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Chapter 10: Brown Is Back!
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Aragorn soon fell asleep, and they laid him back down on the pillow.
Elladan wetted the cloth anew and continued to cool Aragorn´s forehead. "He will recover", he said confidently. "He has always been hardier than any of us would have believed at first."
Elrohir nodded: "He was so small when he first arrived here", he murmured. "And yet he was brave. Just remember how we taught him to ride."
Elladan chuckled: "He really believed that we wanted to put him on Asfaloth for the first lesson. But he did not show how afraid he was..."
His twin nodded. In fact, this was one of the few times that they witnessed Aragorn to be this desperate, as he had never given too much of his feelings away once he had grown to be a man.
Elrond blinked; he had been fast asleep and for a little while just lay in peaceful oblivion until he remembered what had happened. He got up and dressed; he was hungry, but wished to check on Aragorn first. It was late afternoon, so he had slept for a good eleven hours, which was unusual for him.
Elladan and Elrohir still were with their younger brother when Elrond entered; they eventually had stopped applying the cold cloth, as the fever had diminished steadily. Both of the twins were reading now, Elrohir sitting where Elrond had sat before.
They looked up when he entered.
Elrond nodded to them, then he asked how Aragorn fared.
"The fever is nearly gone", Elladan said, "and he is sleeping calmly now."
"Really?", Elrond exclaimed, hardly able to believe what he heard. "How did that happen?"
"He woke up earlier.", Elrohir said. "You were right, he was heavily troubled by guilt, but we talked him out of it. I do not know if it will last, but at least he went to sleep."
Elrond smiled: "You have always been good at negotiating", he said. "I should not be surprised."
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Aragorn´s sleep indeed remained undisturbed, his mind having been calmed by his brother´s words and their presence. It did him good, and when he awoke, the fever was gone, his eyes not glazed over anymore.
He could not stay awake for long yet, for he was too exhausted, and Elrond´s medication contributed to that.
So Aragorn slept for most of the following days, allowing his body to recover and his injuries to heal. Sometimes he dreamed, but those dreams were vague and not as threatening as before. Elrond had seen to this, mixing a mild sleeping potion into Aragorn´s water to impede the nightmares.
As the lash wounds had started to mend well, Aragorn was lying on his back now, relieving his side. His father was with him often, as were the twins. They took it in turns to make sure he was not alone.
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One afternoon, Elrond was sitting next to the bed again; he had been reading, but eventually his thoughts had drifted off, and now he was deeply lost in thought. It took him a while to realize that he was being watched, and when he lifted his head, he saw that Aragorn was awake, a faint smile on his face.
Elrond laid his book aside and returned the smile: "How do you feel?", he asked.
"Old and weary", Aragorn replied, still smiling.
Elrond sat down on the bed: "Oh, you know", he said lightly, while he casually started to examine his son´s injuries, "according to human standards, you are close to getting old, after all."
Aragorn chuckled but stopped as soon as his ribs started to protest. Elrond´s fingers gently probed the fractures, causing the man to grit his teeth: "I will be ageing prematurely if you do not stop this", he complained.
Elrond raised one eyebrow: "And now you sound just like you did when you were a child", he teased.
Aragorn sighed: "Sometimes I wish I still was a child", he said half-jokingly, but his tone was sad.
Elrond pulled the blanket back up around him: "All of us do, from time to time", he said.
Aragorn looked at him in surprise: "Even the elves?"
Elrond nodded: "No matter how fortunate or long your life may be, the blissful innocence of childhood will never return once you have passed into adulthood.", he said.
They remained silent, pondering this, until Elrond finally got up: "I will get some food for you", he said, "I will be back in a minute."
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Aragorn watched him leave the room and let his gaze wander. He had not been here for a long time, but nothing seemed to have changed, and that thought was strangely comforting. He turned his head to look at the old mural above his bed, when something else caught his eye. He smiled; right next to him on the top of the pillow sat Brown, his old stuffed horse.
With some difficulty and lots of grimacing he reached out and pulled the horse to him. He had no idea where it had come from, he had not seen it in years, but it seemed like an old friend. It had so much been a part of him once that its features were overwhelmingly familiar. He knew exactly how Brown felt and smelled, and it made him feel good even now. "You look as worn out as I", he said and nestled the horse against his chest.
When Elrond came back with a tray, Aragorn was quite sleepy again. His father set the tray down and noticed the stuffed horse: "Ah yes", he smiled, "Brown. Elladan brought him here, thinking you might take comfort in his company."
"I did not even know that he had him", Aragorn said, struggling against sleep.
"Neither did I", Elrond said. "But Elladan said he recalls lots of occasions where the whole of Imladris has been searching for Brown, maybe he wanted to avoid for that to happen again."
"Brown indeed had a tendency to disappear...", Aragorn admitted.
He suddenly looked up and caught Elrond´s gaze: "How did you find me there?", he asked quietly.
Elrond hesitated. He did not have the heart to tell Aragorn of Beruan yet, as he neither wanted Aragorn to get upset, nor to think about the subject of betrayal right now.
"That is a long story, and you are tired", Elrond therefore said. "You should eat something and go back to sleep. All this has sufficiently depleted you already."
Aragorn sensed that there was another reason why Elrond was avoiding his question, as he looked slightly uncomfortable. It was true that Aragorn was not up to lengthy conversations yet and that this was indeed the first time he had stayed awake for so long, but after all, they had not talked that much.
He did not press the matter, though; there would be plenty of time for questions to be answered later on.
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Long after Aragorn had fallen asleep again, Elladan entered.
Elrond was still sitting next to the bed, and his oldest son stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the grieved expression on the elf lord´s face.
"Ada", he said, alarmed, "is something wrong? Did the fever come back, or did Estel panick again?"
Elrond looked up: "No, no... I am sorry if I startled you. Estel is well, he has indeed proven to be strong once again. I was just thinking... he asked me how we found him, but I did not dare to tell him yet. Beruan was something like a friend to him, and I did not want to burden his heart, not now."
Elladan nodded, when his gaze fell on Aragorn´s sleeping form. Brown was lying next to him, the horse snuggled against the man´s cheek. The elf smiled: "I knew he would want him again one day."
Elrond subdued a smile: "Will you ever accept that Estel is a grown man, my son?"
Elladan crossed his arms: "As long as he sleeps with his stuffed horse...no, I will not." He grinned complacently.
His father only shook his head.
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TBC
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Author´s note: Yeeha, the lightning´s back as well... but as I said, I have to be quick as I´ll be leaving in a few days... the next chapter will be up very soon as well!