Thanks as always to my dear mcapps,chasingbluefish, samui, paradis, LayneWolf, RoB, hauntedpoem. And all those leaving kudos. Keeping me writing.

Lots of Legolas and Gimli in this one.

Beta: Anarithilien.

This chapter is dedicated to the memory of Nightwing6, whose wonderful story, To See A World is one of my favourites, even though she never finished it. She wrote wonderfully of Aragorn and Legolas and so I hope the first part of this chapter a fitting tribute.

Chapter 16: The missing guardsman

Aragorn slouched uncharacteristically. His hand cradled the small beer and his hood was pulled down over his eyes. He felt comfort in the well-worn disguise, all the cares of kingship slid from him, and he was simply Strider once again. Two friends outside ready with swords should he need it. He listened to the talk, the friendly greetings, the banter.

This was the tavern most frequented by the soldiers of Minas Tirith and where Arduin and Ioralas most often visited. He could see a number of familiar faces from the Tower Guard but they would not recognise him, no jewels of office, no winged crown or rich robes. They would see what they expected to see.

He shifted so he could overhear a couple of guards' conversation, but all they were doing was gossiping about their wives. Another small group played dice and a couple of women leaned over them.

'Hey Longshanks!' called one cheekily. She tossed her hair and pouted at him. He grinned at her and made a pretence of interest so she sashayed towards him, one hand on her hip. 'I haven't seen you here before,' she murmured. 'I'd have noticed.'

He smiled winningly and slipped a coin beneath the palm of her hand. 'I am looking for an old friend I heard was in the city. We fought together.'

'Aren't you looking for anything else?' the woman leaned against him, her body warm and soft. 'I've got a friend who could join us.' She jerked her head towards another woman, who leaned over a seated guardsman, laughing and the guard leaned back to get a better look at the breasts that strained against her tight bodice.

Aragorn backed away slightly. 'Maybe later.' He smiled warmly, giving her just enough hope. 'My friend owes me some money and I am hoping he can pay me.'

As he thought, she lost a bit of interest. 'His name is Ioralas,' Aragon said. He put his hand on her arm, drawing her back. 'When I have my money, I will come back.'

'Ioralas? Tall, nice looking…' She considered. 'Gentle type.'

'He is a guard in the Tower now I think. Haven't seen him for a while. Good friends with Arduin.'

'Ah. Well you've missed him,' she said. 'He's up sticks and left so they say.' The woman looked up at Aragorn and fluttered her eyelashes, pushed one hand through her hair. 'I'll give you one free,' she said coyly.

Something small and hard hit Aragorn in the back of the head. A nut. He looked over his shoulder irritably to just catch a shadow in the window but he knew it was Legolas.

'Let me find Ioralas and get my money and I'll come back,' he said. 'Do you know where he went?'

'I don't. And if you've already talked to Arduin, I don't think I can help you anymore for they were good mates.' She looked about. 'That man over there knows him. They never seemed very friendly but they always greeted each other. He's a Tower guardsman too. His name is Maltök.'

Aragorn turned his head to see a man standing in the corner, shoulders slumped and looking down into his ale. He did not look up even when Aragorn settled next to him.

'Evening friend, I am looking for Ioralas.' Aragorn turned so the man had to look at him. His face was pale and there were shadows under his eyes.

'Go away, I do not want to speak to you,' he said and shuffled along the bar away from Aragorn.

'I only want to find my old friend,' Aragorn said, and sticking to his story, he added. 'He owes me money but I know he will honour it. If he does not have it, I can wait.' He made himself as unthreatening as possible. 'I see you have Tower guard livery, friend,' he said. 'Perhaps you know another friend of mine? Arduin?'

But the man took his drink and moved away, settling himself on a bench in the corner. This time, Aragorn did not pursue him but draining his own tankard, he pulled his hood over his head and left.

Outside Legolas and Gimli almost pounced upon him in their eagerness.

'I admit you have got a knack for skulking around,' Legolas said grudgingly and Aragorn felt absurdly flattered.

"He told me nothing,' Aragorn admitted. 'Though I am sure he knows something.' [This is said again later and feels repetitious]

'We can easily overpower him between us,' Legolas said, looking at Gimli.

Gimli's eyes glittered in the lamplight. 'Legolas is right. He will talk to us. Just give me five minutes with him.'

