There was a lotion on the shelves of the healing rooms in Imladris. Kept in a large earthenware pot next to the bandages it had much less use now than it once did. There were no children left in Imladris and since this lotion was chiefly used to clean grazes and scratches many of its recipients had grown up and grown out of slipping out of trees or down rock faces. It's pungent lemony smell still made many an elf wince as they remembered its use in their childhood. For while it was excellent at discouraging infection it stung horribly when placed on the wound.

~*~

Imladris lay in the quiet shadow of an early summer's morning. The halls and passageways were empty save for a few early risers hurrying on their way, and were cool from the fresh morning air.

Quiet except for those quarters inhabited by the young twins of the Lord of Elrond and their unfortunate parents.

"And I shall gallop like this! Look!" Elrohir galloped noisily down the corridor making whipping motions with his hand.

"And I shall go even faster!" Elladan chased his brother down the corridor with less attention paid to the correct equine fashion.

Elrond groaned as two pairs of feet clomped past his bedroom door in an extremely un-elf-like fashion. Celebrian who had also been stirred by the noise pulled the blankets over her head, cuddling up closer to her husband.

"Why must they be up already?" he whispered into Celebrian's ear.

"Because some fool told them about the trip days ago," Celebrian smiled, "And they are far too excited to sleep."

There was to be no training this Wednesday. To enable his wife to have undisturbed time with her parents Elrond had decided to take the day off to occupy his young sons. Since Glorfindel also had some free time it had been natural that he should accompany them. Indeed Elrond still had reservations about doing anything with the twins without access to backup should the need arise. On an impulse he had also invited Erestor. The young advisor had spent little informal time with he or his family and he felt that maybe he should make more of an effort to get to know the elf. It had been decided that they would go on a short ride just beyond the outskirts of the valley and have a picnic. Since hearing of this plan the twins had been in a state of extreme excitement and the small mouths had barely shut for high pitched chattering.

"Boys," Elrond unwillingly got out of bed and went to the door to observe two elflings charging up and down the corridor in their nightshirts.

"Ada! Ada! Ada!" Elladan bounced on his toes grinning happily, "Is it time to go yet? Is it?"

"I'll get my pack Ada!" Elrohir dashed towards his bedroom, skidding on the floor in his haste.

"No, hush!" Elrond placed a finger to his lips; "Others are still sleeping. Why do you not return to bed a little while?"

Two faces fell showing exactly what they thought of this idea.

"Well why do you not wash and dress? You will need your capes." Elrond suggested as an alternative. This was much more attractive to the twins and they scrambled eagerly to the bedroom to change, for once not complaining about the iciness of the water so early in the morning.

When Elrond returned having dressed himself the twins were dressed if not completely tidily. Some assistance would be needed to braid their hair before they would be fit to be seen. Elrohir was flicking water at his brother who was standing at the end of his bed, his arms held wide.

"I am Thorondor!" Elladan cried as he leapt off the bed, his cape held out as wings behind him. Elrond winced as he hit the floor with a thump. He did not know which unfortunate elf slept in the room beneath him but he certainly hoped that he was blessed with being an extraordinarily heavy sleeper.

~*~

"Here we are," Glorfindel lifted first one twin and then the other onto two sturdy ponies, "Did you sleep well Elrond?"

Elrond gave his friend a look. Judging by Glorfindel's laughing expression he had heard the galloping elflings from the other side of the North Hall. Erestor looked from one to the other somewhat puzzled. He had never seen the Lord of Imladris answer such an innocent question with such a disrespectful look before.

"When can we have horses of our own Ada?" Elrohir piped up, rubbing the nose of his father's fine mount. Elrohir loved horses and longed for the day when he would be given an elven horse of his own. So far the twins' experience on horseback had been limited to trekking round the forests of Imladris on small grey ponies.

"Yes Ada! I think I am big enough!" Elladan agreed with his brother. After all they were just over three feet high now.

Erestor looked in amusement at the children. Both could have easily walked under their father's horse without need to duck. The thought of such a small elfling perched on such a large animal was quite ludicrous.

"You smile. What is funny?" Elladan asked sharply seeing Erestor's face. Neither child liked being laughed at.

"Nothing Elladan," Elrond broke in hastily, "It merely pleases us to remember how much you have grown since your birth."

Elladan looked at his father doubtfully and then gave Erestor a good first attempt at a withering look. Glorfindel suddenly found need to lay his face against Asfaloth's neck and whisper to the horse.

"When Ada?" Elrohir repeated insistently. He knew that if he did not press the point then his Ada would skip over giving an answer. Just as he had with the requests for boots instead of moccasins, or full sized swords, or going swimming on their own or indeed anything that the older elves were allowed to do.

"When?" Elrond looked to Glorfindel for help. He did not remember how old he had been when Gil-galad had assigned him a horse of his own. "When you are old enough to care for it and grown enough to need one."

