Summary: One-shot. A very young Legolas is visiting Imladris, and spending most of his mornings having lessons with Erestor… Until Elrohir makes the Elfling a rash promise, and has to find a way to keep it without causing any trouble.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to the Professor.

Many thanks to my wonderful beta, Calenlass, for advice, suggestions and patience with questions.

Rating: PG

Lessons

Elrohir was passing by the library when he heard the unusual sound of Erestor's raised voice. He paused for a moment – he had planned to go riding with Elladan and Arwen, and he was already late. But the temptation to find out what their young visitor had done to extract that half-exasperated, half-plaintive tone from Elrond's advisor was too great to resist.

Stifling the urge to smile, Elrohir slipped into the library.

Legolas and Erestor were sitting on either side of one of the tables, with the Elfling perched on two plump cushions. There were several open books between them and a map of Gondor spread out on the table. At this Erestor was pointing.

"That is where they live, Legolas."

"Why would they want to live there –" Legolas indicated Gondor with a grimace that made him look uncannily like his father – "when Fangorn Forest is so near?"

"Men do not want to live in Fangorn Forest."

"Why?"

"Because most mortals are afraid of it."

"How can they be afraid of it? Nana says the trees there are more alive than anywhere else in Middle-earth."

"That is precisely why they are afraid of it."

"But why are they –"

"Hello, Legolas," Elrohir cut in, deciding that Erestor deserved to be rescued. "What are you doing?"

"Elrohir!" The Elfling leapt off the pile of cushions with the deftness of one who had started climbing trees almost as soon as he had learnt to walk. "Why are mortals afraid of trees?"

"Not all trees," Elrohir said, scooping Legolas up for a hug before setting him down on the cushions again. "Only the trees in Fangorn. They have legends about how its trees speak with voices and that frightens them. Besides, only foolish little Elflings like to live in the forest. Imladris is not a forest, is it?"

"No, but there is a forest outside."

Unable to dispute that, Elrohir laughed.

"Do you want to go riding, Legolas? I think Erestor will be willing to let you off your lessons for the rest of the day."

Erestor's expression of profound gratitude said more than words.

Elrohir shortened his stride to match the child's as they went down the corridor. Legolas, unfortunately, refused to abandon the subject of Men choosing not to dwell in Fangorn.

"If they will only try to get to know the trees they may not be afraid of them. Do you think they will want to live in the forest then?"

"I do not think so," Elrohir said. "They are not the only ones, you know, Elfling. Gondolin was an Elven city, and it was not in a forest. I think you might have liked it, though."

"But –"

"And I think that is enough for one day," Elrohir said firmly. "You do not want to waste a beautiful day like this on lessons, do you? We are going riding with Elladan and Arwen – and, no," he added, as Legolas opened his mouth hopefully. "You cannot ride by yourself. Not yet, Legolas. We are going too far. But you can ride with me. I will make the horse jump the fences."

"Even the high one near the training field?"

"Even that," Elrohir agreed, "if you will promise not to leap off at the height of the jump like you did last time. Ada nearly had my ears for that!"

"But I did not even get hurt!"

"That is not the point, Elfling. You might have been hurt quite badly. None of us would have liked that."

Legolas scowled, and Elrohir nearly chuckled at his expression.

"Nobody lets me do anything," the Elfling complained.

"You have only yourself to blame," Elrohir responded. "You usually want to do things that are dangerous. I do not want to spoil your pleasure, Legolas. I only want you to stay alive to be old enough to ride by yourself one day." Seeing Legolas' despondent face, he said quickly, "I will make a bargain with you, tithen pen. If you ride with me, and do not give me any cause for worry, I will think of something interesting that you can do."

"You promised him what?"

"Be quiet," Elrohir hissed. "You will wake him." He tightened his grip on the Elfling, who had dozed off some time after they had begun the ride back home. "I promised him that I would think of something interesting that he could do. Why are you so appalled at the thought? It is not as though I promised to take him dragon-hunting."

