Thank you for reading my fanfic dear readers :D

Estel, thank you for your review, and about Erubereth(mix of Eru and Elbereth) Eldarion keeps saying, he explained that he made that up when he was younger since he was half man and half elf (in chapter 1), but thank you for pointing out that it wasn't obvious enough! I will mention it again in chapter 4.

Oh, and please readers, do drop a review so I can quickly finish writing chapter 4 (the three first chapters were already written ;)), I need to know what you think of the story (do not be shy, I welcome all reviews as long as it is an honest one!)

Chapter 3 Delicate Subject

I had spent the rest of the day doing paperwork after meeting with my mother. At the beginning of the night, Talas had burst into my office with a few bottles of dworwinion. He had insisted that we go drinking in the castle gardens. Of course, Keran was also invited to this, and Arel always invited himself to Talas's harmless impulses.

Guards kept watch well at night especially in the gardens due to its external disposition. Keran could then drop his guard a little and accept one glass of the elvish wine which he still did not finish.

Arel almost threw up from nausea at just smelling the liquid, so he settled for just hanging around.

"Ernil nin, mar bedithach?" When will you be leaving my prince?

"Eärenya." Sea-day, I told him in Quenya.

Talas raised an eyebrow.

"Oraearon?" Sea-day? He repeated in Sindarin.

"Thand." It is true.

Talas jumped down from a mature beech tree and sat cross-legged next to me. He eyed me carefully.

"Aní rach i dulu nín? Na Nadron." Do you wish me to help? With Nadron. He asked with a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Um."

Talas chuckled at my hesitation.

"Worry not Ernil nin. He will come to no harm."

"I might not know exactly what you two are talking about, but it can't be good if it involves Nadron not getting harmed." Keran says.

Arel snorted.

"Ah, worry not, captain. The old man does need some attention."

"Sir Arel, you have only been recently promoted to a knight, I would not think it wise to mock a minister. And don't call him old man; he will throw a fit if he hears you."

"No mocking involved, sir, I swear, and I do not see any harm in calling him what he is."

"I will never understand why Lord Elboron promotes people like you."

"And I would never understand how you can be so boring."

"What?! That is untrue!"

Watching these two quarrelling has always been quite a sight. Talas laughed melodiously into the night.

"What entertaining humans."

"Well, Arel, it seems like Talas does not find Keran so boring. In fact, he thinks you are both entertaining." I say.

It was Arel's turn to laugh.

"I am a good teacher." He says wryly to Keran.

"We'll see who's a good teacher after I teach you a good lesson, little brat."

We laughed out loud. Keran and Arel were having a sparring match while Talas and I lay on the garden's grass to observe the stars.

"Ma andavë eruval, Talas?" How long will you stay, Talas? I asked.

"Umin Hanya." I do not understand. His eyes trailed over to me.

"Mar bedithach a Aman?" When will you leave for Valinor?

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in. I could have waited another time, another month or year before asking him this question. But deep down I wanted to know right away so I would not have to miss out on another farewell.

I opened my eyes to find Talas hovering over me. His silver eyes bore right into mine and so many emotions swirled inside those pools of moonlight, so much that I felt lost.

"Talas?"

He said nothing and remained where he was, still like a statue, only strands of his platinum locks being lifted by the wind.

"I am no immortal, and you know that. Whether we want it or not, someday we will have to bid."

"Áva quetë!" Do not speak! He cried out.

There was sorrow in his eyes. I had brought sorrow to such a joyful being. While he kept me company, I only thought of leaving his side. What kind of friend was I?

"Naethen." I'm sorry. I apologized.

I reached for his shoulder with my left hand.

"Nilmë ná ve ló të ya losta tennoio." Friendship is meant to last forever. I said.

"Half-elf, mellonin, I will carry it with me through eternity. That is my wish and you have no word in this."

He smiled at me. His smallest gesture meant a thousand unsaid words. He took the hand I put on his shoulder into his own and dropped into the grass next to me.

"Estelio nin." Trust me. He spoke softly.

"Estelion allen." I trust you.

We lay there. I tried to empty my mind. He started singing.

U i vethed na i onnad.
Si boe u-dhanna.

He was singing my mother's song. The song told of hope, trust, and also loves. I sang with him.

Ae u-esteli, esteliach nad.

When we reached the part of the chorus, a high and melodious voice joined us.

U i vethed na i onnad.
Na boe u i.

She placed a hand on my forehead as if feeling for a fever.

"I am fine, Riel."

