good mood I like to write so please keep them coming. **Mesphia **thank you for review how did you like the smack? Was it good or bad? I don't know about the love triangle thing, I find that those get really confusing really fast and they can kill a story a lot of the time, so I don't think I will be writing one sorry. I also want to take a quick poll, **Van/Dracula** brought up a good point in their review, should I put Alexandra in battle or not? Let me know what you all would like to see, if you want to see her go to battle let me know via review. To everyone else, thank you so, so much for reading and reviewing, if any of you have thoughts, ideas, constructive comments that you feel can or will help the story let me know through review or email. Thank you luv ya bunches,

Bunny


	6. Apologies, Jerky and Stories

Disclaimer: I own nothing that Tolkien wrote. I am simply borrowing them for the purpose of this story as a form of entertainment for other. I am by no means making any money off of this. So suing me will not be necessary. The only person that is I own is Alexandra Mathews.

* * *

"Eomer" Alexandra said, with a dumfounded look on her face. It was as if she didn't believe her own eyes. 

"Yes, it is I" Eomer replied

Quickly standing Alexandra brushed off her dress, straightened it out, nodded at Eomer and then turned and began walking away.

Eomer quickly got to his feet also and called out to her. "Alexandra wait" Alexandra stopped and turned to look back at him. "Do you not think that there is something we need to say to each other?"

"Oh you are right Eomer… Goodnight" Alexandra replied and turned walking away again, but before she could get too far Eomer ran and caught up with her.

"Alexandra, that is not what I meant and I know you know that. Will you forever hold the other day against me?" he asked

"I don't know Eomer, I have not decided yet" Alexandra replied.

Sighing Eomer ran a hand down his face, before looking around the garden and seeing a bench near by he motioned to it. "Will you at least sit with me and allow me to talk to you?"

Alexandra looked at the bench and not saying anything walked over to it and sat down as regally as she could while trying to keep up the appearance of being indifferent to Eomer.

When Eomer saw that she was going to at least sit he walked over also and joined her on the bench. With another sigh he began to speak.

"I'm sorry" were the first words he spoke. Alexandra just looked at him, her back straight, arms crossed and a look on her face that clearly said 'prove it'.

"I know that you do not believe me, but I am sorry. The entire way to Isengard I thought about what happened and what you said, and you were right. The reason that I did not want you to come was because I did not want to be obligated to protect you…" as soon as these words left his mouth Eomer knew that he had said the wrong thing.

Standing up Alexandra confronted Eomer. "See I knew it, I knew you thought of me as nothing but an obligation…" Before she could go on or run away Eomer grabbed her by the hands and pulled her back down onto the bench. Alexandra struggled for a bit but Eomer was eventually able to keep her on the bench, giving him the chance to make things right.

"Alexandra that is not what I meant, you are not just an obligation to me. You have become a friend to me in the short time that we have known each other. What I meant before is that if you had come with me into battle and to Isengard I would have had to protect you, it does not matter whether you can take care of yourself or not. You are a woman and no matter how much you say this does not matter in your would in this one it does. You are also under my care and not only that you are my friend. If I had taken you with me and something would have happened to you I would never have been able to forgive myself, I don't know what I would have done knowing that I let you down and you were either hurt or dead because I was not strong enough to protect you. I also could not take you with me, because I have a job to do. I am third Marshall of the Riddermark and now heir to the throne, with my cousins passing, I have a duty that I must perform before everything else and even though I might think that taking care of you is more important, my station does not allow me to do so, and you must understand this" Eomer expressed to Alexandra, pleading with her to understand

Alexandra sat silent for many moments, her hands still clutched in Eomer's, neither seeming to notice or if they did they did not wish to let go, for both at that moment need the esurience that the contact gave them. Alexandra shifted slightly causing Eomer to look at her. When he did he saw that there were tears in her eyes and they were flowing down her face.

Reaching a hand up to wipe them away, Eomer turned her face towards him. "What is with the tears? If I have said something to upset you Alexandra then I am sorry but you must understand that it wa…" Eomer was cut off mid-sentence as Alexandra turned and buried her face into his chest.

"Oh Eomer I'm sorry" Alexandra cried "I have been nothing but a selfish brat, I never thought about how you would be effected I was only thinking about myself, I'm so sorry"

Wrapping his arms around her Eomer pulled Alexandra closer to him. "No, no I am the one who is sorry. You have been ripped from your world, I can only imagine how that must make you feel, and I know that you are just trying to be strong and adjust and I am not making that any easier on you, so I am sorry"

Lifting her head Alexandra sniffed and looked Eomer in the face. "Don't we make quite the pair? Me a blubbering mess and you a sopping mess because of me, I am sorry about that too, I have ruined your tunic" Alexandra said while wiping at Eomer's tunic where she had been crying against him.

Eomer place both hands on the side of her face and tilted her head to look at him "Stop apologizing, you have nothing to be sorry for" Sighing Eomer took a deep breath before going on "What I did the other day was wrong and you had every right to slap me, I was course and I was wrong, I apologize for that and I ask you now to forgive me for my actions and I hope that we can both start over from the beginning"

Alexandra sat up straight looked Eomer in the eyes and held out her hand "Hi, my name is Alexandra Matthews and I hope we can be friends" she said with a smile on her face.

Eomer returned the smile and took her hand, but instead of shaking it, he brought it to his lips and kissed it; "My name is Eomer son of Éomund, it is a pleasure to meet you Lady Alexandra and I will gladly be your friend"

* * *

The hobbit and Gandalf had just left; their destination is Gondor, the White City, the city that the hobbit saw burning inside the palantír. It is a three day ride to the White City from Rohan, three days of nothing but waiting and planning, three days before they would be called to war, three days left to be with the ones he loved. 

Eomer sighed as he left the throne room, his shoulders slumped and his face looked haggard from lack of sleep and stress. He didn't know what to do, his uncle did not want to go to the aid of Gondor since they did not come to theirs, but Eomer knew that they would have to go, no matter what, there was no way that they could just sit and let Sauron take the White City. Walking with his head down Eomer did not see the person approaching him until they were right beside him.

"Hey there stranger, long time no see" Alexandra said as she began to walk along with Eomer.

Hearing her voice Eomer looked up startled to see Alexandra walking next to him. Stopping Eomer addressed her "Hello Lexy, it has not been that long since we last saw each other, just last night we stayed out late in the gardens talking" Eomer said while taking in her appearance. It had appeared that she had just bathed, and her dress was a pale green that sat just slightly off the shoulders and cut straight across her chest just above her bust line (Think Belle's green dress from Beauty and the Beast) Eomer thought that it suited her perfectly.

"And it appears that you have just woken or at least just decided to bathe" Eomer said.

Looking at him a little perplexed Alexandra reached her hand up and ran it through her hair. Laughing when she felt that it was still wet and seeing how people might think that she just decided to bathe, like Eomer, Alexandra decided she should explain.

"No, no, I did not just wake up and decide to bathe, I was actually outside earlier. I took Thunderfoot for a ride; because young Andy told me that he was getting restless being inside a stall for so long." Alexandra explained as she and Eomer continued walking. "Your sister also went with me, she showed me around a little, and then she showed me how to use a sword" she finished as Eomer suddenly stopped.

Turning to look at him Alexandra is slightly bewildered by Eomer's expression.

"What? Is something wrong 'Mer?"

"My sister showed you how to use a sword?"

"Well yes, but don't worry no one was hurt. Besides I know that you said you would teach me, but you already have so much on your shoulders, so I just asked Éowyn if she could show me, because on our way here from Helms Deep she had told me that she was a Shield Maiden of Rohan and everything, so I figured that she could show me a few things" Alexandra explained nervously looking at the floor and playing with her hands, while waiting for Eomer to say something.

"Good" he said

Alexandra looked up sharply "What?" she asked

"I said 'good'. I'm glad that Éowyn showed you how to use a sword, if I had to have anyone besides myself to show you how to use a sword there would only be two people I would choose. One of those people is now dead and the other is my sister" Eomer said.

Alexandra just looked at him strangely before launching herself at him and wrapping her arms around him in a bone crushing hug. Startled for a moment it took Eomer a few seconds before he returned the hug. The two of them stood in the hallway just holding each other for a few minutes before Alexandra pulled away and began speaking again.

"I am so glad that you are not angry. I was worried that you would not approve of your sister showing me how to use a sword" Alexandra said a little bit guilty

"Why would you think that?" Eomer asked. Alexandra just shrugged her shoulders not really looking at Eomer. A knowing look crossed Eomer's face as Alexandra did this. "Could it be you were worried that my stubborn, macho pig headiness might show up again?" Eomer asked with a slightly amused voice.

Alexandra looked up at him at and just smiled. Eomer smiled back at her and then let out a yawn and rolled his stiff shoulders trying to get them to relax. Seeing Eomer and what he was doing, Alexandra grabbed his hand and began to lead him down the hall to his room.

"Where are you taking me Lexy?" Eomer asked

"To your room, you like the walking dead Eomer and you need to rest and I intend to make sure that you make it safely to your room and are given the proper rest. Have you eaten yet?"

"No I have just gotten out of meetings with my uncle and the council, so I have not had the time to go down to the kitchens and find something to eat" Eomer said as they reached his room.

Stopping outside his door Alexandra spoke again, "Alright then you go in and take a bath, I think there should be one for you already, I remember Éowyn telling some maids to make sure that there was one ready for you when you got out of your meetings. So you go bathe and I will go down to the kitchen and get you some food" Alexandra finished speaking and then before Eomer could say anything she headed off in the direction of the kitchens.

Eomer watched her walk away and shook his head, chuckling to himself as he entered his chambers.

* * *

Eomer had finished his bath and was getting a fire going when there was a knock at his door. 

"Enter" he shouted out, but the person just kept knocking. "I said 'Enter'" Eomer called out once again, but the person again just kept knocking. Now completely annoyed Eomer got up from his crouched position in front of the fire place and stalked barefooted to the door.

Opening it Eomer was stopped in mid-sentence, "I said…" Standing there holding a tray of food in her hands and a bag in her mouth was Alexandra. It took Eomer a moment before coming back to reality, so shocked was he to see Alexandra standing there, when he did come back to his senses he immediately took the tray from Alexandra and motioned for her to enter the room.

"Thank You, I thought I was going to have to kick at your door all day before you would open it" Alexandra said as she moved into his room and took the bag from her mouth.

"Sorry about that, I did not realize it was you and that you could not answer or enter under your own doing" Eomer apologized as he sat the tray on a table near two chairs, which sat near the fire place.

"It's alright, but every now and then you should open your door yourself instead of just yelling out for a person to enter" Alexandra said as she began to move food around and prepare a plate for Eomer and herself.

"I'll remember that for future endeavors. Lexy what are you doing?" Eomer asked as he sat down in one of the chairs next to the table.

Alexandra stopped what she was doing and looked at Eomer like he was crazy. "What does it look like I am doing? I am getting the food ready" Alexandra said she shook her head and went back to what she was doing.

"I can see that but why did you bring so much food? I am only one man and even though I can eat quite a bit I do not think I can eat this much" Eomer said

"Well it's not all for you 'Mer, you silly man. Some of this is for me. I, like you have not eaten yet. In fact I was on my way to the kitchens when I ran into you, I hope that you do not mind me sharing your dinner with you" Alexandra said

"No, not at all, in fact your company will be a much improvement from the company that I have been keeping, and that I normally keep while I eat" Eomer replied.

"Well good. Now here you go I hope you like everything I got and after you have finished that I have something special for you to try" Alexandra said as she handed him his plate and then tried to open the bottle of wine that she had also brought with her.

Taking the bottle of wine from her Eomer opened it with ease and poured the wine, not taking any notice of the look Alexandra gave him.

"I am sure to like anything that is not day old bread and cheese" Eomer said as Alexandra sat down across from him and filled her own plate.

* * *

Alexandra and Eomer ate and talked for quite a while, each asking the other questions about everything under the sun. Eomer talked about growing up with his cousin and sister and about how his parents died, Alexandra in turned told Eomer about her parents and for a great moment both sat in silence. After a few moments Eomer asked Alexandra about her excursion with Éowyn earlier that day, and Alexandra told him about their horse ride and how happy Thunderfoot had been to be allowed to run about, and she told him about her sword lessons with Éowyn and how that went. 

