One Thing after Another

The field was covered in bright colored tents and banners as far as the eye could see. In the center of Cormallen were three mounds upon which sat three thrones. Behind each throne flew the king’s banner. Elessar’s banner was in the center with the white horse upon a green field flying proudly to his left, and the dark blue and silver Swan banner waved just as proudly to the right. The sight of people relaxing and enjoying themselves among the ever protective watch of the kings was something Lothiriel would never forget. It made all the trials her family had gone through disappear for the moment.

“Will this peace last father,” she asked hoping beyond hope that his answer would be yes?

“There will always be enemies at our doorstep but the reunited kingdoms will prevail under King Aragorn.”

“And under the princes of Dol Amroth and Ithilien. One man can not rule alone father. Our king will need your help and your advice.”

“And I plan to give it to him. As soon as I can free myself from all these useless, silly trivial matters.” He had said the last under his breath but Lothiriel heard him.

“What useless, silly trivial matters bother you father?”

Secrets were not something that the family kept from each other. And besides Imrahil thought that soon enough she would be thrown full force into his trivial matters.

“Lord Shannon is trying to persuade me that his daughter is a perfect match for Elphir. It was all I heard for days; him pleading her case. Elphir refuses to remarry and I have told Lord Shannon that I will not force him to. Needless to say it has upset the party from Lebennin quite a lot so now I have to somehow find a way to make up to them.”

“You should not have to make up to them. Lord Shannon should realize that Elphir does not want his daughter and that you will not make the match. It is that simple father. The family from Lebennin must learn to deal with disappointment. Besides, it is not like there is a shortage of eligible men for his daughter so a disappointment it is not.”

“Then there is the stir Erchirion and Amrothos are causing. Grown men should now better!” He was exasperated by his son’s behavior to some of the ladies of the courts.

“They are leaving a trail of broken hearts in their wake and it is only making more ladies a lot more determined to tame their wild hearts. Not to mention making it almost impossible to keep up with which families are out of sorts with me. And I thought fighting Corsairs, orc, and all manner of vile beasts would be the most difficult thing I would ever have to do!” He shook his head in defeat.

“Is it so bad that I want to quietly spend the rest of my life in the gardens away from war and strife? Yet I have had to deal with much more of it after our victories. If humans are this crass and base toward each other how will Middle Earth ever rebuild?”

“Not all humans are baseless toward their fellow man father. You are just seeing the most desperate cases. Humanity is still good father, you will see. It is only a few causing problems for you right now that has clouded your vision. We are all together now, things can only get better.”

“Always the optimist.” Imrahil loved his daughter’s bright outlook on life. Even though he wondered how after all she had endured she could keep it.

They were at their tents now and her brothers were coming out to greet their sister and nephew.

“Sister!” Amrothos greeted her first. Giving her a hug and kiss he let the others welcome her.

Elphir greeted her last and rather tentatively. He looked at Alphros in her arms with fear in his eyes. He could now be the father his son needed; but he had never been around the child. He was in battle when he was born and his mother passed on. There had been a time of two months when he had seen his son who was then six months old; but that time the child was ill and in Lothiriel’s or the nurses care most of the time. Would he even know that Elphir was his father? He was terrified of the almost two year old toddler in his sister’s arms.

“Papa,” Alprhos said and reached out for his father. “Papa, papa, papa,” he continued.

Elphir broke down in tears. “How?”

Everyone around them was crying now too. “I used your wedding portrait to teach him who his parents are,” Lothiriel said quietly. “He knows you are papa and he thinks Anee is a sea nymph. I did not know how to teach him that she had died.”

“Sister I do not know how to thank you enough.”

“Alphros will not likely be content around you for a while. It will take time and patients but he is a smart child.” No sooner had Loti spoken her words then Alprhos was reaching for his grandfather.

It broke Elphir’s heart that his bond with his son was not formed yet. “Give it time,” Amrothos finally spoke as Imrahil, Lothiriel and the lad walked into the tent.

