A/N: Ended a lot differently than I originally thought. The starred portion represents text from "The Fellowship of the Ring", when Frodo first meets Arwen. Well, I hope you like it and please review!

A Word About the Series: This is the first part of a continuing post-LOTR series named "The Meribor Chronicles". They don't have to be read in order, but as I write more of them, I might reference other stories. It will include both book and movie verse.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Year Three: The Maladies of Men

FO 28

"Aragorn, she is burning up!"

"Peace, meleth nîn. It is only a fever. Here, give her to me."

"Only a fever? I have heard that men can die from such sicknesses!"

"Ridiculous. Who told you that?"

Arwen Undómiel, daughter of Elrond, *in whom it was said that the likeliness of Lúthien had come on earth again*, muttered a few choice words in elvish under her breath. "I am going to kill those two."

"Not in front of the child," teased her husband gently.

"Do not start; you are not much better. And I am not in the mood to care. As soon as I get my hands on Hadhafang…" Arwen broke off just as Meribor began crying in earnest. Looking slightly panicked, the queen bombarded Aragorn with questions: "Is she all right? Is she in pain? What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to relax. You will only frighten her," replied Aragorn as he laid the small child in her bed. "Meribor is not in pain, she is simply sick." With surprising swiftness, he dipped a small cloth into a basin of cool water that he had prepared earlier and lay the soaked cloth on his daughter's forehead.

Meribor squirmed. "Wet," she moaned.

"Lie still, tithen pen. It will make you feel better." The king turned to find his wife hovering over his shoulder. "She will be all right with sleep and a lot of water."

"Water. Sleep," repeated Arwen flatly.

Aragorn sensed the fear in his wife's voice — unlike her brothers, she had had limited exposure to mortals before their marriage and knew little of the sicknesses that could ail them. He took his wife's hand and pressed it to his lips. "Arwen, I swear to you, she will be fine. It is normal for human children to get fevers." Seeing that his words had only slightly eased the queen's worry, he decided to try another tactic. He left Meribor's side, Arwen quickly taking his place, and pretended to rummage through the chest at the foot of their bed. A few curses in dwarvish caught his wife's attention and suddenly she stood in the doorway, watching him.

"What is it?" she asked softly.

Instead of answering, Aragorn countered with a question of his own: "Is Meribor sleeping?"

Arwen nodded and repeated, "What is it?"

"My herbs. I forgot to replenish my supply here, but there might be something that will bring down her fever."

His distraction worked; Arwen seized the idea like it was a lifeline. "What herb?"

"Feverfew. It is no good trying to find it in Minas Tirith as the plant grows best near water…Where are you going?"

Arwen was halfway to the door, her eyes shining as she turned to answer. "To find Ivoreth, of course. She should have it in her stores."

Aragorn shook his head, knowing there was no use in trying to stop her, yet pleased that he had found a way to distract his wife. He gingerly shut the trunk and padded on silent feet to his daughter's room; he had a sneaking suspicion that someone was not really asleep. It was odd that Arwen had not noticed, even though she was distracted. Still, he was surprised by Meribor's act — her body was relaxed, her eyes closed, her breathing even — and he even doubted himself for a moment.

Meribor cracked her eyelids open a little to find her father sitting beside her. With a groan, the child tried to roll over but Aragorn caught her feet.

"There is no fooling your ada," Aragorn laughed. "I know you are awake."

Blearily Meribor sat up. "How know?" she demanded.

"Iell nîn, I shall tell you if you promise never to say a word to Naneth, all right?" The king gingerly lifted his daughter into his lap and put his lips right next to her ear. "I have eyes on the back of my head and I could see you moving after your mother left," he whispered, barely containing his laughter as Meribor whipped around to face him, her grey eyes wide.

"Let me see!"

Aragorn knelt on the ground and turned around for Meribor as the princess climbed to her feet, the washcloth falling away and forgotten by both. He felt tiny hands run through his dark hair in an effort to find the hidden eyes. A pang of sadness hit Aragorn as he remembered that his mother and brothers and foster father and nearly all the elves of Imladris had claimed the same thing. For the next month after, he had been terrified to make the slightest mistake.

"No eyes, Ada! Eyes not there," announced Meribor.

"Where do you think they went, Merry?"

The three-year old pondered the question for a moment before clapping her hands gleefully and saying, "You ate them!"

Aragorn laughed and swept his daughter up into the air and threw her high, catching her gently before setting her on the bed. "You need to get your sleep, tithen pen. Your mother will not be pleased if she catches you awake."

"But Ada…"

"How about a story? Which one would you like to hear?"

"Horsey! Tell a horsey story! Tell me a story about your horsey."

Aragorn smiled, but it was tinged with sadness. Meribor loved animals with a passion; and if she could, she would spend all of her day in the royal stables, simply watching. "You want to hear how I met Roheryn?" he asked softly, remembering that the beloved horse had passed away a few years before Meribor's birth.

Meribor nodded eagerly. She burrowed under the covers, pulled them up to her chin, and rested her hands on her stomach in an attempt to appear angelic. Aragorn snuck a glance at the door before leaning in and whispering, "Are you ready?"

—

I first met Roheryn and his mother behind the stables of a tavern. I was cleaning out the boxes for money; in those days, I had very little of it. I thought that the stables was empty — in fact, the tavern owner's assistant assured me that it was. There was little to be done, so I finished my work and collected the pay before heading out of the town. I was supposed to meet my…my cousin Halbarad.

"Why you sad, Ada?"

"I am sad because I do not get to see my cousin anymore."

"Why? Is he far away?"

