Elladan and Elrohir led Denethor along, his borrowed mount's reigns tied to theirs; the twins were not in the mood for taking any risks, even though they rode flanking Denethor so closely their thighs brushed. It was a dark night, a new moon was in hiding making itself ready to begin to grow again, and few stars other than Eärendil shone. The only real light was the faint glow of the two Elves and after crossing the ford they pulled on their cloaks, robbing Denethor entirely of sight.

"This is madness, one cannot ride on in this darkness!" he protested, pulling back on the reigns to get his horse to stop.

"Madness," Elrohir snickered under his breath. Clearly Denethor did not know much about the Terrible Two.

"We can see perfectly well," Elladan said nonchalantly. Neither of the brothers stopped and so the horse unfortunate enough to bear Denethor was obliged to carry on with them.

"Be that as it may, i can not and if anything in the road, presuming we are on a road, should trip this horse it could be the death of me," Denethor grumbled.

"'Dan, suppose this villain is correct," Elrohir said. "The hunters did set a snare last week and it has not caught anything yet. Suppose poor Ellintë gets caught, that orc trap would have her hanging up there in a tree." Elrohir had a feeling that Denethor would not know that there was no such thing as a hunter in Imladris and no such thing as an "orc trap."

"Where did they set the trap, 'Ro?" Elladan asked.

"Well...," Elrohir looked around, "I think it was in this area... somewhere. I was not with them, you remember, we were on patrol."

"'Ro," Elladan said wearily, "this is not were they set the snare, that is out by the border. This is where they dug the postholes to discourage the rabbits."

"Oh, nothing to worry about then," Elrohir said merrily.

Denethor swallowed nervously. It was well know what would happen if a horse put a hoof in a post hole and it often meant the death of both horse and rider. He was rapidly wondering why he did not ask Elrond if he could spend just one more night in his cozy wine cellar and leave with the morning light. Most unnerving was the fact that the two Elves escorting him seemed wholly unconcerned. They would make his inferiority a point when it was his life on the line.

It seemed like hours, but eventually the three riders did make it safely to the border where a contingent of Rivendell's finest were chatting amiably in the camp where Denethor's soldiers stayed, patiently awaiting their captain's return. Denethor was beside himself.

ooo

At that moment there were two other riders approaching Imladris from the north. Neither were concerned about riding in the night, but only one was Elda. Gilraen rode with Gildor from the home she had established for herself in Eriador back to her sanctuary. Gildor had timed everything perfectly so that they had no chance of running into Denethor. Such a situation would not have been advantageous to Gilraen.

When the Dúnedan woman saw the Elf lord approach she went out to meet him, hoping her son was sending word, or at least Elrond was sending word of her son. It had been so many years since she had seen her child, so many nights she feared for his safety. It was rare that he ever had a travel companion and sometimes she could not help but fear that if anything ever happened to Aragorn she might never even know about it. It was useless to try to persuade him to take more care, Aragorn's idea of caution was using a different name in every town, and she was eternally grateful that Mithrandir often kept an eye on him for her.

As soon as Denethor and his troops moved off and were out of sight of the twins the watch group returned to the house and sent out the next picket. When they arrived the twins then headed north in hopes of catching up with Gildor and Gilraen. They had made it a point to visit her as often as patrols and other circumstances permitted after she left the valley to make her own home. In the years that she had spent in Imladris with Estel she had become something of a second mother to the twins and they both loved her greatly. Though no one could ever replace their own naneth, as hard as they fought to avenge her was nearly as hard as they fought to protect Gilraen. Indeed, with her simple and down-to-earth manner, she was beloved of all of Imladris.

The condition of morality, though not in anyway unfamiliar to Elladan and Elrohir, was brought back to them when they saw Gilraen again. Though still very vital woman, age had started to make contact with her and the twins were reminded that she had already lived three-quarters of a century and that, for Men, even of Dunedan blood, that was not young. Still, they were glad to see her again as she was them.

Her first question was, naturally, of her son's well-being and interests. Gildor truly had not much he could relay to her, as he only saw him briefly on the road and noted not much more than the usual weariness of a Ranger.

Elladan smiled and answered rather carefully, "Estel has... flourished, nana Gil'."

Onward the four rode through the night, Gilraen not wanting to stop when they were so close. It was mid-night when they arrived at the House and Gilraen was greeted warmly by Elrond and Erestor. Aragorn was already asleep, though he would not have been had he known his mother was due in that night. Erestor had her rooms prepared and a hot bath drawn, as he usually did when someone was arriving after a long journey, and once greetings were exchanged, she went there directly for rest.

The next day at the morning meal Aragorn came in a bit late, having waited until Faramir was having his breakfast and so distracted by the only thing that ever made his attention leave his ada: food. Aragorn thought he had probably learned more in the last three months than any living man could have learned in 300 years. Raising a child, though he loved Faramir with every bit of his heart, was proving to be a rather tricky pursuit. If he did not time his departure at just the right moment, Faramir would know that his father was no longer in the vicinity and would cry in such a way that made Aragorn feel as though he was abandoning his baby if he so much as walked down the hall. He now very clearly understood why it took two people to create one of these little people. Creation was the easy part, he had a fair idea that it would take an army to raise one.

Aragorn was so groggy that at first he noticed nothing different about the breakfast table. There was food upon it and that was all that entered his mind until he'd had a few bites. Soon, though, the fact that everyone grew quiet when he entered and had not spoken since descended upon him. He glanced furtively at his brothers first, always his prime suspects. They merely wore amused smirks. That disconcerted him, and he looked to his father for an explanation. Elrond wore a warmer version of the twin's grin. Aragorn's eyes cast about the food laid out, wondering if he hadn't slept until supper and come rather informally dressed. He examined himself as well and concluded that he was definitely presentable enough to avoid disgrace of any kind. He was looking up, for the first time that morning, across the table where Erestor usually sat, expecting to get a straight answer out of the advisor, when he dropped his fork and his jaw simultaneously.

"Naneth!" he cried, all but leaping over the table to hug his mother tightly.

Gilraen kissed his temples and held her boy close. She had been so tempted to look in on him when she arrived in the night, but she sadly reminded herself that he was, in actually fact, all grown up. Now, though, she was very hard pressed to let go of him. "You do not travel mornings when you are so bleary, do you, my little acorn?" she asked loving, employing her nickname for him from years ago.

"Nana...," Aragorn half-complained, though in truth it nearly brought tears to his eyes, especially when he thought that he had his own little acorn now. Finally he remembered how hungry he was and sat back down to eat, at least to prove to his mother that he was eating enough, though he didn't mention that that was usually only the case when he was in one place for more than three days at a stretch. Breakfast had suddenly become a lively affair and years worth of news was traded all around. After a while, though, Glorfindel came in to tell Aragorn that there was someone upstairs who needed him as soon as possible.

"Gods! I promised him i would only be a few minutes! Stay here, i will be back," he said jumping up and sprinting halfway across the room before stopped suddenly. "No, wait, come with me nana, please? There is someone who i want you to meet."

ooo

Naneth - mother

Elenhin: Faramir should start growing up pretty soon. Once all the major action is done i can get on to the years as he grows up, i will probably go through those in sketches, until we get to some more major action (but i'm not telling!) But even still, Fara' can't help but be dear, even when all he does is scream for his daddy and eat and sleep.

linda: Father and son are very close. Time will tell how that bond lasts in years to come.

steelelf: He's a cute little bugger, no doubt. Were i the artist i once practiced to be i could sketch him, but, alas, i have only my words to paint with. Hopefully they give you a good picture. Babies kinda all look a lot alike to me, so i don't really know how i could get really descriptive just now.