Disclaimer: I own nothing recognisable.
Hide and Sink
Legolas, Tathar, Brethildíl and Aldanna stifled giggles as they ran down a dark corridor. Brethilríl, hands over his ears and eyes closed, counted down from a hundred aloud as he stood in the main receiving hall, just outside the offices where their parents were discussing the business of the realm.
The foursome ran as far and fast as they could, passing halls and corridors as they sought their hiding places. They had been ordered to play inside after lessons today, as Ladlaurë accompanied a mission to obtain silk, Neldororn and Malthon had newly returned from the South with tidings, and Lothellon, Sílívren, Aldariel and Thranduil were shut up in meetings with visitors from Lothlorien. Even Lothelleth, who usually was available to care for the children, had work to do in the Halls.
The children had been told to play in the lower levels, for Lothelleth needed them out of the upper levels while she worked, and the King and his advisors (and, it seemed, every other adult in the Halls) needed quiet in the middle levels.
The children could no longer hear Brethilríl counting when they reached their goal – a store room, right at the lowest level of the Halls, where empty butter tubs and apple barrels were kept.
Aldanna pulled the lid off an apple barrel, and promptly climbed inside. Legolas followed suit with a wine barrel, and Tathar found a comfy seat in a butter tub. Brethildíl pushed the lids back on, and Legolas was engulfed in fragrant darkness. Brethildíl hushed them all, trying not to giggle. He heard some clunks as she positioned herself behind some other barrels, and then they waited.
It was not long before Legolas heard footsteps. The door, which had been left ajar, squeaked as it was opened, and Legolas waited with baited breath.
Suddenly, Legolas' barrel was pushed sideways. Legolas gasped, and then tried to keep quiet, for he did not want to be 'it' if Brethilríl found him first. After all, his sister was the one hiding between barrels, not in them!
Suddenly, though, the barrel lurched sideways, and Legolas squealed as he was rolled across the floor. He heard a splash, and then silence.
A few more splashes followed, and Legolas was confused. What had happened? What were those noises – the splashing?
Suddenly, Legolas noticed that there was water on the bottom (or the side, he wondered) of the barrel. He shouted, and pounded his fists on the wood, but nobody answered.
After a short while, Legolas realised what had happened. It wasn't Brethilríl who had pushed his barrel over – it must have been older elves, perhaps the novice warriors who (rumour had it) had been assigned punishment duty hauling barrels after a prank on a teacher involving water from the Enchanted River. He was in the Forest River, making his way along the current towards Laketown in a fragrant, not-quite-watertight barrel.
Legolas breathed deeply, trying to calm himself, and allowed the scent of the wine to distract him. When he was centred, he called out, hoping that by chance someone was near.
His calls went unanswered, and he gave up after a time.
The barrel rocked mesmerizingly, and soon Legolas fell asleep. When he awoke, the water lapped about his ankles and thighs, and he hugged his knees when he remembered his dismal situation.
He was hungry, and the constant smell of the wine which clung to the barrel was very heady. He felt the urge to be sick, but managed to control his stomach, for he had no wish to compound his discomfort with the presence of vomit in the small barrel.
Soon the hunger died away, and he began to sing softly. He did not dare to hope that anyone would hear, but the wood muffled sound anyway. He sang every song he knew, and cried when he ran out of songs.
He fell asleep again, hours later, his head spinning from the fumes of the wine which had been in the barrel before him.
The next time he woke, the barrel was bouncing up and down in the river. Legolas was knocked around the inside of the barrel, and he became very dizzy. He could not understand the sounds he heard, but he thought he heard a muffled voice talking about ropes. Soon the barrel stilled, and Legolas sat still, the water now reaching his waist as he sat.
Legolas tired quickly, and he fell asleep again. He did not think he had ever slept so much, but the wine fumes made him giddy, and he couldn't move about anyways. The water moved ever up, and Legolas began to worry that he might drown.
When the barrel began to move again, it seemed to float in a strange manner, as if it were no longer free-floating, but attached to something. Legolas could not understand, and he thought that some great lake-worm had come to get him, or perhaps the dragon, Smaug, had returned to eat him after all.
