Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters; I am only borrowing them for fun for a little while. They belong to J.R.R. Tolkien.
Many thanks to my Beta Readers – J. and Marsha
In Aragorn's Safekeeping Epilogue: Life in the King's House
Introduction: If you have not read 'In Aragorn's Safekeeping' you may as well stop right now as this will make no sense to you. This is an epilogue / sequel to that story that I promised to write. You may want to go and read that story - though I warn you it is very long!
If you are still reading this, then I'm assuming that you have read 'Safekeeping' and have knowledge of the characters, setting, etc. This epilogue / sequel picks up several months after Rebecca, Thomas, Aragorn, and Arwen have returned from Rohan after saying good-bye to the other members of the Fellowship and the elves, etc., and are pretty well settled into their new lives. As it is an epilogue it just starts right into the story without any introduction of characters as I do assume that you know them and the basic circumstances surrounding them. If you have questions, please feel free to email me.
I will tell you that updates on this will probably be slow as my first priority will remain my 'Brothers at Heart' story. I had originally planned to wait until I had this completely finished before I began posting it, but I as I had some of it done I felt I should post it as it has been six months since I finished 'Safekeeping' and I had promised to do this. Besides, I've missed writing about Rebecca and Thomas and it's been fun for me to write about them again. This will be pretty self-indulgent on my part and I hope to wrap up several loose ends from 'Safekeeping' that I just couldn't fit in at the time. As there will be four or five chapters to this I suppose it is probably more of a sequel than an epilogue, but it 'feels' more like an epilogue than a true sequel so that's what I'm calling it:)
Thanks for all of you who have been patiently waiting for this – Radbooks
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Chapter 1 – Questions & Concerns
Thomas poked his head into the library and found Rebecca curled up in a chair next to the crackling fire reading and sipping tea. She looked up and smiled as he crossed the room and she set her drink down on the small table beside her as he perched on the arm of her chair and leaned down and kissed her. "Good afternoon, my lady Rebecca," he said with a smile.
"Hello, Thomas," she replied, stretching slightly in the chair. "How are things in the Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor?"
He shrugged, "About the same, food is coming in from the South and heading to Rohan on a regular basis, orcs have been seen here and there in some of the more distant parts of Ithilien, but the Rangers are dealing with them. Elessar is still talking with some of the trade Guilds about how we might start doing some business with the people in the North. Anything happen in the Houses of Healing today?"
"I'm learning about how to take care of burns," she replied, "and a woman brought in a little girl that had fallen and cut herself and they finally let me do stitches." Rebecca gave him a rueful smile, "It seems that they finally trust me to do that."
Thomas stared at her in disbelief, "They just now think you can do that? After all you did during the war?"
"I'm very young for a healer, Thomas, and they don't really know what I've done, I've never really talked about it with any of them. I don't know what Adar told the Warden when he arranged for me to go there so he might know. It's obvious I've had some training as a healer, but remember I was trained by elves and I'm not sure they totally trust what I've been taught."
"So they've been teaching you from the beginning again?" Thomas asked, not understanding how the healers could be so foolish.
"No, not really, once they see I already know and understand something they move on," she explained. "It's actually gotten better since we returned from Edoras a couple of months ago, though I don't know why. I'm only there three days a week and there haven't been too many times when stitches were needed anyway," she shrugged. "It's all right, Thomas, its good for me to learn how they do things here."
"I suppose so," he dropped the subject since Rebecca didn't seem particularly upset about it, though it still bothered him that she was treated that way. "What are you reading?" he asked, taking the book from her hand and flipping through the pages.
"A box arrived from Edoras today," she exclaimed, "and that one is a history of the Riddermark and I just barely started it. I only got here a few minutes before you did." She arose from the chair and crossed to the table where a small pile of books was lying. "There's one here that you might actually like," she looked back at him and smiled.
Thomas grinned, "And why do you think that?"
