Ele exclaimed in disbelief. "Father! He's only one year old!"

"Exactly. Looking up to your terrible stunts? You're a role-model now, Ele, and don't forget it!" He sighed, seeing her jaw set, uncannily like his own determined expression, and forced her into the room her mother often used. Making sure Ele's foot wouldn't stop the door from closing, he slammed it shut. Turning the key in the lock, he put it in his pocket, and left, trying to ignore the crashing noises from his daughter's side of the door.

After exhausting her strength on a solid oaken door that wouldn't budge, Ele flung herself on the bed, weeping hot tears of rage and frustration into the silken coverlet. Her ears tuned to catch the sound of her father returning, Ele was surprised to hear a hoarse whisper through the casement, from the direction of her own bedroom window.

"Ele! Ele, are you there?"

It was Rash. Ele hastily dried her eyes on her sleeve, running to lean out of the window. He was in the branches of her tree, leaning towards the open window of her room.

"Rash! I'm in here. Father didn't want me escaping down the tree without permission."

Her friend grinned wryly as he turned to face her.

"Was it bad? I could hear him yelling from the workshop." (Rash was apprenticed to one of the city carpenters)

"Huh. I think the whole of Ithilien heard him. And you'd better not get caught- I'm officially banned from seeing you until we've both proved we're responsible enough. He makes you sound like some kind of dangerous rebel element!"

The youth's grin widened. "Hey," he reasoned, "I'm a teenager. It's only to be expected!"

"Anyway," continued Ele, "I'll be back in my room once Owen's nailed the shutters closed on that window, but I'll still be able to see out of the other one. So...?" She looked pleadingly at her friend.

"I'll come as often as I can, Ele, bringing hope and succour to the incarcerated maiden."

"Shut up, Rash!" she laughed. "You know, I really should apologise to Father."

"Hey, it was great while it lasted!" His jubilant expression faded as he saw her face. "But we did disrupt the whole city, yes..."

Then he saw Ele's eyes widen as she heard footsteps outside her room.

"Get down! NOW! Someone's coming!" she hissed at Rash, and saw him swing down from his perch, out of the corner of her eye as she ran to the door.

"Father?" she called, but was surprised when the door was opened by Owen's brown hand, and his face appeared, frowning, around the door-jamb.

He sighed, closing the door behind him with his free hand- the other held a covered tray.

"Dinner is served, milady," he commented dryly as he sat down on the bed, setting the tray down beside him.

"Thanks, Owen," smiled the grateful girl, pulling aside the cloth to discover a plate of thick-sliced bread, spread with copious amounts of butter and honey. A bowl of apple-slices and blackberries was set beside it, and a horn beaker of cool water, fresh from the well.

The man watched her sadly as she ate, his brown eyes lingering on the smear of butter at the left-hand corner of her mouth with a slight smile.

"Why did you do it, Ele?" he asked softly. "Faramir can't even pretend to ignore this one. Gandalf's beard! The city'll be talking about its ruler's wayward daughter and her pranks for months."

Ele looked up as she felt his gaze settle on her, wiping the crumbs from her mouth with a napkin. She gulped down her last mouthful of water, and he could see something very like to fear in her eyes.

"I've messed up completely, haven't I?" she whispered. "Father's never going to forgive this..." Owen put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but the twelve-year-old brushed it away, jumping up to look out of the casement, still open from her illicit conversation with Rash. Owen rose to join her, rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand, as he always did when worried for some cause. As he reached the girl, he was astonished to see he shoulders shaking as she stood with her elbows on the sill and her face in her hands.

"Ele, what's wrong?" He laid a comforting arm around her shoulders, and proffered his own handkerchief, just in time to save the sleeve of her dress.

"It was just a b-bit of fun..." she sobbed, burying her face in his large tunic. "I never thought it would cause this m-much trouble...and now F-Father hates me!"

The big man smiled over the girl's head, hugging her. "Ele, Faramir doesn't hate you. But he's in charge of Ithilien, and he can't just let something as big as this slide past without making a stand! He loves you very much, and you should never forget that. But sometimes he finds it hard being a father and a ruler at the same time. Do you think you could try to help him a bit more, instead of creating more stumbling-blocks when he already has enough in his path as it is?"

She nodded, smiling up at him through the tears she had tried to hard to conquer, and blew her nose loudly on his handkerchief. "I want to apologise to Father. Do you think he'll talk to me, after the way I acted?"

"Of course he will. And I can take a message to Rash for you, if you like."

"Oh..." suddenly Ele blushed, embarrassed. "Please don't tell him I was crying...But say that I can't see him, and why, and that I'm sorry but this is one time I have to obey Father."

"Very well. This'll be our secret, eh?" He grinned comfortingly at her, going to the door. "Evening's drawing in. You might want to get an early night, a lot's happened today."

"Thankyou, Owen," she said, smiling gratefully as he closed the door behind him. He winked at her through the gap, and then she heard the key turn in the lock.

Slowly she undressed, and as she climbed into her mother's bed, she sighed, remembering how disappointed Eowyn would be, but resolving to start afresh on the morrow.