A/N: Wow, can you believe it? I'm actually posting this on time! That's like a first for me since Hope of Imladris! (And that story I had already written in entirety before I started posting!) Well, the next five chapters will be coming out fairly quickly, as I have them all written and what not. Hope you like this.
Iwish Chan: Thank you for your continued reviews, it means more than a little to me to know that you take the time to write a review after each chapter. It makes me very happy!But yes, Mari is learning some elvish indeed. (Which will come in handy, seeing as how he lives in an even city for now eh?) Little Estel is indeed precocious isn't he! I just love him! Again, thanks, and hope you like the next installment.
Viggomaniac: Thanks! It means a great deal to here you say that you like my writing! As for the plot, I agree the beginning is quite cliché, but I hope that as it goes on it takes a lie different than the rest. Thank you very much for your review! Hope you enjoy the story, I know that you are (or were) on chapter 2 when you reviewed, so you most likely won't get this response for a while, but if you do happen to read chapter 10, thanks!
Illeanah: Well thank you! You are very right, this chapter, as well as the next few will be building blocks. I will try to get through them quickly, but a lot of the stiff in them will be a bit necessary, not to mention, I am a little attached to fluff…oops. Thank you again for your continued support and reviews, they make me so happy, and always encourage me to keep writing.
Christina: Thank you! I'm very glad to hear that you have enjoyed reading my story. I am sorry for the spelling and other grammatical errors. I work hard to fix them, however spelling is definitely my weakest spot in English. I'm glad they weren't incomprehensible, but I will try to improve upon them. Thanks again, and hope you enjoy this chapter.
Slayer3: Thanks! You are defiantly my most enthusiastic reviewer and I can't thank you enough for your continued support, and as always, here you go MORE!
Jaffee Leeds: Thanks! I try to think of something a little different each time, I try to think of things that could be medically conceivable, but inevitably, as I am not a doctor, just a teenager, and I am bound to get things wrong. Oh well, best laid plans right? Hope you like this chapter as well. Thanks for your continued reviews.
Patil had since stopped directing his horse where to go, the animal knew where home was now and merely took up the path on his own accord. Patil was surprised to see the town that had quite suddenly appeared as though out of nowhere. Amazing how that works when you are not paying attention in the slightest. Patil thought with a sad smile. His road was rapidly coming into view, his road that had at one point seemed like a long an arduous journey now seemed like a short stroll in retrospect to the ride he had just now taken.
His house began to peer at him from around the bend. The cheery gardens and inviting pathway were a welcomed sight for him. He had missed his family. He opened the gate slowly and took the well-worn path to the stables quietly. It was getting later and he didn't want to disturb his family at dinner, which was where he was sure they would be. He opened the door to the sound of familiar nickering. He smiled as he reached out to pat the horses as he passed his sons' horses, a blood bay gelding and a liver chestnut mare.
He turned his gelding into the stall across from theirs and un-tacked him, and curried away the dried sweat. He walked into the tack room and breathed the familiar sent of leather and hay. He sat on the well-worn bench and began to rub down his saddle and bridle with a soft cloth damp with oil. When he finished, he stood slowly, and walked stiffly into the house. I have no idea how poor Halbarad does this day after day, I feel so tired and he is far older than I am! He thought to himself. He walked up the front steps and quietly slid the latch on the door. It swung noiselessly open to reveal a serene living room. He could just make out the backs of his son's heads sitting on the floor, kneeling over something.
"Hello boys" He said gruffly.
Neb and Jip had been playing with there marbles, trying to knock each other's stones out of the circle of twine on the floor, when they heard a voice they had been waiting to here for almost two weeks. The looked up in unison, hardly daring to believe it.
"Da!" came two excited voices as the boys scrambled to their feet in a rush to see their father. They hugged him tightly; they had missed him so much.
"Da, Hugo had colic and we had to walk him all by ourselves! Jip made sure not to feed him anything for two days; I felt badly for him, he was so hungry! But Jip made me promise, he said that would only make him sicker." Neb said in one breath into his father's shirt. Jip wasn't saying anything at all. Patil looked down and saw his son's intuitive eyes boring into him. He couldn't quiet figure out why they looked so forlorn.
