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Chapter 35

Aragorn POV

I stalked through the corridors towards my rooms, irritated at the fact that in the last month I had barely seen Ariana. I frowned and watched as the people in the corridor moved out of my way. I ignored the whispers and slammed open my door, repeating the gesture to close it. I took the crown off my head and dropped it down on the desk, dropping into the chair in front of the fire. I stared down at the flames, thinking back to the last time I had seen Ariana over a week ago.

She had walked into the council chambers surrounded by the women who were aiding her in planning the wedding. She nodded to them and smiled tightly before moving to sit with me. "Would it be bad form for me to murder my helpers?" She whispered to me in Sindarin and I chuckled. "It probably wouldn't make you very popular. I'll see what I can do about getting you away from them." She had smiled at me and squeezed my hand. After the meeting, this had passed relatively easily, the women stood and made to start talking with Ariana.

I stood and helped Ariana to her feet, "Ladies would it be alright if I borrow Lady Ariana for the rest of the day? I have a few things that I would like to discuss with her." I heard Ariana take a breath and hold it. The ladies nodded, "Yes that's fine, we'll see Lady Ariana tomorrow." They bowed and left the room, Ariana smiled at everyone, but collapsing against my side when the council had left. Boromir chuckled, "Not having fun Rian?" She had sighed and curled up into me. "Bugger off or I'll tell them they can help plan your wedding." She snapped at him and he frowned. "Rian? Are they not treating you well?" He asked and she sighed again, "Sorry Boromir, I shouldn't have snapped at you. I'm just so tired and I have barely seen any of you since the last meeting."

I nodded and with that the five of us left the council chambers and had taken a walk down to the city gates. The caravan from Erebor had arrived 9 days previous and they were finally in place. Ariana had smiled and we had strolled through the lower levels back up to the castle. She had stayed by my side for the rest of the day and that evening after we had had dinner with the others, we had sat in her rooms in front of the fire reading and talking quietly. I had kissed her several times before leaving, yet now I was without her and I had no idea why.

I started at the knock on my door. "Enter." I called out not turning from the fire. I looked up as a figure stopped in front of me and found myself looking up at Legolas. "Legolas my friend. How are you? I didn't realise you were arriving today. Nae saian luume" I exclaimed standing and hugging him. He returned the embrace and we sat down. "Indeed it has. I am well my friend. I rode ahead of the rest; they will be here tomorrow for they stayed an extra night in Edoras. Arwen and Queen Eówyn are rather excited, but I imagine with two weeks to go you all are." He chuckled, stopping abruptly when he saw my face. "Melon nin, are you not happy?" I sighed, "I am very happy that I am going to marry Ariana, but I haven't seen her in over a week and it makes me irritable. I know that this is a huge thing to plan, but I just want to see her at least once."

I scrubbed my hand over my face and leant back against the chair. I heard Legolas shift next to me, but we both jumped as my door slammed open. Eómer and Boromir stood out in the hall way as Faramir helped Ariana into the room. I jumped up and ran over to her. "Meleth? What happened?" I demanded as I saw a thin line of blood trickling down the side of Ariana's face. She flinched at my tone and I led her towards the chair I had been sat in. "A'mael let me look at your face, please." She turned to look at me, my heart clenching at the tears that were forming in her eyes.

I brushed away one that slipped down her cheek and pressed the soft piece of cloth Legolas handed to me on to the wound. She smiled faintly at me, "I left the city early this morning before the women could come up to find me. They are pressuring me into making final decisions and to decide on my dress, but ignore me when I say I want to talk to you or wait for Arwen and Eówyn. So I decided that today I would leave before they could corner me and I went for a ride, I was down near Osgiliath when I saw that Legolas would be arriving in the city today. I turned and made my way back."

She paused as I pulled the cloth away from her head and dipped it in the bowl of water that had been placed on the low table just behind me. I wrung the cloth out and wiped away the rest of the blood on her forehead. The wound was a graze rather than a cut and it was bleeding sluggishly now. I nodded, smiling softly at her although I was very angry inside.

"What happened then?" I asked gently and she wouldn't meet my eyes. "I was walking back towards your rooms when two of the women stopped me and asked me where I'd been. I told them I needed a break and had gone for a ride. They frowned at me and then asked what I had done to make you angry saying that you had been in a foul mood and it was all my fault. So I snapped at them and said that I hadn't seen you since the council meeting last week as I spent every waking moment with them. The elder of the two slapped me for being rude and ungrateful for all the work they were doing. I hit my head against the wall, just as Boromir and everyone came around the corner."

Tears spilled over her eyes as she looked at me. "You aren't mad with me are you?" She murmured quietly and I shook my head. "No A'mael, I'm not mad at you. I was irritated that I hadn't seen you for so long and I knew that it wasn't your fault." I said pressing a kiss to her forehead. I turned to see Faramir hovering behind Ariana's chair. "Did you see who hit her?" I asked him and he shook his head, "No, but Boromir did and I believe he's had a few of the guards detain the women." Faramir had barely finished speaking before there was a knock at the door and Eómer stuck his head in. "There are two women here who would like to speak to the Lady Ariana. Shall I send them in?" I nodded and stood from my position in front of her, jumping slightly as Legolas quickly placed my crown on my head.

