Disclaimer: I don’t own them, and I’ll put them back when I’m done!

Author’s Note: Almost done now! We’re coming along at a fast pace, but bear with me. There are still a few chapters left. Bonus points go to the person who can guess the song title.

Chapter Nine: In Which There Are Oysters

Life, as Seraphine had told Eldarion, did go on. As the warm days passed in Dol Amroth, Eldarion and Miriel came to find that Seraphine knew much about the ocean. This knowledge, she told them, came from the time she was traveling to Gondor by sea. Accordingly, they spent much of their time with her, exploring the seashore.

There were tidal pools close to the cliffs, where the sea rushed in at high tide to pool among the rocks. They walked down to the pools at low tide one morning, Seraphine carrying a picnic basket over one arm, set on exploring them. For hours Eldarion and Miriel climbed through the rocks, peering at the starfish and mussels clinging to the rocks. Miriel shrieked as a crab scuttled over her foot.

“Don’t be frightened, it’s more afraid of you,” Seraphine said, gathering her pale lavender skirts up as she crouched down. She picked up the tiny crab, holding it gently in the palm of her hand. It stayed very still for a few moments, then began to delicately pick at her hand, claw flashing from her skin to its tiny mouth.

“What’s it doing?” Miriel asked.

“Eating,” replied Seraphine, and grinned at Miriel’s horrified look. “We all have dead skin on our hands, and the crab can see it, so he eats it. It doesn’t hurt at all. Would you like to hold him?”

Miriel shook her head and put her hands behind her back. Eldarion held out his hand. “I’m not afraid.”

Miriel opened her mouth to protest; Seraphine intervened. “None of that, please, Eldarion, it is not polite to tease your sister. Here you are now, be careful.”

Eldarion held the crab in the palm of his hand until he tired of it, then set it back down on the sand. It scuttled off, and he turned his attention to the mollusks on the rocks. There were interesting bits of shells, too, and the two of them set about collecting shells to make into a necklace for Arwen, while Seraphine set out the food on the blanket they had brought down. By the time they had a basketful of shells, the children were starving.

“There are oysters on this beach,” Seraphine said contemplatively, looking out at the place where the waves met the shore.

“How do you know?” Eldarion asked.

Seraphine grinned mischievously. “One of the servants told me at dinner last night.”

Eldarion laughed. “I thought you were being magic, like Legolas. He can look at the ocean and just know things. It’s very odd.”

Miriel nodded. “He got lost one day and a fisherman had to bring him home, and then Ada gave him lots of wine, and he fell asleep and Ada had him taken back to Ithilien. But I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.”

“I didn’t know that you knew that, too!” yelped Eldarion, and laughed. “That’s funny, isn’t it? Poor Legolas.”

“Mother says that oysters have interesting side effects on grown-ups, but she won’t say what,” Miriel said.

Seraphine choked on the water she had just poured for herself, recovered, and hid her smile behind her hand. Eldarion made a mental note to ask his father to clarify that statement, when he got home.

“Anyway,” Seraphine said, obviously pulling the conversation back to its original topic, “I was thinking that perhaps it would be amusing to come down here at low tide to harvest the oysters. We could not do it today, for we do not have the proper equipment, but perhaps Imrahil would be willing to provide later this week.”

This was enthusiastically agreed to by the children, and it was decided that at dinner, they would ask Imrahil for buckets and small shovels.

“And we can invite mother and the little girls, and it would be a lovely party,” Miriel said.

Accordingly, they asked Imrahil’s permission at dinner that night. It was duly given, and the date for the oyster expedition was set for the end of the week.

“It will be a clam bake,” the old Prince said with a smile, and the children hooted their delight.

*****

The next morning, Eldarion was walking alone on the beach. He was under strict orders from Arwen to not go into the sea, and so he was running along a good hundred yards from the waves, singing to himself.

“There was a lady lived by the north sea shore/Lay the bent to the bonny room/Two daughters were the babes she bore/Fa la la la la la la la la la,” he sang.

It was nice to be out this early, when only the fishermen were up and about, and there weren’t any sisters to tag along. Perhaps he would go down to the town and find that boy he’d met last week, Ringan, and see if he would like to explore the cliffs. If he did not have to work, of course. Or maybe Eldarion would get him to show him all the fishing tricks. That would be entertaining.

“As one grew bright as in the sun/Lay the bent to the bonny broom/So coal black grew the elder one/Fa la la la…” Eldarion warbled. It was one of Eowyn’s northern songs, although why the Horse lords would sing about the sea was really beyond him. He just knew that he liked it. “A knight came riding to the lady’s door/Lay the bent to the bonny broom/He’d traveled far to be their wooer/Fa la la la la-la…”

He trailed off, his attention caught by a man with a long rake, standing at the end of the waves. A large wooden bucket sat at his feet.

“Hello, sir! What are you doing?” Eldarion asked as he neared the man.

“Oyster-catching,” the man replied briefly, and dug in the shallow water and sand with his long rake. “One must rake them from the sea.”

“Oh, I knew that. The princess told me,” Eldarion replied. He came to stand near the man, watching. When the bucket was full, the man turned from the sea and Eldarion saw his face for the first time. He started: the man was Haradric.

“Who are you?” the little prince asked, curious. There were many refugees from Harad and Umbar in Dol Amroth, but he had never met any, personally.

The oystercatcher flashed him a brief smile. “I could ask you the same question, lad.”

“I’m Eldarion son of Aragorn,” Eldarion replied.

The man raised an eyebrow. “And what is a king’s son doing alone on the beach at this hour?”

“I’m watching the sea. Mother can see me from the balcony,” Eldarion replied. He didn’t bother to ask how the man knew he was the Gondor’s prince. Everyone knew who Ada was. “And you still haven’t told me who you are.”

The man laughed, a rich, full-bellied sound. “You are astute, young man. I am Jacoby the once noble, now humble, oystercatcher.”

“Those are birds,” Eldarion said, and Jacoby laughed again.

“Yes, but they can also be men, those who work the oyster beds.”

Eldarion made up his mind then, and grinned at the man. “Perhaps you should come to help us catch oysters, then. Prince Imrahil said it would be a, a something bake. If you know how to do it properly, you could show us. And you could bring your family.”

A shadow passed over the man’s face. “I have no family, lad, but I will come.”

Eldarion told him the day and time, then, as Jacoby shouldered his bucket and made to walk off. “I’m glad you’re coming,” the boy said as he turned back towards the castle. “Wait until I tell Lady Seraphine that someone from Harad is coming; she will be delighted.”

And he ran off, up the beach. If Eldarion had paused to look back, he would have seen the oystercatcher standing rooted to the spot, as still as one struck down.

TBC