A/N: Just a little story I've had written for a while. It's my take on a random day in the life of the royal family of Gondor. Dari (the use of it as a nickname) I read in the Mellon Chronicles. I've never seen it anywhere else, so I'm assuming Cassia and Sio are the first to use Dari as a nickname for him. Also, there is a vague reference to Cassiaand Sio's story The Stars of Harad. For anyone who recognizes that, I don't own the situation alluded to. It belongs to Cassia and Sio.The two names forAragorn's daughters are mine. As far as I know, I've made them up. I don't claim to be an expert in archery; I only took it at summer camp. The information in the story it simply what I learned. One more thing: this hasn't been beta-ed by anyone but me. Sorry for any mistakes! Ok...that's all!
"Dari…Dari!" Aragorn's voice echoed through the empty halls of his home as he searched for his eldest child. "Eldarion?" Aragorn sighed and stopped to think, standing in the middle of the hallway. Where could his son be? He had already checked Eldarion's rooms as well as the dining hall and the library. He'd asked Arwen earlier if she had seen him and she had replied that she hadn't. When he had gone to search down his oldest daughter to question her of her brother's whereabouts, he had found her missing along with his youngest, as well. Where were all his children?
"The key to this is aiming. If you can't aim, you have no use for the bow. Do you think you can aim?" Legolas asked the small girl in his arms. She nodded her head vigorously and he smiled. "All right," he said, standing, "come over here, then. Now, we have to be very careful, because if something happens to you, or me for that matter, your Ada will kill me."
"Ada loves you too much to kill you, Legolas," the little girl said with a giggle. "Though, he would be really, really angry!"
Legolas laughed. Of all Aragorn's children, he always had the most fun with Eleniel. She was the baby and her siblings liked to make known that fact often. She had inherited her father's quick wit and teasing manner and, now that she was older, she employed them at all times. Shaking his head, he handed the girl a bow, inquired as to whether she was right handed or left and, when he got his answer, showed her where to place her hands. Even though Eleniel was only ten, she was already showing great skill with weaponry and Legolas was set on showing her how to master the bow. She would be an archer yet.
"Now, take your other arm, raise, and straighten it so it's up like this." She mirrored Legolas's stance and he set down his bow only to push her arm a bit higher. "Pull back on the bowstring so it comes all the way back to your cheek. When you pull it back, your hand should be almost level with your cheekbone. There you go, perfect." Legolas was a little surprised to see that she could pull the bowstring back with such ease. Albeit, there wasn't much resistance in the training bow, but Eleniel was tiny for her age and, apparently, she had much more strength than it seemed she would.
"Right, now you would be ready to let the string go and fire…but don't do it yet!" Legolas cried as he noticed the girl's grip on the string loosen. She looked at him quizzically and slowly released the tension on the bowstring. "If you fire a bow without an arrow you can do serious injury to yourself or others around you. When there is no arrow, there is nothing to channel the force of the taut string. Without the arrow, the string snaps forward farther than it should which causes it to break. The speed with which the string would move when it broke can cut something very, very deeply. Don't ever let go of the bowstring without an arrow in it," he warned.
Eleniel nodded, her face set in determination. She would not make another mistake like that again. Of that, she was sure. "Now are we at the important part?" she asked as she watched Legolas pick up a practice arrow.
"Well, almost Elli. First, you have to be able to load the arrow properly. When you put the arrow to the bow, you want to put the bowstring in the groove at the end of the arrow, see?" The elf showed her a groove he had cut in the end of the practice arrows he'd made and she nodded. "The groove will help you keep the arrow on the string until you get used to it. Hold the arrow steady on the string with the first two fingers of right hand. You can hold the arrow steady with your left hand as well if you rest the arrow shaft on your thumb; you just have to be careful when you fire."
Eleniel nodded only slightly, following the elf's instructions carefully and knocking the arrow on the string. When she had secured the arrow on the string, she raised the bow and, with a nod from Legolas, pulled it back.
"Go ahead and let it go. I want you to get used to what it feels like when it fires before I show you how to aim." With that, Legolas let the young human fire a round of arrows. When she was through, he collected all the scattered arrows and brought them back to her. "So, the aiming. The best way to aim when you're first learning is to look down the arrow shaft. It makes it easier to target whatever you're shooting. You don't want to necessarily aim directly at your target, though. Most of the time, the arrow won't fly perfectly straight. It arcs down as it flies. To make sure you hit your target, aim a little higher than what you want to hit." Legolas thought for a moment, making sure he hadn't left anything vital out of his lesson. Figuring that, if he had, he'd notice when she shot the bow, he nodded. "Well, that's about it. You think you can do it, Elli?"
