Szhismine Oh, mellon, I'm so glad you forgive me!
Joee1 Yes. I dare to have a life. LOL!
Althelas Promise not to hurt your favorite elves? Not a chance!
Karriya Keldarion is feeling grumpy, that's why he thinks Faramir is too early to give them a call. Do you really want to see the trailer? Give me your e-mail address and I'll send it to you. I have it saved in my PC.
A. NuEvil So, you like Liam Neeson, eh? So do I! I can't forget his character in Rob Roy!
Keluin Lossehelin I'll go and have a look at your fic, mate!
Begginning-end-314 : Kel's wedding coming right up not long after.
Theo darkstar Legolas already have two babies. As for Kel, this chapter will more or less explain his exact situation.
Leralonde I don't know what Faramir was thinking when he heard about Legolas working out, but I'm sure you are thinking what I'm thinking! LOL! The part of the trailer that I like best is when Godfrey slaps Balian after his son takes oath as a knight, "And that's for you to remember it". Very poignant.
Dolphingurl678 I'll try to be as unique as I can to keep you happy. I'm one wacky lady after all. He he he…
Corkybo Thank you very, very much. I love being one of your favorite authors!
Rutu There's a desert somewhere in the land of Harad. Oops! Did I say Harad? I think I've just given away the plot! No, Kel's wife is not pregnant. Yet. She is trying to, but Kel is playing chicken. Ha ha ha! Not that he can't produce, though. He's just…uh…can't tell you yet. (You want a story about Faramir's wedding? I'll try to explain it in the story of Kel's wedding."
Seylin Her name is Aislin. And they are already married, but I haven't posted their wedding story yet. Trust me, that ceremony was a complete disaster.
Legosgurl I think this chapter will also keep you sniggering the entire time.
Lost-elf : The problem is, when the brothers are together, they always land in trouble!
Jubisaurus Orli's voice is indeed captivating. So are his lips, his eyes, his cheekbones, his chin, his three-days-beard, his…Ahem! I'd better stop now before I mention the rest of his captivating anatomy!
Yami Tai : Maybe Hawkeye will be involved in this one. I can't see it yet, maybe later. (Do you want me to send to you the trailer?)
The Dane : You are soooo lucky! I want to see Orli in the streets of my town too!
Astalder Yep. Torture all around!
Thank you so much for the overwhelming reviews, guys! You make my plot bunnies incredibly happy! And here's the next chapter.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Prince Eldarion has gone missing," Faramir had said.
The elven brothers silently stared at the man for a very long time.
"All right, Faramir. That's not funny," Legolas finally said.
"No, it's not," the man agreed.
"You mean you were not pulling our legs?" Keldarion's eyes widened. "You were actually telling us the truth?"
"Of course, I spoke the truth! I would never joke about such a thing!" Faramir began to get irritated. What's the matter with these two, anyway?
"Oh." The brothers had the grace to look apologetic.
And then they began to grow frantic, Legolas especially. He had known the crown prince of Gondor since the boy was a tiny baby. Eldarion had officially become his adopted son, a surrogate elder brother to Legolas' own little twins. He loved Eldarion the way he had loved Aragorn as a boy, and to hear that the young prince had gone missing was like being doused by a pail of icy water. If he was feeling this way, Valar knows what Aragorn and Arwen were going through right now.
Taking a deep breathe, Legolas forced himself to calm down. Collecting his blades, he motioned for the other two to follow him. "Let's take this into the parlor. We can talk more there," he said, all business.
Keldarion had already picked up his sword from the ground. He slung the damp towel over one shoulder and walked next to Faramir, following after the lord of Ithilien.
After ordering the servants to bring in some refreshments, Legolas showed his guests to their seats before he started pacing in front of the hearth.
"Faramir, how long has Darion been missing?"
"About two days now," the man replied, feeling a bit overdressed as he observed the two brothers' attire. Faramir was still wearing his travel cloak and gloves, while the elven princes were clad in leggings and nothing else; their hair still damp from their exercise, their bodies glistened with sweat. Neither Keldarion nor Legolas seemed to be aware of the man's discomfort, though.
"You said he wrote a note." Keldarion looked directly at the man. "What does it say?"
Faramir ruefully shook his head. "What every fifteen-year-old hell-bent for freedom would write, I believe. In the note, he asked his mother not to worry about him because he has to leave home to prove that he is now an adult and can take care of himself."
"Adult?" Keldarion didn't agree. "A fifteen-year-old human? Now that's rich. When he was fifteen, Legolas was still in diapers!"
"No, I wasn't!" Legolas glared at his grinning brother. Turning back to Faramir, he asked, "Is that all the note said?"
"There's more, but I think you need to read the note yourself to understand what's really going on," the man said. "That boy is not on speaking term with his father."
Legolas' eyes widened as he got the gist of the entire affair. Knowing Eldarion, something he had done must have made his father incredibly mad enough to punish him. "I see. What did Darion do this time?"