"I would not put anything past you," Arwen muttered, and Elladan nodded agreement.

"You know the things he finds 'interesting'," the older twin pointed out, although he was careful to keep his voice low this time. "And if he gets hurt Ada will send you to explain it to Thranduil in person. If that happens, Elrohir, I will not be going with you."

"You would abandon your own brother?"

"When my brother is in peril because of his tendency to make absurd and dangerous promises to a certain Elfling –"

"You were not there!" Elrohir protested. "He was so disappointed after I forbade him from bringing his horse and riding by himself –"

"You discussed letting him ride by himself?"

"I do not see how I could have avoided it! He always wants to ride by himself!"

"That is all very well," Arwen said. "What are you going to do now?"

"I will think of something that is interesting and not dangerous. And since the two of you are being so unhelpful, I will not let you join us!"

"Good," Elladan retorted. "Then Ada will know that whatever happens is entirely your fault."

The next two days saw Elrohir frequently disappearing into the woods by himself. Questions about his activities, even from Elladan and Arwen, went unanswered.

Before dawn on the third day, he slipped into Legolas' room and woke the Elfling quietly. Legolas came to full awareness at once, eyes focusing on the older Elf with a familiar expression of curiosity.

"You must be very quiet," Elrohir murmured. "We are going outdoors."

"Where?" Legolas whispered.

"I promised to think of something interesting for you to do, do you remember?"

Legolas perked up visibly.

"What are we going to do? Where is Elladan?"

"Elladan was being pessimistic and unhelpful. We are not taking him with us… not yet, anyway. We may let him join us later, if he behaves himself. Come along. We will have to climb down from the balcony."

"Why?"

"Because, although we are going to do something that is perfectly safe and normal, I do not think Ada and Nana will approve. We will tell them later, when it is too late for them to do anything about it."

Despite Legolas' insistence that he could make the jump from the lowest branch of the tree to the ground safely, and despite knowing that the Elfling had indeed done so, without leave, on numerous occasions, Elrohir leapt off first and then lifted Legolas down.

"You do not want to risk hurting yourself, do you?" he asked. "If you do, we will have to go back without carrying out my plan. We need to go to the stables to get my horse and my pack, and then we are riding out into the forest. You must be very quiet. We have to get out without anybody seeing us."

"They will know we are gone."

"We will return in time for breakfast, Elfling. A late breakfast, probably, but that will be no more suspicious than usual."

"Will you make the horse jump the fences again?"

"Not today. We will not have much time to spare. Now, be quiet. We must not disturb the other horses." Elrohir opened the stable door to let Legolas slip inside, leaving it open as he followed. "I think we will ride without a saddle today," he murmured, lifting Legolas onto the horse's back. He seized a bulky pack from where it had been lying in a corner of the stall and mounted behind the Elfling. "Hold tight, Legolas. We have to get there quickly."

With that, Elrohir urged the horse out of the stable. He held it to a walk until they reached the woods, and then gave it free rein. Legolas, laughing with glee as the wind whipped his hair, clutched at the arm placed protectively around him.

Too soon for his liking, the ride was over. Elrohir helped him off and set the horse loose to graze. Then, his expression very serious, he sat down on a large rock and drew Legolas onto his knee.

"Before we begin, tithen pen, you must promise me that you will be very, very careful. I will never forgive myself if you get hurt. Even worse, my parents will not forgive me, your parents will not forgive me, and I do not even want to think about what Arwen will do."

Legolas nodded, blue eyes solemnly looking up into Elrohir's.

"I will be careful."

"Good. Then, since I have your word, I have something for you." Elrohir reached into his pack and drew that something out, smiling at how wide Legolas' eyes got when he saw a bow, far smaller than any other he had ever seen.

"That is… for me?"

"Yes, Elfling. This is for you." Elrohir laid it in Legolas' hands. "You will need a larger one in a few years, but this will do nicely for your first lessons."