"I am surprised that you are able to move your arms at all, my sister learned how to use a sword by watching myself and Théodred practice when we were younger, so I know how fierce she can be with a sword" Eomer said

Laughing slightly Alexandra replied "Yes, I know. Your sister did not allow me a moments rest while she was sparring with me and if not for my fencing lessons that my parents allowed me to take I might not have been able to move my arms. But like I told you before I took fencing lessons so I have some arm strength, which in the end helped. Granted I still have some soreness in my arms, but it's not as bad as it could have been"

Eomer nodded his head in understanding. The two continued to eat and have idle chatter for quite a bit longer until there was no food left and only about a ¼ of the wine was left.

Leaning back in his chair Eomer yawned and laid his hands on his stomach "That was great Lexy, just what I needed thank you"

Alexandra smiled at Eomer as she was picking up the dishes "Well your most welcomed 'Mer, but think nothing of it, I could not let you go hungry now could I?"

"No, I suppose you could not. Now what is this special thing that you said you had that you wished me to try" Eomer asked

"Oh! Yes I almost forgot about that" Alexandra said as she moved to get the bag that she had brought in earlier with her. "Here, try this" she said as she handed Eomer a piece of something that looked like tree bark or dried and wrinkled leather.

"What is it?" Eomer asked, while taking it and smelling it to see if he could recognize it and making a face at it when he could not.

"Just try it and don't be such a baby about it" Alexandra said

Eomer just gave her a skeptical look and brought the strange thing to his mouth and took a bite. Eomer was slightly startled when he found out that he really had to use his teeth to break a piece off. But as he began to chew, a thoughtful look came over his face.

"This is actually pretty good, what is it? I can't place what it taste likes" Eomer asked

Smiling Alexandra took a piece of the food for herself and ripped off a piece and chewed on it thoughtfully as she thought of how to explain it. When she figured out how to explain it she went over to where Eomer was sitting and sat down on the arm of his chair.

"Well what you do is take some meat any kind will do, this is beef, and you add some Black Pepper, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Salt, you mix those up and add any other spiced that you want and mix it all in a bag together and you let that bag set overnight so that the meat can soak up the taste of the spices. Then you smoke it to help dry it out and then you take it outside in the height of the afternoon, find a nice large rock and lay it out on a plate and allow it to dry in the sun until it's at the texture you want. But you have to be careful not to over dry it, if you over dry it then it will just snap in two and not taste very well and once you have just right you eat it" Alexandra explained.

Eomer looked at the piece of food in his hand and studied it. "What do you call this piece of dried meat?" he asked.

"Well it's called Jerky, and depending on what type of meat you use you can call it Beef Jerky, Turkey Jerky, Peppered Jerky the list goes on really. Its good isn't it; it's also really good for traveling, because as long as know how to store it, jerky will keep for weeks and weeks" Alexandra continued to explain.

"Really keeps for weeks, you will have to show the kitchen maids how to make it so they can make it for the Rohirrim when we have to travel" Eomer said looking up to Alexandra.

Alexandra glanced at Eomer from the corner of her eye as she kept her head in the same position (staring off at an up angle) hoping that he would not see the smile on her face. But Eomer did see the smile on her face and turning slightly to look at her better he said:

"You've already showed them haven't you?"

"Maybe" Alexandra said in the most innocent voice that she could muster, which in reality was not all that innocent.

"You have!" Eomer said poking Alexandra in the side causing her to jump up and squeal in laughter. Eomer began to laugh at Alexandra and her antics, but soon that laugh turned into a yawn, causing Alexandra to stop laughing as she realized just how tired Eomer was and that she was suppose to be making sure that he was getting rest.

Grabbing Eomer by the hand and pulling him up out of the chair (with help on Eomer behalf) and leading him across the room towards his bed. Alexandra once she reached the bed turned down the covers and pulled Eomer around to stand in front of her and once he was in the right position she pushed him to sit down on the bed and the proceeded to get Eomer tucked into bed.

"Lexy what are you doing?" Eomer asked

"You have a passion for asking the silliest questions don't you? I am tucking you into bed in case you cannot figure it out" Alexandra replied amusingly as she continued to tuck him into bed. "Now move over a little" she said.

Once Eomer and moved over enough, Alexandra climbed up onto the bed with him (on top of the covers) and moved around until she was sitting with her back against the head board. Once she was comfortable she motioned for Eomer to lay down and as she was laying down she made sure that he laid his head on her lap.

"Now what are you doing?" Eomer asked

"What I said I was going to do. I am going to make sure that you get the rest that you need" Alexandra replied as she began to stroke Eomer's hair. "Now do you want me to tell you a story to help you sleep" Alexandra asked Eomer

Moving around and getting in a more comfortable on her lap Eomer asked for a story not really knowing why, but knowing that he just wanted to hear her speak to him. So Alexandra settled her self back against the headboard a little better, and for a few moments she sat there with Eomer's head in her lap just running her fingers through his hair, finally she spoke.

"Alright now listen carefully for this is a story you will very much love, It's the story of magnificent horse called 'Black Beauty'…"

**

* * *

AN:** I want to thank everyone who has been reviewing, wondereye, krillball6, Anduril1043, Mesphia, Arien's shadow, Mesphia, madrone, Van/Dracula, Gitana Dragon, Lali-chan, HAYLEY WESTON, Magdelina, A.K. Anomynous, MORWEN12, Airienn Learsson, Rose Diamond. 

I'm sorry if anyone thinks that I got this out way to slow. But I just want everyone to know that the longer I take the better the story will be. If I put a chapter out every 2 to 3 days, they would not be as well done because I was rushing through them. So please just remember that the longer I take the better the chapters will be. And on that note the next chapter might take longer to get out, I am contemplating right now if I am going to write the next battle scene at Pelennor Fields, so it could take me a while to get it out, I am not positive if I will get to it but I don't want to rush it so please bear with me.

I normally would thank the reviewers who would give me ideas and such in reviews, but I am getting so many of them that it would take to long to thank you all, but I hope you all know who you are and please keep reviewing like you have been I love all the ideas and such on how to make the story better or any mishaps that you guys find. I am very pleased that with half the number of chapters this story has more reviews then the other story that I wrote. So I thank you all, my reviewers. To everyone else, thank you so, so much for reading and reviewing, if any of you have thoughts, ideas, constructive comments that you feel can or will help the story let me know through review or email. Thank you luv ya bunches,

Bunny


	7. Chapter 7

To my faithful reviewers,

It is with a heavy heart that I write this note. I deeply regret to inform you that the next chapters in the story 'She rode a black horse' will be delayed. I do not know for how long, I am hoping not to long. For personal and medical reasons I have to be admitted into a local area hospital. I am not sure why, and I know that sounds strange, but as of right now no one knows what is wrong with me. As of late I have been increasingly tired, I have been extremely nauseas, and I have on more then one occasion lost my ability to hold myself up on my own two legs. I hope that you all will understand and I hope that you all will keep interest with the story. I am not planning on deserting this story and why I am in the hospital I plan (as often as I can) to write the next chapters. In closing I just want to express to you all how much I have enjoyed reading your reviews and writing this story. Thank you all.

Sincerely Yours,

Bunny


	8. Chapter 8

Hey everyone,

I'm back safe out of the hospital! Yippy! God I hate those places always poking and prodding you, not fun. I am not quite back at 100 but with some medication (which I can not pronounce the names of) I should be just fine. Turns out I had contracted this really bad virus that was literally destroying me from the inside out. It was attacking my nervous system the doctors said, that's why I was collapsing and not able to stand on my legs. But luckily it was caught soon enough and treated fast enough that it did not have time to really progress and cause any serious damage. If it had been able to progress the doctors said that it would have eventually shut down my nervous system and possible killed me if not treated... so that was really scary to find out. No one knows how I contracted the virus, but Im just glad it was caught in time.

I want to thank all of you for your wonderful reviews while I was gone, my beta would print them off every time I got a new and bring them to me in the hospital. They really made my day a lot of the time.

I'm sad to say that I did not get much writing done while in the hospital. The test and constant medication that I was given kept me really weak and sedated, but the times that I were coherent my beta and I jotted down some ideas and good plot lines for the story. It might be a while before the next chapter comes back out. I still am weak due to the medications that I have to take, and in all reality I should be in bed right now, but I wanted to let all of you know that I was ok and out of the hospital.

I might be able to talk my parents into moving my computer closer to my bed so I work from bed, so we'll see. But I am going to go now and I will try to write as soon as I can, please hang in there and stay with me.

Love you all,  
Bunny


	9. New Friends, Picnics and Complications

Disclaimer: I own nothing that Tolkien wrote. I am simply borrowing them for the purpose of this story as a form of entertainment for other. I am by no means making any money off of this. So suing me will not be necessary. The only person that is I own is Alexandra Mathews. I also do not own the lines from the movies that you will be seeing in this chapter

* * *

Alexandra had gotten roughly a quarter of the way through her story about 'Black Beauty' when she felt Eomer's breathing even out and letting her know that he had fallen asleep. She sat there for a long time watching him sleep and running her hands through his hair in a soothing motion. As she sat there Alexandra began to think about everything that had happen to her so far. 

'Let's see, I was sucked through some inter-dimensional portal and ended up in a parallel universe. I have some how found myself living in a castle with royals, and at the present I have a most gorgeous man lying in my lap sleeping. Yup that makes it official I am completely out of my mind. I should really write all this stuff down it would make for a great story', Alexandra mused to herself as she decided later to hunt down some writing utensils.

Continuing to run her hands through Eomer's hair Alexandra gazed down at the sleeping man in her lap, for long moments she just gazed at him, taking in his appearance, the lines on his face, the way his lashes rested against his face, and how calm and peaceful he seemed in sleep, almost childlike. Sighing she glanced out a near by window and decided that she should probably get going before people started wondering where she had disappeared to. Carefully lifting Eomer's head and sliding out from underneath him. Alexandra placed his head on a pillow and made sure that he was covered and that his head was in a comfortable position, so as to make sure that he would not wake up with a stiff neck.

* * *

As she walked through the hall of Meduseld Alexandra ponder where she could find some paper and a writing utensil. She had decided that it would be a good idea for her to begin writing everything that had happened to her so far down. She concluded that it would be a good form of therapy and it would help her cope better with all the sudden changes. Not really paying attention to where she was going Alexandra suddenly found her self on the floor sitting on her bum. 

"Ow, that really hurt, I really need to watch were I am going" Alexandra exclaimed as she rubbed her butt, which was aching from its encounter with the stone floor.

"Mi'lady are you alright?" a voice from above spoke.

Glancing up Alexandra discovered that she had not run into a wall but rather a person who just felt like a wall. The owner of the voice simply looked backed at her while holding out his hand and waiting for an answer.

Grabbing his hand and regaining her standing position Alexandra spoke. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. I should be asking you if you are injured, I have been told by many that I have a hard head".

The person who she had run into just looked at her strangely not really getting the joke.

Waving her hand Alexandra continued to speak "Never mind. Anyways, I am terribly sorry for running into you like that, I seem to have a habit of not being able to walk and think at the same time" laughing she continued "I tend to lower my head as I am walking and thinking and this is not the first time that I have run into something or someone in this case mi'lord… what was your name again?"

"I am sorry mi'lady it is rude of me not to have introduced myself. I am called Legolas Greenleaf, I am an elf from the woodland realm of Mirkwood" Legolas replied.

Alexandra stared dumbfounded for a few moments. 'An elf… a real life elf… wow this place just keeps getting weirder and weirder' Alexandra thought to herself.

"Mi'lady are you alright?" Legolas asked when Alexandra drifted off.

"Wha… or yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry about that, its just that where I am from we don't have elves and you took me by surprise when you said you were one, and please just call me Alexandra mi'lord"

"Agreed but only if you call me Legolas"

"Agreed, now maybe you can help me Legolas, I was looking for some paper and something to write with, do you know where I could find some?"

"Well I am not sure, I would assume that King Théoden would have some, or if not then I would think that Lady Éowyn could find some for you"

"Hmm, that's a good idea, I should find Éowyn anyways, I am sure that she must be wondering where I disappeared to" Alexandra mused out loud.

"I would be happy to escort you to the main hall, I believe that Lady Éowyn is still there with the others" Legolas offered "And along the way perhaps you could tell me a little bit more about yourself"

"That would be lovely Legolas and I will tell you as much as I care to reveal" Alexandra replied as she took the arm that Legolas offered to her.

