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Elrond's Boys  by Dragon

Elrond picked up the book gently, opening it carefully. It was very old now and had been read time and time again. First to his sons and then to his daughter. It was beautifully illustrated and told tales of the first age and the coming of the elves. The leather binding was cracked now and some pages, especially those especially favoured by the young twins were marked with grubby fingerprints. He had read from this book many a time, cuddling his small sons in front of the fire. The memory made him smile, for those had been happy times.

Elrohir especially had never grown tired of hearing the stories and had often enjoyed curling up next to his mother on her seat in the garden, listening to her read the stories and discussing the morals of the tale. Mornings where Elrond had been dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn.

~*~

Elrond woke suddenly, blinking through hair at the early grey dawn outside.

"Ada, you are awake!" Elladan's voice was joyful and full of innocence. Elrond fell for none of it. He had felt that prod.

"Elladan?" Elrond peered blearily at his son who beamed back happily. He had grown recently and the soft loosely woven nightshirt he was wearing was slightly too small.

"It is a fine morning Ada."

"It is not morning Elladan." Elrond said smiling wryly

Elladan peered outside unconvinced

"But the sun is up."

The child ran to the window to point eagerly at the tiny edge of light peeking over the hill. Elrond felt Celebrian turn over in the bed and snuggle up closer to him. He had a feeling that she was laughing.

"Elladan."

Elladan turned back to his father.

"I will practise with you in the morning." Elrond put his fingers to his lips glancing at his wife, and closed his eyes. He could hear footprints pattering across the floor and his son bending to his ear.

"When," Elladan whispered impatiently, "Will it be morning?"

Elrond sat up and grabbed his small son, swinging him into the bed between himself and Celebrian.

"It will be morning when I wake up." Elrond closed his eyes again, leaving his son sitting up in bed indignantly.

Elladan surveyed his father's face followed by his mother's before deciding to snuggle down in the blankets.

Elrond glanced at his son, who closed his eyes in an identical expression to his own.

"I was not wriggling."

Elrond laughed softly and hugged his son close to him.

~*~

When Elrond woke later, it was most definitely morning. Bright beams of morning sun lit up the room and birds were singing outside. Blue shadows of leaves fluttering in the breeze moved across the bedroom and the air smelt fresh. It would be a perfect summer's day.

"It will not be long before he will be up," a laughing voice said, causing him to turn to his wife, "For you did promise."

Celebrian was lying in bed, playing with her son's long dark hair. Her blonde hair curled loose from its braids around her face and her cheeks were still pink with sleep. Elrond lent over and kissed her, stroking her hair.

"It is morning!" Elladan sat up suddenly, causing his father to move his hand away suddenly to avoid throttling the child.

"It is morning," Elrond smiled, "Now what was it that I had to do..."

"Come on Ada!" Elladan called, already out of bed and half way to the chest where the weapons were kept.

"Elladan," Celebrian called softly, "Put on your training tunic first."

Elladan dashed off to exchange his nightshirt for an undershirt and the regulation dark green tunic and shorts in the quickest possible time.

Elrond got out of bed and changed into a rough blue tunic. He had no illusions that any time spent with Elladan would leave him feeling either clean or tidy.

"He is so very excited." Celebrian laughed, sitting up in bed and brushing her hair. He had inherited that impatience from her.

"He is very eager to learn. He will be an excellent swordsman." Elrond couldn't keep the note of pride out of his voice. Elladan had picked up the basics very quickly and seemed to have a natural talent with arms. As he spoke Elrond knelt down and opened the chest where he kept the family weapons. The boys were forbidden to open it, and most of the time he kept it locked. Not that he didn't trust them, but the thought of the damage that could be done should a "mistake" be made was quite frightening.

"Ada!" Elladan ran in and jumped on the bed. Elrond could never quite understand why his sons did that, but whenever the bed was empty they would do so, without fail.

Elladan sat down with a bump, swinging his legs over the side of the bed as he watched his father remove his sword and one of the sturdy if plain half sized training swords.

"That is not mine. That is Elrohir's." Elladan said earnestly.

Elrond reached for the other sword. Of course. This grip was far more worn and the blade slightly dirty. He must have a word with his son about proper care for his weapons.

"Be careful Elladan." Celebrian tickled him, causing him to wriggle and laugh, falling off the bed.

"I will Ammė." Elladan stood on tiptoes to kiss his mother before scampering over to take the sword that Elrond was surveying with a critical eye.

~*~

Elrond led Elladan down to their small private garden, only overlooked by the windows of the family's rooms and their terrace. He was not sure if the ranges were open yet, and in any case he would rather have privacy. Especially if his skills had got rusty in the years since he had taught sword fighting.

But they hadn't of course. A first experimental swing was well on target. In fact so well on target that Elladan had to drop to the ground to avoid injury. Elrond helped his son up, glad Celebrian had missed that particular episode.

After a brief practice fight, when he avoided risking further injury to his son or laughing at the look of concentration on his face, Elrond had a better idea of his son's ability.

"Come here Elladan," Elrond knelt down adjusting his son's grip, "You need to reach further see?"

Celebrian now fully dressed wandered out to the garden, leading Elrohir with her. The pair curled up on a long stone seat shaded by ash trees, some distance from the open grass area where Elrond and Elladan were sparring.

"Yes that's it! Good Elladan!" Elrond jumped out of the way of a much- improved swing. Elladan beamed before blocking a retaliatory lunge. The force knocked him off balance, causing him again to fall to the floor.

Elrond wiped his brow as he waited for his son to get up and regained his breath. Leaning on his sword he watched his wife, cuddling Elrohir as she read a book aloud to him. She caught his eye as she turned the page and smiled as her eldest again scrambled to his feet, now rather dustier than before.

"I am ready Ada." Elladan said sturdily. Elrond prepared himself for another attack, quietly impressed by the boy's resilience. This was the fifth time he had hit the floor and had not yet admitted defeat.

Presently the chiming of a distant bell disturbed them.

"Elrond," Celebrian hated to disturb them as Elrond had not looked so relaxed in a long time, but it was necessary, "That was the bell for breakfast time and you are not yet washed."

Elrond looked up laughing from where he was showing Elladan a new defence move.

"Come Elladan, we must wash and dress."

Elladan looked ready to protest that he was dressed, if not washed when he saw his mother regarding his dusty tunic and dirty hands and knees. He was hungry and last time he had refused to change he had missed his meal. He skipped after his father to catch up, putting his hand into the larger one.

"Ada?"

"Yes Elladan?"

"Can we do this tomorrow?" Elladan's voice implied that the world would end if the answer was no.

"If it is fine," Elrond spoke carefully, "And if it is morning when I am woken."




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