"You are fine? Well, I am not. Mae Govannen, Talas."

"Mae govannen, herylnin."Well met, my lady.

I brushed her hand off of my forehead and sat up cross legged.

"What brings you here, Riel?"

She points at me.

Talas turned over on his stomach with his head propped up upon his hands.

"Haryal nie renya, Eldariel." You have my expression of deep regret, Eldariel.

"Le hannon, mellonin."

From afar, Keran stroke Arel's sword away. The blade broke when it collided with a rock. The two warriors were breathing heavily.

"I see Keran won again!" My twin sister exclaimed cheerfully.

"Indeed he did." I acquiesced.

They walked back towards us. The three of us stood up and dusted off our clothes.

Keran and Arel bowed to my sister.

"Princess Eldariel, it is good to see you." Spoke Keran.

"It is good to see you too, Sir Keran, Sir Arel."

"Good evening my lady. Have you come to watch the stars with us? " Arel asked.

Eldariel looked up at the sky for the first time since she arrived.

"Indeed we have a very beautiful sky tonight."

"But not nearly as breathtaking as you are this evening, my lady." Arel said in a flirty voice and a practiced smile; nothing like the smiles he gave Talas or his brother-in-arms.

Keran furrowed his brows and I sighed. Eldariel laughed and then spun on herself to show off her ivory dress. She looked every inch like me except for her womanly curves and a height a few inches shorter. While she did that, I realized that she was barefooted. Again.

"You are beautiful, my lady. I have no words to describe."

"Stop wooing my sister, Sir Arel. She isn't that beautiful, truly. She is just another me, but in drags."

Talas giggled.

"Rion! How could you?!"

In a moment of surprise, she shoved me down to the ground with all her weight. She stood there, and looked down at me smugly.

"The people would stop calling you the little Evenstar of Gondor if they knew how violently you treat me."

Talas let out another melodious giggle, Arel snorted while Keran just smiled. He offered me a hand and I took it. My sister pretended to look undignified, but I knew that she was only trying to cheer me up.

"I heard from naneth, and from Nadron."

"I have no doubt."

"Naethen."

I sighed and shook my head.

"Baw, do not be. It is as hard for you as it is for me."

I pulled out the silver evenstar and showed her the necklace.

"She gave me this, but I do not why."

"Father was the one who wore it throughout his life. Perhaps she wanted the King of Gondor to keep wearing it."

"This is a symbol of her gift to father."

"Her immortality."

"Yes."

"That is now yours to give, or not."

I frowned.

"Don't speak nonsense."

"I am not."

"Just stop. This is not the time and place to speak of the matter."

"It is. Your friends should know of this. You can't be alone forever!"

"Daro! This is what I was meant to choose from the day I was born. There is no room for hesitation."

She remained silent and slightly shocked by my raw anger. Talas remained silent, as if he already knew the story. Arel and Keran seemed confused, but they remained silent for formality's sake. Silence was our humble shelter in moments of sorrow.

"Forgive me, my friends. I have been unwell, but there is no reason to take it out on you all. Thank you for calling me out here. It has done me well, but I think I will retire for the night."

"It is no trouble, my prince. I will also retire for the night." Keran said.

I headed for the external hallway leading to the outer court and back into the castle.

"Du vaer." Good night, Eldariel called out to me.

I looked back at the three still standing there.

"Good night, to all of you."

Then I left with Keran.

All the way from the garden, back into the castle and now nearing my chambers, we walked in silence. We reached my room.

"Good night, sire."

"Did you not wish to speak?"

"I do, but it has been a long day for you."

"For both of us, Keran, but I do not mind because I know tomorrow will be no shorter a day."

I opened the door to my room and invited him inside. He did not argue. The fireplace was already lit by the maids and the room was warm and inviting. The thought of sleeping tonight was not such a bad idea after all.

I sat down at the tea table, and Keran sat down on the opposite side, just like this morning.

"Anything in particular you wish to talk about?"

He mused for a moment.

"The recent events have wounded all of us, but something else seems to be haunting you, my prince."

He wanted to know more about what Eldariel mentioned, but I didn't have enough dworwinion to be able to speak of it openly. I looked at the fireplace. The shadow of the flames danced on our figures.

"I think I might have been guilty of Ellen's death." I say calmly.

He looks at me with his eyes full of sympathy, waiting for me to go on.

"I do not only mean the fact that I was not paying attention to her. I think I did something else, and if it is truly what I did, then it is unforgivable."