* * *

As they walked to the main hall Alexandra explained to Legolas about how she lived on a farm in her world that was surrounded by woods and she explained to him about she had acquired Thunderfoot, she also talked a little bit about what she planned to do with the parchment that she had been looking for and Legolas offered to help her in any way that he could, such as explaining Middle Earth to her, seeing as how he had been living there for thousands of years. Alexandra accepted his offer and the two made plans to meet each other for the noon meal the next day to start their discussions. 

As they entered the great hall Éowyn who was talking to Théoden King turned to them and stopped her conversation with the king.

"Lexy there you are, where have you been? I was hoping we could spend some more time together"

"I'm sorry Éowyn I was having dinner with Eomer and I guess I lost track of time. I was actually just looking for you when I ran into Legolas here. I was hoping that you could help me find some parchment and a writing utensil"

"Oh well of course Uncle should have some in his study. If I may why do you wish for such things?" Éowyn asked

"Well I was thinking that if I start writing down my thoughts and what not, that it will help me adjust better to everything" Alexandra explained

"Hmm, yes that does sound like a good idea" Théoden King remarked "And speaking of my nephew do you know where he is at this moment?"

"Well when I left his room he was sound asleep in his bed, and if I may mi'lord, I would ask that you leave him be for awhile. He is terribly exhausted and needs rest before he hurts himself"

"Yes, I suppose you are right. We all have been exhausting ourselves over the last couple days. Very well I will give orders not to bother Eomer, he does deserve his time of rest" Théoden King proclaimed.

"Thank you mi'lord. Now Éowyn how about we leave these men to their doings and go spend some girl time together?"

"Yes lets and we can stop off at Uncles' study and get you some writing supplies"

* * *

After stopping by Théoden Kings study and getting writing supplies for Alexandra, Éowyn took Alexandra to her room where she proceeded to drill her about why she was in Eomer's room for so long and how she knew that Eomer was sleeping. Laughing at her eagerness Alexandra explained to her about how after they had come back from riding, how she ran into Eomer and then proceeded to make him eat and get some sleep before he collapsed. 

Once Alexandra had assured Éowyn that nothing improper (much to Éowyn 's displeasure) happened between herself and Eomer, the girls spent the remainder of the night talking about preparations for when the beacons where lit and just about things in general. After a while though both women became tired and said their good night before heading to their own rooms and falling into dreamless sleep.

* * *

The next morning found everyone in council meetings, or going about their everyday business. Éowyn and Alexandra started the day off by having their morning meal by themselves and then going for a morning ride. When they returned it was near time for the afternoon meal. After their horses had been safely put away, Alexandra and Éowyn went their separate ways to get cleaned up. 

After cleaning up and putting on a new dress Alexandra was just putting on her slippers when a knock came upon her door. Rising from her chair she made her way to the door where, she encountered Legolas.

"Legolas how good to see you, how are you on this day?" she questioned

"I am quite well Alexandra. I do not mean to disturb you if you are busy, but I thought that we could take out afternoon meal in the gardens and while we are enjoying this lovely afternoon we could also have our talk" he responded.

"Yes that is a lovely idea. I have a strange feeling that days such as this are soon to be far and in between" replied Alexandra "Just let me grab a few things and then we can be on our way." Walking back into her room Alexandra grabbed her writing utensils and a cloak before rejoining Legolas at the door.

As they made their way to the kitchens to gather a lunch Legolas and Alexandra chatted idly about different things. Once they had collected everything for a nice little picnic, Legolas led Alexandra to a nice small spot under some trees in the kings' garden, where they sat and ate and talked neither the wiser to the pair of cool blue eyes that watched them laughing and playing from the study balcony above.

* * *

"The beacons are lit! The beacons are lit! Gondor calls for aid!" Aragorn cried out of breath as he rushed into the Golden Hall where everyone had gathered to talk. 

As Aragorn tried to catch his breath everyone toward Théoden King to see what his answer would be.

"And Rohan will answer" turning toward Eomer "Muster the Rohirrim"

Eomer nods his head and turns, stopping only to place his hand on his sister's shoulder before striding out of the hall. With in a few moments all of Edoras is alive with activity, the people each and every one of them doing something to help the men prepare to go to war.

Théoden King and Eomer exit the hall to over see what is going on and much more needs to be done before they can ride.

"Assemble the army at Dunharrow, as men as can be found you have two days" he says to Eomer. As Eomer moves to leave Théoden King stops him, "On the third we ride to Gondor and war" with a nod of the head Eomer is gone.

"Gamling make hast across the Riddermark, summon ever able body man to Dunharrow"

"Yes my king" he replies

* * *

"Eomer, Eomer wait!" Alexandra calls out as she runs to try and catch with him. 

Stopping Eomer does not turn to meet her. "What is it Alexandra? I have no time for idle chat we ride to war and right now we do not nearly have enough men and I must go and rally more so speak quickly" Eomer snaps

"What is wrong with you all I wanted to do was tell you good luck and to stay safe, but now I want to know what crawled up you butt and died?"

"We are going to war, what do you want me to be happy? Do you want to take a walk and have nice little chat? If that is what you want then why not go and find your little elf, I am sure that he would be more then happy to do that with you! Now if you would excuse me I have duties to attend to" and with the Eomer mounted his and rode away.

Alexandra did not do anything at first she just stood there looking at Eomer as he rode away. All the while she was going over what Eomer had said in her head, 'go and find your little elf, what did he mean by that?' Then it hits her… 'Wait, he must have been talking about Legolas, he must have seen us the day we had lunch, and he must think that there is something between us. But wait why would that bother him unless… could Eomer possibly feel something for me?' As Alexandra mused over this in her head, she began to make her way towards Éowyn where Thunderfoot was, as she came upon Éowyn Alexandra over heard the last of her conversation with Aragorn.

"The men have found their captain; they will follow you into battle even to death. You've given us hope"

Aragon gets this strange look on his face and then turns away to mount his horse. Éowyn turns also to her own horse and sees that Alexandra is already on Thunderfoot and just waiting, but she can tell that there is much on her mind.

"Lexy, where have you been, one minute you were standing next to me and then the next thing I know you were gone"

"Sorry about that I had to go and see someone"

"Did this someone happen to be tall and blonde? Did this some one have a way with animals, horses in particular? Do I happen to know this someone?" Éowyn questioned.

Alexandra looked at Éowyn with a small smile on her face, "Yes you do, and just so you know it was not Legolas that I went to see"

"Legolas, why would you go see him; I was talking about my brother"

"Oh, well it just seems like everyone else presumes that I would be with Legolas so I just thought you would too, but never mind that. Yes I did go see your brother and he is in a fowl mood. God that man infuriates me to no end" Alexandra replied in an exasperated tone.

"Seems to me like the two of you get on each other nerves so much because you like each other" Éowyn said as she turned her attention towards Eomer.

"Now is the hour riders of Rohan, oaths you have taken, now fulfill them to lord and land!"

Alexandra sat on Thunderfoot as she watched the others start to ride away. "Maybe your right Éowyn, maybe your right" she muttered to herself before kicking Thunderfoot in a canter and hurrying to catch up with the others.

* * *

The ride to Dunharrow was roughly 20 miles from Edoras. With in that stretch of time Éowyn and Alexandra spent their time talking about different things and also what they would have to do once they reached the encampment. Alexandra would look at Eomer every now and then, to see if he would acknowledge her, but it appeared that he was still upset. At one point during their ride the two women were joined by Legolas and the dwarf Gimli. The two warriors talked with the women about odds and ends before leaving to join Aragorn and the King at the head of the column. When they left Alexandra felt the stare of an individual on her, when she turned to see who it was she caught the cold stare of Eomer. When they made eye contact Eomer kicked his horse into a gallop as he too went to join the others at the front of the column. Sighing Alexandra turned her head back around and ponder in her head what was going with Eomer. 

As the group reached the encampment, Alexandra could hear Théoden King as he asked various men about the number of soldiers that had been gathered from across the lands. The numbers that were given did not seem to set well with the king and he was even further upset when he found out that some men from the Snowbourn had not even shown up or sent word. Once everyone was settled in it became apparent to all the there was not enough men, and they did not have enough time to find more for at dawn they would ride out to war.

Alexandra and Éowyn spent their time helping set up camp and Éowyn began to prepare some food that Alexandra presumed was suppose to be stew, but the smell that was given off left many to wonder if that was really what it was.

The sound of a panicked horse caught the attention of all with in hearing range.

"The horses are restless and the men are quiet" Legolas observed

"They grow nervous in the shadow of the mountain" Eomer remarked as he placed down the saddle he was carrying.

"That road there where does that lead?" questioned Gimli

Alexandra hearing the topic of conversation walked closer to the group.

"That is the road to the Dimholt, the door way into the mountain" Legolas answered him.

"None who venture there ever return, that mountain is evil" Eomer stated.As he began to walk away Alexandra questioned him though.

"How can a mountain be evil?" She received no answer as Eomer just kept walking way. Sighing Alexandra turned back to look at the mountain when she noticed Aragorn approach the entrance of it. It looked like he was looking at something, but did not know what it was. Alexandra looked where he was but she did not see anything so turning away she went off with Legolas to see what else needed to be done.

* * *

Later that night found both women in their tent with young Merry. Éowyn was helping put the finishing touches on Merry's esquire of Rohan outfit. 

"There a true esquire of Rohan" Éowyn said as she finished the adjustments to Merry's helmet.

"I'm ready" Merry proclaimed as he pulled out his sword, causing Éowyn to jump back in surprise holding out her hands in mock defense and laughing. "Sorry, it's not all that dangerous, not very sharp" Merry said looking at his sword.

"Well that's no good you won't kill many orcs with a blunt blade" Éowyn said grabbing a hold of his sword "Come on off to the smitty go" she said as she ushered Merry out of the tent. Laughing Alexandra got up to follow the pair.

"You should not encourage him" Alexandra heard Eomer tell Éowyn as she reached the tent flap, deciding that she did not want to interrupt, Alexandra stayed just inside the tent, hidden by the tent flap.

"You should not doubt him" Éowyn replied

"I don't doubt his heart, only the reach of his arm" Eomer said with a chuckle causing the man who sat with him to laugh.

"Why should Merry be left behind? He has as much cause to go to war as you. Why can he not fight for the ones he loves?" Éowyn questioned.

'Alright Éowyn you tell him. Don't back down from his pigheadedness' Alexandra thought to herself. When she looked out of the tent flap she saw Éowyn coming back, so she moved over a little ways so as not be seen, because Eomer was following his sister.

"You know as little of war as that hobbit. When the fear takes him and the blood and the screams and the horror of battle take hold, do you think he would stand and fight?" Eomer asked as she moved closer to Éowyn who had stopped a few feet of way from the tent entrance. "He would flee and he would be right to do so. War is the province of men Éowyn" Eomer said and then walked away from his sister.

Alexandra became upset with what had just transpired and decided that she needed to talk to Eomer and she decided that now was the time to do it. Slipping silently out of the back of the tent before Éowyn reenter Alexandra began to make her way toward where she had seen Eomer last. As she was looking for Eomer Alexandra ran head on into Legolas.

"Ow! God we really have to stop meeting like this Legolas" Alexandra said with a laugh, but it soon died in her throat when she saw the look of forlorn on his face. "What's wrong Legolas?"

"Aragorn is leaving… and Gimli and I have decided to go with him"

"You're leaving, but where are you going? Everyone rides to war tomorrow"

"Aragorn means to travel the road of the Dimholt and we can not let him travel it alone"

"Wait… I thought Eomer said that anyone who travels into that mountain is never seen again! You… you can't go in there, what if something happens to you guys, what if you never return, then what would we do?"

"Aragorn is stubborn so are Gimli and I, we will not allow a mountain to beat us, we will return and we will win this war. I have to go now Aragorn is sure to have ready his horse by now. But do not fear we shall meet again" Legolas said as he placed his hand on Alexandra's shoulders.

Alexandra looked up into his face before moving closer and wrapping her arms around him in a hug. "I will hold you to your word my friend, if you don't come back, then I will find figure some way to bring you back from the dead, so I can kill you"

Laughing Legolas said "I will be sure to keep the in mind mellon and I will make sure that we all come back" moving back from their embrace Legolas smiled then with one last squeeze to Alexandra's shoulders he was gone.

Sighing Alexandra turned to continue her look for Eomer, but she did not have to look hard, for when she turned around she saw Eomer standing no more then 20ft away and from the look on his face he had saw everything and had come to the wrong conclusion.

