A/N: Wow. I wrote the last chapter over two years ago... That's.. a very long time. And I must say that my thirteen-year-old self was quite adept at writng about topics she knew nothing about . Well, for those of you who are reading this now, you should know that my obssession with LotR has faded, but my obsession with writing has not. On a whim, I've decided to add a second and final chapter to this story, so... enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own "The Lord of the Rings" or anything affiliated with it. Also, as broke as I may be, I'm not making any money off of this either.
Additional A/N: It wasn't until a couple months after I wrote this that I figured out that, in Gondor, the eldest child - boy or girl - becomes the new ruler of the country when his/her parents stepped down. Since Tolkien made it clear that Eldarion was to be the next ruler of Gondor, I'm afraid I sort of screwed that part up. I apologize to any reader that finds that bothersome, but keep in mind that this is a fanfiction.
Aragorn had been asleep for what seemed like minutes before Rhianna's wails erupted again. The king kept his eyes closed and waited for Arwen to make her way to the nursery, but she didn't. Instead, her voice floated over the cries.
"I fed her a few hours ago, Aragorn. Go see her."
Aragorn sighed and rolled out of bed. He swayed on his feet for a moment, still a little drowsy, and lit a candle - something, he recalled with a sort of vindictive pleasure, his wife had neglected to do when she went to calm the baby down - and carefully made his way down the hall to Rhianna's room next door.
"Ada's here!" Aragorn whispered to the wooden cradle. Using his candle, he lit the lamp perched on the table by the door and went to his daughter. Almost immediately after he lifted her up, Rhianna stopped crying and began to make soft cooing noises instead.
Aragorn sighed. "Ah. So it's attention you want. I don't see why you want attention in the middle of the night. I was plenty ready to give you all the attention you could handle earlier this afternoon, but you didn't seem to want it then."
Rhianna stared up at her father with her large blue eyes. She made some more noises and Aragorn scoffed quietly.
"I don't care if you were gnawing on a blanket at the time! You'd think your own father would be a little more important to you. Why aren't I paying someone to look after you?" He had begun to pace slowly back and forth across the room, gently rocking the baby as he walked.
Rhianna babbled something incoherent in response to this last coment and Aragorn sighed.
"You're right. I guess that would be a little cruel. I don't want my children growing up without any meaningful interactions with their parents. I couldn't live with myself."
Rhianna stuck out her tongue and gave a little squeal at the discovery of this new ability.
"Well, I'm glad to see you're taking this so seriously." Aragorn raised an eyebrow at his daughter's antics. "Some of us have a country to run in the morning." Both father and daughter remained silent after this. Aragorn continued to walk Rhianna around the room for several more minutes. Eventually the little girl let out an enormous yawn and her eyes began to droop. Aragorn smiled down at his daughter. "Tired? Me too." He made his way to the cradle and laid her down in the padded interior. It was apparent that his entertaining services were no longer required, but he stayed a little longer to watch Rhianna fall into the final stages of sleep. "I really enjoyed our conversation. We ought to have more like it."
"I'll remember that next time she cries." Aragorn raised his head at the new voice emmenating from the doorway. The lamp illuminated Arwen's figure draped in her white nightgown. "I heard you talking to yourself and decided to come and see what the problem was."
"I wasn't talking to myself," Aragorn defended, standing up and extinguishing the lamp. "Rhianna and I were engaged in very intellectually stimulating talks!" He took Arwen's hand, and the two strolled towards their bedroom.
"I heard." Aragorn could tell his wife was smiling through the darkness. "But you're talks were keeping me awake."
"And that horrible crashing and swearing I heard earlier did any good for my sleeping habits?"
Arwen squeezed Aragorn's hand playfully. "Just go to bed, all right? The sun will be up in several hours."
Aragorn laughed softly and climbed under the covers with Arwen. Before he drifted off to sleep again, he thought how lucky he was to have gained a family like his.
A/N: OK. Really hokey ending, but what are you gonna do? I'm thinking of possibly writing a sequal story to this if I get the time. It would chronicle Rhianna growing up and highlight certain experiences of her life. Anyway, thoughts and comments would be much appreciated.
Elendil