Disclaimer: You know, I almost wish that my stories would get enough attention for me to get sued! But as it goes, I do not own anything, I am not making a profit out of this and if I were, I wouldn’t tell you anyway but keep it in my very secret Swiss bank account with the number 555-876-294-291, right?

Author: Roz

Email: aeterno_estel@hotmail.com

Title: Curiosity Killed The Cat

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Hurt/comfort/angst

Summary: Legolas takes Estel out on a simple hunting trip but Estel’s devious curiosity gets the better of him and he makes a simple mistake that could easily cost him his life. As things go from bad to worse, it’s a race against time to save the Edain child.

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*PREFACE* - This story takes place when Aragorn is still called Estel, and is the adopted son of Elrond, and therefore his brothers are Elladan and Elrohir (by adoption of course) but Elrond treats the human, as his own elven son, right? Estel is around….er….12/13 years old. And I’ve just shoved Gilraen off a cliff ok? She doesn’t exist.

And lets begin!

[Prologue]

How had it come to this? How could a simple trip have turned into something so disastrous? And why did this type of thing always happen to him??? All of these thoughts and more flashed through Prince Legolas, Son of Thranduil, King of Mirkwood’s head as he quickly jogged through the forest, his pace fuelled by his anxiety for the small, shivering, delirious bundle that he carried.

Legolas cursed and cursed again, wishing that he had brought a horse, wishing that someone with a horse would pass him by, wishing that the twins were out in the forest right now, just wishing for some help. Mainly wishing that he could turn back time to where everything had started to go wrong…….but there wasn’t a single point where it had gone wrong, it had been a sequence of wrong events……..but if there was a point, where someone would point out that everything had started to go wrong, it would’ve been when the child had pulled out that accursed pipe. Who would’ve known it? WHO in the VALAR could’ve possibly known that something so INNOCENT could cause so much grief? That plain childish curiosity could end up in such tragedy?

Curse human’s curiosity! Legolas thought vehemously as he continued to run. Why do they always feel the need to touch everything? To TRY everything? Why must they try to prove themselves when they are still ONLY children?? If all Edain children acted the way this one did, Legolas was amazed that humans managed to get past childhood and grow up. However, the presence of all the men in the kingdoms surrounding the elven ones suggested that humans did indeed survive their childhood……..however the one that Legolas carefully held in his arms, might not.

It was dark under the trees. The moon was out but her light was waning as the sky was covered in clouds. If any nocturnal forest animal had the eyesight to spot the pair running through the woods, they still would not have seen much. They might’ve seen a quick movement in the darkness, a patch of deeper darkness that suggested that there was something solid there, if only for a second before it had moved on. If they had’ve looked harder, they might’ve even seen a flash of blond hair before it disappeared amongst the trees again. If they had’ve been listening very hard, they might’ve even heard the slight crunch of leaves under the elf’s feet as he hurried along. Legolas was being as quiet as he could but still trying to move as fast as he could. However, the faster you wished to go, the less quiet you were. But Legolas was an elf, an elf with a light, quiet tread. He also had the trees on his side, and they whispered to him, apparent words of encouragement as he ran along. They also rustled their leaves in an effect to shield the sound of his footfalls, to keep him protected from the enemies that also ran beneath their canopy.

Legolas knew this, but knew that unless he ran faster, it might not help. The prince cursed again, this time in dwarfish as elvish just didn’t have the words to express his feelings, and then prayed to the Valar for some help.

Instead, it started to rain. Not pouring, deadening, drowning rain but rain none the less. The canopy of the trees tended to break it up but still the rain fell. Cold on the elf’s flesh, and cold on the cold flesh of the bundle he carried precariously. The rain grew heavier. Cursing, the elf tried to cover his bundle with his cloak that he was wearing. There wasn’t enough time to stop and take the cloak off to cover the bundle with. The child was so cold.

In his arm, cradled carefully against his chest, Estel, adopted son of Elrond, Lord of Imaldris, huddled. The rain fell on the boy’s pale face, it’s whiteness contrasting starkly with his dark hair and eyelashes. The boy’s mouth was slightly open, panting shallowly for the life giving oxygen. The boy was dangerously weak and delirious, Legolas could feel the young Edain’s heart beating erratically through his tunic and when the prince stumbled slightly over a raised tree root, the boy moaned quietly, shivered violently and for no apparently reason, started gasping for breath.

Legolas skidded to a halt as he felt the Edain’s chest heaving frantically and the young human’s hand clutched at his tunic. Oh Valar, not now. Not when he was so close.

The boy’s eyes were wide open, panic and fear tainting their grey irises…..Legolas could see that the boy was slowly suffocating, and he quickly but gently eased the fragile bundle to the forest floor, and trying to ignore the choked cries of pain that he caused, he leaned the boy slightly forward while rubbing soothing circles on the boy’s back. Oh Valar, not now, please not now. Please help him, help the human child.

“L-L…..Leg…g-golas…..” The boy struggled to draw in a breath and his hand blindly searched for the elfs. “I-I…..c-can..t….b-b…reat-the….”

“I know, I know…but Estel, try! Try…..slow breaths….in and out…slowly….sshhh…everything will be fine…just breathe for me…..try…..” In response, the elf grabbed the human’s hand and placed it against his chest, letting the boy feel the rise and fall in his own chest. Legolas’ own heart was beating frantically, he was terrified for this child. He could not die! Legolas would not be able to handle it if the child passed away, especially since the Edain child had been under his care.

Long seconds passed when the boy gasped, the choking sounds tearing at the elf’s heart. “Come on Estel! You must breath! Breath with me! Try!.......feel my chest…….feel it moving……..in and out……you must Estel! You must! Try! Try for me! Please Estel!” Several more long seconds passed but then to the elf’s relief, the boy managed to draw in a shaky breath, the glazed look leaving his eyes and his lips losing the blue tinge of oxygen deprivation.

But it was not over yet, Legolas slid his hands under the boy’s body to pick him up when suddenly Estel started coughing. The racking coughs tore at the boy’s already broken and fragile body as Estel struggled to bring something up. Legolas could feel the child’s body straining and trembling. The Edain child’s eyes watered and his vision blurred, and fearfully, not quite knowing if it would help or hinder, Legolas forcefully thumped on the boy’s back.

Estel gurgled in pain, and then with a huge cough expelled blood out all over the prince’s tunic. Legolas held the panting and gasping boy in shock, surveying his bloody clothes with horror. He knew that Estel had been badly injured, but he had not realised that it was this bad. He had not realised that Estel was slowly drowning from a punctured lung. Now maybe the elf may have realised too late. Legolas sat in shock, surveying his bloody clothes. He will not survive this, Legolas thought with horrible clarity, He is only human! He is only a child! How can he hope to survive such horrible injuries? Oh Valar, if you are listening, please a little bit of help!

The young Edain, exhausted by his efforts, allowed himself to go limp and clung feebly to the elf’s tunic, “I-I’m….s-sor…ry…” The boy murmured before passing out. The boy’s apology snapped the prince out of his reverie and Legolas reprimanded himself for being so negative yet he still feared for the child, Humans are more resilient then you could ever know, he thought to himself.

“Don’t be young human. Don’t be.” Legolas quickly got to his feet, and fearfully assessed the boy’s condition. If it were possible, his face had grown paler, his heartbeat was weaker and more erratic and his breath was noisy and shallow.

Oh Valar. Legolas knew that if he didn’t get back to Imaldris soon, the boy would die. Very soon. The boy was already fading fast. As every second went past, Legolas could almost see the child’s life power draining away. He could almost feel the heart’s beat slowing. With a concentrated effort, Legolas fed some of the boy his life power, but he knew that he could not do that forever. He knew that no matter how much power he fed the child, the boy would still fade. He could bind the child’s soul to his, but that would take immense energy, energy that he needed to make it back to Imaldris.

Still, the boy faded.

The wind started to blow. Legolas cursed even more. It was as if, all the elements of nature were conspiring against him. The wind was bitterly cold and made the rain lash against Legolas and Estel’s face. Making a quick decision, Legolas halted and quickly removed his cloak. With exaggerated care, he bundled the cloak around the child, making it so that Estel was protected from the biting wind and rain. Hopefully, it would offer the child some warmth and comfort from the prince’s footfalls. Legolas did not doubt that his running hurt the child as it jostled his broken bones. Estel sighed in slight relief as the warmth penetrated his chilled body and he tried to snuggle deeper into the coat in his unconsciousness.

Legolas continued his relentless journey.

“How could’ve it come to this, Estel?” Legolas murmured as he forced himself to run faster until the trees were just a blur of green, brown and grey. "How could it have possible come to this Estel? Whatever did I do wrong? Is this the consequence of your curiousity? Of your pride? Oh Estel! I wish that you could answer me! I wish that you could hear me! I wish that none of this was happening! Alas, I fear for you Edain. You are so weak, such a fragile race." With a gasp, the prince thought of Elrond, "Your Ada is going to kill me when I return to him like this." Legolas' face blanched as he thought of the Lord's face when he passed through the gates of Rivendell. "But I would face anything, if only to see you well again child. I want to see you smiling again, that little devious smirk, I want to see you playing with your brothers again, I even want to see the new pranks that you devise with the twins. You must not give up now Estel! You must not die! You have a bigger future in which you must play your part. I do not know what your future is or where your path will lead, but I know that it must be an important one. You cannot pass through the veil Estel. Think of all those that you would leave behind! Think of Elrond! Think of Elladan and Elrohir! Think of me! Please Estel! Do not give up!"

In a futile attempt to distract himself from the unanswering silence, the pale hand whose grip on his tunic grew weaker with every passing minute, the heartbeat which grew slower, more erratic and the breaths that grew more shallow and pained, Prince Legolas thought back to the very start of this whole innocent adventure.

The very start.

“Legolas!” The prince was startled as a blur of arms, legs and dark brown hair flung itself at him and nearly made him fall over backwards and roll back down the hill he had just trekked up.

“Estel.” The flaxen-haired elf sighed in resignation. “It is good to see you.”

“Estel!” A laughing yet reprimanding voice rang out in the valley, and the boy blushed before scrambling off the blonde elf.

“Yes Elrohir?” Estel smiled sweetly, his innocence given away by the slightly devious look held in his eyes.

“Estel, you know that that is no way to greet the Prince!” Elrohir gently reprimanded the Edain child. He was joined by his twin whose eyes also sparkled merrily at the sight of the Silvan elf ruffled.

“That’s right Estel. We talked about how you should greet the Prince.” Elladan laughed at the expression of panic that momentarily crossed Legolas’ face.

“Ah, so sorry my Lord.” Estel bowed deeply before Legolas and the elf grimaced at hearing his much hated title. He turned abruptly to the twins, and watched in disbelief as they held their sides while laughing.

“You know how much I dislike hearing my title from friends!” Legolas fumed gently and tried pick the grovelling boy off the ground.

“I’m sorry my Lord.” Elladan grinned.

“Is there anything that I can do for you my Lord?” Elrohir chimed in.

“Perhaps you should like to go to the Throne Room my Lord?” Estel innocently added from his spot on the ground.

Legolas looked around in panic. He was surrounded by servants! “By the Valar! Stop with the m’lording stuff! You know I can’t stand it!”

“Alright my Lord!” Estel got up and ran away in the direction of Imaldris, but not before he had given the blonde elf another quick bow.

“ESTEL!” Legolas yelled, “Just you wait! Archery practice for YEARS! That’s all you can look forward to!”

Merry laughter was all that he heard as Estel’s form disappeared quickly to the protective sanctuary his father offered.

“Edain brat.” Legolas muttered as he gingerly picked up his bow which had fallen from his shoulder in Estel’s ambush, while warily keeping an eye on the raven-haired twins that closed in on him.

“Legolas!” Elladan laughed as he walked a bit closer to the Silvan elf.

“What?” The prince’s tone was edged with suspicion.

“We were only going to ask if you’d had a pleasant journey!” Elrohir couldn’t help but keep from laughing.

“As pleasant as could be.” Legolas began to relax as he gained confidence in the thought that the twins wouldn’t pull any of their well-known-for pranks. Legolas was no coward, but he had seen Glorfindel, the almighty Balrog slayer, mutter and make protective signs when the twins came into view and then abruptly turn around and walk very quickly back the way he came, sometimes even locking himself in his room and refusing to come out until told in a firm, comforting voice that the twins had left Rivendell.

Some of the pranks that the twins could come up with were amazing.

“So your journey?” Elladan prompted.

“Oh yes. It was uneventful.” Legolas nodded at the expression of disbelief on the twin’s faces.

“Uneventful? What? No attacks by spiders?”

“No.”

“No orc attacks?”

“No.”

“No wild wolf or warg attacks?”

“No.”

“No falling into underground traps or getting caught in snares?”

“No.”

“No capturing by evil humans, then being sold as a slave?”

“No.”

“No sudden evil surprise, like having to fight off Nazgul’s or witch-kings or some other evil spirit in the forest intent of capturing, hurting or at least maiming you?”

“No!”

