Here's the new update. I don't have much to say except a huge thanks to Reaper2908 for the inspiration for this chapter! I hope you all love it!

Chapter 10 (Mareke)

Blearily, I opened my eyes unsure of where I was for a long moment. There was a fire blazing in the grate and I realized I was tucked under a mountain of blankets in my own bedroom. I heard the rustling of paper and looked over to see Aragorn sitting by the bed going over some sort of document. There was a whole stack of parchment next to the chair he had pulled close to the bed.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, but my voice was not my own. It was hoarse and raw.

"Monitoring you," he replied without looking up.

I stared at the canopy above my bed, blinking slowly. The entire episode of being on Pelennor replayed itself in my head. No feelings came from going over the incident. I felt no guilt or shame or remorse or even grief. I felt numb.

"How are you feeling?" Aragorn asked setting the document down on top of the stack next to him. He must have been there for a very long time.

"Fine," I replied quietly.

"You were running a bit of a fever," he said as he stood from his chair and walked to the edge of the bed, laying the back of his had on my forehead as though it were nothing. "You feel cooler now."

"Surely there are healers who could monitor such a thing as a fever," I replied, finally looking up at him. He did not seem any more tired or worn than he had before we had ridden outside the walls of his city.

"I am one of the best healers," Aragorn said with a small smile.

"You truly do it all."

He removed his hand and continued to look down at me.

"Aragorn," I began, completely unsure of how to apologize for something as unforgivable as I had done. "I am so sorry for everything I said to you, screamed at you I suppose, judging from my voice."

Before I could continue, Aragorn sat gingerly on the edge of my bed, tucking one ankle behind the other calf. He shook his head and pressed a finger to my lips. We had hardly touched one another before being on the field. It felt oddly intimate.

"I do not care to hear your apologies, Mareke," he said quietly. "Sometimes what we need to do to get some closure does not always fit into the polite expectations that have been set for us."

I stared at him for a moment. "You should be furious with me."

"And what kind of man would that make me?" Aragorn asked. "I could have chosen any number of women who might have fit better into the society here in Minas Tirith and they might not have had such outbursts, but that is not real."

He reached to brush my curls from my forehead. "I have not experienced anything real since my coronation. Everything seems so artificial here." He paused. "Whatever it is that you are coping with, though I may not be able to understand it, is real. I need that. I have not felt awake since before the War ended. I could never be mad at you for bringing your struggle here. Your emotions are so powerful and raw and eye opening I suppose." He put his hands in his lap. "I do not ever want you to feel like you must keep those feelings to yourself, hidden away. That is not natural, though my citizens might fool you into thinking so."

I had no idea what to say to him. His eyes were honest and I again was struck with all that they had seen.

"Now, are you feeling up to a bath?"

I nodded. "That sounds lovely."

Aragorn stood from the bed and sent a servant to prepare a bath for me before he left with one more soft smile.

I laid under the layers of blankets for another few minutes before the bath was ready. I was not sure that I had gotten any closure, not sure if a person could ever surmount such a loss, but I did know one thing: I did not deserve what I had been given. Trying to imagine how any other betrothed would have responded to my same actions made shivers run up my back. Aragorn was proving to be more gracious and kind than I could have ever hoped for. Jibran himself might not have been so understanding in a similar situation and that realization was hard to process.

"Your Majesty," the servant called. "Your bath is ready."

I stood on weak legs and made my way to the bath, hoping to soak away such conflicting emotions.

ooooOoooo

"You will be on your best behavior tonight, will you not?" I asked Adnan from where I was seated in front of my vanity having my hair done for the festivities in honor of Aragorn's birthday.

Adnan nodded.

"I mean it, Adnan." I was being extra stern due to my own nerves.

It was the original plan that Adnan and I be presented to Aragorn's citizens on his birthday. We had been lucky that the plan had remained the same even though we had arrived nearly two months early. Of course, we had not remained completely unseen. His advisors and councilors knew that we were there. Everyone knew that we were there, but only a few had a seen us. On the night of Aragorn's birthday, we were going to be seen by nearly every noble family. My palms had been sweating and my heart pounding since I had woken the morning of the festivities.

"I promise," he said.

I reached out and pulled him so he was standing in between my legs. He giggled as he watched my hair being done in the mirror while I simultaneously ran a comb through his unruly curls.

"You will spend most of the evening with Lady Belethiel," I told him. I hated the idea of him being away from me, but at such an important function he could not constantly be glued to my side. "But your friends will be there and you can put all you have learned at your dinner lessons to good use."

