The streets were crowded, and Elenya was clutching his hand tight, but Eldarion felt quite out-of-place. Vildir strode ahead of him, gazing wide- eyed at the towers and pinnacles and all the people in the streets.

The people were talking excitedly. Eldarion recognized very few of them; it had after all been a long time.

Aeargil had stopped trying to keep up with their eldest and was instead holding Elenya's other hand and speaking soft Sindarin to her. Eldarion could understand it if he tried, but he was instead staring at the buildings and trying to recognize the people. Was he a stranger here now?

Something caught his eye, and he searched again through the faces of the people in the crowd. He released Elenya's hand. 'I'll catch up,' he reassured Aeargil. 'Go ahead -'

She smiled and nodded, then continued calming little Elenya.

Eldarion made his way toward the crowd and cut through the excited people. 'Welcome back, Prince Eldarion!' one man shouted.

He stopped in front of the young man who stood quiet and smiled. Then he pulled him into a hug which was tightly returned.

'It's been to long,' Eldarion said quietly. Celebros pulled back, his face sober.

'It's been ten years,' his nephew said quietly.

'I know,' Eldarion sighed. 'I just...we couldn't travel with the children until they were old enough, and -'

'It's all right,' Celebros said, and peered over to where Aeargil and the children still cut thorugh the crowd.

'Is that Vildir?' he asked after a moment. Eldarion smiled and nodded.

'He's gotten big...'

'Well, he is nine.'

'Yes, but I haven't seen him since he was - what, two weeks?'

'Three. But close enough. He loves it here already. It's Elenya we have to worry about. She doesn't like people. She's always been very antisocial. She likes to play in the woods more. Or the caves...Vildir and she go out every day into the forest. Once, last year, they got lost. Oh, we were worried sick. But we found them the next morning in the caves in the valley-bluffs...they'd gone too far and couldn't find their way back in the dark, and they were cold, so they just found a cave. The next month we went there, and wandered around in it...'

'I remember when I was ten and you took me into the caves in Ithilien,' Celebros said, smiling. 'We got lost...you'd better catch up, you're going to lose them in the crowd.'

'You coming?'

'Not yet, I have to meet Snaga. He left the City for almost a year, you know, and pretended to go back to the orcs...we've almost killed them all. We have to worry more about bandits, these days...Rohan especially. You'd better go...your father wants to see you. I'll meet you.'

Eldarion nodded and slipped away into the crowd. It took him a few minutes to catch up to Aeargil and Elenya. Vildir was with them again, and Eldarion picked him up and set him on his shoulders. Vildir laughed in delight. 'I can see the world from here!' he cried. Aeargil smiled and clutched Eldarion's shoulder with her free hand, pulling him closer so she could whisper in his ear.

'I'm glad we're back.'

+++++

The King tried to hide his apprehension, but was unable to; he tapped his foot on the floor, and his eyes darted around. He could hear the shouts outside. Eldarion was home. He was going to see Eldarion...and the children...and Aeargil...

The door opened slowly, almost hesitantly, and a boy with dark, uncertain eyes and golden-brown hair walked in. The King caught his breath. The boy looked uncertainly around. The room must be rather intimidating, the King reminded himself. The whole city must be. And this is Vildir. Elbereth. He looks so much like Eldarion...so much like his father had as a child...

'Vildir?' he asked, standing and walking to the door where the boy stood looking uneasy. Vildir nodded quickly.

'Are you...the King?' the boy asked. His voice was soft and smooth. King Elessar nodded.

'I've been waiting a long time to meet you,' he said. The boy nodded, relaxing more.

'I've wanted to meet you for ever and ever - Father told me all about you. Did you really used to be a Ranger? Is there really a nice orc here? Everything's so big. Father and Mother and Elenya will be here in a minute - I ran ahead of them. There are so many people. I don't know if Elenya likes it. She likes quiet things, but I think it's nice here.'

The King smiled. Celebros would like this boy.

'Do you want to come sit down?' he asked, and Vildir nodded again. He followed his grandfather to the table and sat down, a bit uncertain again.

The door opened once more and Aeargil led a little girl in by the hand, whispering to her encouragingly. And behind them was Eldarion.

The King wanted to stand and meet his son, but he didn't seem to be able to. It had, after all, been nine years.

Eldarion stood for a moment in the door, looking around the huge room and then looking to his father and his son already sitting in a too-big chair. He walked slowly in, closing the door behind him and staring around. He reached the table after what seemed an eternity. Aeargil and Elenya sat, Elenya between her older brother and her mother. Eldarion put his hand on Vildir's shoulder, and for a moment, there was complete silence.

Then the King stood slowly, and Eldarion embraced him. 'It's good to see you again, my boy,' King Elessar whispered.

'You too,' Eldarion returned. 'I've missed this place, and everyone...' He pulled back. 'I saw Celebros on my way here, briefly. How's Mother?'

'She's fine...she insisted that I meet you here first. Celebros has missed you, I think perhaps more than even I have. He doesn't really connect with Malgil, not even after... oh, well. And ever since the incident with the Galadil, of course, he hasn't been the same. He's been changing more and more. And Aeargil, it's good to see you too, and in good health...and Elenya and Vildir.'

Aeargil nodded her head. Vildir smiled, and Elenya shrank into her seat. Aeargil started to reproach her, again in Sindarin, but the King shook his head, indicating it was all right.

'The City seems bigger than I remember it being,' Aeargil said, smiling. 'More magnificent.'

'Methnan has got towers, but they're pretty small compared to the ones here. But it's got woods all around,' Vildir said eagerly.

'There's woods here too,' Elenya said quietly. Her voice was like gentle silk, and so young. 'I saw them. Just not as close.'

'You can't go into the woods here, though,' Eldarion warned his children. 'They're dangerous.'

'Not like at home,' Aeargil added. 'Bad things live there.'

'I met a big bad thing in our woods once,' Elenya muttered resentfully.

'We,' Vildir insisted. Elenya ignored him - she seemed to dislike saying 'we'.

'A baby bear,' Eldarion muttered to his father.

'Yeah, but we were right near home,' Vildir pointed out. 'We could just run back. The woods are too far away here.'

'Even on a horse?' Elenya asked.

'Even on a horse,' Eldarion told her. To his father he added, 'Elenya loves horses. Vildir does too, but he likes riding them more than Elenya. She just likes spending time in the stables at Methnan. Vildir - he's a lot like Celebros, really. Just more talkative, more active.'

The King nodded. Suddenly he felt strange, as if either something was missing or something was whole. It was a feeling of ... detachment. As if either now he was one again and wouldn't have to stretch over so much emptiness to think of his family, or like something was missing and he was seperated from it.

+++++

'It's really been like this ever since Cundariel left,' Celebros said slowly. 'She and Tasarian went back to Eryn Lasgalen in August of 68. I miss her a lot - I just took her company for granted, I guess. She'd been missing her parents - I think her mother's dead, but her father still lives in the Woodland Realm. Can't blame her, really. I miss my father.'

'Listen, Celebros, about that...I've been wanting to apologize for a long time. I should have been here.'

Celebros shook his head. 'It's all right. I think I sort of came to a point in the road, a few years back, where it split into two. One was the path of bitterness and hate and revenge, and the other was acceptance of the past and forgiveness and looking to the future, and I accepted and continued on. I acted terrible to everyone in that time myself. I...I almost killed those Men, Eldarion. I would have, if Faramir and Snaga hadn't come just in time.'

'My father told me about what happened,' Eldarion said, nodding, now sober. 'But that was years ago. You can't change it.'

'And then there's Eomer's death,' Celebros said, a strange look coming across his face. 'After everything he did...oh, but the two Halflings came to the City. Merry and Pippin. They were strange, the two of them, but then they died as well...your father was very unhappy for months. I'm glad I got to meet them, though...taught me a few things, and told some old stories about the Shire, and the Ents.'

'I met the two of them once,' Eldarion said, smiling distantly, 'very breifly, when you were about two years old. They played around with you a bit, and talked to Father for a long time - made him laugh and cry. Made him remember things he had forgotten. They talked about so many things I didn't understand. What else has happened? Where are all the others?'

'Snaga and Pernathos are both here - Pernathos isn't a Guard anymore, and he and Snaga are always out adventuring. They ran into some bandits last month -' A dark, closed expression crossed Celebros' face. 'But they got away all right. Gwalas is in Ithilien right now, but he'll be back in a few days.'

Eldarion was silent, looking at his feet for a moment. Then he asked quietly, 'Celebros, are you - are you all right?'

A pronounced closed look came into Celebros' eyes. There was a silence, and Eldarion's gaze became pained and desperate. Then Celebros sighed.

'I think I'm okay, actually,' he said softly. 'It's been a couple years since anything's happened to me. It's not over, because they aren't gone. But I - I just remember these things. They're with me all the time - every time I look in one of those long mirrors in the halls, I see the scars. Some of them, I don't even remember which they're from. I tried wearing a scarf - the ones on my neck are the worst to remember - but it was only covering it up. Everyone knew why, and it didn't help at all. But overall...overall, I think I'm all right. There was Earil's death, and that was... I don't know, but I imagine it would be like if you lost one of the children, or Aeargil. It's been two years since my skirmishes with the orcs in the Greywood, and that wasn't too bad. Three years before that, of course, was my trip to the south, when I got roughed up by those bandits, but that wasn't as bad as anything either. Two years before that was the fever I got - we still don't know what triggered that. Then everything before that - my father and Tarel, and Eldir -' A strange shiver seemed to run through Celebros, but he didn't seem to notice, just took a shuddering breath and continued calmly. '- and Galadon, and Tahir, and then the orcs before that. That's about everything. It's done with, for now. It's not as bad anymore. No assassination attempts for quite a while.' He laughed a bit eerily, letting it fade into a chuckle and a very unsettling smile.

'Come meet the children,' Eldarion said after a silence, standing up suddenly from his chair. 'Vildir's been dying to meet you.'

'All right,' Celebros said slowly, and stood himself, following Eldarion from his room.

+++++

'Father?' someone called from the other room as Celebros and Eldarion entered. The first room was very dimly lit. Vildir emerged from the second one, and stopped, his eyes widening. Celebros smiled faintly.

'Awfully quiet around here,' Eldarion called out loudly. Elenya emerged silently behind Vildir, and had a strange reaction. The way her eyes widened was not the same. The emotion was not the same.

Then Aeargil came out from the other room as well, and hurried over to greet the two of them. While she hugged Celebros - it had, after all, been ten years - Eldarion approached his silent, staring children.

Vildir came back to life, grinning as his mother released Celebros and starting forward, a bit uncertainly.

'Hello, Vildir,' Celebros said, smiling.

'Hi,' Vildir replied, slightly breathlessly. 'I mean -'

'Don't babble,' Eldarion ordered with a grin.

'Yes, Father,' Vildir replied. 'I won't babble.' He looked back at Celebros, awed. 'You look just like the picture! Father said you did, but I thought you might be a bit different.'

'Picture?' Celebros said, puzzled. Aeargil smiled.

'Vildir wanted to know what you looked like, so I drew him a picture. It took me a long time to get it right, but I finally did. You can see it later, if you'd like.'

Celebros smiled and nodded. 'Are you disappointed that I'm not a bit different, Vildir?'

Vildir looked at him as if he was crazy. 'No!' he laughed. 'I thought the picture was perfect. I wanted you to be just the same. And you are! Isn't he, El?'

'Yes,' Elenya said, smiling quietly, looking at Celebros with a peculiar look in her eyes. 'Perfect.'

'Well,' Celebros said, smiling quietly, 'I think you two are perfect too.'

+++++

'What do you think of him?' Eldarion asked the children. The two of them were snuggled in their respective new beds, having their nightly talk with their father.

'He's nice,' Elenya said softly. Eldarion was startled. From Elenya, if she thought someone was nice - it was a definite improvement. As a general rule, El didn't like people. As if to contradict his thoughts, she added, 'I like him. He's good.'

'He's great,' Vildir agreed, eyes sparkling. 'He's awesome. But Father, I didn't want to mention this with him there, but there was a difference between the picture and him. He's got that strange scar on his neck.'

'I'm glad you didn't say anything, Vildir. Don't mention it to him, please. He was hurt, a long time ago, and he doesn't like remembering it. I'm glad you two like him. I don't know what I'd do if you didn't get along.' Vildir almost laughed. He obviously couldn't imagine not getting along with his cousin.

'How old is he?' the boy asked suddenly.

'Twenty-nine,' Eldarion answered promptly.

'Wow,' Vildir breathed.

'And now,' his father said mock-sternly. 'If there isn't anything else, then it's bedtime.'

'It's past bedtime,' Vildir said almost proudly. 'And that's not my fault, nor El's.'

+++++

How terrible, Vildir thought as his father sang Elven to put Elenya to sleep, to live without a father.

He couldn't imagine Father being gone - he couldn't imagine living without him, or Elenya, or Mother, any more than he could imagine living without happiness, or without breathing.

'Good night, elen,' Father said to Elenya, 'and good night, Vildir. Be elhini for now, and sleep on your talans in the silence of the trees.'

'G'night, Father.'

'Good night, Father.'

Then the light was turned out, and Vildir was left trying to imagine empty worlds.

After a very long time, his uneasy thoughts drifted into a deep and dreamless sleep.

The same could not be said for his younger sister.

+++++

She was a quite child, little Elenya, and often a sad one. She had short, slightly curled silver-gold hair, light as an Elf's, very much like the rest of her. She had enormous blue eyes, and her face was often dirty, although it never seemed to be.

But she was mature and shrewd and quick as any other person in the City. She was what any parent could wish for in a child, except that she was quiet, and not so playful, and painfully shy. But she never disobeyed, and seldom complained, as so many children do near to constantly.

She understood things that many older children could not, and sometimes that Eldarion and Aeargil wished she could not - things like hatred, and pain, and war, and death, and lies, and despair, and evil. She had never really had the same kind of innocence of other children. She had the wide- eyed years of running through the woods and back home, and hugging her father, and kissing her mother's cheek, and shaking with her blanket when she was afraid. But she had never had the same kind of ignorance that children had, before they understood... because Elenya Telcontar had always understood. Sometimes, her father thought that she understood more than he did.

The thought frightened him.

+++++

Dawn came cold and silent and crystalline, breaking the autumn night- darkness to fragments.

Eldarion watched it from the window. The only reality he felt was the wood of the windowframe under his fingers. I'm home, he thought to himself. I've been gone so long, and now I'm home again.

The cloud of silver dust that hung over the horizon was gradually stained in colors of gold and blood.

The night was over.

+++++

'Good morning, elen darling.'

'Good morning, Father.'

'Is that brother of yours up yet?'

'Yes, Father. He's trying to fasten his cloak.'

'Is he planning on going somewhere already?'

'He wanted to go down to the gardens before breakfast.'

Eldarion stuck his head into the children's room. 'Vildir! Are you sure you don't want breakfast first? I could just call one of the servants.'

Vildir smiled a bit. 'Yes, Father. I won't be gone long. I want to go to the gardens we saw, and maybe -'

'You are not going anywhere near the stables, Vildir,' his mother's voice called. 'Not without someone with you.'

'El will come.'

'Someone older.'

'Mother!'

'The horses in Methnan are trained differently, young man, and I will not have you breaking something on your first full day in Minas Tirith.'

Elenya cocked her head silently. 'Can I come with to the gardens?'

'Ask Father if it's all right, El.'

'Father -'

'I suppose. You keep him in line, El. Not a step into the stables! And I do notice, Vildir, that you think you can go out without asking.'

Vildir sighed and walked over to his little sister. 'Can you get this clasp?' he asked pleadingly, holding out his small black cloak and a silver clasp curled into the shape of an Elven V.

'Where in Elbereth's name did you get that?' Eldarion asked as Elenya reached up and fastened it in no time at all. 'Those special-made ones are expensive.'

'Well, I am a prince-in-training now in two different kingdoms - I'm very well thought of now, you know.' Vildir smirked. Elenya looked slightly distastefully at her brother.

'Celebros gave it to him,' she told her father, who was looking in exasperation at his son.

'Ah - giving gifts without asking me first now, is he?' Eldarion said dryly. 'What'd you get, El?'

Elenya carefully pulled from under her shirt a silver chain. On the end was a bronze-and-gold pendant shaped like a moon and a star.

Eldarion raised his inner eyebrows. 'It looks lovely, Elenya. Why don't you wear it on the outside?'

Elenya glanced at him and shrugged, tucking it back underneath her shirt. 'C'mon,' Vildir said, grinning. 'Let's go out.'

The two children exchanged meaningful looks. Vildir pulled the door open. 'We'll be back in a while,' he said, and ducked out.

Eldarion sighed. Those two were up to something; he was sure of it.

+++++

Celebros woke late, which was unusual for him, and got up in a hurry, muttering an oath, which was also not ordinary.

Barely a minute after he had dressed and washed, there was a knock on the door. Now who is that, he wondered? His heart sank. Earil, his first thought had been. He sighed. He'd had very few visitors since Earil had died two months before. Snaga had come twice, and Gwalas right before he left for Ithilien. Perhaps it is Gwalas. He said in his last message he'd be back any day now.

He pulled open the door. Oh! he thought, feeling instantly stupid.

Elenya and Vildir were standing there, Vildir giggling madly, Elenya smiling a bit.

'We,' Elenya said quietly, 'need your help.'

'Will it get me in trouble with your father?'

'Quite possibly,' Vildir said, and started giggling again.

'Come in,' Celebros said, smiling. 'I see you're wearing that clasp, Vildir. I'd wondered if you'd be able to get it on. I forgot to mention how difficult it is to fasten.'

'He didn't,' Elenya said quietly. 'I did. He couldn't.' She smiled, and Vildir giggled again.

'What mischeif are you into now?'

'Well, you see, Father and Mother said we couldn't go near the stables alone...'

'I need exact words,' Celebros said solemnly, standing and pacing the room.

'Not without someone with you. Someone older. Not a step into the stables!' Elenya said.

'Hm. That first part sounds fairly eludible.'

'Yes. We came immediately.'

'But the second part is pretty specific.'

Vildir groaned.

'We may just have to outright disobey it.'

The children looked at each other in sheer glee.

'I hear you two like horses.'

'Love them, more like!' Vildir said, grinning. 'I had a pony in Methnan, and I could ride a horse if Father was there. Grandfather said I was really good at it!'

'I just like them,' Elenya said. 'I like feeding them and brushing them and watching them. I like riding them too, but I can't do it without Father either.'