“Not even tripping over your bow and falling off a cliff?”

“NO!” Legolas’ brow creased into a frown, “I wouldn’t do that anyway!”

“Oh yes. That is what you said the last time you fell off the cliff. Do you remember that Elrohir? I seem to distinctly recall our friend here, getting a thorough soaking after falling off that cliff into the water.”

“You pushed me!”

“I did not! I would never do a thing like that!” Elladan’s face radiated honesty but the other 2 elves could see the twinkle of mirth in his eyes.

“I find that a very hard thing to believe Elladan.” Legolas muttered as he continued walking towards the elven realm of Rivendell.

“Is that so my dear prince?” Elladan couldn’t help but almost prance on the spot. It had been a fair while since Legolas had visited the twins, and Elladan couldn’t help thinking about all the fun that they would have together. Just imagine all the pranks and heart attacks we could pull! With Legolas by our side, we will be INVINCIBLE! Mwahahaha!

“Elladan, I can see the look in your eyes and by the Valar, I will not be helping you in any of your pranks!” Legolas swore an oath to himself as Elladan pouted.

“Aw, Legolas. It won’t be as fun!” Elrohir joined in with the jesting. “So what is the reason that you grace us with your presence?”

“Must there be a reason?” Legolas asked, hurt.

“There is always a reason.”

“Then I am just bringing a message of goodwill and greeting from my father to yours.” Legolas spoke formally.

“C’mon Legolas! As if you’d travel all this way just for that! What is the real reason for you being here?”

Legolas blushed and answered in a hushed voice, “Well, Thanan and I, well, we kind of played a prank of my father, to which he didn’t take too kindly to, and then, well, several of my pets that father detests got out and into his room, and his bed, and into his drawers, and chewed holes in all his clothes and then when we were out hunting, I accidentally-on-purpose spooked father horse, I seriously didn’t expect him to get thrown into a puddle of mud, and Thanan laughing the whole time didn’t help. So I made a strategic decision to withdraw from Mirkwood until father’s temper eased slightly.”

The whole time that the younger elf had been recounting his story, the twins couldn’t help but allow expressions of amusement and horror on their faces.

“THAT is the reason why you came here? You thought that you could stay in Rivendell, under the protection of Elrond, until your father calms down??” Elrohir’s eyes were wide with disbelief.

“Well, yes.”

“And you left Thanan to face your father alone?” Elladan asked incredously, “Where’s your sense of together-ness? Of us-friends-stand-together-under-terrible-odds?”

“Yes, well, that tends to evaporate when Thraundril gets mad. Everyone scatters to wherever they can.”

“Well, poor Thanan. Hopefully, he will still be alive and in one piece when you return home, if you return home. If you plan on staying here until Thraundril calms down, I’m guessing you’re going to be here for a while.” Elladan sympathised with the elf that had been left behind.

Elrohir nodded slowly, “So how is Thanan? It’s been a while since I saw him last. I keep forgetting, is he older or younger then you?”

“He is younger, only by a couple of years though. And the last time I saw him, he was doing well.”

“When was the last time you saw him? Shackled to the wall, in your father’s dungeons? Where he’d undergo his interrogation so that they could find out your whereabouts?” Elladan joked.

“Elladan! Don’t say things like that! And no, that wasn’t the last time I saw him. I think the last time I saw him was,” Legolas frowned in thought, “was the night that I ran away, I mean, the night that I left, Mirkwood. We wished each other luck!”

“I’ll bet you did.” Elrohir said dryly.

Thankfully, Elrohir was spared from being hit by a quickly angering prince as the elf trio entered the Rivendell courtyard where Estel waited impatiently.

“What took you guys so long? What did you do? Dawdle? Sniff the flowers?” Estel tapped his foot impatiently as he saw the grins on the faces of the elves around him.

“Oh yes, of course Estel.” Elrohir answered with a playful grin. “Of course, we walked slowly. We watched the clouds pass overhead-“

“-we watched the grass grow under our feet-“ Elladan chimed in and the twins got into their routine.

“-we watched each erratic path of each butterfly that passed us-“

“- we smelt each flower as we passed-“

“-we touched each leaf that grew along our path-“

“- we listened to the songs of the birds and the rustlings of the forest animals-“

“-we talked to every tree-“

“-we didn’t want to run into you again so soon.” Legolas muttered the last line that stopped the twins in their tracks and caused them to start laughing.

A hurt expression spread over Estel’s face and he pouted, “Legolas!”

Legolas couldn’t help but grin at the upset expression on the child’s face. “Peace Estel! I jest only in high spirits. I only jest, the barb was not meant to be taken seriously.”

“Well, that’s ok then!” Estel’s hurt expression disappeared quickly and he smiled widely as Elrond, Lord of Imaldris entered the courtyard.

“Legolas! It is indeed a pleasant surprise to see you again. What bring you to our fair realm?” Elrond’s eyebrow lifted at the end of his question as he heard the twins laughing quietly beside him.

“Oh yes, why are you here Legolas?” Estel asked, not realising what the twins were laughing about.

“I came only to see how Rivendell was faring my Lord. The weather seemed good, and I needed to travel a little bit. It has been a fair while since I had seen the twins, and as there were no, er, pressing matters in Mirkwood, I just decided to come for a visit. My father sends his greeting to you also.” Legolas stretched the truth a fair bit but although Elrond could see there was more to story then the young elf said, he let the matter pass him by.

“Then we would be glad if you would stay with us a while. Please join us for dinner tonight in the Hall, and how long do plan on staying?”

“Uhm, it is hard to say my Lord. It all depends on the weather and if any matters of urgency come up in Mirkwood.” Legolas spoke carefully.

“Ah yes. Of course. Then I wish you a pleasant stay and I look forward to seeing you in the Hall tonight. We shall hold a celebration for you arrival, young prince.”

“Thankyou, my Lord.” Legolas bowed formally and tried to ignore the sniggering from the twins. As soon as Elrond had left, wearing his annoying ‘I-know-everything-and-you-can’t-hide-it-from-me’ smile, Legolas spun around and hissed, “SHUT UP!” at the twins.

“Pray do tell, WHAT are you sniggering about??” Legolas glared at the twins who straightened up.

“ ‘depends on the weather’?” Elrohir snorted, “Prince Legolas Greenleaf, I thought that you’d have come up with a better excuse then that!”

“ ‘I needed to travel a little bit’??” Elladan laughed shortly, “I’ll bet you needed to travel! Either get out of Mirkwood by your own steam or get kicked out by your own father!”

“Uhm, did I miss something?” Estel piped up from where he had been listening to the conversation confusedly.

“Oh, only we know the real reason why Legolas is here.” Elrohir eyed the suddenly nervous Silvan elf.

“Oh! Tell me why Elrohir! Oh! Tell me!” Estel danced on the spot in his excitement.

“I think that Legolas can tell you himself,” Elladan spoke out and watched in delight as he saw horror take over the fair elf’s features.

Legolas tried to close his gaping mouth and hesitantly started to speak. “Uh, well, er……..well, the point is…….what happened was that…….”

“What is it that you’re trying to say our dear prince?” Elrohir slowly turned the knife in the wound and watched with amusement as the prince’s face blanched.

“Uhm….what I’m trying to say is….well….what happened……I decided…….”

“You decided what Legolas?”

“I….er…..decidedtotakeEstelhunting!” Legolas spoke the first thing that came into his mind as an excuse while staring at the young Edain child’s face.

“You WHAT?” The twins spoke out together incredulously.

“You did??” Estel jumped up and down on the spot, things were getting better and better!

“Uh, yes. Yes, I did. I certainly did. That’s the reason why I came! Yep! I came, to take Estel hunting.” Legolas gave the twins pointed looks that suggested that if they didn’t play along, they might run into other pointed things, and those pointed things definitely weren’t looks…..they were more…..physical.

“Ah……” The twins saw the unveiled threat and wisely decided to go along with the story. “…..yes. Yes indeed! We invited the prince down so that he could take you hunting. After all, you only went hunting with us….and Glorfindel……” Elladan’s face twitched as he remembered the last time Estel had gone out hunting with Glorfindel.

The elf lord had come back, his normally placidly neutral face definitely settled on the expression of anger and terror, an unusual mix but commonly worn by all users who happened to spend more then five minutes with the Edain child. His normally immaculate robes were covered in mud, not the easy-to-wash-off variety, but the gluggy, almost like glue variety that, if it contained anymore dirt and bacteria, could probably evolve its own legs and walk away. His fine fighting bow had been broken in half, his horse was nowhere to be seen, apparently spooked, and even his sword appeared to be bent. He also had a pretty bad limp, where after a lot of confusion and yelling (mostly by Glorfindel) it had been ascertained that Estel had accidentally shot the elf lord in the foot.

After that incident, Glorfindel had to undergo counselling and if ever the words “Estel” and “hunting” were used in a sentence, had a tendency to undergo a relapse and mutter continuously about the stupidity of humans, how some insanely evil demon had taken over the Edain child’s mind and would constantly shoot the child dark, death glares and unconsciously make warding off signs with his hands. Occasionally, his eye would twitch. It truly fascinated the human child.

“….er……er yes, you only went hunting with Glorfindel……uh…..once…..uh, so we decided that we should get you a new companion, er, fresh blood so to speak.” Elladan ended lamely as Elrohir viciously elbowed him to stop him from making anymore puns.

“Fresh blood?” Legolas asked, bewildered.

“Ah ha, my twin is joking….a pun….ha ha ha” Elrohir tried to smile to relieve the suddenly nervous Mirkwood elf. His smile not working, Elrohir nudged his twin.

“Oh yes, ha ha ha” Elladan spoke the words dutifully but allowed a smile to play around his lips. Something that worried the prince even more.

Oh Valar! Whatever have I got myself in for? Legolas thought frantically but when he looked into the beaming face of Estel, knew that he no choice.

He was going to go hunting with Estel.

That night, Legolas ate his food at the Hall with everyone else, yet he hardly tasted the fantastic elven food. Everything tasted like cardboard. When he had informed the congregation that he was going to take Estel out hunting, the place had quiet, so very quiet. The music had stopped, the soft elven voices speaking volumes while saying nothing. Then a choked voice floated on the air to the Mirkwood prince:

“A-are you b-being serious?!?!” It was Glorfindel’s voice, normally strong and confident which shook with disbelief. “You’re going to take this demon-child out hunting?? Do you realise what you’ve let yourself in for? Do you realise that you might not get out of THIS ALIVE?!?!”

Elrond sighed, “Glorfindel. You are my best advisor and one of my bestest friends, however I thought we’d talked about you referring to my adoptive son as the scrounge of evil, the eater of worlds and souls, who was only put on Middle-Earth to slowly suck the life out of the Eldar while being in the disguise of a small, innocent Edain child. I am sure that it does not bode well for his self-esteem Glorfindel.”

“You’veneverseenhiminfulldemonswingmylord.” Glorfindel muttered darkly, “Nomerehumanchildcangetintoasmuchtroubleashedoes.”

“What was that Glorfindel?” Elrond asked suspiciously.

“Nothing my Lord.” Glorfindel inclined his head formally, “It shall be as you wish it.” After all, it’s not me this time that has to take the little demon-brat!

“However, Glorfindel does have a point. The forest can be a dangerous place and Estel, my son, you are still only very young. Nowhere near mature.”

“I am matured enough Ada! I am a grown man!” Estel’s voice was high with injured pride as he tried to puff his chest out to look more manly.

Elrond ignored the human for the moment and instead turned to Legolas, “Do you wish this ‘fate’ Legolas?” The elf lord smiled gently at the stricken prince who turned to stare at the child who stared back.

“You said…..” Estel pleaded with the prince with his big, brown eyes.

Legolas relented. It’s only hunting. Not much can happen. And we won’t wander far from Rivendell. We shall be fine. “Yes my Lord. I do wish to take Estel out hunting. It would be an honour and privilege to.”

“Very well, so be it. You shall of course be taking a complete medical set, with EVERY herb and lotion I can think that you might use. And you will take plenty of bandages as well.”

“Is that all quite necessary my Lord?” Legolas asked, puzzled. It seemed like quite a lot medicinal supplies.

“Oh yes.” Elrond gazed fondly at his human son who had now turned and was harassing his twin brothers. “It is very necessary, in case anything should happen.” He then turned to Legolas and spoke seriously, “This child must not, EVER, pass through the veil. He has a destiny to fulfil, and his destiny is tied with our own. Legolas, you must protect him.”

“Of course my Lord. I will do all I can.” Legolas nodded solidly in affirmation.

“Good. Then I wish you pleasant journey and safe hunting.” Elrond then turned to the whole table and raised his glass, “A toast to the hunters! May you find what you wish and may the Valar bring you safely back to us!”

And so the toast was made, the night was spent packing and sleeping and the next day, Legolas and Estel rode out of Imaldris and the hunt began.

Several days passed as the pair ventured further away from Rivendell and deeper into her outlying woods.