Legolas, staring down at the bow in wonder, looked up at the word 'lessons'.

"You are going to teach me to shoot?"

"Of course I am. Why else would I bring you here?" Elrohir said, laughing as Legolas' arms were thrown around his neck in an impulsive hug. "I am glad you like it so much."

"It is perfect," Legolas said. "Thank you."

"I get something out of this as well," Elrohir responded cheerfully. "When you are the finest archer in Middle-earth, I can claim that I was the one who taught you how to shoot."

"Can we start now?" Legolas demanded, sliding off Elrohir's lap.

"Yes, but you must not tell anyone about this yet." Elrohir pulled a fistful of carefully blunted arrows from his pack. "Ada will have his own views about the wisdom of teaching you archery, so we must not let him find out until you have learnt enough that he cannot ban further lessons."

"How long will that take?"

"That will depend on how quickly you learn," Elrohir said. He got to his feet and began setting up a target. "I think you will have no trouble."

"Now, remember, Legolas," Elrohir murmured, "not a word. Do not say anything even to Elladan yet. If anyone asks, we have just been riding. If anyone asks about the pack, you do not know what is in it." He fell silent, letting Legolas take the reins as they rode into the courtyard of the Last Homely House. The horse, well-trained by now, ignored the Elfling's injunctions to jump the fence into the stable-yard and crossed the courtyard at a sedate walk.

Elladan was waiting for them outside the stables.

"I thought you must be up to mischief," he said wryly, reaching up for Legolas. "Where did he take you, Elfling?"

"Riding," Legolas said. The slight quiver in his voice and the reddening of his cheeks were enough for Elladan, who shook his head at his twin.

"Where did you take him?"

"He just told you," Elrohir said with a grin. "Riding."

"You are a fool if you think Ada and Nana will believe that."

"We did not do anything foolish or dangerous, Elladan. Here he is, unhurt. Ada and Nana will not even know we went out if you do not tell them."

Elladan nodded at Legolas, whose cheeks were flushed and eyes bright with glee.

"They will know as soon as they see him. I want it clear at the outset that whatever madness you were encouraging, I had no part of it." He set Legolas down. "Do you want to go for a walk, Legolas? You will have to work off some of your exuberance before we go in to breakfast or you and Elrohir will certainly be found out."

"What are you doing?"

Elrohir, who had not been expecting to be cornered the very second they left the library after delivering Legolas to Erestor for his lessons, stopped short and stared at his twin.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I am talking about," Elladan retorted. "I have not seen him this excited since the first time we took him riding. What are you doing?"

"I am fulfilling my promise to do something interesting with him."

"Ro, if he gets hurt –"

"Do you truly believe I would encourage him in anything dangerous?"

"I do not believe you would willingly do something like that, but you know what he is like! Do you not remember what happened the last time Erestor left him alone in the library for ten minutes? And you are taking him out into the woods!"

"I promise you he will be fine."

"But –"

"You can come with us in a few days! Just… give me some time to get him used to it first."

"And you will not tell me what you are doing?"

"Not today." Elrohir grinned at his brother. "Look at it this way, Elladan… The less you know, the less trouble you will be in when Ada finds out."

"Oh, so Ada is going to find out?"

"I will have to tell him eventually. I am just hoping to be able to postpone it until Legolas is about to leave. It will be too late for him to put a stop to it then."

"I hope you know what you are doing," Elladan muttered.

"Be careful!"

Legolas, who was picking scattered arrows from the ground around the target, looked up at Elrohir in surprise. The Noldo was chewing nervously at his under-lip.

"I cannot get hurt doing this! You told Dan so yourself."

"I am beginning to have my doubts. Are you sure you have not strained your arm too much? The first few days can be taxing. Come here and let me look at it."

