A prank gone wrong
A/N: In this story Elrond never married Celebrian, the twins and Arwen were never born aaand Elrond has some major problems with kids... You'll see
Elrond took a deep breath in and a deep breath out. He normally had no problems with children, they had always listened to his stories and had always respected him. But recently, after Erestor's twin girls, Morwen and Maranwe had hit puberty, they had stopped respecting him and any other members of the court in Imladris.
A few months ago, they had first tried pranking their father, but Erestor was too easily pranked and it had continued with other advisers. The twins had stopped soon after they had realised that they were not skilled enough at the art of pranking to prank other people.
They practised for months on their poor parents and now they had started playing stupid pranks on everyone. The first few pranks had been funny and original and then they had become boring. Elrond knew how hard it was to come up with original pranks, for he and his twin brother Elros had always played pranks on their elders, but they had planned a prank thoroughly and never pranked when they weren't sure that it wouldn't harm anyone.
What surprised him, was that they hadn't tried pranking him yet. Of course he was the Lord of Imladris but he was sure, that that wouldn't stop them.
He took a quick look out of the window, it was already late and if he didn't go to the Great Hall soon, Tinar, the healer in charge of the Halls of Healing would drag him out of his study.
Elrond didn't appreciate being dragged away from his study, especially in this busy time of the year.
It was spring, almost summer and there was a lot to be prepared for the busy season. There was not only the summer festival, for which he needed to make preparation, there were also a lot of men from the villages close to Imladris, who wanted to trade crops. The weather was colder than usually which made it harder to grow crops.
Elrond's musings were interrupted by an angry Tinar, who stood in the middle of the door:
"My lord, we are already half through the meal and you haven't come yet. I told you, if you don't come to the meals regularly, I will force you to come."
"Yes, yes Tinar, I will come", Elrond replied, a bit annoyed and left the room with Tinar to do to the evening meal.
Erestor was fuming at his twins when he arrived, they had pranked some poor maid again. They had realized how much fun it was to pour bucket of ice cold water over peoples heads. Elrond just hoped that they wouldn't do that with humans, the season was too cold for humans to have poured ice water over their head.
Elrond was definitely not in the mood to cure a human with the flu, there was enough to be done already, without having humans to care for.
During the meal, Tinar kept glancing at him and because Tinar was seated directly next to him, he kept putting more on his plate. Elrond, because he really did not want to anger Tinar, ate everything on his plate.
After dinner he felt more full that he had in a long time and decided to go for a walk in the gardens.
He hadn't really visited the gardens for a long time, winter was just too cold for him to walk around in his formal robes, even his they warm enough to keep him from getting cold; Elrond did not want to put on a full winter attire every time he was in the mood for a walk, so he did not go for walks in winter.
Now a chill was still in the air and even now his robes couldn't warm him but that didn't matter to him now.
But the walk outside was still refreshing, even if it was truly cold. In moments like this, Elrond envied full Elves; they never had to feel the cold like he did. And the ability to get sick was one he really didn't need.
He had spend two hours outside, wandering around in his lush gardens, enjoying the birds' quiet song. When he went back to the house, it was dark already, the sun had just set.
He made plans to soak in a hot bath and then to retire for the night. Tomorrow, he mused, he had to get up early again to finished all his paperwork from today.
Just as he was contemplating, whether he was going to go to the hot springs, the public baths, or bath in his own rooms, he heard a sudden gush of water and the ice cold liquid was everywhere, his hair was dripping wet, his clothes were soaked through and he had lost the ability to move; the cold water had frozen him to the core. From above him he heard two young ellith giggle and he knew that he had just been pranked by the twins.
He sighed, he was not annoyed, that he had been pranked, he was truly annoyed at the fact that they had chosen the most unoriginal prank possible was annoying him more than anything.
Me he was beginning to feel his body again and started shivering, he heard Erestor enraged voice, raging at his twins about how they were supposed to behave and how emptying a bucket full of ice cold water wasn't well behaved at all.
Elrond went up to the twins and Erestor, laid his and on his chief advisor's shoulder and said:
"Don't worry Erestor, it is just some water, my clothes will dry quickly."
Then he left them alone to go to his rooms, he had decided to take a quickly bath and the go to bed.
Later that evening, when Elrond sat in bed, still shivering, he cursed the twins silently, not for emptying a bucket full of icy cold water over his head, no. He cursed them for emptying a bucket full of ice cold water over his head in this cold weather.
