𝗛𝗿𝗶́𝘃𝗲̈ 𝗨𝘁𝘂́𝗹𝗶𝗲̈ | LOTR & Marvel Crossover [PART 2] ✓

23 | Of Magic, Healers and Symbols

"Not this time, my flower." Her mother sadly answered, tears leaking through the sides of her face.

Her hands began to shake as she clutched her mother's hands tightly, lips trembling as she sensed her tears beginning to sting her cheeks. Éowyn turned her head towards the figure with the glowing eyes – her anger so much fueling her pleads.

She questioned harshly, "Why can't you save her?" Éowyn pleaded, "You saved our people. Can't you save my mother?"

The figure's face stared at her with a saddened expression, but no guilt laid before their face as he solemnly responded: "Her soul does not wish to stay in this place. It wishes to leave, to go to the halls of your family."

Éowyn looked back to her mother, who smiled weakly at her and said, "He is telling...the truth." Her mother coughed, "I know this...but I have been parted with your father for too long, Éowyn. My heart longs to be by his side."

"But Eomer and I—" She swallowed before she whispered, "Do not leave us, mother. We need you!"

As her mother's hand rose to cup her cheek, Éowyn continued to cry as her mother shushed her and whispered up to her, "You are so brave, my child. So young and yet so much light fills you that the Sunne Ælf may be within your heart." Her mother continued, "I love you, my shieldmaiden." [2]

Lowering her head down, she felt her mother press a kiss upon her forehead. Éowyn rose her head, watching her mother close her eyes as she coughed briefly – falling back soundly asleep. She let her mother's hands down, colder than her own fingertips as she tried to tidy her mother's hair and placed another kiss upon her brow.

Once she was done, Éowyn hiccupped and wiped away the tears on her face, sniffing as she felt a hand place onto her shoulder. Never had she had to glance so high up to look on one's face until then, and she thought that maybe they were an elf. They had long hair and fair skin, all seemed to look much like them.

But she knew Ranyar. Ranyar arrived at the moment they needed him the most.

An illness had taken them during the autumn season. Many were dying and to her surprise, she had survived it along with her brother and cousin. They didn't know who he was or what he was, only that he had entered the healing halls and after a night, about twenty of them survived and said that they had been blessed by the power beyond their beliefs – how the light had healed them, a gift from the Sunne Ælf.

The king did not trust him, especially Lord Grima: who was against Lord Ranyar being allowed in their kingdom. But when her mother grew ill, her uncle Théoden allowed Ranyar to tend to her. She was doing well in fact; a week ago she had been able to go outside and watch Eomer and Théodred spar with their newly learnt techniques whilst she saw Éowyn do her own training routine.

Then something changed. None of them understood it. Her uncle said that it was because her father was gone and that she missed him.

"Can you save her?" she asked Ranyar. "Please."

Ranyar's lips curled into a sad smile as he crouched down. Now levelled with their eyes, Éowyn was fixed onto his brightened gaze. She was afraid that if she stared more her eyes would be blinded. But instead, she felt warmth around her, a blanketed calmness as she heard him explain to her.

He began, "You cannot force a soul to be bound to their body, Éowyn. Souls have their time in this world and they will leave once they know it is time for them to go." Ranyar pulled a strand of her light blonde hair over her ear as he continued, "And the heart...the heart is a powerful tool. It is your mother's love that makes her soul move. To want to go to your father."