TITLE: Night-time in the Gardens (1-7/?) AUTHOR: Nosila E-MAIL: purpledluva@yahoo.com RATING: This part is only about a PG-13, for one little f/f kiss at the end, but later parts will be NC-17 for f/f sex. PAIRING: Arwen/Eowyn, Aragorn/Legolas hinted at. DISCLAIMER: All belong to Tolkein, who is probably rolling over in his grave. FEEDBACK: Please. It will help me to write better next time. Also, if I get no positive feedback I probably won’t continue to post this, because I’m a little unsure about this. ARCHIVE: Ask and ye shall receive. (I’d be honoured, just tell me SUMMARY: Arwen likes Eowyn. Eowyn takes her to a private clearing in the garden. Things progress from there. NOTES: All the boys in LOTR seem to be fucking each other, so I though the girls might be too. By the way, this contains SLASH, if you hadn’t figured that out already. If you don’t like slash, piss off. Also, I am British. Meaning I’m using English spellings, not American ones. Please don’t tell me I’ve spelt things like grey wrong. To me, gray is spelt wrong. She was beautiful. Not like me, but still beautiful. I wanted her. How could I not? She was a shield-maiden, strong and brave, like Aragorn. I’m attracted to people who are strong and brave. Probably because I do not feel at all strong or brave. Beautiful, yes: brave, no. I want to be brave. I try to be brave. But it is so difficult. I wish to hunt Orcs with Elladan and Elrohir (I hate them as much as they do) but Father will not let me. I could defy him; I suppose; but I love him too dearly and have not the courage. So however much I want to be a brave and beautiful shield-maiden, I cannot. Brave and beautiful. A fitting description of Eowyn. All I want is one night with her. In a week I would be married to Aragorn. The best night to be with her would be tonight. No one would notice. Aragorn would not. He will most likely end up drunk and in Legolas’s bed. The only problem was Eowyn. What if she doesn’t want this? I approached her, walking across the crowded dance floor. She was so beautiful. Her hair was like a river of gold falling to her waist, and her eyes were a deep bluey-grey, offsetting her fair skin and hair. She smiled at me as I came near, plump red lips revealing straight white teeth. She made me tremble slightly, and caused an ache to start between my legs. She smiled again, this time knowingly, as if she knew the affect she had on me. “Arwen. It is a pleasure to see you here.” Oh, Elbereth, she had to know. The way her voice seemed so smooth, and deep- it made my knees weak. “Eowyn,” I managed to reply, “The pleasure is mine.” If only she knew. She offered her arm. I took it. “I have heard elves are greatly fond of plants. Is it true?” “Yes, it is.” “Would you care to come with me on a night time stroll? I could show you around the gardens, if you wished.” “I would like that very much, thank you.” I could barely conceal my nervousness as we walked. Surely it was not normal for her to show guests around the gardens at night. Did she want what I wanted? Surely not. She opened a door, leading me out. The cool night air hit my face, refreshing me. I took a deep breath. The garden was beautiful at night. Behind us, I could hear the muffled chatter of the other partygoers. Everything seemed to have a dark blue haze surrounding it. The only noise was the rustle of leaves in a gentle breeze. There was no noise from any animals except the grasshoppers, who were making their chittering noises as normal. The peacefulness calmed me down, cooling my sweaty palms and slowing my racing heart. Eowyn turned to me, another rare smile gracing her lips. She led me down a path towards a small wood. “There’s a small clearing I’d like to show you, Arwen.” I enjoyed the way my name rolled off her tongue. “It’s very secluded, very private. I think you’ll like it.” She couldn’t possibly mean what I thought she meant. There was no way. The path she was leading me down was almost non-existent. You had to be looking for it to see it. She was right, this clearing would be very private. The clearing, when we came to it, looked magical. Soft green grass covered the floor, surrounded by tall trees with silvery bark that created dark blue shadows on the grass. Leafy branches hung overhead. You could look up through them to see stars, shining and white against the velvety night-time sky. A tree had fallen across the middle of the clearing. Eowyn guided me to sit on it. She then leaned over and kissed me, on the lips. After I got over my shock, I eagerly responded. * Her lips were firm as she pressed them against mine. Her tongue flicked against mine, then