Part 4 of the Elfwine Chronicles. The Elfwine Chronicles are a series of one-shots, of which there will definitely be three, but MIGHT be more if I come up with more ideas.

Perfect

(Aug, 6 IV)

"Mama, can I go swimming?" Five-year-old Elfwine gazed expectantly up at his mother as she sat mending some clothing.

"Sweetie, Mama is very busy today. I do not have time to take you. Perhaps another day." She didn't look up from her task.

But the child was persistent, "Papa could take me."

She laid down the shirt she was working on and smiled at her son. "Yes, Papa could take you, but you already know that a king is very busy. I do not think he will have time today."

Elfwine wiggled with barely contained hope, "But maybe if you talked to Gamling you could convince him to let Papa go!"

At this comment, Lothiriel's brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed. She considered the situation a moment and then laid aside her sewing and stood. Reaching for Elfwine's hand, she said, "Let us go talk to Papa about this matter..." Her voice trailed off, laden with suspicion.

When they stepped out of her chambers, Lothiriel pointedly turned in the direction of the Golden Hall, but Elfwine hastily spoke up, "No Mama! This way! Papa is in his study." He tugged at her hand, and her mouth twisted knowingly as she let him lead her off in another direction.

When they reached the study, before she could knock, Elfwine lifted the latch and dragged her into the room behind him. "Papa, will you take me swimming? I brought Mama to ask you!"

Eomer looked up from reading a report and gave a neutral smile to his wife and son. "What is this?" he asked.

Lothiriel eyed him pointedly, "Your son seems to think I might be able to persuade Gamling to release you from your work for a few hours this afternoon so that you may take him swimming."

Eomer smiled innocently at her, "Where does the child get such notions?"

Lothiriel put both hands on the desk and leaned across it, staring Eomer right in the eyes. "He gets it from his father, my lord!"

Eomer shifted uneasily, "What do you mean?"

"You know very well what I mean! You have resorted to using your son as a pawn in order to get some time off!"

Realizing he was caught, Eomer gave her a sheepish grin and then asked hesitantly, "Did it work?"

Unable to hold back any longer, Lothiriel burst into gales of laughter. "You two..." she sighed, wiping at her eyes. "What am I ever going to do with you?"

Eomer came quickly around the desk and slipped his arms around her waist. Nuzzling her ear he suggested, "You could come with us..."

With another laugh, she kissed him quickly and pushed him away. "Stop your scheming! I will see what I can do so you boys can go play, but someone has to do some work around here!"

She turned toward the door as Eomer scooped up his son. Just before she reached it, she heard Elfwine whisper loudly, "Did I do it right, Papa?" Choking back a laugh, she hastily dashed out the door as Eomer replied, "Perfectly!"

THE END

A/N: Thanks to all who have reviewed and let me know they are enjoying these. And thanks for the suggestions you sent/send to add to them. If I haven't used your idea it may only mean I haven't yet figured out how to make it work.

End note: It is not essential that you read the Elfwine Chronicles in the order they were written, but there is an advantage to doing so. The more of them that I wrote, the more likely I was to make reference to one of the previous ones and something that happened there. If you want to read them in order, go to the top of this page and click on my name (Deandra). That will take you to my profile page. Scroll down and you will find all the stories I have written. The Elfwine Chronicles are in order from bottom to top since ffn shows them in the order they were posted. A few were posted out of number order (#15 came after #17, I think), but you can read them in posting order or number order since those few won't be affected in the story content.