Disclaimer - I'm, sure that most of you have cottoned on to the fact that I don't own LotR by now, but for those who haven't.... it's not mine, it never has been mine and, as I'm not getting any money for this, I'd prefer it if you didn't sue me! OK?

A/N - Ooooh, I go away for a few days and return home to find lots of lovely reviews! Thank you *hugs*!

Chapter 2 - Stars will touch all hearts

A starless sky covered Middle-earth on the night of the soldier's departure. Black and velvety, shadows blended with night, giving little comfort to the travellers but the shelter and hiding places that only pitch black could bring. Not that this brought solace to those left behind. As the people of Minas Tirith shut up their dwellings and went to their beds the darkness seemed to close in. They could see nothing ahead of them, not even the candles they carried to light the way. The shadow smothered all and clouded even the wisest being's foresight. They could see no future for men, no future for the world.

The Houses of Healing were a lighter place than most in the dark night. Some said that it was a sign that the king had returned, and some said that it signified the standing of the beings inside. Nobody really knew the answer - they could only guess. For Merry, the Houses of Healing seemed as dark as all else around him. The shadows of his injury haunted him, the images of all that he had seen played in his mind, concluding that there was nothing left. More than ever he wished that he had heeded the advice of Lord Elrond and returned to the Shire. But, he mused, would the pain be any less terrible? If the darkness took over it would not omit the Shire from its wrath. It would destroy it, before his eyes and he would have the knowledge that there was nothing to escape to. As black thoughts enclosed him and worry took precedence over all else in his head Merry crawled out of his bed and stumbled blindly across the cool stone floor to find his companions.

Unlike her halfling friend, Éowyn was not concerned with what may or may not have marred her homeland. She already knew that a great deal had been touched and destroyed by evil: she had witnessed that before the great battles had really begun. What consumed her mind was the thought of battle, that she should be denied her chance to die with her brother and kin, that she should face the end in a reprieve while all about her suffered in their last days. Tied with all of Middle-earth, the night and waters of sleep gave her no comfort. They left her alone with her thoughts and alone to live out the last days of the earth in peace. It was this that meant she failed to hear the gentle patter of hobbit feet that graced the room she resided in until they were by her side.

"Lady Éowyn?" Merry's hesitant voice whispered softly to her. The hobbit turned away. If she was not already awake then he did not wish to disturb her rest.

Éowyn rolled over in her bed. "What keeps you awake at this hour Master Meridaoc?" she questioned.

"Oh, I did not mean to wake you Lady, I just...."

"You did not wake me, Merry. The darkness is not kind enough to let us sleep when all about us is alive." Éowyn beckoned Merry to her bedside and bade that he sit with her. Seeing his shivers, she handed him the blanket that sat at the foot of the bed. He accepted it gratefully. "Now what brings you to see me on this night?"

"I could not sleep," the young hobbit explained, "I was wondering why I came on this quest. I haven't helped in any way, I have just played the part of a heavy bag - full of things that aren't really necessary. I should have gone home when I had the chance."

"And what would have happened had you gone home?"

"I would have lived in peace, knowing that the Fellowship would have been better off."

"Would they though?" said Éowyn, "If there is one thing I have learnt in the past few weeks it is that every action, no matter how small, has a consequence. We cannot predict what these consequences are - sometimes they are for the better, and sometimes we would not want to predict what they could possibly be. If you and Master Peregrin had not come on this quest then we would be very badly off."

"What do you mean," said Merry, drawing the blanket tighter around his shoulders to ward off the cool air.

"Well, for a start Isenguard would not have been brought down. Then there's Rohan - had the 'three hunters', as you so call them, gone to Mordor as their fate should have taken them then the late Théoden King would not have been freed. That would have been a terrible thing indeed."

Merry smiled, considering these things. Being a hobbit, one of the races of Middle-earth who held little concern for other peoples in the world, he had not considered the positive effect his actions may have had on others in the grand scheme of things. "And there was the Witch King. I aided in the defeat of him too!"

"That you did Master Merry." Éowyn replied, a faint smile lifting the chill and cold light that shrouded her delicate features.

"I have a question though, if you don't mind me asking you."

"Go ahead."

"Why did you, when you had so many options and opportunities to escape insist on fighting?"

"I wanted to be free." Éowyn answered carefully and truthfully.

"Free from what?"

"Free from what I was destined to do. Merry, when you chose to accompany Frodo you did so not out of a wish of honour, but of friendship. I grew up in a land constantly on the brink of war, and I was trained as a shieldmaiden. I was not like the other women of my age. They were content to play out their lives as dutiful wives and mothers. I wanted to fight, to have honour."

"Surely it would have been honourable to lead your people to safety."

"Like I said Merry, we cannot predict the consequences of our actions. My stowing away reaped great reward for the men who did not desire my company."

There was silence for a moment, as each being dwelled on these thoughts. After several minutes in the darkness, Éowyn looked to her companion to discover his silence brought on by slumber. Gently she lifted him and carried him through to his own bed, which lay illuminated by a pale shaft of candlelight that flickered softly from a room beyond the doorway.

~~::~~

Merry woke again on that black night to view the never ending shadow that blanketed Middle-earth. He wasn't sure what it was that had woken him from his sleep, but it drew him onto a balcony overlooking the White City and all it was surrounded by.

As Merry looked to the east he saw small weaknesses in the shadow, small chinks of light that broke through the darkness. And in that sky, above what he guessed must be the heart of the black land, Merry saw a star. A single orb of light shining dimly and form far away, but it was nonetheless a light that lifted the veil. He wondered if, at that precise moment, Pippin was looking at the same star, or Frodo or Sam - the lone stars in the dark sky of Middle-earth's immediate future. He hoped that the light would lift their spirits.

Merry returned to his bed in the Houses of Healing with a renewed sense of hope. Hope that the quest would succeed, and hope that his friends would return. They would be reunited soon and a new dawn would break.

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A/N - Yes, before you ask, I do have a thing about stars and symbolism! It's because of all the work I did in art last year...

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