'You rode Marin without asking me once,' Vildir pointed out. Celebros assumed Marin was the pony. 'I wish I could've brought him. Silmarien's taking care of him for now. She's our cousin.'

'I'm related to her too,' Celebros pointed out. 'If only by marriage. I never got to meet her, though. I've only been to Methnan once, and she was gone then.'

'On one of her adventures,' Elenya said, nodding.

'Uncle Lorgan told us about when you came,' Vildir said. A shadow crossed Elenya's face as well as Celebros'. The older man nodded.

'Very well then. To the stables.' He took Elenya's hand with one of his and Vildir's in his other. The children smiled, looking at each other with significance in their eyes.

+++++

'Do you have a horse?'

'Two, as a matter of fact,' Celebros said. 'I had three, but Windscream died.'

'Windscream - oh!'

'Don't tell me you've heard about Windscream.'

'Of course!'

'Your father has too much time on his hands if he's told you about my horse - no, not even mine. The one that I stole.'

'We heard about everything,' Vildir said, not entirely truthfully. 'Well - lots of things, anyway,' he amended at Elenya's reproachful glare.

Celebros smiled. 'You're lucky you haven't heard about everything,' he said quietly, and the smile faltered. 'Lucky. Everything is hard, you two, remember that. Everything isn't all goodness and light. Don't let these years get away from you. You, Elenya, need to lighten up some. Smile!' She did, a true smile, and Celebros did too. 'You need to have fun! I remember when I was a boy, I thought it would last for long enough to do some of nothing. It ended a lot sooner than I thought. When I was sixteen, I went on my first orc-hunt, all by myself in the Greywood...' He started to tell them a small part of the story. They didn't notice anymore where they were going, and Celebros didn't stop telling it when he saw a red-haired Elf approaching from down the street.

'...and I am going to stop here for a moment, if you don't mind. I think you've heard of Gwalas?'

The children looked up. Vildir's face lit up, and Elenya smiled again.

Celebros embraced his friend breifly. 'The minature Lord and Lady have arrived,' he announced. 'This is the Lord Vildir of Gondor and Methnan, and the Lady Elenya of the same.'

Gwalas bowed, hand on his chest. 'M'lords and lady, may I enquire as to where you might be going?'

'Shhh,' Celebros whispered. 'It's a secret. I am causing mischeif. Vildir and Elenya and I are going to the stables, even though we ought not.'

Gwalas looked with slight puzzlement at him. 'Have you been in trouble again?'

'No, it's them that aren't allowed.'

'Well, I want to go have a talk with Eldarion. I can stall him for a very long time, if you want.'

'Hmmm,' Celebros said. 'How long do you think we need, Elenya?'

Elenya pulled away from Gwalas a bit. 'As long as you can,' she said quietly. Gwalas smiled.

'All right. I'll be going, in that case. Good to see you three!'

Celebros nodded, and Vildir waved a bit, looking extremely impressed. He looked back up at his cousin. 'C'mon!' he laughed.

+++++

'Gwalas! How are you, my old friend?'

'Old? Who in the world are you calling old? I'm not the one with children!'

'You, my good Elf, are seven hundred fifty-two.'

'Three,' Gwalas muttered. 'Seven hundred fifty-three. And in any case, Legolas is about three thousand and showing no sign of tiring.'

Eldarion waved his hand dismissively. 'What's it matter?'

Gwalas shook his head wryly and clasped Eldarion's shoulder. 'Good to have you back, Prince.'

Eldarion smiled, but sobered quickly. 'Is Celebros as all right as he seems?'

'No,' Gwalas said quietly. 'He made up his mind months ago to pretend to be all right when you came. When Earil died. He's not going to get over that for a long time. You know how close the two of them were. It was an odd friendship, to be sure. But Earil kept him laughing. He broke, at the burial. He turned and walked away in the middle of the song. He was crying too hard to hear much of it, I think. He didn't want you to be worried. But he frightens me, Eldarion, he really does. I didn't want to leave, but your father promised he'd keep an eye on Celebros for me while I was at Ithilien. Legolas has taken over since Faramir died, at least until Telmir - Faramir and Eowyn's very young son, if you'll remember - is old enough. He needed help. They had a situation there. But we resolved it, and it's better now, if not perfect. I saw the children.'

'In the gardens?'

Gwalas very carefully avoided the question. 'They looked like they were having a good time.' Eldarion nodded, smiling a bit and not seeming to notice. His face crumpled a bit then.

'I had hoped...' he murmered. '...maybe he wouldn't try to fool me. I wish he wouldn't. Well, I'm glad I found out sooner rather than later. How bad is it?'

'Not good.' Gwalas sighed, looking at Eldarion with a strange expression. He didn't want to have to say this. 'He really does frighten me. He's constantly on the edge - he's mostly stopped drinking now, but he explodes in an instant. He's getting a bit paranoid. He always thinks that there's someone there. I finally persuaded him to stop carrying daggers around in his sleeves last year. It's catching up to him, Eldarion. It really is.'

Eldarion looked away for a moment, and Gwalas pulled his dark blue cloak tighter about himself, as if the September day had been colder than average instead of the opposite.

'It's been so long since Eldir, and that was the worst, and I thought maybe...I don't know.' Eldarion looked over at Gwalas, who didn't meet his eye. 'I still have these horrible nightmares about that instant, Gwalas. That instant when I thought he was dead. But they don't turn out the same way. None of them turn out the way it did.'

Gwalas nodded. 'I know exactly what you mean.' There was something fervent and awful and pained about the way he said exactly.

'I remember everything,' Eldarion said after a moment. 'I remember every expression on his face. I remember the looks in his eyes, until there was no look at all, and then when the hopelessness came, and then the expression when his sight came back. I was so afraid, mellon nin. I was so afraid that I was going to lose him. I was afraid of what was happening. I was afraid of if something worse happened. But the most awful thing is that the only thing I could think of sometimes was this. What's happening right now. I was afraid I would lose him like this. He looked happy, last night, with the children. Then they went to bed, and I saw before he left the look in his eyes that told me he was far away.'

Gwalas nodded. 'I remember some things with such excruciating detail that sometimes I wonder whether I dreamed it all. You know how sometimes strange things strike you about a dream - like the color of the sky, or the height of a hill, or the slowness of an ant? Then, it was the feeling that radiated off him. He felt like a wounded dog, Eldarion, like a pet. He was meek and obedient and hurt, and most of all he was afraid. Every bit of the fight was inside. He wouldn't let us see his pain until we couldn't help him.'

'I didn't feel that,' Eldarion said faintly. 'I didn't feel a fight at all. I didn't think there was one.'

+++++

Vildir and Elenya took a very long time with Celebros' horse, which he didn't mind at all. It was good to see them play, to see their smiles, and to know that there was someone in the world who was good and who was happy.

It was almost noon before they left, and Vildir looked a bit worried. 'We told Father we'd be back for breakfast.'

'You could come have it in my rooms, and tell him you had it with me.'

'Well, all right.'

Elenya had a strange, faraway smile on her face. 'Wonder what Father and Gwalas are talking about,' Vildir said ruminatively.

'Important things, no doubt,' Celebros said with a shrug, pushing open the door to his room.

+++++

'I am NOT afraid of the dark!'

Gwalas shook his head wryly. The mood from before had faded, and they had started talking about good times instead. They had each other laughing before long.

'Well,' the Prince said, 'when he was about ten, he and I went to Ithilien. We went exploring in the caves and got hopelessly lost. We were in there for three days, actually. I kept saying we should go one way, but he was adamant on going the other. He was right - we met Faramir on the third day. They had two different parties out looking for us, and I had to tell them we'd just gotten lost, and Celebros had led me out. Father started to laugh when I told him. He'd been afraid that we'd gone farther than we were supposed to and run into orcs or something.'

Gwalas laughed. 'Well, about four years ago, Celebros and Earil were playing some kind of game that Tasarian had taught them in the library. I came in, and they were just sitting there, Earil with his hands pressed against the table, Celebros staring from one hand to the other. Apparently it was one that Tasarian invented himself when he was in prison. He had thirty years, alone. He isn't as changed as you'd think someone would be, after that. They tried to explain it to me, but I kept getting details mixed up. Tasarian taught them a lot of things like that. Got them all laughing, some of them. I understood a few, and some were downright disobedient and devilish. Once they tried to take fifty books each from the Great Library without the librarians noticing. They did notice, of course, and had a fit reshelving them all. They got them all from the least-used parts. Victims of the Spiders of Morgoth and One Hundred Lost Creatures of the North and Theoretical Uses of Unassuming Creatures from the Sea of Rhun and that kind of rubbish. Things no one's needed to use for centuries, so they didn't know where they went. Earil followed them around for the next two days as they tried to put them back, and when they finally thought they'd found the place, he'd tell them where he had gotten it. Celebros gave up on it after a couple hours, but Earil kept at it.' Gwalas sighed. 'Earil gave us all some good laughs...'

'I wish I had gotten to know him more,' Eldarion said quietly. 'I don't know why we didn't wait until Vildir was older.'

'If he was older, he wouldn't have adjusted to Methnan. These days, it seems, the safety is ironically enough in the North.'

'Now that Galadon has apparently left.'

'Every sign says that he left years ago, after the run-in with Celebros and I and the rest.' Gwalas paused. 'He's writing something, by the way. Celebros, I mean, of course. A history of what happened, perhaps. He was asking me for details as to what I remembered after that, and he spent a long time in the Library. Either that, or he's trying to puzzle Galadon out, which I think is beyond him.'

Eldarion had no chance to reply, because just then a knock came at the door. He gave Gwalas a meaningful look. 'The children,' he mouthed, and went to the door to open it.

Celebros was standing there, looking a bit grim, but Vildir and Elenya were far from it. The two of them were smiling, Vildir practically leaping.

'Well, it looks like you two missed breakfast.'

'They had it with me,' Celebros said. 'I'll be going, then. See you all later.' Without another word, he turned and strode off. Eldarion looked after him long enough to see him reach up and touch the back of his neck.

+++++

Afternoon had come and gone without event, and the formal family dinner in honor of the reuniting of the family was approaching. Eldarion had asked Aeargil to deal with the children, and decided to pay his nephew a visit.

He knocked at the door. There was a silence, and then, 'Come in,' Celebros' voice said.

Eldarion opened the door. Celebros was lying on his stomach on the bed, scribbling something furiously on a sheet of parchment. He looked up when Eldarion came in, nodded to himself, and looked back at the paper, rereading what he had written.

'Are you coming to the dinner?'

Celebros looked up, a bit surprised, and indicated his swordbelt and clothing. He was wearing his finest, and sheathed on the belt was his heirloom sword.

'You never wear that,' Eldarion said, startled.

'It's tradition. I looked it up in the Library - the extended history of my family. My grandfather on my father's side wrote the entire history. I haven't even touched it for more than nine years - since Vildir's birth, I think.'

Eldarion watched Celebros turn back to the paper, muttering to himself once in a while.

'Your neck still hurts you,' he accused after a few moments of this. Celebros looked up again, his face sober.

'No,' he said quietly. 'My memory does.'

Eldarion winced. 'Promise me it doesn't still hurt.'

'Physically? I promise.'

He sighed, looking with pity and memory at Celebros. Then he turned to leave. At the door, he added, 'Dinner's in half an hour.' Celebros nodded, and Eldarion closed the door after him.

+++++

The first part of the dinner went without event. Eldarion talked to Gwalas in an undertone for most of it, until the time came for the speeches. There were apparently four to be made - his own, his father's, Celebros', and Vildir's. He hadn't known beforehand that Vildir would be making one, but the boy had apparently asked the King if he could, so it was fine.

Celebros had perhaps on purpose seated himself as far away from Eldarion's family and the King and Queen as possible, sitting instead by Snaga. Both of them seemed content on not talking. Eldarion glanced once in a while at Celebros. It appeared that what he had been writing earlier was in fact his speech.

The dinner was outdoors, and much of the City was gathered around. Eldarion was surprised at the turnout, but his parents didn't seem to be.

The food was excellent, but he didn't eat as much of it as he normally would have. He was thinking about the look in Celebros' eyes. The memory.

His father stood, and a silence fell gradually over the crowd. 'Today,' the King said, 'is a very fine day for us all to be gathered again. The days are dark, and to us have been returned gifts. We have been gathered before, in these past nine years, but always a part has been missing, a section of our people quieter, feeling for those who were not here. The Prince of our lands has returned, bringing with him jewels greater than the earth. His beautiful wife, Aeargil, is also with us tonight, and his two children, Vildir, whose eyes gazed on the City as an infant, and Elenya, who had never seen it before. My heart is gladdened at their return, and the darkness may perhaps let up for a while. Eldarion.' The King's eyes smiled as they fell on his son. 'You are all welcome here always.'

+++++

Eldarion stood next, after the talking had spread again. He looked over the quieting people. Celebros was watching him with at least mild interest, Gwalas from next to him was smiling slightly. In Vildir and Elenya's eyes was awe, and both looked at their father in startlement. They had never seen him as a Prince before.

'These years have been filled with joy for me. I have watched my children grow, and learned of the peace of the woods. But a sense of missing was constantly with me. I was at peace, and I was happy, but I knew that I could never stay that way until I returned. I loved Methnan more than I can express through words, but this has always been and will always be my home.

'Perhaps my wife and children and I have returned to Minas Tirith. But my family was always here, in spirit and heart if nothing else. Through the tales we tell to our children will spring their lives and dreams.'

+++++

The clapping came again, and then the talking, and it seemed that both Celebros and Vildir were contemplating something. At last their eyes met, and Celebros raised his head slightly as if to say, Go ahead. Vildir stood, and watched in amazement as the people quieted as they had for the King and the Prince.

'I always imagined this City as being a place of magnificence and wonder,' he said. Eldarion looked at him, slightly startled. There was a light in his eyes and a tone in his voice that his son had never shown before. He seemed much older. Much more like someone who would some day be king. 'My father and mother told me of it, but much of the focus of the tales was not on the places but the people and the happenings. My clearest memory of a story telling me of the lay of the City was when I was very young. My mother described to me the first time she gazed from the Tower of Ecthelion,' - here his eyes rose to the tower, and a brief silence fell as the others followed suit - 'and my father described to me the Tower itself. But as breathless as the stories left me, nothing compared to actually letting my eyes rise until finally they gazed at the towers, and fall until they rested on the streets and the people. I knew, when I looked here, that no matter how long I had lived in Methnan, I would never be able to see a city again without comparing it to Minas Tirith.' He remained standing for a brief moment, as if wanting to add something, then sat. He looked again very small in his tall chair, and the people clapped.

+++++

It was a few minutes before Celebros rose, and a very deathly silence fell on the people as he did so. Celebros spoke very rarely, and when he had his news had been only of graveness and despair. Even now, his eyes did not smile, although his mouth was curved upward. Anyone knowing him well could tell that although he was happy at the moment, his heart was not at peace.

'For nine years,' he said, his voice falling hard on the utter silence, 'I have lived in a darkened world. Light has shone through still, pure light, but a curtain of darkness still was over me. The shadow in the north has lessened perhaps, but I looked on it then with more longing than apprehension. Near Mount Gundabad, the fortress of Galadon, Lord of the Dark Elves, is a peaceful and beautiful city that goes by the name of Minas Methith, the Tower of the Last Mist. Living there is the King, who is known as Tarmamethnan, although this is but a title. The heirs of the kings have united in friendship and more, and we hope that this will remain until the end. I fear no betrayal from our allies in the north, because its King is good and strong, and its people kind and brave, and they have suffered long at the hands of Galadon.' His eyes wandered as he spoke, and now they rested for a moment of more silence on Aeargil.

'Now the darkness is lessened. The storm may be gathering, but we are allowed now a lull. Let us not waste the precious time we may have! Life is a gift from the One, and one hour wasted is one hour never returned. These hours before the breaking of the clouds may be long or may be short. For now, let us hold to what we have.' He raised his glass. 'To friendship, and life, and family!' His eyes fell on Eldarion and the children, and remained there as he drank. The entire crowd echoed it, and it rang in everyone's ears. Celebros sat, and the clapping came, louder than before, stronger.

+++++

'That was amazing,' Vildir said quietly.

'Yes,' Eldarion agreed. 'So many people...' He felt momentarily ashamed for not being used to it, but he had felt his heart pounding as he spoke into the silence. Nothing had been like that at Methnan. They had a Council - fifteen people - the King, three chosen members of his family, and eleven ramdomly selected commoners, and they would discuss things, and then pass the word on.

'No,' Vildir said, shaking his head. 'I mean, yes, that was too, but Celebros'...that speech...'

'Oh,' Eldarion said, and nodded. 'It surprised me. He really has changed since we left.'

Vildir smiled. 'He just...he had it all planned. But yes, the people were amazing too...I remember when Grandfather let me sit in on the Council to see how it worked, and I...'

'I liked your speech,' Elenya said from her chair in the corner. She had politely declined to sit by the fire with them. Aeargil was out - visiting one of her old friends. 'It was very good. I could feel myself agreeing.' High praise, from Elenya. The City seemed to be bringing that out in her...but it still made her uneasy.

'I'm going to ask Father if I can take you somewhere,' Eldarion announced. 'He might not let me - it isn't always the safest place, or the best for children - but I hope he will. I think you'd like it.'

+++++

The King raised his eyebrows and let another wisp of smoke from his mouth, shifting his pipe. Eldarion coughed and glared. 'I just think they'd enjoy it.'

'Celebros was sixteen before he was allowed in.'

'That was because of Malgil, and don't deny it. I was allowed in when I was twelve. And I was allowed to use it when I was fourteen. And then we still weren't sure about the dagger.'

'We still aren't,' his father sighed, leaning back in his chair and taking the pipe from his mouth. 'Especially after how it affected Celebros. I'd think you'd be a bit more careful.'

'Well, El isn't about to do anything, and she'll watch Vildir too. She's a very mature girl. Almost like an adult. I wish she wasn't, though. She was never childish. Even as a baby, she was big-eyed and quiet and watchful. She rarely cried.'

'You know that exactly the same was true with Celebros. Watchful...she'll notice it. It isn't a better thing for her, in this case. If the dagger affects either of them, get them out of there right away, and come to me when you've got them both back home. We'll have to do something, if it does. Celebros probably tried to get back in.'

'Luckily for him, he probably failed.'

'Perhaps not,' King Elessar said quietly, putting the pipe between his lips again. 'All right. But remember, don't stay there for long, and don't bring their attention to the dagger.'

+++++

'Come on, elhini,' Eldarion said, opening the door to the apartment. 'Father gave me permission to take you to the armory of the City.'

