During the War of the Ring it had taken the army of Rohan three days of hard riding to cover the distance from their land to outside of Minas Tirith. Need had pushed them as much as their commanders and they were all traveling as light as possible (with the exception of Eowyn, who had chosen that a little extra weight in the form of a determined hobbit was acceptable). Now a little over six years later the official party from Gondor was traveling that same distance and then some, laden down with far more burdens – hastily acquired (at Arwen's insistence) wedding presents, a queen that had not traveled for so far and long in many years, and three children aged five and under – and had only a bit more time to get to their destination on schedule. All things considered, the Gondorian royal party was making remarkable time – due in no small part to the driving force that was Aragorn. On every step of the journey he'd pushed them on and on like a Man possessed.

Fortunately, Aragorn was still thinking clearly enough to shield his children from his mood – all Eldarion and Silmariën knew was that their father was a bit anxious and in a hurry; and Miriel was too young to realize much at all – but Arwen, Elladan, Elrohir, and Faramir were not subject to such protection. His transformation from the benevolent if distracted king to a single-minded lunatic in practically a second was definitely disconcerting and almost frightening to them and there seemed to be nothing that any of them could do about it. The preparations before leaving were rife with quarrels and yelling and the journey riddled with tension; and now that the riding party was about to reach their final destination of Edoras not one of them knew if Aragorn would be able to keep his emotions in check until they got to the bottom of this troubling affair with Eomer and Legolas.

Of course, it would have been extremely helpful if they'd already gotten some sort of adequate explanation pertaining to their long-missing friend's relationship with the Rohirric king. However each one of them had gone through what happened the morning that the wedding announcement and personal message arrived in Minas Tirith and no one could deduce anything more than what had been plainly stated. Ingrained in Arwen, the twins, and Faramir's minds was the expression on Aragorn's face when the errand runner read that it was Legolas who was Eomer's attended: he'd appeared to have been bewildered, angry, crushed, thrilled for having a viable lead on the elf's whereabouts after all of those years, and even brokenhearted. And all of that was before the unfortunate errand runner finished reading and smartly made a polite but hasty exit, before Aragorn and the others had the chance to properly digest the news.

O – Flashback – O

The door to the dining hall slammed shut; to Arwen, her brothers, and the steward the noise seemed to echo all around them ominously. To Aragorn, however, it had been as if no noise had been made at all. He couldn't hear, he couldn't move, he could barely breathe, see, or think – the only thing that he was capable of doing was staring down at the wedding announcement that the errand runner had shoved into his hand before his swift exit. There was the name of the love of his life right there: Prince Legolas Thranduilion of Eryn Lasgalan, the intended of King Eomer Eadig of Rohan. No matter how much he stared at it, no matter how many times he read it, that didn't change: Legolas and Eomer, Legolas and Eomer, Legolas and Eomer…

"How much did you know about this?" hissed the king, glaring murderously over at Faramir – Eomer's brother-in-law. He must have had some idea! "I asked you a question! How much did you know about this debacle and for how long have you known it?"

"I knew nothing of it until this very moment!" cried Faramir nervously, for he saw the glint of madness in Aragorn's eyes. The queen and her brothers might not of known the extent of the king's search for Legolas, with the constant inquiries to every dignitary, leader, and anyone else he corresponded with no matter what said correspondence was about, but as the king's steward Faramir certainly did. And he knew that Aragorn had contacted Eomer recently, so there was some definite deception on his wife's brother's part; Faramir hoped that he and Eowyn weren't about to get caught in the crossfire. "I swear upon my life and honor to that; nor did Eowyn had any knowledge of any of this."

"There are laws against lying to your king," threatened Aragorn, not thinking clearly enough to consider his friend's honor and spotless service to both him and Gondor. "It's a treasonous offense!"

"Aragorn, my love!" cried out Arwen, unable to hold her tongue any longer. She needed to find a way to calm him before he said something that he regretted! "Lord Faramir knew of our concern for Legolas; he would have told us at once had he known anything!"

The angry eyes of the king turned to her and she found it hard to look upon him without trembling. "Our? Us?" repeated Aragorn darkly. Elladan stepped protectively to his incredibly hurt sister's side and shot her husband a warning look, which the Man returned with one of his own. "What do you have to do with any of this, Arwen? Or you for that matter, Elladan? Both of you happily gave Legolas up for lost – or worse – a long time ago so don't you dare start acting like you care about him now."

