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Chapter 27

Aragorn POV

It had been four days since Frodo had awoken and to see the pure joy on his face at once again seeing us all safe and whole, Gandalf and Boromir especially, warmed my heart more than I imagined it would. I thought back to what Frodo had told me when he had embraced me tightly. "She is fighting to get back to us Aragorn; she just needs a little longer to heal." I did not have to ask him who he meant, as I only knew of one woman that was injured that we both knew. Yesterday I had knocked on the door to the small room in the healing house.

A tall thin man, with greying brown hair opened the door. "Yes my lord?" I froze for a second at the power that seemed to flow out of the room and then shook myself, "I would like to make the suggestion that Ariana be moved to a more comfortable location. She held rooms within the citadel that may aid in her recovery." I watched as the man in front of me conferred with another. "That would be agreeable, my lord. May we have a guide?" He nodded and opened the door slightly. "I would be happy to escort you." I told him and stepped back from the doorway to allow a bear like man to carry Ariana through it.

I silently led the way through the corridors of the citadel to the room Faramir had told me Ariana had used when she was awake. I opened the door and stepped back to allow the two warlocks to walk inside and place Ariana down on the bed. "Thank you my lord, we will make her comfortable here and inform you of any changes to her health. I bid you good day." I stared as the door shut in my face before I could even take a good look at her face and I growled. I was torn between worried for her health and angry that I could not see for myself how she was. I stalked away and nearly ran into Eówyn as she walked down the corridor towards me.

I steadied her and looked at her sheepishly, "Forgive me Eówyn, I was lost in thought. Are you alright?" She chuckled and nodded, "Yes, My lord I am fine. I was told you were down here somewhere. You have some guests who require your immediate attention." I sighed and nodded, following Eówyn towards the throne room. I began to smile as I heard familiar voices from inside the room. "I apologise for keeping you waiting, how can I make it up to you?" I asked grinning as Arwen turned to face me. "Brother. You can tell me all about your journey, later. For now a hug will do." My smile widened at her words and I walked towards her, my arms open.

She grinned and dashed forward, embracing me strongly. "Thank you for having Isildur's sword reforged. Having it was invaluable to me." I whispered placing a kiss on her forehead. She smiled up at me before standing back; I turned my attention then to the other elves that had arrived with her. "My Lord Elrond. Forgive my rudeness." I bowed slightly to him and he smiled, bowing back. "It is fine, Aragorn. I too would be elated to see my daughter if she had aided me so greatly." I chuckled and nodded.

Gimli's gruff voice cut through the quiet. "What were we then chopped liver?" I turned at the sound of Frodo's laugh, smiling when I saw he being supported by Pippin as he walked into the room. "Master Baggins. It is good to hear your laughter again." Arwen said as she left my side and walked towards the hobbits, dropping down slightly to pull Frodo into a hug. "It is good to gaze upon your beauty again my lady." He replied, returning the embrace strongly. My gaze fell on the far side of the hall where Legolas and Haldir were quietly greeting each other, heads bowed closely together and fingertips brushing. I smiled at them both and had turned my attention back to my other guests.

That had been yesterday, today the citadel was in an uproar trying to make the city prepared for tomorrow. Gandalf had announced this morning, quite suddenly; that my coronation would be tomorrow at noon and that had sent the entire staff of the citadel into panic. The women were cursing Gandalf for such short notice, there was too much to do, too many people to invite. I found myself thanking Gandalf silently in my mind, I was nervous about being crowned as it was, but if I had had longer in the build up to the coronation I would have never made it. Arwen and Eówyn had taken charge of everything and had ushered the men of the fellowship out of the throne room, telling us we were not allowed in for the rest of the day.

We had all looked at each other in shock before Boromir had led us to a private courtyard where we could all relax. We had spent the day sharing stories of days gone by or funny moments on the quest that others had missed. I smiled as the hobbits had laughed loudly at Boromir as he told them stories of the mischief he and Faramir had gotten up to as children. It was good to see their carefree natures coming back, Merry and Pippin were giving a very lively recount of the battle at Isengard as Sam and Frodo watched on smiling and shaking their heads at the behaviour of their kin.

