Sorry this is a bit late but i have way too many deadlines and not enough time right now, i probably won't be good at replying to reviews until after easter as my last deadline is good friday.

TTSS 14

AN: The bits in this referring to Númenor are taken from the information provided in the unfinished tales by Tolkien. Aldarion, Ancalime, Eredis etc. are all real characters and you can find out the exact timings of this visit.

Thankfully, they were not attacked on the way home and so Fea did not have the opportunity to show off, much to the relief of her party. On their arrival home however, there was a surprise waiting for them there in the form of a visiting human.

The human was Aldarion, grandson of the human who had first made contact between Númenor and Arda and heir to the throne of Númenor. He had come by before during Fea's childhood and recognised both Elrond and his ward.

"Well met Lord Elrond." He greeted with a smile. "And you two lady Fea, you get ever more beautiful. Your guardian must have to fight them off." He commented with a grin. Fea laughed, she had always liked the Númenorean prince.

"Well, we just had to fight off King Oropher trying to set me up with his son, a plan with the major pitfall that neither of us like the other in that way. I see Erendis had finally got you well and truly tied." He actually blushed slightly and she eyed the gold ring on his finger.

"Yes, and she has borne me a daughter named Ancalime as well. She is absolutely delightful, though ages much quicker than you did my Lady." She smiled at him, pleased that the nice, if proud and strong willed, man was actually happily married. Absently she wondered whether Elrond would appreciate her pointing out to him that he now had a great, great, great, great, great niece now. Considering the fact that Elrond was still a fairly young elf at the age of only 945, he probably wouldn't appreciate his ward telling him he was old.

XXX

Just as they remembered him, the crown prince of Númenor was a well mannered young man. Actually, he wasn't all that young but to the elves, all humans seemed young. In actuality, he was nearing middle age nearly 200 years old. It seemed Fea and Elrond were the only ones to notice the slight signs of age he displayed.

His visit was far more than a courtesy call however – not that any trip from Númenor would just be for the sake of visiting, it was a long and fairly dangerous journey, as shown by the fact that it had taken 600 years for the Númenoreans to build a ship good enough for them to cross to the mainland. Gil-galad had noticed the return of darkness to Arda, slow but creeping. It had been what had prompted the many talks between Lindon and Greenwood the Great in the hopes of some sort of alliance between the lands.

During his extended visit, one that had originally been planned to be less than two years, he helped the high king investigate the darkness that was falling. Neither knew what was causing the problem, Fea's father and the army of the Valar had totally finished Morgoth at the end of the age previous and so there was no obvious suspect.

One night they were sitting around discussing it. It was not the serious level of talks that happened during the day, more a group musing over something they could not quite put aside. For some reason, Elrond looked covertly to his ward, who was sewing quietly. She looked up at him and he could see in her eyes that she did indeed have something to say on the subject. It was not infrequent that she held back until someone asked her. It seemed almost as if there was a restriction that she should not volunteer the information but was free to if prompted. Aldarion apparently saw the exchange and misinterpreted it.

"I beg pardon for talking on such subjects lady, it is hard to put down such work when the evening comes and more delicate conversation is required." She smiled forgivingly.

"It is no problem, honestly." Gil-galad suddenly seemed to remember some of her more peculiar traits.

"Fea, do they have anything to say on the subject." The influence on 'they' told Elrond exactly who the king was talking of. Fea apparently also got it because she nodded at him.

"Ada says to look for one of our brethren, and that there was a reason why the valar wanted my kin and I here, that reason was in part so there were those with the power to prevent something of the scale of the end of the last age while not being too obvious." Both Elrond and Gil-galad were listening intently. Aldarion seemed a little confused by the conversation.

"Have I missed something here?" He asked. Fea looked at him seriously.

"They have found out that I still have the ability to communicate with my parents in Valinor and both know that my father's insight is worth much. There are many unusual abilities which run in my family." The man seemed confused by the answer. Before he could reply though, Gil-galad asked a question of his own.

"So we should be looking for a maia then?" He asked. The auburn haired girl smiled slightly at him.

"There were many of all species that fell to morgoth Ereinion, and all that is really needed is for someone to organise them from whichever holes they went to hide in. They have had several hundred years to breed back up to numbers as well now." The king raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm still confused." Aldarion muttered. Fea just looked at him, clearly slightly amused

"My father was one of the generals during the war of wrath and other than that, I'm not allowed to elaborate for various reasons. Gil-galad and Elrond know, partly because my mother is allergic to doing what she's told but all the same we are not allowed to let anyone else know, partly because Manwë apparently went into inarticulate rage last time my mother spectacularly broke those rules. Unlike my mother, both Elrond and the high king have elf preservation instincts." There was one or two raised eyebrows at her.

"Elf preservation instincts?" Aldarion asked, apparently amused. Fea grinned back at him.

"It's my mother's idea of a joke. She has a fairly warped sense of humour, if you hadn't guessed." Gil-galad snorted.

"Warped? You are a queen of understatements Fea, she is absolutely nuts. I swear the only reason she seemed sweet and gentle was because no-one could understand her."

"She is sweet and gentle, when people aren't messing with her family. No mother is nice and gentle to a person who has taken her child." Fea snapped, it had been long discovered that the girl was fairly defensive of her mother. Aldarion butted into the conversation once more.

"Your mother? I thought she was where you got your human side from? Shouldn't she be dead?" He asked.

"She's not human, she's a maia, hence the fact she's in Valinor and that I have a quenya name. That also explains what I am doing in Lindon, since the Valar are a bit arsey and have no notion of what not to do. I suppose that since they never have children that they don't know that parents never give up their children for the 'greater good'. Well, they didn't, my mother particularly has introduced them to the concept, fairly vindictively." There was a vicious look on the elleth's face. The human seemed taken aback by the sentiments displayed by the girl. He had taken her to be very much a stereotypical court lady and had never seen her display this side or herself. Apparently he was unaware that the girl was an excellent actor for her entire life was an act based on secrets. Once he had gotten over his surprise he managed to comment.

"May I know the names of your parents? I may know of them." Fea smiled wryly.

"That is why I cannot answer that question. They are distinguished, especially among the commanders of the army of the valar." She said, only to receive an artfully disappointed look. She looked up through her lashes at him with a stern look. He got the message, thankfully.

XXX

Thranduil leant back in a chair in his private sitting room contemplating. His father seemed to be acting rather strangely recently and the prince was genuinely worried for the elf. It was a rather peculiar feeling, worrying for Oropher as opposed to worrying about Oropher or more precisely what he was going to do.

The problem was that he couldn't honestly say that there was any genuinely bad thing happening. The strange behaviour was actually an improvement in his father's behaviour. There was the occasional act of gratuitous kindness and a slightly softer sort of behaviour. It almost seemed as if he was becoming more aware of other people in a more emotionally based way as opposed to a logical way. Oropher had always had a somewhat clinical view on life before now.

Thranduil, now having concluded that his father was behaving strangely, attempted to find a common denominator, something that could have resulted in his improved behaviour.

Unfortunately, he could find nothing that actually would add up to his father's behaviour change and pulled up a total blank on the subject. He sent up a silent prayer to Iluvitar to sort things out in the near future – his father being nice could only erupt in bad things.