Naurhin woke to a slight pressure in her hand. Moving her head from her position, she looked around the room. Odette was still fast asleep in her chair and the sun was shining through the open windows. With her free hand, she wiped the sleep from her eyes. She felt it again. Looking down, the once limp hand was curled around her own. "Garreth?" She whispered looking at him. His once ragged breath was still and smooth again. His face was no longer contorted in pain.

Placing a hand on his chest, she could fill his heart beating beneath it. With a smile, she urged his mother to wake up. Odette stirred and looked at the Elf. "I think he's awake." She whispered.

Odette immediately went to her son, calling his name. She could see his eyes moving under the skin, slowly they began to open. Giving a small cry and held his head in her hands. "Oh my boy."

"Mother?" His voice was harsh while his mother hushed him. "Be still you need your strength."

"Here." Naurhin offered him water, but only giving him small sips to start. "What happened?" He asked looking at the two. "You were poisoned by one of the Orcs that attacked us."

"You're okay?"

She nodded her head at him, tears filling the corner of her eyes. Garreth reached out a weak hand and cupped her cheek. "Good."

Odette moved her eyes from the scene before her and looked at the women still sleeping in a bed not far from them. 'I know that you had something to do with this, I just don't understand how.'

Not long ago, Odette woke to see Annalynn slumped in her chair. She went to wake the poor dear so that she could move to a more comfortable area. When she didn't wake, she screamed for help. The healers came running into the room and looked her over. She was alive, but she was in a deep sleep. They could not understand why, but they moved her to a bed not far from where Garreth was still healing.

Eomer had been summoned and told the news of what happened. He went into a frenzy of questions and demanded answers. When none could give him the answers he sought, he rushed from the room in a fit of anger. Both her parents came to see her, but her father had to take her mother away because the sight of her daughter was too much for her to see. Eowyn came and visited with Faramir at her side. Elves, Hobbits, and a Dwarf were by her side. It caused Odette to think just how important their Eryniel was. She seemed to have earned the respect of all walks of life on this earth, and she respected them just the same.

Odette got up from her chair and went to fetch a healer for her son. "Where is Eryniel?" Odette gave her son a sad shake of her head and moved so that he could see the bed beside him. "What happened?"

"We aren't sure. The healers say that she is alive and well, but she just will not wake up."

Odette continued on her way, while Garreth stared at the woman across from him. He could not shake the feeling that she had done something for him. He would not lie and say that he felt the same. Something inside him changed, but he wasn't sure what it was.

With increasing frustration Eomer ran through the halls. There was not a single person in this city that could give him the answers he sought. He sought counsel with the healers, with Aragorn, with Gandalf, but none could give him an answer he deemed worthy of why his beloved was lying cold in a bed.

Yes, they said that she was still alive, but was in a deep sleep.

He sought out his last option. The only other person that could possibly have any answers for him.

Without ceremony or any caution for manners, he pounded on the door with his fist. When no answer came, he pounded again.

When the door swung open, he stared at the she-elf that answered. "Can I he…"

Eomer did not have time for her, she gently pushed passed her and went looking for the Elf that he needed. When Eomer finally found Thranduil, he was lazily sitting in a chair, a glass of wine in his hand.

His anger rose even further. Marching toward the Elvenking, Eomer took his tunic in his hand and brought in closer. "What have you done to her?" Thranduil was so shocked by the actions, that he dropped his wine across the floor. "Answer me!" Eomer shouted as he shook the Elf.

Thranduil forcibly removed himself from the would-be-kings grasp and pushed him away. "I do not know what it is that you think I have done, but I assure you, place your hands on me again and you will never touch a living thing again." He warned.

"Do not give me that. What have you done to Annalynn?"

His gaze softened at the name. "And what is it that you think I have done?"

"Don't ask questions that you already know the answer to! Whatever magics you used on her you are to release them."

The mere thought of hurting Annalynn caused him pain, and to think that this mortal accused him of such. "I have made no actions against her, nor will I ever."

"Then how do you explain her condition?" Eomer was not holding anything back. Ever since Annalynn returned to him, back from the halls of the kingdoms of the North, he noticed a change in her. "I know that you have cast some spell over her. Ever since she returned from your kingdom, she has not been the same. Something ails her far worse than what she has said."

"And what is it that you think you know, son of Rohan?"

Thranduil was intrigued to hear his thoughts on this. He had yet to spend much time with the man that had stolen her heart away so long ago, the same man that she was so desperate to return to. From his actions and the mere sight of him, he could not fathom why his mortal daughter was so entranced with him.

"I know what your son, Legolas, has told me. Said that she has the soul of a Vala living inside her. That it granted her another life."

"You think my son to be a liar?"

"Your son, no. You, yes." Knowing full well of their height and probable strength difference, Eomer still stalked up to the Elvenking with his full might. "Perhaps you are the one that is lying. You lied to your own son, and you lied to her? I have heard rumors and whispers of how you treat those that you deemed less than you, and Annalynn has made every effort to protect you. She said that you have done so much for her. Why? Why would an Elf such as yourself do so much for a lowly mortal?" He knew that he was about to take it too far, but his rage was blinding him. "Perhaps you feed her lies about what she means to you. Perhaps you have lied to her about what really happened to her in that marketplace. You…"

Eomer did not get a chance to finish his sentence before he was on the ground with a sword at his throat. "Give me one reason why I should not end your miserable existence right now?"

