Thranduil scanned the group of travelling elves, looking for his son.
"Legolas? Legolas?"
Someone cleared his throat beside him. Thranduil stopped mid-call and looked down. Legolas stared up at him, a little smile on his face. Thranduil took a breath of relief.
"Ah, ion nin, when you want to be you are as silent as the rain on the mountain."
"What did you want, Ada?"
"I just wanted to know where you were, ion nin. After all this is your first time away from home, it wouldn't do to have you getting lost would it?"
Legolas's smile grew and he reached up to take hold of his father's hand. Thranduil held it tight. To be honest with himself he was a little worried about Legolas. Apart from the usual parental anxiety, his son's ease at moving silently made it very easy for him to get lost without anyone even realizing. Even though his son was of a competent and independent age, Thranduil resolved to keep a close eye on him. The party of Mirkwood elves pressed onwards. Judging by the position of the sun, they did not have long to get to Rivendell before sundown.
Estel was fidgeting at the table. Elladan and Elrohir were trying their best to teach him his letters but his attention kept breaking. He bounced in his chair, fiddled with his crayons, looked out the window and even stuck an exploratory finger up his nose. Elladan recoiled in disgust as Elrohir gingerly slipped the little appendage from the offending orifice, wiping it on a spare piece of paper.
"Don't do that please, Estel. It's not polite"
Estel screwed up his face. "This is boooooriiiing!"
The twins sighed in exasperation. "Maybe we should try again another day" Elladan suggested.
"Yes. After all we have been going at it for a while. It's a bit much to expect him to sit still when he's not used to it" Elrohir agreed.
"Right it's settled!" Elladan declared, standing up. "Let's go and find a way for lye tithen gwador (our little brother)to burn of some energy"
He scooped Estel up from his seat and carried him through the keep, until he came into an open courtyard. It was walled off from the outside world so the twins felt safe in letting Estel play out here. They began with a spirited game of chase. Elrohir was "it" and he chased after Elladan and Estel, who squealed with delight when he managed to evade his brother. Of course, Elrohir was deliberately being just too slow to him, but he made a big show of being disappointed at his failure and amazed at Estel's speed. Estel also took great delight in the fact that Elladan was caught quite easily. But Elrohir became tired of his pretence and Elladan took over. Elrohir slipped away, claiming he needed to change into shoes better made for running. Elladan chased Estel for a while until he too became tired. He wracked his brain for a gentler, less vigorous game.
"Estel, how about we play hide and seek?"
"Okay Dan! I hide! You seek!" with that the little boy was off like a shot.
Elladan smiled and dutifully turned away to begin counting.
Estel searched around, flitting his eyes around the courtyard. He had to hide somewhere really good. Nowhere in the courtyard looked good enough. An idea struck him and he grinned. Maybe there was nowhere to hide inside the courtyard but outside the courtyard? There were probably lots of great places! Estel nimbly scaled the wall, dropping and rolling like his brother's had taught him. Giggling triumphantly Estel bounded across the plain of Imaldris.