Disclaimer: I do not own any of this, it is all J.R.R. Tolkien´s...

Chapter 1: You´re in harm´s way...

Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood, sat on a bench in the gardens of Rivendell and checked on his weapons; he had just arrived a bit earlier and was about to go hunting with Elladan and Elrohir, therefore he wanted to make sure to be well prepared. Feeling utterly relaxed, he paused for a while, closed his eyes and just enjoyed the sunshine on his face. This peaceful moment was interrupted when suddenly something leapt on his back, sending his daggers flying and nearly causing Legolas to break the arrow he was still holding.

It was Estel, Elrond´s little foster son; he was giggling gleefully now, but when Legolas, who had been severely startled by the unexpected attack, turned round and looked at the boy in an unsual grim fashion, he stopped immediately.

"Estel!", the agitated elf said, "never do that again when I´m handling my weapons, do you understand? I could have hurt myself, or you, or anyone who would have happened to be in harm´s way, for that matter!"

Estel dropped his head; he had never seen Legolas so angry.

"Do you understand?", Legolas asked again.

Estel nodded slowly: "I´m sorry", he said in a low voice.

Legolas inspected his slightly damaged arrow and sighed; when he looked up again, Estel was gone.

The elf shook his head; he had not intended to scare the boy away, but this was a serious matter; Estel had to understand that weapons were no toys, even or especially if he was only six years old.

Estel slipped into his favourite hiding place in an old wardrobe; he wrapped his arms around his knees and bit his lip. He had not meant to do any harm, he had not even seen that Legolas was handling his weapons; he had only seen him sitting in the sun with his eyes closed.

He felt very ashamed now; he knew that Legolas could have hurt someone and then it would have been his, Estel´s, fault. He should have had a better look what Legolas was doing, but then he had been so happy to see his friend, that he had just taken off to greet him, and then everything had gone wrong. Now Legolas certainly could not but think that Estel was only a stupid child that could not do anything right, could he?

Later that day, Elrond saw his twin sons and their friend off; he had been looking around for Aragorn, who normally would at least have wanted to wave goodbye. As usual, for the last few days he had been pestering either Elrond or one of the twins, asking to be allowed to accompany them on the hunt. He had been denied this, considering his tender age and safety reasons: "If you grow old enough to be able to defend yourself and stay on the horse at the same time", Elladan always said with a wink, at which Aragorn usually replied that he was quite a good rider and everyone had said so. He was indeed quite talented, and it was a pleasant if amusing sight whenever he chased after his brothers on his little pony Turin.

But Estel was nowhere to be found; after the hunting party had left, Elrond walked back to the main house, deeply frowning. It was not unusual for Estel to be out and about until late in the day, as he was quite self-reliant and adventurous, but that he did not show up to bid his brothers and Legolas farewell struck Elrond as somewhat peculiar.

The twins were wondering about it, too: "I would like to know what Estel is plotting right now to get back on us", Elladan said, grinning.

Legolas listened up: "Why, what happened?" Elladan shrugged: "Nothing happened, that´s why. Normally the little one is trying to be allowed to come along until the very last minute, but as he did not even say goodbye this time, I think he is mortally offended right now." "We shall expect frogs in our beds when we return", Elrohir added, sniggering.

Legolas suddenly looked conscience-stricken: "I think it is my fault that he was not there", he said guiltily. Elladan and Elrohir simultaneously raised their eyebrows in a very Elrond-like fashion and looked at him enquiringly, so Legolas told them what had happened. Elladan could not help but laugh at the very idea of this, but Elrohir shook his head: "He should have paid more attention", he said.

Legolas, who never bore a grudge for long, shrugged: "No, I think I was overreacting. After all, I was sitting with my hands in my laps when it happened, and Estel has been greeting me like this whenever he could over the past few years, so I should have been expecting it. I will apologize to him when we get back", he added.

Estel, however, had been thinking about how he could convince Legolas that he was not stupid and useless and had finally come up with a solution that seemed quite brilliant to him: he would follow Legolas and the twins! That would be easy, as they only wanted to ride as far as the waterfalls tonight, where they had often taken Estel for a swim, so he knew the way. All he had to do was to take Turin and sneak out without being caught.

When dusk settled that evening, Estel scurried over to the stables; he knew that the stablehands would be having their dinner right now and would not notice him. The little boy slipped into Turin´s box and laid his hand on the pony´s neck, then he bridled it quickly and led it outside. The noise Turin´s hooves were making sounded thunderous to Estel, but everything remained silent. As soon as he was out of the yard, he mounted and urged Turin into a canter.

He had not thought about the darkness. As soon as it had become night, he could barely see what was in front of him, and while he was still struggling to admit defeat, Turin, who had much better ears and did not like the sounds of night, apart from the darkness, decided to settle the matter by simply refusing to go any further. Estel slid of the pony´s back, but not being less stubborn, took the reins and began to walk, pulling Turin along. He simply did not want to give in; he would have been too ashamed of himself and thinking that Legolas was right, after all, in seeing only a mindless child in him.