Patil heard the back door slam and hurried feet come into the living room. His wife looked almost disbelievingly at him, she set down the logs she was carrying and ran over to him. She gave him a fierce hug.
Gradel had been worried. He had been gone far too long, not that she knew where these elf people lived, and led by a ranger no less, she was beginning to doubt…but here he was safe and whole. She sighed resignedly, he had returned, very much alone. She had always known that this would be the case, but still she clung to the false hope that her baby could have been spared, he was just a little boy. The tears slid unbidden down her cheeks, moistening her husband's shoulder.
Jip saw the exchange and took Neb by the shoulder. "Come on brother; let's get Da something to drink." He said in what he hoped was a calm voice.
When she was quite sure they were gone, she choked out a soft cry, "Mari"
"Is alive and recovering in Rivendell" Patil finished for her.
Gradel looked up at this; she searched his face, hope building in her chest. Was that possible, that he lived after all? She hardly wanted to trust herself to believe that it was true.
"Mari is improving, every day he is more alert, and his seizures are beginning to come under control. Lord Elrond is keeping a very close eye on him, he lives in his household." Patil said softly, running his hands through her hair, and gently rubbing her back, as though to soothe away the fear from her tense muscles.
Gradel was disbelieving, then numb, and then ecstatic! Her son lived, and was even improving! What had been thought of as impossible was now looking quiet probable.
"Will 'e get better?" She asked happily,
"He already is a little better, thought Lord Elrond doesn't think he will be well enough to come home for over a year." He said softly.
The amount of time registered in her brain, bout somehow, it didn't matter, her little boy would be coming home, eventually. That was all that mattered.
Neb was blundering about the kitchen getting his father something to drink, while Jip had his ear pressed up against the door, listening intently. He had learned long ago that this was the best way to get any un-tainted information out of his parents. He could have laughed out loud with relief; He grabbed a glass out of the wash rack and filled it with the cool water from the pail on the counter. Neb looked up and abandoned his efforts and bounced happily along after his brother.
Patil looked up at his sons' entry, from the look on his eldest boy's face; he knew that he had heard everything.
He ruffled the half grown child's hair. "You know it isn't good to eavesdrop, you may sometimes hear something you won't want to hear." he said into his ear.
"Only if you talk about me Da…" The boy said cheekily.
It was good indeed to be home. As he got into bed that night, he looked up at the stars and smiled. Everything seemed to be looking up indeed.
Elladan gently knocked on the door to the visiting child's room. He heard no answer, so he pushed the door open, he found the child staring out the window at the deepening night,
"Do you think they will miss me much El?" He asked, his voice wavering. Elladan sighed; his heart went out to the child.
"I know they do, very much. I know that I missed Estel terribly and he was only gone for two days." He said sitting on the child's bed.
"You know, I felt that." Mari said happily, Elladan was confused for a moment and then he looked down and realized he was sitting on the child's toes.
"Did you? Well I am very glad." He said laughing, "Would you like me to move off your toes then? Or should I just sit on them some more?" Mari smiled and laughed. "You must be Dan" He smiled. Elladan was surprised. "How could you tell us apart?" He asked incredulously.
"I cheated, you have a bandage on your hand tonight, and Estel told me how you hurt yourself coming home from a ride this morning" Elladan laughed. "You little scamp!" He said as he ruffled the child's hair.
"Did you ride out with my Da this morning?" He asked.
Elladan nodded, we rode him to the borders and then came home.
Mari smiled, and reached out his hand.
Elladan handed him the tumbler, and in one smooth drink the medicine was gone.
"Man aduial." He said smiling before he sunk into his pillows.
"I see you and Estel have been talking?" Mari nodded, stifling a yawn.
"Well, Man aduial tiennith penn. Van lor." Mari smiled. He knew all of that, save for the last two words, Van lor, he would remember to ask Erestor them tomorrow, he was very willing to help the child. He had met him only two days ago, but Mari liked him a lot, he would always sit and explain to him anything, even if the question barely made sense to his own ears. His vision began to fade; he sunk into the pillows behind him asleep.
Elladan sat next to the boy. He gently sung to him as he had each night. Mari was no longer afraid of the way that he quickly fell asleep after taking his medicines. The herbs in it were quite potent, and caused your body to fall asleep before your mind did. That was a very strange feeling for anyone, and terrifying if you were a child. For that reason he would stay and sing to the child it seemed to calm him down. He blew out the lamp and stood up, shutting the door behind him as he left the room.
