Part 67 of the Elfwine Chronicles. The Elfwine Chronicles are a series of one-shots built around the family group of Eomer, Lothiriel and Elfwine. The total number will depend on how many ideas I get for new vignettes.

A/N: ElvislivesAgain mentioned in her review of Perceptions that she would be interested in Elfwine's take on that situation. I finally got around to writing it. And a Morwen story isn't far off...

Realization

(Jan, 26 IV)

All my life, it has been evident to me that my parents loved each other. Sometimes, when I was younger and even at times still, it embarrassed me when they publicly showed affection for one another. But over the years, I have come to appreciate what a precious thing it is.

Around the time I became of age, I started understanding what my life would be like one day. Eventually, my father would die and I would assume the kingship of Rohan. Initially, that realization was staggering. My father seemed to be everything that I was not, and I could not imagine that I would ever adequately fill his place.

I watched and listened, especially in counsel meetings. Advisers, who should have been a help and strength to their king, often were found to bicker over petty matters, and waste endless amounts of his time and energy on dealing with insignificant details. Each seemed to have his own personal agenda, and sought to sway the king to his point of view. I was amazed that my father was not crushed by the burden they tried to place on him, like a pack animal that is overladen.

I'm not sure when I began to understand the role my mother played in all of this. She was an intelligent and caring queen, but little she did was overt, and she clearly chose to subjugate herself to the king in matters of state. That did not seem terribly surprising.

However, slowly I began to discern little things, things others likely did not see, or did not catch the meaning of if they did notice. A touch of the hand on his arm or back, her fingers playing with his hair when no one could see, and most particularly the whispered comments that sometimes had my father blushing. There were few who could cause such a reaction in my father, but Mother had always been one of them.

For a while, in the audacity of youth, I assumed I knew what she was saying to him in those situations. Surely she must be making some suggestive sexual remark to elicit such a response. There had never been any question that my parents were continually passionate with one another – my youngest brother was a testament to that! It was somewhat embarrassing to me to comprehend that, even while I found it to be a good thing. It pleased me to know that love did not have to die after many years of marriage, and clearly theirs had not.

But one day, I forget the details, I chanced to overhear one of my mother's comments to my father. It was not suggestive in any way. Indeed, it was outright…silly! Her remark was utterly ridiculous, and said just before Father had to face a bank of advisers for another mind-numbing session. How could she distract him so from his work? Surely she understood his role as king and the need for sobriety. What would induce her to act so frivolously and undermine his concentration at such a time?

I happened to be attending that meeting with my father, and I found myself pondering the situation even as the meeting progressed. And then a very strange thing happened. I began to closely observe my father. While some longwinded adviser was waxing eloquent about an unimportant statistic, my father's mind seemed to have wandered slightly, and there was even the hint of a grin on his face. I know him well and could detect it, though likely the others in the room could not.

It seemed odd at the time, and I wondered what he might be contemplating to cause such an unusual reaction, when it suddenly struck me, almost like a physical blow in the chest. I knew, with absolute certainty, that he was remembering what my mother had said to him. This particular grin he bore wasn't just one of amusement, it was the tender one he reserved for Mother, and I had often seen it when she was teasing him in the privacy of our family.

Even with that recognition, it was still a number of years before I fully began to comprehend the intricate dance my parents engaged in. Only when I had married the love of my life, did I truly come to appreciate it.

My father and I happened to have sons born within a few months of each other. One day, we were down on all fours playing 'horse' for them, when our wives came in and caught us. Not only did the two collapse into giggles at the sight, but ever after they both seemed to delight in bringing up the incident and tormenting us with their jests. My own wife, Dariel, took to 'whinnying' at me at the most inopportune moments, usually causing me to blush, and distracting me from the matters at hand.

It took more than a week for me to discover that my mother was doing the same thing to Father. After all this time, I know my mother well, and I did not think it a coincidence that my wife was employing Mother's tactics. Dariel is a loving woman, but she has never been that much of a tease – not until she married me, and came to live at Meduseld. I was certain, absolutely certain, that she was being influenced by my mother.

And then it dawned on me that Mother was teaching her to do for me what she did for Father. I had witnessed the calming effect of Mother's behavior on my father, and now that I paid attention to it, I could see that Dariel's mimicking her was having a similar effect on me. Entering a meeting just after such an encounter, I could not be overwhelmed by pointless rhetoric and posturing. Our advisers' tricks to weary us with minutiae were ineffective when my mind would flash a reminder of Dariel in the midst of it all.

I am not entirely sure my father understands what Mother is doing for him with her little frivolities, but I hope he comes to the same realization about them as I have, and learns to appreciate a wife who whinnies at him regularly.

THE END

3/15/06

End note: It is best that you read the Elfwine Chronicles in the order they were written. 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, but you can read them in posting order or number order since those few won't be affected in the story content.