A Visitor in the Night

Eruva

The autumn moon shone outside as the twins sat in Elrohir's room as midnight approached. They knew that Legolas was due to arrive the next morning but the prince had never failed to surprise the two. Together they planned to pull an all nighter, waiting for what they hoped would be another pleasant surprise.

"I can't believe it took us that long to get Estel to go to sleep." Elrohir noted and Elladan turned from his gaze at the stars to look at his brother.

A smile spread across his face, "Elrohir, our little brother is not so little anymore." At this they both chuckled.

"No… honestly." With that thought they passed into a comfortable silence.

The hours passed slowly and Elladan had fallen into a light elven sleep. Stars were shinning bright in the sky above and Elrohir was trying to connect them to make shapes of animals. It was an old favorite pass time of his, as the trips he and his brother took with the rangers had lead to late night watches. He had just formed an eagle from the sky when he heard horse hooves.

He shook his brother awake and pointed out the window. Elladan passed Elrohir a smile and both rushed from their room to the entrance of Imladris where the two waited eagerly for the arrival of a friend. As the gray horse came into view the two tried to hide their excitement.

"Legolas!" They screamed in unison as the rider dismounted.

"Well met, mellon-nin. I hope you haven't been waiting up for long." He smiled knowing that the twins had not planned to sleep until he arrived.

"You know us too well mellon-nin." Elrohir said and the trio began their walk towards the stables.

"Yes," Legolas replied as they walked into the stables. "That's why I rushed through the evening." The three shared a laugh and walked up through the halls. "I trust all has been well since my last visit. Not trying to give your ada gray hairs again, are you?"

"Oh not at all…" Elrohir started and Elladan picked up right where he left off.

"We haven't pulled any pranks."

"Or had any accidents."

"We were saving all that…"

"For when you got back, of course." Elrohir finished. Legolas just smiled at the two, knowing fully what was in store for him.

They walked slowly through the rooms to be sure not to wake anyone. However, one door was open as it always was. This time, however, it's occupant stood in the doorway clutching his teddy bear tightly to his stomach with a terrified expression on his face. Elladan was the first to notice this and he rushed forward to his brother.

"Estel?" He asked and the boy simply nodded. "What's the matter, gwador?"

Estel held his teddy closer to him and began to sob. "I had a bad dream…" He pulled the teddy bear closer to himself yet again and sunk down in the floor crying.

Elrohir walked forward and picked the boy up off the ground and held him as close to him as Estel was holding his teddy bear. "Shh… little one. It'll be alright."

Elladan walked over to Legolas and the two watched as Elrohir started to sing a lullaby to help the boy sleep. "Please don't leave me…" Estel begged looking up at his brother with his scared, small, gray eyes. He flew his arms around his brother's neck, not letting go of the bear, placing his head under his brother's chin. Elrohir looked over at Elladan and Legolas.

"I suppose we can get out the bed rolls and sleep on the floor." Elladan said, and the elves nodded in consent. Estel and Elrohir walked in front leading the way to the twin's room.

"You know Ro would make a great ada," Legolas said while watching the way he dealt with Estel.

"I heard that!" Elrohir exclaimed from the front as they opened the door.

"Who's that?" Estel asked shyly as he had been too caught up in his fears to notice Legolas earlier. Elrohir passed Estel to Elladan knowing that he would explain.

"That?" Elladan pointed at Legolas and Estel nodded. "Oh, that's nobody." Legolas hit Elladan lightly on the head while avoiding Estel and the boy laughed.
Elrohir was moving quietly around the room to arrange the bedrolls.

"Hello little one. I'm Legolas." He walked over to Estel.

"Oh!" Estel exclaimed. "You're the one who pulled those pranks with Dan and Ro."

"Yes I am."

"Ok, time for bed, gwador." Elrohir spoke from the fireplace. He held his arms out and beckoned his brother over. Elladan put Estel on the floor and the boy ran over. Estel noticed there was one bed that had more comforters, knowing this was his; he sat down on his bed.

