The armoury was a large room in the lowest level of the House of Elrond. There was an oppressive hush in the room, and any noise or scuffle would create echoes from the dark corners. Glorfindel and Elrond fell silent as they entered the room, and even Elladan who had been swinging between the hands of the two larger elves, caught the mood of the room and stood silently.

Long racks ran the length of the room; and these were stacked with spears, swords and bows. Elrond bowed his head, many of his comrades had fought with these weapons. Aeglos still stood in his study, a memory of all that had been lost.

A mischievous giggle brought the older elves thoughts back to the matter in hand. The twins were no longer dancing around at their feet. In fact they were nowhere to be seen. Glorfindel and Elrond exchanged panicky looks as they hurried off along the narrow spaces between the racks. The room contained an extraordinarily large number of sharp things, and neither fancied explaining to Celebrian how one or other of the twins had managed to get skewered, cut or otherwise damaged.

A bang behind him caused Glorfindel to whirl around to find several swords on the floor. He thought he just saw a flash of a little blue tunic as small feet pattered away. He raced down the narrow aisle after the child, only to collide heavily with Elrond who was chasing after the boy from the other direction.

"Ow!" Glorfindel exclaimed, clutching his nose.

"I am sorry." Elrond placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. Glorfindel smiled grimly.

"'Ro! 'Ro! Look," a small voice giggled. Elrond and Glorfindel dashed to the scene. The twins were sitting on the floor surrounded by bits of armour. Elrohir looked up at them, tangled in the leather straps of a quiver and an ornate archer's helmet falling over his eyes.

"Ada, I am a soldier!"

Elrond sighed in relief at finding his sons unhurt. Kneeling down he gently removed Elrohir from the costume and hoisted him into his arms. Elladan scrambled upright with some difficulty and clanged his way towards the older elves.

"And I am a King!" Elladan declared in his most authoritative voice, holding out his arms. Seconds later he crashed to the floor under the weight of the chain mail shirt that trailed along the floor, and a huge sword.

Elrond bent down with difficulty as he tried to keep hold of Elrohir and free Elladan simultaneously. Elladan's shock from the fall was fading and he was sniffling ominously.

"Come here Elrohir," Glorfindel eased the younger boy out of his friend's arms and settled him on his hip. Elladan had burrowed against his father sobbing loudly and Elrohir showed signs of joining him in sympathy. Glorfindel grabbed at the nearest interesting looking object, "See this Elrohir, it's an arrow. It fits onto the bow like this. . ."

The ploy worked. A small hand grasped the arrow, attempting to copy the motion. By the time he tired of this game Elladan's tears had been dried and he was bouncing around his father's feet ready for a game.

"Right," Elrond took a rather firm grasp of Elladan's hand, "Let's see if we can find the pair of you some weapons."

Once they got to the final rack, stacked with half and quarter sized weapons, Glorfindel set Elrohir onto the ground and began examining the smallest swords.

"This one?" Glorfindel handed Elrond a tiny sword. Elrond released his grasp on the back of Elladan's tunic and ran a finger along the edge of the blade.

"Too sharp," Elrond handed the sword back, wondering how his small son could have vanished in the fraction of the second that he had been out of sight.

"Elrond! This would hardly cut butter," Glorfindel tested the blade himself.

"Too sharp." Elrond got down on the floor, peering under the rack.

Glorfindel returned the weapon to the rack, turning a moment later to raise his eyebrows at his friend.

"Listening for the enemy?"

Elrond gave Glorfindel a distinctly not amused look.

"Worse."

Glorfindel grinned to himself, hurriedly making himself very busy finding swords. Sighing Elrond scooped up Elrohir in preparation for the hunt for Elladan.

"Ada," Elladan tugged at his father's robes, appearing from nowhere, hiding something behind his back.

"Elladan, you must not run off like that!" Elrond grabbed hold of the small hand. Elladan whimpered under the bruising grip, looking up at his father and his grey eyes filling with tears. Elrond released the grip slightly and knelt down to kiss his son's forehead.

"This one?" Glorfindel spoke with the air of one who was sure of success "This is blunter than a dwarf's helmet!"

Elrond examined the sword. It was light and clean and the blade was more reminiscent of a spoon than a knife.

"Perfect," Elrond placed it back into the thin leather scabbard and handed it to Elrohir with a warning, "Do not touch it until Glorfindel and Ada say so."

"Now for Elladan." Glorfindel turned back to the racks.

"I have a sword." Elladan swung from his father's hand.

"Is this too sharp?" Glorfindel passed over another weapon. Elladan hopped up and down in impatience.

"Ada! I have a sword! Look!" Elladan made a valiant attempt at lifting the large sword he had dragged back from where they had been dressing up. Glorfindel and Elrond looked down with a resigned air. Elladan had a determined look on his small face, and that always meant trouble.

"That is too big Elladan," Elrond said gently, mentally adding, "And too sharp".

"What about this one Elladan?" Glorfindel knelt down, offering a small blade that appeared to have never seen a sharpening stone, while craftily reaching for the large sword.

Elladan was having none of it. Pouting he retreated a few steps dragging the sword with him.

"It is not too big!" Elladan declared, looking distrustfully at Glorfindel as if he was afraid that he would attempt to snatch his toy at any time. Which was exactly what he was planning to do.

"You cannot lift it, little one." Elrond held his hand out for the sword.

"I'm big! I can lift it, I can!" Elladan said in his curiously penetrating voice, putting all his strength in swinging the sword. The sword swung a few feet, nicking Glorfindel's hand, before hitting the floor suddenly with a clang, followed by Elladan with a crash.

"Sweet Eru, that hurt!" Glorfindel leapt back, placing as much of his abused hand into his mouth as possible. He glared at Elladan who promptly began sobbing, still holding the sword as tightly as he could.

Elrond glanced apologetically to his friend, the tips of whose ears were turning rather pink.

"Glorfindel, come let me look." Elrond gently removed the injured hand from Glorfindel's mouth, watching as blood welled up from the deep scratch that ran from the base of his thumb to his wrist.

"'Tis only a scratch. I've received worse," Glorfindel lifted his hand to his mouth again, "although never from one so young."

"Do not lick it!" Elrond snatched the hand away from Glorfindel's mouth. Glorfindel rolled his eyes with a long-suffering expression that Elrond answered with an equally long-suffering sigh, "This should be bandaged."

"It is fine," Glorfindel wiped his hand with the end of his tunic, holding it until it stopped bleeding. The prospect of attempting training with some fifty lively young elves from the Imladris Guard with an obvious wound from a two-year-old did not appeal.

Elrond glanced at his friend and sighed, breaking into a smile. Maybe later this afternoon he would be able to persuade Glorfindel into allowing him to spread a little antibiotic on the wound.

"Sorry Glorfy," Elladan looked sadly up at Glorfindel with big eyes. Glorfindel smiled weakly.

"I am fine child, but you must be more careful in future," Glorfindel's eyes lit up wickedly as a plan came to his mind, "Come here, give Glorfy a hug to make it better."

Elladan dropped the sword and ran to Glorfindel with his arms outstretched. Glorfindel motioned to Elrond who finally caught on and placed the sword well out of the reach of any elfling.

"There we go, all better!" Glorfindel picked up Elladan who had clamped himself around his knees. Elladan reached a hand for his sword and finding it gone looked up at the blond elf with a hurt and surprised look. Luckily his attention was soon distracted by his brother who was dancing around chanting, "Glorfy said Sweet Eru."

"Ammë better not find out you said that," Elladan whispered conspiratorially to Glorfindel.

Glorfindel groaned. He was fast coming to have great sympathy for Celebrian's view of things.