AN: This is my first story ever! please be gentle and R&R
I often arise early in the morning, leaving behind the warmth of my bed to walk in the sun's first light. I have done so since I was young, dwelling with my mother, father and brothers in Rivendell and then when I dwelt with my grandmother in the Golden wood. I did it because it gave me time to think, time to simply be, alone and unhindered.
As I wake to do so this morning I first look down at the face of my husband. This is a habit I developed since the morning I woke beside him and it gives me no less joy, if not more than it did then. He is so peaceful when he sleeps, untouched by the cares of running a kingdom or fathering a family. He is truly beautiful and I lay a soft kiss upon his brow. Even in his sleep he smiles. I smile back and gently ease myself out of the bed, so as not to wake him.
I continue to tread quietly as I leave, for there is more than one in this room whom I do not wish to wake. My youngest child, our precious Eleniel, is still a babe and slumbers in our bedchambers in her bassinet as her brother Eldarion and two sisters Berúthiel and Gilraen did before her. That bassinet has served us well and I am ever grateful to the dwarf Gimli for crafting it for us. I move silently forward and gaze into it, as I have done for many mornings.
Eleniel is as peaceful as her father when she sleeps. The similarities between the two do not end there. She broods silently as he does, thinking deeply and drinking in the world around her, just as her father is wont to do. I see she will be as strong as him and perhaps just as unsure of herself as he used to be. She loves me, this I know, but her affection for her father is something different. It runs deeper than just a daughter's love for her parent. The two of them are kindred spirits, rapt in each others company. They need no words to understand one another, which is a blessing for she does not yet have words.
When a moment comes where Aragorn finds himself unencumbered by his duties, he seeks out the children and me. With Eldarion he practices with the bow and sword, dueling for hours on end until they finally tire. Either that or they simply tussle, play-fighting in the abandoned halls, making the palace ring with the sounds of their merriment. With the two girls, he sits in their bed-chambers, reading stories or joining in their games. With me he talks and we laugh together, and he sometimes reminisces of his times in Rivendell or tells me stories of the fellowship of the ring.
But with Eleniel he simply cradles her against him and strides through the palace to find a place to be. It doesn't matter where they are, as long as they are alone. I see them sometimes on their walks together. Aragorn gazes down at her and whispers to her in elvish. Her gaze never wavers from his face, her little fingers clenching one of his in a tight fist. In those moments, they are the only two people in the entire world.
As I think of this, looking from my husband to my sleeping babe, I am happier than I have ever been. It is for this reason I forsook the immortal life of my people, to remain behind with this man and raise this family. This is the life I dreamed of when I turned back from the road to the sea, when I argued with my father that hope yet remained and when I looked into Aragorn's eyes on the day he came into his sovereignty. Words cannot express how grateful I am to see these days play out before me.
With one final look back, I leave my babe and my husband to their slumber and go out into the garden, singing again a song of thanks to the Valar.