"Estel," Elrohir spoke up quietly in his calmest tone. Aragorn slowly turned to look at him and a little of his anger dissipated. Elrohir was, after all, the one person who had never acted indifferently to his search or believed him to be a fool for carrying it on for so long – a fact that the elf lord was counting on him to remember. "Dear brother, this isn't getting us any answers. King Eomer also sent a personal message; perhaps we can find more answers in there."

The personal message – Aragorn had forgotten about that rolled up piece of parchment clenched in his fist. Quickly he turned it over to find where it was sealed and felt a wave of angry disgust and betrayal when he saw the insignia of Rohan's royal family imprinted in the wax. With shaking hands he broke the seal and began unrolling it hastily, gasping when he saw a few of the words. "This isn't from Eomer," he breathed. "This is Legolas' handwriting – this is from Legolas."

No one commented on it, although everyone was thinking about it: royal insignias were not to be used indiscriminately. Only members of a royal house could use said house's brand, but Legolas was using Rohan's while he was but the king's fiancé. That conveyed a sense of depth and seriousness about their relationship that made Aragorn's stomach twist into knots.

It was a shame that the message itself had about as much information – as in none at all beyond hints that led to worried speculations, troubling deductions, and more questions – as the seal. Aragorn silently scoured it once and then in a trembling voice read it aloud for the others to hear:

"Dear Friends (if I may be so bold as to still call you that):

This is not an easy letter to write, although I've written it in my head often enough that it should be. I'm sorry, but you know me – when I'm not sure what else to say I invariably fall back on a joke. I know that won't due now, for I owe many people an explanation about my abrupt disappearance.

The details of the matter are too complicated to get into in this letter to any great length and still too painful for me to find a way to summarize them. All that I can say is that six years ago I found myself in a situation that had no real, clean solution. The only way that I could think of to deal with it was to leave everything and everyone behind. This was probably not the best way that I could have responded to it but what's done is done and I cannot change the past.

Reentering the world has been a gradual and difficult process. I have not contacted you before now because I had a lot of things to figure out for myself before I could begin to figure out how I could possibly explain it to any of you. There is a very vocal part of me that still tells me that I'm not prepared for this; writing this letter takes all of the courage that I have.

A part of what as been helping me find my strength once more is Eomer's constant support. How he came to be involved in my life again was either a fortunate turn of fate or else the blessing of Elbereth, for were it not for him I daresay I would never have rejoined the world at all. A great friendship blossomed between us early on and as of late our relationship has deepened into something much more. After a courtship that actually started before either of us realized it we have decided to get married. It may seem sudden but we are happy.

After all that has happened I completely understand if you wish to never see or hear from me again. Yet I would very much like the opportunity to see you all again and perhaps better explain to you why I did what I did. I will not contact you again without your permission and no insult will be taken if you cannot come to the wedding. Please just know that I am safely in Rohan in you ever want to have me back in your lives.

I'm sorry for any pain or worry that I've caused you.

Legolas"

O – End Flashback – O

That was it: no real explanation of his disappearance or relationship with Eomer. Legolas' tone had been deeply apologetic and those that knew him understood that he was being entirely sincere. This only made them worry even more, for what had been so terrible that he felt that he couldn't get into at least some of the more broad details in the letter?

For Aragorn it had been a more awful blow than anyone, save except Elladan, could comprehend: after more than six years of obsessing over the vanishing of his true love this was his reward. His fierce devotion and concern for Legolas and his well being had been answered by only a letter addressed to at least his wife as well as him, and intended for his foster brothers too. Why hadn't the love of his life sent him a more personal message? Something was amiss, Aragorn was convinced of that, and from that moment on he was consumed with one mission only: to get to Edoras in time and stop that wedding.

That was easier said than done. Aragorn was the king of Gondor and that meant that he just couldn't get up, grab a horse, and go. That had never been a bigger frustration as it had been as when he'd been desperately itching to go but forced to stay in Minas Tirith for too many days while he worked out the details of how Gondor was going to be ruled in his absence. As Faramir already had leave to go too Aragorn had to select someone that he trusted to rule in his stead without insulting a lot of other politically important people; that took more time than he would have liked it to but he needed the nobles placated – after all, if all went as planned Legolas would be coming back to Minas Tirith with him and he didn't want anyone giving him a difficult time about it.

