Disclaimer: I only own the plot, and the Lady Riders, along with their Queen, but not Lothiriel, she is originally a Tolkien character, I just tweaked her a bit.

Summary: Lady Arianna of the Barazinbar is the Queen of the Lady Riders and an unlikely ally to the forces of good in the great war of the ring. She and her female army help with the Battle of Helm's Deep and the Battle at Mordor, but the greatest adventure is when one of her own falls for the Third Marshall of the Riddermark.

"Milady, the court calls for you." Lothiriel, best friend and second in command to Queen Arianna murmured softly as she entered her friend's quarters.

"Of course, and I will arrive shortly." Arianna stood by the window of her modest castle that she called home. She had never truly been comfortable with the title of Queen, and hardly ever acted as if she was such, unless the occasion truly called for it. More often than not she acted more as a soldier than a diplomat.

"Milady?" Lothiriel asked hesitantly as she turned to leave.

"Yes Lothiriel?" Arianna asked, sounding incredibly tired as she turned to view her friend, dark auburn hair inherited from her mother cascading in curls over her now dull green eyes.

"Will we truly be able to travel to Rohan?" her friend asked, her blue eyes sparkling with barely contained excitement as her raven hair fell straight over her shoulders.

"Yes Lothiriel, we shall travel to Rohan." Arianna nodded, turning to look back over her lands with a careful and watchful gaze.

Lothiriel smiled happily, having always wanted to travel to such far away lands.

"Very well, Milady." She spoke finally as she left, her white skirts swishing around her as she hurried down the hall to the courtroom.

Arianna sighed as she heard the door shut behind her most trustworthy Lady Rider. She had never been born to be a Queen, it had just happened, in the most horrible sequence of events that she could imagine, and very slowly it was starting to eat her up inside. But she had to go to court, she had to tell her people what she had planned for them, and she had to prepare the army to leave. For they would need to provide aid to the crumbling kingdoms of men before the end.

"Hail the Queen!" Duerma, her most faithful male servant called throughout the hall, and the entirety of people inside were instantly silent and fell either into bows or curtseys before their Queen who bowed her head regally to each in turn as she made her way to the head of the room, standing before the throne that her father had occupied for so long and she still had no heart to sit in, turning towards her faithful subjects.

"My most faithful people, I come before you in an hour of great turmoil. Our people have become embroiled in a war that I know most of you feel is not our own. But we are a part of Middle Earth, a part of this world. And this fight that has enraptured mankind shall soon enrapture us as well, and I feel that for the good of our people, and of our way of life, it would be best for us to greet this inevitability with open and prepared arms, than to wait for it to reach our borders when we are unprepared. So on this day, I officially declare war on the shadow in the East and all of those who would agree with him."

The hall stayed silent for a moment or two before erupting in murmurs. Whether they were angry or not, Arianna did not know, nor did she care, she knew what was best for her people.

"All hail the Queen!" Lothiriel's voice wafted loudly above the others as she whooped in appreciation for her friend and clapped to show her support. It took a little while longer than Arianna found completely comforting, but soon the rest of the hall was cheering and clapping along with Lothiriel.

Arianna favored her friend with a grateful smile and was returned with an audacious wink. 'Thank you' she mouthed to her friend who nodded in recognition before weaving about the room, doing what she did best, rallying the people around a cause that they may not particularly believe in.

"Prepare the horses, we leave in the morning." Arianna spoke to her master of the stables who nodded before heading out to tell his staff to prepare the warhorses for battle.

"Milady, if I may speak freely." Lothiriel entered the courtyard where her Queen stood, alone for the first time all day.

"Of course Lothiriel, you know we have no secrets." Arianna smiled over her shoulder.

Lothiriel nodded her head, glad for the friendly indulgence.

"The travel to Rohan, is it truly about being prepared for the war?"

Arianna surveyed her friend for a moment or two before her smile returned.

"Yes Lothiriel, it is, why do you ask?"

Lothiriel shrugged.

"Just curious."

"Ah, well, your curiosity may get you killed someday." Arianna teased in turn. Lothiriel laughed, her dark hair being lifted by the wind and it was in that moment that Arianna saw the Elven heritage that flowed through her veins, even if it was many generations past.

"Milady, this war, shall we survive it?" Lothiriel's voice trembled and Arianna felt sorry for what her best friend was feeling, she had not meant to frighten her.

"I believe that we shall Lothiriel. As long as we stay strong, yes?" she placed a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder and smiled.

"We must stay strong for our people, never let them see you worry."

Lothiriel laughed and hugged her Queen, who returned the gesture. Then the pair of friends headed off to prepare for war.

They had been riding for almost two weeks now, and had finally entered the lands of the Riddermark. Arianna knew her army was tired, she knew that they wanted nothing more than to camp and rest, but they were so close that she could taste it and she had qualms about stopping so close to their destination.

"Milady, the army grows restless." Lothiriel stepped into league with her Queen who smiled over at her softly.

"I know Lothiriel, another hour and we shall rest, we are very close now."

Lothiriel nodded and dropped back behind her Queen, where she had ridden the entire trip.

"Riders!" came a call from the back, and Lothiriel spun on the dapple-grey that she rode. Arianna turned her horse completely, riding back towards where the strange new riders were coming from. Lothiriel sighed and rolled her eyes to the back of her head before following her hotheaded Queen. She always had to be the peacekeeper.

"Hail, who rides through the Riddermark?" came a call from the mass of riders headed towards them. Lothiriel sucked in a breath, they were the Rohirim, she could tell just from the way that they were dressed.