went on to explore my mouth. Her hands rubbed my shoulders before travelling down my body to rub against my breasts. Her fingers found and pinched my hard nipples through the silky cloth of my gown. I wanted to feel her hands on my bare skin. I tried to undo the small buttons on the back of my dress without breaking the kiss. I whimpered in disappointment when Eowyn pulled away to let me take off my dress, and to take off her own. I stripped off my dress and underwear, finishing a few seconds before Eowyn. When she was finally naked we both stood, gazing at each other. Her body was perfect. Her breasts were just the right size, not too large, not too small, with rosy pink nipples that stood erect. Her legs were long and firm with muscle, and between them was a patch of curly dark gold hair. Her stomach was flat, and her skin was pale and creamy, and unblemished. She was beautiful. She reached forward and grabbed me, pulling me close. Her mouth went to my neck, and I threw my head back and moaned as she blazed a trail across my collarbone and down to one of my breasts. She then started kissing and sucking at my breast. When she bit down on one of my nipples I yelled out. When she pulled away I cried out at the loss. “Arwen, I need you to lie down now, okay?” Some part of me marvelled at this, at the fact that even though I was so much older she seemed so much more experienced. She had maybe done this before. I, with my over-protective father, had never done anything like this before. I lay down on the cool green grass. I felt slightly damp, but that could just have been the sweat on my skin. Above me, high in the sky, the stars look astoundingly beautiful, clear and bright in the sky. I barely had time to marvel at them, though because at that moment Eowyn knelt between my legs. She kissed me there, then sucked fiercely on a spot that seemed to be the centre of everything I was feeling. My reaction was instantaneous. I screamed; throwing back my head and arching into the air as my whole body shuddered. It was amazing. It was everything I had ever dreamed of, but never been able to experience. Eowyn pulled herself up beside me and gently took my hand, watching my face. She pulled it down between her own legs and rubbed at herself. She was hot and wet. I liked how she felt. I could feel coarse damp hair brushing against my palm. She was rubbing my fingers over a small nub, and into her hot, wet hole behind it, moaning in pleasure. I enjoyed watching her: her face flushed with pleasure, sweat on her forehead, eyes half closed and mouth slightly open. Her hair fell around her face, its dark gold complimenting her red cheeks. I watched, fascinated, as she cried out, her body shaking. Hot liquid ran over my fingers. She smiled, sleepily, and raised my fingers to her mouth, sucking them clean. She stroked a piece of hair from my forehead. “You’re so very beautiful, you know that?” She curled up to me, falling asleep, and as I prepared to do the same one thought lingered in my mind: I want to do this again. With Eowyn. * I woke up to the sound of the birds singing and slowly sat up. Lit by the first rays of morning light the clearing didn’t look as magical as it had the night before. Tree bark that had looked silvery was now an ordinary brown, deep navy blue shadows had disappeared, bright stars had faded and the peaceful quiet had gone. Looking around, I could not believe last night had happened. It seemed like a dream. A beautiful dream. It had happened though. I was naked and Eowyn was lying naked beside me. In the morning light she no longer looked so alluring. Her beauty had a more wholesome look to it. She stirred, slowly waking. “We should get dressed,” I told her. I wasn’t feeling cold, but I guessed she would be. We dressed in silence. I wondered what would happen now. Would we just go back to our normal lives, and forget this had happened? I didn’t want to. But what if she did? What did last night mean? Or was it meaningless for her? It wasn’t for me. Fully dressed I turned to leave the clearing, still deep in thought. I was startled when Eowyn grabbed my arm, stopping me from leaving. Her clear blue-grey eyes searched my face. “Arwen, we need to talk. But not now. We need to get back before people start to wake up and notice we’re missing.” After last nights party I thought it would be a while before anyone woke up, but I didn’t say anything. I just nodded, silently agreeing. “This afternoon. Meet in the rose garden.” “I’ll be there.” “Good.” She released my arm. I turned, and left. