Hello there everyone! And how are you today? Is it not a bee-u-tii-ful day! Have you had snow yet? As you can tell, I am very happy. And it is not due to having eaten too much chocolate, it is because of all your lovely reviews. I've never had so many before! And since I've got so much chocolate left over, you can all have some cookies. There you go!
I'm really sorry I've taken so long to update, and I hope I've not put you off the story. But I was really busy with schoolwork. I couldn't help it. And I'm going to have a miserable Christmas, too. I will be spending my holidays revising one and a half years worth of notes in ten subjects because my exams begin in the second week of January. They're supposed to be 'mocks' for the real thing in May, but they're just as bad. If I ever find the person who came up with GCSEs, I will kill them. Twice. Anyway, as you can tell, I will be quite unhappy and frustrated over Christmas. And because I have to save up for presents, etc, I won't even be able to buy loads of chocolate to cheer me up. So I am requesting you to make me happy by giving me lots of nice reviews for this chapter. Please?
Disclaimer – Sadly, nothing you recognise is owned by me; it all belongs to Professor Tolkien. Although… perhaps no one would mind if I just borrowed Aragorn for a bit…
Aragorn – Oh no you don't! (Scurries away fearfully)
Authoress – (sighs) oh well. It was worth a shot, at least. Anways, on with the story now.
Toddlers and Tranquillity
Chapter 2 – 'Why me?'
Where were the toddlers?
Aragorn looked around anxiously, half expecting the two of them to be lurking around somewhere. Arwen laughed at the look on his face. Her musical laughter made him turn and look at her curiously. "Why do you laugh, meleth nin?" Aragorn asked.
"It amuses me greatly to see the King of Gondor look so terrified at the thought of facing two toddlers," Arwen replied.
Aragorn instantly turned red at her words, and tried his best to put on an indignant face, which was hard when he was still keeping an ear out for any sound of the boys. "Who said I was terrified?" he asked, somewhat coldly. Arwen raised an eyebrow, looking uncannily like her father when he employed the same expression. Aragorn continued hastily. "Of course I am not scared. A little…nervous, maybe, but why should I be scared?" Seeing the disbelief still etched on his wife's fair features, Aragorn had to admit defeat. "Fine, you win, meleth. I give in. I must confess I am somewhat… reluctant to face the boys."
Arwen smiled broadly. She knew her husband better than he did himself. "Estel, they are only children. Are you perhaps worried because of what happened last time the two of them were together?"
Aragorn sputtered and choked. "How… how do you know what happened last time?"
Arwen smiled mischievously. "Éowyn kept me well informed. My only regret is that I was not there myself to witness the incident."
Aragorn winced at her words and turned beetroot, again. "Arwen! I, on the other hand, am glad you were not. It is not something I wish to remember." Indeed, he would give anything to erase that event from his memory entirely. He should have known. He should have prevented it. His foster brothers and Legolas together were a deadly combination in themselves, but combined with the King of Rohan, it was folly to get on the wrong side of them.
Elladan, Elrohir, Legolas, Gimli together with Éomer, his wife Lothíriel, their infant son Elfwine, Éowyn and Faramir had all visited Minas Tirith a few months ago at the birth of Elenna. In truth, he should have suspected something from all the hurried, whispered conversations his brothers and Éomer seemed to be having with that blasted Mirkwood elf. But he had never expected his own son to turn traitor!
Eldarion was, of course, never questioned or denied access to the royal suite. And when he was with him, neither was Elboron. They were both intelligent boys in spite of the fact that they had neither of them reached their third birthday when Elenna was born. And they both had a knack for mischief. So they had been easy targets for their 'uncles', who had shamelessly persuaded them that it would be fun to sneak into the king's dressing room while he was in the bathroom having a bath, and pour some slow acting itching powder onto the clothes he was going to wear. It started to work when he was in council.
Éomer, being King of Rohan, naturally had to be present, but the other three culprits also found excuses for sitting in council. In the end, everyone had had a laugh at his expense. His only comfort then had been that Éomer had been strictly 'reprimanded' by his wife, Lothiriel,for behaving in such an unkingly way and embarrassing him in that manner. But even she had been fighting to keep the smile off her face.
Arwen, who was still tired from the birth, had been told to rest in her chambers for a few days, so she did not actually witness the incident. And Aragorn had requested that she not be informed. He could not bear to face her laughter as well. But fate had decided that it not be so. He should Éowyn would say something. Oh well. It was no use grumbling now. He would just have to bear her taunts. But he was surprised that she had not said anything before now.
Arwen seemed to read his thoughts. When he looked back at her she was grinning broadly. "Are you wondering why I did not mention this before?" she asked. "You see, Estel, I was looking for the right moment. Which was now. And as for not mentioning it ever again, I will have to think on that. Long and hard. And even then I might be tempted to say something now and then."
Aragorn gulped. He did not like where this was going. He would never be free of humiliation at this rate. And then he saw a slow smile spreading on her face, the one that he was used to seeing every night. Maybe there was hope, still. Arwen saw comprehension dawn on his face and continued. "Unless of course I can be persuaded otherwise, meleth." She stood up, put Elenna in a crib by the fire, and moved towards him. "What say you, Estel?"
It was Aragorn's turn to grin. He decided he had been worrying about the boys needlessly. They had probably gone to play somewhere. Or something. He felt his weariness disappearing as he looked at his wife, standing there in that suggestive manner. He could spend some quiet time with her now. Well. Probably not that quiet. He spoke up. "I think, meleth nin, that we can come to an agreement."