Then there had been the matter of the children to think about. Aragorn couldn't just leave Eldarion, Silmariën, and Miriel in the care of just anyone and Arwen, Elrohir, and Elladan – for varying reasons – had refused to remain behind to attend to them. That meant that a small boy, a toddler, and a baby had to be made ready to take the journey between the White City and Edoras, and then said journey kept at a pace that wouldn't overtax them. Truth be told, as much as it frustrated Aragorn to travel at such an excruciating pace he was glad that his children were with him; if all went according to plan Legolas was going to become a major part of their lives and he longed for them to meet him as soon as may be. The five of them were going to be one big happy family and woe would befall anyone that tried to stop that from happening.

Still, all of the delays had added up to a lot of wasted time and now the wedding was going to take place the next day. Aragorn knew that he was cutting it close for everything he had to do but all that mattered was that he wasn't too late yet. There was time to break up the wedding of another realm's monarch and steal the king's monarch as long as he kept his mind on the task at hand.

The Man was so consumed by his musings that he was no longer paying attention to where he and his riding party were; as long as the horses kept moving forward he was grimly satisfied. He didn't wish to converse with Arwen, Faramir, Elladan, and Elrohir any more than he had to and he didn't welcome it when his wife suddenly shouted out: "Oh my; look over there!"

Forcing himself out of the tirade and dark thoughts brewing in his mind Aragorn managed to focus his attention on whatever had caught the elf queen's attention. As soon as he saw it his expression clouded over and his eyes hardened. Edoras was now in view – he could see Meduseld set against the mountain in the distance – but that was not what Arwen was pointing out. What he was looking at was much closer and a whole lot more disconcerting and he wasn't the only one with that opinion.

"Those trees?" asked Faramir anxiously, not understanding his travel companions' reactions to the grove but not liking it all the same. "They're new here; I don't remember them from my visit here a few years ago, and it's very strange that they've grown as much as they have in such a short time. What does a new tree grove mean?"

"Those trees aren't from around here," replied Elrohir grimly. "We've seen ones like them before: they are indigenous to Eryn Lasgalan."

"Perhaps they only look similar to the trees in that forest," suggested Faramir hopefully, wishing more than anything that they could get through all of this without dire personal and political ramifications. Dear Valar, if they really were from Eryn Lasgalan then how long had the prince actually been in Edoras?

"There are none others that even remotely resemble those particular trees and they don't grow naturally outside of the Woodland Realm," spoke up Elladan in a vaguely disgusted tone. He couldn't help looking over at Aragorn as he continued: "Legolas has apparently been making himself right at home."

Aragorn bristled at his foster brother's implication and met his glare unflinchingly. "Or else someone else has gone to great lengths to make him think that Edoras is his home," he said as his grip tightened on his reins. This was all too real – he was truly terrified of losing Legolas for good. He hadn't really felt that way when he'd married Arwen because he knew that his heart would always belong to the elf prince and he believed that Legolas would never really be out of his life. That faith hadn't wavered when Legolas had vanished because Aragorn had refused to let himself think for a moment that he wouldn't come back one day. But to have him getting married and settled down enough in that new life to bring permanent pieces of his home to his intended's realm…

"Estel," said Elladan sharply, the edge of his tone laced with warning. "We don't know what's going on yet. The fact of the matter is that there's a very good chance all is well and Legolas is truly happy with King Eomer. If that is the case then we should be happy for him."

The Man would hear none of it. "We ride on," he declared through gritted teeth. "No stops, no detours, no nothing. I don't care what you say or think – something is amiss and I refuse to rest until I see with my own eyes that Legolas hasn't been harmed and get some answers out of Eomer. Noro lim, Brego!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Edoras was easy enough for the party from Gondor to enter – now that the king and prince had officially made their relationship public the need for secrecy about Legolas' whereabouts was moot (though the Rohirrim knew better than to speak openly about Caladel yet). Besides, important guests had been coming for a couple of weeks and all of the guards knew and revered Aragorn for his services to their realm during the War than they did any of the rest of the stream of people. As it was, the gate guards enthusiastically greeted the Man and his companions and bowed as they passed through into the city.

