A/N: Three posts in three days!? What!? I'm on a roll! Unfortunately it will most definitely not last so enjoy it for now.
Elrond watched the three brothers horsing around in the courtyard. He hated to interrupt, but it was necessary. Estel was twenty and he had decided to join the rangers. It was time he learned who he really was. Elrond sighed heavily. This would burden the young man for the rest of his life. He walked into the courtyard.
"Estel!" The man looked up from his position on top of Elrohir.
"Yes Ada?"
"Come with me. We need to talk."
The young man stood. The twins exchanged a knowing look. The were aware of their little brother's heritage and knew that their father was planning on telling Estel before he left to join the Rangers. Estel followed Elrond through the house and into the elf's study. Elrond motioned for Estel to sit and the man did do with trepidation. He had seen the look the twins had shared.
"Is something wrong Ada?" he questioned.
"You are leaving to join the Rangers soon," Elrond stated, ignoring the question.
"Yes," Estel said slowly. "Why? Should I not?" Again Elrond ignored the question. He reached into his desk and pulled out a long object wrapped in cloth and unwrapped it. On the desk lay a sword, broken into many pieces.
"Do you know wha this is?" Estel nodded.
"The shards of Narsil. Isildur's sword, broken by Sauron."
"What else do you know?"
"It is said that it will be reforged when his descendant takes the throne of Gondor. Isildur's heir."
"Yes," Elrond said thoughtfully. He picked up the hilt and handed it to the young man across from him. Estel took it gently.
"What does this have to do with me?"
"After your father was killed, your mother brought you here, hoping you would be safe here. Safer than you would be with the Rangers. Far more opportunities for someone to figure out who you are. Here you would remain hidden until you were ready."
"Ready for what?" Estel was very anxious now. His mind was putting the pieces together and he did not like to picture that was forming.
"We gave you a new name and I agreed to foster you as I have for many in your line. Little did I know that the four year old human would worm his way into my heart so easily, but you did. And I swore I would protect you, but I cannot protect you from this and for that I am sorry."
"Ada?"
"That sword belongs to you Estel. Your name is Aragorn, son of Arathorn, heir of Isildur and the true king of Gondor." There was a clatter as the sword hilt feel from Estel's hand.
"No...no I'm not," the man stuttered.
"You are throne of Gondor is your birthright."
"But I don't want it! I don't want to be a king!"
"I am sorry Estel. I wish you did not have to carry this burden."
"Why did you not tell me?"
"You were not ready to know and I was not ready to lose you."
"What if I refuse?" Elrond sighed.
"If you do not accept the title of king than you will live in exile, like all of your ancestors, dating back to Isildur's son."
"Then I chose exile!" Estel, no, Aragorn turned and walked out of the study, his mind playing over the whole conversation. He didn't realize his feet had taken him outside until he heard Elladan and Elrohir call his name. He ignored them and went to get his horse. The twins called his name again and came towards him. Aragorn didn't bother to saddle his horse. He mounted quickly and took off into the forest. Elrond approached the twins. Elladan looked at him.
"I see it went well."
"Let's hope Legolas arrives soon. If anyone can talk Estel down it's him," Elrohir said. Less than an hour later the Mirkwood party arrived, accompanied by Imladris guards. Elrond and the twins went out to greet them. The prince jumped lithely off his mount and met the three, smiling. He embraced and looked around.
"Where is Estel?"
Elladan replied, "Ada told him. He didn't take it too well and took off."
Legolas nodded and mounted his horse again and urged the animal into the forest, after his best friend.
Legolas found the young human sitting by the river, his horse grazing quietly a little ways away. The elf sat in silence next to his friend for close to hour before the man spoke up.
"How long have you know?"
"Since I met you." Estel snorted derisively.
"So everyone knew and no one bothered to tell me."
"Estel..." Legolas started,
"Aragorn. My name is Aragorn. Or so I'm told."
"Aragorn then. Don't blame Elrond mellonamin. This was something you didn't need to have to deal with. He didn't want you to have to live with the knowledge, but he also knew that he couldn't let you go out in the world no knowing who you were."
"A world that is full of evil because of my ancestor's weakness. The same weakness that is in me."
"No!" Legolas said harshly, startling the man. "You are not weak. And more than that you are not your ancestor. You have your own faults. You have your own mistakes. Thranduil may be my father but that does not make me responsible for his mistakes. You cannot blame yourself for the mistakes of a man made thousands of years ago. You are the strongest man I have ever known." Aragorn laughed wetly.
"I'm pretty sure I'm the only human you know." Legolas playfully shoved him.
"That is not the point botuu," he said, laughing as well. "And you totally just ruined the moment."
The man smirked, "Well then, you'll just have to tell me how great I am some other time." Legolas leaned in close to his friend.
"In your dreams tithen pen." And proceeded to push the man into the river. Aragorn let out a yell of surprise. When he resurfaced he saw the elf had fallen over on the bank, cackling.
"Legolas!" Aragorn grabbed the prince and dragged him in to. The elf barely had time to close his mouth before he hit the water.
"You are dead edan!" The two spent the next hour basically trying to drown each other before they dragged themselves, exhausted but happy. The twins were right. Legolas was the only one who could calm him down. Aragorn was definitely in a better mood than when the elf had found him.
"You know, there is one upside to this," Legolas stated. Aragorn raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"There's a little bit of elvish in your bloodline and that means you'll have a longer than average lifespan." He nudged the man's shoulder. "You get to put up with us longer than you thought, Provided you don't get yourself killed."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence there. If I die early it'll probably be because of you."
"Oh you think!?" Legolas exclaimed indignantly. "Out of the two of us which one is one: more clumsy and two: less experienced when it comes to staying alive?"
"Well for one, I'm not the one who fell out of a tree trying to impress a girl and second, haven't you had more near death experiences than the number of years I've been alive?" Legolas glared at him.
"First off the tree thing was not my fault and with the near death experiences the key word is near." Aragorn laughed and stood up walking over to his horse.
"We should probably head back. My overprotective father and brothers are probably getting ready to send out a search party." Legolas stood up too.
"You're not wrong. They've done it before."
"I sense a story there," Aragorn said mounting his horse.
"Not one you're going to hear."
"You're no fun." They rode in silence for a few minutes before Aragorn spoke up. "Said story wouldn't have anything to do with you in a dress would it?"
"I take back what I said earlier about you having to put up with us for a while. You'll only have to deal with me because I'm going to kill the twins when we get back." He said this way to calmly for Aragorn to be completely positive he was kidding. It was too bad really. He really liked the twins.
A/N: Translations:
mellonamin= my friend
botuu=moron
tithen pen= little one
edan= human
I got these from multiple different sites and have no idea how accurate the sites were so sorry if I used the wrong word. I am not fluent in elvish.