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The rose garden was one of my favourite places in the gardens, but not my favourite. After last night, the clearing in the woods was my favourite place. The rose garden was rectangular, and surrounded by high stone walls. Tree branches with dark green leaves hung over the walls. In a week or so roses of all colours would bloom there, but now they were just starting to come out. The rose beds were rectangular with stone paths in between them. At the end of the garden was an old grey stone shelter with a long wooden bench inside it. I could see Eowyn sitting on the bench. I walked down the centre path and sat beside her. She nodded a greeting. “Hello.” I didn’t know what to say. I had hoped she would know. But she didn’t seem to. So I decided to start. “Look, I don’t know about you but I enjoyed last night. And I want to do it again.” “What about Aragorn?” “Didn’t you enjoy last night?” “Of course I did. It was one of the best nights of my life. But you are going to marry Aragorn, and I am going to marry Faramir. They aren’t going to go away.” “They don’t have to know. We’ll be careful. And they won’t think there’s anything suspicious about us being together. They’ll just think we’re doing ‘woman things’. They won’t realise.” “Won’t you feel guilty?” “Why should I? Aragorn sleeps with Legolas. He thinks I don’t know. And Faramir probably sleeps with others too.” “Yes. I do want to be with you, Arwen. I’m just scared of what Faramir would say if he found out.” “We’ll hide our love. We’ll be seeing each other every day. We can devise a way of letting each other know if we can sneak down to the clearing that night, to be together. Please Eowyn. I want to be with you.” I leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. She kissed me back, but then pulled away “Okay. You’ve persuaded me. We’ll meet at night, when everyone’s asleep, as often as we can.” She smiled at me. “I’m free tonight.” “Me too.” “Good. See you tonight, elf.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ That night was even better than the night before. * Life went on. I married Aragorn. Eowyn married Faramir. Eowyn and I continued to see each other, like we’d arranged. I slept with Aragorn, so he wouldn’t think anything was wrong, but it was never as good with him as it was with Eowyn. I don’t know if he still slept with Legolas. A large part of me hoped he did. Even if I wasn’t in love with him any more I still cared about him. I wanted him to be happy. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ It was about six weeks after that first night when I heard about the hunting trip. It was going to be huge: almost all the men were going. It was a perfect chance for Eowyn and I to be together. I met up with her in the rose garden – the roses were now in full bloom. There were so many different colours; red, pink, yellow, white. I couldn’t help stopping for a minute to look, before walking down to the shelter where Eowyn waited. “Eowyn, did you hear? About the hunting trip?” She smiled at me. “Yes, I did. And I want to take you somewhere special, Arwen.” “Where?” “A beach I found. It’s very beautiful. And no one will be there at night.” I shivered at the implications, thinking of what we would do. She leaned over and kissed me; starting gently, but getting more and more passionate until I pulled away for air, breathless and gasping. “We shouldn’t,” I said. “Someone might see.” Her eyes glittered as she leaned close to me. “So?” “So, Aragorn. And Faramir. They might hear about it. And we can’t let that happen.” “No. But I almost wish they would.” “You wish they would what?” “Hear about it.” “Eowyn, are you mad? They can’t hear about it. They wouldn’t understand.” “I know. I just feel guilty, cheating on them like this. And I hate having to hide our love.” “Me too. But it’s the only way.” She nodded slowly. She looked sad and uneasy. I kissed her, long and deep, to banish whatever thoughts were making her look like that. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ A few days later the hunting party left, and that evening I went down to the gardens to wait for Eowyn. * The beach, when we got to it, was gorgeous. We stood uphill from it, looking down on it. The hills in the distance looked blue and pale green in the twilight. The hill we were standing on was grassy, with sheep grazing in green fields separated by crumbly stone walls. The sea was a deep blue, and although the sky held a few clouds it was still a warm night. The beach itself was covered in soft white sand, which I knew would be everywhere before the night was over. I turned to Eowyn who was laying out blankets on the ground. “You’re right,” I