Chapter 23: The passing of winter

Dúniel became worried when Arash didn't come to see her that night, and even more worried when he neglected to show up for breakfast.

"Eldarion, I must go and see him, make sure he's alright!" She whispered as they left the hall.

Eldarion sighed heavily, but looked at her fondly none the less.

"The things I do for you." He said quietly, grinning slightly. "Come on then."

It was hard to keep up with Dúniel, who was walking as fast as most people jog. Once they reached Arash's door, she beat and called relentlessly on the wood until she heard his voice on the other side.

"Dúniel, please, you are making enough noise to wake the dead." His voice was cracked from sleep.

"Arash, please let me in." She said gently.

"No. I am ashamed of how I acted last night, and I don't wish you to see me like this."

"Arash!" Eldarion now spoke, very firmly. "Open the door now, or so help me I'll cut it down." There was silence.

"You could've told me you brought your brother." He said quietly, and opened the door.

He'd clearly not had much sleep, his short hair was tousled and his shirt hung loosely from his muscular frame. It took Dúniel a moment to realise she was almost drooling.

"That shouldn't make any difference." She said irritably, hating how gorgeous he looked.

He smiled a little.

"I'm a man, Dúniel. I don't like to ask for help, or have it offered. Surely you can understand that?"

"I'm not a man, am I?" She said, but grinned a little. "Are you going to let us in or not?"

Arash stood back and held the door open, allowing the siblings to enter his room. They glanced around at the mess - he'd clearly been very angry upon his return to his room, and taken it out on anything he could find. Arash coughed, deeply embarrassed, and pulled some clothes off his chair by the fireplace, gesturing for Dúniel to sit down.

"Do you want some help?" She asked as he attempted to clean up.

He shook his head. Eldarion realised that nothing would be said while he was there.

"I'm going to talk to the guards for a bit, alright?" He said.

Dúniel smiled her thanks and nodded. Eldarion left the room and closed the door over, but didn't shut it completely - he was no fool. Arash sighed heavily, and turned to Dúniel, who took his arm and pulled him into a gentle hug.

"Arash, I'm so sorry." She whispered, stroking his hair.

He pulled back slightly, shaking his head.

"It's not your fault, my dear princess. It's just...hard. That violin is the only thing I have that reminds me of her, the only family I had, and to hear that it was broken...it was like loosing her again." He sat on the edge of his bed. "But at the same time it was a relief. It was like, letting her go or moving on or something. I felt so bad when I felt that..." He looked up at her and took her hand. "I've lived in the past for such a long time, and now I have a future it's hard to grasp that too."

"Then I shall have to hold onto you even more tightly." She said, sitting beside him and kissing his cheek.

He smiled and rested his head on her shoulder.

"What did I do to deserve you?"

"Don't ask me. I'm in it for the snogs." Arash sat up, looking shocked, then smiled broadly.

"Why you little-" He reached forward and started tickling her ribs.

"No, no!" She laughed, trying to stop him but laughing too hard to put up any sort of fight. "No, stop-"

They both jumped when Eldarion burst into the room, sword drawn and eyes blazing. He seemed very confused when he saw Arash wasn't doing anything horrible to his sister, and scowled when she started laughing harder, falling back onto the mattress.

"Sorry." Arash said, grinning. "I discovered she's ticklish..."

"I see." Eldarion sheathed his sword, and helped his sister to her feet, which was difficult. She could barely stand she was laughing so hard. "Why don't you go outside and calm down. I need a word with Arash."

A flicker of fear appeared in her eyes, and her giggles started to die, but she nodded when Eldarion winked reassuringly at her and left the room, trying to breathe. Eldarion then turned and stalked up to Arash, who looked extremely taken aback by the sharpness in the prince's eyes.

"You and I need to have a talk about my sister." He said quietly. Eldarion was impressed when Arash stood and met his gaze.

"Go on then. What do you want to say?"

"Dúniel and I are very close. I'm sure you know that. I asked her just how close you two have become, and she told me." Arash went white, and glanced at the doorway.

"She told you..." He managed, bravely standing his ground.

