The next item he found however brought a chuckle to his lips. Reed pipes. They were Elrohir's and he had solemnly promised to throw them out several thousand years before. And now they had been found carefully hidden behind some books in the least disturbed shelves in the library. He did not know how they had got there.

They were made out of old dried leaves, the fleshy white innards having long dried away from the tough shell, leaving a narrow tube. His youngest son had invented several varieties of pipe, and while to him they had looked like a cobbled mess, Elrohir had insisted that these contraptions blew bigger and better bubbles.

~*~

"But Ammë, I do not want to learn how to dance!" Elladan protested, hands on hips and frowning. "Girls dance!"

Celebrian paused in her embroidery and used the toes of her sandals to slow the gentle rocking of the swinging seat down to a standstill. She had been ready to enjoy a long summer's afternoon in the garden with her sons, but Elladan appeared to have other ideas. Not that she would swap him for the world, but sometimes - just sometimes - she could not help but wish he was a little more like his brother, who was curled up agreeably on the other side of the seat absorbed in a book.

"You must learn the dances for the summer balls." Celebrian insisted. "That is, if you are old enough to attend."

Elladan gave his mother a challenging look. He felt that using the threat of banning from attending was most unfair. Especially since he had no such power to issue an equal counter-threat.

"But. . ."

"Elladan." Celebrian warned. The older twin scowled, but said no more. Once his Amm's eyes grew annoyed like that it was best not to cross her.

Elladan marched off into the shadow of a large bush and plopped himself down onto the ground, hugging his knees and resting his forehead on his crossed forearms. It was true that he had enjoyed learning a few steps when he was younger, but this formal dancing for balls was different. None of the other boys his age would be attending the balls, so none of the other boys his age would be spending their afternoons dancing. And if anyone found out that he spent his afternoons skipping around the gardens holding hands, the taunts and teasing he already received would only worsen.

"I think the dancing looks fun!" Elrohir finished his chapter and obediently shut his book, looking up with a smile.

Elladan scowled at him, wondering if his brother behaved so angelically purely to annoy him. It was true that the times that they had sneaked out of bed to peep at the balls, everyone had seemed to be having a lot of fun. It would just not be as much fun as chopping, slicing or shooting something.

"It is fun Elrohir. I love balls, your father and I. . ." Celebrian paused in her reminiscing to turn to the uncompromising figure of her son. "There Elladan. Glorfindel dances and so does your father."

Maintaining his silence, Elladan trawled his fingers through the dirt, twigs and dead leaves he found under the bush. Neither Glorfindel nor his father then had to have training with other boys who would delight in the knowledge that, like their own sisters, the twin sons of Elrond had spent their free time in dancing class.

"Come Elladan!" Celebrian said in a no nonsense voice, holding out a hand as she got to her feet. "It is not so bad."

Elladan reluctantly trudged across the lawn to join his mother and brother. Whatever his mother may think it was so bad.

~*~

When Elrond and the guests from Lorien strolled down to the gardens a few hours later, Celebrian was hitching up her skirts with her hands as she demonstrated some elaborate footwork that Elrond recognised from a dance of the Wood Elves. The twins were watching closely, with Elladan doing his best to keep a disinterested expression.

"Now you try!" Celebrian stepped back with a smile, tucking a loose curl back behind her ear.

With a doubtful look at each other the twins began imitating the skipping, slowly at first but gathering speed as they increased in confidence.

Smiling, Galadriel began clapping in time to the imaginary music, and soon Celebrian and Elrond joined in. Rather breathless from the activity, Elladan looked up to grin at her. However this distraction caused him to stumble over his feet, and with a desperate grab at Elrohir to retain his balance, both elflings came tumbling to the floor.

Elrond cemented his role as 'bad father' by failing miserably to contain his amusement and laughing loudly. This earned him reproachful glares from the tangled heap of elfling on the ground, and a look from Celebrian that was sufficiently like her mother to cause the Lord of Imladris to choke his laughter to a sudden halt.

"He is not the most co-ordinated of elflings." Celeborn observed calmly, ignoring the pain that had shot through him when the boy had tumbled in exactly the same manner as his own daughter had when learning this dance. "That would account for his difficulty with the bow. He will never be a soldier Elrond."