Faramir waited when a servant walked in bearing a tray of drinks and sliced fruits. Looking both amused and incredulous, the man resumed speaking after the servant had left, "It all started three days ago, I think. Aragorn went to see his ailing favorite mount in the stable, but found his heir romping about in the hay with a young wench instead."
Legolas' mouth dropped open, while Keldarion nearly dropped the water glass he just picked up from the tray.
"Are you serious?" Keldarion quickly put down his glass. He was shaking from laughter so hard he feared he might lose his grip.
Faramir nodded. "That's what the king told me."
"Eldarion? Wenching?" Legolas was still deeply shock. "But isn't he too young for such…err…activity?"
Keldarion let out a faint snort. "To you, maybe. I remember you determinedly trying to remain a virgin even when the maidens were working hard to drag you into a secluded corner and…"
"Kel, you'd better shut up now or I'll shove my fist down your throat," Legolas cautioned his brother with a scowl.
Keldarion shut his mouth, but his lips were twitching. Faramir was a bit disappointed because he was highly interested to know the rest of 'virgin Legolas' story.
"Faramir? You were saying…?" Still scowling, Legolas urged the man to continue.
"Yes, well…" Faramir coughed to hide his smile. "It was not pretty what happened afterwards. They got into an argument, sending accusations back and forth, which left Aragorn no other choice but to punish his son. As expected, the boy rebelled in return by running away from the citadel."
"Hmm. I knew Eldarion reminded me of someone in this room," Keldarion muttered, playfully tapping a finger against his chin as if he was deep in thought.
Refusing to rise to the bait, Legolas ignored his brother. "Don't they think that wench girl might know where Eldarion is? Has anyone asked her?"
At this, Faramir frowned. "You know what? The funny thing is no one knows who she was. Nobody has seen her before. The king only caught a glimpse of her face as he ushered his son out of the stable, terribly relieved that he managed to stop them before things could turn into something beyond repair. We tried to find the girl afterwards but with no success. The only person who knows her seemed to be Prince Eldarion himself."
"That's odd," Keldarion voiced out. "Surely the girl couldn't have disappeared into thin air."
"You think that there's more to all this?" Legolas exchanged looks with his brother. "Is something else afoot?"
"Like, maybe Eldarion has been abducted, you mean?"
Legolas didn't like it, but that's what he really thought, despite the note that Eldarion had left behind. "I don't want to believe that, but I do want to know where he has gone to. We need to help find him, Kel."
Keldarion nodded. "How about if we take a ride to Minas Tirith and start from there?"
"Fine by me," Legolas replied. "Besides, our lady wives are not here. We have this period of time entirely to our own devices."
At the mention of 'wives', Keldarion's face clouded over. "Now you've just ruined my good mood," he sullenly said. "Can we stop talking about those females for a moment?"
"Oh, for crying out loud." Legolas rolled his eyes heavenward. "Enough of this grumbling, Kel! You need to speak with Aislinn and tell her exactly how you feel about having a baby. Be honest with her and stop circling around the matter as if it wasn't there."
"But she's stubborn! She won't give me a chance to reason with her," Keldarion shot back. "When she wants something, she expects that she'll get it! No argument allowed."
"Oh, guess what, Kel? You're kind of pigheaded too. It's like the pot calling the kettle black, you understand what I'm saying?"
Faramir watched, wide-eyed, as the brothers squabbled. He was smart enough to grasp the general idea what the argument was all about.
"Err…" the man cleared his throat to get the elves' attention. "I understand that your wife wants a baby very badly, Kel?"
"Yes. So what?" Keldarion growled back at him, irritated and slightly embarrassed to have someone else knowing about his currently fragile relationship with his wife.
"And I understand you don't want a baby? Is that it?"
"It's not that I don't want a baby. Of course, I want a baby, but it's just too soon and I…" Keldarion stopped babbling and glared at the man. "No. I won't let either one of you make me spill out my guts all over the floor. I can handle my own marital affair."
His eyes glinting furiously, Keldarion stood and left the room with a parting shot to his brother, "We are leaving for Minas Tirith in ten minutes!"
With his brother gone, Legolas let out a heavy sigh. "That stubborn idiot," he muttered, his head shaking.
Faramir couldn't help but grin. "And I thought that's what everyone likes to call you."
In spite of it all, Legolas chuckled. "We got that stubborn streak from our father, I guess. Some people even say that the three of us have a rock for our head!"
The two laughed. And then Faramir asked Legolas about his two little twin sons. "How are Linden and Hadrian?"
A benign smile appeared on Legolas' lips. "They are well the last time I saw them."
"Where are they? I can't hear them. Shouldn't they be in one of their giggling sessions at this time of a day?"
At this, the elf grimaced. "Nara took them along with her to Eryn Lasgalen."
"Why?"
"Because she doesn't trust me to care for them on my own, that's why. She's afraid that I'll let the boys play with knives and daggers or fall down the stairs or jump off the roof or whatever it was that I did when I was a wee toddler!" Legolas sounded highly frustrated. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair in one careless move.