"Eomer there you are I have been looking all over for you"

Eomer raised arched an eyebrow "Really looks to me like you were looking real hard did you think that I had fused into the elf's chest" his tone clipped and cold.

"You know, you are being completely unreasonable and you have no idea what you are talking about."

"Really well why don't you clear things up for me then" rebutted Eomer as he crossed his arms over his chest

"Fine, I will. First off the other day when you saw Legolas and I in the gardens having lunch" Eomer's face took on a look of surprise, "Oh yes I figured out that you saw us after your comment earlier, anyways you got the idea that something was going on between us, when in fact there is nothing going on between us, save for friendship. Now I don't know what is going on in that head of yours, but whatever it is you better get rid of it and fast." Stopping for a breath Alexandra continued "Now as for tonight seeing as you have obviously jumped to conclusions once again, let me clear things up for you. After your conversation with Éowyn I decided that you needed a talking to so I went looking for you and during my search I ran in to Legolas, literally and we started talking. He told me that he along with Aragorn and Gimli would be traveling the Dimholt and I was wishing him good luck and making him promise to come back because he is a FRIEND! And I do not want him or Gimli or Aragorn to die. What you saw was me wishing him luck and giving him a hug good bye, and if you would wait two minutes before jumping to conclusions you would know that and we would not be having this discussion!" Alexandra finished in a loud proclamation.

"I…I ugh…" Eomer stuttered

"No, don't Eomer, right now I am to upset and hurt that you would think so little of me to believe that after only spending one afternoon with someone that I would have a relationship other than friendship with them. I just hope that you realize that you are being completely unfair by acting like this and right now I just want to tell you good luck and come back safe tomorrow because I will not be speaking to you tomorrow. So Eomer son of Éomund good luck and please come back safe, I do not think either your sister or I could handle your death." And with that Alexandra turned and walked away Eomer.

* * *

AN: Well here it is. I want to first start off by thanking all of my reviewers for their supporting comments during my illness. I am very happy to say that the doctors have cleared me and given me a clean bill of health. So once again thank you all. Now onto other things. I hope you all like this chapter, I'm sorry if its not as good as the past ones, but my beta and I are working on sort of revamping the plot of the story but nothing to drastic, we both just have a lot of ideas running ramped in our heads and are trying to sort them out into plausible storylines. Next is the battle for Minas Tirith. And I am very happy to say that I have finished reading The Fellowship of the Ring and I am about a quarter of the way into The Two Towers. I also wanted to let everyone know that I am getting ready to go to school in the next two weeks, now that I am 100 percent so please be patient with me if I don't get the next chapter up before the 4th of September. But as always I will try my best and please keep the reviews coming, comments on how I should fix the story or what I should add or take out are always welcomed.

Bunny

* * *


	10. Forgiveness, Confessions and Battle

Disclaimer: I own nothing that Tolkien wrote. I am simply borrowing them for the purpose of this story as a form of entertainment for other. I am by no means making any money off of this. So suing me will not be necessary. The only person that is I own is Alexandra Mathews. I also do not own any lines from the movie or text from Tolkien's great books

* * *

After leaving Eomer, Alexandra went back to the tent that she shared with Éowyn. To her surprise when she walked in she saw Éowyn digging through a chest that contained men's armor. When Éowyn did not acknowledge that she had heard Alexandra return, Alexandra decided to stand where she was and watch Éowyn for a bit before alerting her of her presence. After about five minutes when Éowyn still had not notice her Alexandra voiced her presence. 

"Éowyn what are you doing with that armor, because I know that you can not possibly be thinking about going into battle. That would be wrong because war is a man's province, well according to your thick head brother it is"

Startled Éowyn jumped up from her previous position and turned to face Alexandra.

"Oh, my you startled me. I did not hear you come in"

"I would say so; because if you had I am sure that you would have hidden all that armor for fear that I was someone who would thwart your plan"

"And just what is this plan you think I have?"

"Why dear Éowyn you plan on disguising yourself like a man and when tomorrow comes you plan to ride off to war with everyone else"

"And why pray tell do you think that this is my plan, if I even have one?"

"Because I was planning on doing the same thing" Alexandra said as turned and walked over to her bedding and from underneath the furs pulled out some armor of her own.

"Wha… when did you get all of this? And more importantly were you going to tell me about your little plan?"

"Well of course I was, in fact I was planning on talking you into coming with me if you decided that it was a bad idea"

"Why?" Éowyn asked

"Why what?"

"Why would you ride to war for a place that has only been your home for a few months at most, not even that really?"

"Well at first it was because I thought I would be better able to help if I went to war, I mean what could I do just by sitting on my hands, I would feel useless, I know how to fight, you helped teach me. But now part of the reason I want to go to war is because of your brothers' pigheadedness. 'War is the province of men' my ass" Alexandra said doing her best to imitate Eomer towards the end, while her face took on a sour and discouraged look.

"Have you and my brother been fighting again?" Éowyn asked sitting down next to her

Alexandra clenched her fists before speaking, "He makes me so mad. Tonight for instance, I went looking for your brother and I ran into Legolas on the way. Well we started talking and he told me that he was leaving to travel some road with Aragorn and Gimli and you know I had heard your brother and him talking about it before and they said it was dangerous, so I told Legolas that he better come back alive and I hugged him and told him good luck. Well it turns out your brother saw that happen and I don't know why but he got mad. So we had it out, I told him that Legolas was leaving with the others and that I was just wishing him good luck because he is a friend of mine. And we also argued about some other things, but it ended up with me walking away and telling him not to expect me to tell him goodbye or good luck tomorrow and I walked away" Alexandra finished with a sigh and then laid her head in her hands as Éowyn gently rubbed her back in a soothing way.

"There, there don't worry, I know my brother and what he can be like, he will see that he is in the wrong and then proclaim his undying love for you"

"You think so, I mean he was pretty angry and I don't know if he is going to get over being angry anytime soon after our fight and I… wait did you say confess his undying love for me! Where did that come from?"

"Well to others and yourself it might not seem apparent but to me, it is very clear that my brother does care for you and it is only a matter of time before you both figure it out and we are planning a wedding instead of a war" Éowyn said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Alexandra just stared at her with a bizarre look on her face. "You my dear friend are completely insane. That will never happen. It doesn't matter if I like him, your bother was not happy with me and after what I said I don't blame him"

Éowyn looked at Alexandra as she finished talking and the biggest grin made its way onto her face. "So I was right you do like my brother"

"What? I said no such thing" Alexandra exclaimed

"Yes you did!"

"When did I say that?" she asked

"Just now, you were talking about how it doesn't matter if you like Eomer because you said he was terribly angry with you"

"Damn… well I guess I can't hide it from you anymore. Oh Éowyn, I don't know when it happened but somehow I fell for your brother, and its pointless really too"

"Why would you say that?"

"Because it seems all we ever do is fight. Yes the last couple times we have made up, but still, how does that account for a healthy relationship, if one at all?" sighed Alexandra.

"Well I would suggest that the first thing you do is make up with Eomer." Éowyn said

"But how, I told him that I was not going to speak to him."

"Well when one cannot speak how do they communicate with another?" Éowyn replied as she got up and left the tent, leaving Alexandra to her thoughts.

'How does one speak to another when they cannot talk?' mused Alexandra. 'Oh I know. If you can't talk then the only other way to speak is through written word. I'll write Eomer a letter and give it to him. That way I'm not talking to him and I am sticking to my word at the same time'

* * *

Clutching the letter that she had just finished writing in her hands Alexandra walked up to Eomer's tent. Stopping just outside of it Alexandra took a deep breath. It was pretty late and she figured that Eomer was sleeping so she planned on just slipping into his tent and leaving the letter some place where he would see it in the morning, but that did not happen. For just as she was about to walk into his tent, Eomer walked out of it and ran right into her. 

"Alexandra? What are you doing here?" he asked

Alexandra did not answer him, she just looked at him for a moment before throwing her arms around him and giving him a hug. Not knowing what to do Eomer did not move for a few seconds, but soon his wits returned to him and he moved his arms to hug Alexandra back.

"Lexy what is this all about?" he asked again

Still not answering him Alexandra simply let him loose from her embrace and handed him the letter that she had written. Taking the letter Eomer just looked at it before lifting his eyes to meet Alexandra's.

"What is this?"

Again not answering Alexandra lifted her hand to his face and then gently she ran her fingers down his from his temple to his chin and with a soft smile turned and walked away, once again leaving a very baffled Eomer in her wake.

After of about five minutes of staring off in the direction that Alexandra had fled to, Eomer looked back down at the piece of parchment he held in his and moved to go back inside his tent. Once he was inside he went over to a low rise table and lit the candle that sat there so he could see. Opening the letter he began to read.

_Eomer,_

_After our discussion tonight I realized something. You infuriate me to no end, you make me want to walk up to youand slap the smug look you get on your facewhen you know you are right clear off your face! But for reasons unknown to me I can't andI can notbe mad at you in fact I can't even find it in myself to hate you even the tiniest bit, even though I would be entitled to. I promised that I would not speak to you for a while and I hold true to that, right now after everything that has happened the past couple days you do not deserve my words, hence the reason that I am writing this letter. Eomer I will not see you tomorrow this I know for sure, but I could not let this matter go unresolved. Your words hurt me and I know mine were not kind either, but Eomer I care for you as both a friend and more. I know that telling you this in a letter is not the ideal situation in fact this is not at all how I saw myself telling someone I cared for them deeply, but right now this is how it has to be. Eomer tomorrow when you ride to war, I want you to remember that I care for you and that I will be waiting for your return and for your thoughts and when you return we will talk and everything will either go back to the way it was before or it will become more, that all depends on you. So think of this as an incentive for you to come back safely, that and Éowyn would surely find a way to bring you back just so she could kill you herself for getting killed in battle._

_Be safe Eomer son of Éomund,  
__All my care and best wishes,  
__Alexandra (Lexy)_

Eomer sat on his bed for a long while looking at the letter he held in his hands and rereading it over and over again. Once everything started to sink in, a ghost of a smile graced his face. 'She likes me… no she cares for me' he thought to himself looking back down at the letter. Lying back in his bed, he held the letter in one hand, placed the other behind his head and crossed his feet at the ankles.

"This letter does give me a rather big incentive to coming home" he spoke out loud to himself. Sighing he looked at the letter once again "I only wish that I would be able to see her tomorrow and speak with her, but she is right, right now I do not deserve to speak to her and it is not the right moment to start the conversation that needs to be had between us. When this blasted war is over and peace is restored and we are back in Edoras we will talk and I will be able to tell her that I care for her also".

With one last look to the letter, Eomer folded it back up, placed it on the bedside table, blew out the candle and settled down to sleep, with delightful visions of what would come after peace once again ran throughout the lands of Middle Earth.

* * *

The bright rays of the morning sun came all too soon for those among the Rohan camp. The men all scrambled about the encampment preparing and packing what would be needed for the ride to war. 

The morning also saw Éowyn and Alexandra viewing the magnificence that is the rising sun. Both women said not a word they just stared at the sun as it came up over the mountain tops. When Théoden King approached the two women Alexandra excused herself on grounds that she had something to see too. Théoden King's conversation was not one of pleasantries but rather one of business. He told Éowyn that he had left instruction that she was to take his place if neither he nor Eomer returned, and wished her well in defending Edoras should the battle go ill. When asked what other duties he would like her to do, the king simply told her that he would see her be happy and not morn for those who's time had come.

Alexandra made her way back to the tent and began dressing herself for battle when she was just about done Éowyn entered the tent, the two looked at each other but no words were spoken, both just finished dressing, then when they were done they slipped out the back of the their so as not to be seen.

As the two women joined the ranks, they both stayed towards the back, near men who did not know them and would not recognize either of them or Thunderfoot. As they sat atop their horses they heard Théoden and Eomer speaking.

"We must ride light and swift, it's a long road ahead and man and beast must reached the end with the strength to fight" Théoden said as they mounted their horses and started to ride off, but he stopped when he came upon young Merry. "Little hobbits do not belong in war Master Meriadoc"

"All my friends have gone to battle. I would be ashamed to be left behind" Merry said

"It's a three day gallop to Minas Tirith and none of my riders can bare you as a burden" was Théoden's response

"I want to fight" declared Merry

"I will say no more" was all Théoden would say before he turned and rode off with more men following him.

