Chapter Three: And Pockets of Sunshine

Chubby, toddler hands reached for the window, through which mid-morning sunlight was pouring. A soft giggle escaped the toddler's mouth, reaching her seven year old brother, who lay on his back in the middle of the bedroom with his eyes closed. The young boy opened his eyes and looked at his little sister. She was grabbing at the sunlight, as if trying to catch it.

"Ioreth." He called as he sat up. "What are you doing?" Ioreth looked over her shoulder at her brother and offered him a playful smile.

"Tryin' to catch da sunshine." She replied. The boy smiled and got to his feet. He dusted his brown pants off before speaking.

"You need a special net to catch the sunshine." He informed his sister. Ioreth frowned, her eyes full of confusion.

"What kinda net, Eldawion?" She asked. Eldarion held out his hand. Ioreth got to her feet and walked over to her brother. She took his hand and looked up at him curiously.

"We're going to go find it. And then we can catch the sunshine and put it in our pockets so we can show it to Ada and Naneth." Eldarion told her. "Okay?" Ioreth nodded her approval and allowed her brother to gently lead her from the bedroom.

"Where's da net, El?" Ioreth asked. Eldarion thought for a moment. Where could they find something that could pass for a net? "El?" Perhaps Elboron might give them a hand?

"Elboron will know where it is." Eldarion replied. Ioreth grinned at the mention of their friend. She was very fond of Elboron and could always count on him to play with her when Eldarion was less reliable in that area. It was for that reason that Eldarion had decided to look for Elboron. Elboron was creative and would, most likely, know where they would find something that could pass for a net.

And Eldarion was right, for as soon as they found Elboron in the library, surrounded by more books than Eldarion cared to count, the young boy was pulling them towards his room.

"I'm so glad you asked." Elboron told them as they neared his room. "I've been waiting so long for a chance to use it. It was just gathering dust, you know, until I decided to use it for a blanket. And it makes a very good blanket. I didn't think it would."

"What makes a good banklet?" Ioreth asked. Elboron grinned. They had reached his room.

"The sunshine net." Elboron replied as he opened the door. And that was when Eldarion's eyes fell on the white, tattered blanket folded neatly on the end of the made bed. A small smile graced the boy's features and Elboron, catching his friend's eye, smiled too. Eldarion had given him the blanket for his fifth birthday, a year before Ioreth was born. The blanket had gone everywhere with Elboron, even to school. Of course, as Elboron had gotten older, the blanket had stayed behind a good deal of the time. But the years had been hard on the blanket, and now it was stained, torn, and threadbare.

"I don't see it." Ioreth remarked. Eldarion knelt down next to his sister.

"Why, it's there." He said as he pointed to the blanket. "That old thing. It's been in Elboron's family for a very long time."

"How long?" Ioreth asked, looking up at her brother with curious eyes.

"Oh, I don't know. But it's older than uncle Legolas." Eldarion replied as he stood.

"Uncle Leggy is old as Gondor." Ioreth stated.

"No, he's even older than that." Elboron replied before hurrying inside the room to retrieve the blanket. "He's ancient." Eldarion chuckled. He could only imagine the looks they would be receiving from his Ada, a good friend of Legolas, if he heard the comments about Legolas's age.

Once the children had retrieved the "net," they hurried out to the courtyard.

"Where do we put it?" Eldarion asked, not aware of the fact that the guards by the large double doors were watching them with small smiles on their faces. Elboron looked around for a moment.

'Ha!" He said suddenly. "There, by the white tree,"

"Why there?" Ioreth asked. Eldarion knelt down next to his sister.

"Well, you see, Reth, the white tree will help us catch the sunshine. As the sunshine comes down, the white tree will catch it for us and throw it into the net," He explained.

"Oh," Ioreth replied. She fully believed that her big brother was telling the truth. Eldarion grinned and ruffled his little sister's hair before leading her over to Elboron, who had begun to lay the blanket out on the hot stone ground.

"Now, we wait," Elboron said as soon as he had finished.

"Let's go play hide and seek while we're waiting. How about it, Reth?" Eldarion suggested. Ioreth nodded enthusiastically before hurrying over to Elboron. Eldarion noticed that his friend looked to be thinking about not playing with them.

"You gonna' help me hide like las' time, Elby?" Ioreth asked, looking imploringly up at Elboron. One look at Ioreth was enough to convince Elboron to forget about the library for a while and he nodded.

"Yippee!" Ioreth exclaimed. She then pulled Elboron out of the courtyard and down into the city. Eldarion sighed and shook his head in amusement before covering his eyes.

"One, two, three..."

-0-0-0-

The children returned to their sunshine net around dinner time. Eldarion and Elboron had been very surprised that they had been able to keep Ioreth preoccupied for as long as they had, as they had expected the little girl to constantly ask them if they had enough sunshine yet. But she had not, and that's what surprised them.

They scooped up the invisible sunshine and put it into their pockets. Once they had done that, Elboron helped Ioreth shake the remaining sunshine out of the blanket before they hurried inside for dinner. They found their parents in the Great Hall, laughing about something they found funny. Eldarion wanted to ask what they were laughing about, but before he could, Ioreth ran over to them, shouting: "Ada! Ada! We got sunshine!" Eldarion looked over at Elboron and put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Thanks, El," Eldarion said. "We appreciate it,"

"No problem," Elboron replied with a smile. "I had fun,"

"So, is the sunshine still invisible?" Eldarion inquired softly. Elboron groaned and rubbed a hand over his eyes.

"I told her it wouldn't be," He replied, his voice just as soft.

"Let's show Ada our sunshine!" Ioreth said loudly when the boys reached them. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of...

... nothing. The smile fell off of Ioreth's face in less than a second. Elboron took note of this and immediately thought up a response. He reached into his pocket, gesturing for Eldarion to do the same, and when they took their hands out of their pockets, Elboron said:

"Oh, no. I was afraid of that. Sometimes, when sunshine is brought inside, it disappears,"

"Oh," Ioreth said. She was obviously disappointed.

"But that's alright," Eldarion told her. "There will be plenty of sunshine tomorrow, I'm sure," Ioreth nodded, but did not cheer up. Eldarion bit his lip worriedly. How was he going to cheer his sister up? He looked to his naneth for help. Arwen took Ioreth in her arms and carried her over to the table.

"Why don't you draw me a picture of the sunshine, instead, sweetheart," She suggested. "I'm sure that would be lovely," Eldarion saw his sister smile and nod enthusiastically. He relaxed, glad that his sister was no longer sad.