Dawnstar and Friend

Eleanor’s POV
Once the snow had melted, we left again, this time to go back to the Dunedan.
Thankfully, our patrol group had over a month after our arrival before we went out again and that was roughly how long it took us to clean out the house after almost two years of absence.
We were welcomed back enthusiastically by all in the village, especially as we came bearing news of their young chief and Gilraen.
Eventually, though, we went back out on patrol, which were getting more dangerous by the year.
The patrols were quite a relief as that meant we were no longer in the village where Arathorn had lived and getting used to his absence was very strange still. The return to the Dunedan land had brought back things we thought that two years had buried.
When we got back from our patrol we got to see little Halbarad again.
He was about seven now and was starting to learn weapons properly. He was still using wooden swords, but of a rather more serious nature than before.
When we first turned up to his lessons he and the other boys made the mistake of saying girls can’t fight. This was a little bit on the dumb side to say the least.
It didn’t take much training with them to show that girls definitely can fight. I think their teacher was rather amused.
By now all the Dunedan knew we were female and it was accepted, rather fewer knew exactly who we were, but those who did also accepted that.
***
Over the next few years we went on patrol frequently, with each patrol group’s rest periods getting smaller and patrol periods getting longer.
Though it was far from the worst it could get, even if you didn’t know what was coming, you could see that it would come to a head relatively soon, that is within the lifespan of a Dunedan, and possibly even a normal human’s lifespan.
At least once a year, we would make a short return trip to Rivendell to visit our family.
Though we noticed the continuing growth of our cats, the elves noticed it rather more. They were definitely slightly jumpy around our fluff balls.
At the first return visit, the cats reached up to our knees and still had abnormally large feet and tails.
On the second, a year later, the cats came up to just bellow our hips. Estel no longer tormented them we noticed.
On our third return visit, mine came up to just below my waist. Ginny of course was human-sized and therefore shorter so hers, though smaller than Nyx, came up to the bottom of her ribcage. Miriel’s was of a similar size to mine.
Actually our cats made our ranger friends both nervous and very willing to have us on patrol. The cats made very effective scouts, particularly at night and were much better hunters, as long as you didn’t mind your meat having the jugular ripped out. They also sorted out another problem. We would feed them the innards which we would previously had buried to get rid of. It was not like we could make sausages or something from them while we were on patrol.
The cats also proved immensely useful when fighting, they didn’t take orders, but would simply go behind the attackers and rip them to pieces. Even the cats wouldn’t eat the Wargs or Orcs though.
***
As Estel got older, we would also join him more, wanting the future King and Chief of the Dunedan to be well acquainted with us; well that was Ginny and I’s main motive, I think Miriel just liked him, it also meant she got to spend more time round the twins, both of whom, I noticed, she was quite fond of.
They seemed fond of her too, actually.
Estel didn’t make the mistake of commenting that ‘girls couldn’t fight’ we noticed.
The summer of 2941 was particular fun. It was one of the few times in which we neither resided in Rivendell nor went with the Dunedan. For the life of her, Miriel couldn’t understand why we insisted on shadowing thirteen dwarves and a hobbit, sometimes accompanied by the wizard Gandalf.
We had never met the wizard personally, but all three of us knew much of him and we were sure he knew a lot about us too. I am also sure he knew we were there.
A little bit before they reached Rivendell we ran ahead, taking the shortcuts only residents knew, getting there a week beforehand. By now, Elrond had stopped throwing parties purely because of our return, the elves had become used to us going in and out of the haven and little ceremony was put on it any more.
I think Miriel began to get suspicious when the group she had been outvoted on shadowing turned up in Rivendell.
While they were there, we had great fun getting to know them, the dwarves behaving very respectably to us. The advantage of foreknowledge was we could appreciate the irony value of the fact that Miriel got on very well with the group.
Strangely enough, we elected not to follow the group when they left Rivendell for the Misty Mountains and towards Mirkwood.
***
One of our greatest pleasures was joining Estel on his first patrol when he was 17. This was only the second or third time we had been allowed to join the patrols of Rivendell, the elves there being rather conscious of our status, but the twins had convinced them otherwise and then, once we had been out with them, the warrior elves had soon learnt that we were at least as good as them, Eriador being substantially more dangerous than the borders of Rivendell, which was protected by Elrond’s ring of power.
Though Estel had been brought up learning wood craft etc, this was the first time he had truly been able to use them.
I think, though he had realised that our giant cats could be dangerous, he was also surprised by how they were outside of the safety of the elfin city. I am pretty certain that he ceased to see them as fluffy pets that made good pillows (though they still did actually, their presence greatly increase the comfort level of our patrols).
After a few patrols, he was much more mature we noticed.
***
Over the next few years we went back to the Dunedan a few times, that last one taking Gilraen back with us.
This was during one of Estel’s longest tours of duty, several months long and out in the mountains, just the other side of the Imladris border, travelling with the twin to check out any Orc activity there.
Ginny and I knew what was coming soon so we encouraged Gilraen’s desire to visit her people. Estel had always know his mother was not a native of Rivendell, though he knew next to nothing about her people so her going home wouldn’t shock him, after all he neither needed her anymore nor was at home very much either.