"Queen Arianna of the Barazinbar and her Lady Riders!" Arianna called back, and Lothiriel could already hear the annoyance in her voice.

The Rohirim surrounded them with expert precision and their leader addressed Arianna.

"I have never heard of such a woman or of such a place." He told her, his voice dripping with disbelief and distrust.

"Well whether or not you have heard of myself or my lands is not my concern horse master," Arianna's voice dripped with contempt, "I am who I say I am and if you do not believe me that fault lies with you."

The man rode his horse forward, and the Rohirim tightened their circle. Lothiriel decided to put off a war, when it was obvious they were all on the same side.

"What my Lady means is that we regret not being able to inform you of our arrival, but we felt it was best to be silent in such matters, certainly you would agree in this time of spies?" she pleaded, using her most diplomatic of demeanors and catching the eye of the man before her. He bowed his head before removing his helmet and his men all relaxed a bit. He and Lothiriel caught gazes and he gave her the softest of smiles.

"Of course, Milady, but you must realize the dilemma my men and I are in, with the White Wizard's spies all around us, we must be cautious, even enough to question a lady." His voice was cultured and smooth and something about him sent a nagging thought through Lothiriel's brain that she had met him before, even though she knew it to be a false memory.

"Then we forgive you for your understandable suspicion, but we are here to help."

"Help?" his confusion was obvious and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"With the oncoming war."

There was a murmur and a small laugh throughout the men surrounding them and Lothiriel bristled with indignation, as did her fellow Lady Riders, as even the leader of the Rohirim quirked a small smirk, though too respectful to laugh outright.

"Listen, just because your women have pleased themselves to stay behind and become slaves to your whims does not mean that every woman in Middle Earth has resigned herself to the same fate. We are here to offer any aide that we can in this struggle that will soon envelope us all. Which is more than I can say for any army of men that we have come across in our lifetimes, so you would do well, my Lord, to have a bit more respect." She barely kept her voice level but managed it and felt a sense of satisfaction when his smirk dissipated.

"Forgive me, Milady." He bowed his head to her and she felt a small pang of guilt for yelling at him. But not enough guilt to bite her tongue.

"Perhaps someday you shall earn my forgiveness."

He gave her a disbelieving and indignant look.

"Who are you?" he asked her curiously and she was momentarily taken aback at the question.

"My Lord?" she asked and he smiled at her, showing two rows of very white teeth.

"Your name Milady, if it is not too much to ask."

"Lothiriel." She answered him hesitantly. He just continued to smile at her.

"I am Eomer, Lady Lothiriel." He held his hand out in a gesture of peace, "Please allow my men and I to accompany you to the city."

Arianna and Lothiriel exchanged looks and silent communication before Arianna gave a non-committal jerk of the head, almost as if to say, 'if you must.'

"Thank you."

He could tell it tasted bitter on her tongue to say such a thing and was heavily amused by it, a fact that he did not bother to conceal as they all fell into line together.

"You do not wish for us to accompany you?" he asked her, falling back into step with her.

"It is not up to me, it is up to my Queen." She answered diplomatically and he chuckled quietly.

"May I ask what is so funny?"

"You Milady." He smiled at her and she got the coldest of feelings that this man was dangerous. Not in the physical sense, though looking him up and down she could tell that he was not a man to be reckoned with in war, but he was much more dangerous in the emotional sense. His manner of speech and movement, along with the effortless way that he teased her, falling into a sense of familiarity even though they had just met. He could make her feel things that she had only imagined and then go off, never to be seen again. Oh he was a dangerous man indeed.

"I amuse you, my Lord Eomer?" she questioned as she bent forward to soothe her steed, which was becoming a bit restless.

"If you did not wish us to accompany you, then why did you accept my offer?" he questioned her, sidestepping the question she had directed at him.

"We are strangers in your land, my Lord, and arriving unannounced at the King's Hall could get us into a mess of trouble that we do not need to bother with at the moment, however, if you and the Rohirim were to accompany us, then we should receive a much warmer welcome." She explained to him and he smiled at her again, glad that she would do something she did not particularly like for the good of her people, it spoke well of her character.

"I am afraid that you answered my question with another question."

"Oh, and what question would that be?" he inquired, teasing her again, knowing exactly of what she was talking about.

She sent him a reproachful look but he refused to bend to her will, though it was tempting.

"Do I amuse you?" she asked again, and he looked down at his hands for a moment before looking back at her.

"I would not call it amusement Milady, I would call it more of a shocked reaction."

"Shocked?" she asked him, confused.

"To your brazen manner, Lady Lothiriel, women in my country are not nearly as…" he searched for the right word, "bold."

She surveyed him for a moment or two before smiling at him, and he felt a bit of color rise to his cheeks at the sight of her looking at him the way that she was.

"Perhaps a bold woman is exactly what you need." She suggested before urging her steed forward and catching up to Arianna, who had been listening intently the entire time, after all it had been only Eomer and Lothiriel talking.

Eomer watched her go, a truly shocked expression on his face. A bolder woman, huh? He liked that suggestion.

Okay, so I absolutely adore Eomer, I don't know why, but there's something about him, he's always been my favorite, and I like the idea of him with someone, and I wanted to try my hand at pairing him with Lothiriel, and I know that I tweaked her, well, I pretty much changed her entire story, but I always imagined her as a strong willed warrior, not some delicate princess, so I made her into what I saw in my head.

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Andrew's Slinky