"I told her I would keep your secret, so you need not worry about repercussions for either of you. I owe her. Besides, she is my sister and I love to see her happy." He suddenly grabbed Arash's arm tightly. "But I swere on my life, if you hurt her, if she comes crying to me one day, you will beg for death before I'm finished with you." His voice had lowered to a menacing hiss as he finished his threat.

"I have no desire to hurt her." Arash said angrily.

Eldarion released the Harad and nodded.

"Then we do not have any trouble." Eldarion seemed to shrink a little. "Take care of her."

"I will. I swere it." Eldarion held out his hand, and Arash gripped his forearm strongly. Eldarion returned the pressure, grinning.

"Good. Now once you've finished cleaning up, come join us for lunch, or face Dúniel's wrath." Arash grinned and nodded.

"If I'm late, distract her." Arash said, shaking his head slightly in amusement.

Dúniel sighed heavily as she dressed for bed. Arash had come to lunch and dinner, but had been very quiet. She'd told him he could talk to her, and he'd gotten annoyed, snapping that he was fine. He'd apologised afterwards, but it still hurt that he didn't want to talk. What good was a relationship if he couldn't trust her? Dúniel knew she was probably reading into things too much, but was too irritable to care. She got into bed and was just dozing off when she heard someone scrabbling at her balcony. She sat up and twisted, the dagger she kept hidden under her mattress in her hand. She could see a tall silhouette on her balcony.

"I haven't been that dreadful to you, have I?" She sighed heavily and collapsed back against the wall as Arash moved into her room, closing the window to keep out the cold.

"You scared me to death!" She said furiously, turning and replacing the dagger. "What are you doing here? We can't make love here, Miniual is on the other side of this wall." She gestured to the wall behind her. Arash looked slightly disappointed, but then smiled.

"That's alright. We can just talk, and sleep."

"Talk?" She repeated. He sat at the foot of her bed and nodded. "Well, go and lock my door first, will you?"

He disappeared into the other room, and Dúniel quickly tried to make herself a little more presentable, smoothing back her plaited hair and twitching the neck line of her nightdress a little lower. Arash returned quickly and, to her irritation, didn't even notice her efforts.

Bloody men, she grumbled to herself.

He sat by her bent legs, rubbing them gently as he kicked off his boots.

"I'm sorry I've been out of sorts today."

"I know." She said, watching him strip to his breeches. She reached out and let her fingers trace the muscles on his arm.

Arash grinned softly and rested an arm on her knees, laying his head on his arm.

"Did you tell your mother?" Dúniel nodded.

"And Eldarion. I'm sorry, but I owe him." Arash smiled.

"Don't be sorry. I know that having your families support will be a great help."

"Do you still trust me?"

"Of course I trust you, Dúniel. And I'm sorry I bit your head off, I just find some things hard to talk about, hard to explain. Surely you can understand that." Dúniel sighed heavily, stroking his hair affectionately.

"Yes. But I don't appreciate being snapped at."

"I know. I'm sorry." Dúniel smiled and pulled her bed sheets back.

Arash crawled over her bed and slid in beside her, making her giggle as he pulled her down into his arms. They kissed happily for a long time, then drew away to hug one another happily.

"Dúniel?"

"Mmm?"

"I never told you what I was going to say."

She pulled back slightly so she could see his face and smiled tiredly.

"What were you going to say?" He smiled nervously.

"I love you."

It took a moment for it to register what he'd said, and when the words hit her brain she nearly asked him to repeat himself, sure she'd misheard. Dúniel was not even aware she was crying.

"You..." She managed after a moment, then suddenly laughed happily. "Oh Arash, I love you too!" Arash smiled broadly, and wiped her happy tears off her cheeks.

"You do? Truly?" He whispered. "I've waited such a long time for someone..."

Dúniel darted forward and kissed him hard then pulled back, now sobbing with joy. Arash held her tightly, feeling his own tears sliding down his nose.

"I'm so happy, Arash." Dúniel whispered. "I love you so much." Arash kissed her hair gently."

