Disclaimer: The usual…these characters don’t belong to me but to J.R.R. Tolkien and to New Line, Peter, Fran, and Philippa. I make no profit from this story and have returned all characters well fed and rested.

Author’s Notes: Originally written for Marigold's Challenge 14. So there I was, casting about for an idea of what should be found in this tale, and I happened to look down at my Irish wedding band. Convenient, that was…

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Clasps and Links

by Songspinner

Eowyn batted at the cloud of dust with one slender hand, coughing a bit.

"Are you all right, Eowyn?" Merry’s voice sounded muffled behind the pile of trunks and bundles. His curly head was barely visible over the top.

"Oh…I am well. A trifle smudged, but well." She giggled. "My uncle was forever despairing at my torn dresses and dirty face and feet when I was but a small child."

"Why…" Merry said more clearly as he emerged from behind the last trunk. "Does that not surprise me in the least?" He dodged the playful swat that was thrown in his direction and began to struggle with the clasp on the nearest wooden casket. "Would you mind telling me exactly what I’m looking for?"

Eowyn sat down and began to help him, falling backward a little as the clasp suddenly released and the lid cracked open. "This!" She cried out with excitement.

Scooting forward onto his knees at her side, the hobbit watched her open the box carefully. The brass clasp had parted to reveal the gleam of gold and silver inside, and the wink of gemstones glowing in the light of the lantern.

"Oh…treasure!" Merry whispered in delight, and she smiled at his wide blue eyes.

"Have you never seen such things before?" She asked him, curious.

"Oh, yes, I have. My father’s things, passed down through generations of our family, and the Thain’s treasures that he holds for the Shire. I saw those many times when visiting Pippin." He ran one careful finger along rope of fine pearls that had come, she thought, from Imrahil’s kingdom long ago.

"Those in this cask were my mother’s." Eowyn said softly, and felt Merry’s small hand grasp hers gently. She looked down at him where he knelt beside her. "I suppose they were saved for me, but I was never one to wear such adornments unless I had to."

"But I saw you when we arrived, you know." Merry said, sounding puzzled. "You wore a beautiful belt of silver in the Hall that night, and a sort of crown."

"I was marked as a member of the royal household by that circlet." Eowyn explained, bitterness creeping into her tone. "Little protection it granted me then, or my brother, from evil and from those who would spread it. The silver belt has been in my family for some time now."

Merry sat silently for a moment, clearly mulling over her words. "But Eowyn, the evil is gone now. You’re to be a princess of Ithilien, and a princess," he insisted with a grin. "Should be dressed as such."

"Do you think that Faramir will love me the less for a lack of gold?" She shot him a mock glare that had him giggling.

"No…no! You will glow with or without precious stones and metals, my lady." The young hobbit kissed her hand gallantly, causing her to join in his laughter. "Then you forgive me?"

"Ah, Merry…" The former Shieldmaiden withdrew her hand and reached into the wooden casket in her lap. She pulled out a velvet pouch of material somewhat less worn than those that surrounded it. As she loosened the cord, the pouch spilled two rings onto the fabric of her skirt.

Merry grabbed them as they began to slide and held them out to her. "They’re lovely, Eowyn. Where did they come from?"

Slipping them onto her finger, one loose and one snug, Eowyn held up her hand to look at them in the dim light. As her friend held the lantern closer, the light glinted on the interlaced knots. "Do you see the pattern, Merry? It has meaning to my people. The links have no beginning and no end, and means love that is without end."

"These were your mother and father’s?" Merry asked, eyes wide with understanding.

She looked at him gratefully. "Yes, they were. My father had them made for their marriage day, and my uncle had them put aside for this day. I believe that he despaired of it ever arriving, but…"

"But it has." Merry finished for her, and reached over to stroke a thumb over the back of her hand, so that it brushed across the larger of the rings. "Faramir will feel honored to wear this tonight. You shall wear his mother’s cloak and your mother’s ring. It will be as though they both bless your marriage. I know that my mother felt that way about wearing my Grandmother’s gown on her wedding day."

"Then the Shire and this fair land have one more thing in common, Knight of Rohan." Eomer’s resonant voice startled both of them. Her brother walked carefully, picking his way through the cluttered attic room. "I had not thought to look up here for such things, Eowyn. I am sorry for that."

"I certainly did not expect such prosaic things to be up here." Merry said, shaking his curly head and pointing to a folded tapestry next to a set of carved horses made for children’s hands. "I suppose I had pictured swords and shields, but your sister explained to me that such things are never put aside, but kept in good condition and used until they are worn through." He pushed himself to his feet and gave a little bow to his liege-lord. "It is something of a joy to find things that remind me of home in this place."

Eowyn took the rare opportunity to look up at her smaller friend. "Merry, will you go and tell my ladies to prepare things for tonight? I shall try not to fear what they have planned for me."

With a rakish grin, the hobbit bowed to her before kissing her cheek. "Fear not, my lady. You shall look radiant!"

Eyes following her friend’s departure, Eowyn missed her brother’s movement until he had sat down at her side. Taking the casket from her lap, he set it aside.

"Are you happy, Eowyn? Do you truly love Faramir?" His worried expression touched her deeply just then.

"Oh, Eomer, brother-mine. I am happy…I will be and I love him, truly." Eowyn tucked her head under his chin and they sat as they had so often sat as children, for reassurance and comfort. "Merry is right, you know. The evil is gone, save some tattered remnants of the dark armies. We are free now," she added, running her fingers over the carved gold of the rings. "And can start a new pattern."

"To do what?" Eomer asked with his cheek resting on her braids.

"To learn who we are in the light," she answered with a contented sigh. "In the light of the sun and the open wind."