And much to Legolas’ surprise and immense relief, nothing happened. There were no orc attacks, there were no spider attacks. Estel hadn’t even fallen over and grazed his knee yet. It was almost a let down, an anticlimax after everything that the Mirkwood prince had heard.

“This is great! I don’t understand why the others were so hesitant, or even afraid to take the child out with them! Nothings happened!” Legolas spoke out loud wonderingly, while Estel was out of normal human hearing range but importantly enough, forgot to ‘touch wood.’

For the elf had forgotten, things can change radically and drastically. For humans have never had an easy path, and the one that played under the Mirkwood prince’s care was destined for many hardships, more then any normal human.

Fate, it seemed, is not without irony. For a child’s curiosity, a child’s tool for learning about the world around them could be an extremely dangerous tool. One that could end the child’s life when all he was trying to do with the tool is understand his life, his world and his place in it.

After all, it is a common Edain saying that: “Curiosity killed the cat.”

As, unfortunately, the elf would, undoubtedly, find out.

Legolas lounged back, his eyes on the dancing flames of the fire. His thoughts turned to the events of the day that had occurred and he laughed briefly, remembering how Estel had almost shot himself. He had been aiming at largish deer, and had released the arrow. Unfortunately Estel had stepped on a twig at the exact moment he had released the arrow and the deer had taken fright and fled the scene. In the split second for the arrow to travel to where the deer should’ve been, the deer had gone.

Therefore, the arrow flew where the deer had been, rebounded off at a tangent when striking the tree behind the now nonexistent deer, hit a tree branch, ricocheted of that and then, as an astonished Estel found, returned to it’s owner.

It was lucky that Estel was a bad shot, therefore the arrow missed him by an inch.

As Estel stood there shaking, Legolas, the dignified elf, could only laugh at the boy’s bewildered expression.

Estel scowled from his place across from the fire, “Stop laughing at me Legolas.”

“What makes you think I’m laughing at you?” Legolas questioned, a grin still on his face.

“Because you keep looking at me queerly! And then start grinning to yourself and laughing. I just know that you’re thinking about that incident with the arrow and the deer! That wasn’t my fault! How was I to know that it would ricochet off the tree?? Its an arrow! It’s meant to imbed itself into anything it hits! Not ricochet!”

Legolas couldn’t help himself but laugh. “Let that be a lesson to you. An arrow can ricochet off anything. I myself have seen an arrow ricochet off water.”

“Are you serious?” Estel asked wide-eyed.

“Very. You skip rocks across water do you not?”

Estel blushed, “Yes I do. But do not tell Ada that. He does not approve of me ‘throwing’ rocks into the river.”

“Well, if a heavy rock can ricochet off water, I don’t see why a fast moving arrow cannot.”

“Hmmmmm” Estel rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “So it could have happened to anyone?”

Legolas smile grew even wider. But instead of being a mocking smile, it was a gentle smile. The child needs reassurance, “Yes, it could’ve happened to anyone.” Humans, they always need reassurance and help. They are all together too fragile for my liking.

For a while, silence reigned while the fire crackled and both the human and elf watched the fiery sparks spiral away into the night sky. Then the silence was broken by the sound of rustling as the boy rummaged through his pack.

“Pray, what are you doing Estel?” Legolas asked, an eyebrow raised as he watched the human child mutter to himself and continue his search.

“I am looking for something Legolas.”

“Yes, I knew that.” Legolas rolled his eyes, Humans, do they have any idea?? “But I meant, what are you looking for?”

“Something.”

“Estel!”

“Oh, calm yourself Legolas! I found it!” Estel turned around and flourished his prize triumphantly.

Legolas couldn’t help but let his eyebrow rise even further. “A pipe?”

Estel grinned his boyish devilish smile. “Not just any pipe Legolas! Ada’s pipe!”

Legolas felt shock steal over his features, “You stole Lord Elrond’s pipe?”

Estel grin grew even wider, “Yes. What do you think of that?”

“Why?!? You know you shouldn’t have done that!” The elf couldn’t fathom the child’s mind. Humans! I cannot think of a word to explain them!

Estel pouted, “You do not understand Legolas. Ada doesn’t think I’m grown up enough. He doesn’t think that I’m mature enough to do anything. I always watch him smoke his pipe, I don’t see why I cannot. After all, I am grown up. I am a teenager!”

“You are 13! You are only just a teenager!” Legolas couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It was enough to make him want to laugh.

“But still! I am a teenager! And I am grown up! Ada does not see this! You do not believe me……” Estel paused uncertainly, “But I will show you.”

“So you are going to smoke your fathers pipe, that you stole, to show him that you are an adult.” Legolas sardonically spoke.

“Yes. Also, I’ve always wondered what it was like.”

“Wondered what WHAT was like?”

“Smoking a pipe! I’ve wondered what smoking a pipe was like.” Estel rolled his eyes. Elves sometimes seemed to be quite stupid at times.

“You’ve wondered what smoking a pipe was like?”

“Yes.”

“It’s like you’re smoking a pipe.” Legolas kept his face straight, even though he knew that it would infuriate the human child.

“Legolas!”

“Well, what did you expect me to say? Its like eating lembas? Estel, please, have some sense!”

“Whatever Legolas. I am Estel and I shall do what I like.” The boy in question pouted and without waiting for the elf to reply, began cleaning out the pipe. Legolas watched with interest. Despite the fact that the boy had never smoked a pipe before, he seemed to know what he was doing.

“Estel. How is it that you’ve never smoked before, yet you know just what you are doing?”

Estel grinned, “I watch Ada. As Ada says, ‘You can learn a lot just by watching and listening.’”

Legolas sighed, “I’m pretty sure that the Lord of Imaldris did not mean for his teachings to be taken this way.”

“A student will take his teacher’s teachings into his own perspective.” Sometimes, the human child talked ages older then his actual age was. Living amongst immortals could do that to a mortal.

“But still, Estel……..” Legolas tried to plead to the human child, to no avail.

“Are you going to stop me Legolas?”

The elf pondered the question and after a minute of strained silence, answered, “No, I will not. Since you claim that you are an adult, adults must make mature decisions. Thus, I leave this decision to you, and you alone Estel.”

Estel blinked. He hadn’t been expecting the moral lecture. “Are you sure Legolas?”

“Make the mature decision Estel-the-Adult.” To soften the edge to his words, the prince smiled gently.

Estel smiled back uncertainly, his child’s mind trying to come to terms with the decision that was faced before him. And since Estel still, was only a child, he made the child’s decision, “Then I decide to smoke the pipe!”

Legolas sighed again, “Then so be it.”

The young teenager placed the pipe reverently onto the grass in front of him and continued rummaging through his pack. For several minutes, the rustling of the canvas, the crackling of the fire and the boy’s muttered words could be heard once again.

“What are you looking for now human?” Legolas couldn’t take the silence any longer.

“Pipeweed elf.” Estel rolled his eyes once again in the dark safety of his pack.

For a while the search continued but ended abruptly as a dark tousled head emerged from the pack. Estel glared at the elf who sat watching the boy innocently from the other side of the fire.

“If you say one thing Legolas……”

“What did you forget?” Legolas spoke quickly, trying to hide the mirth from his voice.

“The pipeweed.” Estel’s face drooped.

Legolas allowed himself a small smile, Maybe then, this whole ‘Lets smoke the pipe’ incident will be forgotten. After all, human children’s ideas last only for a moment.

The elf’s hopes were dashed when the child’s face lit up, “I will be able to find some in the forest!”

Legolas sat stunned, “Are you being serious Estel? Tell me you’re not being serious.”

“I am being as serious as can be Legolas. What? Don’t you trust my judgement? Ada has trained me after all.”

“Estel,” Legolas’ voice held a tone of warning yet resignation, “The forest is dangerous at night.”

“I know, I know. I am mortal, you are immortal, therefore I have to be extra careful and live my life wrapped up as a fragile package, blah blah blah. I won’t be long I promise! And I won’t stray far. You’ll be able to hear me.”

“But Estel!” Legolas tried to argue even though he knew it was useless. Estel carried a stubborn streak just like his adoptive family. No doubt it had rubbed off onto him from them. No mere human could be born so stubborn!

“Legolas!” Estel pouted and tried his ‘wide-eyed-innocent-puppy-dog-look’ on the elf. “Don’t you trust me?”

Legolas sighed, And once again, the great prince of Mirkwood gives into a mere human child. “Fine, okay Estel. I’m letting you know though that I don’t approve of you wandering in the forest by yourself.”

“I’ll be fine Legolas! You worry too much.”

“Well, you don’t have to face Elrond and the twins to explain why something has happened to their dear adoptive son.” Legolas muttered softly, so softly so that the Edain child couldn’t hear it.

“What was that? I didn’t quite catch it, human hearing you know. Not as good as elven hearing I’m told.” Estel taunted the elf.

“I said, I worry only about your safety Estel.” Legolas gritted his teeth.

“Then worry no longer Legolas! As I’ve told you before, I’ll be fine. Just give me a couple of minutes, then I’ll be back.”

“Fine then. You have three minutes only. THREE minutes Estel. Count it. If you’re not back in three minutes I will come after you.” Legolas laid down the rules while looking pointedly at the child.

Estel shrugged, he was lucky to be even going by himself. If he had been with the twins they’d have accompanied him everywhere, even if it’d only be a toilet stop on a tree in the forest. “As you wish Legolas. But you know, the twins are right. You are such a control freak.”

“What? I am NOT!” Legolas sat back astounded. “They said that?”

In reply, Estel just laughed. “Y-you are so gullible sometimes, you know that?”

Legolas fumed, And the great prince of Mirkwood is fooled by a mere human child. Obviously the great prince is not so great after all….. “Just go Estel. Go before I decide to pummel you into the ground with my superior elven strength.”

Estel grinned, “You wouldn’t dare, you’d have my father and brothers to answer to.”

Legolas leaned forward, a dangerous glint in his eyes, “I’d just tell them that you’d fallen down a cliff, they would believe that. Now, go. Before I change my mind human.” And with that, the elf pointed at the forest.

“Ai Elbereth Legolas! Calm yourself! There is no need to get so wound up!” Estel picked up his pipe, pocketed some matches and slowly walked into the forest, occasionally glancing back at the elf. When he thought he was out of hearing range (but really, he wasn’t) he muttered, “And I didn’t make it up. The twins really did say that you were a control freak. And it’s true.”

“THREE MINUTES Estel!” The prince’s voice floated to the human and Estel cursed, something that would’ve put a frown on his adoptive father’s fine face and started jogging. “Three minutes and I’m coming after you! And I heard what you said!”

Estel blanched and jogged faster. Soon, the campfire was left behind and the dark forest closed around the child. For a minute, Estel regretted going into the forest alone. It was all darkness and shadows, and silence. “That’s strange.” Estel thought to himself, “The forest around the campfire had been full of the night animal’s rustling while here, here I cannot hear anything.” Estel glanced around almost fearfully, noticing that there didn’t even seem to be any wind. Suddenly, the dark forest grew even darker and the Edain child started as heavy clouds covered over the moon.

For a moment, Estel deeply regretted making his hasty and prideful decision to find the pipeweed by himself…..in this light it was hard enough to see where he was going without tripping over, let alone distinguish the pipeweed plant.

Time passed and the child was about to give up in disappointment when he noticed a plant in the shadowy distance.

“Yes! I knew I could do it!” With exhilaration present in the boy’s voice, Estel rushed over to the plant and fell to his knees in front of it. With exaggerated care, he examined the leaves and stem and height but it was dark and the moonlight only seemed to accentuate the shadows not throw any light.

Estel frowned slightly, not actually sure if this was the plant that Ada had showed him in the book, but then shrugged. It was around the same height as the plant in the book, it seemed the same colour and the texture of the leaves seemed the same. And something that alike couldn’t harbour any ill effects towards him. With a delighted lunge, Estel pulled the plant out of the ground and carefully stripped it of it’s leaves. He then rolled them in between his hands, crushing the delicate layers of the leaves together leaving a mash of leaf matter in his hands. He then squeezed it into his pipe and then carefully lit it.

For a second while the match flared, later Estel could’ve sworn that he’d seen red eyes looking out at him from in the forest. Red pinpricks of light that seemed to stare right at him, but then, later when Estel had gone to re-count the whole incident, there had some…..strange things that he could remember and some things that he definitely couldn’t remember. The whole thing had seemed like a horrible dream, a nightmare of terrifying proportions.

Within seconds, the pipe had been lit and the young delinquent was happily trying to smoke it, successfully.

For a while, Estel seemed to forget everything, only the little world that he occupied fascinated him. When he had first started smoking the pipe, the smoke had seared the back of his throat, burning as it travelled down into his lungs and the young boy couldn’t stop himself from coughing. However, as time went on, Estel found that he could control the spasms of his lungs and even found the pastime to be pleasurable. Feeling the smoke in his mouth, its journey down his trachea and back out where he tried, unsuccessfully, to make smoke figures.

Estel giggled with glee when he produced his first smoke ring.