"Yes, iell nîn. He is very, very far away…Are you enjoying the story? Yes? Good."

Halbarad and I had parted two weeks ago — "Is that long?" "For some, yes. Hush now; you do not want to miss anything that happens." — and I was excited to see him again. Unfortunately, I had lost my horse quite a few days ago. I would have to walk to our meeting spot, and it had begun to rain.

"Why did your horsey go away?"

"I do not know, Merry. Perhaps he was tired of having to carry me on his back."

"Was he a mean horsey?"

"I should think not. He bore me very dutifully for a number of years."

I ducked inside the tavern, hoping to get a room for the night, but there was no space left. Then I asked the tavern owner if I could stay in the stables until the rain stopped; he said yes and brought me some food and something to drink. I told him how grateful I was and he muttered that it was nothing. Then he was gone. I was alone in the barn with nothing but the soothing sound of rain pounding on the roof.

Meribor giggled. Aragorn stopped to stare at his young daughter. "I fail to see what you find so funny…"

"You allg—aller—alger—"

"Allergic?"

The princess beamed. "You algeric to rain!"

Aragorn made a mental note to fix her pronunciation of the word later. "Who told you that, Meribor?"

"Dan and Ro," his daughter said. "It make you itchy and red."

Aragorn made another mental note to have a talk with his brothers, preferably far away from Meribor. The young girl seemed as much in awe of the elven twins as he had been as a child; she took their word seriously. It was a fact that made Arwen and her husband very, very nervous.

"It make you sneezy. It make you cry. It make you scream. It make you — "

"All right, enough," he said as civilly as he could. "You should not listen to everything your uncles say."

Meribor frowned. "Dan and Ro say big girls listen to elders."

"Big girls do, but they also listen to their parents. As your father, I am far older than you — "

"Dan and Ro say they are oldest people."

Aragorn was going to find those two, tie them up, and deliver them to Arwen on a silver platter. No, first he was going to use them as target practice — it had been rather peaceful in Gondor as of late and he was sure the guards would appreciate the exercise; then they would rot in the dungeons for a few years; and then he would give them to Arwen. "Do you want me to continue with the story?"

"Dan and Ro — "

"I think we have had enough of them — "

"No, Ada, look!"

Two identical elves with long, dark hair and grey eyes and foolish grins plastered on their faces bobbed in the doorway. One of them winked at Meribor, who giggled and clapped her hands. Aragorn glared at his brothers before dipping the washcloth in the basin and placing it back on his daughter's forehead. "I really need to have a talk with you two," he growled.

"Uh oh, Merry. Your ada wants to talk with us. Is that good or bad?" teased Elladan.

Meribor wrinkled her nose. "Bad."

"Bad? Oh, how I fear for us!" Elrohir pretended to swoon, aiming for Elladan's arms, but the elder twin neatly sidestepped and the younger went crashing to the ground.

"You deserved that," muttered Aragorn under his breath, soft enough that his daughter could not hear. "I will thank you not to tell Meribor that I am allergic to rain."

"We were telling a story and it got to a point where you were poisoned. We thought that it would be too terrifying to tell our favorite niece and turned the symptoms into your allergic reaction to rain," Elrohir said simply. "Really, you should be thanking us for preserving Merry's innocence."

"Of course. I shall show you my gratitude by having my guards escort you to my city's lovely dungeons," replied Aragorn.

"Peace, muindor! Surely you would not arrest us in front of your daughter?" Elrohir had gotten up from the ground and now he sat on the bed next to Meribor, placing his hand on the little girl's brow. "Tithen pen, are you sick?"

Meribor nodded. "Ada and Naneth say I have fever. Naneth getting feverfoo."

"Ah, yes. Feverfew," Elladan said, gently correcting his niece. "You know, our ada — your grandfather — had a whole garden of that herb? He kept it especially for our dear king, who seemed to run a fever every single week." He winked at Meribor when Aragorn growled. "You know, there was this one time — "

"Meribor, do you want me to tell you the rest of the story?" Aragorn asked a little desperately. "I was in the tavern stables when suddenly there was a loud banging noise that frightened me out of my wits! I decided it — "

"Here, I shall finish your ada's dull story," Elladan said grandly. "There was a loud banging noise and it turned out to be thieves that were trying to rob the lovely establishment. Estel fought them all off, but he was wounded and there was a lot of bl — " The elf trailed off at his twin's stricken expression.

"We are supposed to preserve her innocence!" Elrohir hissed.

"She will have to face it sooner or later," insisted Elladan.

"Not if I have a say about it." Arwen's voice descended upon the quarreling brothers like a thick, warm blanket and the twins meekly turned to face their sister. Aragorn hurried to take the herbs from his wife's hand, along with a bottle of honey that Ivoreth had sent, and began to prepare the feverfew while Elladan and Elrohir dealt with Arwen.

"Muinthel nîn, you cannot protect her forever," Elladan argued. "It has been peaceful in Gondor as of late, but it is not as if there is no danger. When she is older, she will see injury and she will see death."

Aragorn covered his daughter's ears as she ate the honey-covered herbs.

"Exactly, Elladan. She is three years old, and when she is grown, my daughter will see those horrible things. I do not intend to frighten her with stories destruction and war now!"

Elladan shook his head slowly. "You cannot protect her forever," he repeated sadly.

Arwen cast a look at her daughter, who was losing the battle against sleep. "Maybe not, but I intend to try."

Ada - daddy

Naneth - mother

tithen pen - little one

muindor - brother

iell nîn - my daughter

meleth nîn - my love

muinthel nîn - my sister