Legolas breathed quickly and shallowly, and soon was in a full-blown panic. The dragon had him again, and this time Legolas' Adar did not know where he was, and could not rescue him.
Legolas must have passed out, for he suddenly woke up when a great noise came from the wood above his head. Something was working at the barrel's lid!
Legolas cried, and tried not to think of the foot-long claws which had once ripped his tunic, or the great curved teeth which had snapped in his face only a year before. The wood groaned again, and a great strain went through the wood. Legolas covered his eyes with his arms, and huddled in a ball in the half-sunk barrel.
Suddenly, with an even louder noise, the lid came free, and someone – or something – pulled Legolas out of the barrel. Legolas looked up, wide eyed and terrified, and suddenly recognised the golden hair and blue eyes before him. "Adar!" he cried, flinging his tangled arms around his beloved father, sobbing as he breathed the fresh air.
Thranduil set Legolas on his knee, and suddenly Brethildíl was hugging him, and Brethilríl patted his shoulder comfortingly.
Dimly, Legolas noticed Tathar, sodden and weeping, in his father Neldororn's arms, and Aldanna, equally miserable, bundled up in her mother Sílívren's embrace.
A rough voice broke through the haze of Legolas' mind, and he heard his father answer with sincere thanks. Thranduil carried Legolas then, and in any other circumstance he would have been mortified, for no twelve-year-old child would still be carried like an infant!
Legolas was soon tucked up in a warm, dry, bed. Thranduil stayed with him that night, and slept by his side, ignoring the other bed in their room.
The next morning, Legolas allowed his father to dress him in some mannish clothes, borrowed from a child in Laketown, and then they presented themselves for breakfast in the Master's dining hall.
Aldanna and Sílívren were also there, and Tathar and Neldororn arrived soon after Legolas did. Brethildíl and Brethilríl, accompanied by Lothellon, soon entered the room, accompanied by a strange creature with a brown wrinkled face, who wore heavy rough boots.
The Man introduced himself with a bow, as the Master of Laketown. Thranduil said, "Again, I thank you for your hospitality. It is long since we have lost a child in the woodland, and the warm blankets and a place to sleep which you provided may well have saved three children yesterday."
The Master bowed formally, and sat at the large table. Legolas' friends and their parents also sat, and Legolas found himself sitting between his father and Aldanna, and across from Tathar.
The breakfast was fried fish, served with a strange yellow pile of fried potato, which his father explained were called chips – a Dwarvish invention, he claimed. Legolas liked them well enough, but he noticed that Tathar picked the batter off his fish, and did not eat any chips.
When Legolas asked, Tathar pulled a face. "I don't think I'll ever be able to eat anything with butter in it for a very long time," he explained.
Aldanna laughed. "You should have picked an apple barrel, then," she chirped, to the surprise of all the adults present. "Does anyone have an apple?"
Soon, a servant brought some apples at the Master's request, and Aldanna happily munched away on one, tossing the core nonchalantly towards Tathar, who then tossed his own apple core at her. Legolas rolled his eyes, and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what wine tastes like," he commented, "but I don't want to smell it again. It made my head all strange."
"I'm so sorry!" Brethildíl suddenly wailed, her hands flying to her cheeks as she cried, and her father rubbed her back comfortingly.
"Whatever for?" The Master of Laketown asked, looking down the table at the distressed child.
"It's all my fault! I should never have put the lids on! I should have known that those novices were not my brother! I should have done something!"
"I think you all learnt your lesson," Thranduil interrupted, when a number of adults looked like they were about to speak in answer to the child. "You are young, Brethildíl, so young that we cannot expect you to have any cares other than play. It is not your fault."
"What happened, then?" The Master asked, curious. With a sigh, Thranduil explained.
"These five children are the only young children in the Wood at this time. Their parents are often busy with duties, and the day before yesterday was one of those days when we had no-one to watch the children, for there were unexpected developments in the south. We sent the children to the lower levels of the Halls to play, for they have a habit of wandering off if left alone in the woods. They played hide and seek, and hid in empty barrels. Brethildíl was rather distressed when she told us, so I am a little vague on the details, but somehow the children ended up being sent downriver in the empty barrels."