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Note: Thanks for the reviews. This will be the last chapter with the coronation of Eldarion and his wedding to Noriel. Let's begin.
The people cheered as king Eldarion finally raised with the winged crown on his head. He waved to the crowd they only cheered harder and louder.
Eldarion found he viewed them with a detachment which was strange to him. He found it a bittersweet feeling to know that his father had now passed utterly beyond his grasp and that he had to do it all alone now.
Aragorn would not be there for the birth of his first child and for his death. He smiled at the crowd before calling out. "All hail Gondor. I will work hard to preserve the peace that has settled here in my father's reign. Gondor shall also have a queen again."
More cheering commences. Eldarion held up his hand to ask for silence once more and he said. "I have asked a beautiful lady to be my queen. I have asked Noriel to be my wife and she has agreed. We shall have a wedding today as was a custom at king Elessar's coronation when he married the beautiful Arwen Undomiel."
The crowd fell silent and then it burst out into the loudest cheering Eldarion had ever heard. It left him stunned for a moment and then he smiled and nodded. He felt Boromir's hand on his shoulder and he left with his steward.
They both drifted inside and Boromir grinned at him. "You will soon be a married man, my lord. To think that you will be married before me."
"Yes, Boromir but you are the only one of your family who is not yet married. You are the youngest of your many siblings so it is not surprising that you are not yet married, my friend." Eldarion unbuttoned this robe that was slightly broader in the shoulders for it was Aragorn's.
His father had worn it for so many times now and Eldarion had not yet the heart to ask for the sewers to make another one for him. He laid the robe over his bed and donned another, more comfortable and more festive then the robes he had worn before.
These would be for the wedding and he then took off the crown to admire it. He was officially king of the Western Lands. His destiny could not be changed now. He had trained his whole life for this and now it was time to take over the kingship from his father.
He looked at his reflection in the looking glass, stunned by the sudden change in appearance that the crown made him. He looked more like an adult. He fussed with his hair for a moment as his thoughts went to the burial ceremony last night.
He had to confide in Boromir because he could not find a body on his own. He had to rectify the story though, instead of saying that Aragorn left for the undying lands, he had said the former king wanted to be with his brothers when he blew out his last breath.
"I am sure that Noriel will make a beautiful bride." Boromir softly said.
"I hope so but even if she does not. She will always be beautiful to me." Eldarion turned to smile at the younger man. "Normally brides are always beautiful to their husbands, or not?"
"Not always, Boromir. Some people do not like their brides when they marry and they only marry for an allegiance. Not all people marry for love." The half elf stated sadly as he tugged at his hair to hide his ears.
He then nodded at Boromir and the two of them walked out. "I need to make a quick visit to somebody. Can you make sure that the feast and the wedding is well prepared?" He turned to the younger steward as Boromir nodded.
"You do realize that you are not allowed to visit Noriel?" The steward called out as Eldarion rounded the corner. The king smiled but it was not what he had planned to do.
He slipped out of the hallway and into the private garden where a nameless white mithril statue stood. There was some elvish writing on it and Eldarion knew Aragorn had it build when he was still a small child. When the years were dark after Legolas had sailed and Arwen had died and the king did not know what to do.
It was build in memory of the elves who Aragorn had loved and who had left him and when the older man did not have the courage to go to his brothers in Rivendell. Sinking down upon his knees, Eldarion remembered the despair that had clouded Aragorn's mind in those early years. When his father's gaze had always been turned west if it had not been looking at Eldarion.
"Well I do not know if you can hear me but I think I shall feel better when I voice my thoughts out into the open. I never knew you. Naneth but I heard from the other people how beautiful and gentle you were. I do not doubt that you loved me and that you did not want to go so I do not begrudge it. But I hope that you are happy now wherever you are and that you thread Ada well when he arrives there."
Bending his head, startled when a voice came that asked. "Who are you speaking to?" He turned to find Noriel standing there. She was a vision in her white laced elven gown.
She then went to sit next to him, placing one hand on his upper arm as he spoke in a hoarse voice. "I was speaking to my mother. I know she cannot hear me but it makes me feel better." He raised his hand to brush away any tears that leaked over his cheeks.
"Did your father build this in memory of his lady?" He looked at her and he could see the look in her eyes as he spoke. "Yes and no. He also build this for another elf. For another elf that he loved."
"Did he love another elf woman? But why did he not marry her then if he loved her so much…" She would have continued if Eldarion had not taken her hand and said in a soft whisper. "He loved a male."
"A male?" She whispered, crest fallen. Her shoulder slumbered and Eldarion realized that she was seeing a different king then she was used to. "He has always loved that elf. But there relationship would not be accepted by our people. That is why he remained unwed for the rest of his life. It is different for the elves, Noriel. I have lived with this secret for years and I have never told anybody. My father did not die but he left the city and the lands as we know them behind."
"But then the body that you buried?"
"It belongs to a different man. A commoner." Eldarion said soothingly.
"Did your father want this then?" She spoke clearer now, her eyes filled with tears. Eldarion nodded and he took her in his arms, crushing her to his chest and buried his face in her hair. She held him as he finally cried himself over everything he had lost.
In the year 120 of the Fourth Age Gondor welcomed king Eldarion and queen Noriel as their rulers. Together they rules for 60 long years until queen Noriel passed from the world. She left behind a distraught husband and 5 children.
Eldarion ruled for 30 more years, alone as his father had done until he remembered the tales about the king of Numenor who could lay down their life.
Finally calling all his children to him, he spoke to each in turn. Telling them the tales that were his legacy and giving the crown to his eldest son. He laid there for 5 days and in the evening of the fifth day it was told that he smiled as the sun settled in the west and he breathed no more.
Tales were remembered about the kings of old but none were ever told about the love between the king of Men and the prince of the Elves for only king Eldarion knew how it ended but in the end, the son had known his father had been happy and that was all he could ever hope for.
The end.
This is the official end. Please review. No sequel.
