A/N: Sorry for the slowness, but anyways here is the chapter. Hope you enjoy. XD

Chapter Two

"Elladan? Elrohir? What is the meaning of this? Have you been playing pranks on people again? Because if I find out you have, I'll be sure to inform Arwen of what her brothers are doing..." threatened King Elessar. The King aka Strider, Aragorn II, Chieftain of the Dúnadan, etc, was attempting to make the brothers confess. He had laughed earlier but after reading it, it didn't seem like the normal type of prank the brothers played on him. Strange.

Unfortunately for him, the brothers were showing no sign of cracking under the threats and were, for once in their lives, innocent of committing a prank. However King Elessar wouldn't believe them when they told him they had also received the same letter. Once again situated in the same study as this morning, he observed the new lords of Rivendell from behind an elaborately carved desk, his face masked by shadows. Smoke from the fireplace mixed with the smoke from his pipe, on one of the rare occasions when he partook in the activity. It was not a fashionable habit in Minas Tirith and Queen Undómiel didn't approve. But when situations like this arose, he needed all the stress relief he could get.

After glaring at the twins for a minute longer, he relented in his interrogation and sighed. If it wasn't the twins behind this then who else could it be? Lifting a hand from his knee he started to massage his temples before a knock on the door made him freeze. Then after a second silence, another tentative knock.

"Enter." He said, barely looking at the new arrival choosing to instead focus on the way the air in the room shimmered, blending with smoke. A cough from Elladan snapped him out of his reverie and he straightened himself up into a posture befitting a monarch before gazing imperiously at the visitor.

It was a messenger and as he coughed again to clear his throat before starting on his message, another knock was heard coming from the door. Aragorn's left eye twitched for a second before he schooled his face into a calm expression.

"Enter," he said, "however before you enter, make sure that any other messengers that arrive also come in with you." And more to himself than anyone else, he muttered "And I'll wager Arod that there will be more."

Elladan and Elrohir with their elven hearing picked up this quiet remark and grinned at each other. They both knew Aragorn valued his horse highly, a gift from the Rohirrim and his companion in many difficult situations. It was the perfect bargaining chip if they did manage to get their hands on him. But, Aragorn's suspicions were true and instead of just one messenger, a group of seven marched in with more trailing behind.

After forming a queue of sorts, the first to arrive and the leader of the line spoke up.

"King Elessar, Prince Faramir, Steward of Gondor would request a meeting with you to discuss the meanings behind a strange letter received to both him and his wife the Lady Éowyn. I have been told to report back as soon as possible with the reply."

Aragorn nodded and motioned for him to step aside and the next messenger to come forth. The same message was repeated by each one, a motley group of haggard men and the random elf. Lord Elrond had sent Elladan and Elrohir and Lady Galadriel had sent a now exhausted Haldir as her messenger. Apparently he was being punished for an incident that week in Lothlórien, involving a certain Elleth, himself and another guard. Suffice to say, Galadriel was not pleased with the elf and had him running himself ragged, performing little tasks like relaying messages for gossiping elleth and polishing all the armour even though they had already been polished.

Aragorn was swamped with the number of messengers and by the time he had heard the final one, he had managed to deduce that all the people of the fellowship and anyone who had been in contact with them had been targeted as receivers of 'The Letter'.

Queen Undómiel walked in shortly after to inquire about her husband's absence from supper. She was met by the sight of three of the closest men to her all lying on various seats, two with disgusted expressions on their faces while another one was clearly high from the amount of rare and incredibly pungent Longbottom Leaf smoke that was permeating the air in the room. Her brothers jumped up at the sight of her and rushed forward to embrace her while rambling on without thought.

"Arwen, I've missed you little sister! Your husband smokes like a dwarf and he's starting to smell like one too. Don't Kings get the priority of bathing rooms because I'm certain he hasn't been near one since his coronation! My head is hurting..." Elladan whined in a nasally tone, his normally perfect voice sounding like he was suffering from a cold. Which elves can't contract, because they're elves.

Elrohir mainly just hugged her while coughing and mumbling something which sounded suspiciously like "Air, sweet air... *splutter* kings are mad...Estel, Thranduil, Ada is sane...he's a loooorddd..." He sang the last note ending it on a spectacular coughing fit. Arwen concluded that her brothers had been driven mad by the overwhelming presence of Longbottom Leaf and her husband. It was worrying to say the least because it was usually her brothers that inflicted some sort of damage on her beloved. Well, she'd get to the bottom of this.

"Aragorn, my love? What is the meaning of this?"She managed to say before coughing discreetly. Queens do not cough like a man, especially an Elven queen. She squinted into the smoke to see her husband totter up to her before placing a big kiss on her lips and saluting her with a pipe in his hand.

"My love, my Undómiel, we shall have guest as of tomorrow. The Fellowship and anyone who has links with them will be coming for a meeting. With me," and after thinking for a second, he grinned and patted her on the head in an undignified manner before saying "And you."

Arwen was shocked. What had happened to her husband? This couldn't be Longbottom leaf, she knew the effects of that and this was too much. They acted like they were drunk. Sucking in a breath she stormed into the room and searched for his barrel of leaf. She located it in the corner of his desk, a small cask with an empty pouch lying next to it. She sniffed the pouch before running out into the corridor and gasping for air. She had managed to keep hold of the pouch during her escape and she peered down into the corner to read the miniscule writing.

"Tookbuck Leaf, a special concoction for our special friend. This is potent stuff, so use in small amounts. Our best wishes Strider, Merry and Pippin."

She glared at the pouch for another second before flinging it back into the room and dashing off after her inebriated husband and less than normal brothers.

She found them in the King's chambers, all in the bed together like when Aragorn was an adopted child in Lord Elrond's household. She smiled at the memory before being brought back by what Aragorn had said to her before he meandered away. Everyone was coming tomorrow.

Everyone.

Oh Eru...

A/N: So what did you think?

I won't spill the secrets of the letter yet but it will be revealed in the meeting in the next chapter.

Found any grammar mistakes?

Like the chapter?

Review and make me happy. : P

Oh and did you like my little invention? Creative License. *smiles*

I had to explain Aragorn's behaviour and normal smoke isn't anywhere near strong enough to do anything but anywho it was certainly good for me.

Lotsa love,

O.N