CHAPTER NINETEEN

Eldarion quickly found himself buried in a hug from his mother when she came dashing into the healing wing, having left Faerveren with Aragorn.

"Nana!" exclaimed Eldarion as breathing began to become an issue once again. Moving his arm he pushed at his mother's shoulder in order to move out of the embrace. Arwen relaxed her arms but did not allow Eldarion complete release.

"You are alive. You came back," whispered Arwen, pressing a gentle kiss to Eldarion's forehead which was now thankfully back to its correct temperature. "I were so worried. I thought I was going to lose you."

"I'm alright," said Eldarion, gently pushing away so that he could breath his own air.

"What in the name of the Valar did you think you were doing?" Arwen suddenly exclaimed, taking Eldarion by surprise. "What possessed you to wander into the forest alone? At night! You could have been killed! You almost were!"

Eldarion shrank back into his pillows as his mother shouted, watching her with a nervous eye. Arwen never shouted at him. In fact, hardly anyone shouted at the royal children, Elboron included. True, if they had been particularly disobedient then they would receive a dressing down, but usually a strict and censorious tone of voice was enough to make them realise that they had done wrong. Physical punishment was never used.

"Did you even think? No of course you didn't because if you had we would be on our way back to Gondor rather than sitting here waiting for you to recover! Have you any idea what the consequence of your actions! You were not the only one affected!"

"Arwen that is enough!" barked a voice from the doorway. Elrohir stood there with his arms folded looking almost as stern as their father did when reprimanding an offender. "He has been through enough these past few days and is not yet healed."

"Don't you tell me how to discipline my son!" snapped Arwen, turning to face the younger twin.

"I'm not. But I am tell you that he is not healed enough to receive the lecture you are giving him, especially at the volume you are delivering it. As his healer, I am ordering you to either control your temper when you are here or to leave. Take your pick," replied Elrohir, taking a few steps towards the bed. With a swish of material Arwen was gone from the healing wing.

"How are you this morning?" asked Elrohir as he settled on the bed.

"Will she come back?" replied Eldarion, ignoring Elrohir's question about his health for the time being.

"She will once she has calmed down. You parents' have been at their wits end since you fell ill four days ago. You gave us all quite a scare," replied Elrohir. "Now then, answer my question. How are you feeling?"

"Sore," replied Eldarion truthfully, failing to hide the flinch when Elrohir's hands pressed around his wound. "Ada was scared as well but he didn't shout at me!"

"The nerves and tissue will feel tender for a few days yet, and you will have to stay in Imladris until the stitches come out next week," said Elrohir. "Your father is not one to raise his voice to someone. He will give you a lecture no doubt, but he will not shout at you."

"Do I have to stay here all the time?" asked Eldarion, with such a hopeful look in his eye that Elrohir laughed.

"You are exactly like your father!" he chuckled, sweeping away the errand strand of hair that insisted on falling on to Eldarion's forehead. "No you don't have to stay here all that time but I want you to stay here until lunchtime so that your body gets used to the idea of being awake again."

"Alright," agreed Eldarion. His stomach growled, announcing that it had not been filled in four days. Eldarion turned red and tried to hide amongst his covers while Elrohir laughed again.

"It looks, or rather sounds, as though I am just in time," said Aragorn as he reappeared with a tray in one hand and Faerveren in the other. Eldarion's eyes widened at the sight of the food.

"As I said, exactly like your father," said Elrohir helping Eldarion to sit up without tearing at his stitching. Aragorn was to elated to realise that Elrohir had flung a teasing insult in his direction and placing the tray on the bedside table, hoisted Faerveren on to the bed where she crawled up next to Eldarion and hugged him tightly.

"Hey. Did you miss me?" smiled Eldarion, hugging the girl with one arm. Faerveren nodded.

"You better now?" she asked, turning her grey eyes up to met Eldarion's silver-blue ones.

"Nearly," replied Eldarion, glaring at Aragorn who laughed when his stomach gurgled again.

"Here," smiled the Man. "The cook milked down some porridge for you. Eat it slowly, remember you haven't eaten for four days."

And that was precisely the reason why Eldarion didn't eat the porridge slowly. Faerveren giggled when Eldarion held out his spoon to her with milky remnants that his temporarily satisfied stomach was refusing to accept. Grinning, Faerveren smacked her lips once Eldarion removed the utensil from her mouth.