Once she got home, she moved in with her parents in her home village rather than the one in our village. I don’t think she could stand staying in the place that had only been her home with her husband.
Once we were sure she was safely settled in, we returned to Rivendell.
Ginny and I both realised that there were two good reasons for returning now. First was the return of Arwen, we hadn’t seen her for years, since our trip south in fact, and the other was of course the revelation of Estel’s heritage to him.
Though we hadn’t wanted Gilraen round for the fireworks that we were sure were to ensue, we definitely wanted to be there ourselves.
In private we tended to make jokes about us being ‘time tourists’, making sure we were present for as many of the major events leading up to the War of the Ring as possible.
Shortly after we had returned, so did Estel, soon to be Aragorn.
We were waiting for him on the steps with Elrond and we could see the same thing Elrond saw when he returned.
Once he had washed up (no matter how important the meeting, we always made sure he had washed before coming to it. Little short of invasions of Orcs or the burning of Rivendell would stop us from insisting on his bathing on return, because, unlike Ginny, he didn’t take the opportunity of every body of water and generally stunk by the time be got back - unless there had been a recent rainstorm of course).
He was called into Elrond’s office and we all went and sat on the lawn; those already in the know (Ginny and I that is) did not need to be told what Elrond was telling Estel.
That night he was not at the meal, but had one sent to his room and no one saw hide nor hair of him for the rest of the day, which was good as that meant that he missed the return of Arwen, something that had slipped the minds of the elves to tell him.
This meant the whole garden scene could take place.
Miriel, obviously suspicious of us, insisted on joining us when we sneak along behind Aragorn and hid near him to watch the scene. I think that made her even more suspicious than she had been before, as it was clear to anyone that what had transpired was important.
I think that it might have been at that point she worked out there were things we were not telling her.
Ginny’s POV
As we hadn’t seen them in quite a while, we decide to head back to the Angle to see the Dunedan.
We arrive during the final month of our patrol’s rest period. We don’t rest; no, we spend the entire month practically breaking our backs in order to remove the two years’ build up of muck and dust.
That was a little pointless really as we only just finish in time to go back out on patrol, which, due to the increased danger of the area, has been extended to the detriment of our rest period.
I have a new purpose in life: to set up a fighting school for girls. I’m getting sick and tired of every male we meet telling us that women can’t fight – even Halbarad and other sons of the Dunedan, who really ought to know better, say this to us.
One thing that does amuse me, though, is the amount of jumpiness that seems to increase every time we arrive back in Rivendell – it seems to happen every time our cats are around.
I suppose it’s understandable really, within three years Murrlin does grow from a tiny bundle of fluff with outsized paws and tail to coming up to my ribcage.
She’s still absolutely adorable, though, and I’m convinced she’s as besotted with me as I am with her. Every night, without fail, Murrlin either curls up on a pile of cushions beside my bed or lies at my head and lets me use her as a pillow. The latter she won’t let anyone else do. Murrlin also brings back meat for me; whenever she makes a kill, I can be guaranteed to be brought a portion of it.
One of the most gorgeous sights in Rivendell (I think) is when all three (full-grown) cats stretch out in the sun in the courtyard at the front of the palace. They lie in such a way that it’s impossible to walk straight through the courtyard, everyone has to pick their own way around the gently purring bodies taking great care to avoid stepping on any outstretched tail.
Elrond did complain about this on many occasions, but eventually gave up when he realised that neither we nor the cats were listening to him.
Being fans of great fans of Tolkien, Ellie and I spend a lot of time planning what events we can ‘mysteriously’ drop-in on. In 2941 we decide to follow Bilbo in his travels with the thirteen dwarves and occasionally, Gandalf.
Poor Miriel can’t understand why we insist on doing this, especially as we usually stay in Rivendell or with the Dunedan. We fudge her off with ‘wanting to do something different’, but she counters this by saying that whenever we insist on doing something ‘different’, we always seem to end up joining in with something of great significance.
I think she might also be slightly annoyed at not being able to see Elladan and Elrohir – those three seem to have got very close recently.
Miriel gets even more suspicious of our motives when we suddenly bow to her requests to go back to Rivendell – and arrive about a week before the dwarves and Bilbo do.
Mostly though, we do tend to alternate our time between Rivendell and patrolling with the Dunedan.
The last patrol we do involves taking Gilraen back to her parents’ house.
We then make Miriel even more suspicious by immediately turning round and heading back to Rivendell – we usually stay in the Angle for a little while after a patrol.
I’m surprised that Miriel doesn’t voice her suspicions – I probably would. Maybe she’s waiting until we really do something suspicious.
Of course, the year now being 2951, Ellie are on tenterhooks waiting for Estel’s arrival as two momentous events in the young ranger’s life are about to take place.
The events, as we had hoped are suitable dramatic, if not being slightly clichéd. This is especially so when Arwen’s arrival coincides with Estel’s temporary withdrawal from life at Rivendell.
This meant the whole garden scene could take place.
I know we shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, but we really couldn’t help ourselves. Although, this might have lowered the romanticism of the whole event as our cats insist on following us and, when they sense Estel, they immediately bound up to him, purring loudly.
We girls naturally take our chance and run as it’s too much to hope that the cats won’t give us away.