Stolen Moments

Speaking With Horses

(Takes place in the stables in Gondor, after the War of the Ring)

There are two things in the world that Aragorn loves and adores above all else: Legolas and his horses.

When he was brought to Rivendell as a young child, he almost immediately fell in love with the elvish horses kept there. With Elrond's permission, he was taught all about the horses and how to communicate with them. To the elves surprise, the horses quickly took to young Estel. His talents and ways with them only improved as he got older, and it became more and more common to find him out in the stables.

Even after becoming king, Aragorn was known to spend a lot of time riding and out in the stables with his horses, at least when he didn't have duties to attend to. It had become quite common for Legolas to find Aragorn there, especially early in the morning when it was quiet and peaceful. Today was no different, except that this time the elf decided to join him.

He found the ranger sitting in a stall, humming to the newborn foal that he was petting, and its mother that was watching from the corner that she lay in. "Good morning, did you sleep well?" Aragorn didn't even lift his attention from the horses as he spoke. Legolas leaned against the stall door and smiled. "Yes I did, did you?" Aragorn laughed, his sea gray eyes finally looking up to meet Legolas's. "I'm afraid sleep doesn't come as easily to me, Legolas."

Legolas slowly opened the gate, walking in and quickly closing it behind him before crossing over to Aragorn. The ranger scooted over, allowing the elf to take a seat next to him on the hay bale. Legolas smiled and reached out, gently scratching the foal behind the ears.

Aragorn pulled an apple from his pocket and held it out to the foal as he laid his head on Legolas's shoulder. "Could it just stay like this forever? You and me, the horses, no problems or duties to worry about...." Aragorn trailed off and sighed. Legolas wrapped an arm around the ranger with a small smile. "I'm always here to help you with everything, you know that Aragorn." Aragorn smiled and nodded.

Just then, the foal nuzzled against Aragorn's hand, and the ranger resumed absentmindedly petting his head. "I know, and that's why I want to spend the rest of my life here with you. I want to make it official," Aragorn said quietly. Legolas blinked in surprise. It was clear the ranger had been thinking about this, and the elf could feel how tense he was under his arm awaiting his response. Legolas had known for a long time that it was his fate to be with Aragorn, but they had never actually talked about making it official before.

Apparently Legolas was taking too long to answer because Aragorn's voice faltered and the ranger began to pull away. "Unless that's not what you want-" Legolas rushed to respond, cutting Aragorn off mid-sentence. "Of course it's what I want, I love you," the elf smiled, pulling Aragorn closer to him. The ranger sighed in relief, and laid his head back on Legolas's shoulder.

They sat in silence for awhile, with Aragorn still petting the baby foal. Suddenly Legolas smiled. "What should we name her?" He asked softly. Aragorn shook himself out of his thoughts, and looked at the horse before him. She was definitely a beautiful foal, the shining example of a perfect horse. She had dappled gray and white fur, and her young eyes shone with playfulness as she nuzzled the ranger's hand. "Hmmm, I'm not sure."

Seeing the baby stumbling around them, an idea came to Legolas. "How about we call her Hasufel II?" Aragorn smiled up at the elf. "It's perfect, I love it." He replied quietly. They sat there for awhile longer, both lost again in their own thoughts, before Legolas gently untangled himself from Aragorn and rose.

"Would you like to go for a ride?" Legolas stood in front of Aragorn, offering a hand to help him up. "I'm not due to hold court for a few hours yet, a ride does sound nice right now," Aragorn smiled, accepting Legolas's hand and standing. They still had a lot of things to figure out if they were going to get married, but that could wait. For now, their love for each other (and their horses) was enough. And with that, Aragorn and Legolas mounted, and rode off into the sunrise. (Cliché, I know)

                                          ~
Horse Information: Hasufel is the horse that Éomer gave to Aragorn near the beginning of The Two Towers. "Hasufel" is old English for "gray-coat," and in the book, Hasufel was a dark gray stallion, but in the films he was played by a chestnut. He is the horse Aragorn uses to ride the Paths of the Dead in the book, but in the movie he is killed by the warg attack on the way to Helm's Deep. (It's technically a boy's name but let's just go with it)

A/N: I have so many Aralas edits saved on Instagram and can't stop watching them. And I'm sorry it's been taking so long to update, life has been a little hectic lately. But have some (sorry it's short) adorable animal interaction to make up for it.  :)