Aragorn was just reaching for the doorknob when the door flung open and someone flew out, crashing headlong into him. Aragorn instinctively put steadying hands upon the girl, for he realized now it was a girl, and took a step back to catch his balance, preventing the two of them from tumbling onto the ground.
Once all the momentum had been absorbed, and Aragorn once more felt stable on his feet, he held the girl out at arms' length, prepared to give her a scolding. "You really should be more--Eowyn!" He interrupted himself as he suddenly recognized the cannonball that had just collided with him.
Aragorn smiled at such a fortuitous encounter. In truth, he had been heading across campus towards fencing practice when he'd suddenly found himself in front of Eowyn's dorm. He didn't bother to question his own motives for being here and instead just considered taking this opportunity to walk with her to practice. After all, he wanted to give her a few pointers on her defensive tactics, yet he knew better than to criticize her in from of Coach Anderson and the other boys. So walking alone with her to practice seemed to be a perfect opportunity. But he didn't know which room was Eowyn's, and he hadn't been looking forward to blindly roaming throughout Edoras Hall looking for her, so he was thankful that she'd saved him the trouble.
"I was just coming to find you," he said, smiling at her. "I wanted to talk to you about..." His voice trailed off and his smile faded as he noticed for the first time the look in Eowyn's eyes. He had often seen that look in others, but he was surprised to see it in her -- the look was one of sheer terror, like a panicked animal fleeing for her life. Or her honour.
A wave of brotherly protectiveness washed over Aragorn as he suddenly imagined some loutish frat boy trying to force himself on her. Aragorn gripped Eowyn firmly by the shoulders, demanding, "Eowyn, what happened?!"
But she merely stared up at him with unseeing eyes as she mindlessly breathed, "What?"
Aragorn's mind was made up in an instant. Eowyn simply could not go to fencing practice in this condition. He needed to calm her down and find out what had happened to cause such fear and panic. Besides, Aragorn realized that he hadn't skipped a day of practice since Eowyn had joined the fencing team, and he didn't want Coach Anderson to think he'd gone soft.
"C'mon," he said tenderly, slipping his arm around her shoulder. She flinched at his touch as if she'd been burned and instinctively struggled to get away, but he held on tightly until she stopped putting up a fight. Then he began walking her toward the student center, and she mindlessly followed his lead, as if she no longer had the strength to protest.
Aragorn steered her down to the basement student-run cafe, which seemed surprisingly empty for mid-afternoon. He led her over to a booth for two in the back corner, and she willingly sat down.
"I'll be right back," Aragorn said, though he doubted that she comprehended his words. He was somewhat worried that she might bolt as soon as he left her side so he kept nervously turning to check on her while he ordered their drinks. But Eowyn merely sat there, motionless except for the slight trembling that wouldn't go away.
As soon as he had the two hot paper cups in his hands, Aragorn hurried back to Eowyn's side. Eowyn blinked oddly at the cup he placed in front of her, as if he'd set down something far more exotic than hot tea.
"What is it?" she asked, staring at the cup.
Aragorn silently cheered, for it was the first time she had really been aware of her surroundings since she'd collided with him. "It's chamomile tea," he explained, hoping that the soothing herbs would calm her nerves. Inching the hot cup towards her, Aragorn quietly suggested, "Drink some."
Eowyn put both hands around the paper cup and lifted it to her lips, taking a tentative sip. She instantly made a face and set the cup back down, complaining, "It needs sugar." She started scooting to the edge of the booth, but Aragorn immediately stopped her.
"I'll get you sugar," he said, leaping up and hurrying over to the counter. Unfortunately, the task was easier said than done, for there were many different types of sugar to choose from, not to mention several varieties of non-sugar sweeteners. Not knowing what she'd like, Aragorn grabbed up two packets of each kind as well as a couple of stirrers and hurried them back to the booth.
Eowyn smiled as Aragorn dropped the pile of sweeteners in front of her. "I only need one packet," she said, tearing open a packet of plain white sugar and dumping it into her tea.
Aragorn shrugged. "Then I'll put the rest back." 'Later,' he added silently to himself, not wanting to leave her side again so soon. He took a sip of his own espresso and quietly watched her, relieved that she was now talking but not wanting to interrogate her too soon.
The two of them sat in silence for some time. Aragorn patiently watched as the tension slowly drained from Eowyn. The chamomile seemed to be taking effect, and he was thankful that the cafe offered herbal alternatives to the caffeinated sludge he enjoyed.
Finally, once over half of her tea was gone, Aragorn decided to try communicating with her. He reached across the table and tenderly placed a hand atop hers. Eowyn once again jumped at his touch, but this time it was more out of surprise, as if she'd forgotten he was there. She briefly met his gaze and then immediately looked down, her face blushing a deep red as she suddenly found her tea fascinating.
Aragorn said nothing, content to sit there, his hand on hers, until she was ready to talk. When she finally did, it was only to mutter an embarrassed "Sorry" into her cup.
