Chapter Text
[King's House in the Citadel of Minas Tirith, Eowyn POV]
The air was spiced with the scents of Yule...only here they called it Mettare, Eowyn reminded herself, laying a calming hand on her distended stomach. Baby responded with a fierce kick.
Eowyn smiled proudly, meeting Faramir's eyes across the dinner table. Her joy and pride were reflected in his eyes. At least until a sharper pain, lower in her stomach, made her wince.
Faramir's gaze sharpened, and he raised a single eyebrow. Eowyn wondered if he realized that it made him look very much like his true father the King. For her part, she knew that the eyebrow, and the sympathy in his eyes, meant, 'Those pains are back, meleth, I'm sorry. Are they worse? Should we ask Lady Vonild to examine you again?'
If Faramir didn't stop fussing over her, Eowyn was going to take her goblet of cider, and splash its contents into his face. She took a deep breath, then met her love's eyes again. 'I'm fine.' She thought to him, trusting that he could read her eyes without her having to say a single word aloud.
He leaned back in his chair with a teasing smile, and raised that one eyebrow again. Eowyn couldn't help but smile. Without saying a word, Faramir was reminding her, 'We're trying to be honest with one another, my beloved Eowyn. I have shared everything with you. Each time my shoulder hurts. Every setback in training, each time I thought I was going to need my own guards to keep me from bashing an honored Council Lord over the head with a water ewer. I even let you know when Adar Aragorn spanked me for returning to full practice 'ere he was satisfied with my healing. Please, won't you tell me how you really feel?'
Eowyn sighed and fidgeted for a moment, but then looked up to meet her husband's eyes again. 'Oh, Bah. Fine.’ She thought for him to read, ‘The pains are worse, but not enough worse to mean anything, I think. Pregnancy is so cursedly uncomfortable. I wish I was a horse, because then we'd already have a lovely foal.'
Faramir couldn't hide a bit of a laugh at that, which garnered him some bemused looks from around the table. Fortunately, it was a small family dinner, a pleasant respite given the upcoming schedule of official appearances and ceremonies. Which had been lightened, for Eowyn. Being pregnant and near term with the King's own grandson excused one from all but the most necessary official appearances. Not so, for Faramir.
On the contrary, having been officially confirmed as Aragorn's son and the heir-presumptive to the Two Kingdoms, Faramir's schedule for the winter holidays was nearly as busy as the King's. And it had been busy enough, in Eowyn's opinion, when he was just the Steward. But she could understand why Aragorn had wanted the official announcement to occur well before year's end. The King in an overbearing mood might set Eowyn's teeth on edge and send her into an answering temper, but there was no denying that Aragorn loved his son, her husband.
Or even that he loved Eowyn, as odd as that sometimes was for Eowyn. Because of that, it would have been cruel to have this baby be born without Aragorn being able to be publicly known as the grandfather. Especially since Aragorn had recently even managed to refer to himself as a “grandfather” without wincing. Good on him, in Eowyn's opinion. It was quite a thing to go from not even knowing that you have a child to becoming a grandparent in less than a year.
And a lot of adjustment for Eowyn's husband as well. Faramir did not particularly like being the center of attention. Arwen's kindness had helped to ease the transition.
Eowyn gave the Queen a grateful smile as Arwen distracted Faramir from his concerns over Eowyn by encouraging him to take a second helping of goose cooked in an orange sauce popular in Imaldris.
"Prince Faramir only tried it to be polite the first time, sister. Do not pester him further." Elrohir commanded. The words were carefully neutral, but the connotation was that Faramir was not their people, and could not be expected to enjoy something which was a delicacy of their homeland, and not his own.
Eowyn glared at Elrohir. Both of Arwen's brothers had been less than helpful, in her opinion. It was hardly Faramir's fault that his mother and the old Lord Steward Ecthelion had caused an awkward situation for their sister. It wasn't really Aragorn's fault either, but that hadn't stopped Elladan and Elrohir from being markedly cool with their brother-by-law. And they were actively rude to Faramir when they could get away with it, although Elladan at least had recently improved. Eowyn was fairly sure that Legolas had been involved in that up to his pointy ears, bless him.
Faramir, always the diplomat, demurred politely and distracted Arwen with talk of the celebration the Queen was planning for the children of Minas Tirith on Yestare, the first day of the new year.
Lady Vonild, meanwhile, spared Eowyn the necessity of snapping at Elrohir, by beginning to lecture the younger of Lord Elrond's twin sons on the joys of traveling and the benefits to be found by trying new things and being open to new friendships. Elrohir seemed chastened and a bit overwhelmed. Eowyn smiled, accidentally meeting the amused eyes of Legolas. They shared a grin for a moment.
Legolas was very much in Eowyn's good books. She got the feeling from time to time that he was uncomfortable around her because she was pregnant. But they had enough in common, both being younger in one sense or another than their companions, that he would usually forget that and relax after a short time. And he had been entirely in Faramir's corner, which Eowyn truly appreciated right now.
Oh, a majority of the Kingdom seemed receptive to the King's acknowledgment of an adult heir, and her husband was genuinely well-liked, which of course helped. Faramir's Uncle Imrahil and his family, while upset over how the situation had come to be, were pleased to consider their dear friends the new King and Queen to now be kin as well, linked by Aragorn's blood in Faramir.
Others, however, had been less pleased, including Eowyn's beloved elder brother, Queen Arwen’s brothers, and a number of the Lords of Gondor. Faramir was popular, but he had also made enemies. And other men simply disapproved of the situation based on their version of 'honor,' which did not include acknowledging illegitimate children or the circumstances which had made them (as sparse as the official details on that situation had been).