"Glorfindel has been teaching you mischief again hasn't he?" asked Eldarion, knowing very well that the Imladris Sentinel was particularly taken with the Princess and never passed up the chance to create a little mischief with all the Imladrian youngsters. Surprisingly Faerveren shook her head.

"Lindir," she said, settling back at Eldarion's side.

"Ah," smiled Eldarion. Suddenly both Faerveren and his breakfast bowl was quickly snatched away as a tawny whirlwind, more commonly known as Elboron, came sprinting into the room and literally leapt on top of Eldarion.

"You're awake!" cheered Elboron as the pair toppled backwards on the bed. Pillows went shooting out from beneath Eldarion as the weight of the two boys landed on them. Ignoring the flash of pain which emitted from his still tender stomach, Eldarion wrapped his arms tightly around Elboron's neck and laughed.

"Yes Elboron. How are you feeling?" asked Eldarion remembering the pain that Elboron had suffered when Elrohir was treating his wound the first night. Elboron scrambled up into a seating position and pulled Eldarion with him. Both boys hissed and then Elboron grinned much to Eldarion's confusion.

"I am fine, but I can tell you this bond is going to take some getting used to," said Elboron. Eldarion raised an eyebrow.

"When Glorfindel returns, I will ask him to help you control it," interjected Elrohir as he placed the pillows back on the bed.

"Bond?" asked Eldarion.

"You two have managed to spark a spirit-brother bond between each other. It will strengthen in time and eventually you will need to block out the sensations from the other."

"And Glorfindel will be able to help us?" asked Eldarion as Elboron settled behind him.

"Of course. He had a similar bond with Ecthelion when he lived in Gondolin," smiled Elrohir.

"Ecthelion of the Fountain?" Eldarion said, his eyes widening. Elrohir nodded. "Does that mean…"

"That I'm of the Golden Flower?" asked Glorfindel as he rested on the doorframe, still dressed in his uniform, his weapons attached to his back and his arms folded across his chest. "Yes I am. And I would gladly give whatever help you need."

"Stop staring," whispered Elrohir. "He still same Glorfindel who has been determined to give Erestor grey hairs for the past two millennia."

"So our little cub has returned," said Glorfindel as he sat on the bed. "And speaking of which, I was met by four very enthusiastic fox cubs on my return. One in particular."

"Are they alright?" asked Eldarion, still guilty over the death of the three foxes.

"They did not seem to harmed. You must have made quite an impression with them. We don't often see them at night, let alone during the day," said Glorfindel, causing Eldarion to grin with pride.

"You met foxes!" exclaimed Elboron, turning Eldarion to face him. "We have them in Ithilien and I've never seen one! You met four cubs?"

"Four cubs, a vixen and seven other adults," replied Eldarion still grinning like a Cheshire cat. Elboron pouted. "Glorfindel, what happened to the fallen dogs?"

"I don't know," replied Glorfindel. "Most likely they would have become food for other carnivorous animals that live in the forest. Such is the way of nature." Eldarion nodded and then held his arms out for Faerveren again who was settled carefully in his lap, while he rested back on Elboron's shoulder.

"I think we will leave the three of you alone," said Aragorn as he stood. He kissed the top of Faerveren's head and tousled both boys hair. "And no tumbling around, Eldarion. Those stitches have to stay or you will not heal properly."

"Yes Ada," said Eldarion.

"Alright, I will see you just before the midday meal," said Elrohir. "And with any luck you should be up and about by the end of the day." The two boys smiled widely and Faerveren clapped her hands.

"You missed my story," stated Faerveren, snuggling up to her brother the same way she did every Wednesday night before she went to sleep while Eldarion would tell her stories about a warrior Princess.

"Which one was I telling?" asked Eldarion.

"Kalya was going to a big party," smiled Elboron. He knew some of the stories Eldarion told his sister, having listened to the younger boy speak them. It was his way of making sure Faerveren knew of her aunt, even if she had never met her.