'Really?' Vildir breathed. 'Wow! Come on, El!' Elenya, looking quietly apprehensive, clambered somewhat less quickly off her chair and followed her father and brother.

'Here it is,' Eldarion announced about ten minutes later. He pushed open the door, putting a hand on Vildir's shoulder and giving his youngest a meaningful look. She nodded, understanding exactly what he meant. 'Be careful. Not everything in here is safe - as a matter of fact, most things aren't.'

Vildir didn't answer. He was standing in the doorway, staring 'round in awe. Eldarion noted with relief that his eyes didn't linger on any one place, and slid right over the dagger.

Elenya was looking at some things more fixedly and ignoring most of them. She examined some of the armor, and wandered over to the swords, looking at one that had been scratched and marred many times, and then she went over to the dagger.

'What's this, Father?' she asked, pointing at it. Eldarion's heart sank. It's only the normal reaction, he told himself.

'It's just a dagger, El,' he told her half-truthfully.

'Is something wrong?' she asked, looking at him and reading his expression.

'Oh, El, just stay away from the dagger.'

'All right...' she sighed - not like Celebros, not like he did, Eldarion thought frantically, it's just normal - and moved to look at other things.

He gave them only a couple more minutes. But his heart filled with dread as they left, because he saw little Elenya's eyes stray back to the dagger, and her mouth form the words The hopes and loves of his own heart...

+++++

Eldarion hunched his shoulders, seemingly attempting to make himself as small as possible. His father's eyes were searching and unreadable.

'I may assume by your arrival that one of them was drawn to it?' he said quietly.

'El,' the Prince said quietly. 'Not as much, not by a long way, but she was. I could see it. She looked back as we were leaving, and I think she'd already memorized the carving, but she left it alone when I told her to. She wasn't immediately drawn to it - she looked at a lot of other things, and then asked me what it was, and what was wrong. I told her it was just a dagger, and to stay away from it, and she did.'

The King was obviously deep in thought. 'Did she ask you what any of the other items were?'

'No,' Eldarion said. 'And she didn't seem to be looking at much after I told her to stay away from it.'

'It seemed unnatural to you?'

'Well, yes.'

'I don't know her as well, of course, so I wondered for a moment - but that wasn't just a normal reaction for her?'

'I don't know,' Eldarion said miserably. 'I was trying to tell myself it was. But I don't think so. She didn't seem obsessive, just...curious. She wasn't as mesmerized by it.'

'I think all we can do for now is keep an eye on her, and the dagger. Vildir and Celebros, as well, I suppose.'

Eldarion nodded mutely, and stood, but before he reached the door the King added something.

'Have you ever asked Celebros about the dagger, Eldarion?'

'No,' Eldarion responded, surprised. His father made an indistinct sound and nodded, and Eldarion thought hard. 'Father,' he said after a moment. 'Earil did. I'm sure of it.'

'That may make things even more difficult,' King Elessar sighed. 'I was too late in asking, then. Now Earil is gone, and Celebros may not want to talk about something like that if Earil was the only one he'd ever spoken about it to before.'

'If only he was still here,' Eldarion whispered.

+++++

Celebros sighed and lay back on his bed. 'I do NOT want to get up today,' he announced to the ceiling. 'Dear Elbereth.' Tears filled his eyes, and he smiled ever so slightly. 'Well,' he whispered after a moment. 'Happy birthday, Earil.'

And for a moment, he could have been sure he heard a soft laugh in response.

+++++

Elenya and Vildir went out early the next morning, much to Eldarion's discomfort. He made them promise not to go near the stables or the armory, but Vildir asked why not the armory, and he lied that some of the items were being moved to a new armory and the men would be busy. His stomach twisted with the fabrication.

They agreed somewhat reluctantly, and promised to be back by lunchtime, and set off.

+++++

It was around eleven that morning that Celebros finally decided to get up and about. He had a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, as if something was about to happen, and it was not the first time that the feeling had been right.

+++++

Around one, Eldarion began to get seriously worried. The children hadn't returned yet, and they had promised they would be back by lunchtime. But that was an hour gone. They knew better.

He was fastening his cloak when Elenya burst in. 'About -' he began, and stopped. She was crying - sobbing uncontrollably. And she was alone.

'El, what happened!?' he demanded. 'Where's Vildir?'

'I don't know!' she cried. 'He took him, I know he took him, I don't know!'

'Who took him? What happened?'

'Vildir and I got seperated - we were down by the gardens playing, hiding from each other, and then I heard him cry my name, and ran to where he was. There was a man there, with a black cloak, and he - I didn't see Vildir, but the man hurried away, and I heard Vildir's voice again from the way he'd hurried in. I ran again to where I'd heard it, and Vildir's brooch from Celebros was there on the ground.' She held it up, face tearstained. 'I don't know!'

Eldarion relaxed slightly. 'El, Vildir was probably just playing and lost his brooch. There's lots of people in black in the City. I wear black myself.'

Elenya shook her head fiercely. 'That's not true!' she cried. 'He took Vildir! I know it! He was bad!'

'El -' Eldarion said, reaching out and wiping tears off her face, but his daughter pulled away.

'You have to believe me!' she screamed. 'Please, Father!'

Eldarion sighed. 'Minas Tirith is safe, Elenya.' He put a hand on her shoulder. 'I bet that this evening or so, Vildir will come right in here. Maybe he just got lost. Celebros did when he was a bit older than Vildir, and he'd lived his whole life here.'

Elenya jerked away, pushing his hand off her shoulder. Startled and hurt, Eldarion pulled back. 'I don't believe it!' she screamed. 'Vildir's been kidnapped and you don't even care!'

'I'll talk to my father, El, all right? I'll tell him what you think happened.'

'I don't think it happened! I know it! You have to do something?'

'What should I do?'

'Go and order all the gates closed.'

'I can't do that!' Eldarion said. 'I don't even have any proof that anything's wrong at all! You didn't see Vildir being dragged off.'

'I felt it!' she sobbed through her hands. 'Please, Father...Father...'

'I'm going to talk with the King. You stay here, elhin.'

She didn't answer, just continued to cry, and very reluctantly, he left her there.

+++++

'I don't think it's anything, Father. She doesn't like people very much, and she thinks he was kidnapped. She did seem awfully upset, but I think she's overreacting. He's probably lost. Can we call for a search in the City?'

'Of course,' King Elessar said. 'Are you certain it's not worse than that?'

'Yes, fairly sure. Vildir's like that. He'll be back by morning at the latest.'

+++++

Eldarion sighed. 'He'll be back any time now, Aeargil. Celebros got lost before, and he didn't turn up until the next morning, but he was fine. The Guards are looking out for him.'

'It doesn't feel right,' she whispered. 'He was just in the gardens, El said.'

'They might not have been in the gardens. They wanted to go to the stables.'

'If El said they were in the gardens, then they were. You know that, Eldarion. She doesn't lie.'

'Just because she doesn't usually -'

'Eldarion, what if she was telling the truth? What if Vildir really is gone? What are we going to do if we find out that we could have helped him and we didn't believe her?'

'I don't know,' Eldarion said quietly. 'But Vildir's so careful. And who would want a child? Around here, these days, they want people for information. And he doesn't know any Gondorian secrets.'

'But if they told you they had your son, and they asked you something, would you tell them?'

Eldarion was silent a moment. 'Of course I would,' he said quietly. 'Anyone would.'

'It would be easier to take a child than someone older who knew things. What if it was the truth?'

Eldarion shook his head. 'If he's not back in the morning, I'll be gone. Dear Elbereth protect him.'

'Elbereth protect us all.'

+++++

Eldarion woke abruptly. Dim light shone in the window. It took a moment for memory to hit. He closed his eyes, shook his head, and murmered a quiet prayer before reopening his eyes and glancing over at Aeargil. She was asleep, and looked strained. What was I thinking? he wondered. If there was any doubt, I should have... He shook her shoulder gently, but she didn't wake right away, and he looked at her a moment longer. If he's here, there's no need to wake her, he told himself, and stood carefully, moving into the next room and hesitating by the children's door.

He pushed it open, and gasped as if the air had been driven out of him. Both beds were empty and unslept-in. Then the small piece of paper lying on Elenya's pillow caught his eye, and, not remembering the motion, found himself on his knees by her bed, one hand across his mouth, the other clutching the note with trembling fingers.

Mother and Father, Please forgive my decision in this matter. Vildir is in danger and no one will listen. I have gone to find him and do whatever I can. If no one else cares about my brother and believes me, then it is up to me to help him. I will return if and when I can, and I will not return until I find Vildir and am certain I have done whatever I can to help him. I have stolen a dagger, a small horse, and enough food to last me for several weeks, and have taken anything necessary. Elenya

+++++

Elenya glanced back at the City again. The darkness was thick, and the dawn had not yet come. She had waited for hours, awake, listening to her parents talk, until they were asleep.

She wished suddenly that she had spoken to Celebros - she had not seen him at all. He would have listened. She was sure of it.

The note was harsh, and she had meant it to be so. No dear at the beginning or love near the end, no reassurances that she would be back soon and well, and certainly nothing to assure them that it would be 'all right' despite the things they had done. Perhaps Vildir was dead now, thanks to their deafness and denial. If that was so, she would not return at all. Or perhaps she would have to sacrifice herself to save him.

If it was necessary, of course, she would.

+++++

Celebros was woken very early the next morning by a loud pounding at the door. He groaned, rolled over, and sighed. 'Who is it?' he called wearily.

'It's Eldarion, Celebros.' He sounded extremely frantic.

'Come in.' He sat up, blinking off sleep.

Eldarion opened the door and shut it quickly behind him. He looked as if...he had been crying. 'What's wrong?' Celebros asked, instantly more alert.

'The children are gone,' he replied, voice wrung with pain. 'Did Elenya stop in at any time last night?'

Celebros shook his head. 'How?' he whispered.

'Elenya came back from playing yesterday afternoon. She thought Vildir had been kidnapped. I was so stupid!' he cried out, slamming a fist on his knee. 'I thought that Vildir had gotten lost, but she was so frantic that I talked to Father. We ordered the Guards to look for him. We got more worried when he didn't come back by last night, and I told Aeargil I'd go out of the City looking if he wasn't back by morning. When I went into their room, less than an hour ago, there was a note on El's pillow. She's gone after them, Celebros. By herself - I don't even know where! She said she wouldn't come back until she was sure she'd done everything she could to help him. She didn't sleep last night. She waited in her room until we were asleep and left, I'd guess. I thought she might have stopped here. You wouldn't have been as stupid as I was. You would have listened to her.'

Celebros didn't answer, just lay slowly back into his pillow, covering his face with his hands. 'Oh, Elbereth,' he said quietly after a moment. 'Oh, dear Elbereth. Have you... gone to your father?'

'I figured I'd come here and see if she'd been here before that.'

Celebros nodded. 'Go to him. Quickly.'

Eldarion turned and left the room without another word.

+++++

Quiet.

Wind blowing through the grasses.

Soft breeze through silver-gold hair.

The quiet sound of the horse, moving like liquid strength.

Quiet.

+++++

'Mmmmph,' Celebros said. 'I do not want to get up. I do not want to be awake. I want you to tell me right now that I imagined everything that happened this morning.'

Eldarion hesitated, unable to completely ignore that, but then said softly, 'I'm leaving in about an hour. Alone.'

'To Morgoth with that. What if something happened to you? Let me go too.'

'No.'

'Damn you. Damn you!'

'I have to be alone, Celebros. You can't know. You can't understand. There are things about you I can't understand, and you know that, and I don't try to understand. You've got to do the same here. It has to be alone.'

Celebros looked away, and was silent a moment. Then he said quietly, 'One of these days, we're going to have to travel together when no one is in deadly danger.'

Eldarion nodded. 'We'll do that. Now, don't get yourself into trouble. If all goes well, we'll be back in a week or less.'

'Take care, and go swiftly with the luck and light of the Valar.'

'Thank you,' Eldarion whispered, and lay a hand on Celebros' shoulder.

'Whoever he is, he's dangerous. Be careful.'

'I'll be -'

'No!' Celebros said quickly. 'Don't say that. Last time you did, you almost died. I don't want you to say that.'

Eldarion's face half-shattered. 'If something happens to me, Celebros, please take care of them for me. Take care of them all.'

'You'll be fine. Nothing is going to happen to you.' Celebros smiled weakly. 'There. Now, when I say it - I don't know. It's just a weird feeling.'

Eldarion stood for a moment with his hand on the doorknob and his back to Celebros. Then he turned around a moment. Two quiet tears had run down his face. 'Celebros -' he whispered.

'I know, Eldarion,' Celebros cut him off quietly. 'I know. Bring them back safely and quickly. Namarie.'

Eldarion didn't say goodbye. He was afraid to.

+++++

Elenya Telcontar was afraid.

Reality had sunk in slightly, and she had realized that all she was following was a strange notion. What in Morgoth am I doing? she wondered. There is no trail to follow. There is nothing to do but hope that someone is guiding me. I certainly don't know the way.

'Hold on, Vildir,' she whispered, and her steed rode faster.

+++++

The air seemed empty and stale. Nothing was right. Everything was wrong.

The man was sitting in a dark corner. It was all dark, but this seemed darkest. Only a dim firelight from the far corner let him know that he was surrounded by stone, and that the man was sitting in the corner alone.

He let out a small whimper as he shifted, feeling a sort of solid pain shoot through his leg. The man cocked his head slightly as he spoke for the first time. His voice was rough and cold.

'I wouldn't try to run, if I were you, Telcontar brat. Your leg is broken in several places.'

He stopped moving, looking at the man, who was again silent. 'What do you...want with me?' he asked pitifully.

'I don't want anything with you,' the man said simply, emphasizing I. 'I'm merely obeying orders.'

'Whose?'

'Now, now, Telcontar brat. Don't ask questions to which you don't want to know the answer.' The tone in his voice silenced any protests. He was sure the man was right. Whoever it was, he didn't want to know who they were. He swallowed and watched the man in silence as he stood and moved over to the fire and prodded it with a long stick. He quickly analyzed the man. Medium height or shorter and thin, as one who has been starved, he walked with a limp in his right leg. His face was empty and emotionless with glittering green eyes and curly straw-colored hair.

'What's your name?' Vildir asked quietly.

'My name?' the man asked, and laughed quietly. Vildir shivered. It was a loud, cold, long laugh. 'Tahir of the North.' His lip had a cruel sneer to it. Vildir gasped.

'Oh, Elbereth! You're Tahir? Oh, Elbereth!'

'You've heard of me?' Tahir said, raising his eyebrows. 'I'm touched. I've heard of Celebros' other exploits. You'd think he'd have better things to talk about than me.'

'Actually,' Vildir said, trembling with fury, 'he didn't talk about you. Gwalas did.'

'That redhead elf scamp?' Tahir's face looked truly ugly now. 'I hope I left him a few good scars.'

'No, actually.' Vildir gritted his teeth, trying to get him angry. Tahir saw it, however, and kicked his leg. If he had wanted to see Vildir in torturous pain, he succeeded. The boy screamed, breathing fast, eyes wide and hurt.

'Oh, your cousin - he is your cousin? Yes - he didn't put up quite as much of a fight. I like you, Telcontar brat. I like you a lot. I'm going to get some sport before - before the one who wants you returns. So you lived in Methnan? Wonderful place, that. I rejoiced when I heard about the war, but your father's people won that for your grandfather, didn't they? I was actually rather taken with your mother. I was quite happy when I heard the news about your father, but he would live through something as impossible as that. When I heard that Celebros had survived my ordeal, I was startled, but then I'd heard that he was dead from the mountain-trip. I heard not then. So he is alive? I don't know what to think.'

'What?' Vildir gasped. The last half of that was entirely confusing to him, from 'the war' to 'the mountain-trip.' 'What are you talking about?'

A malicious, delighted smile crept across Tahir's usually cold face. 'You mean you don't even know?' he said, sounding amused. 'Oh, this will be fun. Your mother and father and cousin, and you don't even know?'

'I don't understand.'

'Clearly. Well, you see, it's quite a long story, but we have all the time in the world. At least, until the one who wants you arrives. No worries yet, Telcontar brat.'

+++++

A sudden terrible wrench in Eldarion's heart told him that something had gone wrong.

He hated himself. Why had he been so blind? How could he ever have been so naieve? El, I'm sorry, he screamed to the silence in his head. Vildir...I'm sorry.

But silence was all that answered him, and another howl tore his heart. It's all wrong.

He was resting, if only because he wanted to make sure his horse was in good condition. He would leave again very soon now. He had thought of places to hide, and instantly thought of the caves. Ithilien caves were impossible to navigate through unless you knew them very well, but all of the tunnels were known; eventually someone would find them. No, it was the caves along the White Mountains that bothered him. Most of them were entirely uncharted and no one knew them well.

They also contained many creatures that Eldarion did not want to encounter.

But the longer Vildir was in their hands, the more chance his young son had of meeting one of them. And that was not a chance Eldarion wanted to test.

He hoped he was making the right choice. But whoever had Vildir would want to keep him quite a long time wherever they were, until they could get information or riches, and if they insisted on meeting near Ithilien - the caves were the only place to hide anywhere, and they would be searched instantly.

+++++

Closer and closer to Ithilien she went, faster and farther, her anxiety growing. Growing with the strange feeling that she might be stopped. That she would never see her brother alive again.

+++++

'So how much do you know? Your parents made me out to be the big bad villan?'

'Celebros was telling us about before he met you and some of that sounded worse than what Mother and Father told us about.'

'Us, you say. That little sister of yours and you?'

Vildir nodded silently. His heart ached to think of what Elenya must have thought. He had tried to cry out...he had remembered a story his father had told him about leaving a brooch to show the way that the prisoner went, and had managed to throw the precious pendant where she would probably find it. He had torn his cloak unfastening it.

'Well? How much more do you know about what happened?'

'Not much, I guess. Mother always told names, but not what happened. "Then they had a run-in with Eldurhir" she said. "Then he was taken for a bit by Eldir" she said. I think El understood more than that, sometimes, but I'm not like that.'

'So it's just names, is it?'

'I know some other things, from earlier...he had a bad fever when I was little. I remember Father was so worried. When it got worse, Mother always told us later that she'd practically had to fight him to prevent him from coming to the City. And they talked about fights with orcs and bandits. Earil was. Father always told me I'd like him. He was Celebros' best friend. One of the letters to Father from Gwalas said they were like brothers.'

'But of detail, you know essentially nothing.'

Vildir opened his mouth to protest, then closed it slowly and miserably. He nodded. 'Pretty much. They always say I'll understand when I'm older.'

