When Legolas eventually awakened, he was clean and warm, tucked comfortably into bed. The room was dark save for the fire burning brightly in the fireplace. A lone figure sat in a large chair near the fire. He shifted slightly under the soft blanket and braced for the pain in his chest that never came. All that was left was a dull ache. His movement caught the attention of the figure and brought him to his bedside.

Elrond brushed the wayward hair away from the younger elf’s face and rested the back of his hand on Legolas’ cheeks, testing for his temperature. It was not easy to get the fever down and the elf lord was relieved that it had broken on the morning of the second day. "Welcome back," the older elf smiled down at the still groggy prince.

With the help of Elrond, Legolas managed to sit up in bed, looking around the room. "Is it night already? How many hours have I been out?" he asked while trying to suppress a yawn.

"You mean how many days?" the elf lord replied to his question with another and smiled. "It’s been two days since you were brought back here, dripping wet and covered in mud."

Legolas winced but was grateful that the Lord of Imladris had omitted the part of him being somewhat naked. "Two days..." he leaned back against the pillows. "Where’s Estel?"

"He blames himself for what happened and has been hiding in his room after I assured him that you were well." Elrond said softly. "He only left his room for meals and refused to talk to anyone. He was afraid that you would be angry with him."

"It wasn’t his fault!" Legolas interrupted quickly, "I’ll go talk to him." He threw back the blanket and swung his legs off the side of the bed but before he could stand, Elrond stopped him.

"It is half past three in the morning my dear prince. I think it could wait until morning."

"Ohh," Legolas blushed and settled back into the warm bed allowing Elrond to pull the blanket over his body. "I suppose it could wait a few more hours," the elf said sleepily. "I could use the extra rest."

Elrond shook his head. *Young ones. Always so impulsive*

***

Morning sun crept slowly up onto the sky and her soft rays spilled into the room. Legolas sat down on the floor beside Aragorn’s bed and watched the human while he slept. Aragorn looked so young and innocent. He could hardly believe that the boy he once knew had grown up so quickly to be a fine young man. A glint caught his attention and Legolas reached out under the chair and picked up the feather. *Time to have some fun* He ran the soft feather lightly across Aragorn’s face and the human swatted at it in his sleep. He tickled Aragorn again on the cheek and the ranger slapped himself on the face trying to get rid of whatever insect that was bothering him.

Legolas chuckled softly at the human’s reaction as he jerked up on the bed, eyes still clouded with sleep.

"Wha?!" the ranger blinked. "Legolas!" his eyes widened as he saw the elf. "You’re awake! Are you well? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to... It was never meant to be that way! I didn’t know about the traps!" Aragorn fumbled with his words as he tried to apologize to his friend.

"Slow down Strider," Legolas laughed, trying to calm the frantic ranger.

Aragorn stared down at his hands, too ashamed to face the elf. "If anything happened to you, I’d never be able to forgive myself," he berated himself.

"Don’t worry Estel, I’m fine," Legolas reassured the ranger, "except for a little wet and muddy..." the elf prince paused momentarily remembering the unpleasant experience and continued, "but nothing a little bed-rest won’t heal."

"Are you mad at me?" Aragorn’s voice was so low that Legolas could hardly hear him. "If I didn’t leave the trail for you to follow, you would not have stepped into the trap..."

Legolas placed his fingers under the human’s chin and tilted his head up, gazing into the silver-grey eyes. "If I was mad at you, we wouldn’t be sitting here having this conversation, would we?" the elf smirked and ruffled the human’s hair affectionately. "Besides, I know you were unaware of the traps. Elladan and Elrohir told me everything."

"Still... I’m sorry," the young man apologized again. "If we didn’t come for you that day, who knows what would have happened."

"Would you stop apologizing already?" Legolas cuffed him upside the head "The important thing is... you came for me. And that is what I will remember." Leaning closer to the ranger’s ears, the elf whispered, "and I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention about what happened to anyone else or I’ll be forced to tell about the eyebrow." Legolas wiggled his eyebrow to stress his threat and Aragorn chuckled.

"I wouldn’t dream of letting anyone know about my eyebrow so your secret is safe with me." Aragorn answered with a lopsided grin.

"Good, now that everything is cleared up, shall we go have breakfast? I don’t know about you but the last time I ate was two days ago and I would really like some food." Legolas got up and limped slightly to the end of the bed. Grabbing Aragorn’s robe, he tossed it towards the human. "You can change after breakfast."

Legolas extended his hand towards the ranger and Aragorn took it gratefully, pulling himself off the bed and onto his feet. Wrapping the robe around his sturdy frame, the ranger and his friend made their way out of the room.

"You may have sealed my lips, but you still have Elladan and Elrohir to worry about."

"I will worry about that later. Right now, I’m more worried about my stomach."

"Hmm..."

"What?"

"Maybe if you find a way to shave their eyebrows..."

From a distance, Elrond watched as the tension between his human son and the elf prince dissolved into laughter and he whispered a silent thanks to Illuvitar... for good friends.

- The End -