"It's about horses, I think Éomer put it in," Rebecca handed him a small, leather bound book and Thomas looked through it with interest, stopping occasionally to read a sentence or two.
"Do you mind if I take it with me?" Rebecca shook her head. Thomas pulled a chair out from the table for Rebecca and she sat, looking at him questioningly as he sat next to her. He stared out into the garden for a moment watching the rain, which had been steadily falling all day, drip off the leaves of the shrubs and small trees. Turning back to her, he took her hand and said quietly, "You know that Thanksgiving would be celebrated next week… what do you want to do?"
"I know, I've been thinking about it and I don't see any problems with celebrating it here, it's an easy holiday to explain… giving thanks to God… Eru for the freedoms we have and harvest… and having a family dinner. It's pretty simple and I know Aragorn and Arwen would enjoy it. Thanksgiving is not the holiday I'm worried about."
Thomas nodded, "I know, Christmas is. But when do you want to have Thanksgiving? Should we just pick a date and have it the same every year, instead of trying to explain how it's the fourth Thursday of the eleventh month? I think it might be easier."
Rebecca shrugged, "That's fine, it doesn't really matter what day we celebrate it. Let's have it… Hísimë 23, that would be close to the date," and Thomas nodded. "But, Thomas before we even talk about Christmas we have to talk about something else," she looked away and then stood and walked back to the fire to warm herself. Thomas slowly followed her and waited patiently for her to continue. "Aragorn and I were talking once when we were returning to Edoras and I suddenly wondered how we were going to explain to our children that we were from another time." She looked up at Thomas with a bewildered expression. "Adar assured me that we would be able to explain things to them and I know that we will, but I wonder if we really want to celebrate a holiday like Christmas that has no meaning here, even if it has meaning for us. Won't it just confuse them and make things harder?"
Thomas sat down on the couch nearest the fire and pulled Rebecca down beside him, his eyes narrowed in thought. He stared into the fire and absently caressed Rebecca's hand for a time before he turned to her and spoke softly. "Rebecca, I know that there are so many things that our children are never going to know or be able to understand about us, but I do want them to have some sense of their heritage. Some idea of who we are… who they are and I think one way to do that is through celebrating holidays. They won't understand them until they are older because no one else will be celebrating them, but it can be just our special family tradition. And while I'm willing to give up many things because this is our home now, I don't want to lose all of who I am either."
"Well, no, I don't want to either, but I was just trying to think of the children and making it easier for them." She bit her lip and thought for a moment, "Maybe having a special holiday will actually make it easier when we do have to explain where we're from because they'll know how important it is to us since we've been celebrating special holidays since they were babies." Rebecca shook her head and sighed in frustration, "I just don't know, Thomas, I just want them to fit in here as much as possible."
"Rebecca, if we can fit in here, our children will," Thomas smiled, "and they should have an easier time. But they will be raised here in the Citadel and so their lives are going to be very different anyway. They won't be like the children down in the lower parts of the city and so having special traditions won't be that unusual… at least I don't think so. We can ask Aragorn and Arwen what they think; we need to talk to them about Thanksgiving anyway."
"No, you're right," Rebecca agreed, "we should talk to them, but I do think we need to celebrate it in some way, its important. Now we just have to decide how to celebrate Christmas."
"Well, Santa Claus is out, I am not going to try and explain him to Aragorn, Arwen, and Halbarad," Thomas said, grinning and Rebecca laughed.
"At least they've heard of Christmas since I told them A Christmas Carol, but I have no idea how to explain the birth of Christ, there isn't anything like church here and so there isn't anything we can compare it to. I assume that Eru is just another name for God, but where do we go from there?"
