The first thought that crossed Estel's mind upon his waking was influenced from the first sight that met his eyes upon his opening them – the Wood-Elf lying nearby was just as pale, ill, and lifeless as last the Adan had seen him.

What time is it? the human asked himself, and then rolled to his back to see where the sun in the sky lay overhead.

His dreams had been troubled: he could not recall their content, but the Adan did not need to remember them to feel their remaining sway threatening his composure. They had been less fiction and more memory, less confabulation and more truth than had his nightmares ever been before. He did not wish to contemplate his reverie, however, and so decided to stay awake so that he would not need to dream again. A precarious serenity had settled over him. It was counterfeit, for panic lay under this salubrious veneer, but the mendacious calm of having Elrohir and Elladan near and caring for him reassured Estel as it would any child, and he reveled in this, instead of casting it away as he would normally have done. Truly, the Adan did not want to be an adult right now, since he was not required by circumstance to be one any longer.

Pushing himself with his hands into sitting, the Adan then gathered the hem of his borrowed cloak so that it was tight around him once again. Sitting by the fire next to the Wood-Elf were the twins. Elladan had been grinding something in the small wooden mortar he always carried with him, and Elrohir had been tearing leaves and dropping them into his twin's bowl.

Ceasing their actions simultaneously, they stared at him with expectation, though what his foster brothers expected, Estel did not know. The sun was nearly not in the sky at all, but rather off in the distance, hidden by the trees, and barely illuminating his surroundings. It was early evening. He had been sleeping for hours, and while he must have required the rest he'd taken, Estel felt immediately guilty for not staying awake to aid the Silvan Prince.

"He is no better?" he asked them with a drowsy croak, seeking some assurance from them that the Wood-Elf would live.

Elladan moved closer to Estel to settle himself between Legolas and the Adan. "He is no worse, Estel."

Not satisfied with this answer, the human reached out to the Wood-Elf, feeling for himself the clammy, feverish skin of the Silvan's contused forehead. "His fever is down," the Adan said aloud, watching the Prince's chest as it moved in a steady pattern, "and he is breathing more regularly. What did you give him to make him better?" the curious child asked.

Looking in surprise to his twin, Elrohir told the human, "Yes, Estel, you are right. His fever is lessened, and his breathing grows deeper."

Instead of merely lying to the human by telling him that the Prince was well, or deflecting the child's curiosity in favor of keeping his explanation simple, Elladan instructed Estel, "The Prince is still poisoned, muindor, but his body is fighting. The athelas dressings we have placed over his wounds have helped him to fight the Black toxin."

Athelas. Of course. I have seen Lord Elrond use this weed on others in the healing wing.

Estel inspected the heated herb poultices that were pressed into the Wood-Elf's wounds. To him, the pulpy masses were no different from what he had thrown away as waste after grinding his burdock roots and dandelion leaves for the Elf yesterday. The Adan paid close attention as he watched Elladan and Elrohir continue to make more of the substance and spread it over the Silvan's body. He might need this information again someday, and unlike his usual lack of attention when the twins tried to teach him of healing, Estel realized now how lucky he was to have healers willing to train him. However, now he also understood how important these lessons truly were, for if he had paid closer attention to Lord Elrond's teachings before, Estel could have aided the Prince much more than he had been able to do these past few days. He thought, If I only I had remembered this, I could have found athelas in the forest and Legolas would be better even now!

"Is there nothing else that we can do for him?" the young human asked the twins. He was overjoyed that the Silvan was recuperating – and yet, from the pained visages of the Noldor as they spread dressings over their fellow Elf's wounds, they did not expect the best for Legolas. "Is there something that I can do to help?"

"There is something you can do, muindor. You can eat. If Ada does not arrive by tomorrow morning, we will be forced to leave for Imladris, and you will need your strength to help take Legolas home with us." Elladan withdrew from his satchel a skin of water and a long segment of jerky, holding these out to Estel, who merely looked at them without taking them.

The Adan watched as Elrohir knocked free the paste on the long gashes on Legolas' side to replace it with fresh. These cuts had been made when the Orc had threatened to taste the Silvan. Just this memory alone caused the Adan's stomach to rebel, and he looked down at the food in Elladan's hands with disgust and still did not take it.

Placing the last of his gob of crushed kingsfoil onto the Silvan's wounds, Elrohir looked up from his task and begged the human child, "Please eat, Estel."

He could imagine little that he could do to aid the valiant and intelligent twins. Estel complained bitterly to them, thinking of how he had watched helplessly as the Orc had carved into the Prince's torso, and how these two wounds had been the source of the Silvan's impending demise, "I am no help to you as I have been no help to Legolas!"

"Brother," Elrohir soothed the human, wiping his hands clean of the paste thereon by brushing them against his trousers to tell Estel, "if we are forced to walk to Imladris, one of us will need to carry the Prince, and you will need to help guard us from danger. Even tonight, we may need you to help us protect the Prince and ourselves. Can you do this?"

Peering at one identical face and then turning his gaze to the other, Estel ruminated on the Noldo's words, weighing whether the Elf was patronizing him to earn his compliance. Elrohir stood from the forest floor and walked to where his own satchel was lying on the ground. From it, the twin untied a weapon that Estel was happy to see – his short sword, which had been left at the campsite when Legolas and he had been captured, had apparently been saved by the twins when they had trailed the human and Silvan.

"Can you do this for us, brother?" the younger twin repeated, handing over the Adan's short sword to him.

