Chapter 22: The End

Disclaimer: This is the last time I say this. I do not own LOTR.

Many days later, while Imrahil was reading in his study to keep his mind off family affairs he saw a light in the shadow of the narrow plains. He removed himself to the window and gazed out. The sight was marvelous. A golden sun rose and the warmth of the breeze was refreshing. But the light did not come from simply the sun. As he looked harder upon the mountains he saw something protruding from the sunlight—something just as golden, but not as bright. His eyes just slightly caught a glimpse of golden hair in the sun outside his window, and he knew. Suddenly he knew everything. And he knew who came to his home. He rushed to his daughter's room to tell her…something. He didn't know what, but he would make her understand the heart of a man.

When he reached her door he collected himself and walked in like a gentleman. Lothiriel was lying on her bed with her head in her pillow, just as she had for weeks. He would have guessed she was asleep if not for her reaction to his entrance. She shuddered a little when he came in and sat beside her on the bed.

"Will you lock yourself away forever, daughter?"

"Leave me be, father."

"No, Lothiriel. You are too young…too young to know better than I." He sounded muffled and near to tears. "If I could have one more day with your mother, I would give my life in the exchange. I loved her so much. She was my light upon the seas. She is why this place is such a gem to me. And it is why you have always been my favorite child. You shine like she did. But you are young, my girl, and you do not understand the affairs of the heart."

"He turned me down twice, father. And he isn't the only one," she added quietly.

"As for Beorn, he was worthless. You thought you loved him and his mistake may have been the best thing for you, my dear. At least you got to find out what kind of man he was." Then he lifted her chin with his hand, "at least you didn't marry him. As for the King, yes, he is fickle. I have known this about him for quite some time. His emotions are a roller coaster, but whatever he feels for you is constant, his reaction to those feelings, however, is not. If he denied you it was because he was scared, just like you were."

"I was not scared, father," she said as she took her face out of the pillow.

"Then why does your face tell me you are terrified?" Lothiriel downcast her eyes at his words but he pressed on. "My daughter, you have always been a proud, strong, lovely woman. Even since you were twelve, I could not find it in me to call you a girl. You have always carried yourself like a woman," a queen, even, he thought. "But sometimes your keen mind hurts you. You examine all probability of life, instead of just living it. You settle, my dear. You settle for whatever you get. If love is not easy to find, you will settle for less than that. Daughter, I am scared for you."

"Why, father?"

"Because I am afraid you will live life with regret. I am afraid you will live with like, and not love."

"You sound like Eomer, father."

"Good. One of us should."

"Father, I just…"

"You are afraid, my dear. You are petrified of love."

"Love? Love does not exist," she said defiantly.

"Why would you lie to yourself like that?"

"Eomer and I, it's just not meant to happen, father, why are you fighting this?"

"There you go settling again. Only this time you will risk your whole life. You have a choice to make, my daughter. A choice of love, or less than. As for 'not meant to happen' look out your window daughter, and see what fate tells you."

Lothiriel seemed confused but she obeyed her father and went to the windowsill where she had spent many lonely nights. She looked out at the shining sun and felt the glow upon her face. Her eyes closed to the feeling. It was the first time she had felt the sun in weeks. And as the rays poured down on her she felt another glow. Her heart began to pound to this new sensation, though she hadn't even seen what it was. Her ears pricked up a bit, and the hair on the back of her neck was raised. Her whole body was poised on that very spot as if ready for a huge shock.

Then she opened her eyes.

Riding hard upon the plains came a band of nearly a dozen. They were dressed in greens and golds and their hair burned under the sunlight. Ahead of all the rest rode a beautiful man with regal looking clothes and a proud grace that flowed into the horse he rode. It was Eomer, come to rescue her from her prison that she had built with her bare hands. Time slowed down as Lothiriel turned to her all-knowing-Father and began to cry. She fell into his arms as he hushed her.

"Go to him, daughter. Rescue your life with a thousand kisses." She looked up at him, and he smiled.

She was out of the room in an instant.