"Dan?" Came a soft floating voice. Elladan looked to see another small child looking out at him.
"Estel, were you waiting for me?" Estel nodded. He was restless that night, not at all tired, even though it was his bedtime and all. "Would you like something to drink?" Estel nodded happily, Elladan walked over to the boy and gently scooped him up. Normally Estel would have not liked this very much, proclaiming that he was not a baby any longer and could stand on his own two feet. However tonight appeared to be different, he seemed content to sit cradled in his arms.
Estel was happy to be at home, he had never been anywhere without his Ada or his brothers. He knew that he was lucky to be found by a ranger, knowing full well that he could have been lost for far longer. He could hear the singing in the Hall of Fire. He was never up this late, except on very special occasions, he was happy.
Elladan entered the hall of fire where his brother and father were sitting on the couch listening to the enchanting songs chanted by the entertainer of the evening. There were many other elves that sat in the room as well, enjoying the evening festivities.
Elladan sat next to his brother, and Estel climbed from his lap and seated himself next to his Ada.
Elrond gathered his small son in his arms, he had been so caught up this past week caring for this and that, and with the whole Mari issue to attend to he had quite lost track of anything else. He noticed that Estel was quite tired, no matter what anyone else may have said. He didn't send him off to bed however, he was selfishly glad to have him here anyhow.
When Elladan and Elrohir had come back from the search that evening over a week ago, telling him of what they had found, he had forgotten how to breathe. It was like nothing he had ever felt before in his life. It was every parent's nightmare, but surly that could have never happened to Estel! Estel was his little child, not some other little boy. He didn't even remember how he had made it thorough the mere thought of Estel, dead. Those two days had been absolutely unbearable; they passed longer than any millennium. It was so easy to forget the helpless feeling that he had felt in his chest at those horrible moments now that his son lay safe in his arms. Forget, but not erase, nothing would ever let him forget the torture of those days when he truly thought his little boy had left them. He would have it that Estel would never leave Imladris again. In his heart, he knew that Estel never would, Aragorn however, he could not hold much hope. The reality that his little son was actually the uncrowned king of the human race was quite a bitter pill for him to swallow. He looked down at the child whose head now rested in his lap; he was so small, even for a human seven year old. He knew of course that the Numinorian race aged slower, but he looked to be Mari's age, not three years older. He wished that he would stay young and innocent forever, but he knew better.
Estel looked up at his ada with sleepy eyes. He was tired but happy to be curled up in the warm room filled with the flickering flames from the roaring fire and light beautiful songs that came gracefully from the minstrel's melodic voice. He listened to the stories of long ago places and times, the tales filling his head with pictures of heroic battles and wonderful triumphs. He felt the soft repeated strokes of his ada running his fingers through his hair as he did whenever he was tired. The last thing that he thought before his eyes finally shut and he slipped into the world of dreams, what how happy it was to be where he belonged.
Elrond knew that his son was now fast asleep, and he wanted to take him up to his bedroom, where he would get a far better night's rest. He carefully stood and lifted the child in his arms.
Once in the boy's room, he smiled to see the fire that had already been laid for him. He knew that it had taken some getting used to for the household staff to learn to keep this room warm whenever the temperature dipped below sixty degrees. The elves of course did not need such protection from the elements, as it took far more than that to chill them.
He tucked the boy into his bed, reflexively, the small arm reached out to grab the small stuffed horse that was by his pillow; it was old and tattered, but much loved.
"Man lor ernil nin." (Sweet dreams my baby) he whispered into his hair.
"Le melon Ada." (I love you daddy) came the mumbled response.
Elrond slipped out the door and walked down the hall.
A/N: Hope y'all liked it. More to come, and very soon! As always, this is the part where I beg for reviews. Tell me if you liked it, even tell me if you hated it, (Although don't tell me if you really really hated it, which would make me sad…) to my repeat reviewers, thanks a bundle, and as always you need not read that statement, I know that you guys are the greatest! To any lurkers, I hope you liked my story!
And in the immortal words of my favorite grocery store bagger. "Thank you come again!"