I stood, blocking Ariana from view as the two oldest women from the council walked in. "King Aragorn. We need to speak to the Lady Ariana. Her views are needed on the final choices for the wedding." The elder woman said and I frowned. "You may leave a list of the final options with Lord Faramir and Lady Ariana and I will look over the choices at a later time. She will be unavailable for the rest of the day, thanks to two of your women. I will not condone anyone who harms her." The other woman frowned and tilted her head to look at me. "Harms her? What has happened that we are not aware of?" The elder of the two women shifted slightly, it was likely that she knew what had happened, but had not made the others aware.

"Lady Ariana was attacked in the hallways earlier by two of your number. If I am not mistaken the king means that until she has calmed down and spent some time with her fiancé and friends she will not be coming anywhere near your group. As King Aragorn has stated, you can make a list of all the decisions that still need to be made and leave them with me." Faramir said, his hand resting on the chair that Ariana was sat in. The women nodded and left. I turned back to Ariana as Eómer and Boromir stepped through the door, greeting Legolas quietly.

I studied her face and without looking away from her said, "Boromir could you have the kitchens prepare a picnic for the six of us. I found a small garden in one of the top levels of the city and have been tending to that in the little free time I have. If they bring it here then we can move up there and have the afternoon for ourselves if you wish." They nodded and within the hour we were moving up to the quiet little garden area, sitting down on the blanket that Boromir and Faramir spread out on the ground.

I helped Ariana sit down and sat myself as close to her as possible. She smiled over at me and we spent most of the lunch talking about things of very little value, Legolas telling us stories of his journey home and what had happened since then. As the afternoon progressed Ariana ended up lying on the blanket with her head resting on my lap, her hair fanning out and I began to comb my finger through it. It wasn't until I looked down that I realised that she had fallen asleep. I smiled down at her and brushed my fingers lightly down the side of her face. "She looks so tired; Eówyn and Arwen are not going to be pleased with how she's been treated when they find out." I murmured and the others nodded.

Legolas looked over at us. "I think that maybe Ariana should not be left alone with those women again, if they require her presence I will gladly stand as her guard for the meetings." He suggested and I looked over at him, "Melon nin I appreciate your offer, but you are a guest here. I cannot ask that you -" I broke off when he raised his hand. "I have a feeling that Arwen will be in attendance for many of these meetings and as such will need an Elven guard. You will not be asking me to do anything, I am volunteering my services. I owe Ariana much for saving Haldir's life; this is the least I can do to repay that." He told me and I nodded.

We continued talking quietly for a little while longer pausing when Ariana began to stir. "Lle tyava quel, a'mael?" I asked and she nodded as she sat up slowly, looking around at us. "Quelinin aranamin. How long was I asleep?" She said as she placed a kiss to my cheek. I smiled down at her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "Not long. We were just sharing old stories." I told her unsure as to how to broach the subject of Legolas being her guard during meetings.

"Ariana, Arwen and Eówyn will be arriving tomorrow, with the rest of my kin and I believe a few of your own. I know that these meetings that you are going to have with those women are important and I would like to volunteer to be your guard. I know that you are more than capable of defending yourself, but you should not have to." Legolas spoke before I could figure out what to say and I watched as Ariana studied him, her head tilted slightly to the side.

She sighed before nodding, "I suppose that I have no real say in this, but I thank you for volunteering melon nin." She smiled over at him and I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "You do have a say in this, but I would rather that you were safe, even in these meetings." She nodded and giggled as Boromir's stomach growled loudly. "Brother. Honestly how are you hungry already? You ate the most of all of us at lunch." Faramir asked incredulous and we all laughed, "Simple little brother. I've become part hobbit." Boromir stated standing and stretching.

"Despite the new changes that have occurred to Boromir since we last saw him; he is right it is nearly time for the evening meal." I said and stood before helping Ariana to her feet. She smiled up at me and placed her hand in the crook of my arm as we made our way inside and down towards the dining hall. Legolas walked on Ariana's left side and spoke as we walked through the corridors. "Your Sindarin is very good, where did you learn it?" He asked and Ariana looked over at him.

"My father taught me. He might have been the mad, cowardly blacksmith to many of my people, but they forgot what he was before he met my mother. He was the head guard to the High Priests and would accompany them on different matters. While they never bothered to truly learn the intricacies of your language my father did, more so when I was born. He wanted me to learn about all the people that live in Middle Earth and not just those that we choose to interact with."

Legolas nodded down at her, pausing beside the doors to let us enter first. "That would make sense, your father sounded like he was a very wise man." Ariana smiled softly over at him. "He had his moments. Other times he let my mother have the wise words for me." She said as we sat down and Eómer chuckled, "Did she have any words for her husband? I always remember Mama's words to my father were 'You're an Idiot, an idiot with a sword sat on a horse. Why is it you can teach your children things, but forget to apply them to yourself?' She used to shout at him whenever he got hurt, Eówyn and I used to love it. Pa always used to go pink and say things like, 'My dearest love, my darling wife.' After he a spluttered for a minute going 'I'm not an idiot.'"

