Chapter 2
First Words
"No sweetie, don't touch that!"
Aurora quickly grabbed the small bottle that her two-year-old son was holding and put it on a higher shelf where he could not reach it.
He stared at her for another moment before walking over to his corner where some of his toys and picture books sat. She smiled and went back to crushing the herbs as she had been before.
People often told her that she should not allow Gabe to come with her to work whenever he didn't feel like staying with her in-laws for the day. There were days were he would just cry and scream when she was about to leave and wouldn't stop unless he went with her. It was not as though anyone in the Houses of Healing minded when she brought him with her. He was a very well behaved and stayed where she told him to until told otherwise. So that wasn't the problem. It seemed (to most everyone except her) that the problem was that if she allowed him to come with her whenever he needed or wanted, then he would either become too dependent on her, or disrupt everyone at wok.
She didn't think that either of those things were a problem. If Gabe were dependent on her then he would have to have more of her attention during the day and need her to help him do everything. This never happened. He literally sat in a corner and looked at his picture books or played with his small toys. As long as he was with her or knew where she was, then he was fine. And he never disturbed anyone, as he was always so quiet. Besides, Aurora thought, it wasn't anyone's business how she chose to raise her sons, and if they did care enough to gossip about it, then they could just stick their noses up their own-
"Aurora!"
Aurora looked up from the herbs that she had been mixing to see her friend and fellow healer, Adrienne, talking to her.
She smiled at the slightly older woman. "Hello Adrienne, I haven't seen you this morning. Where have you been?"
Adrienne was only a year or two older than Aurora. She was the daughter of a nobleman and had ended up marrying someone of her same status, unlike Aurora, who had married above her status. In any case, the two of them had been friends since they had met through their husbands, who had served in the guard together. Although Adrienne's husband was lucky enough to have survived Pelennor.
Adrienne was a short woman with dark hair, like all Gondorians. She had been healing since she first could walk, and had as much experience as a woman of 70 years, where as Adrienne was only nearly 30. (Aurora herself was almost 28) She was also slender and, Aurora thought in a jealous manner, she did not have the extra weight that bearing 4 sons brought. Not that Aurora was fat, or even that plump for that matter, but she wasn't as thin as Adrienne either.
"I was off helping her majesty. Seems she hasn't been feeling too well lately."
Aurora's face fell. "Oh, that's horrible, do you know what's the matter?
Adrienne shook her head. "No, I was just going to fetch Ana and talk to her about it. Then we'll probably go see the Queen again after she has lunch."
"Well," Aurora said, beginning to clean up so she and Gabe could go eat lunch, "Tell me how it turns out, alright? I must confess, I do adore the Queen as she is so kind, and it would be awful if something should happen to her."
Adrienne nodded. "Well, then I'll see you later." She gave a small wave to Gabe, who smiled shyly back, and walked out of the room.
"Alright Gabe," Aurora said, turning to put some herbs on a shelf. "I'll just finish up so we can-Gabe?" She had turned around to find that the room was empty and Gabe was no where in sight.
She listened hard for a moment and then heard a giggle outside the room down the hallway a ways. She sighed in frustration. Even her youngest was as mischievous as possible.
She walked out of the room and looked down the hall to see the ends of her youngest's clothing disappearing around the corner. She sighed again and began to walk quickly after him. After all, how far could one two-year-old get?
Now, she would have been correct in this assumption if she had known that it would have been hard for her to catch up. You see, because Aurora was so bent on catching up with her son, she had not been watching where she was going (and because there was so many things for the servants to do) she ran into people-several times. People who were carrying laundry, dishes, (that broke) trays of food, (that spilled) and other random items that one would not expect to be carried around in the palace of Minas Tirith. Thus, our young Gabriel was able to get far ahead of his mother and sneak into a room that would have made his mother cry in horror had she known where he went.
Aragorn knew that Arwen had not been feeling well. He had tried to make her rest and eat a quiet breakfast in their rooms instead of eating in the dinning hall. But, Arwen, not wanting to miss a second of time with her brothers, insisted she was fine and came to lunch anyway. To any old on looker, she looked fine. But to Aragorn, she looked tired. Really tired. He sighed softly; he would just have to speak with her later.
He looked up to find that Arwen, Elladan, and Elrohir were all staring at him.
"Yes?" He said, feeling slightly embarrassed that he had been so lost in thought that he had not even paid attention to the conversation going on around him.
"I just asked if it would be possible that you could escape your duties for a day to go on a friendly hunting trip." Elladan said, glancing at his twin.
"Oh." Aragorn blinked and then grinned good-naturedly. "Well I suppose I could, but you would have to make sure that it is worth my while and not another trip where I get twice as more game than you do." He sighed dramatically and turned to Arwen. "It gets boring after a while, besting your brothers at hunting."
"I'm sure it does." Arwen said dryly.
Elladan had been about to reply when the doors of the dinning room slowly opened, creating a loud creaking noise. The four adults all looked at each other and then back at the door. They watched half-curious and half amused as small young looking boy slowly toddled through the door.
He suddenly looked up, no longer watching his feet to make sure that he didn't trip over them. His eyes widened, realizing that there were other people in the room and that he didn't know any of them.
"Gabe?" Elrohir said, immediately identifying the boy he had met only a few days ago.
"You know him?" Aragorn questioned.
"He was one of the boys from the family I spent the day with a few days ago, the one that I told you about."
Aragorn and Arwen nodded, Elladan merely looked back at the boy. "Well, you had better talk to him or something, he looks as though he will cry at any moment."
