Chapter 31 : Elfwine's First Journey

Five years later…

"Uncle Erchirion! Uncle Amrothos!"

Erchirion was almost bowled over by the enthusiastic ball of energy that launched itself at knees. "Whoa!" he yelled, grabbing onto Amrothos for support. He looked down and picked up the hyper, grinning child. "What have you been eating, Elfwine? You're getting too strong for me!"

Elfwine giggled with childish delight. "I'm the strongest boy in Rohan!" he boasted.

"No, I'm the strongest boy now!" Amrothos began to tickle the child.

Elfwine shrieked, laughing helplessly. "You're… not… a… boy!" he managed to gasp between his peals of laughter.

"Stop tickling him while I'm carrying him!" Erchirion yelled. "He kicks!"

"You two have just arrived in Rohan and already you're creating a racket."

"Mother!" Elfwine struggled in Erchirion's arms, wanting to get down to run towards his mother.

The two brothers grinned at their sister. Now twenty-seven, she was much more a woman, and a regal queen. They had not seen her for a year, and it seemed that she had blossomed even further during that time, if it was indeed possible. The maturity that she had gained did not dull her beauty; in fact, she seemed even lovelier because of it.

"That's what we're here for, my Lady," Amrothos said, bowing exaggeratedly. "We heard that Rohan was lacking in laughter and enjoyment, and so we thought we'd lend you our expertise."

"There's no lack of laughter here, I can assure you!" Éomer walked up to them, a smile on his face. "But you are welcome, anyway." He laughed, winking. "No doubt exiled from Dol Amroth?"

"Oh no, no," Erchirion said, shaking his head. "We're too valuable to Dol Amroth to be exiled!"

Éomer raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Lothíriel waved away the bantering between the men with a laugh, picking up her grimy five-year-old son. "Come inside, dinner's just about to be served, and I think a little man here needs to be washed."

Elfwine groaned and began fumbling about for excuses, but Lothíriel paid him no attention and carried him up the stairs, disappearing into the hall. The men followed behind.

"It's nice to see Rohan again," Amrothos said. "Erchirion and I were getting a little tired of making trouble in Dol Amroth."

"So you decided to bring your trouble to Rohan?" Éomer laughed. "Is that wise?"

"Who said anything about bringing trouble to Rohan?" Erchirion said defensively. "We're here to see our little nephew."

Éomer smiled fondly at the mention of his son. "Elfwine is intelligent, and strong, but sometimes I think he has far too much energy. He's always out running about somewhere."

"Sounds like what I did when I was his age," Erchirion said.

"I have no doubt, Erchirion. No doubt at all."

Elfwine sat at the table next to his mother at dinner, sitting on a few cushions to enable him to eat properly. Freda (now serving as Lothíriel's lady, and also as Elfwine's nurse) had scrubbed him clean, and had asked him to do his best to keep himself clean. He didn't see the fun of staying clean all the time, but his father seemed to be managing it rather well, and so Elfwine thought that he would give it a try as well. After all, his father was the greatest man in Rohan, if not in the whole Middle-earth.

He tried not to fidget in his seat as they waited patiently for dinner to be served. He was hungry, as could only be expected after a day of play. He had been near the stables with the sons of some of the soldiers. When they weren't playing their own games, they would sit leaning against the stables and watch the soldiers practise their fighting. One day, he was going to be a great warrior, just like his father. He had seen Éomer training with the men. Father is unbeatable, he thought with pride. And one day he would be too. He would start learning how to fight the moment he could hold a sword. Now his parents still claimed that he was too little, although he couldn't see how that could be possible; he was five years old! But one day he would be the best warrior Rohan had ever seen, and he would win great wars for his country, and everyone would be proud of him, especially his parents…

"Elfwine, aren't you hungry?"

Elfwine shook himself and looked up at his mother. Engrossed in his daydreaming, he had not realised that dinner had already been served. "Of course I'm hungry, Mother!" he said cheerfully, picking up his spoon and digging in immediately.

