A Matter of When
Uneasy Moments Breed Trouble

Through the mischief of two Hobbits Rick discovers his family line travels further back than he could have imagined.

~~~~~~~

He had not even been gifted a single moment within the flow of time to bid her farewell. This thought loomed within the back of his mind and would surface every so often, mostly during quiet times like this. A veil of chilling night blanketed the desert to give them rest from the tireless sun and all were asleep, if not at peace. The deadly beast had not yet shown its terrible face again, but without doubt it still hunted them with the intent of making Evelyn and her unusual companions its bounty.

He was not one to contemplate what would never be. Aragorn thanked the Valar for the safety of his friends and his family, but rarely placed them in perils conjured by his mind. When they were safe, they were safe. Hypothetical worries more often damaged than offered gain. In most cases he held this policy, but one and that without his want. At times he could not evade the possibilities concerning Arwen. If only he had her wisdom to ease his troubled mind. But what would befall her if she were here? He would sooner see himself facing Sauron alone than have her leave the safety of her kin, but he could benefit from her age-old knowledge and optimistic words. Yet she would forever remain worlds and ages apart from him now, if it had been a question before. So he banished his heaviness as best he could and took comfort in the fact that she was safe in the care of her family.

But this place troubled him still and the possibility of remaining here the rest of his days fell ill upon his heart. He would have said farewell, told her to stay with her people and go live in peace, forsaking him and not her immortality, but it had been taken away without any chance of taking it back. The woe that he had been carrying penetrated even his expression this night. "Troubled?" The man across the fire had wisdom about him and the same weight upon his shoulders. He had not been given a farewell to his son.

Aragorn watched Abdul-Medjid Bay in the same way the warrior watched him. Both keen to learn what he could about the other, both recognizing an understanding of the similarities that would seal their fates as allies. This man seemed to be their hope, for without his friendship they would be against sore odds in facing the vile creature alone. The ranger nodded his head once, without care to reveal his mind in the hope that in so doing he would help convince this man that they were not the enemy, neither by choice nor ignorance. "Aye. I think on what I left undone back at home. There are those that are wise who will see my most important pledge fulfilled by another as able as I, but there are certain things a man leaves behind that no other can care for."

Abdul-Medjid seemed to understand this instinctively. "I find myself on the other side. I am one of those left behind to grieve. If you are worried about those you love, I'm sure they know." The Med-Jai rubbed his hands before the fire and looked on as the flames lapped at the air, exhaling as troubled thoughts swept through his own mind. "I know my son loved me."

His voice was calm and certain. Accepting, if touched with the revelation of sorrow. The ranger lifted his gifted water skin to his lips, drank deeply and appreciated this man's awareness of others. "You have a talent for insight, for it is indeed love that troubles me."

The warrior waved him off and inhaled, still watching that fire as if he could see his son living and breathing in its beauty. "Only because I know the feeling so well. You raise a child in the hope that some day he will be stronger, wiser and braver than you ever were or could have hoped to have been. Ardeth has a good head on his shoulders. He is impetuous sometimes and stubborn, but wise and able. Yet he's still my son. Still the boy I held in my arms twenty-five years ago."

"Twenty-five years only," Aragorn reflected, trying to remember what he had been like at that age, over a half-century ago. So few seasons, it seemed, to have your world turned upside down before you could learn to love it with the wisdom of age. Yet if he were anything like his father, perhaps purpose would find him willing and able against the tide sweeping Middle-earth. "He will be well cared for where he is. I know it is no substitute for having him with you, but you need not worry for his safety. Lord Elrond will see to that with great care."

With a nod, Bay accepted his words and glanced towards the Elf keeping watch a small span away from camp. Legolas, who had replaced his son, who the Med-Jai did not like and who Abdul-Medjid felt uncomfortable speaking with. "I hope so." It served to remind Aragorn that they had not yet won this man's esteem yet, compelling him to defend his friend.

"You know we did not do this purposefully," he tested, drawing the Med-Jai's eyes to his again. For what truth lay within him, he hoped it reflected through his gaze and that this man would see it for what it was. "You know he is not at fault and to punish him would only bring more grief. For I see you are an honorable man."

A breeze swept across them as the warrior considered that carefully and with caution. "I believe you. But I will watch."

That was enough for the ranger. Small victories would help the war. "Then I shall hope my actions prove nothing less than the sincerity of my words." Aragorn tilted his head and enjoyed the breeze as silence descended upon them once more.

Sleeping forms called to his vision from nearby, one soft pleasing vision in particular and again he found his thoughts wandering the edges of Arwen's presense. And he felt guilt. You said you would bind yourself to me, forsaking immortal life. Forsaking immortal life. Such a heavy price for his love he could not ask, nor allow to be given. It was hers to give and his right to deny it, no matter what his heart wanted for. But now he would be saved from the words he would have spoken, words he would have had to fight himself to speak, knowing the hurt he would cause. Now she would go on and think well of him. But she had deserved a chance to say good-bye and he knew that would weigh on his heart whenever he thought of her.

"Perhaps you will find a way home," Bay suggested, cutting into his troubled thoughts. Aragorn looked up into eyes that wanted to impart comfort instead of suspicion. "You will send my son to me and find the person you mourn the loss of."

The ranger nodded, though he knew that loss had taken place before his disappearance. "Perhaps."