With a long-suffering sigh, Legolas went to Elrohir and held his right arm out for the older Elf's inspection. Elrohir flexed it, watching the child intently for signs of discomfort. To his relief, he saw none. With a light pat to the head, he let Legolas go and finish collecting the arrows.

"Do you want to try again?"

Smiling at the eagerness of Legolas' affirmative response, Elrohir bent to check his stance, although there was really no need. From the very beginning, Legolas had assumed a stance that would have delighted the heart of the most finicky of Greenwood's Archery Masters, no doubt the result of the illicit hours he had spent watching the archers at their practice.

"All right," he said, stepping back. "Remember what I have told you. Focus is important. Focus. Focus on the target. Then fire."

"But I did not hit it even once," Legolas complained, sounding aggrieved.

Elrohir sighed. He had been attempting to get Legolas to go to sleep, but for the past half hour the Elfling had been refusing to speak or even think of anything other than how he had failed, so far, to hit the target.

"It is only your second day, Legolas," Elrohir remonstrated mildly. "You are doing very well – exceptionally well. You are getting the distance right and you are not missing the target by much. I doubt even Beleg made any perfect shots on his second day of archery lessons. You have to give yourself time."

"But –"

"Legolas." Elrohir patted his knee and the Elfling bounced out of bed and scrambled up onto it. "Legolas, on my second day I was not nearly as good as you are now. You will improve, I promise."

"What if I do not?"

"That is extremely unlikely."

"But what if it happens?"

"Legolas, you will improve," Elrohir said, ruffling the Elfling's hair and drawing a reluctant smile. "I can tell that you will be a good archer."

"But what if I do not improve?"

"Then you will not be an archer." Elrohir jumped at the sound of Elladan's voice, for he had not heard his brother enter the room. Legolas appeared not to have heard him either. He turned around nervously, not getting off Elrohir's knee.

Elladan chuckled. "Do not look so scared, tithen pen. I will not tell anyone." He dropped into a chair beside Elrohir, leaning forward to look Legolas in the eye. "I think Elrohir is right for once. You will be a good archer. But even if you are not, you will still be our little Elfling."

"But if I cannot be an archer–"

"Arwen is not an archer," Elrohir pointed out. "I doubt she could best Elladan in a competition, and even Men can best Elladan." He ducked a swat from his brother. "Do we love her any less for it?"

"No, but –"

"No," Elladan said firmly. "The matter is not open for debate, Legolas. We will be very proud of you if you become a good archer. We will not be any less proud of you if you do not. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Legolas mumbled.

"Good. Now, just to counteract the effect of Elrohir's inadequate tutelage, I will be joining you tomorrow morning. But you must sleep now. Archers need plenty of rest."

Elladan barely waited until he and Elrohir were out of the room before turning on his brother.

"Honestly, Elrohir, I cannot imagine what came over you! Archery? Are you out of your mind? Ada will kill you when he finds out, and Thranduil will take care of anything he leaves."

"Just you wait," Elrohir retorted. "One day you will all be grateful to me for this."

"You see?" Elladan said, smiling as the arrow thudded into the target. Elrohir seized the Elfling and whirled him in a giddy circle, making him shriek with amusement. "Just a few weeks, and already you are much better than you were. A few years' training and you will be one of the finest archers in Middle-earth."

"What if Ada does not let me practice?" Legolas demanded, wriggling out of Elrohir's grasp and taking up another arrow.

"Your Ada will not have much of a choice, now," Elladan assured him. "He will not stop you after you have learnt so much – that would undo all the hard work you have done so far. And once his archery masters get hold of you, you will probably wish you could stop!"

"They are not that bad," Legolas protested.

"That is because you have never trained under them," Elrohir said, chuckling. "I have heard stories from some of the archers of your realm. They will not rest and they will not let you rest, at least not until you are as skilled as they think you can possibly be."

"Do not look so alarmed, tithen pen. Ro is only joking."

"I am not joking! Do you not remember what Feredir has told us about his training? And he was not even particularly interested in archery!"

