Disclaimer: All recognizable events, places, and characters belong to J.R.R. Tolkien and possibly New Line Cinema. I am not profiting from this fanfiction, it is written purely for my own enjoyment and that of any who read it.

A/N: I guess we found out what happens when I don't set a deadline for myself. Sorry about that; I've been buried up to my neck in various linguistics lessons, namely Quenya and Sindarin, because my current grasp on Elvish is pitiful, and my new fic "Never Let Go" will require quite a bit of Elvish in future chapters, and probably Black Speech. I don't want to screw it up like I undoubtedly did with the minimal Elvish in LOH. But, unfortunately, a side effect of reading about the different verb forms and sentence structures is the loss of creativity. This chapter is fairly straight forward, but I had a lot of trouble with it. I hope the final product isn't too unsatisfactory.

Thanks to iccle fairy for reviewing the previous chapter! :) Your words are definitely appreciated.

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Arwen stiffened suddenly at Aragorn's side, and he looked over at her in alarm, and then followed her gaze to the chair where Eldarion sat - or rather, had sat. The chair now stood empty, as did the smaller one next to it.

"Man sad nan Eldarion?" she whispered, and as she looked to Aragorn, fear blossomed over her fair features.

Silence fell like a heavy anvil over the room for a split second, and then the company sprang into action. The guards rose as one, and Daurin could be heard cursing vehemently at everything that moved. Sam and Rosie appeared to be in shock, both staring blankly at their daughter's empty chair. Arwen looked as though she were holding back tears. Aragorn seemed strangely calm, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the guards, some of whom shot their King looks that clearly conveyed their questions about their lord's sanity.

"Hold." his voice cut through the commotion easily. Gradually, the soldiers ceased their preparations.

"My lord, your son has disappeared from underneath all of our noses. Are we not going to look for him?" Captain Daurin asked in disbelief.

"We will look for Elanor and Eldarion, but I would like to remind everyone that this is certainly not the first time that Eldarion has done something like this. Do you remember the first time he tried something like this, Captain?" he asked, amusement thinly concealed in his voice.

The broad-shouldered man smiled. "Of course. Even at four, he had the whole court in a panic."

"Much like he has just accomplished here. But he has played this trick too many times now to evade detection. I may have been teaching him to find suitable hiding places in various terrains, but there is one thing I have avoided teaching him yet. He has not yet learned how to cover his tracks, and he will be very easy to find in the forest. This is the Shire, not Mordor or even Ered Nimrais. There is no danger here. The children could not have gone far, because we were just speaking to Eldarion a few minutes before he disappeared."

Aragorn's calm words had a noticable effect; the soldiers appeared to be much more at ease, and Sam and Rosie looked less panicked.

"However," he continued, "we should still find them with all haste, because if I know my son at all, he'll have found some sort of trouble or undesirable creature, even in these woods."

With that, he stood and helped Arwen to her own feet, and beckoned to Sam and his wife.

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Two sets of child-sized footsteps were clearly visible upon the damp forest floor, and Aragorn, leading the search party, moved swiftly as he followed the trail. He cleared the way for the others as he went, because with such a large party, he did not want to let anyone fall behind.

Before an hour had passed, Aragorn began spending more time examining the tracks, his brows drawing together ever so slightly. Arwen noticed his manner change, and drew him aside for a moment.

"Is there something amiss?" she whispered.

"Nay, Arwen. Elanor's tracks simply are heavier now than they were at the beginning of the trail. It appears she began to tire here, and so perhaps we will find them ere long; I do not think Eldarion would lead his new friend on when she grew weary."

"Ah, that is welcome news. Shall I inform our friends?"

"Please."

Arwen made to move away, but then hesitated and turned back, lowering her voice even further.

"Aragorn. You managed to convince the others of the triviality of this situation, but I know you too well, and I am not so easily fooled. You are worried."

The man sighed, taking her hand in his own and drawing circles upon the back of her wrist with his thumb. A long pause punctuated her statement. When at last he answered, strain was evident in his voice.

