Disclaimer: Everything here belongs to Tolkien and his people (New Line Cinema, I guess). I'm not earning money, I don't own these characters (oh boy, I wish I did, man) and I haven't gotten anything to say about this matter. Oh yes, one last thing! Thanx soooo much for casting such great actors that fit the parts sooo perfectly! Uh and Mr Jackson, could u please direct star wars episode 3?

NOTE: This is an A/A story, and if it might seem more like A/L or ARW/L at first, it's not. Story was written with the people playing Aragorn, Arwen, Legolas and Elrond in mind. In other words, I mean the people in this fic to look like the people in the movies. Sorry anti-lotr-movie-ists and anti-liv tyler-as-arwen-ists

Thanks for all the nice reviews! Yadda yadda, makes me wanna keep writing!

Chapter 6

It was a damp and misty morning when Arwen reached Mordor. She had been riding without a stop for several days, and now she stood in the vast emptiness of the flat grasslands, the high mountains of Mordor towering over her. Suddenly she felt strangely small and helpless. Empty. As empty as those plains she had been riding through for so many days. What if he was dead after all? What if she just was being naïve and foolish, ignorant to the fact that she would never see Aragorn again? Arwen stubbornly shook her head. No, he wasn't dead. He couldn't be. Never. A simple Orc-arrow, even a poisonous one, couldn't kill her Aragorn. Not Aragorn, Son Of Arathorn.  Suddenly she urged Asfaloth to go faster than ever and galloped towards the mountains.

The same mourning, Aragorn and Eldarion set out on a day's journey into the mountains. Eldarion was wandering around the foggy courtyard when Aragorn came out of the house, carrying a bundle with their lunch. "It's rather cool, isn't it?" Aragorn remarked. Eldarion gave a hollow laugh "right now it is. You wait 'till midday; it gets so hot in the afternoon, you'd think you'll get fried alive!" Aragorn smiled at the boy, who grinned back.

They followed a small path out of the courtyard, which had steep stone walls standing over it. The whole house was built into that little narrow valley between the two walls, half built into stone. They followed the path, and after a while the right wall began to drop away, leaving them climbing slowly on a small path on the side of the cliff. Not far below them, a mountain brook played it's way from rock to rock. "Our water" Eldarion pointed out. After about a mile the road flattened and turned into a rocky tableland. It seemed to lead several small paths in every direction. Eldarion turned to Aragorn "we call this The Stone Crossing" he said, pointing out the different roads. The one leading towards the house was practically invisible from he crossing and Aragorn finally understood why no Orcs ever raided their home.

Still, if Orcs were looking for him, they might find…

Aragorn pushed the thoughts away. Eldarion was showing him the three other paths. One of them lead northwards, towards the great planes. "Ihelian goes down there every few weeks to get some our food," Eldarion explained "It's a 10 day walk from here to the next settlement, if you walk fast, that is."

They set off, choosing a path leading into the mountains. Around midday they stopped for a rest. They had something to eat and then started sword fighting lessons, Aragorn soon realizing that Eldarion had a talent with the sword, and was quick with picking up new moves. After an hour Aragorn put in a brake and sat down to smoke a pipe while he watched Eldarion fighting an imaginary battle. Eldarion valiantly thrust sword around, mumbling the kind of words one hears a playing child say, while his make-believe enemies seemed to overwhelm him: "AAAARGH!" he bellowed, and, falling to his knees, did a realistic impression of a dying man. Finally he slumped down on his back and lay there, trying hard not to breath. For a moment everything was quiet, then Aragorn started to laugh, Eldarion soon joining him. He cautiously crawled over to Aragorn and sat down next to him, steadying his chin in his hand and staring into the distance. Aragorn watched him and Eldarion looked up and returned the gaze. "Why were you here in the first place?" he asked. Aragorn hadn't really expected this question to come from the  boy, but then  he hadn't expected Ihelian to ask him either. He somehow always had the strange feeling that Ihelian could read minds. Eldarion kept on staring at him. "hardly any men come down here all alone, you know…" Aragorn exhaled deeply, and they both watched the smoke fade away. "Well, I wasn't alone. I was accompanied by an old friend. An Elve named Legolas." Eldarion shook his head "But why would he leave you?" Aragorn felt his insides giving him a horrible squeeze. Legolas would never have left him out there to die…or would he? What if Legolas had been captured himself? No, Legolas wouldn't get caught by a group of Orcs. "I guess he had no other choice, he must have thought I was dead" the words made Aragorn feel miserable. Eldarion still seemed to think that his question hadn't been answered "but why were you two here after all?" Yes, why? It probably hadn't even been a month since Elrond had sent him and Legolas here, but now it seemed years away. Then suddenly it all came back to Aragorn: Gandalf, his old friend, worried about Barag-Dur being re-built and asking him to go to Mordor, Aragorn's parting with Arwen, waking up and finding himself and Legolas surrounded by Orcs and finally the arrow. He squeezed his eyes shut. Eldarion started drawing patterns in the sandy ground with his fingers, looking slightly embarrassed. He looked up at Aragorn as though to apologize "Maybe we should go back" he said slowly. So they slowly and wordlessly packed there things before they started back towards the house.