Elrohir sighed, stroking the rough coat of his pony. His father may as well not have answered.

~*~

"This is a good spot!" Glorfindel dismounted and led his horse through a pine forest to a small grassy glade. The ground was soft with old pine needles and a stream was cutting its way down the hillside a few yards away. Many elves had stopped or rested here over the years and some large stones served as seats. Elrohir helped Glorfindel and Erestor tether the horses, listening eagerly to every instruction whilst Elladan ran off into the forest to gather firewood.

After the fire was lit, more thanks to Elrond's skill with flint and steel than the twins' attempts to copy him, Elrond led his sons across to the stream.

"There are fishes Ada!" Elladan pointed into the clear shallow water, tugging on his father's sleeve.

"I know Elladan," Elrond picked up some sticks and sharpened the ends, "We are going to catch some."

"We have no line," Elrohir looked up at his father puzzled. The twins had often watched elves fishing down on the riverbanks, indeed at the age of four it had been a favoured game to jump out on the longsuffering anglers, but it had always been with rod and line.

"We do not need line, watch." Elrond demonstrated aiming for a fish and spearing it with the sharp end of the stick.

"Let me try!" Both boys grabbed at the sticks, ready to try their hand at this new game.

"They will scare off all the fish," Erestor commented to Glorfindel who had stretched out on the ground, basking in the sun that filtered through the treetops.

"They can try," Glorfindel folded his hands behind his head and shut his eyes with a satisfied sigh, "That is better."

Erestor regarded the blond elf lord with amazement. He did not see how anyone could get any peace with the excited squeals and splashes from the stream drowning out all else. Propping himself up against a tree trunk he watched the two small figures leaping nimbly over the rocks around the stream in their efforts.

~*~

"Look, look!" Two elflings ran towards them, holding several fish out eagerly.

"Well that was a good catch," Glorfindel sat up in time to field fishy hands away from his tunic, "Did you get them all."

The grey eyes of the twins looked at each other.

"Not quite all."

"Ada helped."

"That was kind of him," Glorfindel's laughing eyes looked up to meet those of his friend, "Now I suppose you wish to cook the fish."

"Who would not?" Elladan asked looking closely at Glorfindel to see if he was joking.

"Oh there are those who would eat their fishes raw. . ." Glorfindel stood up and pretended to be examining Elladan's head, "No scales, no horns, no fangs. . ."

"I am not a monster!" Elladan shouted jumping up and down. Erestor winced at the volume of the exposition.

"So it seems. You would prefer the fish cooked then?"

"Yes!" Both twins shouted happily. Glorfindel grinned and went to join Elrond who had got out his knife and was preparing the fish for cooking. Five minutes later when the older elves grew tired of hearing all the gruesome things that the innards of the fish looked like the twins were dispatched to play in the woods without straying too far. The excited voices disappeared amongst the trees.

"It looks like squished worms."

"Or squirmy leaches!"

"No, skinned frogs!"

~*~

"You cannot defeat me foul scum of Manwë!" Elladan leapt out from behind a tree and swung his stick hard at Elrohir's head.

"It's not Manwë stupid!" Elrohir ducked and swung his stick with equal force at his twin's knees, "You mean Melkor."

Elladan jumped to avoid injury.

"I meant Manwë. I bet Manwë made foul fiends too!" Elladan hoped the volume of his excuse would negate the lack of fact.

"He did not!" Elrohir folded his arms, "Go and ask Ada."

"I do not need to! I know I'm right. You have to ask Ada to prove that you're wrong." Elladan's stick thumped into his brother's shoulder.

"Aw! Elladan that hurt!" Elrohir clutched his bruised shoulder glaring at his brother.

"It's not my fault that you cannot defend yourself!" Elladan said feeling guilty. The last strike had been out of anger rather than a game.

"You knew I was not playing!" Elrohir blinked back tears. His arm hurt and his brother had done it deliberately.

"How was I to know that your sword skills were too feeble to block a simple attack?" Elladan drilled the end of his stick into the mud.

"My sword skills are not feeble," Elrohir turned and began walking back to the picnic spot, "You're just nasty Elladan! And . . . and . . . I'm better at archery and grandfather likes me better, so there!"

Elladan clenched his fist painfully tightly around his stick. His brother had just poked a very large finger into his two sorest points. Clamping his lips tightly together he ran at his brother and jumped on him bringing them both down to the ground.

Elrohir responded with several hard kicks that were answered with a punch and a hard tug at his hair. For several minutes the boys wrestled on the floor rolling around among the dirt and pine needles, their arms and legs flailing as they tried to inflict injuries on each other. Eventually a foot placed firmly in his stomach winded Elrohir, enabling Elladan to struggle to his feet.

"You cannot even fight properly!" Elladan taunted ducking behind a tree.