'I think perhaps we should arrest him and question him properly,' Aragorn told the disappointed elf and dwarf. And he raised a hand to still their protests. 'I am not going to question him at knife point and I am not having either of you intimidate any of my people into any false confessions.' He looked at them both sternly. 'We do this properly now.' He pulled his hood up and glowered at them both until they agreed resentfully.

'It is easy to find him,' Aragon told them as the three pulled their Lorien cloaks about themselves and drew up their hoods so they faded into the grey shadows. 'I will have him brought to me tomorrow. We will question him properly and promise him protection.' He paused. 'It is clear he was afraid of something. We need to know what that is.'

'Let me question him, Aragorn.,' said Legolas. 'If you wish to do this without hurting him, I am good at that. Not as good as my father. Or Laersul. But I am quite good at giving them a hard stare.'

'A hard stare?' Gimli looked up at him in pity. 'And that is going to make him tell you everything.' He shook his head. 'Aragorn. You need a dwarf to make a stone crack. I am subtle and patient. Give him to me for a day…'

'A day! Ha! That is hardly an interrogation! What will you do, Nana Gimli? Tell him a story and tuck him in in the hope he might talk in his sleep?'

Gimli spluttered in outrage. 'At least I will tell him a story to make his blood curdle in fear of the axes of the Khâzad, but you would tell long, long, long stories of blighted love and bore him into submission.'

Aragorn sighed and let them bicker. He walked ahead of them, leading them through the quiet, dark streets and thought of Arwen's feet walking these very stones, hallowing the streets of his city with her beauty, her softness, her roundness in all the right places…

'Well?'

Aragorn blinked and licked his lips. 'Well what?'

"Haven't you been listening?' Legolas said as irritated as Gimli.

Aragorn looked at Gimli, hoping for a clue but the dwarf had stopped too and was leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest.

Legolas gave an exaggerated sigh.

Aragorn decided that he was, after all, King and they needed to stop badgering him. And because thinking of Arwen had made him uncomfortable. 'Tonight I will sleep well because I will be thinking of Nana Gimli tucking me in and telling me a story,' he said crossly.

'No, you won't,' Legolas said but his eyes gleamed, humoured by Gimli's second outrage exclamation. 'You are already dreaming of Arwen.'

0o0o0

It was the doughty Beregond who questioned Maltök about the disappearance of his fellow guard. 'Again,' as Beregond told Aragorn wearily for he had already done so.

'We have already asked Tyrises, who had to stay and do Ioralas' duty because Ioralas did not show. No one has seen Ioralas since that evening. They covered for him, so Maltök says and Tyrises agrees.' Beregond had shrugged and held out his hands in resignation. 'My lord, I do not know what more I can do. Ioralas has gone. There is no sign of him.'

Behind Aragorn, one of his councillors moved into his view. Robes that susurrused quietly, the colours dark and scholarly. Serious. discrete. Like the man himself. But the fabric was very fine and the crest of bear and rose worked by a very fine embroideress.

'My lord, perhaps you wish someone to fetch this other fellow, Tyrises?' It was the merchant, Bearos, for his name had smoothly changed as his insignia denoted and no longer would the higher born snigger behind their hands. Indeed, no one seemed to even remember his previous name, or where he was from or when he had arrived or even how he had become so rich. In such a short time, he had become one of the trusted men of Faramir and close enough to the King to stand and listen to this insignificant mystery of a missing guardsman.

Now he pressed a goblet of wine into Beregond's hand with quiet insistence. 'This must be very troubling for you, good sir,' he murmured to Beregond, who raised his eyes to the kindly face, nodding as if in a dream. 'One of your own abandoned his post.'

'It is indeed troubling, master Bearos,' said Beregond. 'It is indeed.'

Aragorn found himself nodding his head at Bearos' mild suggestion. 'No. I think we are finished here,' he said, thinking that his mouth did not feel like it belonged to him. 'Let him go,' he instructed Beregond. 'Do not let him take another watch in the Rath Dírnen though,' he said of Maltök. 'Clearly it has addled his wits.'

'I will see to him,' Bearos said and kindly pressed a hand against Beregond's shoulder. A ring flashed briefly in the light and Aragorn stared at it, frowning. But it was hard for a moment to sort through his thoughts and after a moment, he shook his head and agreed to all the suggestions that this investigation had gone as far as it could. Bearos was to arrange for Ioralas' abandoned mother to have a pension, Beregond to tell Arduin that he must cease this futile complaint and Aragorn was left only to tell Legolas and Gimli that the investigation was finished.