I stood after my hair was finished, in an elegant bun at the nape of my neck, and natural looking makeup had been applied. "Go play," I bid Adnan. "I will fetch you when it is time to go."

Lady Ioreth pulled a burgundy dress from my wardrobe. "I think this one is the best for this evening."

"The color is lovely," I agreed.

"It will compliment your skin," she promised.

It was another design that Oyna and I and even Lady Ioreth had put together in an attempt to blend mine and Aragorn's cultures. I stood in front of the standing mirror in the corner of my bedroom looking myself over. The dress had a corset back that gave me more shape than the other dresses we had made, but was less restrictive than wearing an actual corset. The neckline was scooped low enough to not suffocate the wearer, but high enough to hide the tattoo that spread from my shoulder onto my chest and the sleeves were long and tapered to the floor.

"You look wonderful," said a man's voice from the doorway and I turned to see Aragorn standing there with the same soft smile he always gave me.

"Thank you," I replied going back to the vanity and sorting through the jewels he had given me since I had arrived. After we were married I would have access to the entire collection of crown jewels that had been accumulating through the ages, but I had already built a nice little collection of my own from Aragorn, many of which had been hand crafted by Gimli. I decided on a pair of emerald earrings set in gold with a matching necklace.

"Are you ready?" Aragorn asked.

I shook my head.

"It will not be so bad," he promised. "I have been going to these events for what seems like decades now. They are actually rather boring."

"You really think this one will go the same as all the others?" My hands ran over the dress one more time to make sure everything looked satisfactory. I tried to smooth my wild hair down, but even in Lady Ioreth's tight bun there were rebellious curls.

The King laughed. "No, probably not. But we will survive nonetheless."

I shook my head at him and let a small smile peek through as I went to fetch Adnan.

"Remember what I said," I reminded him as I knelt before him and fixed his dark navy tunic and ran my fingers through his curls to flatten his hair once more.

Aragorn offered me an arm when we returned to the sitting room and I looped mine through his and took Adnan's small hand in my free one. Lady Belethiel trailed us as we left the safety of my rooms.

"How many birthdays are we celebrating, Your Majesty?" I asked casually, though I added his formal title because we were in public.

"Ninety," he replied.

"Very funny." I pinched the inside of his forearm gently.

"I am being quite serious," he said looking down at me.

I rolled my eyes. "You cannot be ninety."

The King stopped walking and turned me so I was facing him. Adnan, still attached to my hand, was not paying a bit of attention.

"I am being honest," he said, as though it were the worst thing in Middle Earth for me to doubt his genuineness. "I am of the Dunedain, though I do not know if you know of those shadowy folk."

I shook my head.

"Rangers," he continued. "They are descendents of the Numenoreans. We have longer lives than most mortal men."

"So you are actually turning ninety today?"

"I am," he said with a light laugh. He became serious once more. "I hope that does not bother you."

I could not quite come up with a response before he clearly became worried.

"The number does not affect anything. I do not look ninety like a normal man would. I do not feel it either."

"It is fine," I finally managed.

"Are you sure?"

I touched his arm gently. "It does not feel like I am marrying a ninety year old man if that is what you are concerned about."

He laughed once more. "I suppose that addresses my concern."

"Very good. Now let us enjoy your evening, though I am sure all of your birthdays have started to blend together," I jested.

Aragorn looked down at me, trying to discern the comment before he laughed and I joined him.

As we approached the door to the great hall where the tables had been set up for the event, I could hear the buzzing of those within talking loudly and laughing.

"This gives me more cause for discomfort than you age," I assured him.

"It will be over before you know it."

I doubted it, but took his arm once more as the door was opened and we entered.

Immediately, all gathered gave their attention to the King and dropped into low bows and curtsies. I stood at his side uncomfortably and Adnan looked up at me. I could only feel his gaze because I continued to look forward over them all.

When they all rose, the talking did not resume. All eyes remained locked on me and my son.

Aragorn nodded in the direction of the people and then moved the three of us to the high table and pulled my chair out for me before doing the same for Adnan and actually lifting him into his seat. Before he took his own seat, he ruffled my son's curls and gave the boy a smile.

Immediately, the buzzing began again, but at the level of a whisper. I looked out over the crowd and saw so many of them talking behind their hands to one another.

"Ignore it," Aragorn said quietly. "They will tire themselves with such nonsense at some point."

As soon as we arrived, dinner was served and everyone took a seat. I watched Adnan out of the corner of my eye and my heart swelled with pride. He had learned quite quickly and gone from the little boy who would eat fried bread and fruit with his fingers to one who, though he watched my movements at points, could distinguish the uses for all of the different silverware before him.