Elrond gritted his teeth and hastily tried to quieten his father-in-law, or at least place himself between the grandfather and grandson before Celeborn saw the hideous face that Elladan had pulled. Not that he blamed him, he felt like giving the Lord of the Galadhrim a hefty slap himself.

"Ammë, may we go and play now please?" Elrohir asked quickly, recognising from his brother's rapidly deepening scowl that if they did not leave soon Elladan would yet again land in big trouble. "You will wish to talk to Galadriel and Celeborn."

Celebrian agreed quickly, noticing that Elladan was eyeing her father's shins with an expression that definitely did not bode well for peace.

~*~

The twins ran together through the long grasses of the meadows down to the smallest of the tributary rivers - incidentally also the largest river that the elflings were allowed to play in unsupervised. The tall seed heads of the longer grasses tickled their legs as they ran, and occasionally they would halt to pick a particularly pretty wildflower for a bouquet for their mother.

"Elrohir!" One of the younger twin's friends from training ran up, barefoot over the lush grass that grew on the riverbanks. Elrohir immediately began waving and scampered over to join his friend, leaving Elladan alone.

The elder twin scowled after the departing pair. He always played with Elrohir and this was not fair - especially as he had few friends of his own to go and play with - the other boys in his training group did not appreciate being habitually beaten by one of the smallest there. Still, at least he would not have to play the quiet boring games that Elrohir and the other boy favoured. Grabbing at a large rock and kicking off his moccasins, Elladan splashed over to join a group that was attempting to dam the river into a bathing pool.

The river was a glorious place to play on sunny afternoons. In this region where it wound its lazy path through the meadows the riverbed was smooth and shingle covered, and the water ran at a depth perfect for paddling but too shallow to pose any real danger - even to non-swimmers.

Crayfish and tiny minnows could be found in the cool water, and it was a favoured game to try and catch some of these - but quick though the elflings were, they rarely managed to succeed. Larger rocks and boulders swept down from the mountains in the winter storms provided seats and stepping stones, and among the smaller rocks, dam-building material.

Thick green reeds and rushes grew along some regions of the bank. It was here that Elrohir and his friend were lying, resting as their stomachs as they peered down into the clear water, watching the wary movements of the fish. Each had broken off an old brown dried reed, and dipping one end in the water, were now blowing bubbles down the hollow tube.

This was the first summer that Elrohir had played with another to any degree, and with the sun warm on the back of his legs, he could not help but feel it was nicer to spend time with someone else who preferred more peaceful games than constantly being dragged into the roughest, fastest and nosiest group.

~*~

"Dancing? Ha! Did you just say that you had been dancing?" The loud and scornful voice disturbed Elladan from his play, and he looked up to find one of the largest boys standing over the spot where Elrohir and his friend were lying, still blowing bubbles.

The older twin frowned. He knew the boy from training, at least well enough to have developed a strong dislike for his bullying tendencies, and did not think that this would be the last he heard of this. Anxiously Elladan began hopping over the tussocks of grass, where he had been searching for sticks, to the river.

"Yes. We learnt a special dance from the Woodland Realm." Elrohir scrambled to his feet, unfamiliar as yet with the nature of this elfling. "Would you like me to show it to you?"

A few of the elflings showed interest in this, but Elrohir's opponent was less amused, and the friendly offer was met with a punch in the nose. Elrohir stumbled to the floor, his eyes filling with tears. Naturally friendly and peaceful, the younger twin could not understand what could cause such a response.

"Leave him alone!" Elladan raced to his brother's side, bare feet placed sturdily apart on the grassy banks, and his fists clenched.

The larger elfling sneered at him, but still backed off a little. One twin was easily manageable, but two?

"Why?" Dark eyes looked scornfully at Elrohir who was hunched up over his grazed knee, trying not to cry. "Do you wish to dance with him? I suppose you are his dancing partner."

Elladan was about to vehemently deny that he danced, had ever danced or would ever dance in the future when Elrohir spoke up.

"Of course he is." The younger twin clambered to his feet and adopted a similarly aggressive pose beside his brother. "Who else would be?"

Elladan scowled at his brother as their opponent began laughing.