It was true. While Elrohir had been speaking Gabe's lower lip had begun to tremble and his eyes were welling up with unshed tears. Elrohir noticed this after his brother made the observation and quickly stood and walked over to where Gabe was and sat on his haunches in front of him.
Gabe's face split into a huge grin, realizing that he did know someone else in the room
"Ro'!" He cried happily and looked over at Aragorn, Arwen, and Elladan, grinning excitedly. "Ro'!"
Elrohir smiled and nodded. "Yes, Ro'." He picked Gabe up and walked back over to the table. "Gabe," He said carefully. "Do you know where Mommy is?"
Gabe seemed to think about it for a moment and then, fully understanding what "Ro'" was asking him, took on a look of a child who is about to scream. He turned wildly from where he sat in Elrohir's arms, looking around to see if he could find his mother.
He couldn't.
Gabe looked from Elrohir, to Aragorn, to Arwen, to Elladan, and then back to Elrohir. His lower lip trembled again and then he began to scream adn cry loudly, waving his arms through the air.
Almost immediately, Aurora herself bolted through the big wooden doors, looking around wildly. "Gabe!" She cried, running forward and taking him out of Elrohir's arms, barely noticing him. (Elrohir that is)
Gabe's wailing became softer as Aurora gently rocked him, whispering soothing words in his ear, assuring him that she was here and he would be all right.
Finally it seemed, Aurora noticed that her King and Queen and two of the most esteemed lords in Middle Earth were all watching her with amused smiles.
Her eyes widened. "My apologies, majesties, my lords. I must have turned my back for one second-"
"No need to apologize." Elrohir interrupted. "It is natural for a young boys to be curious. Especially about what's behind a big as door as that." Aragorn and his siblings nodded so he went on, "I think once he satisfied his curiosity, he realized he didn't know where he was or who he was with, he got scared and started to cry."
"Which caused me to find him quick enough." She smiled and nodded to them. She paused. "I thank you for understanding this...incident so well. But I will leave you all to your lunch." She gave the best bow she could while carrying Gabe. "Good day highness, your majesties, my lords."
"Good day." Aragorn replied.
Elrohir sat back down as Aurora walked away, regretting that he wouldn't be able to talk to her like he had been able to do a few days ago. Mostly because he didn't know when he was going to see or talk to her again. But just as she was about to open the door, Gabe began to struggle in her arms.
"Gabe? What do you want?" She asked him as he tried to slide through his arms. "Do you want down?" She put him down for a moment, to see what he would do.
As soon as his feet touched the floor, he ran (or a toddler's equivalent to running) over to Elrohir and began to tug at his tunic. "Ro'!"
Aurora hurried over and scooped her son up. "I'm sorry, he-" she stopped short. "Gabriel, what did you just say?"
"'Ro!" he repeated, grinning. "'Ro!"
"He spoke!" Aurora said excitedly. "He said something. He-" she blushed. "I'm sorry, it's just he's never said anything, even with his age, and- and-"
"There is no need to feel embarrassed." Arwen said, smiling. "A child's fist word should be celebrated."
"Yes, I suppose it should." Aurora said, while Gabe began to struggle again, reaching towards Elrohir. "I think he wants you to hold him."
"Oh, alright." Elrohir stood and took Gabe from Aurora's arms. Gabe smiled happily, content to sit there and began fiddling with the folds of Elrohir's tunic.
"The boys will be happy to know Gabe has started talking." Aurora continued, her face still shinning.
"You have other sons?" Elladan asked, feeling curious.
"Uh, yes. Three others." She said quietly. Some people thought it odd that she had four sons, most families had one or two children. She had four. Sons. That in itself was shocking, as it said something about her and her husband. (If you think about it)
"I would love to meet them sometime." Arwen said.
"Y-y-you would?" Aurora stuttered.
Arwen nodded, and even Elladan found himself nodding, curious about this woman who had seemed (to him) to capture his brothers attention so easily. From the first day when Elrohir had met Aurora and her boys, he had talked of them to Elladan every day. He felt like he had met them instead of Elrohir.
"Oh...well that's very...kind of you."
"So it's settled then. We will arrange a day for you and your sons to dine with us."
Aurora kept a smile on her face, but on the inside, her mouth was wide with horror. She was going to have to take her sons to the Palace of the White City and dine with the King and Queen of Gondor and the Kings brothers. She nearly collapsed with nervousness. It had started out as a nice quiet day. But Gabe had to sneak off and turn it into one of the most stressful days of her life.
She was so preoccupied with these thoughts that she didn't even realizes that her youngest sons first word was the abbreviated name for the Elf sitting next to her.
A/N: Sorry about the horrendously long wait. I promise I'll try to be quicker, but you know vacation and all that jazz. Sigh. Anyway. Time for the thank yous...
Psalm 136- Thanks for the review! I have to admit, a lot of this was on a whim and I'm not sure what's going to happen to our heroes, but I have some fun stuff planned.
Hyuuga Sakura- This probably wasn't a fast enough update but oh well, I know you'll just bug me for the next one.
T- Thanks!
Cierah- Thanks for the compliment. It was nice to see that one of my favorite authors reviewed another one of my twin stories. Cuz we all know the twins rock!
loveroflegolas- It's cool to know your story is unusual. Thanks for the review!
BURN THE R.U.M- Technically I don't have to do this, cuz I see you more often than not. But I will anyway. Too bad the second chapter took longer than the first. Anyway, thanks for the review!