Out of the corner of my other eye, I noticed Aragorn reaching quite frequently for his wine goblet. He had once before told me that he did not much care for the stuff, but he seemed to the night of his birthday. If it helped him get through such festivities I would not judge him. I was in no position to become completely intoxicated, but I allowed myself enough wine for a delightful, light feeling to descend over me.

I stole looks at my husband-to-be throughout the evening, still processing the revelation of his age. From what I could tell he looked to be in his mid-forties. As I studied his profile, I found myself thinking that he was not unpleasant to look at, especially when he smiled. The skin around his eyes crinkled when something truly amused him. Once he caught me looking at him and I merely met his smile with my own before turning back to Adnan as the meal finished.

"You will go with Lady Belethiel now," I whispered. "Be good."

I watched like a hawk as the pair of them made their way through the crowd. Aragorn had assured me that his younger advisors would bring their children, some of them were the boys that Adnan had select lessons with, and that it would all be fine.

"Now we must mingle," Aragorn said, and I could hear his disdain in that one word.

I stood and smoothed out the dress once more before Aragorn offered his arm and we descended into the crowd who had left their tables as well and were standing around once more.

There was a similarity in the people that we spoke to. They were all young. None of Aragorn's elder advisors or noblemen brought their wives up to speak to me. They kept their distance.

Truthfully, it was better than what I had hoped would happen. I had feared that no one would speak to me. Talking to the young men and women of Gondor was easy. They had many questions for me about my home that I was happy to answer.

I noticed Aragorn taking long pulls from his wine goblet every time a pair left us and a couple of times a servant was sent for a refill.

"Your Majesty," a new young man bowed to the King. "Your Grace," he did the same to me but not so low. "I would like to introduce you to my wife, Vanya." They young woman he gestured to was much shorter than me and a little plump, with kind brown eyes and her brown hair pulled back away from her face.

"Ah Beinion," Aragorn reached out and clasped his forearm as the young woman beside him executed a perfect curtsy to the both of us.

"Your gown is magnificent, Your Grace," Vanya said to me.

"Thank you," I replied, looking down at the burgundy dress of my creation.

Vanya was wearing a dress in the traditional style of Minas Tirith. "I must say I am truly tired of these dreadful things," she lamented. "Perhaps you might set a new trend. I would not mind helping with that. Who did you have design such a thing?"

I gave a soft laugh. "Well actually I had some part in it, but mostly the woman I brought with me from my home. She is very gifted."

"She is probably quite busy, but I would be interested to speak with her and see if I could perhaps have a few things made."

"I am sure it can be arranged," I replied.

Her brown eyes shone and she clasped her hands in delight. "That would be marvelous. You could bring her to our home yourself. We could have tea."

The exchange with Vanya was completely unexpected. I had certainly not expected to make a friend that evening, but if everything continued to go on as it had started I might just have one person I could enjoy in Minas Tirith.

"Vanya," Beinion said gently.

"That is of course if you wish it, Your Grace," she said, visibly reigning herself in.

I gave her a private smile between women and reached out and clasped her forearm. "I absolutely do."

"Oh and please do bring the Prince," she added as Beinion was gently leading her away, an indulgent smile on his face. "I would adore meeting him."

I nodded and gave one more smile. As Vanya left, Beinion hung back and said lowly, "I was a huge proponent of yours, Your Grace. Many of us are very happy you are here. Ignore the ones who are not. Minas Tirith is ready for a change whether the elder citizens agree or not." He gave another quick bow and followed his wife.

Just as they left, music started up. "Let me guess," I said, turning to Aragorn who was setting his goblet down on a nearby table. "We must lead them in the first dance."

"Very good," he said with a smile. He held his hand out and I gently placed mine in his and allowed myself to be led onto the floor.

I had practiced and practiced in Harad, but it not yet been put to the test and another wave of nerves came over me.

Aragorn held the hand he held up and placed his other hand lightly on my waist. There was nearly a foot of space between us. I caught the tempo and we were off dancing in a circle around the floor. No one had yet joined us and so all eyes were glued to me. I kept my chin confidently up, though it was not quite how I felt on the inside. I could not falter before these people.

"You are doing fine," Aragorn said with his kind smile.

After an appropriate amount of time, other couples joined us on the floor, though I noticed again that it was only the younger crowd. Apparently, the elders would not even be caught on the same dance floor with me.

When the song was over, Aragorn gracefully spun me back off the floor and once more reached for his goblet. I could not understand his behavior, but it was not my place to comment on it or question it either.

"That made me a bit warm," he said. "Would you care to walk onto the terrace with me?"

