AN: Due to the nature of this story I can't reply to individual reviews, but let me note something here. This story isn't going to be connected, it's a collection of short stories. Maybe next year when I have more time to plan I can do an actual connected story, but if you're really interested in what Aragorn might do to get back at Legolas and Gimli you'll just have to use your imagination.
I should have warned you...a couple of these stories also feature one of my original characters—Belegdur.
Two Twin Elves
"Oh no."
Legolas glanced up at his brother, then out at the window overlooking the palace grounds. A handful of elves in the colors of Imladris were riding in, no doubt bearing a reply to his father's message. "Is something the matter?"
Belegdur gestured to the approaching party. "Can you not see? They have come."
They? Legolas took a second look, and his face split into a broad grin. "You mean Elladan and Elrohir?"
"Why Elrond should insist on sending both of his twin sons is beyond me...surely one could carrying the message just as easily."
Legolas shook his head without replying, a smile playing about his lips. He figured the twins had come along to visit him as much as to deliver their father's message, but it was always amusing to listen to Belegdur assume both were coming simply to be an annoyance to him.
"I will never have a moment's peace with them here," Belegdur sighed dramatically, turning to give his brother a beseeching glance. "Twins...why did they have to be twins?"
Legolas nearly snorted, covering the gesture up by lowering his head to further study the scroll in front of him. Though, he had to admit, it was hard to pretend to be enthralled by a report on the amount firewood the nothernmost outpost had burned each night...perhaps they needed to assign a different elf to fill out the monthly reports. One who was less thorough.
"Do you know they used to find it endlessly amusing to tell me they were not two twins, but one elf and therefore I must be seeing double? Were I more gullible I might have been concerned."
Yes, Legolas had heard them try the same prank with different results. Of course, that had been that time they were being pursued by a madman...Elladan and Elrohir had tricked him into thinking himself insane and thus escaping.
"And they have the strangest knack for appearing just when it is most inopportune...like blundering into that trade meeting not one moment after I had finished assuring the paranoid traders from the Eastern borders of Long Lake that we were not being spied upon."
Of course, Legolas reflected, they also had a knack for appearing in the nick of time. Like when he and Aragorn had been captured and the orcs were trying to decide who to kill and who to drag back to their leader...Elladan and Elrohir had been quite timely then.
"And the way they each finish the other's sentence!" Belegdur nearly shouted. "One never knows how to carry on a conversation with them...you could begin talking to one and finish talking to the other."
"Belegdur," Legolas interrupted his brother's diatribe calmly. "If they bother you so much, I would be happy to entertain them and keep them away from you."
"They do not bother me," Belegdur protested. "I merely...they are unsettling."
Legolas grinned. "Truly, Belegdur, if you do not wish to face them I would be happy to keep them away from you."
"It is not that I do not wish to face them," Belegdur's voice raised slightly, unaware that his brother was baiting him. "It is merely...they are twins, Legolas."
"Yes, they are."
"They are twins...they have the habit of appearing in two places at once, you can never quite be sure which you are speaking to, and they take pleasure in keeping me as unsettled as possible."
"If you are afraid..."
"I am not afraid!" Belegdur nearly shouted again. "I am not afraid of Elladan and Elrohir...let me prove it to you!"
Without another word, Belegdur stalked from the room and down the hall. Legolas followed, fighting the rather un-princely urge to shove a fist in his mouth to stifle his laughter.
The twins were just entering the hall when Belegdur stalked up to greet them. The older prince was polite, if a bit harried-sounding, and managed to welcome them both to the halls of King Thranduil without confusing too many of his words in his haste to prove himself brave enough to face the "menace" of facing Elladan and Elrohir.
"Greetings, Belegdur," the twins said—turning as one and speaking as one. Legolas suddenly found the nearby tapestry very interesting—that is, he buried his face in the heavy fabric and let himself laugh heartily.
Elladan and Elrohir did not know Belegdur found them unsettling...and Belegdur did not know that the twins thought the same of him. And when the twins were unsettled by someone, they had the tendency to dress alike, speak alike, and generally do everything that usually unsettled Belegdur.
His father had been right...asking Lord Elrond to send both Elladan and Elrohir to Mirkwood would prove to be very amusing indeed.
Happy Holidays!