Thomas shook his head, having wondered the same thing for some time and had not come up with any answers. "The closest thing to any kind of religious thing is the Standing Silence, when they… we honor Eru and the Valar, it's very strange," he murmured. The two of them talked for awhile, trying to decide how to explain an event that had not even happened yet, that wouldn't happen for thousands of years. Then they discussed their own beliefs and if being in the past changed them in any way and came up with ways to honor and practice those beliefs, though they knew that some things would just have to be set aside. They were back to discussing how to celebrate Christmas when the door opened and Aragorn walked in.
"Are you two coming to supper?" he asked, frowning.
Thomas quickly glanced out the window and was amazed to see that night had fallen and he realized that he and Rebecca had been talking for well over an hour. He stood and helped Rebecca up, "Yes, we're coming, we just lost track of the time. I'm sorry, Adar" Rebecca repeated the apology as the two of them crossed the room towards Aragorn.
Aragorn eyed them closely before opening the door and starting down the hall towards the dining room. "What troubles you so much that you would be late?"
Exchanging a swift glance with Rebecca, Thomas asked Aragorn a question instead of answering. "Are you and Arwen busy after supper? We'd like to talk with you, if you have the time."
"Halbarad, too," Rebecca added quietly and Thomas nodded.
"I do not know about Halbarad, but Arwen and I are free this evening," Aragorn replied slowly. "Are you all right?" he paused with his hand on the handle of the door into the dining room, a look of concern on his face. "Do you need to talk now?"
"We're fine," Rebecca reassured him, patting his arm. "We just have some questions that relate to the time we came from that we don't know how to answer… how to deal with and we need your help."
Aragorn opened the door and ushered them inside, "Then we will talk about it after supper," he said quietly. "I am sure that the five of us will be able to come up with some sort of a solution," he said with a small smile and the two of them nodded as they crossed to the small table where Arwen and Halbarad sat waiting for them, and, also on this night, Faramir. He often came and ate with them, though it was not on any predictable schedule.
"Forgive us for keeping you waiting," Rebecca said, looking at Arwen, Faramir, and Halbarad in turn. The three murmured their acceptance of the apology and the two men, who had arisen at her approach, sat back down as she sat next to Arwen. Rebecca and Thomas were able to set aside all thoughts of future holidays and how they might celebrate them and just enjoy supper and the conversation. It became clear during supper that Halbarad had plans that evening to visit with the young woman that he had begun openly courting since their return from Edoras. Rebecca had been surprised to learn that he had never been married when she knew that most of the Rangers had done so at a much younger age. She knew there must be a reason for it, but had never felt it was her place to ask. But she could tell that Aragorn was pleased for his cousin and while Rebecca had only met the lady one time she liked her, and more importantly, Halbarad seemed happy.
After supper, Aragorn and Arwen led Rebecca and Thomas to the sitting room in their chambers so that they could speak about their concerns in a more comfortable setting than the library. After adding wood to the fire that had been started earlier, Aragorn joined Arwen on the couch and looked at Rebecca and Thomas questioningly. "Now, what did you need to speak with us about? What troubles you?"
"We were talking about some holidays that we would normally celebrate in the next month or so and one holiday will be easy to celebrate here. But, the other one is more… complicated and we are having a difficult time trying to decide how we could make the holiday meaningful for us," Thomas explained.
"Or even if we should celebrate these holidays at all," Rebecca added. "We think we should, but we wanted to ask you and see what you thought."
"Why would you not want to enjoy these holidays?" Arwen asked.
Rebecca explained about the talk she had had with Aragorn several months ago and then the discussion she and Thomas had just had and their concerns about how having these holidays might confuse their children in the future. She also told how they had decided that it would probably be a good thing for their children to have an awareness of their heritage even before they could be told the full truth about where Rebecca and Thomas came from. Still, they had some concerns and wanted to have Aragorn and Arwen's opinions because it would also affect them and their children since they all lived in the same house. As she finished her explanation, Aragorn and Arwen exchanged a long look and finally Aragorn answered.
