Faramir's question was answered that evening. There was a knock on his door and when he called out, the king stuck his head in. "Arwen is telling them a bedtime story. I'll need to be back there in about ten minutes, but that should at least give me an idea of what you needed to talk to me about."

Faramir chuckled. "You're getting to be quite the family man. So when are you going to start one of your own?"

Aragorn blushed. "Wellll…"

"What! When were you going to tell me? Have you told anyone?" Faramir practically screamed.

"Um, we just found out last week, and wanted to make sure, and we were going to tell her brothers first but they aren't around so…"

"Aragorn, you're babbling. Congratulations! I promise I won't release the news until you give the go-ahead, though."

Aragorn stammered a bit longer and then forced himself to calm down. "So what was it you needed to speak of?" He asked.

Faramir blinked several times, trying to get his brain on track. "Oh, yes. What were your plans for the children, the ones you took in, I mean."

"I have some vague ideas, as yet," the king answered. "Dan has family up north that are more closely related, but I am merely going to send them a message of his existence. I don't want to traumatize him. When he gets older, I'll make a trip up there to see them and at the same time check on the Shire. It has been autonomous for so long that I want to see how things are, especially since my Rangers were withdrawn for the war. I hope no evil has overcome it.

"As for the rest, I believe I shall make Canden a squire, and Nath a page. The girls I will leave to Arwen to train. I'm not going to separate them from me just yet, since they are unready for such a life. But we shall see how things go. Legolas and Gimli will probably be back in the spring. I can't wait to see their reactions!"

Faramir grinned, "To your adoptive family or to Arwen's pregnancy?"

"Both of course! But for now I must get back. Dan has quite attached himself to me, and gets very worried away, if you didn't notice this afternoon. Thank you for watching them for me."

"You are quite welcome, Your majesty."

"I told you not to call me that!"

"Hmm, which would you prefer then: Strider, Estel, Thorongil, Aragorn, Elessar…"

"You may take your choice."

They both laughed, and Aragorn left the room, feeling much more light-hearted.

~+~

The winter passed quickly. Aragorn made a point of taking time with the children out doors and teaching them how to have fun, which lesson they highly enjoyed.

Canden, who had already been very independent, spent a great deal of time watching the guardsmen fight. They became used to such an audience and began in including him in the lessons as well as his shadow, Nath, who was seldom far from his brother.

Kylie spent her time with Eowyn when she could, and the White Lady enjoyed teaching her as much as she desired to learn, which was everything. Eventually, she even taught her secretly how to use a dagger, and gifted her with one at Midwinter after she had proven worthy by not having damaged anything at her lessons for two weeks. Eowyn promised to take her with her to Rohan the next time she went to see her brother if she could get Aragorn's permission.

Hanny, who had been traumatized by her time living in the streets, clung to Arwen's side constantly. The queen worked on giving her a stable environment by teaching her embroidery, reading and writing. She took to them quickly and loved to imitate Arwen's manners.

Dan proved to be very intelligent, but he followed Aragorn everywhere nonetheless. After discovering the boy huddled on the cold floor behind the throne from when he sneaked in after the king, Aragorn had a small chair and table made and set them up to one side of the room. He then gave Dan a lesson to work on each day during the audiences. Dan loved working there where he could keep and eye on his cousin at all times. Aragorn resolved to wait several years before introducing the boy to the rest of his family up north so that he had time to adapt to a steady home.

And Ceara thrived with her "parents" who utterly adored her. She giggled and played and all around had a blast just being a normal baby.

Thus winter passed until the first blossoms of spring came up and word came of a company of elves and another of dwarves traveling near each other along the road south from Mirkwood and the Lonely Mountain.

A/N Sorry, it's so short but I needed a connector to bring Legolas into the picture.