"What for?" Aragorn asked, leaning across the table so he could hear her murmured response.
Eowyn looked up, steadily meeting his gaze. "I'm sorry you had to see me like this. I..." She trailed off, and her gaze once again fell on her tea.
Aragorn then waited. And waited. Finally he gently squeezed her hand, and she looked up at him. He wanted to talk to her, to ask her what had frightened her so, but he didn't know how to approach the subject delicately. Finally he asked bluntly, "What happened?"
Aragorn felt her immediately tense up as the look of terror returned to her eyes. She shook her head slightly, as if too scared to speak, and lowered her gaze once more.
Aragorn's heart went out to her. Whatever had happened, he wanted to help her and protect her.
Keeping ahold of Eowyn's hand, he reached across the table with his other hand and tenderly cupped Eowyn's chin, gently lifting her face so he could look her in the eye. "You don't have to fight alone," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Whatever has happened, there are people who care about you and want to help. Don't forget that."
Eowyn nodded, and Aragorn let his hand drop.
"I'll be fine," she said quietly, a hint of defiance back in her voice.
"If you need--" Aragorn began, but Eowyn shook her head, cutting him off with a sharp, "No!"
She then managed a smile as she added, "Thanks. But really, I'll be fine."
Aragorn knew that it was only her pride talking, for clearly she was NOT fine. But it was obvious that he wasn't going to get anything more out of her now, so he squeezed her hand one last time and then picked up his cup, taking a long swig of his now luke-warm espresso.
Eowyn took a slow drink of her tea and then suddenly slammed the cup down, a new look of panic in her eyes. "Oh no! Fencing practice! We're late!"
She frantically began scooting out of the booth, but Aragorn reached back across, grasping her arm just below the elbow before she could stand. "Don't worry about it," he said dismissively. "It's only practice."
But Eowyn wasn't convinced. "But Coach Anderson will--"
Aragorn cut her off. "I'll talk to Coach. It'll be okay."
Eowyn still was dubious. "Are you sure? 'Cuz we could still make most of...."
She trailed off as Aragorn shook his head. "There's no point in hurrying off now. Let's just sit and relax and finish our drinks. I'll just tell Coach that we were having our own practice session, one-on-one. I'm sure he'll be fine with it."
"And you're sure he won't kick me off the team for missing HIS practice?" Eowyn asked, obviously nervous about her precarious place on the team.
But Aragorn merely smiled, reflecting back on all the practices he'd missed over the last two years. He then picked up her nearly empty cup and stood up. "You need more hot water," he said simply. "I'll be right back."
***
Eowyn let Strider walk her to her dorm room door, but she wouldn't let him inside. After all, she didn't want to risk him seeing IT.
Of course, what would it have mattered? He would've only seen a photo of her as a little girl, dressed like a pony, cheering on the polo team from atop her uncle's shoulders -- surely Strider would've never guessed that this was the source of her terror.
As Eowyn closed the door behind him and came into the room, she realized she needn't have worried anyway. Her laptop screen was now black, her computer asleep. Eowyn quickly hurried across the room and hit the off button. She knew that her computer would complain the next time she turned it on since she hadn't bothered to shut down the programs properly, but she didn't care -- she didn't want to risk seeing the email again.
In a way, the whole thing seemed so surreal. After all, Eowyn had merely decided to check her email briefly before fencing practice, never imagining that she wouldn't make it practice after receiving such a disturbing email.
Of course, the content of the email wasn't upsetting in itself -- it merely contained a scan of the photo, published in The Palantir 13 years before, along with its caption: "Coach Theoden and his spirited niece cheer the Dragons on to another polo victory." But it was the fact that someone had bothered look for the photo, to sort through the newspaper archives to find it, that was so disturbing, especially when her name wasn't even listed anywhere. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to find it, to find HER.
And if that wasn't creepy enough, the source of the email sent chills down Eowyn's spine. Instead of a university address, it was an anonymous commercial one: watching_u@meol.com.
Of course, it wasn't REALLY anonymous, for in her gut Eowyn knew who had sent her the photo. Grima hadn't been harassing her much lately, and she'd grown complacent about her own safety, often forgetting to place the chain on her door at night. But she knew now that she must stay vigilant, for Grima was still there, was still watching her, and she had to protect herself.
'Protect myself from what?' Eowyn chided herself. 'Photos?!' She suddenly felt stupid for having gotten so worked up over a simple email.
Yet a mere glance at her laptop now made her shiver, and she knew deep down that the photo wasn't something to disregard so easily.
But that didn't mean that she was going to rush off and tell Eomer about it. Or Strider, for that matter. Even if he DID take her out for tea.
Eowyn's heart suddenly skipped a beat, but this time it wasn't out of fear. 'Strider took me out!' Eowyn realized excitedly. 'And he held my hand! And he said he CARED about me!'
She flopped onto her bed and dreamily stared up at the ceiling, sighing contentedly as she relived their "first date" over and over again in her mind.
***
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