Perhaps the guards wouldn't have let them in so lightly, however, if they knew all of the dark thoughts and threats toward their king that were running through Aragorn's mind. 'I don't care whose realm this is,' decided the Man menacingly. 'I am going to find Eomer and make him answer for his part in Legolas' disappearance. It doesn't matter if he's hiding in the deepest bowels of Meduseld because I am fully prepared to tear the Golden Hall apart with my bare hands if necessary!'

As willing as he might have been to take his search to such an extreme the effort turned out not to be necessary: Eomer was outside and in plain sight, standing on the front steps of Meduseld. Eowyn stood by his side and the two siblings were talking animatedly to each other, but Legolas was nowhere in sight. 'Not surprising if he's been locked away in some chamber,' decided Aragorn. 'How long has he been trapped here, my poor, poor love…'

When the blonde Man heard the Gondorian party's approach and looked up Aragorn saw the look in his eyes. In that moment he knew that for Eomer this was a moment that he'd known had been coming for a long time; one that he accepted but would have done anything to keep from happening. 'He knows what he's done to my love is wrong!' Aragorn's mind screamed.

With an audible growl the king of Gondor leapt down from his horse. Ignoring Arwen's panicked hiss for him to wait and the sounds of everyone else's scrambling as they too dismounted – presumably to stop him from doing anything that they considered to be rash – but there was almost nothing that would have halted him now. 'And they don't have to worry about any rashness on my part,' fumed Aragorn as he stalked up to Eomer. There wasn't going to be anything rash aboutwhat he was about this – he'd been carefully plotting out what he was going to say and do to Eomer for almost two weeks.

Strange, warring feelings welled up inside Eomer as he waited for Aragorn to come to him. Technically the fault was entirely with him that the other Man was furious, as he was the one who'd kept Legolas' location a secret. However, Eomer knew that his fiancé had a falling out of sorts with Aragorn before he'd gone into exile in Fangorn; and he wasn't inclined to be too happy with someone who had hurt his husband-to-be. It was a testament to his decorum that he managed to show none of this, keeping his expression free from all emotions except perhaps for a little wariness. "Welcome to Rohan, Aragorn," he greeted with tight politeness.

The Man's eyes shifted to his side, where Faramir had come up to embrace his sister. The steward caught his gaze and glanced back at Aragorn nervously. So there had been problems; this was not unexpected but it was good to have a little warning about them. "And welcome to the rest of your party as well. It is good to see you again, my queen, Lord Elladan, Lord Elrohir; and always a pleasure to see you, Faramir. It's wonderful to see your children again too – we were not expecting them but they are a welcome addition to the celebrations."

"Where's Legolas?" demanded Aragorn through clenched teeth, shooting vicious looks at him.

"He is where he has been for the last few days," replied Eomer, his tone even but terse. It made his blood boil slightly to hear Aragorn talk as if he had sole claim to the elf. "He is acting as a mediator between the elves of Eryn Lasgalan and the dwarves of the Glittering Caves. They've been doing nothing but arguing since Thranduil" –

"Thranduil?" echoed Aragorn, outraged.

"He asked me to call him Thranduil," replied Eomer with a hint of a smile. "But that's not the point. Apparently he and Gimli can only agree on two things: that they both love Legolas and they both hate each other. Legolas has been spending a lot of time as of late trying to keep the peace."

"You know what I'm talking about!" exploded Aragorn. More than a few passer-bys stopped briefly to stare at them; the guards at Meduseld's doors discreetly inched forward and Elrohir sprang up behind his brother and put his hand on the Man's shoulder in a vain attempt to restrain him. Aragorn simply shook him off. "He's been missing with no explanation as to why for six years! Now suddenly he's here and he's about to marry you? You know how important it was for me to find him and yet you keep him a secret; and I can't think of any reason for it beyond the worst. Now's your chance to answer for yourself: how long has he been here?"

Eomer brought up his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose and that's when Aragorn saw it: the mithril ring on his right hand. It looked just like the one that King Thranduil always wore around his neck. During that magical summer in Mirkwood Legolas had explained to him that it was a marriage band made for all members of Oropher's line. The Man's dream since then was to have one like it on his own hand one day and now Legolas had given his to Eomer. "A little over a year," admitted Rohan's king.