The princess's eyes sparkled as she smiled and gave and enthusiastic, "Yes!"
"Come here, then," Legolas told her, motioning her to step in front of a target. "That center ring is what you want to hit. Now, go for it. Oh! Wait, one more thing. Right before you shoot, take a breath and shoot when you let it out. It settles the bow and keeps you from throwing off your shot when you breathe in." Eleniel looked at him to make sure that he was finished. "You can shoot it now," he said with a smile and a light laugh.
Eleniel stepped directly in front of the target, knocked her arrow, raised the bow and gazed down the arrow shaft, aiming. Taking a breath, she let the arrow settle back down then let it fly. Her eyes grew wide and Legolas let out an excited whoop as the arrow drove deeply into the target. She had missed the center ring but, for shooting a bow for the first time, she had come eerily close. Legolas looked at the young girl with pride, excitement, and a little awe.
"You, my young star, are going to be a deadly marksman when you grow up. That was amazing, Eleniel."
The young girl dropped the bow to the ground and threw her arms around Legolas's neck with a joyous squeal. "Ada's going to be proud, isn't he, Legolas? Isn't he?" she cried happily.
Legolas laughed at the young princess and hugged her tightly, lifting her off the ground to swing her around once. "His pride will know no bounds, youngling."
The king would certainly be proud, indeed.
By this time, Aragorn had been looking for any one of his children for over an hour and he was beginning to tire of it. Minas Tirith was a very large city and the children weren't restricted to the royal sector. With the threat of evil passed, they were allowed to roam the city freely. Aragorn, however, was seriously considering changing that.
Sitting down on a low stone wall that bordered one of the inner-city streets, Aragorn leaned down and rested his head in his hands. He'd looked everywhere he could think to look for Eldarion. He'd asked every one of Anoriel's friend's (and that was no small number…) if they knew where she was. He'd even scoured all of the five huge libraries that his city held for Eleniel. Eleniel wasn't even in the kitchen teasing the cook as she worked. With another resigned sigh, Aragorn heaved himself off the stone wall and continued walking down the crowded stone street. He was really getting too old for this.
"Legolas?" Anoriel's soft, lilting voice echoed through the large bedchamber that the elf occupied while in his friend's city. "Legolas?" She sighed in frustration. "Where are you?"
Legolas's light voice from behind her made her jump. "I'm right here," he said, tugging her long braid and walking past her and into his room. "Did you need anything?"
Anoriel looked at him for a moment before frowning. "Well, I did, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was…It took me a while to find you."
"I was out in the practice yards with your sister. She learned how to use a bow, today," Legolas said with a smile as the girl in question walked through the door.
"I was great, Nori! I almost let the string go before I should've and I would've killed myself, but then I didn't and I hit the target!" Eleniel cried as she flopped unceremoniously onto the floor in front of the fire Legolas had blazing in the hearth.
Legolas laughed and folded his legs under him, sitting next to the little princess. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and looked down at her. "I think, little one, that 'killed' is a rather exaggerated choice of wording, don't you?" Legolas asked, tickling her lightly. Eleniel giggle and tried to pull away, but Legolas's grip on her was just tight enough to keep her next to him.
Anoriel laughed at the two and sat down with them in front of the fire, the firelight glinting off her long, dark hair. Anoriel was almost the spitting image of her elven mother, slightly pointed ears and all. Neither Aragorn nor Arwen could figure out how she'd gotten the point in her ears, but it didn't seem to bother Anoriel, so her parents didn't worry about it.
Where Anoriel was a spitting image of her mother, Eleniel looked just like her father. She had inherited his beautiful silver eyes, strong (and very human) form, and unruly dark curls. On top of her physical appearance, she acted just like Aragorn, which often irritated people, especially the head of the royal guard, to no end. Legolas had once heard him mumbling about how the king was hard enough to deal with and now Eleniel was a direct incarnation of Aragorn's feminine side. Needless to say, Legolas was rather amused.
"Legolas," Anoriel murmured after a moment of silence, "tell us a story?" No matter how old Aragorn's children got, they always kept their love of stories alive.
Legolas smiled at the request. Although Anoriel always listened to his stories, she hadn't been the one to ask for a tale in quite a few years. "Which one would you like to hear?"
Anoriel thought a moment then asked, almost nervously, "Can you tell us Ada and Nana's story?"
"I would think you could tell me that one by now," he replied.
"Please? You haven't told that one in so long and you are much better than I."
Legolas sighed, pretending to be put out, and nodded. "Very well."
