The elfling was missing. Again.
Elladan had no idea who had put him and his brother in charge of keeping track of the 19 year old princeling, but he was absolutely certain that they had not been thinking clearly. At all. He and Elrohir were still practically children themselves. They couldn't be responsible for one. Maybe the severely disillusioned elf who thought this was a good plan had also thought the closeness in ages would have helped them to... bond... with the thing.
Elladan raked fingers through his hair as he and his twin stalked the outside gardens once more. "We could not have been this much trouble when were his age, could we?" He asked despairingly.
He was met with silence before Elrohir finally chose honesty. "Actually, I'm sure we were worse. Though, we were also twice his size when we were his age, and for some reason, permitted to use swords. Also, there were two of us."
Elladan acquiesced the point.
Thranduil had gotten it into his head to come to Imladris with a host of Lasgalen elves, and had arrived only a few days prior. And for some completely unfathomable reason, he thought it would be a good idea to bring his son with him. And of course, Elladan and Elrohir had been tactfully avoiding the fact that it had been Elrond, their own father, who was the severely disillusioned elf who had thought making them watch the thing would end well. For anybody.
Finally, Elrohir came to a stop and threw up his hands. "He is not here." He admitted. "We have checked the grounds repeatedly, and all of the inner rooms, no matter how unlikely the chances of an elfling getting into them. He has simply... vanished."
Elladan would never say so in front of Elrond or Thranduil, but perhaps it was better this way. The child was a menace. "He will be sorely missed." He admitted solemnly, and bowed his head. Elrohir smacked him.
"Ow." He complained, rubbing his head with a scowl.
"We have to find him." Elrohir hissed. "Or else we will need to likewise vanish. And hope neither of our fathers ever finds us. For as long as we, and they, live."
Elladan sighed. "We have already looked everywhere."
"Inside the gates."
Elladan very slowly turned to look at said gates, across the courtyard. "He wouldn't." He turned and found Elrohir giving him the most longsuffering expression. Elladan's hands twitched into a position reminiscent to one used when slowly choking the life out of small, rebellious, blond, mutinous princes. "When I get my hands on that-" he was cut off through the unexpected and swiftly delivered violence of his twin.
They arrived in the stables to find Glorfindel already mounted upon Asfaloth and looking extremely impatient. "I wondered what took you so long." the golden warrior scoffed from where he sat examining his perfectly manicured nails.
"Glorfindel!" Elrohir squawked in alarm.
"What are you doing here?" Elladan asked.
"I'm here to help you search for your wayward prince, of course." He blinked down at them. "It's quite obvious that you've lost him, and equally obvious that you have been completely unable to find him on the grounds, though you've been searching all morning. Obviously, the only conclusion is that he has left, and you, assuming you are in no rush to make the acquaintance of Námo, will have to follow him. I'm just surprised it took you so long to reach the same conclusion." He admitted, sounding disapproving as he wiped imaginary dust from his shoulders.
Elrohir blinked.
Elladan scowled. "So why would you assume that you're coming with us? We're perfectly capable of finding one elfling on our own!" He missed Elrohir's rapid hand motions signalling him to stop talking. Apparently the younger brother had no desire to search for the missing prince alone. In the end, it mattered little, because the balrog slayer would not be deterred.
"Ha! As if I would let you go alone." He scoffed, tossing his head so that some of the luscious golden locks that had fallen forward were once again behind his shoulders. "It is common knowledge that disaster follows the moment either of you steps foot outside of these walls. I can't in good conscience let you drag poor Legolas into your needless drama."
"Needless drama?!" Elrohir choked indignantly.
"Poor Legolas?!" Elladan demanded. "Don't tell me he has pulled the wool over your eyes as well, Glorfindel! I would have thought you above such treachery! That child is neither poor nor innocent!"
"And I'll not have Thranduil hear you say it." Glorfindel nodded sagely.
"Oh good." A voice interrupted. "I thought I might be too late." said a relieved sounding Erestor as he stepped into the stables, wearing rarely seen riding gear. The three elves present stopped their current argument to turn and stare at him as he calmly went about preparing a horse – something the twins realized that they had still yet to do.
"What are you doing?" Elladan demanded.
"Dressed like that?" Elrohir added.
Erestor paused and glanced over his shoulder, blinking innocently at them. "Why, I'm coming with you of course, on your search for the lost Prince of Lasgalen. Seeing as you two clearly can't keep track of a single elfling, and Glorfindel-" he managed to acknowledge the elder elf's presence with nothing more then a slight tip of his head, "here has never been able to competently keep you out of trouble, much less a third child, I decided it would be best if someone who actually knew how to watch children came along."
