"I can't believe this," uttered Ivorwen as she sat by her mirror fixing her hair.

"He might not be that bad," commented Elwing who was sprawled on her older sister's bed with Gilraen sitting next to her.

Tonight the royal family was to dine with one of the King's council members who needed to speak with Aragorn about an "important matter." The man had not received sufficient time during the last meeting to either present or explain his new idea and so suggested that he could come and speak directly with the King during dinner. Though Estel was completely opposed to inviting him, he decided he might as well allow this councilman to get whatever silly concept he had out of his system so Aragorn could easily decline him without embarrassing him in front of the entire council.

But it just so happened, that this council member had a son of about eighteen and upon hearing that the King's sixteen year old daughter would be attending dinner thought it would be the perfect time to introduce the two. Arwen had promptly informed her oldest daughter but also warned her to be on her best behavior knowing that Ivorwen had one of the sharpest tongues in the kingdom.

"Not that bad? Ellie you know as well as I that all these councilmen's sons are all the same. Pompous, ignorant, fools who think that I will fall in love with them at first glance!" Ivorwen retorted.

"This one could be different! You never know," Elwing sat up brushing her golden hair over her shoulder.

"I shall never understand boys," remarked Gilraen as she sat hugging a pillow, "Therefore I feel that I will never marry, for I simply do not desire to deal with those," she paused, "creatures."

Her sisters laughed. Ivorwen had finished putting her hair up and came over to her bed sitting between the two.

"You are only twelve Gil, you have quite awhile to meet men and decide if there is one tolerable enough for you to deal with," Ivorwen said smiling while Gilraen looked rather unconvinced.

"Well I know it'll be some time before I settle down!" exclaimed Elwing.

"Oh?"

"Yes, I want to travel and see all of Middle-Earth before I am tied down. Maybe I can be a Ranger like Father!" she grinned.

"I'm sure Mother will be thrilled," Ivorwen stated sarcastically.

They all knew that Aragorn probably would not mind if his daughter wanted to be a Ranger. At the moment, he was still training Eldarion to become one, which was proving to be quite difficult with the King's busy schedule. Arwen would most likely not mind either, but she was in the difficult process of trying to make the excited princess into a lady. In fact, the Queen was trying to make all the girls into ladies as well as Eldarion into a gentleman, but when realizing that these were the children of Strider the Ranger and a rebellious elf princess she knew it was almost hopeless.

There was a knock on the door and then it opened to reveal their brother who didn't look very happy. The three girls all looked to him with questioning expressions.

"I was told I needed to escort you all to dinner tonight," he finally said wondering why his father was making him do this.

"Aww!" was the response he got from his sisters, making him suddenly wish he had at least one brother.

"Yes, yes, now come along!" he urged and the three finally got up to follow him.

As the children of the King and Queen of Gondor entered the dining room, they were met by the councilman and his son who rose from their seats to bow. The two were finally introduced as Lord Aldamir and his son Eldacar the latter never taking his eyes off a rather cold looking Ivorwen. With that pompous smirk and groping eyes the princess already didn't like him; it was like she was already his. She did all in her power to look uninviting and unfriendly, but could only silently curse her elvish beauty and its attraction for men.

The meal started off fairly well with Ivorwen simply completely ignoring Eldacar's glances and smiles. But further on, the young man realized he needed to take more drastic measures.

"My lady, may I compliment you on your appearance tonight?" he asked smoothly.

"No, you may not," Ivorwen answered quickly.

"Ivorwen," the Queen warned.

"Forgive me, please, continue with what you wanted to say," she stated sweetly.

"I just wanted to proclaim how beautiful and elegant you look Lady Ivorwen."

"That is all well and good, but I am sure you know that beauty is only skin deep and so it is indeed a shallow thing to compliment upon," she uttered in one breath.

While Arwen was about to throw her daughter out of the dining room, Aragorn was pretending to ignore the situation and seemed to only be listening to Aldamir, though was thoroughly enjoying Ivorwen's conversation. The King never had a problem with his daughters when they were witty or showing off that they were smarter than any of the council members' sons. He would never allow them to belittle their intelligence simply because a man walked into the room. Arwen, on the other hand, simply realized what a handful she had been to her father when she had acted the same way. She just wanted her girls to be polite and lady-like so Gondor would accept them. Their society was so packed with rules of decorum it was stifling, but to earn respect most of them had to be followed. So far, her children as well as herself and her husband had broken a good handful of them. But Arwen knew if her children wanted any respect they needed to follow the Gondorian ways. It was easier said than done.

"I … I'm sorry," stuttered Eldacar, rather bewildered at the turn of events … and did he just get insulted?

Well he wasn't one to give up so easily, so he jumped into the shark infested waters again.

"Well, my lady, I hear you are into politics, so what is your opinion about trading with the Harad nation?"

Ivorwen, at first, was surprised that he was actually still speaking with her, and even more so that he asked about Harad. Clearly, from his tone of voice, he was one of those prejudice Gondorians who fully opposed having any connections with the once enemy nation.

"Oh, you mean that nation that we have been successfully trading and communicating with for over ten years?" she asked sarcastically.

"Ah, I can see you are in favor of dealing with those heathens. I for one will have no part init," he proclaimed proudly with a smirk that made all four children of the King roll their eyes simultaneously.

Ivorwen sighed and then noticed that he was wearing a rather deep red shirt.

"That's a very lovely shirt you are wearing Eldacar. Tell me, where did you get it?" she asked sweetly.

"Why, I bought it right here in Gondor of course," he smiled.

"Indeed, I love the color too. Pity Gondor can only get that type of dye from the Haradrim," it was Ivorwen's turn to smirk.

From the other end of the table, Aragorn seemed to find his lap very interesting as his shoulders shook with chuckles.

Author's Note: I'm not dead!! (and there was much rejoicing yay!) I've just had writer's block and been … well … lazy. It's summer time and all that so sorry for the delay and sorry if this chapter is poor. I shall try my hardest to get another one posted before .. er… next year. Here's hoping!