"As I told you, Rebecca, there will be an answer for your children when they are of an age to understand such and so I would not concern yourself with that particular part of your question right now." Aragorn paused briefly. "Nor do I want you to be concerned about Arwen and I or our other children," he said, strongly emphasizing the word other. "While I do understand and appreciate that you are thinking of that," Aragorn glanced at Arwen again who gave him a small nod. "We want you to first think about what is most important to you, what you need to keep your heritage a part of you. It is important, I think, that you not lose that. It makes you who you are," he added softly.
"It does," Thomas agreed, "and it's also why we live with you," he pointed out with a small smile which Aragorn returned. He looked at Rebecca, but she motioned for him to continue. "Then the next holiday for us is called Thanksgiving and it's celebrated on Hísimë 23. It's a time when families get together to thank Eru for the harvest that year and the blessings he's given them and their freedom and things like that," he explained.
"Your time has some wonderful and very meaningful holidays," Arwen commented.
"It does, though I don't think this one is celebrated everywhere," Rebecca said, "but it is in our country."
"Are there any special things that you do on this holiday?" Aragorn asked.
Thomas looked at him blankly and chuckled when he realized he hadn't fully explained Thanksgiving. "Mostly it's the family gathering together and having a special meal. There are certain foods that we eat that are traditional and people don't work that day and things like that," he replied.
"What sort of food do you eat?" Arwen asked.
Rebecca and Thomas looked at each other, suddenly realizing that this part of Thanksgiving was not going to be as easy as they thought. "Why don't you tell about how your family did it, Rebecca? You had a big family and I'll bet you did it quite a bit different than mine; we just had a nice turkey supper late in the afternoon. What did you do?"
"There were just more people at mine, Thomas," Rebecca replied, taking his hand. "We usually went over to one of my aunt and uncle's houses and ate a huge meal with lots of people. It was always very crowded." She smiled fondly in remembrance. She looked at Arwen, "The main meat eaten at Thanksgiving is turkey and then we eat things like potatoes and gravy, dressing, sweet potatoes, different vegetables, salads, rolls, and for dessert there is always pumpkin pie with whipped cream, but other kinds are usually served too."
"I have never heard of many of those things," Aragorn said, glancing at Arwen who was shaking her head. "What kind of meat is… turkey? And I do not know what dressing is, or sweet potatoes, or pie… pumpkin or any other kind," he looked between Rebecca and Thomas with a puzzled expression.
"I was afraid of that," Thomas muttered. "A turkey is a really large bird… like a big chicken, I guess. There are wild birds, but the ones we eat are raised like chickens and are about eighteen to twenty pounds," Aragorn's eyes widened at the thought of a chicken-like bird that big. Thomas glanced at Rebecca, but she appeared lost in thought and so he continued. "Dressing is made of bread and things and it is 'stuffed' inside the turkey when it's cooked, it's really good," he added and Aragorn nodded; he had never heard of dressing but it sounded like other kinds of things that were stuffed inside of birds. "Sweet potatoes are sort of like regular potatoes only the inside is orange… I don't think they taste very sweet," he wrinkled his nose and grimaced. "That is one food I won't miss."
Thomas thought for a moment before continuing, "Pumpkin is a vegetable that is big and orange," he held out his arms to show them and again Aragorn and Arwen looked surprised. "I don't know how they make the pie, but it's good. But other kinds of pies have a thin crust and then some sort of fruit filling with another crust on top and it's cooked. It's like a fruit tart and I'm sure you'd both like that," he said, grinning at Arwen and Aragorn, who gave him small smiles. Thomas turned his gaze back to Rebecca and softly called her name and she looked up with a start.
"I'm sorry," she said giving them a sheepish smile. "I started thinking about how we could make some of those things and I just lost track of what you were saying. I know I can teach the cook how to make pie, even if we don't have pumpkin, I know there are apples and apple pie is good. Do you like apple pie, Thomas?" He grinned and nodded. "I don't mind about not having sweet potatoes, so the only thing we don't have is turkey and that's the most important part… at least of the meal." Rebecca sighed, "I suppose being thankful is really what's important, but the dinner and everyone eating a special meal is important, too. Especially, since we got together with all my family that we didn't see very often."
