𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 | 𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐑

Chapter 25

Hours passed, and nothing was in our way as of now, I decided to rest and continue next to my friends and family, but I kept my eyes closed, in case I get any warn about danger. "It's true you don't see many dwarf women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, they are often mistaken for dwarf men." I gazed at Gimli, widening my eyebrows at his sentence, they are not so alike to the dwarves, some of them were really feminine that could be easily seen as a female, take for example Dís. 

Adán and I looked at each other with furrowed brows, trying not to laugh and Éowyn glances back. "It's the beards." Whispered Aragorn, making me chuckle lightly. "And this in turn has given rise to the belief that there are no dwarf women. And the dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground!" Éowyn laughs, and Adán and I followed.

"Which is of course ridiculous. Whoa!" Gimli's horse started to run forward, making the dwarf fall from the animal. "It's all right! It's all right! Nobody panic! That was deliberate! It was deliberate...!" The shieldmaiden ran to Gimli and helped him up.

"I have not seen my niece smile in a long time." Théoden started. "She was a girl when they brought her father back dead. Cut down by Orcs. She watched her mother succumb to grief. And she was left alone to tend her king in growing fear. Doomed to wait upon an old man who should have loved her as a father."

I smiled softly, and Adán shifting on his horse caught my attention. "I have been by their side since Éomund and Théodwyn died, I was saddened to know that her father didn't approve of her for being a woman, and Éomer was mistreated for not knowing how to hold a sword. They were the ones that made me put my childish behavior aside to become someone they could trust."

"Éomer and Éowyn? So you did take care of them." I said. Adán smiled, looking forward. "Apart from King Théoden, yes I did. You don't remember? When you came to ask for my help to travel to The Dark Lands, they were thrilled to meet you, poor Éomer had his face like a tomato every time he saw you and Éowyn loved when you created fire butterflies for her to play."

I do remember those times, it had made me happy that some children still had their innocence intact, but the sadness in this world trapped everyone in a void of darkness at some point. "Yes... I do remember..." I whispered. 

Later on, the king warned that we were going to camp, we needed all the possible energy to continue. Meanwhile, Adán was cheering with some of his followers, I helped the wounded and children to have as much food as they could. I turned to see Éowyn with a bowl of stew, walking towards Gimli, but he denied it, then she approached Aragorn. "I made some stew. It isn't much, but it's hot."

"Thank you." Then he tasted it and looked up at her, I bit my tongue in order not to snort, he was trying so hard not to grimace. Aragorn nodded. "Mmm. It's good." Éowyn smiled in relief. "Really?" The heir nodded again and Èowyn began to walk away, Aragorn turned to pour out the stew, but Èowyn turned around. "My Uncle told me a strange thing." He recovered quickly, spilling some on his hand. "He said that you rode to war with Thengel, my grandfather. But he must be mistaken."