Hello!  It's, me, Hollie!  This is my second fic (yay!) and it is about Lian's (remember her? :) big bro Eldarion.  Hope you like!

Disclaimer: I'm not gonna go nuts with the disclaimers like I did in "Lian"... well, at least not at first *evil grin* For now, I'll just tell the truth... I don't own anyone.  Not even Lian, Fea and whoever else whose name you don't recognize.... they control me... not the other way around.

And all the stuff you do recognize... that stuff belongs to my dear old friend Mr. Tolkien!

On to the story!!!

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The Prince of Gondor

By Hollie

            The small, blonde haired girl giggled as she threaded her way swiftly through the crowds of people.  Most ignored the familiar child, although a few travelers new to the city shot her some dirty looks for getting in their way.  She noticed them not, however, and continued on with her business. 

            Getting away from all the people, she ran through an alley between two plain, modest-looking homes.  Suddenly quiet, she began to creep behind the house, and stepped between tall bushes planted in a small garden.  Chuckling quietly to herself, the child began to search for something.  Suddenly, from behind her, there was a small but shrill shriek.  She turned around quickly and found herself face to face with a young boy, only a year or two older than she, who's longish, disheveled brown hair flew about him as he jumped on her.

            The two wrestled for a few moments, and when they finally broke apart, they both bursting out in laughter.

            "I got you Mely!" the boy chuckled, "I said I would."

            "Well, there is a first time for everything!" she giggled.

He thought about that for a moment, then, "hey!"  They both laughed again, rolling around in the dirt.  Sitting up and wiping the dirt from her forehead, 'Mely's' face became suddenly solemn. 

            "What did he talk to you 'bout El?" she asked him.

            "Aw, nuttin' much.  He said that I'm goin' have a new sister soon."

            "You're lucky... My parents say they don't want no more kids, I'm enuff, they said."

            "Probably didn't want anymore after you... Were too afraid!"

            "Hey!" she smacked him playfully upside the head, "that wasn't very nice!"  He laughed, then continued.

            "And then, guess what he said to me!"

            "Um... I dunno, what?"

            "He said, 'Eldarion, son, one day you will be King of all Gondor,' isn't that great!" 

            She frowned, then said, "that's not fair!  I wanna be king!"

            "You can't silly!  Only boys can be kings!"

            "But it isn't fair!  What about the girls?!"

            "Girls are queens, didn't you know that?"

            "Oh.  Queens are good too.  Your mommy's the queen, and she's really nice.  I guess I could be the queen."

            "Okay, are you happy yet?  I'll be the king, and you can be the queen.  And everyone will have to do what we say!" 

            Mely's eyes widened in amazement.  "Really?  Everything we say!"

            "Uh huh.  Everything."

            "Oh!  I wanna be queen now!  When do we get to be in charge, El?"  Eldarion frowned and sat down on his feet.

            "We have to wait.  That's what father said.  'Not until you're older' he said."

            Mely sat back and supported what little weight she had with her elbows, "that's not good.  I want to be the queen now."  Sighing, both sat in silence for a few moments, which was, for them, very rare.  Suddenly, they heard the tromp of big, grownup feet, and as they turned, a stout, middle-aged woman came plodding through the dirt over to them.

            "Melana!" she cried, "Where on Middle-Earth have you been!  I've been searching for an hour now!  If it wasn't for one of those nice travelers, I probably never would have found you!  I can't believe that you ran off again, you naughty little child!  What have I told you, time and time again?"  She paused her rantings to take a breath, then spotted Eldarion.  "Oh, hello your highness, how do you do?"  Eldarion shrugged and said,

            "Eh.  Fine, I guess."  The woman waited for a "How are you doing today?" from the little prince, but it never came.  Sighing, she continued, "Melana, you and I are going to have a word about this with your father." Then, scooping her up in her arms, the woman, now revealed as Melana's mother, carried poor Melana away, back to the roads of the Circle

            Eldarion waved goodbye from his spot in the sod, then stood up and exited through the "secret" gap in the bushes through which he had come.  Skipping happily through the busy streets, he could easily have been mistaken for any regular, farmer's son.  But he wasn't.  Oh no, Eldarion was special.  Not just because he was a Prince, but because he was the son of the King and Queen.