"Song?" The boy requested as he arranged his bed to his liking and as Elrohir begun he crawled in bed. Elladan and Legolas walked over and sat in the last two bedrolls. Elladan was closer to Estel and he tucked him in, making sure his teddy bear could still breathe. "Night, night." The boy muttered before closing his eyes. Elladan and Legolas were soon tired from the softness of Elrohir's voice and they both pulled their blankets back before falling into a sleep.

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Legolas felt the boy stir and get up to sit by the fire, but he decided against making his awareness known. He waited, lying in the bed for the twins to help the edain. However the child did not wake either twin. When Legolas heard the sound of tears, he decided it was time to help the little one.

Legolas stood up and walked over to the boy, making as much sound as possible on his way over, remembering that humans did not have the hearing that elves did. He looked over at the boy, Estel was clenching his knees to his chest and his teddy was sitting on top facing him. Legolas sat down in front of the boy and looked at him, waiting for recognition.

Estel looked up after Legolas had been sitting there for a minute. His tears had stopped falling. "What's wrong, tithen en?" Legolas asked the boy when his eyes lifted.

"I had another bad dream." Estel held tighter to his teddy bear and looked up at Legolas. "Everyone left me here and no one ever came back. I was just wondering around alone." With that the boy started to cry again.

Legolas took a sigh in, not knowing how to explain to the boy that it couldn't possibly happen. His adopted family loved him too much to ever run away from him. "Estel," Legolas motioned for the kid to come over to the elf.

Estel looked at Legolas and the elf could see his fear and Legolas could understand. Legolas reassured the boy by patting the ground one more time. Estel stood up and moved with his teddy in his chest. When he was close enough Legolas picked him up and placed him lightly in his lap. "Try to sleep tithen en. They would never leave you." Legolas spoke and began to sing a song from his home.

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Elladan woke up when Legolas stopped singing. "Why are you stopping mellon-nin?" Elladan asked and Legolas laughed and Elladan sat up in his bed only to notice that Estel wasn't in his bed. Elladan spotted him in Legolas' arms and was stilled. As Legolas began to sing again he rocked Estel slowly in his arms.

Elladan stood up and took Estel out of Legolas' arms as the boy had fallen asleep. Elladan kissed Estel on the brow and sat back in his bedroll with Estel in his arms for a few more minutes before setting him in his own bedroll.

"What's going on?" Elrohir asked, sitting up from his bedroll.

Elladan held a finger up to his lips and the three moved to the other side of the room to begin catching up on old times. The nightingale sung outside and the three elves started to fall asleep and the three went to sleep again.

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Estel let out a small squeal as he woke up in the morning, he went to the window and threw it open. The sunlight came through the window and the sound of birds singing filled the room; grasps of songs could be heard as elves passed below the window.

The child than ran back to where his brothers were pretending to be asleep and jumped on their beds to wake them up. He avoided waking Legolas, not knowing if he was a grumpy morning person.

"Estel!" Both twins screamed at once. They shot their arms up and pulled Estel down between them. "Go back to sleep." Elrohir muttered.

"No!" the boy screamed and tried to wiggle out of their grasp.

Legolas took Estel out of the twins' arms and threw him up over his shoulder. "My, you are noisy in the mornings, are you not?"

"No, I'm not!" Estel squealed as Legolas began to tickle him. "No! No tickling. Let me down."

The twins stood up and walked over to the two. Legolas stopped tickling Estel and he held his hands out so his brothers would hold him. Elladan immediately picked him up and the four walked out of the room together. Legolas walked to his room while the three brothers walked into Estel's room first to help him change for breakfast and then to their rooms so they could change as well.

Half an hour later the four met before walking into the large dinning hall so they could eat their breakfast in the company of the rest of Imladris. "Ada!" Estel screamed before running at full speed towards his father who was sitting at the head of the table. The twins and Legolas chuckled at the child's action before taking their own seats close to the Elven Lord. The remainder of the day was spent in the sun with the twins and Legolas doing everything possible to keep Estel's mind from the troubles of his nighttime dreams.

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Ok, so I'm hoping I haven't got any of the elvish wrong, and if I have, please let me know. Thanks