"I do not see what you might have done to hurt the princess, my prince."

I pulled out the Evenstar from my tunic. I looked at the beautiful elvencraft, the details, the perfect diamonds and all the mystery it contained. I set it on the table, between I and Keran.

He looked at it.

"May I?"

I nodded.

He took it into his palm and examined it.

"It is truly a beautiful jewel, worthy of your mother the Queen."

I smiled.

"Would you tell me more about their story?"

"Do you not already know it?"

He nodded.

"I guess I only know what all of Gondor knows: the mortal numenorean, who loved only one elven lady, all of his life, who wedded her when the One ring was destroyed and lived happily with her until the day of his death."

I chuckled.

"Surely, you know more than that."

"Yes, yes, I'm just making a short version of it. You used to always tell me their tales when you were naught but a little boy."

"Keran."

His smile dropped and he looked at me.

"She will die of a broken heart. Queen Arwen will fade away from grief, unable to exist without King Elessar. I can see it in her eyes; the light has turned to grey."

He does not understand.

"The life of the Eldar is leaving her, but remaining with me even after Ellen's passing."

He looked puzzled for a moment. I look down.

"I am not highly gifted with solving riddles, my Prince, but I do hope you are not meaning what I think you are meaning. You do not mean you wish to die?"

He tensed. I shook my head.

"That's too farfetched, and unnatural, I guess, but what mother chose was not natural either."

He relaxed slightly at my negation.

"Even after nearly fifteen years, I still feel strange at times. I do feel at home, but it is as if something is missing and a part of me is lost, searching still for something."

"Is that why you are leaving for a fortnight?"

"Perhaps, I am unsure myself."

"I am your personal guard. My loyalties lay with you, Eldarion, without any title to ornate your name. I can guess a crisis is coming ahead and whatever path is forced upon you or chosen by you will not change anything for me."

"I wonder, Keran, what have I done to you or are you often like this?"

"Whatever do you mean, sire?"

"Perhaps you need some time away from your job. I've heard your vow once, there's no need to renew it unless you've broken it."

I raised an eyebrow and eyed him.

"I have not!"

I chuckled. He looked flustered.

"I am merely jesting, Keran, worry not."

He smiled.

"What about you Keran, what have you been thinking of?"

"Your troubles are mine, mostly, but if you must know, then the rookies are becoming more and more rebellious and it is a handful for me to train them."

"More like Arel, you mean? Challenging you to duels?"

"That is part of it, but the very young ones like to steal my things when I am not looking, and they are only thirteen, I can't bear to physically punish them just yet."

I laughed.

"Speaking of age, I am soon to be twenty-seven, but Miluyr has told me that I am growing slower, both in mind and body because of my elven heritage. It now bothers me, and it is not very practical for the days to come."

"Your knowledge and reason is desirable, even by older scholars, and you are not so unwise; definitely wiser than Lord Talas even though he is more than a hundred. You should not worry, it comes with age and experience."

I snickered at his comment about Talas.

"I believe there is a lot more than what meets the eyes. Talas is wise in his own way, perhaps only carefree and a little naïve," I told him.

"You're very wise about matters of the others, but less about your own."

"What surprises me is not what you are stating, but the fact that I know what you say is true, and yet I do not know what to do."

He shrugged.

"You will eventually know, I am sure."

I sighed.

"You need to eat more and grow bigger though, you are way too small!"

"I am not small, I am of average size."

"Not at all. You're still the same as when you were eighteen, and I'd think you'd still fit in Princess Eldariel's dresses."

Oh no, I did not need to be reminded of that eventful evening: Eldariel's canceled wedding. I pressed my right hand's palm to my face.

"Please, do not mention it," I said pleadingly.

"It was quite the spectacle I must say. The guests were quite amused, but King Elessar was extremely angry."

"Yes, yes, and I had the biggest scolding of my life. It was quite the traumatic experience."

"I think it was Prince Erchirion who had the shock of his life. He thought he'd be getting married to Princess Eldariell and he declared his ultimate love for her in front of six hundred people in the throne room."

"Enough, please, enough."

Unfortunately, Keran was far from done.

"But he ended up declaring it to his future King, and you just let him."

"I did not know what to do! Eldariel swore she would intervene at the right moment to set everything right, but she just disappeared! I was there and I had to go on ahead with the ceremony."

"And you broke his heart."

"I fled from the ceremony when he asked me if I wanted to spend the rest of my days alongside him. I felt that it wouldn't be proper or that it wouldn't be fair to keep lying."