"Then we will just try and find something to substitute for the turkey," Aragorn said. "Something different than chicken since we eat that often. Some wild fowl such as pheasant or perhaps a goose would make it a special meal."
"Does goose taste good?" Thomas asked dubiously.
Arwen laughed lightly, "It is very good and I am sure that the cook would do a wonderful job of cooking it for us."
"That's what they ate in The Christmas Carol, and I think it could be stuffed like a turkey, Thomas," Rebecca said rather eagerly and Thomas nodded his agreement.
"Next week I will send out some Rangers to find some geese for us," Aragorn said with amusement, thinking of how they would take that particular assignment. "Is there anything else we need to do?"
"No, just make sure that Halbarad… and Faramir are there. Maybe Hinluin and some of your other Rangers should be invited, too. It's a family celebration," Thomas said, "and for friends too." He stood and added wood to the fire, staring at the flames for a moment before rejoining Rebecca on the couch.
"I do not know if they would be comfortable, but I will invite them," Aragorn said after a moments thought. "I am sure that Hinluin will come."
"You can't work that day," Rebecca reminded him and Aragorn raised an eyebrow in question. "It's a holiday and the family spends the day together. Talking or playing games," she glanced at Thomas, "We can finally teach them how to play a card game." Thomas grinned at Aragorn. "Well, it would be nice if you didn't have to work, Adar, but I know that you might have to. I do understand that being a king is not exactly like most other jobs," she said, smiling.
"I should be able to, but I will not know until a day or two before, sell-nín. What is the other holiday, the one that is causing you such concern?"
"Christmas," Thomas said, sighing. "It's on Ringarë 25 and we just aren't sure what to do to celebrate it."
"Christmas is the holiday that was in that story that Rebecca told," Arwen said. "The one where Scrooge went from being a miser to being a giving, more cheerful man, is it not?" Rebecca nodded.
"It is also held right before Mettarë," remarked Aragorn as he took Arwen's hand in his own thinking back twelve years to a special Mettarë the two of them had spent together in Imladris.
"What's Mettarë and when is it?" Rebecca asked.
"It is the day after Ringarë 30 and it is a holiday that celebrates the winter solstice and the end of the year. It is the main winter holiday that we have here," Aragorn replied.
"How is it celebrated?" she asked.
"Gifts are given, a special Mettarë log is burned, and family and friends gather together to visit and to share a meal," Aragorn answered.
Rebecca and Thomas exchanged long looks, but neither said anything and Aragorn and Arwen let the silence stretch on until finally Arwen spoke. "The story never said what Christmas celebrated, Rebecca If it is not the end of the year or the winter solstice, then what is it?"
"That is the problem, Arwen, Adar," Rebecca replied softly. "It's not something that Thomas and I can easily explain to you. It's something that has very meaningful and important significance to us and yet there is nothing to compare it to here. I will say it relates to Eru," she said, frowning in her frustration at her inability to explain things more clearly. "The gifts that are exchanged are in honor of something that won't happen for thousands and thousands of years yet and for Thomas and I that is confusing enough."
This time Aragorn and Arwen exchanged puzzled glances. "We will honor your wishes not to explain the full meaning of the holiday to us," Aragorn said slowly, though he was somewhat surprised by their unwillingness to share something that was obviously so important to them. He ran his hand through his hair and his eyes narrowed in thought. "Would it be better to celebrate this holiday privately… just the two of you?"
Thomas immediately shook his head, "No, it's a family holiday too, like Thanksgiving. There's a special meal again and we have to have a Christmas tree – we'll have to make decorations, Rebecca – and we sing songs besides exchanging gifts."
