Part 6 of the Elfwine Chronicles. The Elfwine Chronicles are a series of one-shots, of which there will definitely be three, but MIGHT be more if I come up with more ideas.

A/N: I think one of the reason I have been enjoying writing these Elfwine Chronicles is because, at least in the movies, we really only got to see intense, serious, warrior Eomer. This is probably the first time in his life he has been able to have much fun, despite the pressures of being king. Showing him with his wife and son allows him to be playful, boyish, funny, caring, tender, loving and so many other things that I, for one, believe him to be. I suspect many of you are enjoying them for the same reason (and, yeah, Elfwine is a cutey because I can keep his tantrums mostly hidden!).

Riding Lessons

(late Jan, 2 IV)

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Earlier, my husband had wandered off with our nine-month-old son, Elfwine, and when I went looking for them, I found them down at the paddock. While I have the utmost respect for my beloved husband, like many men, sometimes he has no sense at all.

There he stood, holding our son on the back of a horse – and our son was loudly screaming his protest of it all! I know my husband well, and that look on his face was not just annoyance or upset that our son was screaming, he was horribly embarrassed that HIS son, his heir to the throne of the Horse Lords, was objecting to sitting on a horse! He obviously thought there must be some dreadful mistake – HIS son could never NOT like horses, nay LOVE horses! Even at less than a year of age!

With a sigh, I moved toward them and said quietly, "Eomer, give him to me." He looked like he might argue, but I think frustration was beginning to get the better of him and he complied.

Once I had soothed Elfwine, I looked at my big, brawny husband and said, "There is no reason for you to be upset. He does not hate horses just because he is screaming now." He shifted uncomfortably at my words, realizing I understood his embarrassment.

"Mount up," I told him.

He blinked at me in surprise. "What?"

"Mount up. You do know how to get up on a horse, do you not?"

He gave me a chastizing look for my comment, but did as I instructed. Once he was settled, I handed Elfwine up to him, placing the child in the saddle in front of him. The baby wriggled a bit and began chewing on the saddle horn, but his only sounds were gurgles and coos. Eomer's face reflected his surprise at this different behavior and he looked at me questioningly.

"He is less than a year old, my love. He was just frightened of the unknown. It really had nothing at all to do with the horse. With you holding him, he feels safe. Keep that in mind when you introduce him to new things."

Eomer gave me a sheepish grin, but before he could say anything I added, "However, Elfwine is NOT going riding with you outside of this paddock until he is at least three and able to hold on by himself! So just get that notion out of your head right now!"

He tried to look innocent but Eomer couldn't hold back a guilty laugh, "Yes, beloved. Whatever you say."

THE END

End note: It is not essential that you read the Elfwine Chronicles in the order they were written, but there is an advantage to doing so. The more of them that I wrote, the more likely I was to make reference to one of the previous ones and something that happened there. If you want to read them in order, go to the top of this page and click on my name (Deandra). That will take you to my profile page. Scroll down and you will find all the stories I have written. The Elfwine Chronicles are in order from bottom to top since ffn shows them in the order they were posted. A few were posted out of number order (#15 came after #17, I think), but you can read them in posting order or number order since those few won't be affected in the story content.