'Don't you think you're old enough to know?'

'Yes!' Vildir said, more loudly than he'd meant to.

'Do you want me to tell you?'

Vildir was quiet a moment. 'They think I'm not ready to know yet. I don't want to make them mad.'

'When everything is finished, child, I think they'll have better things to worry about.'

Vildir shivered. 'Is your master going to hurt me?'

'Is your father going to tell us what we need?'

Both of them lapsed into a somewhat angry silence for a moment. Then Vildir said quietly, 'My father will do what he has to.' He was silent again for a moment, then he looked up into Tahir's eyes and asked him in a trembling whisper, 'What would your father do, if you were in my place?'

Tahir looked very angry for a moment, and he almost stood. Then he slumped back against the wall, staring at his hands.

'My father could have cared less about my life,' he whispered to Vildir.

'Your mother.'

'I never knew her. She died when I was born.'

'Brothers or sisters.'

'My older brother hated me, and he died in a fire when I was four.'

Vildir was silent once more, but again, after a moment, he whispered, 'Did I miss anyone?'

Tahir looked at him for a long moment in silence, and for a second, Vildir thought he'd hit a dead end. But then the older man broke the silence.

'My son's dead,' he said, his voice rough, like a callus covering damaged, tender, easily wounded skin.

'How old was he?'

No silence this time. 'He was ten.'

'How?'

'Murdered.'

'And if you could have saved him,' Vildir whispered, voice hardened. 'If he was sitting here in my place, and you were sitting there, would you care about him? Or would you be this cold shell that you are to me, not caring if I live or die? Not caring if you kill me?'

For a moment, he thought that Tahir's eyes had seemed unusually bright, as if full of tears. Then the fire went out, and the man grunted. A moment later there was light again, and the previously melting eyes were empty and hard again.

'My son is dead,' Tahir said harshly. 'Maybe you'll join him sometime soon. Do you want to know the things they never told you first?'

A chill went up and down Vildir's spine. 'Yes,' he muttered, looking down. Father, help me, please. Father, please.

+++++

Another chill down her spine. Cold, cold. It was wrong. It was all wrong.

The darkness had once more crept over her while she had been resting, so she tried to sleep with little success. The uneasy feeling in the back of her head grew, and as it consumed more and more of her senses, the hope that she would help to save Vildir shrank.

+++++

Aeargil was constantly on the edge. She had visited him several times, always breaking down eventually into tears. Celebros didn't blame her. He wondered somewhat whether she blamed Eldarion for what had happened to both the children.

There had been no outside word as to the situation, but Legolas, who was managing Ithilien, and King Elfwine of Rohan, and Gimli, who was now at the Glittering Caves, had all been informed and warned to look out. King Elfwine had offered to send out searchers into the mountains, and Legolas had done the same, but both offers were refused. King Elessar was afraid that his youngest grandson might be killed if the kidnapper felt there was danger of capture.

And the King didn't think that Vildir was somewhere where any searchers would find him.

+++++

Celebros glanced around the corner, but there was no one there. It was foolish of him, really, but he hated the business and noise of the City during the day. He came to the gardens at night for the silent peace, and did not wish to break the silence before reaching his rooms.

He missed Eldarion, and wished that he had gone to find the children. Now, he shrank into shadows and seperation.

Walking slowly down the dark streets, Celebros thought he heard a quiet swish. He laughed quietly to himself as he started to turn. He was getting paranoid. Jumping at wind in the branches and shadows from the moon.

Then he heard a very different sound, and an arrow whipped past him, barely an inch from him. He leapt back, looking around wildly. The arrow had clattered to the stones. He picked it up and stared at it. Ordinary and nondescript, it could have belonged to anyone.

Breathing hard and fast, Celebros moved into the shadows, half-running, looking around for the slightest movement... he didn't have his swordbelt, what need was there for it in Minas Tirith? This was a safe City.

Or so he had thought.

From the darkness between the houses there was movement. Before he could do anything, a black-cloaked, hooded figure had half-thrown him against the stone wall of one of the buildings. He stared, wide-eyed, at the figure, hearing the arrow drop with a clatter to the stones. He opened his mouth to yell, but there was a knife at his throat.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you,' a soft, dangerous voice whispered in his ear.

There was a silence as the two of them stood motionless. Then there was a noise from down the street, and the man whipped around, bringing the knife down. It slashed across Celebros' side, and he cried out softly.

The man backed away slowly. Celebros looked where he was looking and saw a shadowed figure appear at the end of the street. The hooded man stepped on the arrow behind him. It broke in two. He picked it up with a soft curse, and ran out of sight.

The figure came running, and as whoever-it-was came out of the shadows, Celebros saw the familiar face, the red hair and hazel eyes.

Gwalas stopped in front of him and they stared at each other, both with wide eyes. Then clutching his side, feeling hot blood seeping through his fingers, Celebros slid to the ground.

+++++

'It's not really that serious, King Elessar, it's only that -'

'Of course, and I understand your concern, but the threats we must pay attention to now, Pernathos, are the Galadil and the Eldurhir'rim.'

'King Elfwine may not have shown any sign of corruption, Your Majesty, but it was not until the councillor came that Eomer began to become a threat, and the man is still there -'

'There has been no complaint from the people of a taint, and I have full confidence in King Elfwine. His wisdom and insight are greater than his father's, and Eomer was a great and wise man. He is young, and his heart is pure and strong.'

'Very well.'

King Elessar and Pernathos continued walking along the street, Pernathos silent, eyes darkened. The King continued after a moment.

'In any case, in the matter of security regarding -'

Suddenly, Pernathos let out a yell and threw himself before the King. He fell to the ground with an arrow in his leg, just above the knee.

King Elessar stared around wildly. Pernathos moaned, staring at the arrow, which was ordinary and dug deep into his flesh.

Another arrow whipped through the air and grazed the King's cheek. Only a few seconds later, he ducked a throwing knife, which went directly through the space where his head had been. Pernathos scrambled, trying to get to his feet, and King Elessar helped him. The two of them ran as fast as was possible, staying out of the streets, to the Houses of Healing.

As they burst in the front door, Pernathos gritting his teeth and breathing hard, the King heard Celebros' voice from the next room say quietly, 'I didn't see his face, he had a hood on!'

'But you had to have seen something...' Gwalas' voice pressed urgently.

'Everything about him was normal and standard, down the brooch on his cloak. Don't you think I looked? There was nothing trademark about him. I wouldn't know him if I saw him on the streets.'

The King and Pernathos hurried into the room. All four of them fell silent. King Elessar eased Pernathos onto one of the empty beds, then turned his head to look at the other two. Gwalas was unmarked. Celebros was bare-chested, and held a length of bloody bandages to his side.

'What happened?' Gwalas asked quietly as Pernathos clenched his teeth, moaning.

'We were headed toward the Hall when Pernathos saw something and threw himself in front of me,' the King said quietly. He looked up at Celebros, staring into his grandson's eyes. 'It looks as if we have an assassin loose in the City.'

+++++

Celebros shifted, unable to sleep. His side was burning again. It had been treated and wrapped, and his grandfather didn't think the knife had been poisoned. It didn't really matter to Celebros anymore. He had only one thought drowning out the rest. Why didn't he kill me when he had the chance?

And the answer was right there. He wasn't trying to kill me, was he? The arrow had been a warning. He was trying to kidnap me.

Oh, Elbereth. Vildir.

He shifted his mind to another question. What about the King? From what he and Pernathos told us, that was no kidnapping attempt. That was definitely an assassination attempt.

There was no doubt that they were related. It could have been the same person, but that seemed unlikely. No, there had been many people in on these plans. The assassin, and the kidnappers.

If we find them, do we find Vildir? Or do they kill him?

If we follow them, do they lead us to Vildir?

What can we do without putting my cousin's life on the line?

The answer was right there for that question, too. No matter what they did, Vildir's life was at risk. So there the answer was.

What can we do to assure that Vildir will live?

Absolutely nothing.

+++++

'No.' Vildir was breathing hard, trying to back away but running into the stone wall that he was already cornered against. 'That's not true! I don't believe you!'

'Prove it,' Tahir said, eyes willing him to look into them and see the truth. 'Look into my eyes and tell me that I'm lying.'

'No!' Vildir shuddered, casting his eyes about, anywhere, anywhere but his eyes, I can't look in his eyes no no no Mother Father - Celebros no please no anything but that don't hurt my cousin don't tell me that it's not true no no no no no -

'Vildir,' Tahir said, and something in his voice deepened sorrowfully. 'Vildir, you told me you wanted to know. You deserve to know.'

'They were right, they were right, I can't know that, I can't know that, I'm not ready, not mature enough -'

'Vildir, you're old enough to face the truth. They were keeping that from you, all these years. All your life, they've lied to you about your cousin, about Methnan, about your parents, about the war -'

'There's no war,' Vildir whimpered. 'You're a - you're not telling the tru -'

'Vildir,' Tahir's voice said as the boy squeezed his eyes shut, feeling tears fill them up. He tried not to open them, but that voice was so sad, so convincing. He was staring at Tahir's eyes, those deep emeralds worn away by years and experience. 'I'm sorry. It's the truth.'

And Vildir saw in Tahir's eyes, and knew that both of those statements were true.

+++++

'Can I have...some water?'

Tahir poured a very small amount into the tin cup, barely a small sip, and handed it to him.

'Thank you.' There was another moment of silence, and then Vildir sighed. 'Did my father -' He stopped a moment, looking at the ground, and then tried again. 'Did you ever meet my father?'

'No. After I met Celebros, I never returned to Methnan, and until recently I'd never been to Minas Tirith.'

'Oh.' Vildir didn't move, just sat there, staring at the hard rock.

'But I did know your mother.'

The boy looked up slightly and tilted his head. 'I -' he began, but his voice was trembling, and broke immediately. He put his head on his knee, on the leg that was unbroken and curled near to his chest, and started to cry.

'What's wrong, Vildir?' One could almost believe that he didn't know.

'I want to go home,' Vildir cried, trembling and furiously shaking his head. 'I hate you. I hate you. I want to go home.'

'Where is home?'

'Minas Tirith. I want to go to Minas Tirith. I want Mother and Father and El...I just want to go home.' His voice was a fragile almost-wail.

'Of course you do,' Tahir said quietly, coming over on all fours and putting a hand on Vildir's shoulder. 'I want to go home too.'

Vildir pushed the hand off his shoulder, but Tahir leaned back against the wall next to him with his eyes closed. 'Where is home?' the boy asked softly. There was a broken quiver inside his eyes and his voice.

Tahir opened his eyes and looked at the little boy staring wide-eyed at him for a moment. 'Don't ask me that,' he said hoarsely, looking away suddenly. 'Don't ask me that.'

'Why?'

'Because I don't know anymore, all right? I don't have a home. I work when I am asked, and I wander all over, and every night when I sleep, if I sleep, I watch my little boy die. I watch him die in my dreams and I watch him die when I look at you because I know that I'm already damned but if they kill you, if you die then I'm going to feel like you were him, like you were Tarren, my Tarren, my little boy -'

And as Vildir watched in horror and some pity, Tahir curled his legs to his chest and sobbed.

+++++

Eldarion despaired as he searched each tunnel. All was dark, and he had to mark every path he went on and every place his son was not.

He thought of Elenya stumbling into a dark room and finding a dark man and her brother. He thought of the man grabbing her and taking her captive as well. He thought of months passing in that cave, with his children starving with very little food and thirsty and hurt. He thought of Aeargil, waiting, waiting in the City for news, and never getting any. He thought of Celebros, of his father and mother, of his sisters. But mostly he thought as he went through each corner of each room of Vildir sitting somewhere with a man who sneered, holding a wicked-bladed dagger.

And Eldarion despaired.

He began not to care about himself anymore. He ate very little, sometimes not for a day on end, and stopped sleeping. There came a time when he realized that it had been days since he had slept at all, and didn't care. But he kept some little scrap of hope, somehow, somehow, and he held onto it during the cold nights without rest.

+++++

Celebros winced as he unwound the bandages to clean the gash in his side. It was reddened and slightly swollen, but there was still no sign of poison. He remained expressionless, however, as he dabbed the wound with a cloth damp with a watery reddish liquid Gwalas had given him. It stung awfully, Elbereth knew, but he was used to that by now.

Two weeks had come and gone since Vildir had vanished. Aeargil was distraught. There had been no word from Eldarion whatsoever - although how was he supposed to communicate? - and the King was also constantly worried. Pernathos was healing - he wouldn't be able to walk properly still for another three weeks. The arrow had splintered his bone and dug deep, deep into his flesh.

Celebros couldn't honestly say that the two weeks had gone without event - three days after the assassin had made his appearance, a message of sorts had been delivered.

+++++

(flashback) Celebros lay on his back on his bed, hands folded behind his head, staring at the ceiling. His eyes would occasionally flicker to the half-empty glass of wine on the table beside his bed, but then he would shift uncomfortably and his hands would tighten behind his head. He could feel his neck without moving his hands. His fingers seemed cold when they touched it - icy. He shuddered every few minutes, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.

A knock at the door. Celebros started and groaned. Standing slowly, he walked to the door and swung it open.

A man stood there, looking embarrassed and confused. 'I'm so sorry, m'lord - I was asked to deliver you a message.'

'From who?'

'He didn't say, m'lord, and I must say it's an odd thing. He asked for me to tell you that soon he'd know all he needed, and for me to give you this.'

The man handed Celebros one half of an arrow. The broken edge was splintered. Celebros' eyes widened as he looked at it, then back at the man.

'I think it might've been stepped on, sir. I don't know.'

'What did this man look like?' Celebros made sure to keep his voice neutral and calm.

'I didn't see his face, he was hooded. Odd, m'lord. Perhaps there was something wrong with his face. He looked real ordinary. Neat, if you know what I mean.'

'Where is he?'

'He left the City, sir. I'm a Gate-Guard. But he said I'd better deliver that message immediately, that it would be of great importance to you. I hope I've not done wrong, m'lord.'

'No. No, you...did the right thing...'

'Oh, good. I was afraid...'

But the man stopped then, because another man had come up behind him, holding half of an arrow and wearing a very grave expression.

'Your Majesty,' the man said, bowing low.

'That's all right, Alden. You may go back to your post, if there was nothing else.'

'No, there wasn't, Your Majesty. Thank you. Light of the Valar shine over you.'

'Thank you -' And the man scurried off.

'May I come in?' the King Elessar asked. Celebros nodded.

'I talked to Gwalas,' his grandfather continued after a moment, standing while Celebros sat down slowly on the bed, 'so I do know what this means.'

'It means they're gone. But I don't think that the person who organized this was ever in the City, King Elessar. That would be too high-risk - which means Eldarion has at least a bit more time.'

+++++

He visited the dungeons that evening - he didn't know why. He hadn't been anywhere near there since he'd heard that Dareth had died, a long time ago. Before Earil - oh, dear Elbereth, what would he say if he could see me now?

But he visited the dungeons, and found himself standing in front of Tarel's cell, holding onto the bars as if he was the prisoner.

'Who is it?' a dead sort of voice asked. It was husky and dry and terrible. 'What do you want?'

Celebros couldn't answer, because he'd just lifted his torch and seen Tarel's face. He looked ancient - wrinkled and grey-haired and tired grey, as one on his deathbed. 'Oh, Elbereth,' Celebros whispered to himself, 'Elbereth, oh, Valar protect us, no.'

'I know you,' the dead voice said quietly. 'I know your face. I know your voice. Who are you? When did I know you, before? Where have I...' He squinted, and shook his head. 'One of the boy's friends?'

Celebros leaned his forehead against the bars, staring in in horror. 'Oh, Valar, oh, no.'

'No,' Tarel said slowly. 'No, it is you. After all these years, boy! I had wondered whether you remembered us, after Dareth went. How's Earil?'

Celebros didn't move, and Tarel sighed.

'Oh, no,' he muttered. 'He's gone? Morgoth take the King. I asked him to tell me when one of us died.'

'Earil wasn't one of you,' Celebros said, his voice sounding suddenly the same - dead and dry, like a wisp of dissolving nothing. 'Earil was never one of you.'

'He only joined me because he wanted to die,' Tarel sighed. 'Did he ever tell you that?'

'He didn't exactly put it that way -' Celebros was getting angry, but he also felt a strange feeling of warmth. Someone else who had known and cared.

'I wanted to come to the burial,' Tarel said. 'Was it as good as he deserved, or did they treat him like a worthless piece of crap like they did Dareth?'

'They tried,' Celebros said, and shrugged, forcing back tears. 'Nothing anyone could have done was as good as Earil deserved.'

'He was good,' Tarel agreed, and Celebros felt a tiny flicker of marvel, like a candle flame, although he couldn't have explained why. Tarel seemed almost good now - almost as if he had come to terms and realized he deserved this. 'I always wanted to know more about why he took up my offer.'

'He told me,' Celebros said, and then bit his lip.

'No, don't tell me now. I don't deserve to know, and he didn't want me to. What's been happening?'

'Since when?'

'Say the past four years. All I've heard is that the Prince is back with his son and daughter, and some more along that tone. But no news from outside. Is war brewing?'

'I really don't know. It's been quiet until recently -' His hand unconciously gripped his side.

'I heard something, but I couldn't make sense of it. Care to tell me? If not, that's all right.'

'Vildir - Eldarion's son - he's been kidnapped. We don't know by who. Elenya left to find her brother when no one would listen, and Eldarion's gone to find the two of them. He wouldn't let anyone come. Then someone tried to kidnap me and assassinate my grandfather, and left us a message when they left saying that soon they would know all they needed to. The other bandit groups are getting restless and starting to attack again, and the Greywood orcs are not improving.'

'Well, I guess I'll stay in here then, if that's what the world's telling all you out there.'

'Tarel,' Celebros said slowly, 'how long has it been since you were out of that cell?'

Tarel eyed him a moment, then lowered his gaze. 'I don't know,' he said quietly. 'How long since Dareth died?'

'Six years.'

'Six years.'

'What?'

'The last time I was out was when Dareth died. They let me go to the burial, remember? Bound in chains with three guards.'

+++++

'I can't believe it.'

Celebros watched the other man very closely, but he wasn't extraordinarily worried.

'It's been six years since I've seen the sky or the sun or the clouds or - Morgoth, ten since I've seen the stars.'

'I would have died,' Celebros said softly. 'I couldn't have stood that.'

Through some stroke of luck, the guards Celebros had asked had actually let him take Tarel outside.

