"Adar!"

Celeborn woke suddenly to find his daughter at his side, tracing a tickling finger around the tip of his ear. Biting his tongue to avoid laughing and waking his wife, he propped himself up on one elbow to look at his child, the sheets slipping down his chest.

"Good morning." He smiled as his daughter gave him a morning kiss, then leant forward to return the favour when she bent her head to one side to expose her cheek. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes. . ." Celebrían said quickly, then hopped eagerly, her bare feet hardly making a sound on the wooden floor. "Can we make truffles now Adar? Please?"

Celeborn carefully removed his left arm from around his sleeping wife, and sat up properly, looking at the pale golden light shining through the leaves outside their east facing windows.

"It is very early yet, Celebrían. Perhaps a little later."

Celebrían pouted. "But you promised!"

Celeborn sighed. He had promised to help his daughter make the chocolates for the festival, as had been their tradition since she had been old enough to hold a spoon, but he had not counted on being woken at dawn to do so.

"I will, but later. After breakfast perhaps. You do not want to spoil your nice breakfast by eating too much chocolate do you?"

Celebrían gave him a look that told him clearly that she would much rather lick out bowls of melted chocolate than eat porridge and fruit any day.

"But Adar," Celebrían's lip began to quiver, "If we do not do it now, then I will not be allowed to. I have to sit still for hours having my hair washed and brushed and I have to wear my best dress, and Ammë will never let me cook when I'm wearing that."

Her father sighed, sinking back onto the pillows. Celebrían spoke the truth, for now that his daughter was old enough to attend the festival, she would not be free to mess around with cream, chocolate and nuts once she was dressed in her formal gown. In fact, once the rest of the household rose, the chance of him having a moment free to spend a couple of hours with his daughter was exceedingly small.

"All right." Celeborn sat up, brushing his silver hair out of his eyes with one hand, and was rewarded by a smile so bright that it rivalled the sun. "But we must get dressed first."

"Yeee!" Celebrían squeaked in excitement and leapt at her father with a hug that nearly winded him. "I'll go and get. . ."

Laughing quietly as his daughter fled from the room, Celeborn swung his legs out of bed, and tucked the loose sheets and blankets around his wife, bending down to kiss her softly on the cheek before grabbing a tunic and some leggings off a chair and heading after his daughter.

Celeborn watched his daughter skip confidently down the steps, her right hand dancing in the air somewhere just above the hand rail. The long curving stairways in Lórien had been difficult for a child at first, and for many years she had crawled up and down on hands and knees or had clamoured to be carried, but now she was able to descend them with the greatest of ease.

He was proud of her. It was his daughter who would dance in festivals long after all the other elflings had drifted off to the sweets, and it was his daughter who had beaten all the little elflings, including the boys, in the races at the last training games.

He wanted to call out and tell her to be careful, for the stairs were steep and if an elfling slipped they could get badly hurt, but there was no need. His daughter was sure footed, and leapt over any obstacles with arms held out as wings.

"Hurry, Adar!" Celebrían paused on one of the flets, hopping up and down in impatience as she watched his slow progress, missing the beauty of the sun rising in the east in her hurry to begin.

"I am coming." Celeborn quickened his stride, going down the steps two or three at a time, and soon reached his daughter. "Let us proceed."

He took Celebrían's hand in his, and the pair walked together down the remainder of the stairs, Celebrían skipping three steps for each of her father's strides.

"It's freezing!" Celebrían jumped back quickly from the water, treading on her father's toes in her haste to be out of the stream.

"Well, it would be." Celeborn picked up his daughter, allowing her to burrow against his chest for warmth. "The sun has not yet warmed it."

Celebrían shivered, "Let's not wash this morning."

Celeborn smiled and began wading into the pool, "Well, my little grubling, people who do not wash may not make chocolates."

Celebrían scowled slightly, then took a deep breath and jumped into the water with a mighty splash that soaked her father.

"I am a fountain!"

Eventually Celebrían grew tired of duck diving for pretty stones, and splashed over to her father, who was standing under a small waterfall, washing soap from his hair.

"Are you ready yet?" she spoke through chattering teeth, grabbing hold of her father's arm.