Then as more time passed, things changed. Even though it had been hard to see, the shadowy figures in front of Estel began to swirl and warp in his vision. Things that he knew to be trees, changed into shadowy figures of….something else…..before changing back. Estel thought he could hear voices. Singing voices, yelling voices, happy voices, angry voices, scolding voices, voices in his head.

Time passed in a blur for the young teenager and he didn’t even realise that his three minutes were up. He smiled lazily, forgetting all about the anxious elf prince that awaited him and just continued to puff merrily on his pipe.

Then with a sudden, abrupt movement, that defied rational thought, Estel sprung to his feet and glanced around the forest, his eyes widening as he saw the red eyes looking at him, or later when Estel explained to his family, he thought he saw red eyes staring at him.

Stumbling backwards, the child tripped over a root before crashing to the ground. With a gasp, the pipe dropped out of his mouth and the boy snatched it up before spinning around and running away from the eyes that he thought hunted him.

Estel glanced down at the pipe he held in his hand and his eyes narrowed as he saw the ‘pipeweed’ in his pipe dwindling as it burnt away, the leaves turning to ashes. He needed more pipeweed.

No, a reasonable voice in his head spoke to the boy, Legolas is waiting for you at the fire. You don’t need anymore pipeweed. You’ve already had your smoke. A mature decision would be to turn back and return to the elf.

But a hysterical voice erupted in the child’s consciousness, the voice that was currently in control of the child’s mind and body as Estel ran through the forest, No! You need more pipeweed! You MUST have more pipeweed! You can’t go back! The elf doesn’t think you’re mature enough! But you are! You are! You smoked the pipe to prove it! Besides, the red eyes are back there…..and you don’t want to go through them. If you keep running forward, you might find more pipeweed and stay away from the eyes. Run! Get some pipeweed! MORE PIPEWEED! Forget the elf! Forget him! Legolas….? Legolas? Who is that?

Estel shook his head muzzily, his vision blurring as his head went from side to side. Legolas is the Mirkwood prince……Legolas is the Mirkwood…..Mirkwood? Wood, forest? Prince? Legolas?......Mirkwood? What is…..M-Mirkwood? Elf…? What’s an…..elf…? Family….? Isn’t my family…dead? Slain…? What is……? Who is…..? Leg….ol….as…..?

Estel skidded as he suddenly turned right at a tree and ran off at a tangent, his mind frantically trying to whir through it’s memory banks. With terrifying realisation, he found he couldn’t remember anything! Well, nothing was clear. Everything was a haze…he couldn’t sort it out! He just couldn’t! His grip on his memory seemed as slippery as a fish, it was like trying to clutch the water that flowed through his hands in the river. It was impossible. Just when he thought he knew something, it washed away, it faded away into nothing. It completely disappeared. Something definitely wasn’t right.

Estel tripped over another root and went sprawling, the pipe getting knocked out of his hands. With a panicked air and hysterical mind not thinking, Estel sprang back up to his feet, ignoring his torn stockings and grazed knees. He hardly felt the slight pinprick of pain. Something else occupied the boy’s mind. Where was he? Where did he come from? Which way was BACK?!?

The boy wheezed, suddenly finding it hard to breath, as if an iron band was constricting his chest. Something was definitely wrong, but the boy didn’t know what.

Estel spun around, trying to work out which way he had come but the world whirled sickening around his head and the boy resisted the urge to sink to his knees and throw up. His stomach churned and Estel cried out in a sudden pain before he lost control of his stomach and vomited violently, bringing up everything that he’d eaten in the past day. Estel leaned weakly against a tree before sinking to the ground between gasping breaths and convulsive vomiting.

When the boy had finished being sick, Estel gasped as he tried to force air back into his lungs. With shaking knees, the boy managed to get to his feet and began running again, deeper into the forest, in the opposite direction from the elf that anxiously awaited his return.

In the confused state that the boy was in, he didn’t even notice the ominous silence of the forest nor the urgent rustling of the trees which warned of danger ahead, in the direction that the boy ran.

Orc danger.

Legolas cursed as he watched the boy head off into the forest but kept true to his word and stayed where he was.

One minute passed. It seemed like eternity. But Legolas just sat by the fire and fretted. Watching the sparks flying form the fire, he thought of the young boy that he had taken hunting and more importantly, taken a liking to. It had been a strange but likeable experience, finding out that he had taken a liking to a human. His father tried not to have any dealings with humans himself, he was suspiciously wary of them but never-the-less didn’t stop his son from seeing the young boy. What he thought and what his son thought were two very different things, and Thraundril respected his son’s decisions, even if he didn’t thoroughly approve of them.

Two minutes passed. Legolas threw more wood onto the fire and thought back some more. He remembered when he had first met the boy. He had travelled to Rivendell to deliver a message from his father and spend some time with the twins. When he had arrived, the twins hadn’t rushed out to greet him and with a wary and heavy heart, Legolas had uncertainly walked into the house himself. There had never been a time when the twins had not greeted him when he’d arrived, the only times the twins hadn’t greeted him, they’d either been away or injured and condemned to bed rest.

Three minutes passed. Legolas sat lost in his thoughts, thinking back through the past. The reason why the twins hadn’t greeted him were quickly found out when the elf prince ventured deeper into the house. He could hear giggling and gurgling, sounds that seemed extremely childish within the old elven house. Even the twins didn’t giggle anymore. Legolas remembered stepping around a doorway, following the sound and stopping in shock at the sight that greeted him. Both Elladan and Elrohir were seated on the floor, with a human child in their midst. Elrohir was cross-legged, his hair loose from warrior braids, the dark brown hair trailing down his tunic and tickling the Edain’s face. The child itself was seated in Elrohir’s lap, giggling at something that Elladan was saying, one of the child’s chubby hands were trying to clutch at the soft toy that the Elladan held tantalizing just out of the child’s reach.

Four minutes passed. Legolas stared with unseeing eyes into the fire, his mind still lost in the lane of reminiscing. He remembered all the details clearly, the events had etched themselves deeply into his memory. The child frowned as Elladan began pressing the boy’s patience. With frustration, the young child did what any child would’ve done, no matter what its species. It’s chubby hand unconsciously clutched Elrohir’s long hair and yanked it hard. Elrohir responded with a yelp that made both the child and his twin laugh. And while both twins were occupied, the Edain clumsily jumped from one twin to the other, taking the older elf by surprise, slamming into Elladan’s chest, knocking him over backwards, his hands trying to grab the soft toy that the elf held.

“Want!” The high childish voice was almost lost amongst the merry laughter of elves at the human’s antics.

Legolas coughed. “Am I disturbing something?” Truth be told, he was feeling betrayed. The twins hadn’t even bothered to come out and see him after his long journey to their home, they hadn’t even realised that he had been there. They were too busy playing with a child, even more, a human child.

“Legolas! It is such a pleasure to see you!” Elladan’s muffled voice floated across to the prince, as the child wriggled in his grip. “Elrohir take him! He seems to be calmer with you.” With that, the older elf plopped the child into his twin’s arms and Elrohir smiled at the child before getting up and walking towards the waiting Silvan elf.

“Yes, Legolas! It is good to see you again! I’m sorry that we did not meet you at the entrance, we were, slightly busy as you can see!” Legolas tried to think up a barb to reply with but before he could, Elladan was beside him as well. The Noldor elf bent down to look the Edain child in the face and said clearly:

“Estel this is Legolas.” Then turning to look at Legolas, Elladan smiled warmly and said, “Legolas, this is Estel.” Then is a whispered voice so that child couldn’t hear him he continued, “His family were slain by orcs, father has decided to adopt him.” Then louder once again, “He is our new brother!”

Legolas just stood there stunned, not knowing what to say. But children have a way of bending fences without even trying.

Before any of the elves realised, Estel had raised himself out of Elrohir’s arms and flung his own chubby ones around the Silvan elf’s neck. “Reg’ras!” The prince smiled in spite of himself as he heard the child try to say his name. Hesitantly, his arm’s encircled the small body, making sure not to crush the small boy. Estel wriggled around in his arms until he faced the prince and then when the child could see that the elf was looking at him, held up his soft toy and asked, “Want?”

Legolas smiled once again, his hurt and heart melting at the child’s antics. “Nay, little one. You can keep it.”

Then, the spell broke as the child yanked on the prince’s hair, giggling as it pulled on the golden tresses and the Silvan elf nearly dropped the child in shock.

After that, things had continued smoothly, and things had only gotten stronger between elf and human, and Legolas did not doubt that he and the human were destined to be friends for a while longer. Estel was indeed a horror as a young toddler, a stubborn child but overall, a courageous and brave human. Legolas was certain that no matter what fate held in store for the child in the future, Estel would face it head on and prosper.

Estel! With a jerk, Legolas realised that he had almost let five minutes past since the boy had wandered off into the forest. Legolas cursed again, something had been happening on a regular basis ever since meeting the human and got to his feet.

“Estel!” Legolas cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify the sound in the night air. No reply. “ESTEL!” Still no reply. “ESTEL! Can you hear me? Your three minutes is UP! I gave you FIVE!! ESTEL!”

Legolas strained his sharp elven hearing but still, no reply came forth from the dark forest. Legolas began to worry even more. Oh no, if something goes wrong, Lord Elrond is going to have my head for it.

Making a quick decision, Legolas quickly gathered up all the supplies he could carry – his twin blades, his bow and arrows, Estel’s sword and dagger and all the medicinal supplies – and loped off into the woods, intent on finding the young boy.

“Estel! Estel, reply! Call out to me! Where are you?” Legolas easily picked up the boy’s tracks and throughout the whole time he followed them, he did not stop calling out. However, as the elf continued on his journey, Legolas frowned as no reply was heard and he grew more worried.

Legolas thought that the tracks were going to go on forever but his worried eased slightly as the tracks led to where Estel had found the plant. He smiled as he looked at the tracks, seeing the excitement that the child had when he’d skidded to his knees and ripped the plant out of the ground. Legolas also knelt down but with more grace and elegance then the aforesaid child. Gently, he picked up the plant and frowned again as he saw how the leaves had been hastily ripped off and the plant discarded.

The elf looked around him, half expecting the Edain to jump out of the bushes where he might’ve been hiding in and surprise the elf. Estel had a habit of trying to catch elves unawares, and so far, he’d failed each time. But, to the prince’s chagrin, no human child came charging out of the bushes. Subconsciously, Legolas had been rubbing his fingers together while still holding the plant and hadn’t realised it, however, he started as he felt a sticky substance on his fingers.

Perplexed, the prince raised his fingers to eye level and in the waning light tried to see what the sticky substance was. He wasn’t able to see much, only enough to deduct that the substance was the sap from the stem of the plant. The sap was oozing out from where the leaves had been ripped from the stem and was dripping from the elf’s fingers.

Legolas frowned. He’d never known pipeweed to do that before. He didn’t even think that pipeweed had thick sap. Suddenly worried, he raised his fingers to his nose and sniffed it delicately.

For a second, the world whirled sickeningly around the elf and all his senses became heightened. Legolas could hear everything, from the sound of ants marching through the leaf litter to the quiet rustle of the trees as they moved their leaves in anxious agitation. He could see better and saw with consternation that Estel’s tracks seemed to be randomly panicked, the boy had jumped up and sprinted off, as the elf could see the footprints becoming wider and wider spaced. He could even see the tread that the boy’s shoes had implanted onto the soft soil. The elf’s nose quivered delicately, like a bow that had just released an arrow, the tangy, spicey smell that the sap had left in his nose filled everything, yet the prince released he could smell the coming rain, even though it was hours away. He normally didn’t smell the coming rain until a few minutes before it began to pour. He could feel the bristles of the stem of the plant digging into his fingers and he could feel the life leaving the plant as it expired in his palm.

And then, the heightened senses fled him and Legolas was left with a slightly nauseous feeling in his stomach but not enough to worry him.

Legolas eyes widened in fear as he realised that the plant WAS NOT pipeweed. And it had ill side effects on him and he’d only smelled it for a second. Estel had stripped it of ALL it’s leaves and SMOKED the whole lot. Legolas was an elf. Estel was a human. Whatever it was that had affected Legolas, it would affect Estel a whole lot worse.

Legolas sprung to his feet and hurriedly tried to trace Estel’s tracks. His heart thumped wildly in his chest, fear for the child he had been meant to be guarding. Lord Elrond is going to kill me. If Estel has been harmed in any way at all, it’s going to be my fault. It IS my fault.

The boy’s tracks were easy to follow, he had not even tried to cover them up – Legolas doubted that the Edain had been in the state of mind that he’d been coherent enough to cover his tracks. He was definitely worried. It was almost like something had been chasing the boy, according to his tracks. They were random and panicked. Legolas skidded to a stop, when the tracks showed that Estel had tripped over here and fallen. Legolas winced. The fall had been a bad one, it would’ve left bruises and grazes. The elf bent down and touched the ground and grimaced when his fingers came away with red smears. He was about to follow the tracks which led off further and deeper into the forest when he noticed something.