"Aye. He may have done this before, but he does not know these woods like he does the land around Minas Tirith. Many of the hobbits hunt here, and I fear he may step into a trap. Elanor is familiar with these trees, but that still does not eliminate the risk of an accident."

Arwen's eyes widened slightly as she contemplated the new danger.

"Surely the folk of the Shire don't hunt creatures larger than rabbits, though?" she started hesitantly. "Perhaps, if a trap is a hazard, the trap will not be large enough to do serious damage."

Aragorn smiled. "We can only hope. Now, let's be on our way before our son has a chance to find trouble."

He watched as his wife relayed the news to Sam and Rosie, and was rewarded by their relieved smiles. He turned and continued the search, following the double trail of footprints with ease. A slapping sound and grunt of pain reached his ears and he looked over his shoulder in curiousity, noting the situation with a barely concealed grin. One of his younger guards had misjudged the height of a rather large tree branch, and had recieved an equally large bump on his forehead to show for it.

"Would you like me to take a look at that when we return to Bag End, Gwylnim?" he called to the injured party.

Several seconds of hesitant silence preceded the soldier's response.

"If it is not too much trouble, my lord, I would appreciate that. I fear the blow has broken skin, and if infection should set in, I will be of no use to Gondor."

"Excellent."

The company continued on for some distance, Aragorn paying close attention to each print in the damp earth. He paused and knelt beside a small group of tracks, tracing the edges of one with a fingertip.

"They began running a short while back." he murmured for the benefit of the people gathering behind him. "Here, it appeared they stopped to talk, and were restless - both shifted their weight numerous times." He gestured to the print he had traced; it was overlapped and surrounded by others identical in size and texture.

"What does that mean? Could they have been chased by - by something?" Rosie asked, her quiet voice heard for the first time since the group had entered the woods.

Aragorn opened his mouth to reply, but paused to raise a questioning eyebrow at Arwen, who had suddenly tilted her head towards the trees in front of her husband.

"I hear swords." she whispered tersely. Aragorn rose swiftly, his jawline hard, and drew Andúril from its scabbard with a resounding ring, accompanied by similiar sounds from the each of the guards' swords, as well as Sam's hunting knife.

"Lead the way."

Arwen flitted through the trees, flanked by Aragorn. As they ran, Aragorn's ears too could soon discern the clash of steel against steel, so terribly out of place amid the songs of sparrows and larks.

His grip on the hilt of his sword tightened even further, the bones of his knuckles visible through the taut skin.

King and Queen lengthened their strides even further as the sounds drew closer. Finally, they broke through the last of the impeding trees and shrubs, ready to fight whatever being dared threaten their son.

They both abruptly halted in amazement, dumbstruck as they surveyed the figures before their eyes.

Two tiny children appeared to be locked in combat near the center of the small clearing, oblivious to their new audience. The taller was winning, forcing the smaller backwards one step at a time. Snippets of conversation could be heard between the crashes of their undersized blades.

"...Good, that's better...oops, Ellie, guard your left...come on..."

Aragorn exchanged amazed looks with Arwen.

"By the Valar," he breathed. "He's teaching her swordsmanship."

Arwen's lips twitched, and finally she couldn't hold in her laughter. Peals of joy and relief rand out across the clearing, and the children froze in shock, turning to find the source of the unexpected interruption.

Sam and Rosie ran to Elanor, and when he reached her, Sam gently removed the sword from his daughter's hand before enveloping her in a tight hug, soon joined by Rosie.

Eldarion grinned and sprinted toward his own parents.

"Ada! Nana! I'm teachin' Ellie! She's almost as good as me already! Did you see, did you see?"

Aragorn laughed, embracing his son and swinging him through the air in his relief, drawing giggles from the little boy that mingled with his own. Mirth chased away the lines of care and worry around the Man's eyes, and Arwen could not help but join in, for in that moment, she knew that the evil of the Third Age had truly gone from the world, and that the peace of the Fourth was there to stay, at least for a little longer.

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A/N: Whew! Just one more chapter! Hang in there, folks.