"Nearly." Celeborn shook his hair back over his shoulders and picked up his daughter, noticing with concern that she was rather pale and her lips were turning blue. "This is too cold for you."

Celebrían did not reply beyond a nod, and burrowed her icy limbs against her father.

Feeling guilty, Celeborn strode out of the water and wrapped the elfling in a towel, rubbing her hair and limbs vigorously until she began to warm up.

"Are you warmer now?" Celeborn helped her pull on a light blue tunic over her undergarments, and gave her damp curls a final rub. He wished that he had something warmer to wrap her in, but it was going to be a hot day and both had selected only thin garments.

"Mmm." Celebrían nodded, still shivering slightly, although the colour had returned to her cheeks.

Celeborn began drying himself and dressing rapidly, eager to get Celebrían sitting by the kitchen fire with a beaker of warm milk inside her, and handed his daughter her hairbrush.

"Hurry, we shall soon get warmed up."

"Help me!" Celebrían demanded, holding out her hands to her father as he stood up to leave. Her hair was still tousled and she had only yet managed to brush a small part of it, although the grass nearby was the picture of tidy perfection.

Celeborn went to sit back down on the stone beside her, and shifted his daughter into his lap to start brushing her hair, "I thought you were old enough now to do your own hair?"

"I am!" Celebrían said indignantly, leaning her head back into her father's chest as she looked up at him. "But I like it better when you do it."

"Aye," Celeborn smiled and continued gently brushing the silvery-blonde curls, "And how would you like your hair today."

"Ammë usually ties it back when I am doing something messy." Celebrían sucked the index finger of her left hand as she thought, "So it does not get in my eyes."

Or bowls of melted chocolate, her father thought with a grin, pulling his daughter's hair back from her face and tucking it behind her ears.

"Braids?" Celeborn rapidly divided the hair into two halves and plaited them tightly, deciding that the less hair his daughter had loose, the less likely it was that she would need a hair wash by the time they were finished.

"Yes." Celebrían fumbled inside the carved wooden box where she kept her personal items, and brought out two narrow blue ribbons that matched her tunic. "I think I shall wear blue today."

"There." Celeborn finished tying the ribbons and helped his daughter down onto the ground. "You look beautiful."

Celebrían beamed at him and skipped over to catch his hand. "Come on, let's go!"

Finally all the ingredients were spread out over the large table in the corner of the kitchens, and Celeborn scooped his daughter up to deposit her on one of the high stools and drew one up for himself.

"Oooh!" A small hand crept towards some finely chopped chocolate and then darted back as Celeborn turned to look at her.

"We must be careful not to make too much of a mess." Celeborn's mind drifted back to the previous year when they had returned to their chambers covered with so much chocolate, nuts and crystallised fruit that his wife had declared them walking truffles. There were aprons in the kitchen, but they were too big for his daughter, and he had no intention of wearing anything with frills.

"I know Adar!" Celebrían began wriggling out of her tunic at lightening speed, and hung it over the back of her stool "Now I can be as messy as I like, and Ammë will never know!"

"That is a good idea." Her father hung the tunic on a hook on the door, out of harm's way. Celebrían's stirring tended to be enthusiastic enough to allow most objects within a three feet radius to taste the mixture. "Now, are we ready to start?"

Celebrían looked over the table, nodding slightly as she checked for the presence of all her favourite ingredients. The hazelnuts were there, and the walnuts and a big jug of rich cream. . .

"You have not taken your tunic off, yet." Celebrían surveyed her father critically. "I do not think that you should have chosen to wear white to cook in, Adar."

Celeborn glanced down at his tunic ruefully and wondered briefly what the maidens who were working earnestly at the other end of the kitchens would do or say if he stripped off, then brushed the thought aside with a grin. "Adar will be very careful."

"It looks yummy," Celebrían licked her lips as she used both hands to stir the molten chocolate mixture in the bowl with a huge wooden spoon. Seeing that her father was fully occupied in stopping the cream and butter concoction he was simmering from burning, she dipped a finger into the bowl and helped herself to a mouthful. The mixture was so much nicer when it was warm and molten.