He sat outside with his son, rocking the exhausted toddler to sleep. In a brief pause from looking at his son he saw a familiar lady waddling his way. It was Lord Shannon’s daughter, he did not even know her name but his father had told him that she was trying to make a match – with him.

“Oh what a cutie,” she said as she bent down to pinch Alphros cheeks. The child woke with a start and let out a blood curdling squall!

In a moment the lady was moving away from Elphir and Lothiriel was at her brother’s side.

“I did not mean to frighten the child,” at least she was more apologetic then Holmgreen had been.

Lothiriel realized that the lady had no mother skills for even the most inexperienced of mother’s would not wake a child by pinching him! Loti was angry.

“You do not wake a stranger’s child by pinching him who ever you are!” Lothiriel was not doing well keeping her anger inside. “How would you like to be woken by a stranger pinching you?” She turned her focus to Alphros. “You ok my little man?”

Seeing his aunt Alphros calmed down again and smiled. “Cook, cook,” he said with a huge grin.

“I am sorry Lord Elphir, I did not mean to cause your son to cry. I only wanted to see him,” she looked at Loti as she spoke now.

“When he is rested, fed, and clean you may see him. With permission first.” Lothiriel was laying down the ground rules for anyone who desired to see her nephew. “Now if you would allow a father to bond with his son.” She stood between Elphir and the lady and the lady got the message.

Alphros tugged on Lothiriel’s skirt and said, “Cook, cook.”

“Yes, you need a cook, cook,” she said ignoring Elphir for a second. She reached into a pouch tied around her waist and produced a dried fig. Alphros reached for it greedily and soon was enjoying the fruits of his labor.

Elphir was badly shaken by the events of having his peaceful son suddenly crying and flailing in his arms. “Do they always turn that fast? One minute he was a peaceful angle the next a wailing banshee.”

“She woke him up from a comfortable sleep. He has traveled for days and is in a strange place with strange people. He is not the happiest of campers in the field right now. Maybe you should go inside and lay down with him.”

“Ugly, ugly, oogly, cook-cook.” He was pointing at a group of women that were admiring him and his father from afar. “Ugly! Cook Cook, “ he was yelling while still pointing. “UGLY!”

The women were embarrassed to be called ugly by a child and dispersed in a huff! Once they had left Alphros once again tugged on his aunt’s skirt.

“Cook cook cook cook,” he was wanting another fig.

“Sister what have you taught my son?” Elphir was laughing as he realized what had just happened.

“Children are excellent judge of character brother. I have been training Alphros to pick the best characters around him. It works wonders among the over zealous crowd.”

“You have trained my son to scream and wail at annoying people. Brilliant!” He did not know weather to be angry at her or to thank her. With the annoyance that unwanted people had caused lately he decided that his sister really was the brains in the family.

“I am just using what he already does well. You do not want someone in his life that frightens him or is mean to him do you? He is a young child without his mother. Up until now his father was at war and away from him; it is basic survival.” Alphros crawled up tighter to his father as Lothiriel talked.

“I thank you for keeping him well while I was gone.” Elphir took his sister’s hand and squeezed.

“He is a pleasure to keep. I hope you will still allow me to help you with him.”

“I can not raise him without you sister. I have told father I do not desire to remarry. There will be times when I must go out to protect our kingdom and in those times I will need you. I will need you to help me raise this fine boy to be a good man Lothiriel.”

“It is the least I can do.” She hugged her brother.

It had been extremely rough on Elphir to lose his wife in childbirth, a birth that he had not been able to attend due to war. He could not even attend Anee’s funeral and did not see his son and heir until he was six months old. But through it all Lothiriel had taken Alphros as her own, raising him to know his parents even though both were gone. He owed his sister a lot, but she was his sister and one thing the family of Dol Amroth was was a tight knit unit who depended on each other.