"How about that one?" Aragorn looked over to the elfling pointed out by his wife and was unable to hold back the girlish squeal of fright at the menacing snarl on said child's face.

Turning to his wife he tried to maintain, or should I say regain, a calm and considering air. He grabbed his wife by the elbow and dragged her away sharply; the look of shock returning to his now pale face as he hissed in what he hoped was a relatively quiet tone, even if they were surrounded by elves and their annoyingly sharp hearing.

"What are you thinking??" Arwen sighed at this, turning back to the child who now held the most angelic and adorable smile on her face. "Oh Estel please, you know how much I want children, and that little child is a darling!" Aragorn himself turned back to the child, the expression on his face clearly disbelieving as he leant towards his wife with a panicked whisper. "The child is evil; she would kill me in my sleep!!"

Arwen frowned at this, a disappointed look on her face and with a jolt Aragon suddenly recognized the looming lecture that usually resulted from disagreeing with his wife.

"I, uh…" Think Aragorn, think!! "I like that one better!" Pointing suddenly in a random direction, his face paled even more when he realized what he was pointing at.

"Estel…" Arwen started patiently "that is my father; we cannot adopt my father." At Arwen's statement, the elven lord looked up from the scroll he had been peering at, a confused expression on his face as he tried to figure out why his only daughter was shaking her head slowly, while his foster son had a finger pointed towards him.

---

There was a sudden laughing to her right. A moment later a splash of water hit her and the laughing increased. The warm sun made her smile lazily as she turned towards the source of the laughing and splashing; her younger sister Rylianna. "Oh yes, very amusing." She scolded halfheartedly, before smirking and quickly diving forward to deliver a splash of her own.

"This was a great idea Tria!" Rylie grinned as she dipped her feet into the sparkling clear river.

"Yes, it was lucky this barge appeared!" She turned at this, flashing a cheerful grin at the sullen dwarf; he was most displeased at having two elves on board his barge but the little fiends had just leapt on of their own accord! Muttering irritably about this into his beard, he never noticed when the elflings made another leap, this time leaving the barge as they got near enough to the other side.

---

Elrond sighed as he rubbed his forehead slowly, the arguing voices of his two youngest children playing on the last of his nerves. Lifting his head up slowly, he fixed the bickering couple with his most famous and dreaded of glares. Instantly the arguing stopped.

"Now," Pacing forward slowly, trying to gather the very last of his patience "what is all of this about?"

---

"That was soooo much fun, can we go again?" Daetria rolled her eyes, letting out a sigh as she looked down at her sister. The younger of the Mirkwood princess' was currently bouncing around like some common dog, circling her elder sister one way before turning and circling in the opposite direction.

Daetria glared down at her sister in disapproval, determinedly continuing on in the hike as she dealt to her sister's questioning and pleading with one single word. "No." As simple as that, Daetria looked away from her sister and back at the path before them, her younger sister left to hurry after her like a sad puppy.

---

"Let me get this straight…" Elrond gathered his thoughts; all the information he had been given by Aragorn and Arwen, and tried to put it in a logical, easy to understand way. If that was at all possible. "You," pointing one hand at his daughter "want to have children. And you" pointing his other hand at the human he had taken in and raised himself "are opposed to the idea of adopting an elfling." The two before him nodded at this, and Elrond blinked slowly as he processed this.

"Now, this might sound like a ridiculous idea," He started pacing again as he presented the most logical solution he could think of "but have the two of you considered having your own elflings?"

"He is unable!" Arwen cried out as she leapt forward, causing her father to look up in surprise. "He is?" Blinking slowly as this processed, before turning to his foster son. "Did the tests indicate any reason for this?"

Aragorn turned bright red under his father's scrutinizing stare.

"There were no tests," he mumbled reluctantly "Arwen is just unable to-" He was interrupted by a sharp hiss from his wife, and turning towards her he gulped at the pure fury visible.

"Ahh." Elrond grimaced at the scene before him. He caught sight of one of the new council scribes and hurrying after said scribe, pretending he had been called.

---

He stopped at the river, shaking his head in disbelief as he frantically tried to pick up the trail left by the two elflings. This was to no avail; the footprints left by his daughters disappeared into the river.

Legolas closed his eyes, subconsciously muttering yet another plea to the valar before leaping into the icy water, swimming determinedly with his eyes fixed on the opposite shore. All he had to go on now was the hope that his girls had found a safe way across the river, and that he would quickly catch up with them on the other side.

---

The grumpy old dwarf was on his return trip across the river when he spotted yet another elf making their way across, this one bigger than the last two. The fact that this was an adult instead of a child didn't occur to the dwarf thinking seemed to hurt his head, and he always found it best to just steer clear of other creatures' altogether.

"Ruddy elf." He grumbled under his breath, before quickly pointing his barge in the opposite direction and floating away quickly before the elf could notice him.