It was the pipe. It was nestled amongst the undergrowth and looked like it had been randomly chucked away but Legolas got the feeling that Estel had dropped it when he’d fallen. The elf scooted over and picked it up. The weed inside still smouldered and Legolas almost leant over to knock the weed out of the pipe before deciding to keep it. Who knows? It could come in handy. Instead, the elf extinguished the tiny embers, carefully, making sure to not inhale any of the smoke and pocketed the pipe. The smouldering weed told him several things, the main thing being that the boy hadn’t passed the way long before him, meaning that Estel was only a little way in front and that the boy hadn’t finished smoking the pipe.

And with, whatever it was that was within the pipe, that was definitely a good thing.

Estel skidded to a stop in a small clearing, realising even in his muddled state of mind that something was wrong. It was too dark and it was too quiet. He couldn’t hear anything, anything at all. Even the sound of his own harsh, shallow breathing and thumping heart appeared to be muted. Even though the feeling on unease didn’t pass, the boy sagged against a tree and tried to force enough air into his lungs from blacking out. It was a struggled to breath, to just draw in oxygen seemed like such a huge task. The running had taken away most of his breath and now, it felt like it was almost impossible to retrieve it all. It felt like there was an iron band around his chest, it felt like his ribs weren’t moving, stuck in place, instead of offering protection for his lungs, they had turned into a cage making it seemingly impossible for his lungs to expand.

So intent was the boy on trying to calm and control his breathing that he didn’t notice the approaching darkness nor the evil that seemed to taint the wind.

Estel wheezed, his hand gripping the tree hard, accidentally stripping it of it’s bark. Something howled in the very near distance but the boy didn’t hear it. His mind was still whirling from the after effects of the drug and the oxygen deprivation that was occurring. Estel swallowed anxiously as something seemed to touch his conscious, something tugged at his mind for recognition but it was soon swept away as the boy fell to his knees and began dry retching.

Estel clutched his stomach in agony as pain seared throughout his belly. He couldn’t stop being sick, he couldn’t stop retching, yet he knew that there was a chance he might tear the lining in the stomach if it continued.

Estel retched again, this time feeling relief as he brought up something yet his face blanched as he saw that it was black bile. Not a good sign, he remembered his father telling him that once. His father? He had a father? Suddenly, the urge to vomit was gone, just leaving the child with a sore stomach and aching lungs. Estel leaned back wearily against the tree and closed his eyes, trying to restore his breathing and stop from fainting from oxygen deprivation. He didn’t hear the twigs cracking just on the other side of the clearing.

The boy opened his eyes and lifted his head muzzily from where he’d let it droop on his chest. When another twig cracked and a glint just on the edge made him look and concentrate, Estel jumped to his feet in fear and terror. Unfortunately, the quick change of height made the boy horribly dizzy and by the time he’d been able focus once again, they were standing in front of him, the moonlight glinting off of the cruel looking scimitars they held and highlighting the foul grins that the beasts wore. The wargs that they had brought with them, snarled and snapped around their legs and the boy nearly fainted in fear and sickness. Orcs. Orcs had found him. He’d wandered into a bandful of orcs and wargs. He was alone……at their mercy.

To try and get there quicker, the prince began taking frightful chances, leaping from branch to branch, distances that even elves were afraid to tackle. Legolas somersaulted and swung from tree to tree in an effort to get to the boy before any harm could take place. However, his swiftness and recklessness was his undoing.

“Well, well, well, what do have here? A human by the look of it! And a baby too!” One of the orcs strode forward and while Estel tried to press himself up against a tree, grabbed the boy’s chin and peered into his eyes, roughly forcing to the boy to look which way he wanted.

“Tender meat then! Very tender!” Another disgusting orc sneered while running his clawed finger along the blade of his scimitar. “We haven’t had meat for days!”

“We could have a lot of fun with this one! Soft unmarred skin, I think we should introduce him to our friends!” They laughed while Estel paled. There was no way he could outrun them in his condition, there was no way he could do anything.

The orc that had him by the face, laughed at his boy’s terrified expression and then in a swift movement, grabbed the boy by his hair and throw him to the ground in front of the feet of the other orcs and at the mercy of the wargs.

One of the wargs leapt forward, its teeth bared, its lips pulled back in a snarl and just before the warg reached him, just before it could bury it’s teeth into his flesh, Estel remembered and cried out, a cry full of desperation.

“LEGOLAS!”

“LEGOLAS!” The prince heard the cry and struggled to his feet.

The warg reached the child and buried it’s teeth in the boy’s shoulder. Estel cried out in pain, his voice hoarse from his retching.

“ESTEL!” Legolas reached back and grabbed his bow and put an arrow into position while sprinting and tried to ignore the frantic whispering of the trees around him.

The orcs laughed and jeered while the boy cried out in pain and tried to pull away from the teeth that dug into his shoulder. The warg growled and sunk the teeth in further, Estel screamed as he felt the canines slide along his collarbone while the orcs sniggered.

Suddenly, the bushes burst open and before Estel could blink, an orc that had been holding his scimitar in a suggestive position tending to indicate harm was lying dead on the ground and the warg had released the boy and reared up in pain and soon was lying dead with another arrow through the throat.

The warg landed so close to the child that Estel was covered in the small cloud of dust the animal raised when it landed and unfortunately, most of it went into the Edain’s eyes.

“Estel!” The boy looked around blindly, hearing his name yet unable to see anything as the gritty dust covered his eyes.

“Legolas!” Estel recognised the voice and called back yet, still unthinking as the drug still reeked havoc with his system, stood up, gritting his teeth to stop from crying out in pain as the dust stung his eyes and made them water continuously. One hand he was using to rub his sore eyes to try and make them clear, unsuccessfully and the other hand he held his wounded shoulder, gasping as everytime he moved his arm, a lance of hot white pain shot up it.

The warg had done more damage then the orcs had probably intended. If the collarbone was not broken, then it was at least fractured or dislocated pretty badly. Estel groaned as the pain went straight through him.

Legolas sighed in relief when he saw the boy, relatively unharmed – well, alive – but then gasped in astonishment and fear as the child stood up in the battlefield and then just stood there. For a second, Legolas wondered why the child had done such a thing but when he noticed the boy was rubbing his eyes and he saw the tears streaming down his face he guessed pretty quickly and came to the right conclusion.

The elf bit his lip in consternation as he realised the boy was blind and defenceless without his sight and weapons. Making a quick tactical decision while despatching another orc with his blades by inserting them into the orcs stomach and pulling quickly upwards, slitting the foul creature open, Legolas tried to fight his way over to the boy.

Estel blinked frantically as he tried to clear his eyes and thankfully, the next time he opened them, he was able to see the area surrounding him, although the vision was still blurred and distorted due to both the dust and the drug still in his system. Suddenly, an orc foot impacted heavily with his back and the child went sprawling to the ground. The orc laughed at the human child’s weakness and bent down, grabbed the boy by his wounded shoulder, dragged him upright and then without even a slight pause, backhanded the boy.

Legolas face darkened with fury as he saw the boy go down a second time from the cruel blow. “Estel! ESTEL!” He yelled out across the clearing, hoping anxiously that the blow hadn’t knocked the child out. He needed to get across, he needed to get over to the Edain. The boy was defenceless, he was weak, he didn’t have any weapons, he was only a child!

The band of orcs and wargs was small but they fought viciously and Legolas had a hard time trying to dispose of the wargs. The beasts were agile and took great pleasure in inflicting pain, the prince could feel the evil radiating off of them.

The prince sprang forward in an attempt to get to Estel but at that very moment, one of the wargs sprung forward and hit the elf in the chest, making the two combatants roll over and over backwards. Legolas wasted no time but pulled out one of his blades and during the tumble, swiftly shoved it up to the hilt into the beast’s chest, the tip of the blade piercing the warg’s heart and causing it death almost instantly.

When the two had rolled to a stop, the elf kicked the warg off it’s chest with disdain and without hardly harder breathing, stood up to face the rest of the combatants that separated him from the child. The orcs milled around nervously, almost afraid to make a threateningly move towards the elf, lest their death come on swift wings. Even the wargs appeared to be more cautious, slinking around the legs of their masters.

Legolas didn’t have time for this. He needed to get to Estel. Then the uneasy silence shattered as one of the largest orcs raised his scimitar and yelled, “Kill the elf! KILL!”

And then, both orc and warg rushed the prince……and life suddenly got a lot harder for Legolas.

“Pathetic whelp of a human!” The orc growled before his fist came down across the boy’s face.

Estel didn’t reply but concentrated on not blacking out. At least I’m not a foul, disgusting orc, was the sardonic comment that came into his mind.

“Your elf friend isn’t going to help you here. No, he won’t. There are too many of us for him. We will capture him and take him to our lord and he will make a pretty present indeed. And you will die. And we might decide to eat your meat, your young tender flesh.” The ugly being sneered while entwining his hand cruelly through the boy’s hair.

“No! Legolas will beat you all!” The drug made Estel speak his mind, his tongue flowing freely.

In reply, the orc just sneered and by tugging viciously on the boy’s brown locks, made the child look up into his eyes. “You speak foolishly, human. But now, that is enough talking. Your voice annoys me, I think we might cut out your tongue.”

Estel’s eyes widened in fear as he realised that the orc was going to keep him alive just to torture him, IF he captures me, he thought, then rebuked himself, Well, I feel awfully ‘captured’. He’s got me and I can’t escape. Where is Legolas??

The orc pulled out a dagger from wherever foul place he had been hiding it, and despite the darkness, Estel swore that he could see a foul, black substance coating the blade. Involuntary, he shuddered.

“Yes, my pretty. This could certainly do some harm to you but I am just itching to spill some human blood, to smell the blood, to taste that blood. I can smell your fear human. It smells good.” The dark creature bent down and while whispering into the boy’s ear, traced the knife from one shoulder to the other, the bloody cut following the boy’s collarbones. “There is nothing sweeter then the taste of human blood, the metallic tang of your red liquid. Your flesh is tender and soft. Very tasty.” The orc sneered while Estel struggled to get away from the blade that was cutting a line of fire on his skin. The blade stung and Estel gasped as it began to burn like fire. Despite the fact the cut was only shallow, it hurt so much and the blood continued to flow thinly from the wound.

“I see you liked that my pretty. Well, lets see what else we can do”, and to the boy’s horror, the orc pinned him down and positioned the knife right above the boy’s soft, defenceless belly.

In a cry of terror, the boy screamed, “LEGOLAS!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” The prince grunted as he dispatched another orc and in the quick lull, took a second to snap his head up and see where the Edain was. What he saw made his eyes widen in fear and without apparent thinking, he grabbed his bow and in a split second, and arrow had hit the orc threatening Estel in the back of the leg.

At that exact time, a warg realising that the elf was distracted leapt and with ferocity that surprised Legolas himself, pinned down the prince. Quick thinking and battle instincts were all that saved the prince.

The warg made a move to rip the face off the elf but Legolas had snapped his head to the side and the warg’s claws only went through air and tore up the ground. With lightning speed, Legolas slammed the end of his bow into the wargs face, luck and skill making sure that the tip went through the warg’s right eye, blinding it and causing great pain.

The moment that the warg reared up in pain, Legolas rolled out from underneath it and without thinking, slammed Estel’s sword through the animal’s hide, the blade inserting itself between the beast’s 3rd and 4th rib, going straight through the lung and puncturing the heart.

Legolas quickly pulled the sword out and with all his might yelled, “Estel! Catch!” and hurtled the sword to the boy before another orc blocked the elf’s vision and Legolas, once again, found himself locked in close combat with a foul, stinking orc.

He could only hope that the sword would help the boy hang on until he, himself, got there.

What a futile hope. What kind of warrior am I? Leaving a human child of only thirteen summers battle an orc on his own when I’m meant to be protecting him. This whole thing is my fault. By the Valar, Lord Elrond is going to skin me alive when I bring his child home. Legolas winced as he thought of the elf lord before the battle took his mind once again. He’d have been a lot more worried if he’d seen what was happening over the other side of the clearing where Estel was.

A lot more worried indeed.

The orc screamed in pain as the arrow slammed into the back of his knee, the tip of it jutting out the other side, the kneecap shattered completely from the force of the arrow hitting it.

In the split second that the orc was distracted, Estel twisted himself out of the foul creature’s grip and stood up, panting several metres away from the orc. He looked wildly around for something to fight the creature with and moaned slightly as his vision blurred and his head felt like it grew heavier. The nausea was rising once again in this stomach and the slight flesh wound the orc had given him burned like acid. Blood still flowed freely from the wound, although the blood itself appeared to be thinner somehow. Something was still very wrong with the boy’s body, something was definitely unbalanced but Estel could not think what was causing it and why.

Maybe it’s the weed that I smoked, maybe it’s the knife wound, maybe the blade was poisoned, Estel jumped as the orc stopped howling and clutching it’s knee and instead snapped around and fixed hate-filled eyes on the child. Uhm, maybe doesn’t matter at the moment. I think I’ll deal with the orc problem I have now and deal with whatever’s causing these strange effects later.