Merry stood and watched as everyone rode away, his face held a forlorn look to it, he was desperately wishing to go with them, his wish was granted. All of the sudden out of no where's a rider galloped up to him and snatched up the young hobbit and placed him in front of them.

"Ride with me" the stranger said

"Mi'lady?" Merry said with a grin on his face

"Mount up! Move out!" Eomer yelled out as he rode through camp

"Ride! Ride now to Gondor" Théoden cried out along with Eomer.

* * *

The three day ride to Minas Tirith seemed to take less time then one would have expected. Along the way Alexandra and Éowyn would switch on and off carrying Merry with them. But in the end he would end up riding into battle with Éowyn. 

When the Rohirrim came upon the Pelennor Fields, where the battle for Gondor would be fought, they rode in like a wave of deliverance with the power of the rising sun at their backs and horns blowing. Shields ready, armor shining, and spears sharpen. Forming their lines upon the hill overlooking the battle, Théoden King rode back in forth in front of his men, shouting out words of encouragement and orders to his men. Both Éowyn and Alexandra turned their heads whenever Théoden King rode past them.

"Eomer take your Éored down the left flank. Gamling follow the King's banner down the center, Grimblod take your company right after you past the wall. Forth, and fear no darkness! Arise. Arise, Riders of Théoden. Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered. A sword day... a red day... ere the sun rises."

Éowyn holding onto Merry whispers in his ear "What ever happens, stay with me. I'll look after you"

Théoden rides down the line of men hitting their spears with his sword calling out, "Ride now... Ride now... Ride. Ride for ruin and the world's ending." Then he shouts out "Death." And he is answered by the Rohirrim with an echoing call of "Death" Théoden calls back "Death" once again he is answered with a call of "Death" and then with a mighty roar Théoden shouts for the last time "DEATH!" and along with everyone else Éowyn and Merry shout out "Death" and with a swing of his sword Théoden cries out "Forth Eorlingas!"

The Rohan army slowly begins to make their way toward the battle. As they get closer and closer the army begins to pick up more and more speed. With sounds of the charge blowing on the air the men of Rohan, two women and a hobbit charged the orc armies, barreling into them at great speeds. Alexandra and Éowyn made sure that during the charge they stayed as close together as they could, neither one wanting to lose site of the other. A hail of arrows rained down on the army from the orcs, many men fell, but when the orcs saw that they were not stopping they became scared and started to back up, for everyone, man and orc alike, knows that you cannot hold fast against a cavalry of charging horses. Orc after orc was slain, everyone was fighting as hard as they could, and everyone knew what was riding on this battle. Alexandra was lost with in the adrenaline that was flowing through her veins; she barely was able to register Eomer's words.

"Back them to the river"

"Make safe the city" cried Théoden King a cheer went up with these words, but it died quickly. For in the distance, where the orcs were fleeing too, came a huge band of Oliphaunts. On their backs they carried 20 plus men, their tusks were rapped in deadly spikes, as well as some of their feet. The head riders let their horns call out and the Oliphaunts began to charge.

"Reform the line, reform the line" Théoden called "Sound the charge" and with the blowing of the horns the Rohirrim rode off to battle once again, but the destruction was not in their favor.

The Oliphaunts large and powerful tossed aside horses and riders as if there where nothing more then flies and rag dolls. Many a man and horse met their end under the ever crushing feet of the Oliphaunts. Arrows flew but they appeared to do little more then piece their thick hides. With men firing down at the Rohirrim from the backs of the Oliphaunts it appeared as if the Rohirrim was done for, that was until Eomer came.

With a sharp eye, a strong spear and mighty throw, he took out one of the head riders of the Oliphaunts, with out his rider to control him the Oliphaunt went head first into another one taking them both down and giving the Rohirrim some hope of victory.

* * *

Éowyn and Alexandra hadbecome separated during the charging of the Oliphaunts. Currently Éowyn and Merry were riding under and in-between the stomping feet of the Oliphaunts and with the swing of her swords Éowyn was able to drop an Oliphaunt to its knees, disabling it and preventing it from getting up. 

"Aim for their heads" cried Eomer as he loaded a bow and fired. As the men began to aim for the heads of the Oliphaunts, the Oliphaunts reared up and cause the men on their back to fall to their deaths and it also caused the Oliphaunts to tip over, effectively bringing them down.

"Bring it down! Bring it down!" shouted Théoden King.

During the Oliphaunts tumble Éowyn and Merry were knocked off their horse and separated. "Merry, Merry" cried Éowyn, but she could not look for him, for she saw her uncle being swarmed by orcs, and she ran over to help him, but little did she know that it would not be an orc that would slain her uncle.

* * *

The Witch King seeing how the battle was going, took his Nazgûl and flew to battle and he flew straighttowards Théoden King. Taking the horse of the king in his mouth the Nazgûl threw the king and his horse, causing the horse to land on top of the king. Slowly walking toward the King of Rohanthe Witch King told his pet to feed on his flesh. What the Witch King did not expect was a lone solider coming to the aid of his king, or rather her king. 

"I will kill you if you touch him!" Éowyn spoke

"Do not come between the Nazgûl and his prey." The Witch King hissed out. The Nazgûl lunged at Éowyn, but she was able to side step the beast and with a mighty swing she cut into the beats neck, and with the second swing she detached the beasts head from his neck. The beast flared around as his body reacted to the shock of having its head removed. Once the beast lay still on the ground the Witch King stood from the ground and turned toward the one who killed his pet. Picking up a shield Éowyn prepared to fight the black monster known as the Witch King.

The Witch King attacked first lunging at Éowyn with his huge mace. Éowyn side stepped the mace, then ducked as he swung it at her, Théoden watched in earnest as this nameless solider fought to protect him in his incapacitated state. Side step, duck, side step, duck, walk back. This was the tone of the fight, but this did not last long for the Witch King swung one more time and Éowyn tried to block it with her shield, but the force of the Witch King's blow shattered her shield and her fore arm. Éowyn was flung back onto the Kings' dead horse.

As she laid there holding her arm, Éowyn watched helplessly as the Witch King approach her. Once he reached her the Witch King picked her up by the neck and in his dark voice he hissed.

"You fool. No man can kill me. Die now." and as he went to strike Éowyn down Merry crawled up behind them and stuck a dagger in the Witch Kings leg causing him to drop Éowyn.

Once Éowyn regained her footing she lifted off her helmet and spoke "I am no man." And with a cry of anguish and anger she stabbed the Witch King in the head and the Witch King was no more.

* * *

After killing the Witch King Éowyn started crawling away calling for Merry, when she noticed an orc that she had been fighting earlier was not dead and was making his way towards her. But just when he was about to get to her, Aragorn came through with Gimli right behind him and together they killed the orc and as they continued on their way a green mist that strangely looked like men made its way through the battle grounds killing any orc or inhuman like creature they came across. 

With the orc that was chasing her dead Éowyn was finally able to make it to her uncle.

"I know your face... Éowyn. My eyes darken."

"No, no. I'm going to save you"

"You already did... Éowyn. My body is broken. You have to let me go. I go to my fathers, in whose mighty company I shall not now feel ashamed. Éowyn..." and with his final breath taken Théoden King of Rohan, who served his country from 2948-3019 who fell before the gates of Mundburg died. He rested for a while in the land of his birth, among the dead Kings of Gondor, but was brought back and laid in the eighth mound of his line at Edoras. Then a new line was begun (Appendix A).

_**

* * *

To Alexandra:**_

Alexandra had dismounted Thunderfoot after a while and chose to fight on foot, she had slapped him on the hind quarters and told him to go and get somewhere safe and stay there until she came for him. As she fought Alexandra could not help but think about Éowyn and Merry, she hoped that they were safe. As she fought Alexandra did not see the orc that was coming up behind her, but she heard him grunt and when she turned around she saw the orc fall and was met by a decaying green being that she could see through. Startled at first, she soon realized that these were ghost and that they were helping them fight, so she nodded her head in thanks and turned to fight some more. As she was fighting she heard Aragorn call out to Legolas, when she looked for him she was shocked to see him climbing up the side of one those gigantic Elephants.

"That elf is absolutely crazy" she muttered to herself before an approaching orc brought her attention back to the fight.

The fight raged on but soon the orcs were over taken by the army of green ghosts. Alexandra stopped fighting; the ground was covered by the dead bodies of orc and men alike the soil stained black and red with blood. As she stood on the battle field Alexandra did not notice the orc moving on the ground next to her. She did not know he was still alive until his blade swiped her side cutting into her through the leather armor that she wore. Taking her sword she cut the head from the body.

"Damn it! I knew I should have worn the chain mail, but damn it I wanted more speed and it would have weighed my down, well that's irony for you Alex" she spoke to herself.

Standing up and gritting through the pain Alexandra walked over to a near by fallen warrior and kneeled next to him.

"I hate to do this to you, but I need to use your cloak to stop the bleeding. Your death will not be in vain if I can live" she spoke to the dead solider. Taking her sword Alexandra cut into his cloak and made a makeshift bandage to tie around the wound and prevent the flow of blood. Once she had done this she stood back up and made her way to find someone she knew who could help her look for Éowyn and Merry. The first person that she came across was of course Legolas.

"Legolas my friend I am glad to see you are alive" she called out.

Turning to the voice Legolas was surprised at who he saw. "Alexandra what are you doing here? How did you come to fight in this battle?" he asked as he walked towards her.

"Éowyn and I disguised ourselves as men and road with soldiers who did not know us, but I need your help, I was separated from Éowyn and Merry when the giant Elephants showed up, we have to find her" just as she was saying this a gut wrenching, pain filled cry was heard. Turning both Legolas and Alexandra saw a sight that stopped them cold. Eomer was kneeling on the ground next to his uncles' dead body and in his arms he was holding the life less body of Éowyn.

"No, no it can't be" Alexandra cried

"I am sorry" Legolas said as he placed his hand on her shoulders trying to offer her his comfort.

* * *

AN: Well here's the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. I am already to start the next chapter, but I do not know when I will get it up and out. School starts in less than a week so we will see. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and I hope I did the Battle of the Pelennor Fields justice. I would like to once again thank all of my reviewers your reviews inspired me so much that I just had to finish this chapter and post it for you all. So keep those reviews coming and I will try to see what I can do about the next chapter. As always feel free to tell me what you think is not working and what you think would work or what you would like to see. Comments are always welcomed. So until next time 

Bunny


	11. Sisters, Wounds and Love

Disclaimer: I own nothing that Tolkien wrote. I am simply borrowing them for the purpose of this story as a form of entertainment for other. I am by no means making any money off of this. So suing me will not be necessary. The only person that is I own is Alexandra Mathews. I also do not own any lines from the movie or text from Tolkien's great books.

**_

* * *

House of Healing:_**

Eomer sat by his sister's side as he watched Aragorn try to save her. He had thought her dead when he discovered her next to the body of his uncle, but was astonished when someone next to him, he's not quite sure who, noticed that she had a shallow breathing pattern. Her injuries were quite severe but nothing that she could not bounce back from. Her left fore arm was shattered from a hit she took from the Witch Kings mace, and when she had stabbed the Witch King some of his dark energy was transferred to her and it weakened her severely, causing her to fall into shadow. This is what Aragorn was trying to bring her back from right now.

"I have done all that I can. You must call to her Eomer; she will recognize and respond to your voice"

"Leaning forward from his seat Eomer called to his sister. "Éowyn, Éowyn come back to me, you cannot leave me too, not like uncle. Éowyn I need you to come back" Eomer pleaded with his sister. For a few minutes nothing happened, but then Éowyn began to stir, moaning and attempting to open her eyes. When she had open her eyes she focused on her brother.

"Eomer, is it you, or are you a dream"

With a joyous cry Eomer took Éowyn's good hand in his. "No dear sister I am no dream, you are not asleep and you no longer walk in shadow thanksto Aragorn"

Moving her head Éowyn turned and looked over to where Aragorn sat. "Thank you" she whispered her voice softer as her strength left her and sleep called.

"Sleep shield maiden of Rohan, you have done your part, now rest" Aragorn said as he placed his hand on her head.

"Wait" Éowyn said "Alexandra, Merry where are they? Are they ok, were they hurt?"

"Merry rests in another part of the healing house, and I know not where Alexandra is, but I will look for her and make sure that she is fine" Aragorn said

"Yes when you find her let me know, I wish to speak to her about dragging my sister into a battle that neither of them had any business being in" Eomer said to Aragorn.

