Aragorn: 8 years old

Another two years went by and Aragorn was learning more and more each day. He was now eight years old and growing to be a fine, smart child. Most the Elves in Rivendell were quite outstanded by Aragorn's instincts and how quickly he picked up on learning new things. He was turning out to be a great addition to Rivendell, and Aragorn himself was proud of that.

Ever since Aragorn had come to Rivendell, Elrond and the two twins had started teaching him Elvish. It was the main tongue of the Elves and it would be essential for Aragorn to learn lots of it. Also, the Dunedain were prone to learning the language sometime in their lives.

Aragorn had just finished his lesson for the day with Elrond and was heading outside to go and find something to do. He thought with some practice he would be able to get the new language down easy.

"I've been looking for you," said a voice from the left of Aragorn.

Aragorn turned and didn't recognize the Elves face. He was male and was about a head taller than Aragorn, leading him to believe that he was an Elf child. He had never seen the Elf before which seemed strange since he thought he had seen about every Elf in Rivendell.

"Who are you?" Aragorn asked.

"Names Greakth... what's your name?" the Elves voice sounded snooty and too headstrong for the normal calmness of an Elves personality.

"Estel," Aragorn answered.

He noticed Greakth was eying his ears and then to his eyes making Aragorn look away.

"Do you want to play 'Rima' with me?" Greakth asked.

"What's Rima?" Aragorn asked.

Greakth smirked and then said,

"It means run in Elvish. It's a game,"

"How do you play?"

"You just have to run from the Elf that is 'it'. The Elf that is 'it' has to chase all the other Elves and try and get them. So, do you want to play?"

"No, it's all right," Aragorn said politely, sensing something off about the Elfling.

Greakth reached out and jabbed his hand into Aragorn's stomach.

"Your 'it'!" Greakth shouted and then ran off.

Aragorn wasn't sure he wanted to play with him, but he couldn't back down now. He loved running, so maybe he could catch the Elf.

Where Elves faster than humans?

Aragorn took off running after Greakth. Greakth wasn't expecting him to be that quick and stumbled backwards a little, but Aragorn got him. Aragorn ran off and waited for Greakth to chase after him.

"That was just a warm up," Greakth said feeling embarrassed that he was 'it', "Try to get me again,"

Greakth ran away and Aragorn ran after him. Greakth ran and ran as fast as he could, but Aragorn was hot on his tail. Aragorn reached out and tapped him on the lower back. Greakth growled and turned around.

Aragorn ran off the other way and Greakth followed trying to keep up. Aragorn loved the feeling of the wind on his face as he ran through Rivendell. He could run lots faster without his boots, but it was too late to take them off.

"I'm just going easy on you!" Greakth yelled as he ran after Aragorn. Aragorn could tell he was lying.

Aragorn stopped and waited for Greakth to catch up to him. Once he had, Greakth tried pouncing on Aragorn, but he jumped out of the way. At one time, Aragorn went under his legs and then ran off again. He had always been good at dodging.

Aragorn stopped to catch his breath for a moment. Greakth however did not stop and was ready to jump on Aragorn. He was ready though, and with his back still to Greakth, he scrunched up into a ball and ducked down to the grass. Greakth went stumbling over him and fell in the grass face first.

"I'm going to go now," Aragorn said. He walked over to Greakth and held out his hand so that he could help him up, "Thanks for playing with me,"

Greakth growled and smacked his hand away.

"Let's race to the Hall. Go!" Greakth hollered.

He had a head start and ran hard to the great Hall, but Aragorn ran even harder. He ran past him through the sunlight and went through the open doors to the Hall. He saw Elrond and Arwen sitting at the table talking. There was a glass of water on the table that looked to be not used yet. He took the water glass before him and drank the whole thing.

"What have you been up too, might I ask?" Elrond asked looking away from Arwen and to Aragorn who was out of breath.

Before Aragorn could respond, Greakth entered the room yelling,

"Where is he?!"

It looked like he was upset and was ready to fight. Aragorn slunk under the table fast. Greakth thundered into the room, but stopped and looked wide eyed as he saw that Elrond was looking straight at him.

"Sorry to bother you, my Lord," then Greakth turned around and left the room quickly.

"What is going on?" Elrond asked and looked back to where Aragorn's seat was. He was alarmed when he saw that he was gone.

Arwen was the only one who saw where Aragorn had gone.

She looked under the table. Aragorn put his finger to his lips. Arwen looked away and played with her necklace as if nothing had been wrong. Aragorn crawled out from under the table and out of the doors without being seen. He didn't want to cause any trouble, so he left the building and planned to go to his tree.

Back in the Hall, Arwen was concerned.

"Father, may I be excused?"

"Where did Estel go?" Elrond asked in return.

Arwen shrugged.

"Yes, I suppose I should be off as well,"

"Thanks!" Arwen got up and left the room in a hurry.

A/N: Going to get intense again in the next couple chapters! Also, I think I forgot to mention this before, but everything that is on a single line in italics is what Aragorn is thinking. Enjoy :D