0o0o

And so that evening, unusually, Legolas and Gimli were summoned to the Palace and joined Aragorn in one of the large, rather uncomfortable council rooms.

Bearos had slipped away before the pair arrived. 'My lord Legolas does not like me,' he had said apologetically and though Aragorn had protested, he knew it was true. Legolas held himself more tightly on the few occasions that the two had been in the same room, as if he could not bear to brush against the Man even accidentally though Aragorn knew Bearos had defended Legolas and Elrohir against those who had a more traditional view of the Laws. Legolas' face was closed whenever Bearos had spoken a word of greeting, the elf's responses so dismissive as to be almost rude. So Aragorn did not demur when his councillor slipped away.

The chairs were hard, high for a dwarf; not that Gimli would ever show it, thought Aragorn, realising too late that he could not go elsewhere now without Gimli realising and resenting it. The walls facing Aragorn were mirrored; Faramir had told him that Denethor put them in so that he could see those who might betray him even though he had turned way. Now Aragorn could see his own face and thought that he looked paler, anxious, and frowned at himself. Legolas sat stiffly on the upright chair and Gimli, feet dangling slightly and chin too close to the table and certainly unable to stroke his beard comfortably, narrowed his eyes knowingly.

Aragorn asked Beregond to repeat to Legolas what he had found and Legolas listened with tight politeness until Beregond, a good Man and true, was dismissed by Aragorn and his guards with him.

Aragorn sighed and said again, 'Maltök knows nothing.'

Gimli puffed out his cheeks and glanced at Legolas, who glanced back and folded his arms over his chest. Gimli did likewise.

'Both men of the Tower Guard, Tyrises and Cendir, who were on duty that night agree that Ioralas never appeared,' Aragorn said, irritated by their apparent skeptism. 'Cendir had some reason for wanting to leave early and it seems that Maltök had agreed to relieve Cendir earlier. But Ioralas never showed up to relieve Tyrises and so he stayed with Maltök until the next watch. It seems Tyrises was annoyed by Ioralas not turning up and reported it the next day. This is confirmed by Beregond. And that seems to be it. There is not a single item belonging to Ioralas left in his quarters. He has gone.'

'Maltök? That is an Easterling name, is it not?' He narrowed his eyes. 'I would believe nothing that Man says.' Legolas shook his head.

But Aragorn pulled back, shaking his head. 'I will not persecute a man for his name, Legolas. And I am surprised at you for doing so.'

'It is not his name I mistrust. It is his manner, his…fear!' Legolas said insistently. 'If you had spoken with Arduin you would know that Ioralas has not abandoned everything.' Legolas spoke with certainty. 'They loved each other.'

'No.' Aragorn held Legolas' gaze then. 'It may be that Arduin loves Ioralas. You do not, in fact, know if those feelings were returned. Or if they were, whether Ioralas felt conflicted about them? If he was happy? He could have had feelings for someone else and gone with them. The evidence all says that he has certainly gone somewhere and suddenly.' He looked down the table at his friends. 'I fear we will never know the truth.' He sighed. It gave him no pleasure. He had begun to think perhaps, that Legolas was somehow seeing a fear for Elrohir and himself in this sad little tale of abandonment. 'It is finished, Legolas. I will not waste anymore time on this. And nor should you.'

Legolas rose with a stiff bow, and Gimli, who had been looking at first one, then the other, suddenly scrambled to his feet.

As Legolas turned he was reflected in the long mirrors on the walls and for a moment Aragorn thought he saw the elf's reflection tremble and something seemed to step back into the shadows. He tore his gaze away and quickly looked behind him where the curtains fluttered in a sudden wind. As if someone had stepped back into the shadows.

It must have been the wind, he told himself. It must have run a cold hand down the heavy silk.

o0o0

Legolas had no intention of obeying Aragorn's command. So he ignored it much the way he felt Aragorn had ignored him. He knew though that Aragon had greater cares and troubles than he, and so forgave him as easily, as he always had.

And anyway, after the months in the wild, with the Nazgûl on their tail and danger on all sides, the peace of the gardens and warmth of the home they had with the Fellowship did not really suit either Legolas or Gimli. But whilst Gimli was busy directing the engineering of the new gates, ordering the stone for the walls and so on, Legolas was bored.