"And is it yummy?" Celeborn asked in an amused voice, not looking up from the pan he was stirring vigorously.

"Well, it is not made yet!" Celebrían said haughtily, then with a secretive look at her father, smiled. "But if I had tasted it, it would be delicious!"

"Good." Celeborn took the pan from the fire and walked over to the table to pour it into the mixing bowl. "Careful, this is hot."

Making sure that his daughter's small hands were well away from the scalding liquid, he poured the creamy mixture into the bowl, whipping it up with a spoon until it was thick and glossy.

"There, I think that it is ready." Celeborn held the heavy bowl at an angle while Celebrían carefully spooned portions into smaller bowls for adding flavourings. Despite her care, much ended up on the table top, and Celeborn thanked Elbereth that he did not have to do the washing up.

"I've got as much out as I can." Celebrían said happily, adding a last dollop to one of the bowls and sticking the large spoon into her mouth.

Celeborn bent to look at the rather poorly scraped bowl and smiled as he mixed various flavourings into the truffle mixture, and placed the warm bowls into icy water to allow them to set, while his daughter tasted all of the various flavourings - wrinkling her nose up at the strong coffee and quickly gulping down some water with the rum.

"Perhaps we should help with the cleaning up." Celeborn said seriously, eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Hmm." Celebrían removed the spoon, leaving a ring of chocolate around her mouth, face equally serious as they played their familiar joke. "Perhaps we should."

"Because we would not want anyone to have to clean up all that gooey. . ." Celeborn ran a finger round the inside of the bowl with a wicked smile, ". . . sticky, chocolaty mess, would we?"

"Oh no." Celebrían shook her head earnestly and scratched her nose leaving brown fingerprints. "We should clean it up all ourselves!"

"Exactly!" Celeborn sucked his finger clean, and tapped Celebrían on the nose. "It is our duty."

The father and daughter eagerly settled down to lick out the bowl, Celebrían kneeling on the table to give her fair access to the treat.

"Celebrían," Celeborn looked at his daughter and had difficulty in avoiding laughing, "You would appear to have grown a moustache."

"What's a moustache?" Celebrían helped herself to another handful of mixture, the drips as she tried to lick it up adding considerably to her chocolate facial hair.

"Hair on your face, like men and dwarves." Celeborn frowned slightly and traced a finger on Celebrían's face as he explained. "This here over your mouth is a moustache, and this is a very drippy beard."

Celebrían tried to lick the chocolate from around her mouth by craning her tongue to its fullest extent, and tried to wipe the drips of chocolate from her undergarments by wiping them with an even more chocolaty hand. Unsurprisingly, this proved to be unsuccessful, and she soon turned back to her father.

"You have hair on your face too though, Adar." Celebrían looked slightly confused. "You have eyebrows and eyelashes."

"Ah, yes." Celeborn nodded, drawing back slightly as his daughter hovered a sticky finger near his face. "We all have eyebrows and eyelashes."

"Do you want chocolate eyebrows, Ada?" Celebrían dipped her finger into the bowl again. "Then we can match!"

She looked so happy that Celeborn could not bear to refuse her, and held still as his daughter drew rather oddly shaped lines on his forehead. Once she had finished, Celeborn admired his reflection in a large silver tea tray with some trepidation.

"They are quite. . . quirky, are they not?" Celeborn scrunched up his forehead and wiggled his eyebrows to make his chocolate brows move.

Celebrían shrugged and concentrated on licking chocolate from her fingers. "They are special. I like silly eyebrows, they make me laugh."

"Aye." Celeborn said doubtfully, wiggling his brows until his daughter burst into merry giggles.

Finally the mixture had set enough for it to be shaped into balls, and the two sat together, scooping out spoonfuls of the mixture and rolling them into balls in chocolate, nuts, sugar or preserved fruits.

"I shall make a truffle elf!" Celebrían declared, her tongue sticking out slightly from between her lips as she concentrated on rolling a large and small sugar truffle, and stacking them on top of each other.