Thranduil's own rage matched that of King of Rohan. To think that he would ever do any such harm to Annalynn. Yes, he has kept things from her, but that was for her own sake. He knew that she did not have the heart to hear the fate lay before her.

"Go ahead if it pleases you so."

Something in the man's eyes stayed his hand. The rage that was there long gone, only sadness and despair remained. "For what is a world without her?" He could hear the trembling in his voice. He could almost feel the ache in his soul.

Eomer looked him dead in the eye, "I cannot lose her again."

There.

That was it.

That was the very thing he looked for seconds ago.

He could tell that he felt deeply for Annalynn, so deep that he was ready to end his own life just as to not live another day without her. Thranduil looked over at his own wife, that he had momentarily forgotten about, and knew that he felt the same way as the man beneath him did. For if she were to leave his side again, he would never recover and would fade away like winter into spring.

Thranduil lowered his sword and removed his knee from the man's chest. Standing tall, he offered his hand. Eomer took it and was brought to his feet.

"There is nothing for me to offer you." He gave Eomer his honest answer. Legolas had come to tell him the news and when he heard, he and Indanna both made way for the infirmary. He had his suspicions of what transpired, and Indanna came along to offer what little truth she could. One look at the mortal woman and the two Elves knew. "I am waiting on counsel of those of my kind that have a much deeper knowledge of Annalynns suffering than I."

"You would do well to stay at her side until then." Thranduil straightened his robes and made a motion for Eomer to leave.

With a heavy heart, Eomer did just that.

He gave a silent apology to the one that he pushed past earlier. With the door closing behind him, he silently walked back to where she was currently bedridden. Eomer knew that things were not as they should be. From the moment Annalynn returned to Edoras, things were not right. He had held doubts about her. She had seen him with Celdeth. Their argument at Dunnharrow. Her returning the necklace that he gave her as a promise of his love for her. When they reunited again in Minas Tirith, he knew that it was wrong of him to take her as his own. Yet, apart of him knew that it felt so right. He heard the whispers that the soldiers of Rohan said amongst each other. Even without a proper wedding, they all considered Annalynn their Queen.

He had thought about it long before now. Did their betrothal even matter anymore? She had forsaken those vows when she wed another. Yet one could claim that her banishment from Rohan voided any agreement that they had for marriage. How was he to marry someone that was not allowed in a kingdom where he was set to live?

Although, none of this would matter if she never woke from her slumber.

He could not imagine living a life without her, but much like her, he cared for his home and the peoples within his lands. As King, he could not abandon them to follow her into the afterlife. There was no immediate successor to the throne. Even if he was to keep his life, he would eventually have to wed and bear an heir if he wished to keep his people from falling into an unstructured world.

How he longed for the simplistic days of his youth. When he and Annalynn were just children who stole kisses and touches behind closed doors and when none were looking. When he asked her to marry him, thinking that when they wed, they would take up residence at Aldburg and raise their family together. Then when the time came, the pair would die of old age together.

How he wanted that to be his future. He did not want to be King, and he certainly did not want to be King without her by his side.

Although, fate had different ideas for the two.

His thoughts led him all the way towards the hospital. He was sure to the onlooker or anyone that happened to pass him by, he looked out of sorts. His mind raced with a million questions and scenarios of how his life would play out from his moment, regardless of the outcome.

As he stepped through the door, he noticed that he was not alone.

She stood before him, more beautiful than anything he had ever seen. A white light surrounded her in a radiance unlike any. She was kneeling beside his beloved, her hand hovering over her head. She was whispering things to her that sounded foreign to his ears.

When he finally gathered his wits again, he commanded her attention. "What are you doing here?"

She looked up at him with a small smile.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Eomer, son of Eomund." Her voice was like a song that he never heard. It scared and strengthened him at the same time.

"How do you know my name?"

"I know many things, young one, but your name was given to me by a friend." Her eyes gestured towards the sleeping figure between them. "I have seen your face in her memories, and I have seen your heart in hers."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Galadriel."

He knew that he had heard that name somewhere, but his memory could not recall it. "I believe that she has spoken of you before."

"We have shared our time together before, and fear not my dear King, we shall spend more soon."

"What?"

"She is simply resting. No harm shall befall her while she sleeps." Galadriel stood from her position and walked towards Eomer. "She offered a gift to the Valar and was rewarded for her selflessness. It will take time, but she will heal."

"From whatever has been ailing her?"

"And much more my King." Galadriel put her hand on his shoulder and leaned in close. "I would not yet go forsaking all hope. Just as she was rewarded, so were you."

Eomer stared at her with a puzzingly look. He watched her back as she walked away from him. How had he been rewarded? As confused as he was, one thing that he knew for certain was that he believed in her words that Annalynn would be alright.

Taking his seat beside her, he held her hand in his. Placing a light kiss to her temple, he felt that her skin was warmer than it had been in a long time, Not in a feverish way, but in a way that he remembered from this youth.

Perhaps all hope is not lost yet.