A treasure hunt

Summary: When Estel finds an old treasure map in the library he and his brothers are going on an adventure! **little Estel fluff**

A/N: This is a LotR fanfiction written for (and at the insistence of) fran. It has been written a long long time ago and I hope by publishing it finally I will get the motivation to continue my other Lord of the Rings stories and eventually publish them as well. After all Lord of the Rings is my all-time favourite fandom and it's a pity that I haven't published any of my stories before.

Reviews will of course help with finding said motivation for this and other stories ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters that were instead created by a genius, though I wish I did

Chapter 1

Estel looked over his shoulder, back at all the books he had freed from the layer of dust they had collected over the last couple of months; since the last big cleaning to be precise. Turning his head in the other direction he saw that the shelf, packed full with books and tomes, scripts and parchments, still stretched on for many more meters. Disappointed he let his small shoulders sag and sighed audibly - this would take all day.

The sound of silent bickering reached his ears and Estel looked along the rows of books towards his elven brothers. They were sharing a ladder to clean the books in the higher shelves which Estel couldn't reach, Elladan cleaning the topmost books while Elrohir dusted the middle layer of books off.

"Elrohir, if you keep reading the books before dusting them off, we'll never finish", Elladan remarked, eager to move their ladder forward to clean the next meter of books.

"I, my dear brother, am cleaning the books, not merely dividing the dust evenly between shelves and air." Elrohir gave back, pointedly looking at the books Elladan had previously 'cleaned'.

Elladan gave his brother an unconvinced look, "They're clean. Also we have to finish before Estel if we want to go out to the archery fields together, just look how fast he is, he will catch up to us soon."

Elrohir suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at his brother's words. Leave it to the older twin to be that obvious. Still, looking over at his youngest brother he could see that their little 'argument' had achieved what the twins had hoped for, a determined expression had settled on Estel's face and he attacked the layer of dust upon the old books with a new vigor.

Estel knew that he had no more time to idle around, they had to finish cleaning the books together so that they could go out to enjoy the sunny day in the green fields. He decided that he would not be the one to make his brothers wait for him; he would catch up to them in no time. After all even Elladan had said he was working very fast.

The cloth in the small hand went over the tops and backs of books, tediously dusting off the visible edges of the wooden shelf and carefully cleaning scrolls the way Erestor had showed him. And although Estel would have enjoyed playing outside all day, he was still proud to be part of the library cleaning force - the dark haired seneschal had even asked him personally for his assistance.

As the twins neared the end of the shelves they would have to clean today, they slowed down a bit to let Estel catch up. The young edan kept working hard, every once and again looking towards his elder brothers and the distance that was left between them. Just a little faster and he would catch up to them.

When Estel focused again on his books and the possibility of cleaning them even faster without a drop in quality, Elladan carefully placed a piece of parchment atop the shelf. As Estel was almost beside the ladder the twins were still standing on, his oldest brother "accidentally" knocked the paper from its position.

"Elladan, what have you done now?" Elrohir scolded, effectively drawing his younger brother's attention to the fluttering piece of paper gliding to the ground.

Elladan gave an apologetic shrug to his brothers as he looked down from the top of the ladder, "I don't know, it just suddenly appeared – someone must have carefully hidden it amongst the books as a secret."

Elrohir very nearly sighed at the theatrically conspiratorial tone in his brother's voice. Really, Elladan would never make a good actor – or even a decent one. But again it was working, for Estel looked at the paper in wonder, willing it to give up all of its secrets.

"What is it saying, Estel?"

The young boy didn't answer right away, he was still staring at the paper he held in his hands, transfixed by the neat and accurate drawing of the last homely house and its close surroundings that he could make out. A dashed line was leading away from the main entrance and past the stables to a part that was off the map. With disdain Estel noticed the ripped edges around the paper.

"It has to be a treasure map", Estel exclaimed, curiosity and excitement mingling in his voice, "but there's parts missing. I wonder if we could find those parts and find the hidden treasure." He looked up at his brothers, who slid down the ladder to stand next to him, the excitement in his eyes was unmistakable. "We could go on a treasure hunt."

Elladan inspected the paper in his youngest brother's hand more closely. "Estel, I think there is something written on the back as well."

Estel turned the paper around at once, and his eyes found a smaller map on the back of the paper. What was more important though, it was a complete map. "This is from inside the house", he exclaimed, happy at his latest discovery. Estel looked at the rooms depicted on the map critically, trying to figure out just which one was marked with that big cross. He scrunched up his face in thought as he mentally walked the corridor of the first floor, which was depicted in the map, every now and again turning the paper as he went around imagined corners to help with the visualization.

"It's Ada's study room", he declared at last, feeling victorious after extracting this bit of information from the old parchment.

Elrohir nodded in consent. "That must be where the other part of the map is hidden."

Thinking about the possibility of finding the other parts of the map, and with it the keys to a hidden treasure, got Estel excited. Hardly able to keep still anymore, he looked back at the paper and then up at his brothers.

"Ada probably doesn't even know there's a big treasure hidden in Imladris; we have to tell him and go find it together." The young face was positively beaming with excitement.

Elladan looked doubtful, "But Ada is going to be busy all day; he said only to disturb him with matters of the utmost importance."

Thinking on this a bit Estel did not take long to come up with an alternative plan: "We should go find the treasure for Ada then, and we can show it to him in the evening when he's finished working." As the wheels in Estel's head continued to turn he found a flaw in his own great plan: "But how do we get the second piece of the map without a matter of the utom… without something important?"

Elrohir and Elladan exchanged knowing glances, then looked down on their younger brother with smug expressions. "Don't worry, we will come up with something important to talk to father about. Something that will keep him distracted enough for you to sneak in and get the map."

Blanching slightly at the idea of sneaking into his father's office, Estel looked back up at his brothers. For a moment uncertainty showed in his eyes, before the excitement from the proposed treasure hunt overcame him again. They were going on an adventure, of course he had to be willing to risk something. And when he brought home a huge treasure surely Ada wouldn't even mind that he had snuck into his office unasked.

With a look of determination Estel nodded his head once, he was ready for the treasure hunt to begin and for his own exciting mission to obtain the next part of the map.

TBC

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