“You! This is all your fault whelp!” The orc snarled and with a vicious movement, yanked the arrow straight out of his leg and advanced steadily on the scared child. “You are going to die the most painful death I can think of. You’re going to undergo the worst tortures I can think of. I’m going to make you scream, tear you limb from limb, skin you alive, break every bone in your scrawny, pathetic body and roast you alive.”

Estel backed away hurriedly, his gaze frantically searching for something, anything, he could defend himself with. But there was nothing. There wasn’t even a decent sized branch on the ground that would withstand a blow to the orc.

Estel panicked.

This is it. Its just me and this orc. Its not fair! He’s a lot bigger then me! Estel’s senses were heightened in his moment of fear and he could hear Legolas battling all the wargs and orcs while he himself was only faced with one. Legolas is fighting over there for me, and still he manages to save me. Estel winced as he remembered how the whole situation had occurred. This is all my fault. None of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t have decided to smoke that pipe. What a mature decision, Estel, well done indeed. And now, I’ve put Legolas in a lot of trouble and in an awkward position, and if something goes wrong, and it will, this is all my fault. I shouldn’t be here, Legolas shouldn’t be here.

Estel stepped backwards as the orc snarled and advanced. His pessimistic thoughts were halted as he heard the prince call his name and his eyes widened as he saw the elf throw his sword across the clearing before another orc disrupted his view.

Time seemed to slow as the sword twirled the air and both the orc and human child turned and watched it make its way through the air towards them. And then in a split second, time seemed to speed up and the sword was in the child’s hand. With a roar, the orc swung his scimitar around but Estel lunged forward and met the scimitar with his own sword.

Metal shrieked as the two blades slid down one another but with strength Estel didn’t feel, he forcefully pushed the orc away from him and stood back panting. That’s strange, I can’t feel the pain from my collarbone……

But then the thought was thrown away as the orc threw his head back and roared, “You’ll die whelp!”

Estel didn’t wait but sprang forward, ducked under the beast’s swing and with a grunt slammed the blade into the orc’s chest but sheer bad luck meant that the blade missed the beasts heart and the major organs…..only just though.

With a scream of pain the orc unthinkingly dropped his scimitar and sagged forward leaning his weight on the boy who partially held him up, his white fingers gripping the hilt of the sword. Estel just stood there in shock and watched as the thick, black blood coursed from the wound, onto the sword and dripped down his arm. No matter how many times he killed, he’d never get over how……real it seemed when done in close quarters.

To console himself, Estel whispered to himself, It was either me or him. Estel sighed and relaxed his grip on his sword and shakily stepped back.

A fatal mistake.

Legolas smiled wanly as his blades slaughtered another orc.

Another couple of minutes went past and another warg went down, never to get up again.

The fight was easing, finally.

Legolas smiled again, this time smugly and looked over to where Estel stood, and grinned, as he saw the orc impaled on the boy’s sword.

He turned around to fight another orc that was eyeing Estel and provided a distraction that the elf easily took advantage of.

Several more minutes passed as Legolas killed some more of the remaining orcs and wargs whose nerves had been severely rattled and their battle skills compromised by the deaths of the comrades. By now, only several were left.

The sound of a scream made the prince whip his head around to where Estel was, and the sight that filled his vision made his eyes widen in fear and a coarse curse pass his lips.

“ESTEL!”

The minute Estel relaxed his grip, the orc shrieked again and slammed his fist into the boy’s chest making the Edain stumble backwards to the ground and losing his grip on the sword. The orc snarled in pain and made no move to pull out the sword from his chest, instead swiftly advancing towards the boy.

Before Estel could realise what was happening, the orc had picked him and growled in his ear, “You’re going to pay for that human. I’m gonna make you scream,” before spinning around and slamming him into the trunk of the tree.

Estel gasped in pain as he felt his side impact solidly with the tree and could almost feel the severe bruises beginning to form.

However the orc wasn’t finished. Over and over again the foul beast slammed the child into the tree-trunk, crushing the Edain’s ribs with brute strength. Estel’ s face had blanched when his first rib had broken. The orc had just sniggered as he heard the bone snap. When the child’s third rib had broken, it took all of Estel’s strength not to scream in agony when the orc continuously slammed him against the tree.

No matter how many times the evil beast battered the boy against the tree, the child made no sound cepting gasps and whimpers, although the orc knew that he was causing great pain. It was frustating. A child so young, especially a human child, should not be so stubborn!

With a snarl, the orc threw the boy to the ground, yanked the sword out of his own chest and swiftly drove it through the child’s shoulder, effectively pinning the boy to the ground. It smiled evilly as the boy couldn’t help but jerk and gasp in pain.

“Now, I know that I do not have long to live but you will scream for me child.” The orc sneered and placed a heavy leg onto the boy’s chest. Panic welled up in Estel and the child tried to struggle but could only moan as his struggles made his own sword tear in his shoulder and jostled his broken ribs and collarbone. Estel’s eyes widened in fear as the orc increased his pressure downwards with his foot, steadily placing more weight on the boy’s chest, making it extremely difficult to breath. “Scream for me whelp.”

Estel gasped in pain as he felt his ribs grate against one another and struggled to draw in breath while the orc pressed down even harder. “Scream boy.”

Heavier and heavier the orc’s foot became as he placed more and more of his substantial weight on the boy’s fragile and broken chest. Estel clenched his eyes shut tightly and moaned in anguish as his broken ribs moved.

Suddenly, white hot pain flared through the boy’s chest and Estel gasped, finding it harder to breath. Liquid fire raced in his lungs and Estel wheezed frantically, trying to pull in air. He was suffocating, he was drowning! The Edain gurgled for a second and then coughed up some blood, each cough racking his ribcage, tearing tissue and causing agony to the boy.

The orc grinned. “That’s right boy. Now scream.” And with a vicious downward thrust, forcefully put all his weight on the boy suddenly, making the broken rib which had punctured the lung, thrust itself further into the boy’s already torn lungs.

Estel screamed.

Legolas forgot everything. He forgot where he was, he forgot who he was fighting. All that mattered was getting to Estel.

With a enraged snarl upon his normally calm face, the elf viciously fought his way over, killing all of the remaining enemies and before either orc or child knew what had happened, the orc that had been torturing Estel had keeled over, his eyes glazed to land on the ground with a thud, dead.

An elven blade in the neck gave substantial evidence to what had transpired.

But Legolas was not concerned with his blades, instead he dropped to his knees beside the stricken child and swiftly yet gently, pulled the sword that impaled the boy to the ground. Estel cried out in pain as the sword tore at his skin and arched his back in an effort to ease the pain.

“Oh Estel! Ssshhh….ssshhhh….I’m so sorry!” Legolas spoke quickly and softly as he tried to envelope the boy into a soft hug but his efforts were thwarted as the child yelped in pain as he picked the boy up.

“Estel, whats wrong?” Legolas asked, extremely worried as he lay the boy back down.

“S-shoulder….r-ribs broken….c-cut burning….i-I’m sorry L-legolas…” Estel wheezed the words out between shallow breaths. Every breath tore at his ruptured lungs and the child could feel the fire racing through his ribcage everytime he tried to breath.

With an angry look on his face against the orcs which had inflicted such pain unto only a child, Legolas carefully examined the wounds. What he found made him bite his lip in consternation. The wounds were bad. The cut across the collarbone was only shallow yet still bloody flowed from the slash. Legolas touched the cut and winced as the boy moaned. The blood was strangely thin and smelt funny. The sword wound on the shoulder was worse, the hole all the way through the shoulder. Blood also flowed steadily from this wound and was also thin and had a strange smell. Legolas carefully examined the boy’s collarbone and ribcage and found the collarbone to have only a fracture while three of the boy’s ribs had been broken.

What the elf completely failed to pick up was that one of the ribs had punctured the boy’s lung. But what he did pick up was that Estel was beginning to run a fever, something that shouldn’t have happened so quickly but another look at the boy’s collarbone cut proved the elf’s suspicions. There was orc poison in the boy’s system.

Legolas quickly pulled out all the herbs he had and tried his best to tend the wounds but no matter what he did, the boy just seemed to get worse. His face became paler, his breathing grew more shallow, his eyes more glazed.

There was something else seriously wrong. Legolas suspected that whatever it was that the boy had smoked, it was playing havoc with the boy’s natural healing system. It was thinning the blood and not allowing it to clot.

With a prayer to the Valar, Legolas pulled out the athelas and applied it to the wounds. Athelas normally managed to cure everything. But after he applied it to the wound, the blood flow only slowed down considerably, to the point of stopping, but STILL continued to ooze. And the boy’s temperature also continued to rise.

“Estel, Estel…..can you hear me?” Legolas gently shook the boy and bit his lip in worry as the boy only moaned in reply, his eyes shut yet the pupils moving rapidly under the lids. “I’m going to take you home. I’m afraid only your father can tell me what’s wrong. Estel? Estel! You must stay with me! ESTEL!” Legolas shook the boy harder to try and make him wake up.

Estel slowly opened his pain-filled, dilated eyes, “A-Ada? No….L-legolas? I-is that….y-you?” he whispered brokenly.

“Yes, its me Legolas, Estel. We're going ome to see Ada. Stay with me alright?” Legolas peered worriedly at the boy. This is bad. Lord Elrond is going to kill me. I am so dead.

“A-alright….” Estel forced a small smile up at the prince. Legolas tried to smile back but found himself way too worried. Estel’s eyes then fluttered shut and Legolas nearly panicked, thinking the child had passed away but sighed in relief as he noticed the boy’s shallow breathing.

It is probably better this way. This way, the journey will not cause him anyway near the amount of pain he would experience if he was awake, Legolas surmised as he gently scooped the boy up in his arms.

He started as the Edain trembled violently and then turned in his arms to bury his face into the elf’s chest. Estel’s dark locks fell over his face, and Legolas sighed again. The child looked so young, too young. He was too pale, and his body felt too light. He could feel the boy’s shallow breathing and his rising temperature. Something was still not right.

By the Valar, if you can hear me or are listening, please allow this boy to live. Grant him life. He has so much more to fulfil in his future, please……let him live…..too much will be lost if he is to pass through the veil, Legolas sent up a prayer, hoping that they were listening before started to jog back through the forest, towards Rivendell.

The boy moaned again in the elf’s arms and shivered violently. Legolas anxiously increased his pace slightly.

It was going to be a long, hard, painful night.

Elladan tossed and turned in his bed, unable to get a comfortable position, thus unable to get some proper sleep. In the end the elf flipped onto his back and let one of his hands flop above his head, the fingers getting tangled in his long dark hair. His eyes stared aimlessly at the ceiling as the elf tried to will himself to sleep.

“What is wrong with me? Why can’t I just go to sleep??” He whispered quietly to himself. But then he answered his own question with a sigh and a ghost of a smile flickering around his lips. “It’s because I’m worried about Estel. It is his first trip out. He still only young. Nowhere near an adult by elf standards, then again, the oldest human would still be considered a child by elf standards. But even by human standards he is only a child. And he’s out there alone.”

Elladan paused before continuing. “He’s out there with Legolas.” A moment of silence reigned in respect for the blond archer accompanying the perilous child. “Valar help him.”

Several more minutes were spent by Elladan tracing the shadows on the ceiling with his eyes. “This is getting me nowhere.” He muttered to himself, then with an irritable sigh he pushed himself out of the bed and leaned over to rub his face with his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. After a couple of seconds of silence, broken only by the sound of the wind and lashing rain outside, the elf stood up and padded out of his room.

Clad only in his sleeping shirt and barefoot, the elf walked silently down the darkened corridor and passed his twin’s room on the way to the kitchen. However, after a moments hesitation he paused and then retraced his steps back to his brothers room. He walked slowly to the door and leaned lightly upon the doorframe while regarding his sleeping twin. Elrohir lay on his side, his long dark hair obscuring half of his face, one hand curled around the blankets covering him, the other tucked underneath the pillow.

Elladan stood there and looked at his brother, imagining what life would’ve been without him and remembering all the things they had done together. He knew that if ever Elrohir died, he would follow for they were linked by more then just blood, their hearts beat in unison and their souls were intertwined tightly together. It had always been that way from the moment they were actually aware of each other and as the twins had grown older and ‘wiser’ the bond had only strengthened.

Elrohir had always been the more quiet one, the more calm one, the apparently more compassionate one. However, anyone that knew the elves knew that they were both as compassionate as each other. Elladan was the protective one, he felt the need to protect all that he loved and whenever anything happened to them, he tended to hold himself responsible.

For how many minutes the elder twin stood at the doorway regarding his younger twin, he did not know. He was just thinking about his youngest brother.

Estel, the human.

Despite the fact, they were related only very distantly and were not blood brothers, the human held a special place in the family’s heart and was in every other fact, but not blood, their brother. He used to have only Elrohir to worry about, but now Estel was firmly written across the top of Elladan’s worry list. The human seemed to attract trouble, and it was trouble that he did not need.