~~~~~~~

Night upon the face of Cairo had brought the strangers within the city a few days later, unannounced and watched sharply by local law enforcement. They had been asked rather calmly to leave their horses at a stable outside the actual limits of Cairo, so the somewhat sizeable group now had the pleasure of walking into town. At least the night air was cool and calming. Evelyn folded her arms together and gave Aragorn a glance, noting how he catalogued their surroundings with great care. She wondered what contrasts he would find here opposing his own home. "What's it like where you come from?" she asked and he immediately gave her the attention of those blue eyes. Evy bit her lip.

Aragorn took an inward breath, gave the city another sweep, then smiled softly. "Much different than here. The air is as clear and soft as a spring, the horizon painted with trees and grass covering your steps. Rivendell is a beautiful place and were it possible I would take you there to see it for yourself."

"Rivendell," she repeated, tasting the word. "It sounds like you come from a forested area. Is Rivendell a big city?"

The ranger shook his head and offered an arm as they walked. With uncalled for butterflies that had no business being in her midsection as far as she was concerned, she accepted. "Rivendell is city, but not as you would call it. The dwellings within are all attached as one big home—my father's home. It is open to the woods and fair, welcoming nature instead of turning it away as these structures appear to. But it is a large home." Suddenly Cairo didn't seem so beautiful to her. She had never termed herself an 'outdoor' woman, but there was something to be said for nature's beauty. He made it sound like a dream.

So she would explore that dream verbally if not by sight. "And your father? What is he like? Is he handsome like you?"

His pleasant expression increased in flattery. "In fact he is not handsome as I, not the father in Rivendell of which I speak. He is handsome in the way Legolas is and the way all Elves are. Lord Elrond is my adoptive father, but closer to an uncle in my bloodline, by many ages."

"I don't understand."

Absently, the ranger pet her hand. "Long ago Lord Elrond had a brother, a twin called 'Elros'. By blood they were both half-elven and by that given a choice. To live as Elves or Men. Elrond chose Elves and Elros chose Men. I am a result of many generations coming from Elros, the first king of Numenor. I was very young when my blood father died and my mother took me to Rivendell. Since my second year I have called Elrond father. He carries the wisdom of nearly seven thousand years."

Evelyn brushed her hair back and swallowed that. "Seven thousand years? How old do Elves live to be exactly?"

"They never die." He smiled softly at the apparent surprise written on her features, but even still there seemed to be a certain sadness in his eyes. "Not by age. They are bound to this earth until the end while Men are freed by death and age to go where the Creator dwells. When they cannot stand the pain of this place they leave it and go to a place made for them that no Man can reach by boat. They are with their family there and live in renewed joy."