"Ears." Celeborn handed her two small pieces of candied peel, trimmed into teardrop shapes. He had commandeered the sharp knife early on, and had no intention of allowing his daughter near either it or the fire. He hated to see her hurt, especially when he was powerless to stop the pain.

She had fallen from the swing last summer and broken her wrist, and it had broken his heart to have her cling to him sobbing, as they had made the endless journey to the healers.

"Thank you." Celebrían adjusted the position of the ears and picked out small pieces of nut for the nose and eyes.

"What about the mouth?" Celeborn sat back, giving the truffle elf a quizzical look. "Raisin?"

Celebrían pursed her lips, looking up at the ceiling as she thought.

"No. Cherry!" She slipped of her chair too quickly for her father to offer to help her down, and landed on her hands and knees. "I shall just go and get some !"

Celeborn smiled and shook his head as his daughter scampered barefooted to the storeroom at the other end of the hallway. He could take advantage of her absence to roll the remainder of the mixture into balls. Much as Celebrían loved playing with her 'chocolate clay', she much preferred choosing which coating to roll them in.

"Got them!" Celebrían skidded on the polished floor as she dashed back into the room, holding a handful of preserved cherries and her mouth full of several more. "Now Lord Truffle of Lórien can have red lips!"

"Celebrían. . ." Celeborn paused, looking at the brown finger marks on the doorframe. "Did you wash your hands before going to get the cherries?"

"Oh. . ." Celebrían bit her lip as she looked guiltily at her father. "They are clean now."

"Aye," Celeborn looked at the small hands, wondering how much chocolate was smeared on the pale walls of their home, then noticing his daughter's woebegone look and wobbling chin smiled, "Never mind. It will wipe off easily enough."

Eventually the proud chefs sat back with satisfaction, a large bowl piled high with truffles of all varieties sitting on the table before them, ready for storage in the pantry.

"They look delicious!" Celebrían drew out the last word, licking her lips in anticipation. At her insistence, Lord Truffle had been moved to a small saucer in pride of place in the cool of the pantry, with the promise that he would be standing guard over the centrepiece near her plate that evening.

"They do indeed." Celeborn stretched, folding his arms behind his head as he yawned, only realising afterwards that he would have smeared large quantities of truffle on his newly washed silver tresses.

"Shall we make some more?" His daughter smiled at him hopefully, dipping her sticky fingers in the remnants of the chopped nuts then nibbling them off, twitching her nose as she pretended to be a squirrel.

"I think," Celeborn got to his feet and lifted his daughter down from her chair, "That we should go and get ready for the festival. We are very late for breakfast."

"Adar," Celebrían paused in pulling her tunic back on, looking troubled, "I am not very hungry for breakfast."

"You are not?" Celeborn feigned surprise as he washed his hands and mouth. "Why might that be?"

Celebrían giggled guiltily, covering her face with her hands.

"I think I may have eaten a little too much chocolate." She whispered. "I am sure I will be hungry again for dinner though."

"Aye. I might have too." Celeborn put the towel back on its hook and turned to the door. "Are you ready to go?"

The elfling nodded happily, "Yes. I want to tell Ammë all about Lord Truffle. She will be so excited to meet him."

Celeborn laughed and swept his hair back from his face, wishing that he had had the sense to tie it back before attempting such a task. It had not had the same sticky texture this morning. His daughter skipped to the door, impatient to tell her mother all about her adventures.

"Have you wiped your hands, Celebrían?" Celeborn asked, knowing full well that she had been nowhere near the basin.

"Oh yes, Adar." Celebrían gave him a cherubic smile, nodding earnestly as she danced on the spot waiting for her father.

"Celebrían." Celeborn looked hard at her, striding over to the basin and picking up a damp cloth. "Are you sure?"

"Oh yes, Adar!" The elfling bounced happily on the balls of her toes, her two braids brushing against her shoulders.

Her father's unconvinced look made her stop abruptly, and she surveyed her father, hands on hips.

"Well, I did not wipe them on that cloth." Celebrían gave the tiniest of frustrated sighs. "I wiped them on my tongue. It is nice and warm and just as clean."

"Come here." Celeborn was across the room in three large steps, and he slipped an arm across the elfling's chest, holding her against his leg as he wiped telltale smears from her face and hands.

