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Elrond's Boys  by Dragon

The orchard outside Elrond's study now was full of fruit. Bright red apples and soft ripe pears. There were no children left in Imladris now. Although in autumns gone by he had longed for peace, now he had it he missed the noise. Every child in Imladris had, at some point, scrambled over the wall that separated the main gardens from the small orchard outside the study and library. For the forbidden fruit was always the sweetest. He had watched them run along the wall, and leap lightly to the ground, darting between trees to avoid detection. Some had been skilful, and he had only known they had been in by the little row of elflings sitting on the wall swinging their legs and munching fruit. Others had been less so. One particularly greedy elfling had attempted to make it across the wall with pounds of apples heaped in the skirt of his tunic. That had disturbed him. The howls as the unlucky child had fallen from the wall and had been bombarded with falling apples had reached all over Imladris.

Elrond chuckled at the memory. Even his sons had enjoyed playing there, although they had free access to the orchard. Particularly that summer, probably the first time that they were able to play together without an adult on hand to smooth out problems and mop up tears. Although it had been Elrohir who had done most of the smoothing.

~*~

Elrond, Glorfindel, Erestor and Mithrandir were sitting round the table on the terrace talking late one afternoon.

"And the other members of the council, will they arrive soon?" Mithrandir asked, taking a large gulp of his drink. He did not really care. It was pleasant out on the terrace with a slight breeze and the sun lowering over the valley. In the distance he could hear children's voices and peering over the edge of the terrace he could see children running, skipping and chasing each other up the path from the valley. Although he pretended to be paying attention to the matter in hand, in reality he was thinking of which fireworks would bring most smiles to those young faces in the coming feast.

Erestor, a dark haired elf armed with a sheaf of papers gulped a few times. He was rather new to this important job and eager to make a good impression. The council had been organised by his capable hands. Unfortunately he didn't yet realise how capable they were.

Elrond began to speak when Erestor, who had just seen a white robed figure making his way along the passage below, interrupted.

"Ah look!" Erestor paused awkwardly, wondering if he should finish or allow Elrond to speak. Elrond waved him on. "Here is Curunír."

~*~

Elladan raced up the path to the gardens and leapt up the steps to the terrace. He skidded to a halt by the table, gasping to regain his breath.

He was, to put it mildly, filthy. His training tunic was covered with dust and bits of grass and mud adhered to his knees, elbows and hands. His pink face was smeared with grime and his hair lay loose in tangles over his shoulders. Scratches adorned his arms and left cheek and a new graze had trickled sticky drying blood from his knee.

Seemingly unaware of the marked contrast between himself and the pristine foursome before him Elladan beamed broadly.

"Ada! Ada! Guess what Ada!" Elladan bounced on the spot, his voice shrill with excitement.

Elrond gave his friends an apologetic look and excused himself.

"Ada! Glorfindel!"

Elrond and Glorfindel turned to the child. Everyone else within earshot followed suit. Elladan had a knack for attracting attention.

"Ada! We did duels and I won Ada! I beat everyone! Everyone! Even the big boys!" Elladan danced around proudly. The fact that the big boys were a mere twelve years old did not detract from his pleasure.

Glorfindel laughed at Elladan's obvious elation.

"Well done Elladan! I may even have to watch my back!" he said teasingly, a prediction that would come true, but not for years to come.

Elrond smiled at his son, a little taken aback when the child seized his hands and danced round him a few times. Much as he loved his son, he did not wish to get half the garden on his robes.

"Excellent Elladan!"

The other two joined in, with a disapproving "Well done" from Erestor and a "Indeed you shall become a fine guard" from Mithrandir. This drew curious looks from Elrond, but Glorfindel caught his eye and shook his head slightly so the matter went no further.

"Ada! Everyone else is going down to the North Path to watch the hunters return," Elladan gabbled, stressing the everyone, "Can I go with them? Please?"

The North Path held no risks and was well frequented by adults and guards who would not allow his son to come to any harm.

"Yes Elladan you may," Elrond replied stressing the may.

Elladan whooped happily and handed Elrond his training sword, preparing to dash away. Elrond gave him a hard look.

Elladan greeted all the others so speedily that he appeared to be nodding vigorously.

"Glorfindel. Erestor. Mithrandir."

By the time any of them had made sense of the gabble Elladan was halfway across the terrace.

"Should he not wash first?" Erestor asked concerned.

"But he was tidy!" Elrond and Glorfindel spoke together. They had both been of the opinion that for Elladan, the child had been most unnaturally clean.

~*~

It had been a long and wearing journey, and that had not improved Curunír's temper. He rounded the corner and began climbing the remaining short flight of stairs to the terrace.

Elladan dashed to the stairs, leaping lightly down the short flight of steps to the lower balcony. Unfortunately he had failed to notice the old man in white mounting them.

"Ow!" Elladan yelled as he came to a sudden stop against Curunír's stomach and tumbled to the floor. Curunír doubled over in pain, gasping in breaths painfully. There was a large Elladan shaped grubby mark on his otherwise pristine robes.

"Curunír!" Glorfindel sprung up and rushed to his aid.

Elladan scrambled to his feet rather dazed, a fresh cut adorning his right temple.

"Curunír," Elladan gulped, "I am sorry. I was in haste."

Curunír, still winded, shot him an evil look. Glorfindel quickly examined Elladan for any injury and pushed him gently on his way with a warning to proceed more slowly. Curunír's temper was not always pleasant and there seemed no need to allow him to vent his frustrations on a small boy. It had been an accident after all.

