Unschuldig schuldig

It was a beautiful summer morning just perfect for a great feast. And
the feast King Elessar had invited his friends and aquaintances to was
going to be a great Eve Everybady had come: Frodo and Sam, Merry and
Pippin, Gimli and Legolas, Elladan and Elrohir and also Eomer. Eowyn and
Faramir were excused; King Theoden was suffering from an illness, and
at his age, they didn't want leave him alone for such a long time. And
so Gandalf too, who had lived in Isengard since the end of the war of
the ring, had chosen to look after his old friend.
They were going to celebrate the birthday of Aragorn's son Eldarion and
the annsarysary of the destruction of the ring. Eldarion was now 20
years old, and the ring had been cast into Mount Doom by Frodo more than
25 years ago. So much had happened during these years: Marriages had
been held, Gandalf had officially been promoted from grey pilgrim to white
wizard and death too had come over our friends. Arwen had been killed
by roaming orcs while she was on her way to paying her father in
Rivendell a visit. Eldarion had been no more than a baby back then, and
Aragorn had never fully coped with the death of his wife. After this tragic
incident, Elrond had sailed off to Valinor to find solace in the arms of
his wife. His sons had henceforth taken on the task of hunting down
every orc in Middle Earth and skewering him with their arrows.
All this was in the minds of the former members of the fellowship and
their friends as they sat together in the royal hall of the white city
and celebrated. The tables sagged under the weight of the most exquiste
delicacies and the servants were busy refilling the goblets with wine.
Roaring laughter erupted in the hall when Legolas told them about his
recent journey with Gimli. „ It's unbelievable! You keep a firm grip on
this dwarf all the way uphill, and still he manages to fall off the
horse! Really, you should have learned how to ride by, Gi, Gimli!“
„Dwarves happen to be attracted to the ground as if by magic. Try asking
Gandalf for a counterspell!“ Gimli retorted dryly before turning his focus
back to his well filled plate. Elrohir wiped tears of laughter from his
eyes and Pippin had almost fallen off his chair. Even Aragorn's usually
stern face was graced with the hint of a smile. „Tell me, Ada, when
will I get my presents?“ demanded his son. „You're as impatient as ever,
son. But if you so desperately want to, you shall have them.“ Said his
father and waved at a man from the next table who was clad in
elaborately decorated robes. He lept up at once and hurried away. „ Who was
that?“ demanded Eomer. „ It seems you let him in on your plans, Aragorn.“
„That I have, Eomer. If I would have gone to get Luna myself, Eldarion
would have known at once what I was up to. During he last days, he has
been to the stables more often than not to admire her. Some of the other
guests got up, too, to retrieve presents from every possible hiding
place. When Edarion saw what thad had in their hands, his eyes lit up:
Gimli pulled a gleaming sword from under the table, Legolas took a bow
and a quiver filled with arrows from behind a curtain, and the hobbits
were nervously waiting for their present to be brought in alongside with
Aragorn's. Elladan whispered o Eldarion: „Elrohir's and my present for
you is already in your room. It's the gobelin that Arwen used to have
in her rooms in Rivendell.“ „ Thank you, uncle. That's really a
beautiful present. Now I'll always have something from my mother around me when
I go to sleep or when I wake up at night.“ He hugged both Elrohir and
Elladan before he thanked Gimli and Legolas and made them promise to
follow him to the gardens to try out the presents after the meal.
Suddenly he was startled by a clattering noise coming from the entrance of the
hall. His eyes went wide as a small brown puppy with large hanging ears
trotted into the hall and made its way towards him. „That's our present
for you!“ Pippin and Merry exclaimed. „He still needs an name.“ Sam
added. „Then I will call him Stellum.“ said Eldarion thoughtfully and
focused back on the door, from where the man Aragorn had signaled to
earlier led a beautiful white mare into the hall. „Luna is yours now,
Eldarion. Keep an eye on her.“ Aragorn explained when his son faced him with a
questioning gaze. „You're joking, Ada.“ „I'm not. If you like, we can
all take a ride tomorrow. Luna already knows you, and she won't give you
a hard time riding her. Her saddle is a present from Eomer.“ The
birthday boy thanked him also and was already impatiently waiting for the
meal to finish so that he could go out with Legolas and Gimli.
An hour later, everybody was ready. Eldarion took the bow, the quiver
and the sword and went off. Gimli and Legolas hurried to their quarters
to arm themselves and met with Eldarion in the garden, where he was
already waiting impatiently. He wanted to do swordfighting with Gimli
first, and so Legolas made himself comfortable under a nearby tree with
overhanging branches. Gimli and Eldarion drew their swords and began
dancing around the middle of their makeshift arena. Soon Eldarion
challenged Gimli with a quick blow. But Gimli parried at once and retreated to
his initial position. Once again, they began circling round each other,
waiting for the other to attack. This time, Gimli couldn't wait any
longer and went at Eldarion with his sword raised high. Eldarion moved
backwards to dodge the blow and almost tripped over Legolas, who sat there
with his legs splayed wide and was visibly enjoying watching them.
„Mind your step. Otherwise you'll have to pay your father's healers a
visit.“ he advised Eldarion, „Your father will tear us apart if you break
something and we have to carry you back on a stretcher.“ he added with a
laugh. None of them noticed the figure clad in green who had situated
itself in the treetop above the elf and seemed to be waiting for
something...