"That sounds lovely," I replied.

As we walked out, Aragorn caught the toe of his boot on the marble floor and nearly stumbled, but I used what strength I did have to bolster him. I did not want his people to see the state he was in. He did not say a word about it and we continued out into the brisk night air. There were other people who had the same idea, but Aragorn led me away from them.

"Aragorn?" I asked. Something had been bothering me since he had told me of his age and past briefly before the feast.

"Hmm?" He took the goblet away from his lips and looked down at me.

"You said that you were a ranger," I began. "In Harad, there were rumors that the armies of the North were being led by a ranger. We thought we could win because it seemed as though there was no organization, no one of importance leading our enemies."

I met his grey gaze. This regal man before me could not have been the same man we heard so many rumors about. The one who had beat all odds and defeated us.

"Ah," he rubbed his hand over his bearded jaw. "Yes, he and I are one and the same," he replied. "Or we were at one point."

He was silent for a moment and I could tell he was brooding.

"All of those incredible deeds you heard of," he continued. "They were done for no reason. Or so it seems now."

"What do you mean?" I probably should not have asked him questions. I could see the light going from his eyes and the storm coming over his generally kind face.

"It was all done for her," he said. "Her father, my foster father, mandated that she could give up her immortality for no one less than the King of the Reunited Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor. I could not just walk into the city and proclaim my birthright, though." He gave a scornful laugh and I did not care for what it did to his face. "No, I had to defeat Sauron. Defeat all evil in all of Middle Earth. Collect an army. I had to do things that I do not care to remember, that will haunt me no matter how I try to forget, all for a woman who did not have faith in me."

He finished the goblet of wine he held and then he threw it away from him and it went clattering across the stone terrace.

I quickly reached out and grabbed his hands, holding them still.

"It was all for nothing."

"It was not," I replied. "Look at how much safer and more beautiful a world you created through your strength. Life gets to continue happily for so many. If had not been for you our world would be full of darkness and hate."

"How can you say that?" He asked a little roughly. "It was your people I had to fight."

I was taken aback at first. I had never known that Aragorn still saw me as an enemy.

"My people were deceived by Sauron," I said simply, recovering as quickly as I could. "As many were. I would not be here if they did not want to remedy that."

"And so here I am, trapped in this life I did not want, making alliances through a marriage to a stranger all because of her. I risked my life for her and her love and the life she promised and now I have lost it to this dreadful city that I never wanted."

I had no words of comfort for him. I continued to stand, holding his hands in mine and rubbing the backs of them with my thumbs as he stared out and over my shoulder, his mind had gone elsewhere.

"I wish to retire," he said brusquely.

"Would you like me to accompany you?" If he left I would also go to bed.

"If you like," was all he said in reply.

I took his arm once more and we headed back to the part of the palace where both of our rooms were. He leaned on me more than he had before and I braced him.

I had not intended on going into his rooms with him, but I did. I could not leave him. As we entered the sitting room, his attendant, Damrod, entered.

Before the young man could speak, Aragorn waved him away. "Leave us, Damrod. And make sure everyone else does as well."

I swallowed. Hopefully, the young man would keep it to himself that we were alone in the King's chambers. That would not bode well for my already precarious reputation.

Aragorn collapsed on a sofa.

"Come now, let's get you to bed," I said gently.

"I am not Adnan," he retorted sharply.

"No, you are not, but you are exhausted." I reached out a hand and pulled him back to his feet and followed him into his bedroom. He sat heavily on the edge of his huge bed and I caught him before he could fall into it.

"Aragorn," I said quietly. "Let me take care of you this time."

I slowly reached forward and removed the heavy crown he had been wearing. I set it on the bedside table and then took one of his feet in my hands, pulling his boot off and then the other.

Like a child, he lifted his arms as I removed his ceremonial tunic and long sleeved shirt underneath it, leaving him only in a linen undershirt and his breeches. Gently, I pushed him back onto the pillows and pulled the blankets free from underneath him, covering him to his chin. His eyes nearly immediately closed and I went to fetch a goblet of water to set next to him.

When I came back, I saw something glinting around his neck in the light the torch gave off. Upon a closer look, I saw that he wore a very intricate jewel with a cluster of jewels in the middle of it. I knew, without asking, that it belonged to his Elf maiden.

I set the goblet down and brushed the King's hair away from his forehead as I did to Adnan when he slept. In sleep, a peaceful look came back to Aragorn's face and I left as quietly as I could.

So there you have it! I would love to know what you think! And like I have been saying all along, please share any ideas that you have for this story or anything at all that you want to see no matter how big or small.

Happy reading,

Avonmora