Aragorn and Arwen laughed at his enthusiasm. "What is a Christmas tree? What kind of songs do you sing?" they asked at the same time.
"A fir tree or a pine tree that you cut down and bring into the house and decorate it with… pretty things," Rebecca replied, not bothering to explain colored lights or tinsel.
"We have special kinds of songs we sing at Christmas called carols, but I don't know if I know the words to very many of them," Thomas said with a frown. "We need to write them down, Rebecca, so we don't forget them." Rebecca indicated her agreement.
"You bring a tree into the house?" Aragorn couldn't keep the amazement out of his voice. "How big a tree?"
Thomas shrugged, "As big as you want, though most houses didn't have the high ceilings that our home does," he glanced upwards. "So, most would only be six or seven feet tall, I guess."
"So, you decorate the tree and then what?" Arwen asked, her expression as confused as Aragorn's.
"The presents go under the tree and you open them on Christmas morning," Rebecca explained. "I know it sounds strange to you, but it's just one of the traditions and the tree was always so pretty lit up with colored lights at night and with presents under the tree and the children so excited." Her voice held a certain wistfulness that none could miss and they could tell she was lost in her memories. Thomas took her hand and she didn't notice for a moment and then she looked at him and smiled.
"Then we shall have a tree," Arwen said firmly, "but I do not know what colored lights are."
Rebecca gave her a sheepish grin, "I didn't mean to mention them. We can't have or make them here because you need electricity," by now both Arwen and Aragorn had heard that term often enough to have a very vague idea of what it meant – some sort of power. "But it is sort of like little candles in glass and the glass is different colors – red, green, blue, yellow – it's very pretty when it's on the tree."
"I imagine it is," Arwen said quietly. "We will have to decorate this tree in some other way." Rebecca nodded. "You mentioned a special meal, is turkey also served at this meal?"
"It can be, but we usually had ham or sometimes roast beef," Thomas replied.
"We always had ham, too."
"That is easy enough," Aragorn said. "Now about these gifts," he gave them a small smile, "what sort of gifts do you give?"
"Whatever you want to give," Rebecca said, looking down and playing with the tassel on the pillow next to her. "Something small is fine, even something homemade." She looked up at Aragorn as she realized something. "Especially as you mentioned this Mettarë holiday has gifts as part of it," she suddenly looked worried. "Are those big gifts? Maybe we should skip gifts at Christmas, Thomas, and just have the tree and sing and eat together."
Aragorn laughed, "Do not worry, sell-nín, I believe that we may have gifts on both holidays, I just wanted an idea of what sorts of things might be exchanged, if there were some special types of gifts that are given for the occasion."
"In my family the gifts were usually based on what we needed, clothing and things like that. When I was younger, I'd get one toy," Thomas said.
"It was the same in my family, though I often received books," Rebecca said with a smile.
"That does not surprise me," Aragorn commented, smiling at her. "Is there anything else? About either of the holidays?"
"Not that I can think of," Rebecca replied slowly, "but if we think of something else, we can tell you later."
"All right," Aragorn said standing and stretching before moving to the window, he could not see anything in the darkness outside, though he could now more easily hear the steadily falling rain. He turned back, looking first at Arwen and then at Rebecca and Thomas. "I hope your hearts are set more at ease after speaking with us. I believe that these holidays of yours… and now Arwen's and mine as well, will turn out to be special for you. I am particularly interested in hearing you sing, Thomas," he said with a grin. Thomas laughed even as he realized that the words to the songs would have no meaning to anyone here, but he decided he was going to sing at least some of the songs that he knew and then explain what he could.
"Thank you, Arwen, Adar" Rebecca said, moving to Aragorn and embracing him tightly before more gently embracing Arwen who stood to bid them good night. Thomas also thanked them before the two of them left and headed to their respective chambers.
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To be continued…
Reviewers: Thanks to everyone who reads the story and especially to those who review, I appreciate the encouragement. I will answer everyone by email if I have an address.