"Why I bet even my sister could beat you!" The boy called over a girl a couple of years his junior from the patch, a few hundred yards upstream, where the female elflings played - away from their smelly, splashing brothers.

The twins greeted the newcomer with identical scowls.

"Of course I can beat him." The girl narrowed her eyes dangerously at her brother. "A girl can always beat a boy."

The brother looked less than pleased with this comment.

"I can push you in. . ." The tiny elf-maiden explained, giving Elrohir a vigorous shove that sent him over the edge of the riverbank, ". . . and you can do nothing. Because I am a girl."

Elladan stared at the smirking girl, and then turned to his bedraggled brother.

"No. Ada told us that we should never harm a lady." Elladan ploughed into the girl with his shoulder, sending her tumbling into the water with a shriek. "You are not a lady - you are a she-elf!"

There was sudden silence among the elflings that had gathered in a crowd around them on the banks. Elladan waited only to help his brother back onto the bank before he began dragging his brother back up the meadow before anyone could start in pursuit.

"Come Elrohir. Let us find someone else to play with!" The elder twin called loudly as they began walking away, their knees stiff in their haste.

"Elladan." Elrohir hissed in annoyance as his brother dragged him away. "Ada will be so angry!"

Elrond was not going to be happy. Not very happy at all.

Elladan bit his lip and continued marching steadily through the tickling stalks of the long grasses. He did not regret his actions for a second, but maybe he should have held his tongue. He did not even know what the word meant exactly, but some of the older elflings had looked shocked.

"It is always you! You always get us into trouble, and it is always me who has to stop you!"

"Well you should fight back!" Elladan retorted angrily. "Why did you not hit him?"

"I did not wish to." Elrohir flushed as his brother gave a sigh that questioned his manliness, then perked up with "Ada said that it is better to do battle with words not fists!"

Elladan gave an exasperated sigh. "He was not going to listen to words Elrohir."

"He might have." Elrohir said placidly before spinning round to face his brother, his eyes gleaming. "You did not have to fight for me! I could defend myself!"

Elladan scowled magnificently.

"I will not let them hurt you. I will never let them hurt you."

Both twins proceeded up the field in silence, each reflecting inwardly that their duty in Middle Earth appeared to be protecting their mirror image. At the same moment each shot the other an identical despairing look. Why could Elrohir not see that he had to stand up to the older boys who would prey on his small size? And why should Elladan be blessed with so few manners and even less of an idea of how to use them?

~*~

Galadriel wandered quietly through the cool shadows of the glades, step in step with her husband who she had insisted accompanied her. When talking to her husband about a topic he did not wish to discuss, it was wise to choose a spot with no escape routes.

"The twins are quite delightful." Galadriel lowered her eyes into an appraising glance. "Elrohir adores you."

Celeborn looked pleased in spite of himself.

"Elrohir is a good little boy."

"But Elladan is not?" The Lady of Lorien carefully kept her tone to one of amused curiosity.

"I believe your memory is as good as mine." Celeborn smiled at his wife as he remembered some of the tales they had been told about the twins' escapades. "He is so noisy and determined and wilful."

"He is so like his mother at that age." Galadriel added carelessly, pretending to be absorbed in a loose pearl on the hem of her gown.

Celeborn froze and took a few seconds to recover.

"Well yes, now you mention it I suppose he is." Celeborn feigned casualness. "Perhaps Elrohir is more like his father as a child."

Galadriel sighed at the impossibilities of getting her husband to speak about what bothered him most, and brushed an invisible twig from his hair. As she turned to leave she added a warning.

"You are hurting him Celeborn."

~*~

Once again he was back in the study. Back in trouble. A cold shiver ran down his back as he remembered Elrohir's voice, so like his own. "Ammë and Ada love me best anyway! They said that you were a difficult boy." And now he would be called difficult again.

"Ammë. Ada." Elladan greeted his parents a little apprehensively before turning to the benches among the bookshelves where Erestor and Glorfindel were hard at work, wondering if he should greet them too.

"Elladan." His father's voice sounded unusually grave, and when he looked up, Elladan found that both his parents did not look particularly angry. More sad and disappointed - ashamed of him.

"A. . . Ada?" Elladan squirmed under the cold gaze that was levelled at him. Uncomfortably he turned to his mother, hoping for a response that was a little less chilling but met with no sympathetic smile there either.