Anoriel smiled and grabbed a pillow off the bead while Eleniel curled up in Legolas's lap, head resting on his broad chest, listening to his voice as he talked. "Don't leave out the part about the oliphaunts and the slaves, okay, Legolas?" Eleniel interrupted.
Legolas nodded and brushed her unruly curls away from her face as he settled back into a pile of fluffy pillows.
Aragorn lay sprawled on a couch in his and Arwen's bedroom. He'd trekked through the entire city looking for his missing children and had yet to run into them. "Maybe they know I'm looking for them and have been avoiding me for fun," Aragorn suggested, looking up at his wife from where his head hung off the edge of the couch.
"I'm sure they aren't avoiding you, herven-nín. They are just busy children."
"Busy? What does a ten year old have to be busy with?" Aragorn asked incredulously.
"Ten year old things," Arwen replied with a laugh, turning her attention back to her book.
"I'm going to go see if Legolas has seen them. I shall return soon, meleth-nín."
Arwen kissed her husband and smiled at him as she watched him leave, turning back to her book when he'd stepped into the hall.
A tall young man sprinted down the hall to Legolas's room, intent on bothering the elf until he agreed to spar with him. Eldarion had a tournament to participate in tomorrow and he wanted to practice a little before he retired for the night. Pulling back his wavy, shoulder length hair into a ponytail at the base of his neck, he knocked on the door in front of him then threw it open. He began talking rapidly to the elf seated on the floor but quieted quickly when Eleniel threw him an irritated "Shh!" and Anoriel waved her hand lazily muttering a soft "Be quiet, Dari."
Without halting the story, Legolas motioned for him to come join them and he gladly lay down by his sister when he recognized the tale being told.
Dari lay down on the floor withhis arm across his sister's back, propping his head up with his hand, his body sprawled perpendicularly to hers. He idly played with her long hair with his other hand as he listened to Legolas's musical voice tell one of their favorite stories.
Aragorn knocked lighty on Legolas's door and heard his friend answer quietly from inside. He opened the door and was about to ask if Legolas had seen his children when his eyes landed on the sleeping child in the elf's lap then moved to the two sleeping forms on the floor. Smiling gently, he shut the door and walked over to his friend.
"I see it is you who has kidnapped my children. I've been through this entire city, top to bottom, looking for them today. I had something very important to tell them all, but it has taken me so long to find them that I've forgotten what it was."
Legolas laughed and the child in his arms shifted slightly. Standing slowly, he handed Eleniel over to Aragorn. The girl immediately curled up against her father's chest and sighed.
"What story did you tell them this time?" the king asked, watching his older children sleep. Eldarion had fallen asleep with his head on his sister's back, one hand resting lightly on her head.
"Even in sleep he is protective," Legolas whispered. "It was yours and Arwen's story that I told. They always listen with such love to that one. You have wonderful children, mellon-nín."
"I know," Aragorn replied, kneeling down and brushing Eldarion's hair back off his face. "Dari…Dari, wake up. You need to go back to your room."
Eldarion shifted, sat up, and blinked sleepily at his father.
"We need to get you and your sisters back to your own rooms, ion-nín," he told him quietly.
Dari nodded and shifted his sister onto her back gently. Placing his arms under her shoulders and knees, he picked Anoriel up and cradled her to him, making sure she did not wake.
"Thank you for entertaining my wayward offspring, Legolas, even if I did forget what I was going to tell them because of it," Aragorn joked, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder.
"Anytime, mellon-nín, they are a joy. You are thrice blessed."
Aragorn gave him a soft smiled and turned toward the door. Remembering his practice with Eleniel, Legolas stopped the king. "Make sure you ask Eleniel how her day went today when she wakes tomorrow," he told him.
Aragorn looked at him curiously, but Legolas only grinned.
"Quel undome, mellon-nín. Pleasant dreams," Legolas murmured as Aragorn led Dari out the door, his youngest daughter resting safely in his arms. Aragorn draped an arm around his son's shoulders and hugged him to his side.
Legolas watched his friend leave with a small smile on his face. Turning around, he picked up the pillows off the floor and put them on the bed. He glanced once more at the door through which Aragorn had left and shook his head. "You truly are something, gwador-nín."
The End
A/N: translation
mellon-nin- my friend, ion-nin- my son, quel undome- good night, ada- dad, meleth-nin- my love, gwador-nin: my sworn brother
For everyone's benefit, the ages (and translation of their names, if you're curious) of Aragorn's children: Eleniel- daughter of the stars-10 yrs, Anoriel- daughter of the sun-16 yrs, Eldarion- son of the elves-19 yrs.