"I love you too. I could never love another." They kissed and wept happily for a long time, but eventually sleep took them.

The winter passed slowly, and the love Dúniel and Arash shared grew and grew. It was disturbingly easy to hide that they were sleeping together, but they could not hide their obvious love.

Mazid was proving to be as difficult as usual, and even when Canion finally cracked and spilled the beans, he flatly refused to come clean. Occasionally, Arash and Aragorn would meet, where the king would put questions to the younger man. Sometimes Arash could provide an answer, but his knowledge was growing less and less helpful. But a good thing came from this - Aragorn now trusted Arash once more. Dúniel loved that she had her mother and brother to talk to about her relationship, and loved that Arash could easily talk to her about his past now, as she did to him.

In the last week of official winter approached it's end, Dúniel watched as a soldier who'd, from his pungent smell and dirty appearance, clearly ridden hard to reach Minas Tirith with a message for the King. She was sitting with her family in one of the antechambers near her parents room, holding the growing baby Lothuial in her arms. Arash was in the stables, receiving an ear full from the horse master. Truenos had apparently gotten one of his prize mares pregnant. Aragorn nodded as the soldier bowed before him.

"Did you get my letter to Harad?" Aragorn asked, gesturing the tired soldier to sit and drink.

"Thank you, Tar-Elessar. Yes, I did indeed. The Prince has sent his personal representative and four guards. They will be here in two days." Aragorn looked stunned.

"How was his mood?" Aragorn asked quietly, aware his wife and children were listening.

"He was furious at what Mazid did, but he has no desire to ride to war. He sent a true ambassador to sort this out." Aragorn looked relieved.

"Well done. Thank you for your hard work. You shall be greatly rewarded." The soldier stood and bowed.

"Thank you, Tar-Elessar, but the only reward I desire is to see my wife. If I may take my leave?"

"Of course. Thank you once more." The soldier left the room.

Aragorn sighed heavily, and Arwen moved over to him, squeezing his shoulders.

"At least it looks like there will be no war."

"Yes." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Dúniel, poke your head outside and see if there's a servant outside, will you? I need to get those rooms prepared."

Dúniel stood and called in a maid, who soon left with Aragorn's orders frothing through her mind. They would be staying in the rooms Mazid and his guards had been in.

"Do you want me to go tell Arash?" She asked her father, trying to disentangle Lothuial's fingers from her hair.

"Thank you, love, that'll be one less thing to worry about. He might be glad to see some of his own folk."

Dúniel handed the baby to her mother and, shadowed by her ever present guards, made her way to the stables, where Arash was cautiously stroking Truenos.

"Arash?" Dúniel called, gesturing for the guards to give her some space. He looked up and smiled."How's your ears?"

"I think I'll be slightly deaf for the next week." He grumbled. "Not my fault Truenos was feeling frisky. Spring is coming."

"Ah, so that would explain your behaviour for the past few weeks." She teased. He laughed and took her hand gently. "Arash, the guard who sent Ada's letter returned. A real ambassador is coming with a few guards." Arash looked worried.

"What if I have to go back?" He said quietly.

"I won't let you." Dúniel said determindly. "And if they make you go, I'm following you." Arash shook his head.

"You will be killed."

"I don't care. I'm not letting you go." He smiled slightly.

"I love you so much." Arash said quietly, holding her cheek. "Alright, I can't worry about this yet. When will they be here?"

"About two days."

"Two days?" He sighed heavily and muttered a curse in Haradric. "Very well. We'll just have to wait and see what happens." She nodded, squeezing his hand.

The two days passed quickly, and the five riders walked into Minas Tirith heavily cloaked and hooded. Their horses were lead away, and the men were directed to Aragorn's study, where the leader was allowed entrance.

"Welcome, ambassador." Aragorn said politely.

The leader bowed, then lowered his hood. Aragorn gasped in absolute shock as the Prince of Harad smiled at him.

"Thank you for the gracious welcome, Tar-Elessar."

omg a surprise for aragorn! and a filler chapter for everyone! hope you like :D thanks to all who read and review!