'I almost did, at first,' Tarel admitted. 'After about three months, I stopped eating for almost five days. They told Earil - I thought he'd have told you.'

'No. He must have thought I probably didn't care - and then, he'd have been right. I hated you.'

'You don't now?' Tarel said, looking with startlement and disbelief at the young man standing next to him and looking at the sky. 'I'd hate me, were I you.'

'I don't hate who you are,' Celebros said, very slowly, 'but although maybe who you were, I don't think so. I hate what you did.'

'I killed your father.'

'I hated you. I wanted to kill you.'

'I don't know why I started to do it. I was tired of prejudice - of hatred - of - dear Elbereth, of living. But it started to get tiring. I almost killed your father right then. But he reached Minas Tirith alive, didn't he?'

'Yes,' Celebros said quietly, looking at his feet. Tarel flinched and looked away at a bird that was flying past.

A voice from behind them cut off both of their thoughts. 'Celebros?'

Celebros twisted his head around. 'Oh. Gwalas. Any news?'

'No. I was just coming out. I've been inside for days.' Gwalas came forward a bit, and his eyes widened a bit as he saw Tarel's uniform - that of a prisoner. Celebros didn't think he recognized Tarel, but still...he could probably guess...

He came forward more, to next to Celebros.

Tarel nodded acknowledgingly to him, holding out a callused hand. 'Tarel Nenelya.'

Gwalas looked breifly at Celebros, who returned to his friend a level, even look. 'Gwalas Windleaf,' he said emotionlessly.

'You all right, Celebros?' Gwalas asked, indicating his side. His eyes asked for more output than just on the slash.

'I'm fine, really. That concoction you gave me for my side's been working.'

Gwalas looked put out and slightly angry. Tarel noticed, and looked distinctly uncomfortable. Celebros seemed unperturbed.

Tarel looked back at the sky. 'I just feel like I could fly,' he said in an almost-whisper. 'I feel more alive than I've felt in six years. Even at Dareth's burial, I couldn't help but feel happy. I was breathing free air, even though I was still bound. You know, they put he and I next to each other for a while, and we talked for what could have been days on end. He said he wished he could apologize to you. Then they moved him farther away. They were afraid we were plotting escape.'

'I ought to have come before.'

'If you weren't ready...' Tarel shrugged. 'I might have hated you; you might have hated me.'

'True, I suppose.'

Gwalas stood silent, looking from one to the other. Celebros glanced at him. 'I hate to do this to you now, Tarel, but they asked that I bring you back soon. I could come by again sometime.'

'Maybe. I hope they find the people who did this.'

'I don't care. I just want the children. If they're all right, if they're even alive, I'll be all right.'

+++++

'I just want to make sure you remember what he did.'

'I don't want to remember it, Gwalas, but I do. I can't forgive him for what he did, not truly, not in the bottom of my heart, but I can - I don't know. I just keep thinking that if I'd never met him, I'd never have known Earil.'

'If you want to, I'm not going to stop you. Just make sure you don't forget what he did.'

'Unfortunately, I can't. I just - I can't explain it. You can't understand. I'm sorry, but you just can't, and I can't.'

'It's all right. But make sure, Celebros. Make sure you understand who he is now, not who he was.'

'He didn't know Earil was dead,' Celebros said softly. 'He didn't even know, Gwalas. He wanted to know. He said he had told the King to tell him if any of the others died, and they did with Dareth, but...'

'Your grandfather probably had better things to worry about,' Gwalas said sternly. 'Like you. You have no idea what you put the lot of us through then. I know you were suffering, but...you just kept vanishing. Not turning up for meetings when you'd promised, and the like. I doubt he even remembered. None of us thought of Earil as one of them. Not after a while, at least. Several of us disliked him at first, you know.'

'I know. You weren't exactly secretive about it. You never said it straight out, but I could tell. Don't know if he could, though. He was sort of oblivious sometimes.'

'Don't think he would have cared much, either. Elbereth, I wish Eldarion could have gotten to know him.'

'He was looking forward to having a nice, long talk with Eldarion,' Celebros remembered, smiling. 'There were several things that he wanted to confront him about - have stern words with him. And thank him, too, I suppose.'

'Yes, Eldarion's told me some things he's done for you that you probably even don't know. Modestly, of course, just mentioning it offhand.'

'That's Eldarion for you. But he'd be surprised some of the things I know. Yes, I was rather naieve as a boy, I suppose, but I noticed some things. I just didn't realize that things were different...like my father.'

Gwalas nodded. 'Eldarion's told me that. Things that happened, and you didn't mention them - like it was ordinary.'

'Like when I was twelve - I suppose he's mentioned that?'

'Oh, yes.'

'Did he tell you if he was the one who got me my rooms?'

'Of course. He talked to the King, and suggested it, after that incident, and of course your grandfather agreed.'

'Yes. I always meant to ask him, but I figured that it would be rather awkward if it wasn't him.'

'I suppose. He didn't seem bothered by that.'

'He hated my father.'

'Not for who he was, but for what he did. Yes, I rather think he did. He's never said so, but he did.'

'I never could. I didn't care about him until the day he died, but I didn't hate him.'

'You didn't have to see yourself suffer.'

'I know.'

'But there's things that you don't remember, that Eldarion does. I'm sure of it. It's awful.'

'I'll have to ask him to tell me sometime. How am I supposed to figure out my life, otherwise?'

'Did he ever hit you, Celebros?' Gwalas asked quietly. 'Other than that one time, I mean.'

'Friday nights, my father would drink,' Celebros said softly, his eyes seeing another time. 'And when he drank, he would get angry. He hit me, most of the time, yes. I covered it up. I didn't want anyone to see it.'

Gwalas shifted, uncomfortable, and then was silent for a moment. Then, hesitantly, he asked, 'Did he ever hit Malgil?'

'Twice,' Celebros said softly. 'That I remember. Probably more. She never said anything. If Eldarion had ever known, I think he would have killed my father with his bare hands. The King might have, too. But it was only when he drank too much. Otherwise, he was fine. Well, maybe not fine, but he would never get violent. He would yell. When I drank...it frightened me, Gwalas. The one time that I drank so much...seven and a half bottles...Earil watered them down, I know he did. I'd had three before, and Eldarion practically forced that concoction of yours down my throat.'

'I remember that time,' Gwalas said, shaking his head wryly. 'Seven and a half. Tasarian was actually rather amused. He knew that they hadn't been that strong. You weren't exactly lucid, but it wasn't that bad. Would have killed you, otherwise.'

'I don't know,' Celebros said quietly. 'That might have been why I did it.' Gwalas looked at the ground.

'You were depressed,' the elf said quietly, and he looked up. 'It was awful for all of us, perhaps even as much as it was for you, because we had to see you like that. Don't ever do that again, Celebros. You scared us. You scared us badly.'

Celebros nodded, and hiss face crumpled a bit, and then he asked rather quietly, 'What happened to your family, Gwalas?'

Gwalas' eyes flashed briefly, and Celebros bowed his head. 'Sorry,' he said softly.

'No, it's fine,' Gwalas assured him, although his eyes were still strange. 'I don't think anyone really knows... except Brethil, or Eldir, or the Council. My parents weren't Galadil. My mother died when my brother was born, and my father brought the two of us to the Galadil and left us. He didn't know who they were, only that they were Elven and that he was dying of a broken heart. I raised Methel like my own son, but he followed the ways more and more, and questioned me often. I was less obedient. I was punished for it, until I rose through the ranks.

'Then Methel vanished, and they told me he was dead. They never told me how. Brethil and Eldir. How strange that they were the two you met. Brethil ignored me, after Methel's death, and I knew that he had found something about my brother I didn't know. They said he was killed by Men, and everyone but me believed it.'

Celebros nodded slowly as Gwalas fell silent, and looked away. When he looked back, he was startled to see tears falling down Gwalas' cheeks. The Elf looked at him miserably. 'He was like my son,' Gwalas whispered, shaking his head. 'He was the only family I knew, really - I was only ten when my mother died. He was the only one, Celebros, and now he's gone and there's nothing.'

Celebros nodded. 'I never had a brother, they tell me,' he said, his voice strangled, 'but I don't know what they mean anymore. What is a brother, Gwalas?'

'Earil,' Gwalas said, and it was, in a sense, the answer Celebros was looking for.

+++++

So much time had passed for Elenya that every day was a year and year a day. Hours sped or dragged but every second was another eternity of pain and cold.

Elenya continued along the passageway quietly, eyes darting both ahead and behind. One hand on the wall to guide her, and a very dim torchlight to help - that was all. She dragged her feet purposefully so as to leave a track. Already she'd backtracked too many times to count, and -

Movement! She ducked into a shadow, blowing her torch to an ember. It didn't matter, something, someone was here. Behind her...far enough that she had time to go forward. She moved silently from the corner, darting ahead, down the left passageway, not scuffling her feet, not caring, go, go, go, run!

Into a dead end - she turned and ran back, out, I've got to get into the right -

She flew into something very solid and very alive. She could hear a startled intake of breath that was not her own, and a soft curse in Elven. A hand grabbed her shoulder, and another went over her mouth. The hand on her shoulder vanished. She froze, feeling the fingers on her lips so she couldn't yell, and heard a torch lighted. Then there was a cry of surprise as light flooded through the passage.

She twisted away, ready to run, ready to scream, but the hand grabbed her shoulder again, and she looked into the startled face of an elf with silver- gold hair not unlike her own.

Before she could take time to think, she gasped out three words, 'Who are you?'

'I think I could ask you the same thing,' the elf said grimly. 'My name is Legolas Greenleaf. I've taken over the management of Ithilien and its caves since the passing of Faramir and Eowyn. Who in Elbereth are you and what are you doing here?'

Legolas! The King's friend from the War! She felt tears sting her eyes. The words again left her mouth before she could stop them. 'Let me go! I have to find my brother!'

Legolas' grip on her shoulder loosened slightly, and again he looked extremely startled. 'You're Elenya,' he said softly, almost disbelievingly. 'Dear Elbereth! Everyone in the City's been wondering whether you're even alive anymore.'

'I don't have enough food,' she muttered, 'and I don't care.' Her voice rose sharply. 'I've got to find Vildir, they took him and they might even kill him! I've got to find my brother!'

'I can't let you go, Elenya Telcontar. I've got my orders from the King Elessar. You're going to have to stay with my men and I until someone can escort you back to the City. I'll hear what you know or think later. We've searched here for Vildir, and your father is rumored to be searching the White Mountains. I'm sorry.' He truly sounded it.

He began to steer Elenya back the way she'd come. Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she struggled, but he kept his hand on her shoulder. 'Vildir, no!' she screamed, but her brother was too far away to hear.

+++++

The indiscernible days and nights seemed to get colder and longer. They were certainly more silent. Tahir had spoken very little since the conversation about where home was, and what he had spoken were commands in a monotone. Get back from the fire. Go to sleep. Eat this.

Vildir was beginning to wonder whether anyone would come. Not only to help him, either. Tahir seemed insane sometimes, utterly mad, and the boy wondered whether he truly had a master, or whether he was doing this himself.

Sometimes, he would imagine that he heard another voice, but he could not place it. He was beginning to forget.

+++++

To King Elessar Telcontar Minas Tirith and his family From Legolas Greenleaf Ithilien

I have Elenya. I found her in the caves, and brought her to our post. She is extremely upset, but unhurt. She says she knows where he is, but refuses to lead anyone there, saying they might hurt Vildir. Your Majesty, she has never been in the caves, and we have searched them extensively. We have had to restrain her. She has tried to run away three times, and I only found her about an hour ago.

Please send a message immediately. I do not know what to do.

+++++

Celebros sat cross-legged on the grass, eyes closed, for more than an hour before Gwalas found him. The Elf came up behind him silently, and Celebros looked up over his shoulder, looking like a child for a moment. 'Morning,' he said hoarsely.

Gwalas nodded breifly. 'How are you doing?' he asked quietly.

'Not so good,' Celebros admitted, looking down again. 'I'm worried about the kids. I'm leaving, Gwalas. I'm going to Ithilien. If I can help them...Elenya might know. She might really know. If she does, I don't want to make the mistake of doubting her.'

Gwalas nodded. 'You do what you have to do,' he said softly. 'How's Aeargil holding up?'

'Better, I think,' Celebros said thoughtfully, his voice still hoarse. 'Knowing that El's okay, I suppose. I sent a message to Eldarion. He doesn't know anything about what's been happening...with the assassin...'

'When are you going?'

Celebros stood. 'Now, actually,' he said. He looked at his friend for a moment, then embraced him. 'Wish me luck.'

'Good luck,' Gwalas said, knowing his voice sounded hollow. He watched Celebros kiss his hand and set it on the grass next to where he had sat, and turn and walk away without another word.

The Elf stood where the young Man had sat for a long time, staring at the words on the stone near where he had set his hand.

Earil Eanar

And then, in Sindarin:

He is with them now

Just as he is with us.

+++++

'Celebros.'

The voice came from near the half-open door, and Celebros started. He turned and looked slightly guiltily at his grandfather. Nodding a bit, the young man looked uncertain.

'Yes?'

The King came into the room slowly, over to where Celebros stood next to his cloak and his saddlebag. 'Are you sure you want to do this?'

'Yes,' Celebros insisted almost defiantly. 'I have to. I...if they're out there, I have to help them.'

King Elessar looked at him levelly and silently for a moment, then nodded.

'I'm worried about all of my grandchildren, Celebros,' he said. 'Don't forget that assassin. We're not out of danger yet.'

Celebros nodded, and the King spared him another glance before leaving the room.

+++++

Elenya alternated between figiting, crying, and sleeping for the first few hours.

Then she stopped, and decided she had to do something.

Just running away was not an option - she had tried that already, and failed. No, a planned escape was necessary. She needed to put more thought into it, and more than anything, she needed it to succeed.

There were two guards stationed outside her stone room. It was a guest room, and quite elegant, but she couldn't get out of it.

About eight hours after she had arrived in the room, there was a knock on the door, and a boy opened it, looking about fourteen and very uncertain.

'You're Elenya Telcontar?' he asked.

She nodded, looking away.

'I'm Telmir,' he said quietly. 'Legolas said you were here, but I didn't know if it was true.'

'Who are you?' she asked.

'Faramir son of Denethor and Eowyn daughter of Eomund were my parents,' he said, a bit curtly.

She nodded. 'I'm sorry,' she said.

'It's all right,' he said. 'Can I come in?'

'Yes.' She looked up at him, a bit reluctantly, then, and he smiled weakly.

'I'm sorry about all this,' Telmir sighed. 'I hate it. I wish they'd let you go. They sent a letter to your mother and your grandfather. We ought to have a response by -'

Another knock, and Telmir looked up. 'Now,' he said, sounding startled. He walked over, opened the door, muttered something, and shut it, holding a sheet of paper in his hand. He handed it to her, and she read it out loud.

To Legolas Greenleaf and Elenya Telcontar Ithilien From King Elessar Telcontar Minas Tirith

Legolas and Elenya - Celebros is on his way. He has sent a message to Eldarion as well. He should be there within two days. I believe that Elenya may truly know where Vildir is, but under no circumstances release her, Legolas. Elenya, don't worry about Vildir. We're going to find him. Celebros sends Telmir his regards.

Elenya fell silent, staring at the letter, and then looked up at Telmir.

'You know Celebros?' she asked, sounding surprised.

+++++

The messagehawk fluttered out of nowhere, landing on Eldarion's shoulder and reassuring him that there was no chance of sleep that night.

Dear Eldarion,

First things first. They've found El in Ithilien. She's very upset, and seems to think Vildir's there. Your father's sent a message there. Legolas and Telmir and the others are holding her there. She keeps trying to get away. She refuses to go with someone else, saying it would alarm anyone with Vildir.

Second, and less imminent. A few days after Vildir was taken, I was walking home, at night. I was cornered by a masked man with a knife. I don't think it was an assassin, I think he was trying to capture me. Gwalas came in time for me to get away with only a small slash in my side. Around the same time, an assassin tried to kill your father. Pernathos was with him and took an arrow in his leg to save the King. Your father wasn't hurt.

I'm headed immediately to Ithilien. Please try to get there as soon as you can as well. I have a feeling there isn't much time.

Love,

Celebros Ithilron Telcontar - and scribbled hastily after that, as if a forgotten necessity - Caladinsson

+++++

Elenya lay on the bed in silence as Telmir paced next to her. He was speaking in a hushed voice, as he always had when discussing the situation during his visits over the past four days.

'I don't know what to do. I don't want you to get hurt. But Vildir - we can't just leave him - and I can't come, they've already got their eyes on me. I've been causing trouble, I suppose, since Mother and Father died. I've tried to run, yes, to go to Minas Tirith. And I took wine from the cellars once. It wasn't for me, it was for Tegatchin, he's old enough and everything but he was sick, and he wanted some. But they found me bringing it to him and thought I'd taken it for myself.

Elenya looked up, curious. 'Did you tell them?'

'No,' Telmir said, looking a bit surprised. And then, worridly, 'Do you think I should have?'

'I wouldn't have,' she said honestly. 'I don't know why.'

'It's not like us,' he said slowly, nodding. She looked up at him sharply. The only other person who had ever referred to her as part of and 'us' that she could remember was Vildir. He met her eyes.

She didn't say anything for a moment, then looked away. 'Will you help me get out of here?'

Looking at the floor, Telmir nodded slowly.

+++++

Vildir sat alone for the first time in uncountable days. Tahir had gone somewhere. He hadn't answered when Vildir asked where. And for the first time since arriving in this cold miserable place, he cried. He cried for his family, but more so he cried because he had realized, quite suddenly, that he was never going to see them again. He tried to crawl across the room, to stoke the fire or to escape out the passage or to do something, choking out sobs from his misery and from the agony in his leg. It had healed most of the way, but it was twisted - twisted os that he was half- crippled. He would never be a soldier, and he would never run in the long grasses, and he would never manage to dismount like his father did - like a rider. But worse than that was that it would never matter, because he would never get a chance to do any of those things again.

He closed his eyes, collapsing back against the wall, crying harder than he could ever remember crying, feeling a cold fear in him and missing his family. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter, imagining Father's face, and Mother's, and Elenya, little El, looking at him like he was the only person in the world, looking up to him. He swore to himself then, silently, that he would never forget how she looked.

But when he opened his eyes, he realized with a sudden shock that he wouldn't have to hold that picture in his head. A twisted version of it was standing in front of him - twisted because her face was dirty, and because she was crying, and because she was standing in front of him and staring at him, holding a torch in her hand that was now no more than a spark.

+++++

'Celebros!'