"I was hoping you might refrain from scaring Legolas away from practice before he has even begun!"

"Let me remind you that this was my idea in the first place. I am only trying to ensure that he is mentally prepared for what is in store for him. If it had been up to you, we would have been having a nice, boring picnic by the Bruinen this very minute."

"We could not have been having a picnic by the Bruinen. It is too early."

"It is not – that is a fine shot!" Elladan exclaimed, as another arrow hit the target very near its centre. "You are improving immensely, Elfling." He glanced at his brother. "We cannot put it off any longer, Ro. He will be returning to Eryn Galen soon. We have to tell Ada now."

Elrohir shivered.

"Perhaps we should tell Glorfindel first. He is less likely to lose his temper."

Glorfindel was not surprised to find the sons of Elrond waylaying him after breakfast. He had suspected for some time that they were hiding something.

With a resigned shake of his head, he led them to his study and bolted the door.

"What have you done now?"

Elladan flushed scarlet and mumbled something incomprehensible. Elrohir, who suddenly seemed to find the tapestry on the far wall absolutely fascinating, said nothing at all. Glorfindel watched them for several seconds, lips twitching in amusement, before he spoke again.

"Now that you are here, you are not leaving until I have the whole story. Just tell me and be done with it."

Elladan's flushed deepened. Elrohir transferred his gaze to his boots.

"It cannot be anything too terrible," Glorfindel pointed out. "I saw everyone at breakfast. Nobody was injured. If some part of the house had burnt down I would have known about it. Do not stare at the carpet, Elrohir. It is precisely the same colour as it was yesterday. Stop wasting time, both of you. What have you done?"

"You tell him, Ro," Elladan said. "It was your idea."

Stifling his laughter at the murderous look Elrohir shot his brother, Glorfindel said, "If somebody does not tell me soon, there will be trouble."

Elrohir finally looked up. He swallowed several times, before saying, "Legolas."

Glorfindel could not suppress an exclamation of horror.

"Surely you have not been encouraging him to do something dangerous again? The year before last there was that incident by the river. Thranduil has still not forgiven us for it. You do not know how much effort it took for your parents to persuade him to let Legolas come here again. What have you told him?"

"We have not told him anything, strictly speaking. We thought –"

"You thought," Elladan hissed.

"All right, I thought – just remember that if I get all the blame now, I get all the credit later – I thought it would be a good idea to… Well… He was bored, really. You know how it can be, Lord Glorfindel. The poor child had to sit in the library with Erestor all morning. That must have been torture, no matter what Arwen says about history and political science being necessary for Thranduil's heir. He was bored –"

"The longer you evade a direct answer, the angrier I will be when you finally give me one."

"I am explaining the circumstances, Lord Glorfindel. You cannot possibly understand why I did what I did unless I explain the circumstances."

"Elrohir."

"Archery," Elrohir said in a defeated voice. "You know how much he likes hearing stories about archers. Legolas has decided that he wants to learn archery."

Glorfindel heaved a sigh of relief.

"So long as it is no more than that… He will be in Greenwood soon. His father can deal with it. All we have to do is keep him distracted for a few days." Then he frowned. "Unless… Elrohir, you are not telling me that you taught the child to shoot?"

"If I had not taught him, he would have tried on his own and hurt himself. I had no choice."

"How could he possibly have tried on his own? The warriors' bows in the armoury are far too big for him! He would never be able to draw one of those enough to harm himself or anyone else."

"He… I… I… I made him a smaller one."

"You did what?"

"For practice only, Lord Glorfindel! We have been using blunted arrows."

"You made him a bow?"

"Do we have to harp on that? The point is –"

"The point is that I never thought you could be so irresponsible. He is far too young to begin warrior training."

"He did not want to begin warrior training, only archery lessons. Perhaps if you thought of archery as a sport rather than as a battle-skill –"

"Is that how you imagine your father will think of it?"