"No" Éowyn whispered "She did not drag me I came on my own, it was my choice to come, she did not drag me here, in fact I was going to leave her behind and ride into battle alone, but she came with me instead"

"Sister you are a fool to have done such a thing" Eomer said

"I know" Éowyn replied softly as she let sleep claim her.

Getting up Aragorn placed his hand on Eomer's shoulder. "Go and rest my friend, there is nothing more you can do here, right now the best thing for your sister is rest. And for you also, we will need you at your best when we take on the Dark Lord"

Nodding his head Eomer agreed, if not a little reluctantly "Yes you are right, but first I will help you find Alexandra and make sure that she is ok. I admit that I am worried about her, some of my men found her horse, and I know that she would only leave that horse if she had no other choice"

"Alright my friend let us search" Aragorn said as the two men left the healing house.

* * *

During that men's time at the house of healing Alexandra was walking around the halls of citadel trying to find the house of healing. She was feeling weak and she knew that she had to get her wound taken care before she bled to death. The makeshift bandages that she wrapped around the wound herself were starting to bleed through. 

Wondering down another hall way Alexandra spotted Eomer in the distance at the other end. Leaning against the wall Alexandra tried to catch her breath that was now coming in quick, short pants. Clutching at her side Alexandra's vision began to blur and the world started to tilt around her. She looked down to the other end of the hall and it seemed as if Eomer had gotten farther away, finding herself not able to move, Alexandra tried to call out to Eomer but she could make her voice rise above a breathless whisper. Not knowing what else to do Alexandra tried to will her legs to move, but when she went to step her legs gave out from underneath her and she collapsed into a table that was sat against the wall. The noise from her crash meeting with the table alerted Eomer to her presence. The last thing she remembered was the pounding of feet against the stone floor, then all went black and she knew nothing else of the world outside the darkness.

* * *

Eomer had been wondering around the halls of Minas Tirith for what seemed like hours, when in reality it had only been a few minutes. Sighing he stopped and glanced around the hall that he was standing in and tried to figure out where he should look next, the first place he thought to look was the stables, but they were to far to walk to at the moment so Aragorn had sent some men to look instead, while they stayed and searched inside. Not knowing where to go next he was just going to go in a random direction when a loud crashing noise from behind him caught his attention. 

When Eomer turned around he saw a heap of clothing lying in the form of a person. Knowing that something was wrong he went to investigate. When he came upon the person his heart stopped and his blood ran cold. This heap of clothing was Alexandra.

"By Béma! Alexandra can you hear me? Alexandra please speak to me" he cried out as he turned her over onto her back.

Feeling a warm sticky substance on his hand Eomer pulled it away to look and see what it was. Seeing the blood he began to curse in his native tongue Eomer carefully pick up Alexandra's limp form and ran to find Aragorn.

As Eomer was making his way back down the hall from which he came he had the good fortune to run in to the elf Legolas and the dwarf Gimli.

"Legolas, I need your help. Alexandra has been hurt. She is bleeding heavily from a wound on her side, she runs a high fever, and I fear the work of poison"

Legolas seeing the lifeless form of Alexandra in Eomer's arms Legolashesitated for just a mere moment before leaping into action. "We must get her into bed as quickly as we can; if poison is involved she needs to be treated now! There is no telling how long she has been walking around with that wound." Legolas said

"We can use my room it is just down the hallway over there" Eomer replied

"Good, now quickly come, we must hurry"turning to Gimli he spoke once more,"Gimli quick as fast as your dwarf legs can carry you go and get Aragorn tell him all that is happening, and tell him to come to Eomer's room quickly." With a nod Gimli took off like a bat out of hell down the hallway on his quest to find Aragorn.

* * *

Once Legolas and Eomer reached his room, Legolas began giving orders. 

"Quickly Eomer lay her on the bed, then I will need you to boil some water on the fire that I have started"

"Right" Eomer said moving to place Alexandra on the bed and then over to the fire.

Once Legolas had the fire stoked high enough, he moved over toward Alexandra and began to peel away the layers of clothing, so he could properly attend her wound. But to protect her modesty he left the light undershirt that she was wearing on and instead just lifted it as high as he could. Once he had done this he began to assess the wound.

"The wound is long and fairly deep. The discoloration and swelling proves your thoughts true Eomer, the blade that cut her was poison." Legolas said and just as he finished speaking Aragorn, Gandalf and Gimli burst into the room.

"Aragorn I am glad you are here my friend I will need your assistance, and I am glad to see you also Mithrandir, I just hope that we will not need your assistance, I hope that we will be able to administer the treatments in time"

Aragorn made his way over to the young woman lying on the bed and examine the wound for himself. "Eomer is the water ready?" he asked

"Yes"

"Quickly bring it over here and give it to Legolas".

Eomer did as he was told and once he handed it off to Legolas he stepped back to stand next to Gandalf to watch and pray that they were not too late.

* * *

Aragorn and Legolas worked quickly and efficiently. Aragorn had had Legolas boil some Athelas while he cleaned the wound. Once the Athelas was boiled Aragorn cleaned the wound once more with the water that the plant was boiled in and then as gently as possible he took the boiled plant leaves placed them in the wound. 

"The Athelas should help counter act the poison and slow any additional bleeding, Gimli do you have the serum that I asked you to collect from the healers?"

"Right here Aragorn" Gimli replied handing the bottle to Aragorn

"Legolas help me, we need to make her swallow this"

As Legolas lifted up Alexandra Aragorn moved to open her mouth and began to poor the serum into her mouth. She began to choke as her mouth became to full, so carefully Aragorn began to message her throat, helping her swallow. Once she had taken in enough of the serum, Legolas gently laid her back down onto the bed.

"There is nothing more we can do. It is up to Alexandra now to over come this" Aragorn spoke, "But she is strong she will not give up easily"

"Yes you are quite right Aragorn, the girl is remarkably strong, especially to have walked around for as long as she did with a wound such as that and being poisoned at the same time. It is remarkable that she has lasted this long"

"Aye Gandalf, the lass is as stubborn one too, I suspect that a little knick on the side is not going to keep her down for very long" Gimli spoke up

"Just as well though, I will send someone to clean her up and prepare her better for resting, now come everyone we have things that must be discussed." Aragorn said as he left the room, followed by Gimli, then Gandalf, Legolas and Eomer were the last to leave the room.

"Do not worry my friend, Aragorn is a skilled healer, and Alexandra is strong, she will survive this" Legolas said as he placed a hand on Eomer's shoulder and then left the room.

Now that he was alone in the room with Alexandra, Eomer walked over to her bedside. Once he had sat down Eomer took Alexandra's hand in his own, then he gently reached up and brushed some stray hair off of her face and tucked it behind her ears before speaking.

"I do not know what to say. You must live Alexandra, fight the poison that runs in your veins, fight with everything you have, you must get well. We still have much that we must talk about, much that we must still do" stopping Eomer took a deep breath and sighed before continuing. "My father once told me that everything that lives will eventually die when the time is right, but he said there is one thing that cannot die; one thing that no man or beast can kill and that one thing he said is 'Love'. Love I asked him, and he said 'yes son' Love is the strongest thing that a person or animal could feel. Love is what makes us whole when we feel as if we are only halves. Love he said is everlasting, Love he said will still be here when all the rest of us are gone. I was too young to understand him fully then, but now I understand him completely. You must live Alexandra, because I love you and now that I realize just how much I love you, you can not leave me. Father said love can not die, so you can not die, do hear me?" Eomer said, emotion and tears chocking his voice towards the end. Picking up her hand he kissed it and held it to his cheek, rubbing his face against, letting her know that he was here. Then setting down her hand, Eomer leaned over Alexandra until is mouth was scant inches from hers and with one last word whispered to her 'Live' he closed the gap and placed a loving kiss upon her lips.

When he broke the kiss, Eomer once again tucked some hair behind her ears, and with one final glance he rose from the bed and strode from the room, heading to meeting in the throne room, that he knew he was surely late for. What Eomer did not see though as he walked away was the small smile the formed on the unconscious Alexandra's lips.

* * *

AN: Alrighty… here is another chapter, yes this is one is a bit shorter then others in the past, but for fear of pain and death by evil blue bunnies with flamethrowers, I have taken time out of my packing to give you this little ditty to tie you guys over for a while. I hope you like it. I just finished writing it and it is about 10 after 2 in the morning so if it's a little choppy don't worry about it and if you are worried about let me know via review. Once again I would like to thank all of my lovely reviewers, you guys are the GREATEST and BESTEST EVER! I love you all. Please keep the views coming and as always feel free to tell me what you think isn't working with the story and what you think would, and what you would like to see. I am always happy to hear your suggestions. But now I must go, it is late and I have a lot more packing to do. 

Luv you all,  
Bunny

* * *


	12. Victory and Sleeping

Disclaimer: I own nothing that Tolkien wrote. I am simply borrowing them for the purpose of this story as a form of entertainment for other. I am by no means making any money off of this. So suing me will not be necessary. The only person that is I own is Alexandra Mathews. I also do not own any lines from the movie or text from Tolkien's great books

* * *

"Frodo has passed beyond my sight. The darkness is deepening" Gandalf said 

"If Sauron had the Ring, we would know it". Aragorn replied

"It's only a matter of time. He's suffered a defeat, yes, but... behind the walls of Mordor, our enemy is regrouping" Gandalf said with little hope in his voice

"Let him stay there. Let him rot! Why should we care?" Gimli yelled out from the Stewarts chair where he sat smoking his pipe.

"Because 10,000 Orcs now stand between Frodo and Mount Doom, I've sent him to his death" Gandalf replied the tire and strain of the war evident in his voice.

"No. There is still hope for Frodo. He needs time... and safe passage across the plains of Gorgoroth. We can give him that" Aragorn forcibly stated.

"How?" Gimli asked

"Draw out Sauron's armies. Empty his lands. Then we gather our full strength and march on the Black Gate" Aragorn said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"We cannot achieve victory through strength of arms" Eomer said

"Not for ourselves. But we can give Frodo his chance if we keep Sauron's Eye fixed upon us. Keep him blind to all else that moves" Aragorn said with a hint of mystery and deception in his voice.

"A diversion" Legolas said with wonder in his voice

"Sauron will suspect a trap. He will not take the bait" Gandalf said with sadness in his voice.

"Oh but I think he will" Aragorn said his voice and eyes hiding secrets that no one could have guessed.

* * *

The soldiers set out for the Black Gates the next day, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, Pippin and Eomer all riding in the front of the company. The ride to the Black Gates took about a day and a half. When the company finally reached their destination, Aragorn stopped them a hundered feet or so from the Gates. Then they sat there and waited fro Sauron to how himself or to unleash his army on them. 

"Show yourself" Aragorn whispered.

The Gates opened and slowly a lone figure rode out and addressed the five men that had rode up to him.

"My master, Sauron the great, bids thee welcome. Is there any in this rout with authority to treat with me?"

"We do not wish to treat with Sauron. Faithless. Tell your master that the armies of Mordor are to disperse. He is to leave these lands, never to return" Gandalf Called out

"Ahh, old grey beard. I have a token I was bidden to show thee" the Mouth spoke as he pulls out Frodo's mythril vest and throws it at them.

Heartbroken Pippin cries out "Frodo..."

"Be silent!" Gandalf yells at him

"Frodo!" Merry called out

"Ahhh, the Halfling was dear to thee I see. Know that he suffered greatly at the hands of his host. Who knew that one so small could endure so much pain? And he DID Gandalf, he did"

There was a pause as Aragorn rode towards the Mouth of Sauron.**  
**

"What's this? Isildur's heir? Hmph! It takes more to make a king that a broken elvish blade…"

Aragorn decapitates the Mouth of Sauron with a swift stroke of his sword Anduril. Before riding back to the group and saying "I do not believe it! I will not!"

Aragorn turned his horse around and made his way back to the group of men that stood waiting for his orders.

"Hold your ground, hold your ground. Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers, I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!"

The Gates had opened and the foes of Mordor spilled forth towards the men. The men stood their ground, some shaking, scared at the prospect of dieing, but none willing to abandon their King, especially when he stood on the front lines instead of hiding behind the high walls of his city.

Aragorn began to slowly walk toward the one coming wave of Orcs and Trolls, his sword dropped to his side, the voice of Sauron in his head calling to him. With blank eyes Aragorn turned back to look at the men and with two whispered words "For Frodo" he ran towards the enemy, followed soon by Merry, Pippin and the rest of the men.