~*~

There was not to be a formal dinner that evening. In a few days the final guests would arrive and a great feast would be held in their honour. For now though those that had arrived must be welcomed. Elrond and Celebrian had decided to hold a small meal in their chambers for their guests. In the interests of peace it had been decided that Elladan and Elrohir would not partake in this. It had taken quite a while to soothe Curunír.

In the meantime Curunír and Mithrandir were sitting with Glorfindel and Erestor in the family sitting room, Elrond having taken the chance to sneak off with Celebrian for a few minutes peace in the rose garden. Erestor, in a brilliant move that in Glorfindel's eyes qualified him fully for his new post, had managed to push all the books and toys under the benches in the seconds between his entering and the following of the rest of the party. For the first time in years the sitting room looked like a place to sit instead of Dagorlad. Elladan was especially fond of soldiers.

Curunír sat frostily, glaring out of the window.

"Do they always disturb the peace in this way? I wonder at Elrond's patience."

Erestor muttered something about the joyfulness of youth in this peaceful age and looked pleadingly at Glorfindel.

Glorfindel got up and strode to the window. Elladan was chasing Elrohir around the orchard. Both were brandishing very large sticks.

"Fly foul creature!" Elladan yelled swiping at Elrohir and getting, in Glorfindel's opinion, terribly close.

"Retreat to darkness!" Elrohir responded, knocking the stick out of his brother's hand with his own.

"That's not right! You're the orc!"

"I'm always the orc. It's your turn. I'm Gil-Galad!"

"You are not! I'm Gil-Galad."

Glorfindel rapped sharply on the window and pressed his finger to his lips. Elladan and Elrohir looked at each other.

"Lets both be Gil-Galad," Elrohir suggested, "Maybe he had a twin brother also called Gil-Galad".

The adults in the room sighed as the garden fell quiet, and Erestor tentatively led a conversation about the state of the river. Curunír had almost relaxed when they heard laughter and Elladan calling to Elrohir.

"I bet you can't catch this!"

"I bet I can!"

"Try!"

And an apple sailed past the window.

~*~

Elrond was bent over a game of chess with Curunír when there was a knock on the door and his two sons, now fully fed, tumbled in.

Both boys sat down, Elrohir earnestly watching the game in action, Elladan watching his father. Eventually Elladan bored of this and rescued his soldiers from their hiding place, retrieving his favourite, a small battered flag bearer, from Mount Doom on the top of the bookcase. Lying down on his stomach on the floor he began setting up a battle to end all that had been fought previously.

"Why," Mithrandir asked, looking down kindly at Elladan who was chasing a dragon with several red painted soldiers, "Are your red soldiers so much more worn than your blue soldiers?"

For the red soldiers had many a scratch and the paint was worn.

"Because they are mine." Elladan answered simply.

"The blue ones are mine. I do not maul my soldiers." Elrohir called from where he was leaning against his father, observing the game.

"They are braver fighters! I do not maul!" Elladan said indignantly. However he was too engrossed in his game to fight properly. Celebrian, Glorfindel and Erestor resumed normal breathing.

Sensing a lull in conversation, Elrohir took a deep breath and announced his news. Had Elrond not known Elrohir he would have thought that the long silence meant that it mattered little to him, but he guessed correctly that Elrohir had been waiting all day for the right moment for the announcement.

"I had my first archery lesson today," Elrohir checked to see that people were paying attention before continuing, "I like archery!"

"And did you hit the target?" Glorfindel asked smiling. It was not often that Elrohir had the chance to be the centre of attention for prowess in any physical skill.

Elrohir blushed slightly but smiled proudly nevertheless.

"The trainer said that it was the best he had ever seen someone shoot on their first day. I hit the target nearly every time!"

Elrond hugged his son to him, and Celebrian walked over to give him a kiss.

"I can't wait to start archery," Elladan declared loudly to nobody in particular.

~*~

Finally Curunír won the game, and Elrond rose to leave. Elladan was up in a flash and over to the table.

"Ada! Let's go and practice!"

Elrond frowned. He had forgotten.

"I am sorry Elladan, I cannot."

"Oh," Elladan looked crushed, "But you promised."

Elrond steered Elladan out of the room.

"I am sorry. I must see to our guests."

"But they are just two boring old men!" Elladan said in an indignant and clearly audible voice.

"Elladan. I will not tolerate rudeness."

"I am sorry father," Elladan said looking at the floor. Elrond squeezed his shoulder. Elladan did not respond.

Elrond strode off to change, leaving Elladan to trail dejectedly back into the room. Elrohir had managed to coax Glorfindel into teaching him the rules of chess, and was now sitting sucking the head of a pawn as he thought.

Mithrandir watched the boy plop back onto the floor and miserably tidy up his soldiers. Maybe he wasn't quite as tired as he had felt earlier. He stood up suddenly.

"Now Elladan," Mithrandir spoke with amusement, "Would you challenge a boring old man in battle?"

"Yes," Elladan sprang up beaming, then thought about the implications of the statement, "Um. . . No!"

He looked desperately to his mother for help. Close to laughter herself she smiled and nodded.

"Yes!" Elladan ran to retrieve his sword.

Celebrian looked up at Mithrandir her eyes dancing with mirth.

"Thank you."

She only hoped Elladan would not be too shamed by being trounced by the oldest man he had ever seen.




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