Title: The Human Condition
Author: Linda Hoyland
Characters/Pairing: Aragorn, OCs
Rating: PG
Warnings: injuries OC death
Word count: 100
Book/Source: LOTR book-verse
Disclaimer - These characters all belong to the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien. This story was written for pleasure and not for financial gain.

Aragorn was in a reflective mood as he left the Houses of Healing.

He had congratulated the proud parents of a newborn babe, tended an infant's cough and bound up a toddler's knee. He had chided the schoolboy who had stolen apples, while bandaging his leg, and sighed over the foolish young drunkard who had knocked himself unconscious.

He had reassured the farm labourer that his broken arm would heal, and given a grandmother herbs to ease her arthritis.

He had sat by an old man as he departed.

Joy and sorrow: birth and death. Such was the human condition.