And he was born of this. Evy knit her brow, grasping the sorrowfully romantic story he had just told her. It sounded like a fairytale in its bittersweet beauty. "And you…you will live forever? Because you have Elf blood in you?"

"Nay, that is not so. I am more Man than Elf by far and so shall I ever remain." Aragorn inhaled softly and Evy wondered what it would be like to live with such age old beings, knowing one day he would fade away and be gone. But apart from a small glint of something in his mysterious eyes, he seemed untroubled. He had probably accepted his fate long ago.

She turned the group a corner with an absent direction given to the others without turning and smiled as her companion watched a car pass them by. "Truly you are not without your own wonders. My people have not yet harnessed such energies as would drive a machine without the aid of a horse. In truth I know not if the power of the Elves could do this or if they would bother with such an invention. I…"

His musings were cut short suddenly. Salih stopped their stride with a sudden revelation that put a lump in her throat. "They've gone!" Instantly all turned to face him and Evy instinctively scanned the crowed.

"Jonathan?" she called, echoed by Aragorn's concern for his own companion.

"Legolas?"

Abdul-Medjid's face clouded over as they searched the street behind them for any sign of their two missing companions. Evy let Aragorn's arm go and ran her fingers through her hair nervously with Imhotep on her mind. "Leave it to my brother to disappear," she breathed uneasily.

The Med-Jai leader frowned at the ranger beside her, anger in his keen dark eyes. "If this is some form of trickery…"

Aragorn quickly shook his head. "Nay. Legolas would never run, leaving a friend behind and I am sure neither would Jonathan."

Evy pursed her lips, still scanning the crowd. "You don't know my brother."

"Salih, Ameer, go and find them! They can't have gotten far!" Bay barked, sending the two warriors off without a beat. His black eyes glittered dangerously as he again reassessed the ranger.

"Regardless of Evelyn's brother, I know my friend would not go, knowing the dangers both I and these others are in. Least of all in a city that is alien to him." Aragorn's eyes became just as dangerous as the Med-Jai glared him down. "Have you not considered it was the treachery of the creature that hunts us that is responsible?"

Abdul-Medjid's expression remained hard, but a concession dawned in his watch. Not answering the ranger, he turned his attention upon her. "If that is so, then we should seek shelter for the Americans. The museum is across town. How far is your home?"

Evy shook her head. "Ten minutes from here? Not far."

He nodded quickly and scanned the street behind as if it would return the missing party members, then exhaled his frustration. "Tell Hamid here how to get there, then we will go there to wait. Hamid, remain here and wait for our brothers."

The younger Med-Jai nodded and looked to her for direction. She pointed east. "Take this street three blocks, turn left. Take that down two, then turn left again. It will be two houses down on the right side. White with sheer blue curtains in the window." Worry began to settle in, worry and anger at her brother. She couldn't speak for Legolas, of course, but she knew her brother exceedingly well, enough to know he could have possibly made a run for it or more likely decided to have a drink. Perhaps the Elf had noticed her brother leave and went after him.

Sensing her discomfort as Bay gave his remaining Med-Jai orders, Aragorn offered a hand to her shoulder to comfort her and she rewarded it with a wan smile. "Legolas will let no harm come to him." He sounded so firm and sure about that. She wished she could as well.

"What if harm comes to Legolas?" she asked and his surety dimmed. She mentally slapped herself for doing that to him.

But he remained true to his choice to believe otherwise, offering a soft squeeze as he turned to Bay. "Would you trust me to join the search? I have much experience with tracking and can find this location again once I begin, and from here find the home that was described. You may go with her without fear and for the protection of the others, for I give you my word I will not leave her to danger and never return. The care I have already placed on her should testify to that."

Bay took only a few seconds to consider it with eyes that gave Aragorn a promise that should be fail to keep his word there would be trouble. "Go," he said and Aragorn wasted no time in beginning the search. Evy folded her arms and watched him disappear around the corner. The Med-Jai inhaled deeply. "Come. We should take shelter. With hope we may hide for a time until we can learn how to beat the creature."