"A little over a year?" repeated Arwen, getting incredulous in her turn. She understood well enough that there were a lot of complicated politics in this situation but she loved Legolas like a brother and this wasn't to be tolerated. "That long, and he didn't try to contact us – his family – before now? Forgive me if I find that more than a little difficult to believe."

"There were mitigating circumstances," spoke up Eowyn in defense of her brother. Her eyes flashed when the king and queen looked at her suspiciously. "I knew nothing about Legolas or what brought him here until I got here almost three weeks ago. I was wary of the situation myself, but I understand now and so will you soon enough. Let me assure all of you that I've seen and spoken to Legolas as recently as today and he's fine."

"He had many issues to sort through when he first came here, Queen Arwen," added Eomer, looking the she-elf squarely in the eye. "Rejoining the world hasn't been an easy task for him and there are still some things that he needs to work out. But he's dedicated to moving on and he wants to make a fresh start with everyone. I think he'd hoped to be in a better place before he had to explain what happened to all of you, and that's why he waited for as long as he did to send word."

"That doesn't explain why you waited for so long," shot back Aragorn, not bothering to keep the accusation out of his voice. He had no reason to believe that Eomer was telling the truth and he wasn't exactly inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. "I made it very clear in every single letter that I sent in the past six years that I wanted to know anything and everything about Legolas' whereabouts as soon as you found it out!"

"Check your tongue," warned Eomer with a simmering fury. He really hadn't expected anything different from Aragorn, but this public display of disrespect on the steps of his hall was too much to bear. It didn't help matters that he was finding it harder than he originally thought to hold what he really wanted to say to the other Man at bay. "This is my kingdom and you are a guest here. It would be prudent to remember that I am not your subject and neither is Legolas and that means that your requests for information were just that – requests. I had to weigh your need to know against Legolas' need to have some time to heal. It came down to a choice between you two, Aragorn, and I chose Legolas."

Aragorn's nostrils flared dangerously as he perceived an unintentional dig at him for not choosing Legolas. His hands clenched into fists and he took a step forward; Eomer tensed, preparing to fight back as he too stepped forward until the two Men were practically nose-to-nose. The situation might have deteriorated from there until the monarchs were physically brawling and a spectacle occurred.

Then one lone voice, free of any anger but full of concern and resolve, came from the top of Meduseld's steps: "Papa!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A few minutes before, while Eomer was grimly watching Aragorn ride up to meet him, Caladel was in the study watching another conflict unfold before his eyes. He and his ada had gone in there to have a little father-and-son time but that was apparently doomed from the start. They had only been in there for a short while when his grandfather and Gimli had burst in with some sort of quarrel already brewing between them. Legolas had often told his son that having the elven king and dwarf around was like having three children; and the boy had felt a great deal of pride when his ada had thanked him for being the most well-behaved of the bunch.

He knew that his ada hadn't been exaggerating about that when his grandfather and Gimli stormed in with their fight about something silly. Now the bickering pair was standing side-by-side in front of the sofa where Legolas sat, grousing about their tales of woe. Actually, the boy had been sitting there as well but as soon as the two had burst into the chamber he'd scrambled out of the fray and began inching closer and closer to the door. It was a shame that his ada hadn't been as fortunate.

"Legolas, I insist that you do something about this…Gimli," demanded Thranduil, spitting out the dwarf's name as if it was an insult only when his son shot him a silent warning not to say anything crasser. "He deliberately sits in my line of vision at meals and makes his already abhorrent table manners worse just to disgust me. He's trying to kill me by seeing to it that I starve to death!"

"Oh, have I offended your delicate sensibilities?" smirked Gimli nastily. He looked to Legolas for support and was undeterred when he didn't see any readily apparent. "I only wiped my mouth with my beard after taking a drink, laddie. You've seen me do it before" –

"Well, I'm not surprised that you acted so disrespectfully around my child too!" interrupted Thranduil.

Gimli narrowed his eyes. "There's nothing disrespectful about it!" he snapped. "What about you, laddie – do you think it's worth such a fuss? Just because I don't drink with my pinkie in the air like some people…"

"You shouldn't drink at all," scoffed Thranduil. "By Elbereth, your snores are loud enough to wake everyone in Meduseld after you've spent the evening with your nose in your ale."

