Hope ↠ LOTR

III. Comfort

The celebration had ended and most people that were there had retired to their own rooms to get some much needed sleep after the copious amount of alcohol that had been digested by many that were there. But not everybody was asleep. Éomer had found himself to be rather restless and was wandering through the halls of Meduseld aimlessly, his footsteps ceasing when he heard a voice resonating through to his ears. It was a soft voice, barely even a whisper. The lyrics sounded as if they should be merry and joyous but the tone in which it was sung was sombre and held a sense of longing. His footsteps continued as he made his way to where the sound was coming from, stepping into the kitchen area to see Athena standing in front of the dip in the counters that was used as a sink, filled with water that must have been collected and decanted into it earlier.

"That's what Bilbo Baggins hates," were the last words to the tune.

He watched as her shoulders sagged at the end of the song, the dish she was washing up being dejectedly placed in a pile with the other clean ones. She stood still for a moment, just staring at the dishes and the towel that was placed to the side of her. Her face was hidden by her hair but if he could see it he was sure that she would not be smiling.

"Is everything alright?" He called out quietly.

Athena was startled by the sudden presence and her head whipped to the side. She relaxed when she noticed that it was only Éomer and sent him a smile, contradicting the sadness in her eyes. "Just missing some old friends is all," she whispered before reaching out to collect one of the dirty dishes and submerging it in the water.

He decided not to pry into the story behind the song and instead opted to move towards her, standing beside her and taking a dirty dish himself before pushing it into the water to help her clean the minimal amount of cutlery that was left. She hadn't expected him to help her but it was a pleasant surprise and they shared a tired smile before continuing with their duties.

"I didn't know you sang," he spoke after a while of silence, placing one of the clean dishes to the side and collecting another dirty one.

"I don't. Not anymore at least. My heart just... isn't quite ready for it yet," she explained quietly, her eyes focused on the rippling water that her hands sank into.

Again, he didn't want to pry into her reasoning for that. He saw in her eyes that she had lost much that was dear to her and had pieced together that singing had been a large part of her at some point in her life. He was correct in his assumptions, Athena had loved to sing when she was in the Blue Mountains and it was always with somebody by her side, but since they reclaimed Erebor she could not find it in herself to do so without feeling a pang in her chest so she decided not to to spare her from the heartache that it brought her. Perhaps one day she would find it inside herself to sing again, but after what just happened she knew that it was not today.

"You were right. About what you said when we first met, I did still have hope and I couldn't bring myself to let go of it. And I hope you can forgive me for my harsh words upon our initial meeting and for pointing a spear at your head," Éomer changed the topic, finishing with his last dish and drying his hands on the towel.

"I already have," she replied, sending him a small smile and drying her own hands on the towel once he handed it over to her.

"It gladdens me to hear that. Goodnight," he bade her farewell, nodding his head with a small smile of his own before walking past her and leaving the kitchen.

She was not far behind him, taking one last glance at the clean dishes before exiting the kitchens and making her way towards Éowyn's room, aware that she had fallen asleep in front of the fire in the main hall. She stopped walking when she reached the communal room that the others were staying in, furrowing her eyebrows at the distant whispers of Merry and Pippin and the feeling of dread that overcame her. The feeling of darkness became stronger and she pushed the door open, her eyes widening in horror when she saw Pippin writhing on the floor, the palantír grasped tightly between his two hands.