"I do not care! Ammë and Ada love me best anyway!" Elrohir gasped as he sat up qualifying his argument as he saw Elladan pause considering the statement, "They said that you were a difficult boy. I heard them!"

Elladan stood stunned. He knew that he sometimes made his parents angry but he had never before considered that they would love him less because of it. The momentary pause in Elladan's evasive actions gave Elrohir the advantage he had been looking for and he shoved his brother hard.

Elladan stumbled backwards; grabbing at support that was no longer there. The push had sent him flying through some bushes and over the edge of the steep incline to the little stream.

"Elladan!" Their fight forgotten Elrohir dashed to the now exposed edge and knelt down looking for his brother. It was not a large drop in itself, maybe some five metres, but the slope was very steep and covered with craggy rocks and coarse heather and gorse. The heather was flattened in places where a small body had rolled down, leading to the swift flowing stream into which Elladan had plunged.

"Elladan?" Elrohir called nervously. There was no sign of his brother other than the wet marks on the rocks nearby where he had tumbled. He slowly lowered himself over the edge, making his way down the slope.

Elladan finally managed to catch hold of a tree root and scramble out of the water. The water was not very deep for an adult elf, but reached almost to his waist and flew rapidly making it difficult for him to maintain his footing. This combined with the shock of the icy coldness of the water had led to him being swept a little way downstream before he could reach the banks.

He sat down on a flat stone by the water's edge holding his breath in an attempt to avoid crying. He had hit his head hard in the fall and his elbows and knees were raw and bleeding. Clenching his hands into fists he began trudging back upstream, trying to fight the desire to begin crying so loudly that his Ada would come running to help him.

"Elladan!" Elrohir yelled catching sight of his brother and skipping lightly over the rocks to reach him, "You are alright!"

"I fell in."

"I am sorry Elladan. I did not mean it!" Elrohir hugged his dripping brother more to comfort himself that soothe Elladan.

"Neither did I." Elladan returned the hug, trying to forget the things Elrohir had said. It was not as good as a cuddle from Ada or Ammë, but considering that it made him feel much better.

~*~

"What happened to you?" Glorfindel asked bluntly as the two elflings wandered into the glade. Elladan was soaked through and had several nasty looking grazes. Both were covered in scratches and bruises and large quantities of mud and pine needles adorned their clothes.

"I fell down," Elladan said sadly as all three adults turned to look at them.

Elrond sighed and hoisted Elladan onto his knee as he examined the cuts.

"Now this might sting a bit," Elrond poured a little lotion onto some clean fabric and wiped the wounds. As he expected the boy flinched back as the lotion touched the grazes and he cuddled him close to his body. "There we are, not much longer."

"It hurts," Elladan whined trying to stop the threatening tears.

"I know. I just need to clean out some of this dirt melin," Elrond stroked the wet hair back from his son's forehead revealing a large red mark. "Did you hit your head when you fell?"

Elladan nodded and turned round to bury his head deep into his father's tunic. Elrond finished cleaning the wounds and wrapped his arms around the boy, rocking him back and forwards gently.

Erestor watched these developments in silence as he got out the bread and apples. Elrohir was gazing at his brother, his mouth open and fiddling with a torn edge of his tunic.

"Elrohir, do you want to help me cook these?" Glorfindel called out by means of distracting the anxious looking child.

Elrohir trotted over obediently and Glorfindel showed him how to turn the sticks to ensure that the fish cooked evenly. Elrohir leant back into the larger elf's body, gaining comfort from his warmth.

"Did Elladan fall far Elrohir?"

Elrohir nodded.

"Did that frighten you?"

Elrohir nodded again.

"You know it would frighten me too." Glorfindel gave Elrohir a quick hug.

"Really?" Elrohir looked up eyes betraying that he didn't believe that the large blond elf would be scared by anything.

"Really." Glorfindel smiled at the boy as Erestor caught his eye. The dark- haired advisor was staring at him rather blankly. "Erestor, is everything alright?"

"Oh," Erestor pulled himself together with some effort, "Yes, certainly Glorfindel."

~*~

With the twins now safely in the bath before bed Glorfindel and Erestor walked down the halls together in friendly silence. Although the day was now ending for the younger elves, they still had a formal dinner and an evening of songs to look forwards to before bed.

"Now, I must change." Glorfindel stretched sleepily as he paused next to the door to his room.

"Yes," Erestor turned away and then turned back in haste talking quickly, "They are so small. So young. So demanding. It must be quite impossible. . . I pity you Glorfindel."

"Pity?" Glorfindel swung around to face his fellow advisor. "What cause is there to pity me?"

Erestor shrugged.

"You are good to the squalling infants. They run to you. It must be such a. . . burden."

Glorfindel observed his friend's face for a few seconds.

"They are not a burden Erestor. I would not pity me," he went into his room quietly closing the door adding softly, "No Erestor I pity you."