Stunned silence followed, as Erestor usually kept to himself and only Elrond and Glorfindel were really aware of how sassy he could become, and even then it was a rare thing.
He continued to ready his horse among the sudden clamour of disgruntled and offended elf noises.
Finally, the four of them were ready to go, although the twins kept protesting both elder elves' presence, and Glorfindel and Erestor were exchanging increasingly sarcastic and patronizing comments about the other's competence, seemingly oblivious to the twins and their complaining.
Suddenly the door creaked open and a nervous looking face poked in. He regarded the four quarrelling elves and began to look extremely concerned, wondering if he'd made the wisest decision in choosing to flee here, but before he could leave and find somewhere else to hide, he was noticed.
"Lindir?" Glorfindel asked, sounding downright puzzled, interrupting Erestor's own train of thought – some sort of comment about the merits of tying one's hair back.
Looking up, Erestor also became puzzled. "What are you doing here?" He asked as the now discovered Lindir slipped inside and carefully shut the door behind himself.
"Um. Well I was just looking for somewhere to hide. I wasn't expecting anyone to be in here." He admitted.
"Hide?" Asked Elladan. "Whoever from?"
Lindir stared at him solemnly. "I'd rather not say."
"Well." Elrohir coughed. "We were actually just leaving, so-"
"Leaving?" Lindir perked up. "As in, outside of Imladris? That's a great idea. Why didn't I think of that. If you give me just a minute-"
"No!" Elladan snapped suddenly. "You can't come with us!"
Glorfindel nodded. "We're actually running rather far behind now. You see, we-"
"Have a wayward princeling to find." Erestor continued. "The twins managed to lose him-"
"And if ada or Thranduil find out-" Elrohir emphasized,
"Then we will very likely not live to regret not strangling the child when we had the chance." Elladan finished solemnly, gaining him a few concerned looks from all the elves gathered. Save Elrohir, who just looked tired of hearing this.
Lindir shifted uncomfortably. "Oh... well, I'll really only take a minute to get ready. I can be really quick." and then he gave them such a pitiful look that none of the gathered elves could refuse.
And it wasn't a lie. Quicker than they would have thought possible, Lindir was mounted and ready to go, shooting frequent and anxious looks at the stable door. In fact, he jumped so high he nearly fell off his horse and made an extremely amusing and un-elflike sort of squeak when the doors burst open. He relaxed moments later when he saw it was only Celebrían.
"Naneth?" Elrohir choked in confusion while Elladan threw his hands up in the air, muttering darkly.
A sharp look from his mother cut off the twin's dark muttering, before she too went to ready a horse.
"No!" Elladan cried in exasperation. Another quick look quickly silenced him again.
"What?" Glorfindel asked. "Surely you're not coming as well!"
"We have wasted enough time here already." Erestor said seriously, frowning. "Legolas could already have found trouble. Time is of the essence."
Nobody noticed Elladan's smile, except for Elrohir who quickly punched him. Smile once more became scowl as Elladan rubbed at his arm.
Celebrían scoffed as she took in the group. "You expect to find him with five warriors tromping through the bush on horses? Really? The poor thing has been gone for hours, he's probably lost and frightened. What he's going to need more than you lot is a mother's touch."
"What that hellion needs is a-"
"I'll not hear it." Celebrían interrupted even as Elrohir slapped a hand over his brother's mouth. "I'm coming with you and that's final."
Nobody noticed Lindir shooting increasingly nervous glances at the now ajar doors and shifting impatiently on his horse.
When once more, for the third, an hopefully last time, the group was ready to ride out, the door was once again pushed open. Frustrated groans came from Glorfindel, Erestor, and the twins. Lindir ducked behind his horse's mane. Celebrían looked up curiously, and then smiled.
Elrond, who had come in looking for an overshirt he had misplaced earlier, paused when he saw the troop of elves before him. Deciding it best not to ask, he quickly shot his two sons a look.
"Legolas seems to have disappeared again. Thranduil went out to find him about an hour ago." If he noticed the awkward silence that quickly settled upon the group, he did a good job in not showing as he smiled, grabbed his shirt, and walked out.
Suddenly the doors on the opposite end of the stables burst open as an elf bearing a striking resemblance to Lindir crashed through them, scowling. "Lindir!"
The elf in question gave an undignified shriek and spurred his horse to bolt, taking him with it.
Everyone I know is ridiculous. -Dan