The stories eventually turned to Ariana and Pippin and Faramir eagerly span tale after tale of the first meeting of Ariana and the Gondorian army. I smiled at the memories, Gimli got everyone laughing as he tried to imitate Ariana's speech on the wall at Helms Deep, he got the speech right, but the voice just didn't work. Soon we were all gasping for breath and clutching our sides at Boromir's impression of Ariana finding out about this. It was in this state that Elrond, Gandalf and Haldir found us. We soon explained why we were rolling on the floor and Gandalf began to chuckle too.

We stayed in the courtyard until the sky began to darken, we then made our way inside to a large room where we had our evening meal served to us. Again there were many stories being told, the most embellished being Legolas and Gimli's drinking contest in the halls of Edoras. Haldir and Elrond had chuckled heartily at the re-enactment by Merry and Pippin. It was late into the evening before we separated and all too soon I was left alone with my thoughts as I stood smoking my pipe on the stone balcony outside of my room. I heard a soft knock on the door behind me and I turned to find Arwen stood in the doorway. "May I come in, brother?" I nodded and she smiled, walking in and shutting the door softly.

She walked over to me and I wrapped her in an embrace. "When your father told me that you had forsaken going into the west when you did, I will admit that my heart clenched in fear. If we did not win, you would have fallen to the darkness and all because of me. You shouldn't have risked it Arwen." I told her as I released her, puffing on my pipe and staring out into the inky black sky. I flinched at the sharp slap on my arm. "Aragorn, you are worth more than what you think to so many people. I had an interesting conversation with my grandmother before I came here. About a certain hooded warlock."

I barely registered that I was correcting Arwen until I had spoken. "Witch. Ariana is a witch." Arwen smiled at me and nodded. "Legolas mentioned your worry at her change in behaviour after leaving my grandmother's realm?" I nodded and turned to face her, frowning. She sighed, "I fear that my grandmother had something to do with that. She knew of Ariana, her bond with you and what that bond meant. She chose to belittle her, tell her that you would never choose her over me and that you would see Ariana as nothing more than a pet."

I stared at Arwen in shock, angry that Lady Galadriel had dared to say such things to Ariana. "Bond? What bond? And how dare she say such lies when she knew well enough that I love you as a brother does his sister?" I placed my pipe down and began to pace. Arwen sighed and moved to sit on the trunk at the end of my bed. "The warmth that you feel when you touch Ariana; it indicates a deep bond between two people. It is the bond of a soul mate; very few of even my kin feel it. Ariana told grandmother that she was not going to inform you of the bond because she wanted you to want her for who she was, not because you felt you must."

I paused in my pacing and turned to face Arwen. "How do you know this? Ariana is unconscious so you could not have asked her. I told no one about the warmth." I muttered, petulantly. Arwen smiled at me and shook her head. "Gandalf informed me of the warmth; he said he could feel the magic behind it when you touched. Also I spoke to the other warlocks that are here, they confirmed my thoughts. The question is what do you intend to do about it Aragorn, when she wakes?" I thought about that question as I resumed pacing again.

"I love her, Arwen. I have already told her, while she was unconscious. When she wakes and I can see her, I would tell her that I love her and never allow her to leave my sight again. I want her near me at all times Arwen, these past weeks of not being able to see her have hurt more than I had thought they could. When I heard about the attack on her, I thought my heart would break. I need her as dearly as I need air." I finished and looked over at Arwen; she was smiling at me with tears in her eyes. She stood and embraced me tightly. "I am happy for you my brother; I wish you all the happiness in the world. You need to tell her everything that you told me and make her believe it."

I nodded slightly at her words. "Now I will leave you to sleep, you need to be well rested for tomorrow brother. Good night." I smiled at Arwen and placed a kiss on the crown of her head. "Good night, sister of my heart." I watched her leave before going to my bathroom and getting ready for bed as quick as I could. I sank into the soft covering on my bed and drifted off to thoughts of Ariana and what our future could bring.