* * *

The battle was long and fierce, many more men where wounded and killed. Eomer fought next to his men and men from Gondor. He did not know what was going on around him, the only thing that he knew was that he had to survive, he had live and return to those he loved, those he left behind. He fought with every thing he had, cutting down Orcs left and right. Eomer vaugley heard Legolas as he shouted out for Aragorn, Eomer wanted to turn around and see what was happening but he was being bombarded with Orcs. 

From up above Eomer heard the cries of the Nazgul as they begin their death sweeps, and just when they are about to sweep death upon the last alliance of men, and just when Eomer was about to lose his hope of surviving he heard one of the Halflings cry out.

"The eagles are coming, the eagles are coming"

And with the first cries of the eagles Eomer's hope was returned to him and he began to fight even harder. The tables had been turned and they were turned in favor of man. All of the sudden the Nazguls turned and began to fly towards Mt. Doom with hast, and just when they were about to reach the summit, the mountain exploded, sending fire and brimstone raining down on the Nazugls and the surrounding land of Mordor.

The cries of the Great Eye echoed through out the land as the Black tower fell, and with a might cry of 'Frodo!' the men began to celebrate their victory, but then there was one final explosion from Mt. Doom that destroyed part of the mountain. A hush fell over the crowd as everyone realized that Frodo and Sam where still on the mountain and now they were feared dead. Gandalf not believing that they were dead climbed upon the back of Thorondor, the king of the eagles, and flew towards the remains of Mt. Doom. When they finally reached the summit of Mr. Doom they discovered that the two young Hobbits had climbed upon a rock that kept them safe from the rivers of molten lava. After the eagles had carefully picked up the two young Hobbits in there mighty claws, they turned around and headed back to Gondor.

_**

* * *

Back in Gondor:**_

Alexandra for the first couple days after the war party had left did not wake up, but on the third day after they had left her fever broke and she opened her eyes, but she was soon lost to the darkness again, her body was still to weak from the poison for her to remain conscious.

Éowyn on the other hand was up and about and had been for a couple of days now. She spent a lot of her time looking after Alexandra and getting to know the stewards son Faramir better. In the short time that they had know each other Éowyn and Faramir had grown close and were falling head first in love with each other.

The day that the men returned to Minas Tirith Éowyn was in Alexandra's room checking on her. Humming to herself Éowyn puttered around Alexandra's room, she opened the curtains to allow the sun and clean air in. After she had done that she moved over to change a vase of flowers, and when she was done putting in and arranging the fresh flowers she turned to put the vase on the bed side table she received a big surprise.

**CRASH!**

"Oh my Béma, Lexy you're awake! How do you feel? Are you in any pain? Do you ant or need me to get you anything?" Éowyn asked.

"Water" Alexandra was able to rasp out from her dry throat

Rushing to the pitcher of water sitting on the table Éowyn poured Alexandra a glass of water, then rushed back to her bedside and handed it to her. After taking a long refreshing drink, Alexandra was able to speak better.

"Thank you" she sighed, "Now tell me what has been happening, how long have I've been asleep?"

"You have been asleep for little more then two days now. I have good news for you, now that you are awake. We have won the war, Gandalf arrived not to long ago with two of the Halflings, and before that we saw a great explosion come from the land of Mordor. None of the men have returned yet, so we do not know what the lost will be" Éowyn said.

But then all of the sudden the horns began to herald the return of the King and the men. Éowyn ran to the window.

"They have returned. Aragorn leads the men into the city" she cried out in joy and upon hearing a groan of pain she turned around to see what was wrong, what she saw was Alexandra as she struggled to get to her feet. "What are you doing Lexy?" she cried rushing over to Alexandra, who was now standing shakily on her legs. "You should not be out of bed, you have only just awakened, your body still needs to rest and heal. You must get back in bed!"

"No, I have to see him, I have to make sure that he is ok, that he survived" Alexandra groaned out threw clenched teeth as she made it through the door with the support of Éowyn.

By the time that they had made it to the main hall/throne room, everyone had already gathered inside. When Éowyn and Alexandra entered the hall everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at them.

Alexandra was sweating buckets by this time and she was leaning against Éowyn and the door for support, her breath was coming in quick pants, and the night dress she had on was clinging to her form from the sweat. Elfhelm who was standing near by walked over and placed his cloak over Alexandra, who looked like she was going to collapse from the extra weight.

Alexandra scanned the hall looking for one person in particular and when she saw him their eyes locked. Alexandra attempted to walk towards him, but her legs gave out on her and she started to pitch forward, but before she could hit the ground Elfhelm and Éowyn caught her.

Eomer who had been watching the whole situation, began walking towards the trio by the door. When he was in front of them, Alexandra looked up at him and gave him a tired smile. Without warning and without saying a word, he scooped her up into his arms and began making his way down the hall towards his room with Éowyn following him.

When they got to his room Éowyn opened the door and went to turn down the cover of the bed, which the maids had made with clean sheets. Once the bed was turned down Eomer walked over and placed Alexandra under the covers and pulled them up over her body. When he was done Eomer rose from the bed and moved towards his sister, he lead Éowyn to the door and spoke to her softly, then with a nod of her head she left and Eomer shut the door behind her. He stood facing the door for a few moments before letting out a heavy sigh and turning around to face Alexandra.

A tired look rested upon his face as Eomer made his way back towards Alexandra and her bed. When he was close enough Eomer sat upon the bed next to Alexandra. Neither spoke to the other, they both just sat together in silence. Finally Eomer reached over and took one of Alexandra's hands into his own, before he began to speak.

"How do you feel?" he asked

"I feel fine" Alexandra replied softly "I have just awaken today, Éowyn told me that I have been unconscious for near three days now".

"Then you should not have been out of bed. Your body still needs time to rest and fully heal. Not allowing it to do so will only hurt you more in the end" Eomer said

"I know but I wanted to see you. I had to know that you were safe" Alexandra said as she lowered her head to look at the bedding.

"You could have asked someone to check for you" he said

"I wanted to see you for myself. I had to see with my own eyes that you were alright"

"Then you could have waited until I came to see you" Eomer said, his voice becoming clipped and exasperated as he went on.

"And when would that have been? Two days from now, three, four, a month? When Eomer, when would you have come and seen me?" Alexandra asked her voice taking on a panicky/angry tone.

Sighing Eomer drug a hand over his face, "I do not wish to fight with you, all I ever seem to be doing is fighting, I do not with to fight anymore, I wish for peace instead" Eomer said softly

"Then maybe you should leave, for all you ever seem to do when around me is fight, and I do not wish to be the reason why you cannot have peace" Alexandra said as she pulled her hands away from Eomer. "Besides I am sure you are hungry, tired and in desperate need of a bath. I am also certain that Éowyn wishes to spend time with you" Alexandra said as she turned her head away to look out the window.

Sighing once again Eomer rose from the bed and made his way to the door. Stopping at the door he turned to look at Alexandra as if he was waiting for her to call him back, but when she remained looking out the window he left shutting the door behind him.

Hearing the door shut Alexandra let out a shaky breath that she had been holding, as she continued to look out the window a lone tear made its way down her face, not bothering to wipe it away she settled down into bed, resting on her uninjured side facing the window. Alexandra slowly let the darkness smother the light of the waking world.

* * *

Some hours later after bathing, eating, catching a quick nap, talking to the king and spending some time with his sister Eomer made his way back towards his room, which coincidently was now Alexandra's room. It was quite dark out, but Eomer had lost track of time so he did not know how late it really was. When he reached Alexandra's room he slowly and quietly as possible opened the door, so as not to startle her. 

When he peaked his head in he could see from the moon light, that was streaming in from the open window, that Alexandra was still asleep. Stepping into the room Eomer quietly as possible made his way over to the fire place and stoked it back to life. Once he had resurrected the fire Eomer placed some more logs on to keep it going throughout the night, when he was finished with that he slowly made his way over to the bed and softly shook Alexandra awake.

"Alexandra wake up, we need to speak. I know it is late but it needs to be done."

Groaning Alexandra rolled away from Eomer, but in her sleep she forgot about her injured side.

"Ahhhhhh!" Alexandra cried out curling into herself and clutching as her side. Eomer seeing what happened moved onto the bed next to her and tried to get her to uncurl.

"Shhhh…it's ok, just calm down. Take deep breaths and try to straighten out" Eomer spoke in a calming voice. Hoping to get her to relax and straighten back out. Still cradling her in his arms Eomer began to recline back on the bed and move the both of them into a more comfortable postions.

As he manovered them Eomer made sure that Alexandra was laying on her good side facing him. After awhile Alexandra had fully calmed down with help from Eomer and the soothing motion of his hands as he rubbed her back.

"Are you ok now? Has the pain subsided?" he asked

Wincing as she moved to better see his face Alexandra answered him, "Mostly, its not as bad as when I first rolled over onto it"

"That's good I did not mean to startle you and cause you pain when I came in" Eomer spoke as he continued to rub her back.

As if just realizing the fact that they were laying side by side on her bed Alexandra questioned Eomer about it.

"Why are you here Eomer? Especially in the middle of the night, you should be sleeping."

Chuckling slightly Eomer spoke, "Well yes I should be, but you forget that when you were injured you were placed in my room."

Surprised settled over Alexandra as she took in Eomer's words. "This is your room?" Shaking his head Eomer nodded yes. "I did not know that I'm sorry. Just give me a few moments and I will retrieve my things and allow you to rest."

As Alexandra mad to get up off the bed Eomer took her by the forearms and pulled her back down to the bed. Looking at him strangley Alexandra lifted an eyebrow in question.

"Where would you go? As you pointed out before to me it is the middle of the night" Eomer said

"Well what would you have me do? This is your room, I cannot stay here with you" Alexandra said

"Why not?" Eomer asked

"What… what do you mean 'why not'? Maybe because its not right and what would people think of the new king of Rohan spending a night with someone who is below his status" Alexandra said

"They would probably wonder who you are and what you have done to ensnare me and why they did not think of it" Eomer said in all seriousness.

Alexandra stared at him for a few minutes before she cracked a smile, pushing Eomer by the shoulder she laughed "You are such an idiot". Laughing Eomer rolled back towards her so he was once again facing her. Eomer and Alexandra both just stared at each other for long moments before Alexandra broke the comfortable silence that they had fallen into.

"Well don't you think you should take your boots off if your going to be sleeping in here?"

Not saying anything Eomer sat up on the bed and glancing at Alexandra he took off his boots. First one and then before taking off the other one he glanced one more time at Alexandra. But Alexandra paid him no mind; instead she busied herself by pulling down the covers and climbing under them. After getting his boots off and setting them to the side Eomer also climbed under the covers.

Laying on his side Eomer stared at Alexandra who was laying on her back. Turning her head to the side Alexandra looked at him.

"Tomorrow will be a long day, we should get some sleep" she said before turning her head back to the face the ceiling.

"Your right. Goodnight Alexandra" Eomer said as he turned on his side facing away from Alexandra.

Sill facing the ceiling but feeling Eomer shift and knowing that Eomer was no longer facing her Alexandra softly whispered "Goodnight Eomer" and when no other response came she closed her eyes and waited for sleep to take her once again.

Eomer however was not asleep like Alexandra assumed, rather he was awake and moiling over in his head what had just happened between him and Alexandra, he couldn't understand it. One minute they're fine, talking and joking then the next minute, it's like they don't know how to act around one another. As he laid there Eomer pondered over whether or not he should tell her about his feelings for her, he had come to the conclusion on his way to battle that he truly cared deeply for Alexandra and loved her, and he vowed to himself that if he survived then he would ask Alexandra for her hand in marriage. Letting out a sigh Eomer knew that he would get no answers tonight and let the dark void of sleep claim him.

* * *

The next morning as the sun rose and the land of Gondor began to wake, two of its occupants however where not stiring. The pair laid in their bed intertwined within each other, legs and arms tangled around each other, heads were burried in the crooks of necks and shoulders. Seeing as how both our occupants were sound asleep they failed to hear the knock on the door, or the squeak of the hindges as it opened. 

The hand maid that had been sent to help Alexandra get ready for the morning meal walked into the room when she has received a reply to her knocking. After entering the room the hand maid did not see the two figures on the bed due to the darkness of the room, she walked over to the large bay window and to open the curtains and allow the rising sun to light and heat the room. However when the young hand maid turned around she received the shock of her life. There in the bed with Alexandra was the new King of Rohan. So startled was the hand maid that she let out a loud ear piercing scream.