He whirled around, his cloak billowing behind him in the awful wind. Telmir was there, and the boy was running towards him. As he came nearer, Celebros could see that his eyes were filled with tears and he was half- sobbing.

'Sorry, I'm sorry; Celebros, I let her go, I let her go, she told me she knew, I -'

'Oh, Elbereth,' Celebros whispered, and put a hand on Telmir's shoulder, pushing him slightly ahead of himself in his hurry. 'When? How long ago?'

'Yesterday evening,' Telmir choked. 'Legolas doesn't know it was me, he just knows she's not here. But now I'm afraid, I think she's -'

'In danger,' Celebros finished, and their eyes met breifly before he nodded. 'It's done now, Telmir. Nothing to do but hope, and hurry.'

+++++

He couldn't speak, just stared at her, mouth half-open, eyes wide and filled with tears, and shaking his head slowly, back and forth.

'Vildir,' she gasped, throwing herself to her knees next to him and crying. 'Are you all right? Where is he?'

'I can't walk,' he forced, trembling. 'My leg was broken - it's healed twisted - he might be back any minute now.'

'All right,' she whispered, wiping her eyes on a filthy sleeve. 'I'll help you.'

He shook his head harder. 'No, El, no, he'll catch you, he'll get you too. Go get help, get someone else, someone - you can't, you've got to go. You know where I am now. You can't stay here.'

'I can't -' she breathed, crying again, but he cut her off.

'Leave me here!' he hissed. 'Leave me here, there's nothing you can do now. It's -'

'Shut up, Vildir! Don't be stupid! Elbereth! No way I'm going to leave you here!' She brushed his hair back, touching his cheek with her palm. 'You're my brother.' He was startled. Elenya never talked like this.

'El, when you were born Father told me I'd be responsible for you when we were older. That it was my job to make sure you were safe if he wasn't there to do it. This is what he meant. You could die, right now. If he comes back - Elenya, it's Tahir.'

'What?'

'Tahir. The one who kidnapped Celebros in Methnan. He's dangerous, and all you're doing now is helping him, now for Elbereth's sake get out of here!'

Elenya didn't move. 'Vildir, I know these caves well enough. I can get you out of here.'

'He knows them better. And he's supposed to be bringing someone else - it could be anyone, El. He said his master would come - it could be Galadon, El!'

'You think I'm going to leave you here if Eldurhir's on his way?' she whispered. 'Here. Take my hand. I'll help you up.'

Vildir looked at her and shook his head.

'Do you want to die?' she hissed. But Vildir was looking over her shoulder now, and she turned slowly to find a man with curly light hair and green eyes staring at her levelly.

'I don't really think it matters whether he wants to,' Tahir said calmly, twirling a knife between his fingers. 'Do you, Elenya Telcontar?'

+++++

'I want to come.'

'No.'

'It's my fault she's -'

'So you think that makes it right to endanger yourself? No, Telmir. You're staying. Legolas would never let you come, anyway. Your parents -'

'They're dead, Celebros,' Telmir said loudly. 'They're dead and the children aren't yet. And what if you need help?'

'If I need help, it'll be because of something over your head. If I don't need help, I don't need to endanger you.'

'How well do you know the caves?'

'No, Telmir. I don't know the caves. I know the children.' Celebros turned around and clapped the boy on the shoulder, looking him in the eyes. 'If Eldarion comes,' the young man said, 'tell him I've gone after the children and to follow my trail. He'll know what to look for. And tell him to be ready for trouble.'

Telmir watched him turn and walk briskly away, into the caves.

+++++

'Let him go.'

'Eh?' Tahir said, turning to the little girl. His eyes shifted to Vildir, who was lightly asleep, and then back to Elenya, who was wrapped in a heavy blanket and sitting curled in a ball against the stone.

'Let him go. Keep me here if you want to, but let my brother go.'

Tahir looked at her evenly for a moment, then shook his head. 'He'd never make it out.'

'Then take him out.'

'And have him lead all of Gondor down on me? No.'

'Move.'

Tahir laughed. 'Where?'

'Somewhere else. I don't know. Just let Vildir go. He never did anything to you.'

'How do you know?' Tahir asked sharply. 'You don't know anything about what's happened since I took him.'

'But before then, what had he done to you?'

'He hated me. He told me so, as a matter of fact. For what I did to your cousin.'

'Mother and Father never told us everything about Celebros.'

'But I did. Do you want to hear it?'

'No. I know enough. I've figured it out, and I've listened to Father talk when he thought I was asleep.'

'Have you now?' Tahir said, raising his eyebrows. 'How curious. So you're willing to sacrifice yourself for your brother?'

'What are you going to do to him?'

'I'm going to give him to my...my employer, you could say. What happens from there is not my concern.'

'So if he kills Vildir, you won't care?'

'I probably won't even know.'

'And me?'

'You weren't requested. You might be taken with your brother in any case. Or I suppose you might be left with me. I don't know what I'd do. I couldn't exactly give you back.'

'You talk about us like we're not...anything,' she whispered.

'Are you?' Tahir asked. Elenya didn't answer for a moment.

'Just let him go,' she said quietly. 'Let him live, and give me to your master instead. Anything he wants, any ransom or information, will be as much from me as he'd get from Vildir.'

'Would it?' Tahir said, and smiled coldly. 'Then the two of you might fetch twice as much, eh?'

+++++

Celebros' hand trailed behind him slightly, feeling the wall, perhaps for false security more than anything else. His torch was going out - the air in this part of the caves was awful - and he was feeling a terrible wrench in his heart every time it flickered down to less and less - as if with the light went his hope.

+++++

Vildir woke to find Elenya sitting next to him and Tahir pacing by the fire.

'Who is he?' Elenya was asking. She turned and looked at her brother breifly as his eyes opened, then back at Tahir.

'The one who wants your brother is more than you can imagine.'

'Do we know of him?'

Tahir smiled. 'Him, you keep saying. You are sure it is a he that wants your brother?'

She gasped. 'You mean...'

'I never said that. I only asked if you were sure.'

She shook her head slowly, looking at Vildir from the corner of her eye.

'Well,' Tahir continued, 'you made me an offer before. Is it still open?'

'What?' Vildir whispered disbelievingly, staring in horror at his sister.

'Yes,' Elenya said. 'Shut up, Vildir. I know what I'm doing.'

'I promised Father I'd take care of you!'

'It doesn't matter now. There's nothing to be done.'

'Elenya, you can't.'

'Watch me,' she hissed, and turned to Tahir. 'The offer is still open. Let him go.'

'No!' Vildir gasped, struggling with both hands against the wall to stand. 'Let her go. Let her go now - it's me that's asked for - not her - your...employer doesn't need Elenya, just let my sister go, let her go! El, just go, damn you -' He was on his feet now, fighting to stay standing, blood seeping from his hands as he tried to support himself against the rough stone - and he let go of the wall with one hand and pushed her away hard, sobbing, falling to the floor as he did so.

And Elenya stood there for what must have been an eternity, watching him fall to the floor, and looking down at the bloody handprint on her arm, and then turning, and running.

Behind her, she heard Vildir scream again, 'Run!' And as she ran, she cried back over her shoulder, 'I'm sorry! I'll try to bring help, I'll -'

Later, she wouldn't remember the running, the running blindly or the crying in the dark. She wouldn't remember the endless time spent trying to keep going. But she would remember stopping, and breathing hard and fast, and looking at the bloody print of her brother's hand on her shoulder, and then wondering how she could see it. It was too dark to see, and the light...

A torch.

And there was no sound except her own breathing and crying...

A gasp and a cry. 'El?'

And as she looked up, she realized just how ignorant she had been.

'Celebros!'

+++++

'Stay here, all right, El? Stay here, and I'll go on and get Vildir.'

Elenya nodded slowly, looking at him as if she was much younger than she actually was. He stood and turned, but she started up. 'Celebros?' she called.

He twisted around to look at her. To his startlement, she was crying, and he came back to where she was. She hugged him, and whispered in his ear, 'Be careful.'

'I will be,' he assured her, and was gone.

+++++

The sound of footsteps came from the tunnel, and Vildir twisted around. Tahir smiled coldly, reaching to draw his sword and then pausing.

Celebros froze in the doorway, staring at him. 'Tahir,' he breathed, shaking his head. 'It was you? What do you want them for?'

The straw-haired man shook his head as well, mockingly. 'Celebros, Celebros, Celebros,' he sighed, a cruel smile playing on his lips. 'Certainly, it's been fun, explaining to Vildir his family history, but any moment now, the one who wants him will be here. It wasn't me at all. I was only following orders.'

Celebros glanced down at Vildir, who was shivering and looking up at his cousin from near the wall. 'Orders,' he said flatly. 'Whose?'

'No, not Galadon's,' Tahir said, waving a hand. Celebros almost started. 'No, I work more independently than that. I work for who asks for my skills. My current supervisor isn't one you know of, I should think. She works under yet a greater organization, and they want Vildir.'

'The Galadil,' Celebros said flatly, looking down at Vildir, fingers tightening around his sword hilt. The boy was staring at him, eyes wide with fear and pain and horror. His mouth moved silently, and Celebros relaxed slightly. Without taking his eyes off Tahir, he moved toward Vildir and set a hand on his shoulder.

'What?' he asked his young cousin in a half-whisper.

'Can't,' Vildir choked, grabbing at Celebros' wrist.

'Can't what?'

'Go.' There was a silence, and then Vildir continued. 'You. You have to go. I can't...can't walk... You can't be taken. He said. He told me about them. About everything. If she sees you...take you to them...Father and Mother...everyone would die.' Celebros knelt slowly, and Vildir touched the back of his cousins' neck. The young man flinched. 'Sorry,' Vildir whispered. 'But he told me. I know about everything. You've got to go or everything's done...nothing matters...'

'No,' Celebros said, forcing calmness into his voice. 'Take my hand, Vildir. I'll help you up.'

Slowly, Vildir extended his hand. Celebros stared at it a moment in horror - at the drying blood from where the stone had gashed it - then took it firmly and helped the boy to stand waveringly.

Celebros held out his sword. 'I'm taking Vildir home, Tahir,' he said, his voice like frozen metal. 'Move against the wall.'

'You may have a sword,' Tahir hissed, 'but I am not unarmed -' And a small knife flew from his fingers.

Celebros reached out his hand, and time seemed to stand still.

He caught it, by the handle, stared at it a moment, then dropped it.

Tahir stared at him for a moment in fascination and disbelief. 'How...' he began weakly.

'No,' Celebros said. 'Why. Because of what you tried to do, and what you did do.'

Tahir backed up against the wall, and Celebros nodded. He turned slowly toward the exit to find it blocked.

It was a young woman, her hair black and her eyes a startling brown. She had Elenya's collar in one hand - El was standing silently, a livid bruise on her cheek along with tears - and in the other she was holding a dagger that was pointed directly at Celebros' throat.

She pushed Elenya to the ground. The girl stared resentfully at her, and scampered over to Vildir, standing next to him. 'Let go of the boy,' she said in a voice that was wind and velvet and coarse leather. Celebros looked at his cousins. Elenya took Vildir's hand to support him, and Celebros let him go.

'Now,' the woman said, 'over there. Against the wall. Get away from there, Tahir.' The woman motioned with the blade. She moved into the light, and Celebros looked at her, teeth gritting together. She was wearing a skintight black material that looked like leather but more glossy, and that did not cover her arms or the bottom half of her calves. Her hair was drawn back into a long plait, and her skin was tanned dark, as if from long days in the sun. Her muscles were toned from several years of manual labor, and her face was twisted into an expression of contempt and yet approval.

'Who are you?' Celebros asked, feeling a vague sense of familiarity. He had sheathed his sword and backed with the children toward the wall. He watched Tahir approach her and go down on one knee, kissing her hand. 'M'lady,' he said. She waved him away with one hand.

'You've done well,' she said to him carelessly, approaching Celebros. 'Shut up, Telcontar. What does a name matter?'

'I've seen you somewhere,' he whispered. The children looked at him, suddenly frightened for no reason and every reason. Without meeting their eyes, only staring at her, he put a hand on either of their shoulders.

'I doubt that,' she smirked. 'I've only seen you once. And you had no idea I was there.' There was a pause, and then she added, 'What does it matter? My name is Erea, daughter of Earil. Learn to revere it, Telcontar.'

Celebros sank slowly to the floor, eyes haunted. He closed them, and let out a shuddering breath, then opened them again.

'He thought you were dead,' the young man whispered. 'You had a gravestone. He thought you were dead. He knew you were dead.'

'What in Morgoth's name are you talking about?' she asked harshly.

'Elbereth, you're dead!' Celebros half-yelled. Vildir winced. 'You're dead! You've been dead for years!'

'Telcontar -' Erea began warningly, but he cut her off.

'Your father,' he said, shaking all over. 'Your father was Earil, son of Eanar. He was married to Isilphir.'

'Was?' she said, trying to sound curious. He could see in her eyes that she didn't know.

'They're both dead,' he said hoarsely, shaking his head. 'And so are you. Elbereth! He cried over your grave for hours, and nothing and no one could comfort him. He prayed for your soul every night. Every night since you vanished! Do you have any idea what you did to him? To them? He said Isilphir died of a broken heart when you left.'

'You knew my father?' she asked quietly in a trembling voice. Tahir was staring at her.

'M'lady -' he started, but she held up a hand.

'Answer me, Telcontar. Did you know my father?'

'Yes,' Celebros whispered. 'He was like my brother, until he died.'

She was silent a moment, and then she turned to look at Tahir. 'Take the children to our arranged meeting place. I'll meet you there in an hour. I...' She paused. 'I want a word with him.'

Tahir nodded curtly, but Celebros curled an arm protectively around each of the children's shoulders.

'You touch them,' he hissed, 'and I'll kill you.'

'Your sword is sheathed,' Erea said derisively.

'Tahir isn't the only one with hidden blades,' Celebros said. Suddenly he hand one knife in either hand and his eyes were like blades themselves. They blazed with fury and hatred. 'All it takes is one,' he continued, moving forward. Vildir gasped, and Elenya caught him before he fell. Celebros didn't even seem to notice. 'One blade, and this is over, and the three of us go home.'

'Telcontar -' Erea began, holding out her sword. There was a flash, and she cried out. The blade had been struck from her hand, and it fell to the floor in three pieces. Tahir groped for his sword, and Celebros pointed one of the knives at him.

'Don't. Even. Think. About. It.'

'Celebros!' Elenya cried out, but her cousin shook his head.

'I'm sorry, El. Not now. Move. Get Vildir out of here. I'll cover the two of them.'

Elenya pulled one of Vildir's arms over her shoulder and helped him out. Their footsteps faded.

'All right,' Celebros hissed. 'Now, Erea, what did you want to know?'

'M'lady -'

'Shut up, Tahir,' she hissed, and turned to Celebros. 'You first. What did you want to know?'

Celebros shuddered slightly. 'Why?' he asked, in a voice filled with pain and anger and great, great sadness.

Erea didn't answer for a moment. 'I was kidnapped,' she said, looking Celebros in the eye hard. She was telling the truth. 'But as to why I didn't come back? I killed them. I had Father's knife in my boot, and I killed the two men who kidnapped me. I couldn't go home after that. I had killed, Telcontar. I had taken a human life...if you could call those scum human. They were going to sell me into slavery in the North. So I went to Eryn Lasgalen. I was going to go the the Halls of the Elven-King there, but I was taken by the Galadil. I begged them to let me join them. I could be a part of a whole there, and I wouldn't be persecuted for killing those men. I was a child. They took me to their Council, and I pleaded. I asked them if I could spy. No one would suspect a human would be a spy or a worker for them. They agreed.

'I've worked under them for years, and I agree with their morals whole- heartedly. I've kept my honor among them. I'm the only human to ever do so. I've earned a place in their circle. They told me they needed the other Telcontar boy. You're a legend among them, so I knew everything about your family. I think they rather hoped that I would get him to Headquarters and you would come to find him. They want to take you back and kill you, and I don't doubt that they will someday. All I did was what I was told to do, up to this point. I knew that I couldn't take him. I didn't have enough force or experience in cities. So I hired Tahir. That's it. That's everything.'

Celebros stood for a while. Then, 'What did you want to know?'

She shook her head, and looked down like an ashamed child. Then, looking up uncertainly, 'Where is my father buried?'

+++++

Talking in quiet voices and crying, Elenya and Vildir moved slowly through the tunnel and waited for something else to happen.

As it turned out, it was not a long wait. There were footsteps ahead, and Elenya pushed herself and Vildir up against the wall. There was a silence as they both tried to hold their breath, and then a voice. 'Who's there?'

There was a silence, and then from around a bend they could see the light of a torch.

The light emerged, and following it was Eldarion. He gasped, and put a hand to his mouth, and then he was in front of them and hugging them and all three of them were sobbing.

There was a babble of talk, and then Eldarion paused. A silence fell, and he whispered, 'Where's Celebros?'

+++++

'I could show you, if you'll come.'

'What?' Tahir said, looking from Erea to Celebros. Her eyes were fixed on him.

Erea looked at the ground. 'I don't know if I...' she whispered. 'I'm a criminal, Telcontar. I've done things...'

'Such as?'

'Those men that I killed, years ago. Then I've kidnapped people. I've spied and brought information.'

'Was it you in charge of those...those men in the City?'

Erea looked up sharply. 'What are you talking about?'

'Someone tried to kill my grandfather and to kidnap me.'

'I don't believe you.'

Celebros lifted his shirt to show the fresh scar on his side. 'That one,' he said, pointing at it gingerly.

'Elbereth,' Erea breathed. 'There's so many, you could have gotten it anywhere!'

'This one's new, Erea, the rest are old. Very old.'

'Eldir,' she said, and he nodded. 'I've had my moments with him, I'd say. Right after you were taken, when he came back shamed. Well, almost a year later, really. He asked who I was, and tried to kill me. Got in a blow, too -' She carefully touched her upper arm, where Celebros saw a long, thin, pale scar. 'But so did I, on his face. I never saw him again. Most of us think he's dead - that they killed him for failing. And then vanishing.'

'Erea, come to Minas Tirith with me. Yes, you'll be put in jail, but those two men were criminals and it was long ago. I can help - I can take you out once a week or so -'

'How long will I be in?' she asked quietly. 'At the least?'

Celebros looked at the ground and shifted. 'I think the two of you could get a seven-year sentence, if I try at it.'

Tahir stared at him in disbelief. 'No,' he said. 'No, I'm leaving. I'm not going to jail for -'

Celebros flipped one of the blades in his hands. 'But frankly,' he hissed. 'The two of you kidnapped my cousins, and you don't have much of a choice. Come on.'

