THIRD BOOK IN THE RANGER OF THE SOUTH TRILOGY
Keira gets a message from Gandalf that the One Ring is found, she immediately leaves to try and protect Frodo from the Nazgûl, leaving Erebor in the safe hands of her son, Thrain.
When she arrives in Ri...
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"It's true, you don't see many Dwarf women," Gimli said, sitting on a horse led by Éowyn. Keira was walking on the other side, she had flew the first hour with Carden before deciding she would walk beside Éowyn. "And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance . . . that they're often mistaken for Dwarf man."
Éowyn smiled and looked back at Aragorn, who was riding behind them.
"It's the beards," he gestured to an imaginary beard on his chin. Éowyn grinned and looked back at Gimli, while Keira frowned. Éowyn had grown closer to Aragorn the past days and it didn't go unnoticed by her.
"This, in turn," Gimli continued, "has given rise to the belief . . . that there are no Dwarf woman . . . and that Dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground . . ."
Keira, Éowyn and Gimli laughed.
". . . which is, of course, ridiculous." He threw his hands up and the horse suddenly galloped off, throwing Gimli to the ground.
Éowyn smiled and then quickly ran to help him, leaving Keira with Aragorn and Théoden.
"It's all right," Gimli said. "Nobody panic. That was deliberate. It was deliberate."
Aragorn and Théoden rode side by side, grinning widely. Éowyn looked back at Aragorn laughing. He laughed back, and his laugh turned into a smile, making Keira look away from the scene.
"Carden?"
"Yes?"
"Could you come down and get me?"
"Sure, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, just . . . nothing."
"I haven't seen my niece smile for a long time," Théoden told Aragorn. "She was a girl when they brought her father back dead. Cut down by Orcs. She watched her mother succumb to grief."
Keira followed the king's gaze and saw Éowyn looking dreamily at Aragorn, smiling, the wind in her hair.
It doesn't matter, you already have Thorin, she thought.
Had, a small voice inside of her corrected her.
"Then she was left alone, to tend her king in growing fear. Doomed to wait upon an old man who should have loved her as a father," Théoden finished.
•
Keira flew with Carden until they stopped for break, she tried to avoid Aragorn and Éowyn, wanting to get rid of the feeling. Unfortunately, her plan failed as Aragorn saw her and Carden and gestured for them to sit with him and Gimli.
Keira smiled slightly at him before sitting next to Gimli. Éowyn walked up to them with a cooking pot and bowl in her hand.