"It has been years. He came to see you and your sister a year after the failed wedding to mend some wounds, but we never saw him again after that. He'll be there for your coronation though."

"And might play an important role for Gondor in the years to come."

"Yes. Actually, I have one more matter I'd like to speak of with you, if you do not mind."

"Speak."

"About the rumors that Lord Hator spoke of this morning, what part of it is true?"

I hummed.

"I will use the palantir to scout the orcs near Rohan. I hope that will be sufficient. The palantir can be used to see places in the present, but the mirror of the lady of Galadriel can see the past, the present and the future, and more, I suppose. Hator seems to be saying that evil magic is at work, and wants me to confirm it."

"Can you really do that?"

"I have yet to know if I can really do that. My little trip is not only to clear my mind, but also for this matter. I do not wish for middle-earth to live through the third age again."

"Is it dangerous?"

"That depends if black magic is at work or not. If it is not at work, then I will only be spying on orcs and hopefully see what they plan and why. We will have the upper hand and get rid of them swiftly."

"And if it is?"

"Then I might be directly challenging Sauron or whatever is out there to a one on one duel."

"But surely you should not risk that."

"I will be careful for it to not happen."

Keran sighed and shook his hand unhappily.

"I cannot let you do that. I will not."

"I am not even certain I will be able to do it. The reason for my travel is only to clear my mind and to try to see how the mirror works. I won't be doing anything harsh, so you do not need to worry for now. Take it as I am preparing for the worst."

"I trust you, sire."

"Thank you."

"So it is true then, that you have been trained by Lady Galadriel?"

"Lady Galadriel left at the beginning of the fourth age. I barely have any memories of her as a child, so no."

"Then how will you even know how it works?"

The second library.

I smiled innocently, only the small glint in my eyes could give me away.

He furrowed his brows. Then his eyes went wide. It was funny to watch him sorting out his own confusion.

"My prince," he began, "I am your personal guard and friend, and all the things you confide in me consciously or not, willingly or not will always be secrets that I will take with me to my grave unless you tell me to do otherwise, but your safety comes first."

"That is exactly what I thought, and I have thought of a plan."

"That is exactly what I was afraid of, but for Eru's sake, you are nearly twenty-seven years old, why do you still have to make me go through this?"

He looked desperate, but not angry. I smiled mischievously.

"I've already explained it earlier, but let me explain it to you again. You know that elves reach their maturity at the average age of a hundred? And since I am only half-elven, then I should be reaching maturity at around fifty?"

He shook his head with a big grin on his face.

"Fine, so what is your plan, princeling?"

I smiled at the teasing title.

"To be honest, it is nothing too elaborate; everyone thinks I have retired for the night. Galdin is sleeping; and there are two guards guarding the doors to the second library that I have to sneak by."

"What about the four other guards?"

"I've already taken care of that: the guards in the main library tonight will be Joyes, Alryn, Gelen and Etel."

"Nicely done," said Keran rolling his eyes.

"I just need you to distract Talas and Arel."

"What about them? They don't guard the library."

"Miluyr will be. He talks to Galdin a lot, so he must be suspecting something. And Talas doesn't sleep."

"He's with Arel, they're going to spend the night talking. So yes, he won't be sleeping, but that doesn't seem to matter."

"Talas's favorite tree is the one right outside the library's balcony."

"Alright, just tell me about the plan, my prince."

"You'll go and distract Talas and Arel away from the tree while I sneak into the second library."

"How long do you need?"

"A really long time: I need to find the right books, read them, scribe down or memorize the important parts, so I need as long as you can give me, just make sure I hear you talk before Talas can climb all the way back up on the tree."

"What if something bad happens?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Sauron appears out of a book or you get sucked inside of one."

"Nothing of the sort, worry not."

"I'm serious."

"I know the kind of magic, the worse that could happen, which I insist, will not, is that I will be knocked unconscious."

Knocked unconscious and maybe have one or two mind battles.

"And you will wake up whole?"

Hopefully.

"I should. I've never been permanently damaged before."

Hesitation filled his eyes. I stood from my chair and took a step in front of him then placed a hand upon his right shoulder.

"Estelionin." Trust me. The words I would always tell him when he started hesitating.

He closed his eyes and answered after a moment.

"Don't make me regret this."

"Have I ever?"

We gave each other a knowing smile.

Tonight was going to be an eventful night. I was not going to sleep even though I quite needed it. At least, I would not have to wake up to some nightmares.