"We were hoping – fine, Elladan, I was hoping – that you would… er… tell him for us. He will take it so much better coming from you."

"Absolutely not."

"Please, Lord Glorfindel –"

"No."

"But we will need your help to persuade Ada not to make him stop."

"I am not going to help you persuade your father of anything of the kind! Surely you have not been drinking this early in the day? The idea of letting a child –"

"But think of all the effort we have put in!"

"If you do not want me angry with you, you should be trying to prevent me from thinking of that."

"But he is so good already –"

"I do not care –"

"Lord Glorfindel," Elladan interrupted softly, "it was not my idea, but Elrohir speaks the truth. He is skilled. He cannot begin warrior training, of course, but surely archery lessons can do no harm?"

Glorfindel sighed.

"I will probably regret this, but… Let me see him this afternoon. If he has learnt enough not to hurt himself, and if you can persuade me that he will be responsible, I will help you with Elrond." Then he fixed them with a glare. "But be warned – if I am not fully satisfied that no harm will come from this, you will have no aid from me."

"Have you lost your mind, Glorfindel?"

The Balrog-slayer looked indignant.

"Certainly not."

"You are telling me, seriously telling me, that my sons taught Legolas archery and you approve?"

"I do not approve in principle," Glorfindel qualified. "It is just that I saw the child, and he has learnt a great deal in a short time, especially when you consider that they could not have let him practice for more than an hour a day without arousing suspicion. You should actually be proud of your sons, Elrond. They are clearly gifted teachers."

"They will be dead gifted teachers when Thranduil finds out about this!"

"Elrond, if you will only be reasonable –"

"Oh, I will be reasonable," the Elf-lord assured his friend. "But when Thranduil arrives here with half his army, who will be persuading him to be reasonable?"

"Erestor," Glorfindel appealed, "you tell him how ridiculous he is being!"

"I am having no part of this," the dark-haired Elf said firmly, not rising from his window-seat. "I was told to teach the Elfling politics and history, and politics and history I have been teaching him all summer. If you and the twins have been taking him off on the sly –"

"I have been doing nothing of the kind! I had not heard about it before this morning!"

"And you are helping them already?" Elrond demanded. "I must find out if my sons have discovered some new art that helps them control the minds of older, more powerful, and, I would have thought, more sensible Elves."

"Elrond, just go and see the child. How can that hurt?"

"I am willing to wager all the gold in Imladris that you will not repeat that in Thranduil's presence."

"That is because where is beloved son is concerned, Thranduil is about as reasonable as a starving Orc. I have visited the Halls of Mandos once. I have no inclination to do so a second time. Erestor can tell him."

"What!" Erestor yelped. "Did you not hear me say I was having no part of this?"

"This will be such a small part, mellon nîn. You will only have to utter one sentence, and no more."

"Quite right. It will be one sentence and no more, because as soon as that one sentence is out, Thranduil will kill me."

"That is a risk you will have to take."

"Enough!" Elrond burst out. "Really, this is getting absurd! You are both too old to be quarreling like Elflings over something that is so… so… half-witted! Archery, indeed! No child that young is learning any form of warcraft under my roof! No," he said firmly when Glorfindel looked like saying something. "That is my last word on the matter."

"Would you care to have a different last word?" the golden-haired Elf asked smugly. "Perhaps several, if one is not enough to express your embarrassment at being proven so comprehensively wrong? 'You were right, Glorfindel,' would be a good way to start."

Elrond glared at his friend.

"I am not saying you were right. I thought I had made that quite clear in the beginning. The child is…"

He trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"Skilled," Glorfindel supplied. "That is what the child is." He gestured in the direction of the clearing where Legolas, with Elladan and Elrohir standing on either side of him anxiously, had just put another arrow in the target. "Of course, they have him shooting from only a short distance, and he has not gained much precision yet, but precision will come with practice." He paused. "With practice, Elrond. You are worrying too much."

