Part 20 of the Elfwine Chronicles. The Elfwine Chronicles are a series of one-shots built around the family group of Eomer, Lothiriel and Elfwine. The total number will depend on how many ideas I get for new vignettes.

Author's Notes/Comments at bottom.

Newness

(Nov, 8 IV)

"A girl? I have a daughter?" Eomer asked in wonder.

"Aye, my lord," the midwife responded, handing him the tiny, wrapped bundle.

He pulled the edge of the blanket back to see her face, and his heart nearly stopped beating within him. A daughter! A beautiful daughter!

He held the baby down for his son to see, and was pleased with the grin that broke the boy's face. "Hello, baby! When you are bigger, we can play!" Elfwine whispered enthusiastically.

After a moment of watching his two children, Eomer looked up at his wife, who lay wearily back against the pillows on their bed. "She is beautiful, beloved! Thank you!"

Lothiriel smiled at him, then reached for the babe as she began to fuss with hunger. Reluctantly he handed the child over and stood watching with awe the miraculous sight of his wife nursing his daughter.

He was allowed to visit a bit longer, but once the nursing was done, both mother and child needed sleep so Eomer and Elfwine left them to rest. A short time later, however, Eomer returned to the bedchamber once the midwife and her helpers had cleaned things up and departed.

He set a chair next to the cradle and gazed down at the tiny figure sleeping peacefully there. Images of his sister began to run through his mind, and his mouth twitched with amusement as he remembered some of Eowyn's escapades. Flying braids as she ran everywhere she went, hands on hips insisting she be allowed to learn to use a sword, flattened on the back of her horse and racing madly over the Riddermark. But then he sobered as he remembered her grief at the death of their parents, her struggle to find her place in the man's world of Meduseld, her aloneness while caring for her uncle and fending off Grima, her desire for a glorious death after the disappointment of Aragorn...

How could he bear to witness his own flesh suffer such things? How could he ever manage to part with her one day, turning her over to the care of another man? It had almost killed him when Eowyn had married. Not that he had any objection to Faramir personally. He was a good man, and he practically worshipped Eowyn, giving her more love than she ever dreamed of and healing her heart from years of festering wounds.

But he knew the ways of men, had seen too many who treated the woman they married almost as a personal slave and outlet for their lusts. He could not, would not tolerate his daughter being used so!

A soft mewl came from the babe and he reached in to gently rub her back. She wiggled and wakened slightly, so he carefully picked her up and laid her against his chest. She mewled a bit more and, in response he softly began singing a lullaby he vaguely remembered from his own childhood. At the warm, low sound of his voice and the vibration of his chest, the baby settled once more into slumber.

Eomer leaned back and continued to stroke her back and sing for some time, content to hold this newest extension of himself. When at last he stopped, he sat in quiet reflection about the changes that would come to his life now.

A voice from the bed murmured, "That was lovely, dearest. I did not know you could sing like that. All you ever let me hear is rowdy drinking songs!"

He smiled at his wife, and replied, "That is only because you never gave me a daughter before. A son only warrants rowdy drinking songs!"

She laughed at his interesting logic. "I am neither a son nor a daughter. What do I warrant?" she questioned.

"All my love, sweetest. All my love," he answered. And softly he began singing the lullaby once more until she drifted back to sleep.

THE END

5-1-05

Author's Notes & Comments to Reviewers:

Taima1 mentioned how her father used to lay her on his chest and sing to her, so a tip of the hat for that idea.

Julia - there may still be more pregnancy-related stories and Elfwine reaction stories, but here is just a tiny bit of each.

Blue Eyes at Night - Okay, already - more about that baby. But probably more still to come too...

Tolwyn - I'd already decided it was to be a girl, but you requested it also, so here you go.

As I mentioned in Discord, Eokat has written several stories about Eomund, Theodwyn and the young Eomer (and Eowyn). I encourage you to go check out her stories. Some of you have been wanting to see sibling rivalry between Elfwine and the new baby (that still may show up), and you can find that in her story "Orcs and Babes" (between Eomer and Eowyn).

Also, I failed to mention that Legolas's Girl 9 had suggested a disagreement about a wooden sword, which happened to fit nicely with Eokat's story and my wanting to do a "disagreement" story, so I combined the two ideas when I wrote 'Discord'.

End note: It is best that you read the Elfwine Chronicles in the order they were written. The more of them that I wrote, the more likely I was to make reference to one of the previous ones and something that happened there. If you want to read them in order, go to the top of this page and click on my name (Deandra). That will take you to my profile page. Scroll down and you will find all the stories I have written. The Elfwine Chronicles are in order from bottom to top since ffn shows them in the order they were posted. A few were posted out of number order, but you can read them in posting order or number order since those few won't be affected in the story content.