"Ah yes. Kalya looked out of the carriage as she arrived at the steps of the Palace. She had wanted to ride with the guards on Hasufel but the King had but his foot down and insisted that she ride in the carriage. The Palace was huge. Not as big as the Citadel but nothing is as big as the Citadel of Minas Tirith. At the top of the steps stood four men – the Prince of the land and his sons. The King followed her out of the carriage with his Queen and together the three walked up the steps. The King was wearing a rich blue tunic and black leggings that were the colour of the night sky. His wife wore a beautiful plum purple dress, which had a red under layer that showed through cuts in the skirt and sleeves. While the King's head was bare, the Queen's was adorned by a delicate mithril circlet which shone brightly as Ithil's light hit it. But Kalya was the most beautiful of the three. She wore a deep green tunic, the sleeve tied at her elbows and leggings the colour of pitch. Sliver leaves traced up the sleeves and twisted around the collar. Her hair was pulled back in seven intricate braids and twists…."

"Did you speak to Eldarion?" asked Aragorn, upon finding his wife sitting in her mother's garden.

"Aye," replied Arwen, not looking up from the daisy chain she was making. The childish activity instantly had Aragorn on alert and he sat beside her.

"What happened? Why were you not there when I arrived with Faerveren, he really wanted to speak to you."

"I shouted at him," replied Arwen. The chain of flowers fell from her hands and she turned blurry-eyed to her husband. "For the first time in his life, I shouted at my little boy and he looked terrified. My little cub, I scared him."

"Hush," comforted Aragorn, taking Arwen into his arms. "You were scared yourself. The night he was injured, you shouted at me because you were scared of losing him. You have never faced such a situation before and reacted badly because of it. Come, we will go speak to him together."

"I should wait till he is healed," said Arwen.

"With his family around him, he will heal faster. And he will forgive you, he loves you," persuaded Aragorn releasing Arwen and getting to his feet. Taking her hand, Aragorn pulled Arwen to her feet and without releasing his hold on the appendage, led the way back to the healing wing.

The sight that greeted Arwen and Aragorn when they reached the healing wing was one that they would never forget. At some point, the three of them had moved on to their sides and now Faerveren was curled up against Eldarion's chest, eyes closed in sleep. Eldarion in turn was resting against Elboron, his head resting on the top of Faerveren's head. Elboron had a arm wrapped around both raven children and his head rested on Eldarion's shoulder. Both boys were also asleep, though Eldarion's eyes were glazed rather than closed, as he occasionally slipped into an Elven reverie rather than sleep.

"I would suggest not waking them," said Aragorn. "The fact that their brother is alive and healing will allow them the peaceful rest that neither of them have received in the past few nights."

"I want to be there when they wake," said Arwen, detaching herself from her husband and moving towards the chair beside Eldarion's bed.

It wasn't until Elrohir and Elladan arrived just before the midday meal that the children awoke. The twins were also taken aback by the scene that greeted them.

"It is almost a shame to wake them," smiled Elladan as he reached out and extracted Faerveren from Eldarion's grasp. The move caused a chain reaction between the three and slowly Faerveren, Eldarion and Elboron all woke.

"Abaur vaer, pin dithin," said Elrohir with a smile that matched his twin's. "Did you sleep well?" good afternoon, little ones Rubbing the sleep from their eyes, Eldarion and Elboron nodded.

"Now that is scary," laughed Aragorn. Again simultaneously the two boys turned to look at the King.

"What is?" they asked in unison. Elladan and Elrohir laughed at the shocked look on Aragorn's face.

"Come now, Estel….

"….You grew up with me and 'Rohir doing the same thing…."

"….there is no need to be so amazed…."

"….and it is not surprising considering…."

"…. how close the boys are."

"So long as they don't start finishing each other's sentences I think we'll be alright," replied Aragorn. "We digress, Eldarion, ready to see if your legs remember how to walk?"

Eldarion nodded eagerly and shoved the covers away. Elboron rolled away from him and on to the floor while Eldarion slid across the sheets towards his parents.

Standing up slowly, he rested one hand on his stomach and the other on the bed as the blood seemed to suddenly drain from his head making him feeling slightly dizzy. After about thirty seconds, the sensation faded and he moved around the room, under the watchful eye of Elladan, Elrohir and Aragorn.

"Definitely on the mend," said Aragorn. "Do you think you can walk from here to the Main Hall?"

Eldarion answered his question by wrapping an arm around Elboron's shoulder and leaving the room as fast as was possible, a slight limp on his left side, Faerveren fidgeting to follow.

"He definitely takes after you," smiled Elrohir as the adults followed the boys down the corridor. Aragorn beamed with pride at the comparison causing the three Elves to laugh.