"Somebody must worry," Elrond retorted, "since you have clearly taken leave of your senses."

"You can see his ability!"

"I can see an Elfling who ought never have been allowed near sharp objects!"

"Elrohir blunted the arrows – really, Elrond, you cannot believe that your sons would put Legolas in danger!"

"The last time I left him alone with them for one single afternoon, I returned from a riding trip with Celebrían and Arwen to find that he had broken his arm!"

"Nobody felt worse about it than they did!" Glorfindel protested. "And it was an accident! You have brought up three children. You should know difficult it is to keep track of Elflings bent on mischief – and Legolas, sweet child though he is, is invariably bent on mischief."

Elrond glared in the direction of the clearing. Elladan and Elrohir had apparently decided that Legolas had had enough practice: they were leading him firmly away, ignoring his protests. Seeing Glorfindel, Elrond and Erestor waiting, the twins hauled their young friend in the direction of the three older ellyn.

When the three young Elves stopped in front of him, Elrond glared at his sons.

"Of all the foolish, irresponsible things you have ever done, this is surely the worst! What were you thinking?"

His tone alarmed Legolas, who pressed closer to Elladan's leg. Elladan bent and picked him up; for once, the Elfling uttered no word of protest. Elrond stopped glaring long enough to give Legolas a reassuring smile and ruffle his hair, before returning his attention to his sons.

"This has to stop."

He was greeted by a barrage of protest from Elladan, Elrohir, and – to his annoyance – Glorfindel.

"Ada, please!"

"You cannot make him stop now!"

"Honestly, Elrond, just because you are too stubborn to admit you were wrong –"

"He is doing so well."

"Tuor was just like you. I remember, once, when he and Turgon –"

"Just think, Ada, if you make him stop I will never be known as the Elf who taught Legolas Thranduilion –"

"The idiot who was slaughtered by Thranduil, Ada, that is what they will call him –"

"And, believe me, when Idril found out about it she –"

"In any case, I would like to make it clear that although I approve, it was Elrohir's idea. You may want to mention that to King Thranduil –"

"Please, Lord Elrond."

That last request, uttered in a plaintive tone by Legolas and accompanied by the wide blue eyes that the young Elf had already learnt to use on the adults around him, made everyone fall silent. Elrond struggled briefly with himself. Then, with a sigh, he said, "I will probably regret this later, but… very well, Legolas."

"Ha!" Elrohir said triumphantly, snatching the Elfling from Elladan. "I knew you would agree, Ada. Just wait, Legolas. They are calling me a fool now, but one day they will all praise my foresight."

"Elladan, behind you!"

Elladan turned sharply, but he had no time to draw his sword. The Orc's scimitar was already slicing through the air towards him. All he could do was wait for the bite of cold steel –

Then a single, green-fletched arrow whistled past his ear, missing him by less than an inch, and buried itself in the Orc's throat. The Orc stood stock-still for a moment, shocked, giving Elladan enough time to leap back out of the way before it fell forward.

The sound of soft footsteps heralded the approach of his brother and his friend as they half-ran, half-skidded down the hill to him.

"Are you all right?" Legolas demanded. "Honestly, Elladan, what were you thinking? Gazing dreamily up at the hill top with no idea what was behind you, anyone would think you were a Man."

"That from the Elfling whom I taught his letters?" Elladan said with a mock-grimace. "You wound me, Legolas. But that was a fine shot."

"An excellent shot," Elrohir said proudly. "When I wanted to teach him archery, all of you told me I had lost my mind, but I said I knew what I was doing. And now you can thank me for it! Do you remember what I told you, Legolas? I said that one day everyone would –"

"Praise your foresight," Legolas and Elladan finished together, laughing.

Sindarin Translations:

Nana – Mum/Mummy

Ada – Dad/Daddy

Tithen pen – Little one

Mellon nîn – My friend

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