said, “It is perfect.” She nodded. “I’m glad you like it. When I was younger I used to come here to think. It’s always been one of my favourite places.” I watched hungrily as she started to unpack the picnic basket she had brought. I had last eaten with Aragorn, just before he left. Eowyn looked up, saw me watching, and smiled. “Turn around, Arwen. I want this to be a surprise for you, okay?” I turned around reluctantly, and listened to everything around me. In front of me the sea stretched on for miles and miles, it’s waves crashing on the shore before me. Behind me, I could hear wind rustling leaves on the bushes and trees, and the sounds of Eowyn unwrapping and setting out everything she had brought. “Turn around.” I did, and gasped when I saw all that she had brought. There was cold meat – chicken, turkey and ham, with little jars of sauce to go with them. She had fresh fruit, peaches and bananas and strawberries and cherries. The peaches and bananas had been cut up into little slices and arranged neatly, but the cherries and strawberries had been left whole, just their stalks and leaves removed. Another platter had been cover in cheeses, with crackers and biscuits to go with them. To drink there was a bottle of fine red wine to go in two crystal glasses. She smiled up at me, handing me a plate. “Are you going to stand there and stare, or are you going to sit and eat with me?” I chose to sit and eat with her. All the food was delicious, I’m sure, but to be honest I didn’t pay much attention to it. While we ate we talked, mostly about unimportant things: gossip we’d heard, people we both knew, a play Faramir had taken her to, a restaurant Aragorn had taken me to. I didn’t pay any attention to it. All I could think about was her. Eowyn. The way she was so beautiful, inside as well as out. The way she did things like this, made me feel so special. I felt strangely wonderful inside, all light and happy, but also like some part of me wanted to cry from the sheer bliss I was feeling. I felt tears start to well up in my eyes. Eowyn noticed, and stopped mid-sentence. “Arwen, are you okay?” Her voice was warm, caring. I looked at her, studying her face. I knew what I wanted to tell her, I just didn’t know how to say it. “I’m fine. But, Eowyn, I wanted to tell you…” I stopped, watching mesmerised, as she raised a strawberry to her lips. They curved round it, framing it as she bit off the end. Some juice trickled down her chin, leaving a red trail behind it. She cleared her throat. “Arwen?” I felt my face flush as I looked back up at her now amused eyes. I screwed up my courage, preparing to speak. “I just…I just wanted to tell you…” I took a breath. “I love you, Eowyn.” * She leaned forward, kissing me softly, her lips caressing mine. She pulled back again, gazing into my eyes, her own eyes dark and starry. “I love you too.” She leaned forward, kissing me again. Her lips were warm and soft. Her tongue brushed against my lips and I opened them to let her push her tongue into my mouth. She tasted like strawberries and cream, and a flavour that was unique to Eowyn. I tilted my head back as she started to trail her open lips down my neck, her tongue flicking against my skin. I moaned and my nipples grew hard and tingled with sensation as she took my breasts in her hands and started to rub them gently. She moved her mouth further down as she flicked open the buttons on the front of my dress agonisingly slowly and trailing the silky material over my skin, leaving a trail of fine goosebumps over my flesh. I pulled us both backwards, till I was lying on the ground, and she was lying beside me. Our lips met in another kiss as I clumsily pulled the buttons on her dress apart, and she finished undoing mine. I cupped her breasts in my hands, rolling and pinching her nipples between my fingers listening to her gasp and moan. "Please, " she murmured against my skin, "Please, Arwen…please, I beg of you." I smiled against her lips, enjoying being the composed one. More often than I would like it was her who had me begging for release. Now, I wanted to return the favour. I pulled her up until she was straddling my face, and her most private parts were directly over my mouth. I stuck out my tongue and flicked it across her clit, tasting her juices as they ran down over my lips and chin. She bucked her hips, wanting more than the fleeting licks I was giving her, but I held the tops of her creamy thighs to stop her from moving. She groaned, deep in her throat, tossing her head back and making her golden hair cascade down her back. "Arwen, please…I cannot stand much more of this…it is