No. Estel would have enough problems, worries and pain to deal with later on in his life when he fulfilled his destiny and took his rightful place as the King of Men. But for now, he could enjoy his childhood in the relative peace and safety that Rivendell and the respective elven kingdoms had to offer. He would explore and grow up in the elven lands, his childhood innocence protected until…..until a time would come that would shatter that. And then….and then….Estel would grow up.

Estel would grow up into Aragorn.

And then Aragorn would grow up into King Ellessar, Ruler of Gondor.

But that could wait. Time would not be stopped and it marched relentlessly on, drawing all nearer to the future that awaited them, but until then, those the toiled beneath it would enjoy themselves.

Unbeknownst to him, his younger twin’s eyes had cleared, the glazed look of elven sleep disappearing as Elrohir woke up, a familiar presence nudging his warrior senses and disturbing his sleep. However, the elf did not move a muscle from where he lay and just gazed at his brother who stood in the doorway staring through the bundle on the bed, it’s owners thoughts somewhere else completely. It remained like this for a couple of minutes and then Elrohir spoke, his voice startling his older twin out of his thoughts.

“What bothers you brother?”

Elladan jumped, startled, and a guilty feeling crept over him. “I’m sorry Elrohir, I didn’t mean to wake you. I was on my way to the kitchen for a glass of water.”

“And instead have stood in my doorway for the last five minutes. Is there something bothering you?” Elrohir propped himself up in his bed, leaning forward on his elbows while the blanket slid down a little off of lithe body.

“No. I….I just couldn’t sleep.” Elladan rubbed a hand over his face.

“I know the feeling.” Elrohir smiled. He then sat up completely and yawned, stretching his arms high above his head. He then swung his feet out of bed and stood up. Padding over to his brother and standing beside him he spoke, “I could use a glass of water. Then lets see if a midnight walk will tire us out.”

Elladan grinned guiltily. As much as he liked the idea, he still felt guilty about waking his twin up. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I know.” Elrohir replied simply while walking slightly in front of his brother. He too was only dressed in a sleeping shirt and was barefoot.

The twins got their glasses of water and Elrohir pulled his head of a cupboard which he had scouring for some midnight snacks to find his brother nowhere in sight.

“Elladan?”

There was no reply. Elrohir closed the cupboard door quietly and looked around him, his eyes spying curtains billowing down the hallway. One last look in the kitchen showed him that his twin had left his glass of water behind, the glass half empty. And then Elrohir silently walked down the corridor still carrying his glass of water in his left hand, following the trail of curtains blowing from some gust of wind coming from somewhere.

“Elladan?” Elrohir called quietly, not wanting to wake up any other occupants of the house.

He was getting closer to whatever was causing the curtains to waft like ghosts, he could feel the wind on his face.

In a sudden flash of insight, he knew where Elladan would be. Resignedly, he turned left halfway down the hallway and found his brother standing on the balcony, the doors wide open allowing the wind to blow down the hallway, his face staring at the grounds around the elven kingdom and his hands resting lightly on the balcony fence. The elder elf didn’t seem to notice the pouring rain which plastered his hair to his face and ran in rivulets down over his thin shirt.

“Elladan?” Elrohir stepped forward into the unprotected balcony and felt the wind whip his hair around his face and pull his shirt from him, before the rain plastered it to his body. Even though the elves did not feel the cold, they recognised that it was while not a freezing cold night, it could be classified as cool. Lightning split the sky and then a instant later, thunder rumbled menancely before crashing in a crescendo, the vibrations shaking the very ground itself.

“It is a foul night.” Elladan intoned dully, his eyes staring outwards and inwards.

“Yes it is. You sure you don’t want to come inside where it is not so foul?” Elrohir joked lightly even though he knew his brother wasn’t in a joking mood. “I guess you won’t want some water now.” He held up his glass of water and watched as the rain fell into it causing ripples.

“I just…..” Elladan stopped unsure how to continue. “I feel like…..”

“You worry for Estel.” Elrohir stepped forward and leant over the balcony edge, his elbows resting on the wall. He didn’t look at his twin, yet also stared at the forest surrounding the house.

“Yes, I do.”

“I’m sure Legolas has everything under control.” Elrohir stated confidently while swirling the water around in his glass and feeling the rain drum upon his back. He watched with interest as water dripped off his long hair to continue on its downward journey to the ground far below.

“Of course he does. I do not see why I am so worried. Why I cannot sleep. Why I have to……”

“Why you have to come out here onto your thinking balcony in the middle of a thunderstorm, stand in the rain and stare at the forest?” Elrohir finished the sentence in good humour.

“Yes.”

“It is a brother’s worry. We all……” Elrohir voice trailed off as his eyes spotted something moving in the forest. “Did you just see……did you see something moving?” His voice cracked with disbelief that someone could be out in such foul weather.

Elladan didn’t answer for a moment, his eyes narrowing where he had seen something move. “I think…..”

There was a flash in the forest, as whatever it what out there turned and something metal that it was carrying glinted in the moonlight. Then the dark figure burst out of the forest and for a moment stood still.

Lightning flashed across the sky and for a split second the elves saw the figure of a prince carrying a limp bundle then darkness reigned once more.

“ESTEL!”

Elrohir’s glass tumbled end over end from it’s journey from the balcony where the elf had dropped it in shock before shattering into a million pieces as it struck the ground violently, the glass shards spreading out across the ground and reflecting the moon’s waning light.

Legolas was almost there and there wasn’t much time left. The weather had gotten steadily worst until the light, drizzling rain had turned into intense, pounding rain and the ominous clouds that had skulked overhead now gave up a fantastic theatrical show of lightning and thunder that the elf was in no mood to enjoy.

Almost there. They were coming to the edge of the forest now, the trees were thinning out and the rain fell harder upon elf and boy as there were not as many leaves to protect the duo.

Legolas could see the glow eminating from the windows of the Lord’s, for want of a better word, house. After a couple more frightening seizures, Estel had gone worryingly still and the prince could feel the child’s blood oozing from his wounds and covering the blond archer’s fingers. The blood trickling from the boys mouth would’ve worried the elf even more if he could’ve seen that, but his quick glances down at the bundle he was carrying didn’t permit him the time to examine the child closely.

In fact, he didn’t have much time at all to do anything. Anything but run and pray for help.

He was getting tired, Lords knew, he was getting deadly tired. His legs were beginning to feel like lead, an unusual feeling for an elf but Legolas would not permit himself any rest. He narrowed his eyes until the glowing windows of Imaldris were all that he was concentrating on.

He swerved suddenly, his blades glinting in the moonlight, narrowly missing a tree root that he hadn’t seen until the last minute. From that experience the prince realised how tired and dull his senses were becoming. Normally he would’ve seen that from far off and wouldn’t have had to swerve so abruptly in the first place. In fact, just for fun he probably would’ve jumped straight over it, seeing how high he could fly in the air and how far he could fly before coming back to earth.

But circumstances changes times, just like this child’s curiosity had changed the present future.

“Damn Edain’s damned curiosity!” Legolas swore and cursed viciously, knowing that it would not help him in his current predicament.

They were at the edge of the forest. For a minute time seemed to slow and the elf dug his foot into the soft earth, his toes gripping the soil like a sprinter taking his first steps. His momentum forward, Legolas closed his eyes suddenly as he tore through the leaves of a bush and then suddenly, they were out of the forest. Shock made the elf stand still for a second as a blot of lightning flashed across the sky and blinded the archer momentarily.

Imaldris in all its splendid glory stood before him.

But the trip wasn’t over yet.

The prince still had to get his fragile package into the building and save the boy’s life.

Elrohir sprinted down the corridor as if a Balrog were after him and unceremoniously threw open the double doors to his father’s bedroom. The big wooden doors slammed open and banged on the walls.

Elrond, Lord of Imaldris, instantly woke from the clamour and sat up straight as his youngest blood son rushed over to him and pulled him out of the bed, all the while talking in a frantic, panicked voice. What he said chilled the elf lord’s heart and he wasted no time getting up.

Elrond too was dressed only in a sleeping shirt but had the presence of mind, on the way out, to grab his silken dressing robe and while running down the corridor to the healing room, he swung it around where it billowed in the elf lord’s slipstream before he slid it over his shoulders and fastened it around his waist.

In a frantic rush, father and son hurried to prepare the room. Elrond took out all the healing herbs he thought he might need and pulled out bandages and cloth. Elrohir ran in, carefully carrying a huge bowl of hot water and after putting it down, sprinted over to a cupboard and pulled out a surgery kit. In the kit contained various needles of different sizes, different stitching material depending on where the stitches needed to be placed and several small knifes.

Then, they waited.

Legolas stumbled for the first time, his knees painfully coming into contact with the ground, skin being grazed off the surface as he struggled to stay upright and keep Estel safe in his arms.

In a second, the nimble elf was up again and running but Legolas knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep it up much longer. Already his legs were slowing even though he urged himself to move faster and his thoughts were getting sluggish.

Estel went into another seizure.

Suddenly everything became clear. Legolas screamed inwardly knowing the boy would not be able to handle another spasm. The boy writhed, his normally peaceful face screwed up in such a grimace of pain that tore the heart of the prince. Estel’s mouth was open and strangled gasps came out as blood also continued to flow from the corner of the boy’s mouth. The boy’s hair was slicked with blood, sweat and tears and Legolas roughly placed a hand on the boy’s neck, finding the pulse.

The elf did not move his hand away, knowing full well that the next time, he might not find one.

The boy’s struggles slowed and Legolas held his breath as he realised what the sense of touch coming from his fingers was telling him.

The boy’s pulse was slowing down.

Legolas screamed outward. “HELP!”

And still the beat continued to decrease.

Elladan crouched low over the neck of his horse, urging the horse to gallop faster even though he knew in the bottom of his heart there was no way it could obey.

The rain lashed his face and fell into his eyes obscuring his vision. The elder elf hoped that he would arrive in time.

He had to remember where he had last seen them up on the balcony, and think about where they could be now. The lightning that lit the sky also lit up the grounds spasmodically, giving the whole trip a surreal, dreamlike feel.

It felt to Elladan like he was hardly moving.

Where were they?? Shouldn’t he have already run into them by now? Elladan hoped to the Valar that he saw or heard the duo in time before running over the top of them.

Then suddenly, a cry for help split the air and Elladan’s face tightened in resolve as he knew where they were.

Legolas was close to tears and he battled on. The child’s heartbeat was slowing, and there was nothing he could do.

“Valar help me.” He whispered brokenly as he ran forward. If Estel pulled through this, he’d never take the human for granted again. If he pulled through this, he’d do everything his father said, he’d never pull another prank ever again, he’d scrub the floors of Mirkwood with a toothbrush, he’d dance around in Arwen’s clothing, by Valar, he’d do ANYTHING if only Estel would pull through this.

“Please, please…..just some help…please just some help.” The prince of Mirkwood begged anyone or anything that might be listening.

Then suddenly, there was a dark shape looming towards him at impossible speeds and Legolas’ heart jumped in his mouth as he realised it was a horse, and that the rider hadn’t seen him, and that he was about to be trampled.

Elladan’s eyes were busy scouring the landscape yet still he didn’t see the figure until he was nearly upon him. With a curse upon his lips he hauled back hard on the reins and the horse whinnied loudly in protest and in an effort to stop so suddenly nearly sat down on it’s haunches. Its back legs dug solidly into the ground, yet the forward momentum was strong and it was only years of horsemanship that allowed Elladan to keep his seat.

Time slowed as Elladan looked down into Legolas’ shocked upturned eyes and the two made eye contact. However, the horse was still sliding forward and a collision seemed inevitable. Slowly, the horses back legs slid sideways, the horse’s body turning around. No animal likes a collision and in an effort to stop, the horse tried to prance sideways, trying to turn the forward momentum into sideways momentum.

Both elves closed their eyes as the horse’s hooves kicked up immeasurable amounts of dust and abruptly there was silence except for the stamping of the horse’s hooves and the big animal’s neighing as it tossed its head.

Elladan fearfully opened his eyes and to his astonishment Legolas was standing no more then 5 centimetres away beside the place the saddle would’ve gone, had the elf decided to use one.

“That was way too close for my liking.” Was the thought that ran through both elve’s ears but Legolas broke the silence first.

“I was wondering when you’d come and save the day.” With his last ounce of strength the blond archer nimbly sprung onto the animals back and as Elladan swung the horse around and started galloping back the way he’d come. “Estel is hurt, badly.”

Elladan quickly smiled a grim smile, “Yes, we figured that.”

“We?”

“Me and Elrohir. He’s gone to wake up father and prepare the healing room. Tell me what happened.”

And in the short time home, Legolas told him everything. The story was long but the prince managed to condense it while keeping all the main points. The pipe, the smoking, the orc attack, the seizures, the punctured lung. The Prince was still talking as they rushed the failing boy up the stairs but as they sprinted into the healing room, Legolas fell silent.

Here the story would be ended.

Elrohir and Elrond stared at the doorway to the healing room, strain evident on their faces at the wait.