Outside the room Legolas, Gimli, Elfhelm, and Gamling who were walking by on their way to the morning meal heard the scream and without thinking burst into the room ready to do battle. Inside the room something similar was happening, the hand maids scream woke both Eomer and Alexandra. Eomer being Eomer was up instantly crouched in a fighting position and ready to due battle. Alexandra just shot up into a sitting positon not really knowing what was going on, her mind still being clouded by sleep. Legolas, Gimli, Elfhelm and Gamling were stopped in their tracks by what they saw, and with the hand maid still scream it became increasingly hard to think about what they were seeing.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" this from Gimili who was getting tired of the hand maids' screaming.

"Thank you Gimli. I thought my ears would begin bleeding if she did not stop" Legolas said once everything has stopped. "Now would someone like to explain what is going on in here?" he asked.

The hand maid took this opportunity to rush over to Legolas and firmly attach herself to his arm before she began speaking.

"Mi'lord I came in this morning to help the Land Alexandra prepare for the morning meal, but when I knocked I received no answer. So I came in under the assumption that she was still asleep, but when I opened the curtains to allow the sun in, I turned around and saw this man molesting the lady. So I screamed and when he heard me scream he jumped up grabbed a knife and made to attack me, but before he could you entered the room and scared him into submission. Oh you were so brave Mi'lord, when you burst into the room" the hand maid said with a dreamy look on her face.

Hearing the hand maids accusation toward their king Gamling and Elfhelm stepped up.

"How dare you accuse the King Eomer of Rohan of such a dishonorable and unthinkable act" Gamling shouted at the hand maid who had now begun to cower behind Legolas.

With all the commotion and yelling King Aragron had been alerted and now everyone was present in Alexandra's and Eomer's room.

"What is going on in here?" Aragorn shouted over the noise of everyone yelling,.

By this point in Eomer had redressed and Alexandra was up and had put on a robe so as keep some speck of decency. Éowyn who had also come at the sounds of yelling looked over to her brother and Alexandra.

"Eomer, what are you doing in here?"

At her question everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked towards the pair that was trying their hardest to remain unnoticed.

"Yes, Eomer why are you in Alexandra's room?" Aragorn asked.

Eomer stood up straight and cleared his throat getting ready to speak, but before he could Alexandra beat him to it.

"He's here because we were sleeping, well at least we were until this harpy started screaming her head off and woke us up"

"You were sleeping?" Aragorn asked skeptically

Narrowing her eyes at Aragorn Alexandra answered him, "Yes, sleeping. Eomer came to me last night ad as we were talking we discovered or rather I discovered that I have been staying in his room. Now I knew that he was exhausted, so I was going to leave and let him have his room back and I was just going to go down and stay in the stables with Thunderfoot, but Eomer refused to let me do that and I refused to let him do the same. So we just decided to share the bed we are friends and the bed is more the big enough to hold up both" Alexandra explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

For a few moments no one spoke. Everyone just stared at each other, then after awhile Aragorn broke the silence.

"Yes, well I suppose then everything is settled. We will leave you now to finish getting ready for breakfast. Eomer if you will go with Faramir to get ready, Alexandra we will see you in the dining hall"

As everyone left Alexandra stood where she was until she was sure that everyone had left and would not be coming back and bursting into her room. After she was sure that no one was going to come back Alexandra walked towards her bed and when she was close enough to it she face vaulted on to it, but regretted doing so when she jarred her injured side. Rolling onto her back Alexandra stared at the ceiling.

"What else could go wrong or happen today to make my life embarrassing and the talk of the kingdom?"

* * *

AN: I am so sorry that this chapter has taken me so long to get out. I have been having a lot of real life issues to deal with. It seems that real life has decided that it has waited long enough and it is playing some serious catch-up with me right now. I also want to appologize for the way this chapter is, my betta and I are having some minor disagreements about the story and the way that it should be going so for this chapter I am betta-less. I am hoping that by the time I have the next chapter written that we have worked things out. So if this chapter is not quite up to par with the other I apologize. I also want people opinions on what to do about Lothriel. This has been of many topics of disagreements for my betta and I. My betta feels that I should leave her completely out of the story, and I think that I should write her in and maybe have her cause some conflict between Eomer and Alexandra, not necessarily have her be in love with Eomer, but have like gossip be going on and Alexandra over hear something said between Eomer and Prince Imrahil and then have things esculate from there. So I want to know what you the readers/reviewers think. Let me know VIA review and I will see what works best. Thanks to all of you who have stuck by me with this story, I know I am not constant with my updates, but I do try hard to get good chapters to you when I do update. So thanks to all of you, you know who you are. 

Bunny

* * *


	13. Bad news

Disclaimer: I own nothing that Tolkien wrote. I am simply borrowing them for the purpose of this story as a form of entertainment for other. I am by no means making any money off of this. So suing me will not be necessary. The only person that is I own is

Alexandra Mathews. I also do not own any lines from the movie or text from Tolkien's great books

* * *

**Later that day:**

Alexandra had been wandering around the palace for a few hours trying to clear her hear after the morning incident. During the morning meal the subject of the commotion was the topic of choice. But everyone who knew the truth were not speaking, so much of what was being said was hearsay and conjured up lies. Eomer and Alexandra did not speak to each other or even sit near each other, neither one of them wanting to conjure up more suspicions. Alexandra for the most part sat next to Éowyn and Faramir. Eomer however sat next to Prince Imrahil and his daughter Lothíriel. He talked adamantly with both of them, taking no notice of what was being said around him.

After the morning meal Imrahil and Eomer disappeared to discuss something's. Alexandra who was feeling better, but still not fully healed decided that it was time she went and saw Thunderfoot. As she walked down to the lower levels of Gondor, where the stables were, Alexandra was conscious of the stares and whispers of everyone she passed. When she reached the stables Alexandra was pleased to see that it was mostly emptied, the only people who were there were the stable hands and the stable master. They acknowledge that she was there by a nod of the head, but in the end they left her be and went about their business. Alexandra walked down the long aisle of horses and empty stall until she found Thunderfoot's stall.

Upon seeing her Thunderfoot perked up and became more lively then he had been the past couple days. Upon hearing the commotion that Thunderfoot was making the stable master came to investigate. When he saw that Alexandra was trying to get near Thunderfoot he hurried to stop her.

"Wait Mi'lady, don't go near him. He's a wild one, that horse there near took off my head when he was first brought here" the stable master said as he pulled Alexandra back from the stall.

Looking at the stable master as he stared at Thunderfoot Alexandra had to laugh to herself.

"I'm sure that he did not mean to try and harm you and I thank you greatly for your concern, but I assure you that he won't harm me in the least. You see I have raised this horse since the day he was born and he will not do me any harm" Alexandra said as she freed her arm from the grasp of the stable master and walked to Thunderfoot's stall. When she reached the gate, she opened it and walked in without a second glance towards the stable master.

The stable master was shocked. The horse know only to them as the devils horse was now as calm as a new born kitten and was gently nuzzling the shoulder of this small women who with one kick he could kill. The stable master could not believe his old eyes, in all his years he had never seen anything like it. A Great War horse calmed by the touch of a women, shaking his head he walked away still in shock.

Alexandra hugged Thunderfoot around his neck as she patted and rubbed his shoulders before pulling away.

"Hey boy, how are you? It feels like forever since I have seen you. I've missed you" she said. Thunderfoot bobbed his head up and down agreeing with her. "Yeah I know you feel the same. Are you being taken care of here?" she asked and again Thunderfoot bobbed his head up and down. "That's good, I'm glad you are happy here. I think after the mid-day meal we will go for a nice ride, how does that sound boy?"

At hearing the prospect of being ridden Thunderfoot neighs and stomps his hooves. Laughing Alexandra pats his neck to get him to calm down.

"Easy there boy, I thought you would be happy to be ridden but not this excited. However I can understand it too. It's no fun being cooped up inside all the time" Alexandra said solemnly as she rubbed Thunderfoot's nose.

For the rest of the time that she was there Alexandra groomed Thunderfoot and cleaned out his stall and before she knew it, it was time for the mid-day meal.

By the time Alexandra had gotten cleaned up and to the dinning hall the only seat she could find was next to some ladies of the court. As she sat down Alexandra smiled politely to them even if it was forced. The ladies did the same before going back to their conversation.

"So yes like I was saying before, the ties between Gondor and Rohan will be so strong that they will be virtually unbreakable" lady one said.

This caught Alexandra's ear and she proceeded to listen as she continued to eat.

"Yes you are correct I mean out ties were strong before with Lord Faramir wedding the White Lady, but now with the King to marry the princess of Dol Amroth, why we could not have hoped for stronger ties" Lady 2 said.

"Yes, yes enough about ties, what I want to know is when did this happen?" Lady 3 asked

Alexandra who had been listening so far now was in shock and in pain. 'Married, he's getting married' as tears began to fill her eyes Alexandra turned her ear back to the conversation.

"Well apparently what they had to discuss this morning" Lady one said. "No wonder he has been spending more time with the Princess, I saw…."

As the conversation continued Alexandra turned a deaf ear to it not wanting to hear anymore. Placing her fork down Alexandra turned her head to look down the table to see Eomer leaning over and whispering something in Lothíriel's ear and making her laugh at whatever it was. Having seen enough and not wanting to show Eomer how much he was hurting her, Alexandra got up and left the dinning hall. No one really noticed her sudden departure, except for a pair of old grey eyes. He watched as she hurried from the hall, knowing that things would not end well.

* * *

**Stables:**

Alexandra had made it to the stables in record time, but her movements in saddling Thunderfoot were hindered as her injured side made it known that it did not enjoy the fast pace or the strain that was being placed on it. Finally when Thunderfoot was saddled Alexandra lead him outside the stable and then biting and gritting through the pain in her side she hoisted herself into the saddle. Once she was situated Alexandra spurred Thunderfoot on, she maneuvered him through the levels of the citadel until she reached the main gates and rode through. Once she was through she let Thunderfoot have his head and he shot across the plains, leaving Minas Tirith behind them.

A few minutes later she pulled the reigns on Thunderfoot and reared him into a slow canter. Walking for awhile Alexandra moved Thunderfoot up a hill that had an outcropping of rocks sitting on it. When they reached the outcropping, Alexandra dismounted, then ties Thunderfoot's reigns around the horn of his saddle and allowed him to walk around on his own. Alexandra sat down with her back to the rocks and looked out over the Pelenor fields and looked at the great city of Minas Tirith. As she looked at the city she began to think about Eomer and finally she could no longer fight the tears. Letting go of everything Alexandra sobbed out all of her anger, her fear, her pain, and her love for a man who did not lover her in return. As the sobs racked her body Thunderfoot walked over to her and carefully lowered himself to the ground next to her, when he was on the ground he nuzzled his nose into her shoulder trying to offer her comfort.

* * *

**AN:** Hi everyone… sorry this has taken so long and sorry it is so short, I have a lot more written, but now that I look at it I don't know if it's the direction I want to take with the story… I am contemplating two directions right now; I am either thinking about having Alexandra return to the city and gather her things and leave to try and find a way back home, or having her get kidnapped my wild men or orcs and then having a ransom sent to the Kings to get her back, but I know both have been done before, so I don't know which direction I want to take. If you guys could tell me which you prefer to see I will take all the thoughts into consideration and make my choice. Remember this is as much your guy's story as it is mine, I write for your enjoyment. So let me know via review. And one last thing I jut really, really, really want to thank everyone who has stuck with me and this story, I really appreciate your guys support. So until next time Bunny. 


	14. Chapter 16

To my beloved readers….I am at an impasse. I have the next chapter ready to post, but after a recent review I don't know if I should post it or not….This recent review did nothing but point out faults with my story….a story mind you that is FICTION! This review even offered up ideas on how I should rewrite it, because they felt that they had read too many stories like it. Well I for one feel that if you start a story and don't like it then don't review because now it has been ruined for others who have loved it and enjoy reading it…..I will think about this for the next couple days and come to a conclusion about whether or not I will post the next chapter….I would like those of you who do enjoy this story to let me know how you feel about this current situation.

Thank you to all those who have given good reviews to my story and who have helped kept my inspiration for this story going.

Bunny


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