torture! Please, Arwen, please…" I took pity on her, and closed my lips around her clit, scrapping my teeth over it and listening to her keening cries of pleasure. I felt exquisite thrills go through me at the idea of having so much power over someone - it was exhilarating. Her whole body shuddered as her orgasm swept through her, making her cry out to the stars high above us, as they watched us give each other pleasure in this most intimate way. She slumped bonelessly, and I rolled her over on to the warm sand beside us. "Oh, Arwen," she groaned, lying panting on the sand. "That was amazing." "I'm glad you liked it." And I was. It made me feel giddily happy to know that I could make Eowyn feel so good. However, I now wanted some attention. I sighed, wondering if Eowyn was too tired to return the favours I had bestowed on her. She heard my sigh and rolled over, tugging at my arm to get me to roll on to my back. I mewled as she then lowered her body down over mine, till I could feel the erect points of her nipples brushing my back. She rubbed her breasts against my skin, sliding down my back before sitting up and straddling my hips. I moaned and twisted as she started to place feather light kisses across my shoulders, wanting more contact than what she was currently giving me. She laughed slightly, and I thought she was going to continue with her maddening torture, but she slid her hand in between my legs and found my pulsing clit. With her other hand she reached round and roughly pinched one of my nipples, and I screamed as I came under her manipulating fingers. We collapsed into a sweaty heap, our limbs tangled together in an intimate embrace. My chest heaved as I gasped for breath, but she was now calmer than me, although her face was still red and her hair was a riot of blond curls. She smiled, looking happy, and I wondered if I should say something. After a moments thought I chose to say nothing; because there did not seem to be anything to say. Instead I just curled in closer to Eowyn, wrapping my arms round her as she wrapped her arms round me. As we snuggled closer to one another it seemed that nothing else mattered, that nothing else even existed. All of Middle-Earth had disappeared apart from this one, small patch of sand that Eowyn and I had just found such pleasure on. The patch of sand that we had just loved each other on. Because I was now certain that that was what we had done here tonight. We had made love. * I smiled giddily, high as the moon. My whole body seemed to be humming with anticipation. I was sure it had to be obvious to everyone around me, but no one had mentioned anything. Maybe they were just being polite. The reason for my excitement? A small, folded piece of paper tucked into a pocket concealed in the folds of my gown. It had one word on it - a word that would have mystified anyone else but I and one other person. Tonight. Eowyn had slipped it into my hand when we had bumped into each other earlier this morning. She hadn't said anything, just quickly pressed it into my palm with a look that could be described as knowing, or maybe sultry. Some mixture of the two. A look that had excited and thrilled me, and made me think of what was to come. ************ The rest of the day passed in a blur. I did everything a queen was supposed to do - talked with people, attended meetings, met with other noble ladies and comforted Aragorn when he complained about all the paper work he had to endure now he was King of Gondor. I sometimes think he preferred being a Ranger to being King. Eventually, evening came. In a few more hours I could slip down to our clearing in the woods and meet Eowyn. However, I still had to make nice with Aragorn for a bit longer, till I was absolutely sure he was sleeping soundly. Then, and only then, could I go. Even after all this time, Eowyn and I had to keep our relationship a closely guarded secret. Aragorn came out of the luxurious wash room connected to our bed chamber and came over to where I was lying on the bed. He leaned down and kissed my cheek. "I hope you don't mind, Arwen, but I feel exhausted. More tired than I can ever remember feeling as a Ranger. Sort of brain-weary, as if my mind is clouded with exhaustion." He smiled, wry and tired. "I didn't realise how much paper work was involved with running a kingdom. Would you mind if we extinguished the lamps straight away?" As always, he was polite and courteous, worried about my comfort. So sweet of him, really. But I could only think of Eowyn, and her golden beauty. Not for the first time I felt guilt at deceiving him this way. Even though Legolas was on one of his many