Disclaimer: I do not own nor shall I ever.

Author's note: Please excuse the title. I am no good at them.

Wifely Duties

Of course, he had been in battle before.

Three months of marriage and she had come to know the geography of his body well, could map out the scars engraved into his flesh without aid of lamplight. Proof of victories won, blood spilt, and lives lost. He had been fighting on faraway fields whilst she had still been playing with dolls in the tall grasses of Rohan. This would be no new experience for him. Yet, it would be for her. She, after all, had never sent a husband off to war before.

Eowyn had dismissed Baranor and Hallas, Faramir's squires, not missing the sour expressions upon their youthful faces for usurping their position, but she would dress her husband this morning. She would hook and strap and tie his armor into place and impart her love for him upon every piece of burnished metal so that it might serve as armor as well.

"You need not do this," he said.

Faramir knew of her fears. Of course he did. He always knew. He had held her in his embrace throughout the night, undaunted by the stiff rejection of her body, she scorning the gift of the small comfort he tried to bestow so selflessly. Now Eowyn felt only shame. She had acted as a spoiled child, stamping her feet at the injustice of life, punishing him for doing his duty when she had known, had known from the first, that he was Gondor's son and would never truly belong solely to her. She was a daughter of warriors, of kings. She knew duty. Should she storm and rage at it now that it threatened to part her from her beloved husband? Such, she supposed, was the right of lovers and wives.

"I wish to." She tightened the laces of his vambraces, eyeing the raven designs hammered into the metal. "I am sorry," Eowyn whispered.

Faramir grasped at her hands, stilling their work. His hands were so large, so warm, calloused from sword hilt and bow.

"It does not matter."

Eowyn scoffed laughingly, "I am not some naïve maid of sixteen, unmindful of what a warrior's life truly is." She refused to look into his face. "It is just…I had not thought to enjoy your company so greatly."

She tried to make a joke of it, but the truth of her words was plain. Eowyn loved her husband, but she had not known to what extent. The depth of her feeling for Faramir knew no bounds. It was all-encompassing. So inconvenient to come to light at such a time as this.

"Eowyn…"

Eowyn pulled her hands free of his grasp and turned her attention back to his armor, fastening the heavy, woolen cloak about his shoulders and smoothing the fabric. "No. Do not think on it now. Think only of my love for you and know that when you return I shall be waiting." She lowered her head to press a kiss to the cold metal of his breastplate where she knew his heart lay beneath, beating steadily, safe and sound.