In Elrond´s house, meanwhile, everyone was looking for the boy. Elrond did not however think about having Turin´s presence in the stable checked, because a six year old boy setting off alone into the night was just beyond his imagination, and apart from that, he did not know about the incident concerning Legolas.

Estel´s thoughts were racing while he pondered on what to do; if he had to walk all the way, he probably would not be able to make it in time, but if he reached the waterfalls too late, the hunters would be gone. Just when he considered the way he had to take, something came to his mind; there was an old watchtower, just a little off the path he was walking on now, where he might find a torch and some flint. It was quite easy to find once you had passed the old bridge, and it was near.

By midnight, the first searching parties had come back only to report that they had not found anything. Elrond´s worry for Aragorn was increasing, but still it did not appear to him that the boy could have left on horseback. He was rather worried that something odd might have happened to his youngest; he was, after all, sometimes a bit too careless, which had already ended up with him falling into all kinds of water or losing his orientation and getting lost in the woods.

Estel had meanwhile found the old watchtower; the moon had come out and lit the path just enough for him to make sure he was on the right way. He was far too excited to be afraid and quite proud of himself when he found the torches; it took a while to light the one he had taken, but he succeeded at last. Swiftly, he climbed back on Turin´s bare back, and the pony, now being able to see where it put its feet, set off again.

After a while, when the initial excitement had worn down, Estel grew a bit tired; he tried to distract himself by thinking about his plan. He had to admit to himself that he did not really know what to do after he had found the others, he had just thought along the line of watching them for a while and then, when they would be too far away from home to bring him back, expose himself. When he had first thought of this, it had seemed reasonable and exciting, but now he could see the flaw in this plan: what if they´d be unbelievably angry with him? What if he would just be a burden?

But then Estel was not one to lose heart so easily, and he had brought his bow and his knife, after all.

He did not know how much time had passed when he could hear the river, which meant that he was getting near the waterfalls. Estel lowered the torch but urged Turin on; it could not be very far now, so he had to be careful neither to be heard nor to be seen.

The ground was soft and sandy, so the hoofbeat was softened a great deal, and as Estel just had to follow the river from here, he dared to put out the torch. He was wide awake again, now that he had come this far. He was quite near the camping site, when Turin abruptly lifted his head and pricked his ears; Estel had to suppress a giggle, as Turin for sure had sensed his brother´s horses. But then the pony again did not want to move on one step. "Don´t be so stupid", Estel whispered, "the moon is light enough to see, and you have been here before, after all." But when Turin finally moved, he walked backwards, in an awkwardly nervous way.

Estel tried to stop him: "Turin! What-" but then he fell silent, because now he could hear it, too: something was moving through the undergrowth, something that sounded like many feet, and judging from the clanging sounds, something that wore armour. At this point, Estel froze completely, his mind racing, but then he came to his senses and silently slid down off Turin´s back, pulling him towards the trees on the other side of the path, out of the moonlight. The pony followed willingly, as if it had sensed that its rider had finally understood.

The night had gone far, but in Rivendell people were still looking for young Estel. Elrond himself had been out as well and just returned from a fruitless search, when one of the stablehands approached him: "I am sorry, my lord, but it seems that the little master´s pony has disappeared as well." Elrond stared at him, not apprehending at first, and then groaned inwardly, cursing himself for not having thought of the one appropriate reason Aragorn might have had to disappear like that on the very same day his brothers had gone hunting. "Get my horse ready, and quick", he said without hesitating any further, and then turned to the men who had been out searching with him: "I must ride to the waterfalls of Gal-Badran; I have reason to believe that Estel went there on his pony. Anyone who is not too tired, please meet me at the stables."

Estel closed his eyes and edged as near to his pony as possible. Orcs, he thought without being able to say for sure, but this is what he had imagined it to be like, in the safety of his bed and with a pleasantly creepy feeling, to be out in the woods at night and hear them approach you. Only this time he was not safe, and he could not make them disappear by opening his eyes. So he listened hard, not daring to move at all and silently praying for Turin to remain calm all the same. It did not take him long to realize that they were moving towards the camp; as they were staying in the shelter of the undergrowth, they would need a bit longer to get there than they would if they had taken the sandy path which led straight to the falls, but then they would have run straight into Estel, too.

The boy breathed hard as he realized that his brothers and Legolas were in immediate danger, but then he could not do anything, could he? If he tried to get there first, the orcs were bound to discover him, and it would take only one arrow to stop him. But he also could not get back to Imladris and get help in time; the twins and Legolas might be... dead by then. When Estel had come this far, he started to shiver violently; with a cruel clarity it dawned on him that he was helpless, and that he was only a little boy, after all. Not being able to fend off the terror that overcame him, he crumpled to the ground and wept.

TBC