Chapter Six

~ Estel ~
As Lord Elrond studied me in silence, I felt a new hope suddenly rise in me. Lord Elrond was related to the Dúnedain and had many dealings with them. After all, I had learned that he had fostered Lord Aragorn himself. Maybe he knows who Strider is!

I posed the question to him, trying to keep my eagerness out of my tone.

Lord Elrond was silent for a moment longer, as if trying to decide something. Finally he shook his head. "I know only the true names of the Rangers, not the code names they go by when they travel," he said gently. "I cannot help you there."

I looked down. "Oh."

"But as a child of Arwen, you are welcome to stay in Imladris," Lord Elrond said suddenly, startling me. I stared at him.

He took my silence for surprise. "You can't think that I would send you back to slavery?" he exclaimed, his grey eyes flashing. "You are a child of my daughter and a child of my brother. No, Estel, you will stay and heal here in Imladris. No one will dare harm you here."

I tried to smile. "Thank you."

~ Elrond ~
"~You know, Elrond, I swear that mortals' children hold a special place in your heart,~" Glorfindel chuckled. I turned to my friend with a scowl.

"~Why do you say that?~"

"~Estel certainly has managed to capture your attention, just the way Aragorn did when he was little,~" he observed. "~You have all of Imladris wondering what's so special about the child. ~"

I sighed, slouching in my chair. I had wanted Estel to have plenty of time to heal and find peace, and Estel had obligingly kept close to me. She had expressed an interest in healing, and I was teaching her the same things I had taught my children.

"~Can you guess why? ~" I asked, hoping that no one had stumbled across Estel's secret.

"~Easy. She's a living image of Aragorn. ~"

"~That's one of the reasons, but not the main one. ~"

"~Really? Maybe you do have a soft spot for mortal children! ~"

"~Glorfindel! ~"

"~All right, all right. No, I can't guess. ~"

I leaned forward. "~Try to keep your voice down, Glorfindel, ~" I said quietly. Glorfindel's eyes clouded with confusion, but he nodded.

"~The night she came here . . ." I relayed to Glorfindel what had happened. His eyes grew wider with each new revelation, and his jaw dropped when I revealed that she was from the future and also a descendant of Arwen and Aragorn.

"~Well . . . this certainly explains your interest in Estel, ~" Glorfindel remarked later. "~Are you planning to tell her anytime soon? ~"

"~I don't think that she is ready, ~" I said finally. "~She fears her past. She tries to embrace it, but she still thinks she's unworthy. Some part of her still mourns for her family. ~"

Glorfindel nodded, standing. "~She's a true embodiment of Aragorn, then. ~"

The door burst open suddenly. "~Estel, what is it? ~" I asked, concerned.

"~Arwen is back, ~" she answered, forgetting in her haste to refer to Arwen by title as she usually did. "~And she has Frodo with her. But he's been stabbed . . . and with a Morgul blade. ~"

I heard Glorfindel swear quietly under his breath, but Estel's eyes didn't move from me. "He still has the Ring, but if the stories were true, then the wound also has a fragment of the blade in it," she said rapidly.

I inhaled sharply. That was dangerous. A fragment of the blade would most likely continue burying deeper into the victim, trying to reach and pierce the heart.

"~Can it come out? ~" I asked, moving swiftly to her side.

Estel's eyes flashed. "~It must. He's the only one who can do it. ~"

I placed my hands on her shoulders. "~I'll tend to him, Estel. You prepare for the arrival of the others. No doubt they'll be worried. ~"

~ Aragorn ~
"How is Frodo?"

"Is he all right?"

"Will he live?"

I groaned, quickening my pace. I had known that the Hobbits would pester for information about Frodo, but I had hoped that they would wait a little longer to pester my foster father.

When I reached the scene, I stopped short.

Instead of the regal – and sometimes intimidating – figure of my foster father, a young human woman was being accosted by the Hobbits. She had long dark hair and grey-blue eyes, and looked so much like one of the Dúnedain that I wondered if she was. But what would she be doing here? I had commanded no Rangers to go to Imladris.

"Please, please, one question at a time!" she begged, laughing and holding up her hands in a plea for mercy. "Frodo is recovering, and, yes, he will live. Lord Elrond is tending him now, and Gandalf as well."

Then she looked up and saw me.

~ Estel ~
I froze upon seeing Lord Aragorn. There was no mistaking him; Lord Elrond had described him perfectly. His dark brown hair hung limp and wet around his head, and calm pale blue eyes surveyed me calmly. A sword hung from his belt, and he also carried a bow and quiver.

"~Well met, Lord Aragorn,~" I greeted, inclining my head to the Man who would one day become the first King of the Reunited Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor as he drew near and stopped.

He looked startled. "~You speak Elvish?~"

I laughed, wondering if he would have asked the same question had known who I truly was. "~If I couldn't, I'd go crazy. These Elves don't speak anything else around here,~" I said. The Hobbits flashed us annoyed looks, but shuffled away, guessing – rightly – that they would get no more answers from us.

Lord Aragorn laughed. "~You're right there.~" He eyed me carefully. "~Who are you?~"

I hesitated, slightly offended by his greeting. But I got over it – he was the Chieftain of the Dúnedain, and was probably greeted almost everyone with caution. It did hurt slightly, but, then again, Lord Elrond had greeted my revelations with the same cautious probing.

And anyway, I had another issue brought up by this question. I couldn't tell him my true name; that would cause an uproar I wasn't ready to deal with, even if he might be the only one to know who exactly Strider was. "Elena."

His eyes narrowed. I could tell that he was trying to remember if there was someone called Elena in the Rangers. I decided to stop that search now.

~ Aragorn ~
Elena. Try as I might, I could recall no Ranger with that name. And it wasn't like there were a thousand of us to keep track of. I was the Chieftain, and had come to be familiar with almost all the Rangers in the over fifty years I'd been one of them.

Apparently my confusion showed on my face, for Elena said suddenly, "~I am not of the Dúnedain, no matter how much I look it.~"

I relaxed. Elrond would not have let just anyone enter Imladris, and if Elrond was comfortable with her here, so could I.

Elena smiled slightly before inclining her head and walking away. I watched her go. Something about her. . .

"~Welcome back, Estel!~"

I barely turned around in time before Elladan and Elrohir jumped on me, double blurs of Elf that squeezed the breath out of me. They released me, grinning, as I panted for air and rubbed my ribs.

I looked over my shoulder. Elena was gone.

"~Not you too,~" Elrohir said in an exasperated tone when I turned back to them.

I looked at him. "~What are you talking about?~" I asked.

"~Mithrandir brought her here,~" Elladan explained. "~Ada tended her wounds, and since then she's barely left his side.~"

"~I think we've gained yet another sibling,~" Elrohir said with a theatrical sigh. "~Yet another one to babysit and keep out of trouble!~"

"~Yes, but half the trouble you get into you cause,~" came Glorfindel's dry voice as the golden-haired Elf-lord appeared from a doorway.

Elladan and Elrohir violently protested, and soon the three Elves were arguing back and forth. I left them to it, and allowed my mind to wonder about Elena.