"As if elves don't snore!" countered Gimli. "My father told me that your own butler was making quite a ruckus when he and the other dwarves outsmarted you and escaped. It's a shame that it wasn't the kind of ruckus that you needed him to make."

"Enough!" burst out Legolas, looking at them sternly but pleadingly. "Why must you two bicker on over every little thing? Why do you have to drug up the past when you do it? I'm getting married tomorrow, for Elbereth's sake! It would be very nice if you could put your differences aside for just a little while so that I could concentrate on getting ready for that, spending time with my child – my actual child, not the people simply acting like my children – and visiting with my other guests as any polite host would. By all that's good in Middle-earth, I saw Merry, Sam, and Pippin for the first time in six years just yesterday and even that got interrupted by your squabbling!"

Caladel could take no more of this. The fighting didn't scare him anymore – it did at first, before his ada sat him down and explained to him that it was stubbornness rather than true anger that kept his grandfather and the dwarf from being friends – but it did bother him, if only for Legolas' sake. Thranduil and Gimli both claimed to love him and his ada, and the boy didn't understand why that love couldn't extend to each other too, especially when it was plain to see that their arguing made his ada very upset. If only they could let go of whatever happened in the dungeons or cells or whatever they kept bringing up and his ada would have to try to settle things between them all of the time!

Watching Thranduil and Gimli blame each other for putting Legolas through so much a brilliant idea came to Caladel: maybe his ada wasn't helping matters. The more that he thought about it, the more that made sense. Their arguing made his ada upet; seeing his ada upset inevitably made his grandfather and Gimli upset and when those two got upset they started arguing again. Plus, Legolas seemed to think that their relationship was beyond repair, therefore not really doing anything beyond trying to get them to reach a temporary truce. Besides, his ada was just as stubborn as the two of them and all that stubbornness couldn't be helpful when two enemies needed to make up.

What they needed in the study was another moderator. Someone who was wise, someone who was calm, someone…someone like his papa! Yes, that was a fantastic plan! Caladel was never more certain of anything; after all it was his papa who got his ada past his stubbornness all the time when it came to Caladel's riding lessons and stuff. And it wasn't just that – his papa had also helped his ada stop being so distrustful of other people. Of course Eomer was just the person to help get to the bottom of the problem between Thranduil and Gimli!

Quietly so as not to disturb his ada while the older elf was trying to perform a miracle of such scale Caladel slinked the rest of the way to the door, every so slowly pushed it outward, and shuffled out. He was counting on the argument to keep the three adults he'd left behind distracted enough not to notice him going and it seemed to work. The boy waited a few moments to make sure that no one was calling or coming after him and then turned and walked away, his head held high. Now, where was his papa? Oh, right – he was probably somewhere outside; the Man had been steering clear of all the elf-dwarf tensions lately and the only place where that could really happen was outside.

'He's probably not too far away,' decided Caladel. 'Ada wouldn't be too happy if Papa totally left him to deal with Gimli and Grandfather. I bet I could find him if I just went outdoors for a second.'

Resolved, he headed off in the direction of the main doors. He was just about there when he passed by one of the guards who was usually posted at said doors. "Good afternoon, Ewias," Caladel greeted him cheerfully.

"To you as well, my lord," replied the guard distractedly. There had been bets among his company about whether the Gondorian royal family would show up for the wedding. He'd laid odds that they would but in retrospect that was one wager that he wished he'd lost. No one, save the Lady Eowyn and her husband, had looked terribly happy to see each other and there was trouble coming because of it. Ewias had taken one look at their dark expressions and gone off in search of the prince – perhaps he could set things right between the king and the newly arrived guests. "Do you know where I might find Prince Legolas?"

"He's in the study," Caladel told him helpfully. The guard nodded his thanks and the two continued on their separate ways, both unaware of how their individual actions were working together to bring on the coming storm.