Satisfied, Éomer turned to his brothers-in-law. "Other than seeing Elfwine here, what else brings you to Rohan?"

The brothers exchanged glances. "You see, this is why he's our brother-in-law. He's sharp," Amrothos said to Erchirion.

Erchirion nodded, and grinned. "We're here with very good news, and an invitation for you to Dol Amroth, to attend Elphir's wedding."

Elfwine looked up from his dinner, shocked. "Uncle Elphir's getting married?" he asked incredulously, a little scandalised. All girls (other than Freda and his mother) were disgusting. How could anyone want to be stuck together with one?

"Elphir's getting married!" Lothíriel's tone was a lot happier than her son's.

Amrothos nodded. "A lovely maiden from Minas Tirith. Her name is Maura. Our dear brother has been besotted with her for about a year and half now."

"Then why have I not heard of this?" Lothíriel wanted to know. "A year and a half is a rather long time, and I've spoken with Elphir during that time."

"Elphir asked all of us to keep it secret, for some reason that we cannot possibly imagine. He's a strange one, he is," Erchirion replied, shrugging.

"I think he didn't want you to tease?" Amrothos suggested.

An impish grin spread across Lothíriel's face, a reminder of girlish days in the past. "I wouldn't have teased him!" she protested. "Not much, anyway."

"I would have," Éomer volunteered.

All this mattered little to Elfwine. "Uncle Elphir's getting married?" he asked again. "To a girl?"

Amrothos turned to his nephew. "Yes, Elfwine, Elphir is getting married to a girl. You see, men can only get married to women. You don't see men marrying their horses, do you?"

Elfwine made a face. He thought that horses were much more preferable to soft, crying, whining girls.

Erchirion laughed. "Come, Elfwine, one day you'll meet a girl who makes you do strange, unexplainable things, and you'll be finding all sorts of ways to marry her."

Elfwine shook his head resolutely. "No," he said, "I will never get married! Girls are disgusting!"

After dinner, Freda entered the hall to take Elfwine home with her for an hour. That had been the arrangement for two years. Everyday after Elfwine had had his dinner, he would go over to Freda and Éothain's home, and Éothain would entertain the child with tales of his escapades with Éomer. Some were exaggerated to amuse the child, but others had no need to be dramatised; they had truly been that dangerous and exciting. But out of all the accounts that Éothain recounted (or sometimes even made up), Elfwine's favourite was how his father had saved his mother from kidnappers. The adults could never really understand it, but Elfwine thought that his mother having been kidnapped before was the most amazing thing he had ever heard. However, he was always disappointed with the fact that the third kidnapper had got away.

"It isn't fair that he could just run away!" he would protest.

"No, it isn't," Éomer would agree. "But he has not given us anymore trouble, and perhaps he deserves our forgiveness."

Elfwine always frowned at this, thinking hard, before declaring, "If he wants to hurt Mother again, I will take care of him!"

The thought of her little boy so eager to protect her and fight for her brought warmth to Lothíriel's heart, and she would always pull him close to her whenever he said that.

As he walked hand-in-hand out of the hall with Freda, Lothíriel turned back to her brothers. "So, when is the wedding?"

"Two months," Amrothos replied. "Maura's still in Minas Tirith, but she'll be travelling to Dol Amroth soon, I believe. So, are you going to come?"

"Of course, I can't possibly miss my brother's wedding, can I?" Lothíriel hesitated. "But what of Elfwine? I don't want to leave him in Edoras while Éomer and I make the journey to Dol Amroth."

"That's all right, Lothíriel," Éomer spoke up. "We can bring him. I think some travelling would do him some good. Elfwine's not that little. We won't be travelling too fast anyway. It would be good for him to see Dol Amroth, and the sea. Let him see something other than the plains of Rohan."

And so that was settled. Elfwine would be making his first big journey.

Was browsing around and thought that Maura was a nice Irish name. Hehehe.