The Lords of Gondor had mostly been wise enough to keep their disapproval principled rather than personal, and moderate and quiet rather than public and unreasoned. But not all of their kin and their supporters had been so wise. In particular one young Lord Asgaron, the younger son of the Lord of the Lefnui, who had been heard publicly complaining about the King's decision to acknowledge his bastard. Nor had he stopped there! The young Lord, who had not even fought in the late war, had gone on to savage Faramir's courage and abilities as a commander, and ascribe those failings to his irregular birth. ‘What could even so great a leader as Lord Denethor have done, with such poor fodder?’ Lord Asgaron had argued in the fairly public forum of the middle practice courts.
Unfortunately for the Lord of Lefnui's son, Legolas had been present at that particular time and place, and more moderating influences (such as Faramir or Gimli), had not. Legolas promptly challenged the fool to a duel, and Asgaron accepted, expecting the slender elven warrior to be an easy opponent. They had set a time and date for the match, and despite Asgaron's greater height and reach, the match had gone exactly as Eowyn would have expected. Lord Asgaron had been humiliated, much to Eowyn's poorly-hidden joy. Faramir had managed to convince the Lord of the Lefnui not to make the matter public, due to his son having also been involved in the illegal duel. Since then, there hadn't been any more duels, but odd and unfortunate things kept happening to Lord Asgaron and o those of similar opinion.
Eowyn smiled at Legolas again, then winced. Baby, apparently, was not a fan of goose in orange sauce. Either that, or baby found it tremendously exciting. Sometimes, it was hard to tell. Eowyn was ready for baby to be born.
Faramir must have noticed the wince. He was looking at her again. Eowyn clutched the stem of her goblet, promising herself that she would ONLY throw her cider at Faramir if he actually SAID something. To distract both of them, she started paying attention to the conversation between Legolas, Gimli, and Elladan.
"I understand that, Elladan," Legolas said, half-fond, half-irritated, "But I've been thinking that..."
Gimli interrupted by chuckling, "Oh, thinking were you, eh, Pointy Ears? A Mettare miracle, that is."
Eowyn and the baby BOTH objected to that. "That's not funny!" Eowyn scolded fiercely, "Gimli, how could you say something like that to Legolas?"
Gimli's face was a study in surprise. So was Legolas', and Faramir was subtly moving closer to Eowyn. Or not so subtly. The White Lady realized that she was standing, and much angrier than she should be.
"Ah..." Legolas offered quietly, soothingly, much in the same manner he would speak to a skittish horse, "It's really alright, Eowyn. It’s just something we say. A running joke, of sorts...."
"Well, it isn't very funny." Eowyn replied faintly, feeling dizzy. "Someone might misunderstand." Another pain brought one hand back to her swollen abdomen.
"Right you are, dear." Vonild agreed, giving Legolas and Gimli both a look that Eowyn didn't quite understand, "Now, perhaps we should go lie down for a little while."
"But I'm not tired!" Eowyn objected.
"Well, I am." Said Faramir, offering her his hand, "I hope that my Lady will bear me company."
She was clearly being manipulated, but Eowyn felt too odd to care. She leaned heavily on Faramir as he oriented them towards the door, throwing over his shoulder a very soft, "With your leave, Father."
Eowyn barely heard Aragorn's startled, "Of course, ion-nin." But she did wonder why he sounded both worried, and pleased.
After that, it seemed like things moved very quickly, but at the same time not quickly, at all. Eowyn was in labor, but Baby, evidently, was not in a hurry. So she was walking, one arm around Arwen. Everything was ready in case Baby decided just get on with it and come more quickly. With nothing left to do, Vonild had settled down to knit. The regular sound soothed Eowyn's nerves. The annoying human mid-wife (who had been Aragorn's choice), had been sent away for making Eowyn more nervous and more irritable.
"Are you sure that you shouldn't lie down?" Her loving, anxious, ANNOYING husband asked.
"If you....arrghh, ow..." Eowyn whimpered in a very proud, warrior-like way, "ask me if I am ok again, in any way, shape, or form, I am going to make you....owwww!"
Faramir's face whitened, and he offered her his arm again. Eowyn accepted it, but she'd been serious about making him leave. Just because HIS mother had nearly died in childbirth, didn't mean that anything bad was going to happen to her. And just because she'd bled a little bit early on in the pregnancy because they hadn't known that she was pregnant and she'd been helping build canals....that didn't mean anything either.
"Stop worrying!" She scolded Faramir, who to his credit hadn't actually SAID anything else. But he was THINKING it very LOUDLY. She smacked his upper arm.
His lips quirked into a grin, just for a moment. "I will try, Meleth." He promised.
Eowyn groaned, then squeezed Faramir's arm very tightly as another contraction ripped through her.
"Are you sure that you're alright? Maybe we should..."
Eowyn shoved him away, seized the hilt of her sword from the brackets above their bed, and brandished it fiercely at her husband.
"All right," Arwen interrupted, gently but firmly intercepting and disarming Eowyn. Vonild took over and led Eowyn to the bed, while Arwen hustled Faramir towards the door. "Go wait with your father, Faramir muin-nin. Do not worry, she will want you back soon enough."
"Only if you can CALM DOWN!" Eowyn countered, "Otherwise, Faramir, I love you, but I swear that I will RUN YOU THROUGH!"
Faramir, Valar bless him, tried to turn around and return to her. But Arwen had the door to the Steward's main suite open, and Aragorn collected Faramir with a gentle arm, "Come, ion-nin. Wait with us for a while."
"Brave man." Eowyn heard Elladan comment, just before the door closed again.