Arwen was standing in front of him now. He took in the scent of her hair. It was almost winter, but her hair still smelt of wildflowers, of spring. He loved it, like he loved all the rest of her. Even after five years of being married to her he still marvelled at the fact that this beautiful, wonderful woman had chosen to give up so much for him. He did not deserve her. But Aragorn decided not to dwell on that just then, when there were other things he could be doing.
He leant forward to kiss her. So caught up was he in her that he did not notice a door behind them opening and two small shapes entering. He did not notice the slightly larger of the two shapes running towards him. He was brought back sharply to his senses as he felt something attach itself to his leg. He looked downwards to see his son looking up at him happily. "Ada!" Eldarion said. "You're back!"
Aragorn groaned silently. He loved his son very much, but he did not like being interrupted at times like these. When looked back at Arwen, she looked at him apologetically and stepped back. Eldarion finally released himself from his father's leg and ran back to where his friend was standing. Like their parents, the prince and the Steward's son Elboron were the best of friends. Once together, they were practically inseperable.
Aragorn turned around to look at them. Once he saw them properly, he sighed. They were both covered from head to toe in mud. And now, so were his clothes. He could not help but think that the Valar had a strange sense of humour. Why now? Why me???
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TranslationsMeleth, meleth nin – my love
Ada – Dad/daddy
So. What did you think? Do let me know. I would really appreciate your comments. And tell me if there is anything that needs to be improved on. And I have a question for you. Help me out here on a small technical point. I doubt if trousers are called trousers in Middle Earth. Instead, would Aragorn be wearing breeches? Or something else entirely? I thought it was breeches, but I wasn't sure. So to be on the safe side, I just put 'clothes'. Does anyone know what's right?
Anyway, now on to review responses. Thank you so much! It's really lovely to know that people like this story. I really wanted to give individual replies because I still haven't quite gotten over the shock of getting so many.
Aebbook – I'm glad you liked the story. I hope you liked this chapter, too.
aimz-246 – Thanks! I love fluffy fics, too.
ArwenElfstone – (Blushes) Thank you for all the lovely stuff. I'm glad you like my Aragorn. Too bad he runs away every time I go near him, though.
Ciel-Undomiel – Yay! You were my first reviewer for this fic! Thank you loads!
Dark Borg Drone – As you can see, I have continued. You know, the funny thing is that this fic was only going to be a couple of chapters long. But now, it will be longer, probably about 4 chapters (I don't think its even about halfway yet; there's more to come!). I hope you won't get bored of it.
EbonyBeach – I'm so happy that you liked it. This chapter sort of went off-track a bit, but oh well.
Grumpy – You like my Aragorn! I like him too. I like to show him as 'human', if you get what I mean – he does have weaknesses, in spite of all that he's done. He's not perfect. I'm guessing right now he's quite frustrated and more than a little annoyed at a certain three-year-old. ; )
Kharina – Wheee! Ten out of ten! Thanks! I hope this chapter was good enough.
luv24Alias – Thank you!
Malethwen – I know this probably wasn't soon enough, but please don't hurt me!
Malara – You write the nicest reviews, you know! You make me feel all happy. Yay! You sounded like my English teacher as well, actually, but that's a good thing because she's absolutely lovely and sweet (but she can be nasty if she really wants to). But it made me feel really proud, you know! 'balance between detail and moving on with the plot' 'ability to write with emotion' (sighs dreamily) I feel all grown up! But I've got a long way to go, still.
'Short, simple, sweet, and happy!' Thanks! But… er… I'm not so sure about the short bit anymore. It will be a few more chapters yet. I'm sure you won't mind, though. And I love writing happy things. Sad things make me cry. But I still read them though. The only sad thing I've really written is the first chapter of 'Until We Meet Again'. I decided to get it over with at the start. Speaking of which, thanks for reviewing UWMA! But it will be a while till the next chapter. I feel all sad when I sit down to work on it. No one seems to be reading it! Come on, people! It's my longest fic so far, but it doesn't seem to be good enough. (sigh) Think happy thoughts --- think happy thoughts
Coming back to this, I was really scared that people wouldn't like seeing Aragorn frightened of two children. But I always imagined him like that – he can face Sauron himself if need be, but cannot handle a couple of toddlers. I'm glad you agree. I look forward to reading what you thought of this chapter. : )
Rhys – Thank you so much! I'm really not used to so many nice things being said to me all at once. But I am so pleased that everyone liked my take on Aragorn. I love writing him because he is so much fun. You can portray him as serious, or funny, or happy, or sad, or angryor loads of other emotions, without it looking awkward or too out-of-character. Thanks for your review for 'A Letter From Ada'. I'm glad you liked it. Elrond… Elrond is also quite interesting to write because Tolkien did not give that much on his character, leaving us free to interpret him the way we want. I do feel that he is the sort of person who would be calm and cool and collected and efficient, etc in front of other people, but he drops his guard in front of those he loves. Tell you what, why don't you read 'Until We Meet Again' and tell me if something's going wrong there? (hint, hint) Please!!!
Can I say a biiiiiiig thank you for putting this story in your favourites! I feel so honoured! Do tell me what you thought of this chapter. And what were the bad points, because I'd like to get better. And could you update 'Exploring Darkness' soon, please? : )
Valia-Elf – I'm glad you liked this. I'm sorry this chapter took so long, I will try to be quicker next time.
Okay, I will stop now. But do review. I'm not entirely sure when my next update will be because I've got so much work, but I hope I won't take as I long as I did this time. I will try my best to update quickly, but I can't promise. Sorry about that. But stick around, will you? That's all for now. Until the next update. Bye!
- Narwen Almiriel