Dawn broke swiftly over Rivendell and Legolas and Adela rose sleepily. After washing they dressed in their uniforms, made sure that their white cloth shoes were clean and braided their hair neatly. They then left their room and walked to the dining room whilst holding hands, forgetting completely about their Father's rule never to hold hands in public. And they had snuck out of their room last night; Rivendell was already having an effect on them. Seeing Elladan and Elrohir sat by themselves at one side of the hall, Legolas and Adela quickly joined them, without anyone else in the room noticing them. Sharing smiles and warm greetings, all four then turned to their food, Legolas and Adela not eating much though. Sipping at orange juice the four settled back and watched everyone else coming into the dining room, since they had arrived early. "So, what are you two up to today?" Elrohir asked the younger set of twins.

"We're studying with Erestor all this morning and have a study hour before evening meal but in between we don't know," Legolas told them.

"What about you?" Adela then asked.

"Whatever Ada decides we are fit for," Elladan told them gloomily.

"Oh, too bad," Adela told them sympathetically.

Legolas took another sip of his orange juice before giving the twins a small smile. "Maybe it won't be as bad as you think," he told them.

"And how old are you again?!" Elladan teased him.

"Seven human years, but I'm sharp, remember?" Legolas teased straight back, forgetting all the rules that his Father had ever taught him.

"Oh yeah…" Elrohir smirked and the four giggled quietly together.

The happiness faded from all four once breakfast was over and they split up and went separate ways, Legolas and Adela to the schoolroom and Elladan and Elrohir to their Father's study. Sitting at their desks waiting for Erestor Legolas and Adela were talking quietly and didn't hear when Erestor entered the room. He cleared his throat and both of the twins jumped slightly, turning so that they were facing the front of the schoolroom.

Erestor had decided that they would be studying Numeracy this morning and soon both Adela and Legolas had their heads bent over workbooks, completing a test to show Erestor how far they were on with their studies. It didn't seem to matter to him that they had brought their test results with them and reports from their tutors back in Mirkwood. They had even brought some of their old test papers with them but Erestor had said that he still wanted them to do the test so 'that he could identify any weaknesses'.

Finishing their tests at roughly the same time, Legolas and Adela stood up together and laid them both on Erestor's desk in a neat pile. The then went back to their seats and sat down with their eyes straight ahead and their hands folded in front of them, it seemed that they hadn't forgotten all the Mirkwood rules.

Erestor smiled slightly when he saw how Legolas and Adela could act so perfectly in accordance to Thranduil's rules, but it still unnerved him a bit. Elves of Legolas and Adela's age where not supposed to sit silently for hours on end with out moving, they were supposed to run, skip, play and be outside without worrying about things which were above them. And they certainly weren't supposed to follow every rule to the exact letter.

Deciding to mark the exam papers now, Erestor gave them some assigned reading to do, then a comprehension exercise to follow it so that they had studied some Literature for the day, not realising that he was basically following Mirkwood studying rules as well. After finishing their comprehension exercise Erestor set them another one, a longer, harder one, which they were to do in their study hour and complete for the next day in their free time if they didn't get it finished.

After being dismissed Legolas and Adela went quickly back to their rooms and changed into their work clothes, blue overalls, which fell to just past her knees and a white long sleeved top for Adela and longish brown shorts and a blue top and braces for Legolas. After getting changed the twins made their way outside. They really wanted to see Elladan and Elrohir again, to see if they were ok. They also wanted to see Arwen, since they hadn't seen her yet today, but they suspected that all three were busy, so they would just have to amuse themselves.

Going down near the river again they started up a game of 'tag' which was one of the ways they ran of pent up energy at him because it helped with weaponry training and it didn't make to much noise, they weren't allowed to laugh whilst warming up, which was what the game was used for. However, they both decided that although they were probably allowed to make as much noise as they liked whilst outside in Rivendell, they weren't sure though, it was much more fun playing in Mirkwood because there were more children to play with. It wasn't much fun with only two and it made Legolas and Adela long for their older brothers who would often come up behind them and scoop them off their feet, often causing them to shriek with laughter. And this memory brought back summer evenings spent as a family, when everyone joined in, even their parents and Danini, one of the times when they were allowed to make as much noise as they liked and laugh and joke about. They were allowed to do all those things in private, but never in the public in front of tutors or anything like that. They had to follow the rules then and act as the perfect little elves, the youngest son and daughter of the King.

Getting bored of the game because it really needed more players, Legolas and Adela sat down on the grass and talked. Life in Rivendell was getting better, but it wasn't the same as in Mirkwood. They knew that leaves would be falling from the tress in Mirkwood now and that there would be huge piles of dead red, yellow, brown and orange leaves everywhere, ready to be burnt.

They talked about the massive leaf fight that they had had with their brothers only last year, in one of the rare, carefree family moments and they remembered their father joining in. They remembered jumping in piles of leaves and then very late one night when the weather had turned even colder because it was several months later and they could see their breath in front of them, all the leaves were burnt in massive bonfires all throughout Mirkwood. The sky looked red every direction you looked. Stood there in hats and mittens in the back gardens of the house they had helped their brothers pile up the leaves and then watched as their Father set fire to it. It was a long standing tradition in Mirkwood. They had even roasted chestnuts on the fire and their Mother had brought some salt out for them to roll the nuts in before eating them. They could remember these nights in the fall for as long as they could remember and it was one of their favourite traditions in Mirkwood. They got to spend time with their family and stay up late. Since it was tradition, all children in Mirkwood did not have to go to school until the afternoon the next day.

Legolas and Adela knew that the leaf burning was still a while away but seeing the leaves fall from the trees around them instantly reminded them of this. They wished they could go back to Mirkwood for the leaf burning but they knew that the snow would come soon after, if it hadn't already, and it would be impossible to get back through to Imladris. They remembered the year before last when they had piled up the leaves on a mountain of snow and had had a snowball fight whilst the leaves were burning, before coming and warming up by the fire.

Realising that they had been outside for quite a while now, the twins hastened back to the Last Homely House. They quickly changed into their uniforms and checked that they were presentable. Thinking of the leaf burning and home made all of their Father's rules come back into mind and they couldn't believe how they had been behaving. If things were lax in Rivendell, then they would have to make sure that they followed their Father's rules and didn't go astray.

With these words to each other they headed for the schoolroom and found that they had arrived before who ever was going to be supervising them. This did not matter to Legolas and Adela who sat down and instantly began work on the comprehension exercise, just like their Father and tutors back in Mirkwood would of expected them to.

Both Legolas and Adela had realised that although they had began to accept life in Rivendell, they would never fit in perfectly because they missed Mirkwood and where still influenced by the things they were taught there. Mirkwood would always be their home.