Aredhel (LotR Fan Fiction)

Four Elves, Four Heirs

"Aredhel. Aredhel, you here?" Lamalas's soft voice drifted towards the elf princess.

He walked past another tree, his chin-length brown hair flowed behind him in the evening wind. Aredhel looked up from her archery practice at the sound of her youngest brother. He turned the corner and walked towards his only sister.

"Eärendur needs us back at the castle. There's an emergency." At his words she lowered her bow and looked at the younger boy sternly.

"Lead the way." Throughout any circumstance Aredhel had always been calm and collected, and today was no exception.

Back at the palace Eärendur was pacing back and forth, Rúmil watching him cautiously. His strides were long and fast, but with also some degree of authority. His mind roamed to the places in the palace were his only sister could have been. Nothing matched. Except for one place. Mirkwood Forest. Aredhel had been told specificly not to go near that place, but when had the young princess ever listened to what was said.

"Brother. They return." Rúmil looked up to see his twin brother and older sister walk into the hall.

Eärendur looked up too when his eeyes landed on the two. A sigh of relief escaped his lips but that didn't mean he wasn't angry. He was furious.

"How could you?! I told you, Aredhel, not to go into that forset. Have you got any idea what you have done?!"

"Eärender-" She began but was cut off.

"No excuses this time." And with that he stormed out of the room.

For the first time, Aredhel saw the real anger of her older brother. She sighed, everyone knew the rule. Never go into Mirkwood alone. The place was practically crawling with orcs. She looked over her shoulder at her brother's retrieving figure, she wanted to go after him but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Leave him." It was Rúmil.

The eldest of the two 11 year old twins was more formal and brooding than his brother. He rarely spoke and when he did it was always to say something dark or spiteful. And to Aredhel, it came as a shock to hear his voice was so calm. As Rúmil turned his sister around to look at him, his eyes searched her face. She clearly looked shocked but he knew that would blow over as soon as he said something mean. The second time he scoured her expression, he saw hurt. To all three of them it had been quite a surprise that Eärendur had shouted, but it was clear their eldest brother's words had hurt Aredhel the worst.

"Heirs." The voice that drifted towards the three children came from none other then Lúthien.

Arwen's cousin. Their guardian. Ever since Arwen and Arahorn II, the parents of the four young elves, had passed away, Lúthien had become the legal guardian. They all trusted her with their lives and no-one sane would dare cross Lúthien Ancalimë. Not if they wanted to live.

"Come." She said as the three turned towards her. "You must rest."

No-one exchanged a glance and all followed without a word. Aredhel walked past her older brother's room to get to her own and hearing him pacing behind his double doors troubled her. Never once had Eärendur been this angry, or this anxious. Even if she had broken one of his many rules, he had always been quick to forgive her in the past. But today was different. Their was something he was keeping from her and Aredhel hated to be so uncertain of him.

As she reached her room, she pulled open the dark green doors and treaded softly across the soft floor. As she rested her body down onto the silky covers of her bed, her mind started to drift. Eärendur had began to act this way ever since the day Mother and Father left. That day had affected all of them but Eärendur had taken the worst of it. He no longer smiled as he usually did and he would lose his temper at the simplest of things. Father had said it was because he possessed the fire element inside of him. But this time it went deeper still.

Eärendur stopped in his pacing and sighed, his gaze lingering on an old painting of their family. His Mother's smile wide and happy as his Father stood besides her. He himself was standing imfront of them as Aredhel and baby Lamalas and Rúmil were playing. The picture was painted a long time ago but he's kept it. It was his way of remembering his parents. He sighed remembering the look on his sister's face when he had lost his temper at her. But he'd lost his parents to deadly enemies that lay in wait in Mirkwood, and he wasn't ready to let the same thing happen to his sister.