She was not happy with him, by any means. And she wasn't just going to let him get away with breaking her heart. She would be tough on him, though her heart beat wildly as he rode up to meet her. He dismounted and walked as one condemned with his eyes downcast, but he came to her nonetheless. None of the men he came with dared ride up with him, so Lothiriel knew she was in for a very private affair.

"I was going to surprise you," he said quietly.

"Surprise," she responded harshly.

He frowned and looked away from her, but at the sight of the mountains he smiled humbly and turned back to her. "You know, on this trip I kept trying to think of the right words to say, but I just kept thinking of those mountains. I kept thinking that they were the only thing between the love of my life and me. I realized it as if stuck in a dream. Those were the only thing keeping me from telling you my world belonged to you."

Her heart skipped a beat, but she wasn't going to let him get away with it so easily. "Do not try your hand at poetry, Eomer, you are bad at it."

This time it did not receive the intended reaction. Instead Eomer continued to stare off with a look of awakening. He was staring at the sea.

"This is only the second time I have seen the sea." It was a simple statement but it caught her attention. "You know, the sea reminds me of home—the wind rushing over the plains. But isn't the sea a strange creature. It flows in beauty when the sun is shining, and intensely in the wind. But in a storm the sea can melt away your being." Lothiriel turned around and looked off in the distance. There was a storm brewing on the horizon, which meant it would be raining within the hour. Weather near the sea was often changing.

Eomer continued to speak at the sight of it. "It is far more beautiful in turmoil, though if it never rains you will never know it. If I had come when the sea was calm as ice, would I have seen the beauty you described to me so often? Would I have loved it so much for its directness and eagerness? I do not think so. Beauty is the ability to see the exquisite in the painful. I must say that I fear my love is like the sea. Through any pain, I remember the feeling of your flesh upon my face. Any hurt and I recall the taste of your lips. Any rejection and I remember that look in your eyes that says you do love me. Or maybe I just dreamt it to make myself feel better. I do not know. What I do know is that my love is here in my heart, and nothing will ever change that."

Lothiriel was looking down trying not to see in his eyes what she knew was there, and trying to prevent him from seeing into hers. She withheld her tears as best she could, but it got harder the closer he came to her. "The plains are far from the sea, my lord."

"But not so different," he sounded wise and far away, like a messenger from Mandos.

"Yes, so different," she said as her eyes shot up. She was crying, but Eomer could see the love in her eyes. He was no fool. She continued to speak, though, as if words would suppress the growing fear in her. "A swan may love a horse, but where would they live?"

"A swan can walk, and a horse can swim."

"Yes, but they do not prefer it so."

"For love, one may do anything." Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat.

"So for my love, I must live in a wooden city surrounded by grasslands?" Her heart lurched into her throat, and she could feel it pounding as he smiled widely at her.

"Would you have it any other way?" He was smiling and soon so was Lothiriel. Tears fell down upon her cheeks in wispy flecks of gold. She was happier than she had ever been. So she opened her mouth to give her heart to him.

"Truly, no. I would give up my wings and my sea legs if it meant your love."

Almost before she finished he pulled her into his arms and passionately poured his heart into her lips. The sensation was like an explosion. The waves crashed merely yards away and the men from Éomer's company who heard nothing suddenly began to clap at the exchange. They knew they were looking at their future queen. But Lothiriel and Eomer heard nothing; they were locked in a world of fairy tale. But as Lothiriel heard him moan into her mouth she knew it was not a fantasy. She was kissing the man of her dreams. She was kissing the man she had seen upon the city walls as she rode the brilliant black horse in the sun. And Eomer was kissing the girl from the water whose eyes rushed like the waves. They were in love. They were in a love that they had felt their whole lives and yet never seemed to understand, until now. Destiny had found them in that one simple moment, and they cared not if the world rejected it as farce. They were in love.

And they would defy the odds if they had to.

A/N: I think this is the best chapter I wrote of the whole thing! And now it's too late to work off of that flow. Well, it's over, hope you enjoyed it while it lasted!