+++++

'What am I supposed to do?' Eldarion cried. 'I can't leave you - but Celebros - Elbereth only knows who those two are -'

'No, Father,' Vildir cut him off, shaking his head. 'I know who they are. And so does Celebros. And you, El. You even know of them.'

Eldarion whitened. 'Is it -'

'Not the Galadil,' Elenya said, shaking her head. 'Tahir of the North.'

'And?' their father whispered, eyes actually frightened.

'And Erea,' Vildir said softly, 'daughter of Earil.'

Eldarion stepped back into the wall. 'The girl?' he whispered, not seeming to be asking them. 'Earil's lost girl?'

Elenya looked at the ground and nodded.

'Celebros will trust her,' the Prince whispered, despair etched over his face. 'To some degree, anyway - am I wrong? Did it seem like that to you - like she wasn't just anyone else?'

'Yes,' Elenya breathed, 'I suppose.'

Eldarion slammed his fist against the stone and cried out in frustration and misery. There was a silence then. And the sound of footsteps coming from the way Eldarion had.

'Get back!' he hissed, holding his torch before him.

+++++

'Well,' Tahir said, nodding slowly. 'That's how it is? This is it?' He looked around the small cave in a cornered sort of way. 'Do you have any idea who I am?' he asked, looking suddenly determined. Erea was extremely tense. She glanced quickly at Celebros, but he shook his head just as quickly.

'Going to form a plan?' Tahir hissed. 'Going to look at each other and know what the other one's thinking? Going to kill me? Going to kill me and leave my body here? Go home, Telcontar. Go home and tell your cousin you killed me. Do you think he'll rejoice? Think again. How well do you know him? How well do you know Vildir?' There was a long silence, and then, 'I told him everything. Everything you never did. How about that, eh? He was so hurt, Telcontar, that his own family didn't trust him. He didn't know about the war. About the Galadil. About Rilhir's story.'

'What?' Celebros gasped.

'You never told him so he didn't know.'

'But Eldarion and Aeargil -'

'- didn't want the little brat to grow up. They wanted to keep him a little boy forever, a little, naieve, stupid boy - but when I told him the truth? He thanked me, eventually, when he saw that it was the truth. He thanked me for being honest when his own family wouldn't.

'And did he cry at night?' Erea asked suddenly. 'Did he cry at night? Did he tell you he wanted to go home? Did he beg you? Did he talk of the City to you? Did he tell you he hated you? Did he, Tahir of the North?'

'I did this for you!' Tahir shouted. 'I took him for you and now look where it's got us!'

'You weren't careful enough. You let the girl follow. And you did this for yourself. You wanted my money.'

'I didn't let the girl follow -'

'Did you hide your tracks or leave false trails as I instructed you?'

Tahir looked mutinous. 'I am not your pupil!'

'You are my worker. You were to do as you were told.'

'But he didn't let El follow,' Celebros interrupted calmly. 'She just did.'

'He wasn't careful enough -'

'He was plenty careful. But as long as Elenya knew her brother was alive - and she knew, trust me - she could tell where he was. They're connected. They're special.'

'They're special,' Tahir mimicked cruelly. 'Do you have any idea why the Galadil wanted that boy?'

Celebros didn't answer.

'Because he was connected to you!'

There was a long silence, and then Celebros' face twisted. He moved like lightning, and hurled Tahir against the wall with bone-crushing force. His knife was at the man's throat and he was breathing hard.

'Liar!' he breather. 'You filthy bastard, they'd want him even if I wasn't here, even if they'd killed me, even if I was never born, because I didn't tell them anything and they wanted that information!' He looked around at Erea, who was staring at him, eyes wide and startled and sad. 'Tell him!'

She didn't say anything, and Celebros recoiled, backing against the opposite wall himself, almost gasping for breath. Tahir clutched his ribs, doing the same and supporting himself against the wall.

'You left your back open,' Erea said quietly, as if it mattered. 'I could have killed you.'

'For one thing,' Celebros said, steadying shaky breath and moving from the wall to stand in front of her, 'I would have heard you take out a knife. And for another, I trust you.'

'What?' Tahir said disbelievingly. 'You -' But Celebros had a knife at his throat before he was a foot from the wall.

'And I don't trust you,' he said quietly. 'Come on, both of you. We're going.'

It was then that he made the mistake of sheathing one of his knives, and that Tahir unsheathed his own, leaping over to Erea and holding one at her throat, using her as a sheild.

+++++

An urgent voice was the one that echoed down the tunnel to Eldarion and the children. 'Who is it?' Before Eldarion could stop her, Elenya pulled away from him and started to run toward the voice. Telmir walked into the light as she reached the edge of it and she embraced him. Looking startled, and grinning sheepishly at Eldarion, he waited a moment.

'You're Telmir?' Eldarion guessed as blandly as he could.

'Yes.'

'Elbereth,' the man said close to emotionlessly. 'I remembered you as smaller.'

'Well, I was only a year old when you left.'

'I'm sorry about your parents.'

''s all right.'

'How old are you?' Vildir asked, pulling a hand free of his father's and reaching out to shake it.

'Eleven.'

'You look older,' the other boy said suspiciously. Elenya nodded, looking oddly at Telmir.

Telmir shook his head as if coming back to his senses. 'Celebros,' he said, not quite a question. Eldarion started.

'Still back there - Telmir, can you take the children? Vildir's hurt. His leg was broken, healed twisted.'

'Yes. Of course. But what if he went the second way?'

'The...second way?'

'There's a passage that branches off, but one of its branches leads back to this one, right near Ithilien.'

'Then I'll take that one.' Eldarion handed Telmir his torch.

'All right. Be careful.'

'Father -' Vildir started, and Eldarion sank down onto his knees next to his son and embraced him hard.

'I love you, all right?' Eldarion whispered in a tight voice. His eyes were squeezed shut. 'Both of you.'

'Love you too, Father,' El whispered. Eldarion stood suddenly.

'You be careful too,' he said to Telmir, and turned and strode into the darkness.

+++++

Several things happened at once. Erea screamed, and Tahir laughed wickedly. Celebros gasped, pointing his blade wildly at them but unable to hit Tahir without killing Erea as well.

Erea's face changed into a mask of terror and she closed her eyes tight, whimpering over and over again, 'Elbereth, dear Elbereth, no.'

'Let her go,' Celebros hissed. 'Let her go. It's me you want, isn't it?'

'No,' Tahir spat. 'I want money. And freedom. And I'll get neither from -'

'Her.'

'And you want something other than freedom and money, don't you?' Celebros said softly. 'Tahir, let her go.'

'And if I do?'

Celebros' face was cold and hard for a moment, then it melted into impassiveness. 'Then you'll get your freedom.'

'But the money,' Tahir said, his eyes grinning, cooly cocking an eyebrow. 'Where will I get that?'

'Find a new employer, Morgoth take you, just let her go! There are less hazardous jobs than this, and there are safer things to be than wanted dead by my grandfather. Let her go and I will see to it that you are cleared of Vildir's kidnapping.'

'No,' Erea whispered, stopping her half-prayer. 'No.'

'Erea, don't,' Celebros pleaded, shaking his head.

'No,' she whispered more urgently. 'You're not seeing me, Celebros Telcontar, for what I did. You're seeing me as my father's daughter, and I'm not good enough for you to judge me as that. He deserved better, and I don't deserve your trust.'

'Don't say that.'

'But it's true.'

'Will you listen to that?' Tahir said in amusement. 'She doesn't want to be rescued by a tall dark and handsome. Could it be that -?'

'Shut up, you bastard,' Erea whispered, and Celebros watched Tahir's wrist tighten. A thread of blood trickled down her throat. 'Telcontar, please. I don't want you to -' She shuddered. 'My father is dead and I betrayed him. You were the one he cared about in his last years, and you are the one he would want to live.'

'No,' Celebros said simply. 'You're his daughter. You're his flesh and blood. You think he was good? No, he never killed, but he joined the bandits on the fields, didn't he? Didn't you know that? Your father was a kidnapper. He stood by as other men killed my father. And I still loved him like a brother. Do you think I care that you're a criminal? You have a heart that can be good and strong, and the world needs more.'

'No,' Erea repeated.

'You move, Telcontar,' Tahir said softly, 'and she's dead. You hear?'

'Don't do this!' Celebros shouted, and Tahir smiled. He took his knife from Erea's throat and pointed it at Celebros' heart.

'All right then,' he said, smiling and looking at Erea, who was massaging her throat and staring at Celebros. 'You move, and he's dead.'

+++++

Vildir's arm was slung around Telmir's shoulder heavily, and he leaned on him hard. Elenya was on her brother's other side, tying a handkercheif over his eyes as he spoke.

'I could just shut my eyes.'

'Vildir,' Telmir said firmly, and Elenya was again struck by the thought that he seemed at least fourteen, 'do you have any idea how long it's been since you've seen the sun?'

'No,' Vildir said simply, and neither of the other two spoke for a moment. 'It's been long enough for it to be dangerous for my eyes, apparently,' the boy added, and Telmir nodded shortly.

+++++

Tahir approached him slowly. 'Come on,' he said quietly.

'Let her go.'

'When I can get you both? No.'

'Go, Erea!'

Erea shook her head. 'He'll kill you. I can't go.'

'You're a Valar-cursed Galadil!' Celebros screamed suddenly, and Erea flinched as if slapped. 'You're not supposed to have a heart! And you're supposed to hate me! So go and tell them I'm dead, all right?'

'No,' Erea said. Tahir looked disgusted, and turned. He led them for a moment down the tunnel, then twisted to face Celebros and swung his fist back.

Celebros didn't feel it connect, but he felt excruciating pain in his shoulder and his head as he hit the stone wall, and he heard Erea's scream.

+++++

Legolas had rushed over immediately, looking for all the world more worried than Telmir had ever seen him before. 'Aina Elbereth!' he cried. 'What happened? Vildir! Elenya!'

Elenya and Telmir both winced, but Vildir twisted his head, unable to see.

Legolas was next to them and on crouched before Vildir. 'Are his eyes hurt?' he asked rapidly.

'He hasn't been in the sunlight for a long time. It could blind him,' Telmir said softly.

'Good of you to remember some of your teachings,' Legolas said a bit sharply, and Telmir cringed. 'Where is Eldarion? And Celebros?'

'Eldarion went to find Celebros,' Elenya said softly. 'Tahir, and Earil's daughter Erea - they were the ones.'

'Elbereth Gilthoniel,' Legolas sighed. 'Eldarion is foolish. He could be walking into a trap.'

Elenya would have nodded had the matter been about someone other than her father, and in other presence. Legolas was right.

'What is wrong with your leg?' Legolas asked Vildir quietly, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder.

'It was broken. It healed twisted. I can't - I can't walk right -' He started to cry and Elenya did too.

'Your grandfather the King Elessar may be able to do something about it,' Legolas said gently. 'Not fix it entirely, perhaps, but somewhat. Does it hurt?'

'No,' Vildir said softly. 'Nothing hurts. Everything feels numb. I'm tired.'

Telmir glanced at the other boy. 'Elenya, can you help Vildir into the room where you stayed? We'll need to keep a guard on you again, in case they come here.' El nodded, and took Vildir's arm to let him lean on her. She helped him limp away, and Legolas turned to Telmir.

'And as for you, young master Telmir,' Legolas said, 'as heroic as you have been, you directly disobeyed me. I have a feeling you helped Elenya out as well. She could have been killed. As punishment, when Eldarion and Celebros return, you will accompany them to Minas Tirith and report your failure to the King personally.'

Telmir smiled weakly and nodded. 'All right,' he said.

'You are not the Steward yet, my boy,' Legolas said kindly. 'I think sometimes you could do with considering things more rationally.'

Telmir looked at the ground a moment, then looked up again, and in those seconds he had wiped his face clean. 'If I hadn't done what I had done, Vildir would be on his way to the Galadil now and Gondor would fall in a matter of weeks,' he said quietly, and turning away strode off the way El and Vildir had gone.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Legolas began to laugh softly. 'Well done indeed,' he said, shaking his head, 'Your father is proud, wherever he is.'

+++++

Eldarion sprinted down tunnel after tunnel until he thought he would collapse. Everything seemed the same and thoughts that he was going in circles crossed his head often. Celebros was nowhere and the children were, for the moment, as safe as they could be. Surely they had reached Ithilien by now -

He tripped and fell hard to the ground, flat onto his face on the stones. For a moment he lay still, eyes closed, feeling his nose bleeding badly, wondering in a vague, detatched way if it was broken and, in the same way, deciding that it was not.

Then he realized what precisely he had tripped over, and opened his eyes.

It was relatively futile. The darkness was so close to complete that he couldn't actually see, actually tell. But he could see the outline of the shape on the floor, and the outline told him two things. It was Celebros. And he was breathing.

That was what mattered, and wiping the blood from his face onto his sleeve, he lifted his nephew's form up with hardly a grunt and started to walk.

Then he started to run.

+++++

He met Telmir half-asleep at the mouth of the cave, and cried out as light met his eyes, succeeding in waking the boy completely. He leapt to his feet. 'Celebros!' Telmir cried instantly. 'Is he all right?'

'Don't know,' Eldarion said through gritted teeth, forcing himself to keep his eyes open. It hurt. 'Here. Help me. He needs...to get medical attention. Are Vildir and El all right?'

'Both emotionally completely broken down,' Telmir said grimly and much more maturely than most eleven-year-olds could have managed. 'They're exhausted. And Vildir's seen and heard too much. They're both asleep, I think.'

Eldarion looked away from him and nodded curtly. 'I could have stopped that,' he said in a tight voice as Telmir led him Elbereth-knew-where. 'If I had just listened -'

'Now your son knows the truth,' Telmir said a bit harshly. 'You never had the heart to tell him. When did you plan on telling him? Can you imagine what his reaction would be? He'd feel completely betrayed.'

'He should have heard it from me. Or Aeargil.'

'Damn straight, he should've,' Telmir forced. 'A hell of a lot before now.'

'He wasn't ready to hear it.'

'Do you know him at all?' Telmir asked softly. 'Do you have any idea what he's ready for? The truth is hardest when it's been hidden. He had the right to know.' There was a pause, and Eldarion realized they had stopped in front of a closed door. Telmir met Eldarion's steady gaze and then pushed it open. 'In there,' he said quietly, closing it without coming in once Eldarion was inside.

+++++

Vildir woke as the door opened, but Elenya remained fast asleep. It was Telmir, grimacing. 'Are they back?' Vildir asked at once, trying to scramble to his feet and then stopping abruptly.

Telmir nodded. 'Celebros is unconcious. And Tahir and Erea weren't with him.'

Vildir bit his lip hard. 'How bad is Celebros?'

'Bad enough that he didn't come to on the way here. Bad enough to have your father worried.' Vildir looked at him levelly. Telmir elaborated. 'Bad.'

'All right,' Vildir sighed, and there was silence for a moment. Then he looked down suddenly guiltily at his blankets, and then over at Elenya. 'No!' he moaned. 'I told her to keep it!' He glanced at Telmir. 'She gave me her blanket. I told her having the bed was more than enough! ' Telmir moved over to where Elenya lay, using a cloak as a poor pillow, and took her hand gently. 'She's freezing,' he groaned. 'Here. Give me that blanket.'

Vildir did, face carefully neutral as he looked levelly at Telmir and very guilty when his eyes shifted to Elenya. Telmir covered her carefully with the blanket and then lay the back of his hand on her cheek.

'She'll take a while to warm up,' he sighed. He looked back at Vildir. 'A bit too noble sometimes, she is.'

Vildir nodded, his gaze sliding to Telmir and expression to blank. 'You like her,' he said quietly. It was most certainly not a question.

Telmir looked up sharply, and then back down, and nodded slowly. 'Yeah,' he said, looking away. 'I guess so.'

Vildir shrugged, and Telmir glanced up almost fearfully. The younger boy laughed. 'If I were you,' Vildir said, smiling reassuringly, 'I'd like her too.'

Telmir's shoulders relaxed, and he closed his eyes and sighed. 'I thought you'd be angry or something,' he said, not opening his eyes. 'I mean, I'm more than three years older than she is.'

Vildir shifted uneasily. 'If I was worried about it, I'd probably have done something a bit more...obvious.'

'Like beating me up?'

The other boy laughed again. 'For one thing, you've got two years and at least four inches on me, and for another...' His face fell. 'How would I? I can't even walk.'

Telmir looked uncomfortable and was about to reply when the door swung open.

It was Eldarion. 'He's waking up,' he said quickly, and Elenya opened her eyes sleepily. 'Come on.'

+++++

He was lying back on the white sheets, eyes closed, stirring weakly and breathing erratic.

'Where's Erea?' Eldarion asked softly. 'Celebros?'

Celebros moaned, and Elenya whimpered, clutching her cousin's hand. From between clenched teeth, Celebros whispered, 'I don't know.' Then he arced his back with a gasp, eyes opening wide, and then closed them again, squeezing them tight, mouth half-open in a silent scream of pain. Elenya was shaking, Telmir standing stiff and still next to Vildir's chair. Elenya's fingers were white around Celebros' hand.

Eldarion lay a hand on Celebros' forehead, and slowly he relaxed, collapsing back onto the white sheets.

It was then that Legolas came into the room, hurrying, his velvet moss- green robes swirling out behind him, his face unmasked worry.

'What's wrong with him?' the Elf demanded hurridly. Eldarion tore his eyes from Celebros.

'I'm not sure.'

Legolas glanced breifly at the children, then came forward next to Elenya to look at Celebros searchingly.

'Shoulder's dislocated,' he said after a moment. 'Possibly fractured as well. But that's not the most important thing. Look at his eyes, Eldarion. I think he's bleeding inside his head.'

Elenya let out a half-gasp, half-sob, and Telmir shook his head in denial. Vildir, as he had been, just sat and stared.

'Telmir, can you take Elenya and Vildir back to their room?'

Telmir nodded, not looking away from Celebros.

'Then come back here, all right?' Legolas said. Telmir nodded again, and helped Vildir stand reluctantly. Elenya released his hand, and the three of them moved away, looking back. 'Are you going to stay, Eldarion?'

Eldarion nodded silently.

+++++

Telmir came back into the room slowly, almost reluctantly. Legolas was trying to appraise Celebros' situation more thoroughly. Celebros' eyes were open and his breathing was choppy from the pain. 'Your shoulder is dislocated badly,' Legolas was saying. 'The fracture is going to complicate it. I have to put it back, but I might compound it in doing so. And if you black out from the pain - which you may well -'

Celebros moaned again, trying to look at his shoulder.