Evelyn turned back towards her home, swallowed and tried to push aside worry that it was Imhotep stalking them. You know Jonathan. He does this. Still, it bothered her. This wasn't thugs or criminals. This was something as unreal as Elves. "Do you think it was the creature?" she asked a little tensely, falling into step with the warrior at her side.

He looked down at her softly and shook his head. "I do not know. But I'll do everything in my power to protect you."

~~~~~~~

Author: Ruse – jedinineofnine@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: No infringement intended. Naseen and Salih are mine.
Feedback: Yes! By all means, my precioussss, lemme know how I'm doing!
Archive: Sure, just please let me know if you will, so I can stop by and see your site.

A/N: Sorry this has been a while, but ah…yeah. :-D Sowwy! And sorry for the mistakes last chapter. Even I'm beginning to wonder if I wasn't drunk when I wrote it! :-O

Reviewers:

TrinityTheSheDevil – Mmm…yes. Aragorn and Ardeth together. I only regret not having them paired to fight together! :-O They're so alike though…so purty and sweet and perfect. ;-) There should be more men like them! Thanks!

Sigil – Thank you muchly! :-) I'm always wondering how those characterizations go…I haven't written much LOTR, so I'm still trying to grasp the flow of it. Thanks! And I enjoyed taking a browse of your stories…if memory serves I need to go see if you updated a Star Wars story yet…hmm. Thanks!

JadeiteZ – Thanks! :-D Yeah, that would be something, seeing Rick all Gollumed out. Quite interesting…muahaha! ;-) Thanks muchly for the review!

WePo – RE: Ardeth and Aragorn meeting: I don't know…not unless I can think of a logical reason for them to. I have one, but I'm not sure if I'll do it yet…so we'll have to see. Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying!

Wellduh – Thanks! :-D

Lady Foxfire – Not sure…Rick doesn't have the concern over honor Boromir does, and that may or may not be helpful in terms of what sort of mentality it takes to fall for the Ring. Muahaha! ;-) Thanks!

Mommints – Thanks, my friend! I'm happy you're enjoying this…this is one of the harder ones I've written. :-O As for what's wrong with Ardeth, well, hehehe. Hmmm, what is wrong with Ardeth? ;-) That shall be explained in further chapters…I've been doing my LOTR research! :-D Thanks for the review and whenever you want to toss around scenes, I'm up for it. Just lemme know what, where, how and if Ardeth's nekked. ;-)

Lula – Hehe…glad you've caught up and thought it good enough to bother! :-D As for Ardeth, he's in a spot of trouble…can't say how bad or for how long this will bother him though. ;-) You'll see if you stick around. :-D As for Ardeth's father, I like to picture him as a tenser, seasoned Ardeth. Mmmm. One can never get enough of the Bay men. ;-) Thank you so much for your compliments! They mean a bunch!

Patty – I'll be continuing this one until it's done…it gets the most reviews, I'd be nuts not to! ;-) It's just harder sometimes, meshing and writing so many characters. :-O Yes, the Bilbo bit was from the book. He did offer, but was too old to take such a heavy burden. Interesting, the changes from book to movie, eh? As for worry about Ardeth…perhaps a bit. And Ardeth/Arwen? An interesting idea! I think they would be good for each other, given he's so like Aragorn…she's a quiet, optimistic soul that would do Ardeth good after a fight. Thanks!

Karri – Hehe…yeah, never put it past Jonathan to get into trouble and I think Legolas has a bit of a mischievous nature himself, at least as characterized in the movies. Loved his banter with Gimli. ;-) Anyway, thanks for the reviews, my friend! :-D I'm glad you're enjoying this.

Marcher – Thankie! I'm glad you liked the part with Rick and Frodo…you're the Rickybug expert! Thanks for sticking with the story! :-D

Deana – Something wrong with Ardeth…you mean apart from the obvious? ;-D Aye, something's wrong. Poor guy…I just can't not hurt that boy! ;-) Thanks!