Title: Doubt and Destiny

Rating: G

*~*~*~*

Legolas looked toward the figure of his friend. Aragorn stood stiffly, as several servants fussed around him, arranging his robes just so and trying to curtail the man’s unruly hair.

Finally, the ranger-at-heart could take it no longer. “Thank you, but please go,” he commanded, and the servants scurried out of the room. “I will never look any more like a king than I do at this moment. I just hope it is good enough,” he muttered.

“It is, mellon nin, it is,” came a familiar and most welcome voice from the doorway.

Aragorn looked around and saw the Prince of Mirkwood walking toward him. “Surely you have set aside your doubts by now.”

Aragorn sighed. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to accomplish that.”

With a sympathetic smile, Legolas put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “You may not think so, Estel, but you are every inch the king you were born to be.”

Aragorn gave his appraisal of the elf before him. “You look more like a king than I do.”

Legolas laughed. “Ah, but I am merely a prince. You, mellon nin, are about to become the ruler of a great nation.”

More seriously, Aragorn said, “Do you really believe Gondor will accept me? I am a stranger to them.”

“I have known you many years, Estel. You have the wisdom, the courage and the compassion to rule your people wisely and well. Had I not learned long ago who you really are, I would still have believed you should sit on a throne somewhere, someday.”

Aragorn laughed. “I knew I kept you around for a good reason.”

The two friends embraced and then left the room together, Legolas to join the contingent of elves gathered for the king’s coronation and Aragorn to face his destiny.

The End