visits to Gondor, I did not think he had been sharing a bed with my husband. "Of course we can extinguish the lamps. If you feel as tired as you do, sleep is probably the best thing for you." We kissed, gently, but the feeling of his soft lips and bristly hair against my chin only intensified my guilt. I tried to banish the feeling from my mind. The idea of leaving Eowyn was unthinkable, and that was what I would have to do if I wanted to free my mind from guilt. I watched him as he rose and snuffed out the flickering lights coming from the small lamps that adorned our walls, before crawling into bed beside me, rolling onto his side. I smiled, gently stroked some dark hair off of his careworn face, and lay back, waiting for his slow breathing to become regular and steady. ************ I waited an hour or two before slipping out of bed and into a simple gown. Holding my breath for fear of discovery, I stole down the narrow corridors and winding back staircases to the garden door normally used by the servants. I always used the servants corridors when I was going to visit Eowyn: they were less likely to ask awkward questions, and even if they did gossip, what harm could it do? It would inject some entertainment into otherwise dull lives. No one here seemed to realise what a wealth of information servants were. The grass was cool under my feet as I walked over the lawn, wet mud occasionally squishing between my toes. The night air grew perceptibly colder as I passed under the shadows of the trees, till I had to repress a shiver. Our outdoor meeting place had been perfect in the summer, but now was starting to grow cold. Still, I would be warm enough before the night was through. Eowyn was waiting with her back to me as I stepped in to the clearing. She turned and came rushing over. "Finally!" She softened her exasperated tone with a smile. "What took you so long?" I smiled back, reaching over and twining my arms around her slender neck. "Unlike your Faramir, Aragorn does not fall straight to sleep the moment his head hits the pillow." She wrapped her arms around me, drawing me close into a soft kiss. I sighed as our lips met, closing my eyes and opening my mouth to her questioning tongue, and relaxing my body till it moulded against hers. She undid the ties on my gown and let it fall to the ground. I shivered as the cool night air hit my skin, my nipples instantly pebbling. Eowyn ran slender hands over my goose-pimpled flesh, before pushing me down till I lay on the ground, feeling the cool, damp grass push up against my back. I ran my hands through silky blond hair, pulling at her gown, as pleasure slowly overwhelmed us both. ************ I crept back into mine and Aragorn's rooms, smiling at the lazy feeling of contentment that rolled through my body. My whole body felt floppy and overworked, but in a good, satisfied sort of way. I was the cat who'd got the cream. Grinning at my mental image of Eowyn and myself as cats, I didn't immediately notice what was wrong as I slipped beneath the bed covers. Aragorn wasn't there. I froze, cold horror replacing the warmth I had felt just seconds ago. Where was he? Why wasn't he here? Did he know? Had he followed me? Had he been just pretending to sleep - he was a Ranger after all, and one brought up by the elves - it would be child's play for him to follow me, and watch Eowyn and I together. What would happen if he knew? What would he do? What was going to happen? These questions, and a thousand others raced through my mind. Panic suffused my mind, my body was paralysed with fear; I knew I had to calm down, to think clearly - it was just so hard! Eventually, after what seemed like hours but could only have been minutes, my mind calmed and I allowed my body to gradually relax. I was overreacting. He had most probably just not been able to sleep, and decided to take a walk to calm his mind. It would not be all that unusual - but he had been exhausted when he came to bed. Or, at least he had acted exhausted. Maybe I was being too suspicious. It could be perfectly innocent. Maybe he had woken up to find me gone, and had gone looking for me, anxious that something was wrong. That would be like him. If that was the case I could just say that I could not sleep and had gone for a walk. He could maybe even be with Legolas. There were too many maybes. Anyway, there was no sign of him, and I did not want to face a possible confrontation tomorrow with no sleep. Inside me, I was sure that there would be one, and I wanted to be calm and clear-headed when it came. With that sense of foreboding in my mind, I tried to relax, and let sleep take me.