“What’s taking them so long?” Elrohir muttered while he fidgeted, the waiting agony.

“Patience my son. They will be here soo—" Elrond stopped as they both heard the sound of running feet and Legolas’ voice weary yet talking quickly.

Both Elrohir and Elrond steadied themselves and for a moment calm reigned, and then Elladan and Legolas burst through the doors and Elrond took one look at his youngest son and all colour from his face fell away.

“Oh Valar, Estel!”

Legolas was shoved away from the boy and the bundle was scooped delicately out of his arms and placed upon the table.

Now that he had gotten the boy home and to his family and he was being taken care by healers, he could feel his own strength waning and his senses were becoming scattered like the winds swirling leaves around outside. There was nothing he could do now.

It was now up to Elrond and his sons. Legolas could hear snatches of conversation.

“Ada! The bleeding won’t stop! Nothing is stopping it! None of the herbs are having any effect, even athelas isn’t working! What do I do?”

“Legolas said that Estel had smoked something? Is that right?” Elrond looked at Elladan while smelling some of the blood flowing from the boy’s numerous wounds and rubbing it between his fingers.

Elladan nodded while applying pressure to the boy’s shoulder wound to try and stop the bleeding. However, the red liquid coming out between the elf’s fingers was testimony to the failure of that working.

“Legolas!” The elf lord stared at the dazed prince and watched as the blond’s head snapped up.

“Yes?”

“Did you get whatever it was that Estel smoked?”

“Er…yes my Lord.” Legolas stood up shakily and fumbled around in his pockets before pulling out the weed that the child had smoked. Hand trembling, he gave it to the elf lord.

Elrond twirled around, smelt the weed, his eyes widening and then narrowing as he felt the potent effects and realised what it was. He spun off a round of instructions to his sons and their faces blanched before nodding and rushing off to fulfil the orders.

The father then turned to his youngest son and found the jugular pulse, his worry showing as he noted the slowing pulse. “Please hold on my Estel. Give me some hope, live up to your name. You know that you cannot leave us yet. It is too soon. Listen to my voice and latch onto it. Do not go quietly into the night, do not leave us little one.”

The twins came back with the potion that their father had asked them to make. Elrond spoke:

“Apply it to all his wounds, and force some down his throat. I believe that whatever he smoked was a hallucinogenic and acted upon his mind and his body. It thinned out his blood and is not allowing it to clot. And before any of the other herbs will work, we must counteract this one, as it is blocking the effects of the others.”

Elladan and Elrohir nodded briefly before forcing the potion down their little brother’s throat. Elrond then rolled up his sleeves and before Legolas passed out completely, he heard the elf lord’s grim words.

“Let’s get down to work and save Estel once again.”

Legolas’ mind floated above his body as he lay unconscious still in the healing room. It seemed like he was almost floating in the air just below the ceiling, yet he knew it logically impossible. There was absolutely no way that he could be watching the frantic elves working away on their youngest brother, while he himself lay still on the ground where he had slid down to after passing out.

No way at all….right? Of course not. His ears must just be hearing all the commotion and passing on the information to his brain which then supplied the pictures.

But when it all comes down to it, what did it matter?

So Legolas listened and watched.

“Ada! He’s still losing a lot of blood and his pulse is slowing down.”

“I know Elrohir! We need to stabilise him….he’s got a punctured lung as well and theres fluid within which I need to extract. You and your brother feed him some of your strength and grasp onto his lifeline and do not let go.” Elrond looked up into their strained faces and they nodded, intended to have commenced with those actions if not told to anyway.

Elrond looked down and with some relief noticed the potion starting to work. “The antidote is working. Look! His bleeding slows and the blood has become thicker and does not smell as strangely. Elladan, work on his shoulder wound. Make sure that the blade did not break any of the bones on the way through, check especially for bits of the clavicle and scapula. I don’t think that it touched his humerus but just check to be sure. You can now use the athelas, it should work now. Place some in hot water and then pour some of the athelas-liquid into the wound. Then stitch the wound close, the first stitching with the special material that dissolves after time, then the outer stitching with the normal material. Do you understand?”

Elladan nodded and started on his task, carefully yet clinically probing his little brother’s wound. He grimaced and his face hardened at the thought of his little brother being pinned so harshly with his own sword. If the orc wasn’t already dead, he would’ve ripped it limb from limb. Nobody got away with hurting his family. Nobody.

“Elrohir! I need you to work on the cut along his clavicles. From what I can tell from his body symptoms, I think that the cut has been poisoned by the orc blade. Prepare the antidote and prepare it. Also check the clavicles for fractures. Then try to bring down his fever and see if you can force some fluids into him. The worst thing that could happen now is he become dehydrated. We also need to remove these wet clothes or else he will become hyperthermic.” Elrohir nodded and rushed off to prepare the lotion that would counteract the foul black poison and Elrond gestured for the servants to cut away the boys wet clothing and stoke up the fire and close the doors, thus creating more warmth in the room.

“And I shall deal with Estel’s chest. It shall need a lot of work.” Elrond muttered while his hands felt the boy’s ribcage with experience, searching for the breaks in the bone. The bones had snapped at their most weakest place, on the angle and all of the breaks were simple. However the one of the bones had been forced into the boy’s lung from the orc’s pressure and had ruptured the delicate organ, allowing blood and fluid in and causing uneven breathing as the lung itself threatened to collapse.

To make matters even worse, from the short shallow breaths and by the tightness he could feel around the chest the child was suffering from pneumothorax. The puncture from the lung was allowing air to come in between the lung and the chest wall (pleural cavity) and the only way to solve it would be to insert a tube through the ribs and use a suction device to siphon out all the air. If he didn’t do anything, the pressure from the collective air would cause tension pneumothorax and would push the centre of the chest towards the other lung, compressing it. Not something that the elf Lord wished to happen.

Grimly the elf lord picked up a scapula and muttered, “Hold him down, he is going to resist this fiercely.” And then with a prayer to the Valar and a silent apology for causing more pain to his already hurting son Elrond swiftly slit open a whole in the boy’s side. He then inserted a tube into the lung and then bent down and then sucked out all the blood and fluid from the lung, spitting it out into a bowl already filled with bloody water. He then swiftly sewed up the slit with the special stitching material that would dissolve in several months time. Gently yet firmly he pulled the rib back into position and bound it with a special material soaked in healing herbs that would dissolve in time and keep the bone in place while the natural healing took place.

Watching Estel close and monitoring his condition he put the tube back in and then snapped an order to a servant who then scurried around in a cupboard before bringing something over to the Lord. Elrond attached it to the end of the tube and slowly drew the end of the device towards him, sucking out all the loose air in the boy’s pleural cavity. Elrond stopped and then with one hand holding the suction device he prepared a needle and stitching in the other and in a swift movement pulled out the tube and with lightning speed stitched up the wound, lessening the amount of contaminated air entering the pleural cavity.

Elrond wiped his hands down the front of his silken robe, not caring one bit that he was ruining it with his youngest son’s blood. He then gingerly checked the boys pulse and his eyebrow rose sharply as he noticed that the heartbeat was erratic and weak.

“Elladan! I need you to prepare some sustaining potion and do it fast! The child is slipping I fear!” Elrond snapped at his eldest son and the elf rushed to obey him, dropping everything and running off to the fair end of the room to hurriedly throw leafs and seeds and herbs together and mash it together before adding some special liquid to mix it with.

Elladan brought the vial back over to his father and the lord nodded shortly before commanding: “Inject the whole lot into him. However, give him about two teaspoonfuls every three minutes until there is none left. The potion is like adrenalin and will keep his heart breathing, his lungs breathing and his mind working. After the potion is all gone, he should be able to support his own systems. Understand?”

The eldest son nodded while his younger twin frantically spoke out. “Ada! There is blood around his mouth….do you think he could have an injury within his stomach? Legolas did say that he had been throwing up pretty violently, could he have ripped the lining?”

Elrond shoved Elrohir out of the way and closely examined the blood around the mouth, noticing that it was more frothy although there were small dark bits that reminded him of coffee granules. With relief he shook his head explaining, “The froth shows that it came up from his lungs, that blood is from where the punctured lung was letting in bodily fluid and blood. If all of the blood was dark like coffee granules I would’ve been concerned as it is blood that has been in the stomach and his acid has started breaking it down. But as there is only a little bit of it, I think it is just blood that he has swallowed and then thrown up. Have you gotten some fluids into him yet?”

“Not yet Ada.” Elrohir shook his head, his voice showing the relief that came with finding out that there was no stomach injury. That would have been devastating to Estel. “I thought I should find out if he had a ripped stomach lining first.”

“Do it now.”

“Yes Ada.” Elrohir bent down to work and Elrond stepped back for a second, wondering what else they could do.

He would sling and splint Estel’s arm so that the clavicle fracture would be supported. Then after that, there wasn’t much else they could do but wait.

Within another half an hour, everything was done. Even the unconscious Legolas had been taken care of, the Nolder elves feeling guilty that they hadn’t even noticed their Silvan brother fall unconscious.

So they did the only thing they could.

They waited.

Legolas was the first to awake. He came to with the sounds of murmuring elven voices nearby.

“Estel’s fever broke a couple of hours ago and his body is getting stronger with every passing minute. The blood loss is something that I was very worried about but I think the danger has passed. Now all we need is him to wake up…..” Elrond’s eyebrow quirked upwards as he noticed the stirring of consciousness in the Silvan prince “……just like our Prince Legolas here.”

The aforesaid archer winced as he heard his formal title being spoken by the Rivendell Lord. “Thankyou my Lord. I am sorry.” The prince spoke softly, turning his head away from Elrond to stare at his pillow, unable to keep his silver tears which spilt from his eyes and slid quietly onto the soft fabric of the pillow.

“Legolas?” Elrond was instantly concerned and knelt down next to the prince, reaching up to brush away the wayward blond hair that fell over the archer’s eyes. Elrond then gently forced the elf to look at him, “What are you sorry for?”

Legolas choked in guilt, “That I was not able to keep Estel from harm. That is what I am sorry for. You trusted me with your youngest son’s life and I was not able to protect him, I brought him home so dreadfully injured. How could you ever forgive me?”

Elrond laughed lightly, his fingertips brushing away a tear, “Quite easily dear Legolas. It was not you that injured my son so. Even I have trouble protecting Estel from himself, it is his fault and his alone. He was rash, irresponsible and immature……as of course all young humans are. It is just part of his learning. Estel has always had a curious spirit and it has always gotten him in trouble, from the moment that he could stumble around the house.”

“For example, when he was around five and he thought he was invincible and curious he somehow managed to get his chubby little hands on an elven blade and then proceeded to pretend he was Estel-the-Invincible who then inevitably cut himself. No, it wasn’t a bad cut but it shocked him and curbed his curiosity for about….oh….five minutes. When I was stitching up his cut, between the tears the little devil started playing with the herbs and, not thinking, he placed one in his mouth and instantly knocked himself out.” Elrond smiled as he reaccounted the story remembering how worried he’d been when Estel had gone limp in his arms.

Legolas chuckled from his place on the bed as he imagined what a terror Estel would’ve been like as a child. “What else did Estel do to cause various heart attacks?”

“Ah Legolas, there are many more stories that can be told at various times, stories that will be told later. But you see there is nothing to forgive, and all of us in this room gratefully thank you for bringing Estel back to us. You tried your utmost to heal him even though you are a warrior, not a healer. You ran yourself into the ground to get him home, neglecting yourself to get Estel here, falling unconscious afterwards such was the exhaustion. You saved his life Prince Legolas, and for that we humbly thank and forgive you for anything you hold yourself guilty about. However, I think the hardest thing will be for YOU to forgive yourself.” Elrond placed the blond-haired elf’s hand over his own heart before standing and turning back to his human son.

Elladan and Elrohir clustered into the space Elrond had left and Legolas smiled warmly up at the twins and let their friendly banter float over him.

“Father is right you know.”

“You can’t hold yourself responsible for Estel’s actions, Legolas.”

“That’s Elladan’s job!”

“Elrohir! I don’t hold myself accountable for EVERYTHING!”

“You do too! Estel got hurt, oh, it’s my fault!” Elrohir overacted, his voice turning all girly as he placed a hand to his head and pretended to faint.

“ELROHIR!”

“Orcs are in Rivendell, its my fault! Father got a migraine while reading his healing books, oh no! It’s my fault!”

“Legolas has gone insane and is wearing a dress while dancing around the fountain, whatever have I done? It’s my fault!” Legolas blushed profusely as he remembered that he’d said he’d dance around in Arwen’s clothing if Estel survived. That statement was going to be kept secret, very secret, around the twins.

“RIGHT! THAT’S IT! You are DEAD ELROHIR!”

Legolas stretched and then yawned lazily before getting out of bed, stepping around the tussling twins and heading off to the bathroom.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” Elladan stopped momentarily from messing up his brother’s hair who was in a unfortunate headlock.

Elrohir took advantage of the lapse in his twin’s concentration, slipping out of the headlock before flipping Elladan over