"You attacked a young maiden this afternoon Elladan?" Elrond's left eyebrow quirked up inquisitively.

Elladan stood dumbfounded. It had not been an attack - but a push - and in any case she had started it.

"I. . . I . . ."

"Did you not understand me when I told you that a civilised elf never insults or harms a lady." Elrond began in a tone that was a particularly frigid shade of icy, but by the end of the sentence was booming 'never' at his child. Erestor and Glorfindel's heads dropped closer to their pages.

"But Ada." Elladan spoke quickly, not thinking how his words may sound. "She was not a lady! She pushed Elrohir and she was not so pretty anyway. She had freckles and nasty scraggy hair - she looked more like an orc!"

"Elladan!" Elrond snapped. For a brief second Elladan was afraid that he would get up and come and shake him, but Celebrian placed her hand on his arm and he calmed down.

"Sorry Ada." Elladan muttered, rubbing at a knot in the wood of the floor with the toe of his moccasin.

"You will never ever speak to or of a maiden in such a manner again, do you understand." Elladan began to feel that his father's rage, narrowly contained by his icy manner, was far more frightening than Glorfindel's outright fury.

"Yes Ada."

"But where did you learn such language Elladan?" Celebrian asked, her fair voice marred by disappointment and disgust. "Have you ever heard I or your father use such words?"

"I. . . it was just a word I heard Glorfindel use in the barracks." Elladan muttered, not meeting his parents' eyes. "It was in a joke and it must have been funny, for they all laughed."

Three pairs of eyes turned accusingly at the blond elf, who had the grace to blush. Erestor wondered how the Lord of Imladris could entrust his sons in his care when he was so obviously a bad influence upon the pair of them.

"Never use it again. Ever!" Elrond turned back to his son, leaving Glorfindel to slip extremely quietly and extremely rapidly out of the room.

"Yes Ada."

"You will apologise to the girl, and you may ask Glorfindel for extra Quenya every night from now until Midwinter."

Elladan scowled viciously at his father.

"Very well Ada."

~*~

The two elflings stood opposite each other, sulky grey stare matched by angry hazel glare. Their parents had drifted off to talk - or rather for Elrond and Celebrian to repeat their apologies - leaving Elladan free to make his excuses.

Elladan fidgeted, looked at the floor and then up into the hazel eyes, and took a deep breath.

"I am sorry for pushing you into the water. And I am truly sorry for calling you a she-elf for I did not know what it meant." The twin lowered his voice into a hiss. "But I am not sorry for saying that you are not a lady. You shall never be a lady."

The hazel eyes narrowed.

"Then I shall accept your apology Elladan Half-Elf" At her tone Elladan wondered if half-elf was meant to be an insult, then dismissed the idea as ridiculous. "And I would not want to be called a lady by you. You would not know a lady!"

~*~

The family swept back through the halls of Imladris in stony silence. Elladan glanced apprehensively from his mother's flushed cheeks to his father's icy glare before speaking up.

"Ada, may I go to archery? For I did promise Glorfindel I would be there."

Elrond looked down at his son and sighed.

"Then go Elladan. For I have no desire to look at you."

The Lord and Lady of Imladris continued down the hallway, leaving their son standing alone, stock-still, for a quite a while afterwards.

~*~

It was drawing into evening now, the sky turning richer shades of blue and the cool breeze that ran through the valley more noticeable now. Un-fooled by Glorfindel's apparent lack of attention, Elladan fitted another arrow and drew back the bowstring, careful to meet the blond elf's standard of perfection. A few seconds later the projectile hit the target, clean on centre.

"Very good Elladan!" Glorfindel stirred from where he had been apparently asleep against the tree and stretched. "Are you not pleased?"

For even this achievement had failed to raise a smile on the boy's pale face.

"Oh yes. Yes I am." Elladan nodded as he made his assurances in a gabble.

But there was something wrong.

"Come here Elladan!" Glorfindel beckoned the boy over, and once he arrived, cuddled him against his side. "You are not happy tonight."

Elladan looked at him darkly and kicked his heels against the ground. Now Glorfindel was going to scold him too. Did they not think that he had already grasped that he had done wrong!