Faramir broke up laughing. He couldn't help it. "No, I mean why did she go to Eryn Lasgalen in the first place? I know Aislinn is mad at Keldarion, but is Nara mad at you too?"
"Not exactly mad, but…" Legolas shrugged. "Well, not exactly pleased with me, either."
"How so?"
Legolas gave the man a rueful smile. "You can say that I took my brother's side in the entire matter—at first. I mean, you got to give support to your own brother, right? Besides, this is females we are talking about. Who knows what's really cooking in their cunning mind?"
"Right." Faramir nodded with a grin. He instantly thought of Éowyn, who liked to drive him crazy with her interesting moods.
"I guess that was a mistake." Legolas sighed. "As a lady, a wife and a mother, Narasene definitely felt acute empathy for Aislinn. She said that she's the only one who can understand the woman's true feelings. So she decided to stay close to her friend and give Aislinn her support. She gathered the boys and left the next day, leaving me here to deal with my brother who is fast becoming a big pain in the butt!"
"Poor you," Faramir said, amused.
"Yes, poor me. I'm a victim of the situation, I know." Then he grinned. "But I wonder how our father handles those two ladies, though?"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The thought of their wives was far from their mind when the two brothers arrived in Minas Tirith late that afternoon, right before dusk.
They were shown directly into the king's family room, where Aragorn sat at the dining table, staring gloomily at the platters of delicacies without even touching them. He had no appetite to consume his dinner, so worried he was by his son's disappearance. Even his three daughters were subdued, not behaving their usual playful self. The princesses glanced at one another, glanced at their silent father, and pulled their eyes back to their plates, looking so forlorn and lost.
Queen Arwen was no better. Her face was pale and her eyes were puffy, a sure sign that she had done a lot of crying since her only son had gone missing. But for the sake of her other children, she put on a brave face and acted the serene queen she was. She smiled and rose from her seat as the Mirkwood brothers entered.
"Legolas, Keldarion, we are very pleased that you come to visit us," she genuinely enthused, reaching out her hands to embrace both princes.
"The pleasure is all ours, milady," Keldarion responded, hugging her in return. There was a slight pang of regret in his heart when he breathed her wondrous scent for Arwen had once been his great love, a very long time ago. But now that both had gotten married to mortals and felt content with it, he was glad that things had turned out the way they were. Even though they had their own separate lives, still they remained good friends.
"Will you stop calling me that?" Arwen gently chided him. "We are family, remember?"
Then came the sound of scraping chair and footsteps thumping, followed by a high sound of a little girl shrieking, "Uncle Legolas! Uncle Legolas!"
Legolas grinned when the youngest princess of Gondor ran and flew into his arms. He caught her and swung her around. "Hello, Enelya. You look pretty in that yellow dress."
To his dismay, she broke down and cried, burying her cute little face against his neck. Legolas quickly soothed her, "There, there. What's with these tears, hmm? Why so unhappy?"
Enelya looked up and gazed at him with eyes that were identical to her mother's. "Father is sad, mommy is sad, everyone is sad, and that makes me sad. No one is smiling and laughing anymore. This is all Darion's fault. When he comes home, I'm going to kick his…"
With a loud gasp, Arwen quickly reached up and covered her daughter's mouth. "No cussing words, dear. You're a lady."
The girl pushed her mother's hand away. "But I was only trying to say that I'll kick his shin. What's so wrong with that?"
Even the glum-faced Aragorn had to smile at this. The king came forward to take his daughter from Legolas' arms. "I promise that I'll let you kick Darion's shin when he gets home, princess. But we need to find him first. Now, if you have finished your dinner, why don't you let Nessa and Elanor take you to your room so that you can play with your dolls. What say you?"
"But uncle Legolas and uncle Keldarion are here," she said after she stuck out her tongue at her two elder sisters who came closer to take her away.
"Indeed, they are. I believe they will help us find your brother, so I need to discuss many things with them."
"And when adults talk, the children should not interfere," Enelya said with a pout.
"That's right." Aragorn exchanged grins with the other adults before turning back to her youngest child. "Go on now, baby. I'll tuck you in afterwards."
Enelya gazed deeply into her father's eyes, her small hand stroking his cheek. "Don't be sad, father. Darion will come back."
Aragorn's smile slipped a little bit, his eyes tearing up.
"I believe so too, sweetheart," he softly said. "Thank you for assuring me."
After kissing Enelya's cheek, the man put the girl down into her sisters' care. The three princesses kissed their parents goodnight and left the room. At Arwen's signal, the servants also left, closing the door quietly behind them.
Aragorn turned to the elven brothers and smiled ruefully. "At least my daughters still love me."
Frowning a bit, Arwen touched her husband's arm. "Everyone loves you, my dear."
"But my only son hates me." Aragorn sighed and went to take a seat on the long couch near the hearth.
He buried his head in his hands. "Ai. Darion hates me."
TBC…