It didn't take too long for Caladel to find his papa at all: he was right there on the front steps of Meduseld, standing with Aunt Eowyn and a bunch of people that the boy had never seen before. Three of the adults were intriguing, as they were elves but with dark hair instead of blonde like the ones in the stories about Rivendell; and there were children playing behind them that looked like they were – was it possible? – half-elves like him! Normally the appearance of any children, especially a boy who appeared to be about his age, would have excited him greatly no matter what race or races they belonged to, but not at that moment. Right then the elfling was too worried about his papa to think about anything else.

His wonderful, brave papa who wouldn't hurt a fly if he didn't have to was standing very close to a strange Man. Neither of them looked very happy – in fact they seemed to be furious with each other. "Papa!" he called out in alarm.

No one had been expecting that sort of interruption, especially not Aragorn. He watched, dumbfounded, as a young boy with long dirty blonde hair and garbed in clothing befitting a member of the Rohirric royal family scurried down the steps. The child wedged himself between Eomer and Eowyn and planted himself firmly in front of Rohan's king; and that's when Aragorn saw him close enough to truly take in his appearance. The Man's heart stopped when he saw that the boy – the boy who looked very much like Legolas – had pointed ears. "Papa?" repeated Aragorn.

Caladel didn't like the stranger's tone. As a matter of fact, after seeing the Man be so mean to his papa he didn't much like the stranger at all. He was glad when his papa took his hand and pulled him a little closer and away from the troublemaker. "That's right," said Eomer evenly. "I'm proud to say that this young lad here is my son, Caladel."

Caladel – light of an elf. A boy with elf ears, and elf name – why did he look so much like Legolas? And why was it suddenly so hard to breathe? "He looks like – like an elf," said Aragorn with blunt surprise.

"I am an elf," said Caladel crossly. He could see that there was nothing likable about this stranger. "I'm a Man too, but that doesn't mean I'm not an elf. I get the elf from my ada and the Man from my papa. They're getting married tomorrow, Ada and Papa."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So we're agreed," stated Legolas, holding up his hands, one toward Thranduil and one toward Gimli in a gesture to verbally restrain them. The two were still glaring at each other too much for him to hope that this was over with once and for all but at least they'd stopped bickering for now. "From this point on the party from Eryn Lasgalan will sit on one side of the dining hall, the party from the Glittering Caves will sit on the other, and you two just won't look at each other!"

"I can do that," grumbled Thranduil. It was not in his nature, though, to let an argument rest without getting in the last word. Under his breath he added: "Although why he can't use a napkin like civilized folk I'll never understand."

Gimli growled in annoyance. "Next time I won't use my beard," he blustered. "I'll wipe my mouth on that hair of yours instead!"

"You miserable little coal miner," spat out Thranduil.

"You pointy-eared spider lord!" shot back Gimli.

Legolas wasn't about to go through all of that work again just to have it blow up in his face. Throwing his hands up in the air he sank back onto the sofa and tiredly watched two people that he loved hurl insults at each other. Maybe they would get into fisticuffs; perhaps even knocking each other out. At least then he could get some peace from their quarrels.

A knock came to the door, causing the bickering duo to actually quiet down. "Come in!" yelled Legolas, already grateful.

The guard Ewias stuck his head inside and hand to bite back his laughter at the sight of two leaders of their peoples glaring at each other like insolent children. "Prince Legolas, master dwarf, master elf," he greeted them. "My prince, you might want to come outside. The Gondorian royals are here with the elf lords from Rivendell and Lady Eowyn's husband. Things were…well, they were looking kind of ugly when I left."

"Thank you," groaned Legolas. He wasn't sure how to feel; on the one hand he was nervously excited about the possibility of renewing his friendships with Arwen and the twins, but then there was everything that went along with seeing Aragorn…. Still, there was no getting away from it now. "Ada, Gimli, can I trust you two to get along long enough to mind Caladel" –

His voice broke off when he realized that his son was nowhere to be seen. "Caladel?" he wondered aloud.

"I just saw him, my prince," offered the guard. "We walked by each other only a few minutes ago, me coming in and him going out."

"You mean he was heading outside to where you just came from?" asked Legolas as panic grew inside him. Caladel was heading outside…maybe even out there already…to where Aragorn was…to where Aragorn could figure out the truth...what would Aragorn do…. "Dear Elbereth, no!"

And with that he shot out of the study as if Sauron himself was chasing him, leaving a confused Man, understanding dwarf, and concerned but suspicious elf in his wake.

To be continued…