He finally fell asleep when the moon was high in the sky, what he didn't know was that in a different part of the house two young twins were lying in their beds, feeling more that just a little bit guilty about their prank:
"Maranwe, did you see how utterly shocked Lord Elrond was when he was hit by the water? Maybe it was still to cold for this prank yet",
said Morwen, her voice soft as she considered how inappropriate their prank was.
"Morwen don't worry too much about it", said Maranwe, the older twin, "Elves don't feel the cold, Lord Elrond will be fine when that shock has worn off. That old Elf isn't used to being pranked like this, he needs rest"
Morwen rolled her eyes, her sister didn't take this serious. This was how things normally were: Morwen felt guilty and Maranwe brushed it off as a joke.
"Lord Elrond isn't a full Elf though.", Morwen mumbled and turned on her bed, facing away from her sister.
The next morning; Erestor was alone in the study, in which Elrond and he normally worked in. That didn't strike him as paticulary odd, it was still early in the morning and sometimes Elrond slept in. Either that or the Lord of Imladris had gone to the dining hall first to eat something.
But when Erestor couldn't find Elrond in the dining hall, nor in the Halls of Healing or the library, he got concerned.
He decided to start working and wait for Elrond to come to the study, maybe his lord had decided to take a walk or to lay down in the sun for some time. While working Erestor forgot the time and when his stomach finally started to rumble, he looked outside, surprised he saw that the sun was already at it's highest point.
Unconcerned at first, Erestor continued writing on his report but after he had finished it, he shot up as he remembered that Elrond still hadn't appeared.
He hurried to the Lord of Imladris' private quarters and promptly forgot to knock at the door first in his concern.
What he saw there, surprised and shocked him; his lord was curled up in a pile of blankets, sleeping. He was pale and there were dark circles under his eyes, his lips were chapped and his nose had a slightly red tinge.
"My lord?", he asked softly, "My lord?"
Elrond shifted a bit but didn't wake, worried he stepped closer to the bed and shook him:
"My lord, wake up, I need to talk to you"
Elrond's eyes flew open and he grabbed Erestor's wrists:
"Stop, Erestor, stop you are going to make me-" Elrond's eyes widened even more, he struggled to free himself from the blankets and ran to the bathroom. Only moments later, desperate retching sounds were to be heard from there. Erestor was shaken out of his trance and went to sooth Elrond, who was now vomiting violently into a bucket.
"Elrond, I'm sorry", he apologized guiltily, he really should have known better than to shake him.
Elrond, who's stomach seemed to have calmed down, shook his head:
"It isn't your fault, I have got a simple cold nothing to worry about."
Erestor knew what that meant: Elrond would have to rest for a few days and should be fine afterwards. A few men had come to Rivendell in the winter with a bad case of the cold and after three days rest they had been able to move around without looking like death warmed over. Unfortunately for his twin girls, he also knew why Elrond had a cold. Pouring buckets over Halfelves in the cold was one of their brightest ideas.
As Erestor had predicted, three days later Elrond was back on his feet, he still had a small headache but he was able to work. At the breakfast table, the two twin girls had come to him to apologize for their actions but it was too late for that, Elrond had had three days to think of a revenge and no one was going to prank him, Elrond Peredhel, Lord of Imladris; without getting pranked back.
He ate quickly and then excused himself to prepare his prank.
Hours later he was done with preparing his prank and looked at his work. Four little cakes were in front of him, two of them sweet, filled with a strawberry; the other two salty filled with carrots. Erestor always complained that the twins didn't eat enough vegetables, so he was going to 'help' them eat some now.
He put the sweet and salty ones on two different plates so he wouldn't eat the wrong one, then he called Erestor:
"Please bring your daughters to my study immediately. There is no need to worry I just want to tell them that I have forgiven them."
I his study he waited, when a hesitant knock sounded at his door, a wide grin spread over the lord of Rivendell's face. He quickly composed himself and called: "Enter"
"Erestor, you can stay too.", he said as the sisters entered the study, "Now as you know your prank three days ago had an unfortunate end. Still I am willing to forgive you, the cooks send me some cakes earlier and I wanted to give one to you as a peace offering."
He handed the twins the plate with the salty ones and offered Erestor a sweet one. The twins seemed suspicious and waited for Elrond and Erestor to try the cakes. When they saw, that both enjoyed the cake to both took a huge bite and instantly regretted it.
Elrond laughter rang through the study:
"That will teach you not to prank me again!"
Never had the twins the temptation to prank their lord again and for the next few years they were very suspicious of the food they were offered.
The End