"I think that a tongue is just as good as a flannel." Celebrían informed him, pursing her rosy lips together as she looked disapprovingly at him. "If I ever have children than I shall let them lick themselves clean. Cats do."

"Aye," Celeborn bit back a smile as he put the cloth back in the basin and bent down to allow his daughter to climb onto his back, "If you can find a husband that will agree."

"Huh! My husband will do whatever I tell him to." Celebrían snorted as she drummed her feet against her father's side. "Come on, giddup!"

Her faithful steed started off down the corridor, and seeing that nobody was watching, neighed loudly and cantered through the halls and up the long curving stairs to their bedrooms.

"He will, will he?" Celeborn asked once he had slowed to a walk in the passage that led to their private chambers.

"Of course." Celebrían leant forwards to hug him tightly around the neck. "All proper husbands do."

Celeborn choked, and loosened the small arms from their grip on his windpipe.

"They do?" He caught hold of one of the elfling's tiny feet and tickled it, reducing his daughter into happy giggles.

"Of course." Celebrían suddenly sounded scarily like her mother as she kissed her father on the cheek. "Silly Adi! I shall have a well trained husband."

"Ah." Celeborn nodded understandingly as they reached his bedroom, and knelt down to allow Celebrían to dismount. "My lady, we have arrived."

Celebrían beamed at him and took his hand as she pranced into the bedroom, only letting go as she took a running leap onto the bed, which groaned in protest.

Galadriel looked at her daughter with a smile, pausing with hairbrush in hand as her husband came over to the dressing table to gently caress her back and hair.

"She had fun?" Galadriel leant her head back against her husband's hip and smiled up at him.

"I believe we both did." Celeborn smiled, and looked over at his daughter who was busy creating a fort out of the pillows. "Did we not, 'Brian?"

"I did Ammë!" Celebrían smiled as she placed a cushion stolen from the chair onto her battlements. "We made lots. Ada let me try rum."

Celeborn pretended to glare at his daughter, but his mouth kept opening into a smile as he saw the look on his wife's face.

"Only a little." He looked at his daughter and pressed a finger to his lips. "A very little."

"Celebrían," Galadriel got up and walked over to sit on the bed beside her daughter, "Never trust any elf who tries to seduce you with alcohol. You might find yourself in situations that are very. . ."

". . .interesting?" Celeborn's eyes sparkled with mischief and he grinned broadly at his wife.

". . .unromantic." Galadriel said firmly, her laughter showing in her face.

"Yes, Ammë." Celebrían said solemnly, looking curiously between her parents' faces as her father came and stretched out on the bed.

"You said yes." Celeborn said easily, reaching up to stroke his wife's hair. "Despite that."

Because of that, Galadriel thought with a smile, then turned to survey her daughter.

"I see that you have kept nice and tidy." She leant to kiss Celebrían's rosy cheeks. "Good girl."

"Adar helped." Celebrían exchanged a secret smile with her father and began tracing butterflies on his stomach with her finger.

"And did you help Adar?" Galadriel's eyes lingered on the small handprints that decorated her husband's tunic and the chocolate eyebrows that he had forgotten to wipe off.

"Not exactly." Celebrían said slightly abashed, and wriggled over to her mother to whisper, "Do not be cross with Adar. I think that he is shy."

"Is he, now?" Galadriel whispered back, undoing her daughter's braids and brushing her hair into order while she was close.

"He would not take off his tunic as I did, even though I told him to!" Celebrían said a little too loudly with a mischievous look at her father. "Maybe he is not well trained."

Celeborn looked enquiringly at his wife, grinning as she flushed slightly.

"Maybe I am not." He rolled over onto his front and raised both pairs of eyebrows. "Lady Galadriel?"

"Lord Celeborn," Galadriel leant over to kiss him and whisper something in his ear, before sitting up and speaking more loudly. "Go to your bath."

Celeborn obediently disappeared into the bathroom, the last words he heard being Celebrían's ponderings on an ideal husband.

"Maybe I will marry Lord Truffle. That would be most tasty. . ."