"Your Ammë and Ada have a right to be angry. You have shamed them greatly." The blond elf tapped Elladan's chin as he opened his mouth to protest. "When you behave in that way people think that they have not taught you well."

"Oh." Elladan went red and shuffled uncomfortably. This took him out from Glorfindel's arm and he quickly scooted away from the older elf.

The blond elf raised his eyebrows at this, but recognising the boy's familiar hunched thinking posture, said nothing.

"Glorfy," Elladan ventured once the shadows had grown a little longer, "Am I evil?"

Glorfindel began laughing.

"Good gracious no child! What gave you that idea?"

Elladan gave him an affronted look.

"Nothing."

Swallowing back his laughter, Glorfindel scooted the child back towards him and scooped him onto his lap for a cuddle.

"So you did not look in the mirror and see a little orcling peeping out?" The blond elf made the child laugh before lowering his voice to ask "Are you sure it was nothing Elladan?"

Elladan turned to bury his face against Glorfindel's tunic.

"I always do wrong. It is always me. Everyone says so!" He took a long shuddering breath and began again in a wobbly voice which rapidly degraded into tears. "Elrohir said that Ada and Ammë said that I was difficult. And then Ada said that he did not wish to even see me. And. . . and. . . I do not think they love me very much Glorfindel."

Since this effectively silenced Glorfindel, he did little but murmur reassurances and rock the child gently until the tears stopped. By which time many of his archers had arrived, and he was drawing several interested stares.

Elladan took one last sniff, which made Glorfindel wish he had a handkerchief, as otherwise he feared his cloak would be appropriated during the course of the evening, and scrambled to his feet. The pair walked together to the customary spot under the trees, where the blond elf hurriedly settled Elladan.

"Glorfy," An anxious voice called after him as he turned back to the field, "Did I make Ada cross with you?"

Elladan looked so woebegone at this prospect that Glorfindel chuckled.

"Not so very. Although I suspect that we might have words later this evening."

And he needed to have words with his friend himself. For he had ended up in way beyond his depth.

~*~

The House of Elrond was now in the shadow of darkness, even the lights in the Hall of Fire had been dimmed and the flames had died down. Only the library windows still glowed with the warm light.

Inside, working at one of the long benches by the light of the lantern at his side, Celeborn was reading an account from an ancient script. A thick muggy silence filled the air on this warm night, disturbed only by the periodic rustle of paper as a page was turned.

"Celeborn. May I talk to you?" Elrohir tiptoed across the room, his question a barely audible whisper.

The Lord of Lorien turned to him, looking a little annoyed, but his expression softened when he discovered the identity of the disruption.

"Of course." He drew out a chair which Elrohir happily scrambled onto, letting his legs swing to-and-fro. "But it is very late Elrohir. Be quick."

He was unsure of what time the twins normally retired in the evenings, but based on the fact that Elrohir was clad in only his nightshirt, he assumed it was well past his bedtime.

"I think I might be a boring person." Elrohir announced, watching his grandfather carefully.

"Why you are not boring. You are neat and quiet and sensible," Celeborn patted his grandson's head, "You a very nice person to be around."

"But Celeborn, that is what makes me boring!" Elrohir wailed loudly enough to make Celeborn consider clapping his hand over the small mouth to avoid bringing the guards in. "I never do anything brave or exciting or adventurous. People never pick me first for teams, and Elladan is better than me at everything!"

"Not everything. . ." Celeborn began to point out the younger twin's prowess at anything and everything involving a quill or books.

"Everything that is not boring anyway!"

"What about archery?" Celeborn attempted, and smiled as Elrohir began to beam. "You are as good a little archer as I have ever seen!"

"I really like archery." Elrohir said proudly, his head rising as he began to feel less useless.

"Tell me, if and only if your Ada and Ammë agree, do you think it would make you feel any less boring if we went for a little hunting trip?" Celeborn watched as Elrohir's eyes began sparkling so intensely that he wondered if one of Mithrandir's fireworks had gone off inside the child. "Just you and me."

"You would do that. Just for me?" Elrohir's mouth hung open.

"Yes. For I find you most interesting."

Celeborn was spectacularly winded by a speciality of the twins' greetings repertoire - the flying hug.