The Elf looked around at Telmir. 'Come here,' he said quietly to the boy. 'It's all right.' Telmir did, and Legolas turned back to Celebros.

'If you do black out, then I don't know what to do about the bleeding. If you do, you could die.'

Telmir looked at Legolas, alarmed and frightened. Both of the adults' faces were grim and helpless, and Legolas' determined.

'All right,' Eldarion said softly. His voice trembled, but he tried to suppress it. 'All right. Celebros, you need to hold on, all right? You need to stay concious.'

Legolas cast around, and found a piece of leather. 'Bite on it,' he ordered, and Celebros did. 'Hard. This is going to hurt. But you need to hold on to conciousness. Your life may depend on it. Celebros, look at Eldarion. Don't look away. Try to think about the children.'

Celebros looked first at Legolas, then at Telmir, and finally at Eldarion, and his teeth clenched on the leather.

His muffled scream echoed around in the room. Telmir flinched, but Celebros' eyes were even wider open, and his jaws loosened. Legolas removed the leather.

A set of toothmarks gouged deep into it.

Celebros eyelids fluttered, and Eldarion was grasping his hand instantly. 'Celebros!' his uncle cried. 'No! Stay here! Stay awake, Morgoth take you! Elbereth, please!'

Celebros looked dimly at his uncle, and Eldarion felt the hand tighten around his own for an instant.

Then it loosened again - but it had been there.

'All right,' Legolas said softly, shaking his head. 'I need help. Eldarion, how fast can your father get here?'

'No,' Eldarion said, forcing the word out as if it were poison. 'There's no time, Legolas. You have to do this.'

Legolas looked levelly at Eldarion for a moment, and anger flashed through his eyes. Then he sighed and nodded.

'All right,' he said simply.

+++++

The infirmary door opened, and Legolas Greenleaf walked out of it with a sigh. He was exhausted, and looked out at the night sky and the almost- full moon with relief and uncertainty in his heart.

Celebros had survived - and the procedure was over. The question was the end result. Would the young Man end up much for the worse? It seemed impossible that he would come out unscathed, of course.

Telmir came out behind him. 'Legolas,' the boy said, a bit uncertainly.

The Elf turned. 'Yes?'

'How bad...could he be?'

'At the worst, Telmir?'

More uncertainty. Then a quiet, pained, 'Yes.'

'He might be unable to speak, or his senses might be impaired. Or he might still die.'

'Oh,' Telmir said softly.

'Did you learn anything from watching?'

'Yeah. I guess.'

'Good. You should go sleep now.'

'Yeah,' Telmir said, and moved away. Legolas didn't realize until he'd reached his own rooms that the boy had gone in the opposite direction as his room.

+++++

Vildir and Elenya were both still awake when Telmir came in, and their heads jerked up as one when he opened the door.

'Is he all right?' Vildir asked, and Elenya overlapped him, 'How is he?'

'He's unconcious. We don't know how he is except that he's alive.' Telmir's voice was a bit choked with the last bit: 'For now.'

Vildir put his head in his hands. 'It's my fault,' he said in a muffled voice. 'If I'd've fought him - if I'd've snuck away while he was sleeping -'

'You'd have been caught,' Elenya said, voice choked. 'Nothing that's happened is your fault, Vildir, nor any of ours.'

'She's right,' Telmir agreed. 'I think Celebros will be all right.'

'He's been through a lot worse,' Vildir said in a dull, would-be hopeful voice.

Somehow that didn't comfort them.

+++++

Eldarion woke in a hard chair in semidarkness to find Celebros' eyes open. In less than the time in which you could blink he was out of the chair. 'Celebros, are you all right? Can you talk?'

Celebros shrugged with one shoulder, very carefully avoiding using the other. 'I feel...don't know...' he said, voice very faint and hoarse but definite.

'All right. All right.'

'Water?'

There was a filled cup on a small table next to him. He held it, tipping it slowly through Celebros' lips.

'Thanks.'

'You hungry?'

'No.' There was a silence. 'The children?'

'They're fine. Sleeping, I expect.'

Celebros nodded, and then there was silence. It took Eldarion a moment to realize that Celebros was asleep again.

+++++

They left for the City the next day. Eldarion and Legolas both felt that they would be unable to safely wait for Celebros to improve. Vildir's leg also needed tending to.

They sat around the fire after one day's ride toward Minas Tirith, Vildir with his leg carefully stretched out next to Eldarion, Celebros lying still a bit away from the fire behind Eldarion, Elenya sitting on Vildir's other side, and Telmir between her and Eldarion.

There was silence, except for the occasional comment on the food Telmir had cooked - much better than I could have managed, really, Eldarion had said.

Vildir yawned, shaking his head as if to ward off tiredness. Telmir glanced breifly at him, and then over at Eldarion. 'Will we reach the City tomorrow?'

'No, the morning after, I expect. Or we could ride extra-hard to get there, but I don't think it would be good for you or for Celebros, and besides -' He stopped abruptly. 'They're not expecting us until morning after tomorrow. Legolas sent a hawk. They'll be there to greet us.'

'I want to see Mother,' Elenya said in a small voice.

'If we wait, she'll be there the moment we come in the gates. And I doubt your grandfather would be ready to -'

They hadn't noticed Celebros move closer to the fire until he moved between Telmir and Eldarion and settled himself with a groan. 'Celebros,' Eldarion said carefully, putting a hand on his shoulder. 'You feeling all right?'

The one-shouldered shrug. 'Relatively,' Celebros said, and looked somewhat amusedly down at the hand on his shoulder, then up at Eldarion, one eyebrow cocked. Eldarion removed it suddenly, remembering in an instant what that shoulder had been through.

'Sorry,' his uncle said hastily.

'It's all right. Doesn't really hurt, just a sort of thawing ache.'

Vildir nodded from across the fire. Celebros shot him a weak grin, and then, 'Is there any of Telmir's much-applauded food left, or do I get to scavenge for rats?'

Vildir half-smiled and passed Celebros a plate. He smiled as he looked down at it. 'I haven't had ham for a long time,' he said, cutting off a bit and biting it. 'This is good.'

'It's not just any ham,' Telmir said boastingly. 'This is peppered ham. One of Mother's delicacies.' His face fell a little bit. 'And you rarely have it in Minas Tirith because we have all the hogs for meat in Ithilien.'

Celebros smiled and continued to eat the peppered ham.

+++++

The City's wall seemed to come closer and closer in the early morning sun. It gleamed with a welcoming light. 'It's been a couple years since I visited,' Telmir whispered, awed. The Tower of Ecthelion was clearly visible in the background.

Before long they were right before the gates, and from the sound behind them, half the City had gathered for their homecoming. Elenya glanced at Telmir, who was still wide-eyed with amazement, and leaned toward him. 'Isn't it amazing?' she whispered in his ear, and he nodded.

The gates opened before them, and indeed people lined both sides of the street, cheering, coming forward around them as they moved towards the Inner City.

After a while, when the first stable came into view, Eldarion dismounted, and Telmir right after him. The boy helped Elenya to dismount, and Eldarion helped Vildir. Celebros shook his head at their offers for help and dismounted himself carefully, keeping his dignity and staying on his feet, walking forwards.

Eldarion moved over and spoke to a man in a stablehand's clothing, and when the other man nodded gave him the reins for the horses. Then the crowd thickened as they came to the gates of the Inner City. It seemed that none of the people were gathered in there, for as they neared the gate a silence fell, and Eldarion knew that his father was there.

He also knew from the look on Vildir's face as Telmir helped him walk that his father would have to lead them directly to the Houses of Healing.

The gates opened before them, and the people stayed back, letting them in and hoarsely crying out behind them as the gates closed.

The noise from the Outer City fell down almost instantly, the cries ceasing to excited talking or worried murmers amongst themselves as they made their way back to their homes. Eldarion stopped suddenly, and Celebros already had, bowing his head to his grandfather.

With an uncontainable smile the King came forward, clapping a hand on Eldarion's shoulder without a word and moving to Vildir and Celebros.

'I got the messagehawk from Legolas. It was a rather long message, I must say,' King Elessar commented, as if unsure what to say.

'Where's Mother?' Elenya asked in a small voice.

'She's on her way here as we speak,' he said, turning to El with a breif smile. 'Cundariel and Tasarian arrived this morning. They'd heard about what happened from Greenwood and came immediately. She's coming with them.'

Elenya nodded, and the King turned to Eldarion, drawing him aside for a moment. Telmir overheard what they said not quite by mistake.

'How are they?'

'Vildir's leg is very bad. And Celebros - you can never tell, with him.'

'I know what you mean. But how bad do you think he is?'

'Mostly just tired. We were very lucky, I think. I think Legolas did it right. He was very reluctant to.'

'Not without reason.'

'I know, but we couldn't wait. You have no idea how bad it was, Father. He was dying.'

'He's been dying a few times too many,' the King said, shaking his head. 'I am beginning to think that he is closer to the center of the nearing war than they - and he himself, I suppose - want us to believe.'

'What has been going on here?'

'I am beginning to think that Rohan might be trouble again soon. I got an odd letter from Elfwine. No, don't give me that look. He hasn't been corrupted. But I'm fairly sure that Pernathos is right after all. It's his councillor. He's the corrupt one - a servant of Galadon perhaps, or of the Galadil.'

'How is Pernathos?'

'Better, but I still need to work more on his leg. He can walk, but not very well. If he had been a Guard when it had happened, I would have had to relieve him of duty for a year.'

'All right. Father, can you do anything for Vildir?'

The King looked at his son for a moment. Then, 'Yes,' he said simply. 'It might not be easy, of course, but I can. It will never be the same, though. I know this is hard for you to hear, Eldarion, but it may be months before he can walk again without help, and he may never run again. I don't know.'

There was a clatter of footsteps from behind them, and Eldarion turned to see Aeargil running toward them - towards the children first, of course, and embracing Vildir and Elenya, speaking in fast and quick Sindarin. Gwalas, Cundariel and Tasarian came hurrying up behind her, and Celebros' face lit up. He grinned, and hugged each of the three of them. The Elves overlapped each other in asking anxiously if he was all right, and Celebros was laughing and reassuring them, and even Vildir seemed to be able to forget his leg for the moment. Celebros introduced Cundariel and her brother to the children. And Aeargil turned around and time seemed to stop, the rest of the world with its noise seemed to fade out as she came over to him - she might have walked, she might have run, she might not have even moved and he might have, but all he knew was that she had thrown her arms around him and he was holding her and they were both crying and crying.

The world had gone wrong and everything was right.

+++++

It was noon, and two weeks had passed since the return to the City. Celebros spent a great deal of time alone, or with Telmir on occasion, and a great fraction of his waking hours and even some of his sleeping hours were spent in the graveyard. He had started to drink again - not much, but enough for the King and Eldarion and Telmir and the Elves to take note that there was generally one glass of wine in his hand when he was in his rooms.

But now it was noon, and the family was gathered together with Snaga and Pernathos and Telmir and the Elves around a great table in the Hall, because today was a special day.

The King stood, stopping the talk for at least a breif moment. Celebros looked slightly relieved - he had been engaged in a conversation with his mother's sisters.

'Today is a day in which we celebrate a life,' the King said, his eyes smiling at Elenya. 'Today is the anniversary of the day on which one of our children, one of the Heirs of the King, came into this world. And no matter what this day is shadowed by, I would like to take a moment to drink whatever is in our cups to my granddaughter, who is eight years old today!' They did as was suggested, and Elenya, blushing, waited for the nod from her grandfather to stand. The redness faded from her cheeks and she looked at Celebros.

'I was looking through some old records,' she said quietly, 'and I found something out that I think will be more important to some of you than to others. It's someone else's birthday today, too. So I'd like to propose a toast. To Erea.'

'To Erea,' the rest of them echoed, some of them more reluctantly than others. Celebros stared down at his glass and drank deeply.

Snaga, who had perhaps had a bit more to drink than he ought to have, said loudly enough for everyone to hear, 'Celebros, I don't believe that is cinnamon tea.' Telmir laughed and held up his glass, pointing to it. Continuing, the orc said, 'Let's compare yours to Telmir's cinnamon tea. Does anyone want to volunteer to test it?'

To the great amusement of the table, Rillien, the younger of Malgil's two little sisters, stood up and announced, 'I'll test it!' (It was generally assumed later that both of the sisters had also had a bit too much to drink.)

Rather loud laughter on Tariel's part, and then Telmir handed her his glass. She drained it, and then snatched Celebros'. She sniffed it first, rather mischevously, and then drained that, too.

'THAT,' she said thickly and triumphantly, 'is most certainly NOT cinnamon tea.'

Celebros shook his head in amusement, pulling the empty cup from his aunt's hand. 'That was, as a matter of fact, the last of the vintage wine from the Shire, 1296.'

'Shire-wine?' the King said incredulously. 'Celebros, I drank that for years in the North and never once was able to get anything out of it.'

'It tastes good,' Celebros said mutinously. 'And that was the last cup of the last bottle.'

Rillien grinned widely.

+++++

Celebros sat later alone by the gravestone. 'Earil,' he said quietly, 'I know that somewhere out there, you can here me. And I wanted you to know something.'

He paused.

'I'm sorry,' he said at last. 'I'm sorry. And I'm going to find her or find out what happened to her. No matter what it takes.'

+++++

The night was silent and as cold as ever. He had at least fed her, and had fallen asleep again, leaving her tied. She had managed to determine, in any case, which direction they were headed, and to decide that it was not, in fact, to the Galadil. They were headed toward the Misty Mountains, she guessed, and then to exile or death in the caves there.

She wished Telcontar were there. She had wanted to see her father's grave.

But she couldn't, and she couldn't sleep, so instead she remembered.

+++++

She was standing in a great circle of Elves - all adult, all male, all proud and upright and disdainful.

'Who are you and what is your purpose in trespassing?' the apparent leader demanded.

'My name is Erea,' she said impassively. 'My purpose is to join you.'

A memory from later came to her, and she had to stop herself from smiling at this one. Eldir. He had come back, and when she was insolent to his face he had attacked, getting in a blow on her arm. She had endured worse, though, and from watching her father - her father, it hurt to think of him so much - from watching her father fight she had learned. He got a blow on her arm, but when he was basking in triumph she struck, leaping forward and slashing his face.

'I am no fool,' she had hissed. 'And I am not a child.'

And yet another memory, from her meeting with Tahir.

'I need you to do something for me,' she had said.

'Yes?'

'I need you to get the youngest Telcontar boy.'

'The youngest?' Tahir had said cooly. 'Are you sure you don't want Celebros Telcontar?'

'You couldn't get him.'

'I did before.'

'I don't believe you.'

Tahir had shrugged. 'You don't have to believe me,' he had said casually.

'Well, if you got him before, he must have gotten away. Right? He's still alive.'

Tahir glared at her and nodded grudgingly.

'Then I want the youngest boy. Vildir Telcontar. He's in Minas Tirith now, and -'

'I know where he is,' Tahir had said scornfully. 'Everyone knows where each Telcontar is, among us. If they go out to visit Ithilien, we know.'

'Do you know the caves of Ithilien?'

'Yes. I know them quite well.'

'I want you to meet me there. I'll draw you a map to show you where. Take the boy from the City and bring him there. Cover your tracks very carefully. No one must follow. Do not kill him. You may rough him up if necessary. But my orders are that no one follows and no one knows who either of us are. Send me a hawk when you have him.'

'As you wish, my lady.'

'I'm not a lady.'

Tahir grinned. 'But you are a beautiful human woman. I can't abide these Elves I must consort with. Where do you come from?'

'Nowhere,' she snapped. 'It doesn't matter.'

'Ah, but it does. Let me see if I can place it. Rohan?'

She glared at him and grudgingly nodded. 'I left there when I was fifteen.'

'How long ago would that have been?'

'A long time,' she said quietly.

'Too long?' he asked. 'Do you miss your family?'

'My parents would shun me if I ever returned,' she said quietly. 'I had to kill to stay alive, and we were not a family of lawbreakers.'

'Only of tragedy,' Tahir said sadly, and Erea had a feeling he had been watching her more closely than she would have liked.

Thus were her memories. Bound tightly and cold, she fell asleep.

+++++

The dream went on and on, never ending, never leaving him in peace.

A girl, maybe fifteen, with black braids and brown eyes, a smile on her face - he had a feeling it hadn't been there for a long time.

She was wearing a blue dress that reached her feet - she had worn shorter, he was sure, and he had not approved of it. Her feet were bare and she was wearing a crown of flowers. He felt himself think without thinking, She hasn't done this since she was little, with her sister. Something's different today.

And then the dream would flash to a dark room, and he felt tears on his cheeks hot and stinging, and he thought, Something was different that day. It was the last day. Did she know? My star, my little girl, did you know?

He had a feeling that he had forced himself to believe it.

Another flash, to a grave that he recognized in his sleeping mind and that he had never been to in his dream mind. This was the girl's grave, his sleeping mind said, and he was crying, both in the dream self and in his sleep.

Flash.

A woman, dead in his arms as he held her to him, dead of greif but whispering for him to stay, she had been alive, just a minute ago she was alive. And both selves cried.

Flash.

A tavern, and a man taking a careless sip of wine. Again, the sleeping self had recognition and the dream-self none. The man in the tavern, with the wine, he was saying something, 'The one I speak of is the group of bandits that control the Fields.'

Flash.

Grasses and dismounting from a horse. A curt nod from the man he had met in the tavern, and breif introductions.

Flash.

A warning to one of the men. Pushing him to the ground, and the dream self, up in the other man's face, said roughly, Never say that again. You never talk about my family, you filty pig. You have no right.

And the man nodded fervently, fear in his eyes, and the sleeping self saw his own reflection that was not his own in the other man's eyes.

Flash.

Watching them beat a man on the border of Gondor, a guard, and standing by, emotionless, careless.

Flash.

Looking up and seeing a boy standing and watching them, unconcerned of the danger...

Flash.

The dream self, the first one to see the boy and to announce it.

Flash.

My purpose is to join you.

Flash.

A swordfight, and that boy, that little boy, that amazing boy. I am no fool. And I am not a child.

Flash.

A brother. A brother. A family, after all this time with none.

Flash.

And then death and dying - and watching his brother's tears, and hearing his brother's words.

Flash.

And then Earil was nothing.

+++++

And Celebros Ithilron Telcontar would wake with that in his bed, every night without fail, with a single scream of agony and defeat and despair.

And so one night he left.