Gimli strode beside him, stroking his beard and quiet whilst Legolas fretted.

'I simply cannot believe that a Man's life is worth so little in peace time that he can just disappear and no one question it!' he exclaimed.

'Ah Legolas. It is not the same with Men.' Gimli pulled his sleeve and forced him to stop. 'They multiply so quickly. And they live so briefly. One life is not the same to them as it is to us. No Khâzad would ever be allowed to just vanish either.'

Legolas sighed. 'It is more than that, Gimli. It just feels…strange. There is something that is just beyond my sight. Just beyond my grasp…We are missing more than just one regretful lover.'

It was evening and there were still a few traders and market sellers in the square, packing their wares into carts. A dog picked over something that had been dropped on the cobbles and a woman threw a bucket of water over the pavement so it ran over the cobbles and into the channels between, rushed away into drains that had been sunk into the stone. Gimli nodded approvingly at the engineering.

Legolas stared at the disappearing water, unseeing. 'I suppose I could call upon his mother.'

Gimli snorted. 'Yes. The King's elven companion just happens to drop in on his way home from the palace. If you intend to follow this further you will never find anything out blundering around without thinking it through.' The dwarf wagged his short, thick finger at Legolas.

Legolas said suspiciously, 'When have you solved mysteries and disappearances, oh great Huanrýn?'

Gimli looked smug. 'I was known for it in the Blue Mountains. I was highly sought as a Finder.' He followed Legolas down the narrow street that led to the house of the Fellowship.

'Finder of thimbles no doubt,' Legolas muttered.

But Gimli ignored him and strode after him, hands clasped behind his back, head high and chin up. 'It was in the winter of 3238,' he began in his best declaiming voice and Legolas gave a heavy sigh. 'There had been a cave-in in one of the Deeps and three dwarves lost. I was brought in after they had all but given up…' Gimli's voice took on a deeper cadence that signalled, in Legolas' view, that this was going to be a long story with Gimli ending up as hero. In Legolas' view it was not good for Gimli to reflect too much upon himself as hero; it made the dwarf reckless.

'What about talking to the guard who left early,' Legolas interrupted before Gimli really got started. 'He may have seen something.'

'Hm. Yes.' Gimli nodded. 'That is a good idea,' he conceded, and stood aside for a woman and her small child to pass. The woman cast a shy glance at first Gimli and then Legolas. Her eyes lingered upon the elf's fair face.

When they arrived at the house of the Fellowship, it was silent within and the hobbits' cloaks were gone.

'They will be at the Castle Inn,' Gimli observed for the nearby inn was a favourite with the hobbits, and a good hostelry.

'They will be dancing a jig and singing unsuitable songs,' Legolas confirmed. 'Pippin is a favourite of the patrons there.' He grinned.

Gimli grunted and threw his cloak over a cloak-stand and sat on a bench to pull off his boots. Then he stood his boots up carefully in the corner and pulled on some soft indoor shoes that the hobbits had had made for all of them and which they called slippers. They were comfortable and Gimli wiggled his toes inside them.

Legolas was already in the garden and had swung up onto the lowest branch of a sturdy apple tree that was loaded with small, hard apples not yet come to ripeness.

Gimli cracked his knuckles and settled onto a wide wooden bench beneath the tree and reached into his jerkin pocket for his pipe. 'You can go and see Ioralas' mother in the morning,' he said continuing his conversation. He filled his pipe, lit it and puffed. 'Don't raise her hopes but find out all you can about him, when did she last see him, what was his state of mind, any debts, any problems. Did she know about Arduin?'

'Oh? And what will you be doing, oh Huanrýn?' Legolas asked brightly. He suddenly hung down from the branch by his knees and his upside-down face grinned at Gimli. 'You are going to help me!'

Gimli smiled and blew a plume of beautiful smoke at the elf. 'I cannot leave you to blunder about on your own. But you will do as I say. I will find that guard who left early and I will interrogate him. He will speak to me. I have a way that makes 'em talk. And the other thing…' Gimli leaned back against the tree trunk and laced his fingers together over his belly. 'We need to find out if those two guards, Maltök and the other one, have any debts or anything about them that might make them easily bribed. Or if they seem to have any more money than usual.'

Legolas had righted himself so he sat upon the branch but dangled his feet just above Gimli's head. Gimli looked at them speculatively.

0o0o