We chuckled at Eómer's story, "Aye my ada did something similar. He would say or do something and my atara would just look at him, cough gentle and say 'Thranduil we talked about this.' He would stare at her for a minute before sighing and correcting whatever he had done. He always grumbled, but did whatever she said." Legolas said smiling fondly at the memory. I smiled as Boromir spoke. "My mother used to walk up to Denethor and just stare at him until he turned back around and apologised, he would always say afterwards 'Wife I am the steward, I must not be cowed by a woman.' She would smack his arm for that and would just say, 'Well then enjoy the cold.'" He chuckled and Faramir nodded.

"We never knew what she meant until we sneaked into their chambers one night after they had had a huge argument and say father sleeping in an armchair with a small blanket around his shoulders." Ariana laughed. "My father was a large man, taller than many of you and my mother was smaller than me. She used to have to stand on a bench or chair just to yell at him, by then he would be laughing so hard they forgot what they were angry about. She always used to say 'I chose you for your heart, you dumb man. If there was any brain in there it's long since leaked out of your ears.' He would smile at her and say, 'No I gave them all to our daughter, she can use them better than I can.'" She rolled her eyes.

I smiled at her, squeezing her hand. "I always remember my mother chastising Lord Elrond, he would do something in the healing rooms or say something about my mother's healing methods and she would turn around and look at him with her hands on her hips, 'Well my lord, when you can learn to stomach the birthing chambers then maybe you can give me advice, until you do I shall not hear another word.' He used to stare at her for the longest time. I once asked him what she meant and he told me he far preferred the battlefield to the birthing chambers." I told them and Legolas sniggered, "Ada is the same, he will gladly go to battle or deal with the wounds of one, but the second he's told of an impending birth he must leave for pressing business immediately. Unless there is no other healer, then he does his duty and promptly drinks his weight in wine."

Ariana began to laugh at that statement, the sound ringing out through the dining hall. "Papa always wondered why your father got the reputation for being an 'overzealous' drinker. He must have only heard stories from after those experiences." She giggled and Legolas smirked, "Well that and I think I drove my father to drink plenty of times in the last 200 years. Especially when it came to the dwarves." We all nodded. Thranduil's dislike for dwarves was well known, even after the battle in front of Erebor.

We stayed in the dining hall drinking and telling stories about our parents for a little while longer, before parting for the night. Ariana hugged the others goodbye and walked with me in silence to her chambers. "Do you feel better now, a'mael?" I asked as we sat down on the long chaise that had been moved in front of the fire. She nodded and curled up against my side. "Yes thank you, aranamin. Spending some time away from it all today really helped and my head doesn't hurt anymore."

I smiled down at her and rested my chin on top of her head. She smiled and rested her hand on my leg, her head resting against my shoulder. I sighed and trailed my hand up and down her arm, curled against the side of the chaise. She turned and pressed a kiss to my throat. I repaid the gesture with a kiss to her forehead. I felt her lean harder against my side and I smiled fondly, my eyes growing heavy as I watched the fire.

I blinked awake to the faint light of the dawn, a dying fire and Ariana curled up against my side. I smiled and brushed away a lock of her hair, pressing a kiss to her forehead. I couldn't wait until I could wake up like this every day. I watched in interest as Ariana began to wake up, she sat up and stretched. I admired her body before speaking, "Good morning vanimaer." I said softly and she spun her head around to look at me and nearly fell off the chair. "Me'a a'mael." I said as I steadied her.

She blushed and looked up at me; her hand still gripped my arm. I smiled down at her, she looked beautiful in the morning light and I couldn't help myself as I leant towards her. She smiled against my lips and leant towards me as I deepened the kiss, entwining our tongues. As we kissed she shifted towards me almost sitting in my lap, I wrapped my arms around her waist pulling her tighter towards me. I pulled away to breathe and traced kisses along her jaw line and she tilted her head back.

I groaned as she tugged lightly on my hair and I slid my hand over the curve of her hip, I sighed and rested my head against her shoulder. "We really should stop. I need to go back to my room before people notice I'm not there. There will be rumours about you and I don't want that to happen." I whispered against her neck, placing a kiss on the area of skin where her heartbeat was close to the surface. She sighed and nodded, pressing a kiss to the side of my forehead. I leant back away from her and studied her face, her lips were swollen and her cheeks were flushed.

I stood from the chaise and she watched me rise, before rising herself. "I'll see you at breakfast, a'mael." I said and she nodded, pressing a kiss to my cheek. I opened the door quietly and snuck down the corridor to my room, hearing Ariana shut the door quietly behind me. I leant against my own door and tried to get myself under control; it wouldn't do for me to dishonour her before our wedding night. I would not disrespect her in that manner. I moved around my room, getting ready for the day.

Me'a - Easy

Vanimaer - Beautiful one

Lle tyava quel? - Do you feel well?

Quelinin - Wonderful

A'mael - Beloved

Aranamin - My king

Nae saian luume - It has been too long

Ada – Dad

Atara - Mom