            The King and Queen of Gondor was a rare, special pair.  The king was Aragorn, son of Arathorn, the chief of the Dunaden (A/N:  I am sure that I spelt that wrong, but I don't have enough time to check.  sorries!) and last in the line on Numenor.  He was called Elessar, that is Elfstone, and more to the like of elves than of men was he.  His Queen, Arwen Undomiel, was an elf, and a high race of elves at that.  Her father was Elrond Halfelven, bearer of one of the three Rings, the history of which is not told here.

             Eldarion had (fortunately for him) inherited much from his parents.  He was being taught the ways of the elves by his mother, and his father promised to teach him survival and hunting skills, as soon as he was older.  In all appearances, he was a carbon copy of his father.  Shoulder length hair sometimes covered his clear, solemn grey eyes, and even though he was not yet, the people of Gondor could sense that he would be strong and a wise ruler. 

            At the moment though, the thought of ruling a country had left his mind, to be taken by much more interesting (to a seven year old boy) things.  He had spotted a loaf of sweet smelling bread in the bakery shop across the road from where he stood.  As unnoticeably as possibly, he snuck over to the shop, and hurriedly stuffed the bread into his shirt.  He was, unfortunately for him, not quick enough, and he soon found himself being grabbed by the scruff of the neck by the shop owner.

            "Stealing my bread again, your highness?" the shopkeeper asked in a gruff voice.  Eldarion tried to look as innocent and sweet as possible.

            "Don't you try that look of yours on me, young prince.  Im'a going to have to report you to your father.  Come along now."  Leaving his apprentice in charge for the moment, he took poor Eldarion by the hand and began to climb up the road to the Citadel.  Telling the guards what his purpose was, he and Eldarion were escorted to the throne room, where the King sat on his grand throne.

            "Begging your pardon, your majesty, but the prince," he gestured to Eldarion, "has been into my bread again."  Rubbing his fingers to his temples, the King replied, "I ask your forgiveness on behalf on my son.  If you will follow the guards, they will be sure that you receive payment for your goods.  Thank you for bringing this to my attention, again." 

            Bowing low to the ruler of Gondor, the baker followed the guards on a path he knew well by this point.

            "I daresay this won't be the last time I come here with that boy either," he muttered to one of the guards, whom he happened to know.

            "Yes, I doubt it as well.  A lot of mischief that boy causes," he replied.

            After they had left, Aragorn turned his attention to Eldarion.

            "This is the seventh time this month you've been caught sneaking something.  First it was meat, then bread, then the hunting supplies, and now we're back to bread.  What's wrong, Eldarion?  You could get all those things here, and we have plenty enough money for you to purchase those items legally.  Why must you break rules?"  Eldarion just shrugged.

            "I don't know father.  It's fun, I guess," he thought for a moment, "well, maybe not the getting caught part, but..."  Aragorn cut his son off, "Eldarion, breaking rules and boundaries should not be fun.  You know that," he smiled, and his face softened, "but maybe your ready for other types of fun.  Perhaps you and I could go hunting sometime?"  The grey eyes of the child suddenly lit up and he rushed over to hug his father, "really!?  You and me, hunting together like the big boys!"

            Aragorn smiled again, "yes, I think that you are ready.  Not today though, but perhaps sometime next week."

Eldarion was about to reply, when suddenly a young maid burst in through the large double doors.

            "Beg pardon, Lord, but it's time!  The child is about to be born!"

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so.... how is it???  please tell me, I'm dying!  I'll probably keep writing it, even if no one likes it very much because it is sooooooo much fun to write!!  I prefer writing the characters of children (at least in ME) cause the adults are so formal... it gets boring.  however, this is the story of Eldarion's life, so eventually, I'm gonna have to make him all formal *sniffle*  oh well.  That's cool too... I guess.

okay, gotta go, homework's calling (and algebra is EVIL!!!!  STAY AWAY!!!!!)

Always

~Hollie