Nodding eagerly, for he could see that Elrohir and Elladan were not requesting this condescendingly, the human took his blade. He sat it on the ground beside him, holding its hilt with one hand. With the other, Estel finally took the water and food offered to him by Elladan, and though he still did not hunger, the human attempted to eat what he was given to keep the twin Noldor from worrying over him. He had caused them enough worry.

Besides, he rationalized to himself, they are right. They will need me to help them down the mountainside, even if it is all I can do to help them, and Legolas.

Estel had been ecstatic to see the twin when Elladan had found him here by the brook, when in the past years he had wanted nothing more than but to avoid them, to refuse their care and attention. Even now, Estel found himself wishing that he had never run away, to save Legolas from this injury, but also so that he would not now be sitting here with the twins, the object of their unconditional love when he did not deserve it. He did not know why they called him brother now when he had been so distant to them these past few years and had caused them such heartache. Too caught up in his own problems, in a world where he always felt to be an outsider because he was a human amongst Elves, Estel had had not turned to them for help with this dilemma, because he had always seen them as a part of his problem. Looking from twin to twin now, and seeing no judgment, only worry, Estel knew that he had been wrong.

"I am sorry that I hit you, Elladan," he told the Noldo shamefacedly, placing a piece of the tough jerky in his mouth and chewing it slowly without meeting the twin's gaze. "I did not realize that it was you. I did not want to be captive again."

He had spoken to try to relieve their worry, but Elrohir and Elladan frowned at each other at his words. "Do not worry over it, Estel," Elladan assured the human, placing his hand upon Estel's shoulder. "I am not angry; I am proud of you, muindor! You did not run from danger, but stayed to protect yourself!"

"I thought you would kill Legolas," the young human told them by way of justification for his actions. "He is my friend: if not for Legolas, I would be dead."

Under the twins' observant eyes, Estel ate his meal, though he wished that Legolas were awake to eat, as well, for he was sure that the Wood-Elf would be hungry. Lord Elrond comes to fetch us, the human thought, feeling better now that Elladan had forgiven him. Although in his short years he had distanced himself from his Elven family, the Adan could not help but to feel joy that the Elf Lord would be arriving to aid the Prince and himself. However, Estel suddenly worried of the Imladrian leader, He will be furious that I have run away from Rivendell, even if I am now safe. Looking down at the Silvan lying on the ground, the salty jerky he ate tasted rancid to him upon thinking, He will blame me for Legolas being hurt, and as well he should!

"Estel?" The twin beside him, Elladan, spoke quietly, asking, "Are you well, brother?"

Estel could have told the twins what worried him, and they would have reassured him that their father would only be relieved to find his human son well – but Estel did not. Instead, he told them another of his worries, saying, "I fret for Legolas. It is my fault that he is hurt."

"He has lived this long, thanks to you, Estel." Watching over the Adan as Estel tore his jerky into smaller pieces, as if to ensure that the human would feed himself as he should, Elrohir added, "When Ada finds us, he will aid the Prince. Until then, there is nothing more that we can do for him. Do not worry – the Prince is strong."

He nodded in response and ate the last of his jerky. Estel had no more than swallowed when Elladan was beside him, having moved to stir the flames but now bringing back with him his mortar and a bowl of water from where he had left them beside the campfire.

"Come, Estel. Let me see to your stomach." The twin reached out to the Adan, and without thinking, Estel moved away to avoid him.

Hurt and confusion flickered across Elladan's face, his dark brows knitting together in a deep frown at the young Adan's actions.

"It is only a dagger wound," the Adan told his brothers quickly, once more trying to keep them from worrying over him, but also trying to hide his intuitive response of avoidance. He did not know why he had pulled away from Elladan: he did not fear the Noldo and yet had acted on instinct. "It will be fine."

They stared at him in response, their mouths slightly apart, and their eyes wide at hearing their human brother's excuse. "Only a dagger wound, Estel?" the elder twin said, his hurt forgotten. He looked to Elrohir as if to see that his twin had heard the same outrageous thing as he had heard.

The human shifted nervously on the ground. He may not have been alive as long as the two Noldor before him, but he had learnt much in his thirteen years, and one of the most important lessons was when to spot a lecture before it came. However, before he could avert the impending sermon from the twins, Elrohir responded to his identical half, telling Elladan, "This warrior cannot be stopped by a mere dagger! Our brother is a man now, not a child."

Estel waited for them to tease him, to show some sign that they were poking fun of his efforts to survive, but though the twins were exaggerating in their boasting, neither twin seemed to be doing it at Estel's expense. Smiling his pleasure to be seen as a both a warrior and a man, though he knew he was neither, the Adan told the twins, "I have only acted as you have taught me."

"You should not have run away from home, muindor," the elder twin told him. Tossing a limb into the fire and sending up a shower of sparks as the wet wood hissed in reply, Elladan then clapped Estel gently on the back, saying, "But what troubles you have earned for your actions, you have overcome, whether by what you have learnt from us or not. We are proud of you."

"As will Ada be," Elrohir told him with a wink. "Although I think he may lock you in your room until your mother returns. The doors to your balcony will be nailed into their frames to keep you from climbing down the balustrade!"

Reminded of his mother's absence from Imladris, the young Adan could only be glad that the Lady Gilraen had not been forced to endure the harrowing experience of Estel being lost in the forest, as had Lord Elrond. She will surely find out, he told himself, but did not care. His mother would only shower him with affection and much like Elrond desire to keep Estel underfoot until he grew a beard.

The elder twin joked to Estel, "Ada will have you within his sight for months! You will not be able to bathe without him in the next room."

His mind working to provide another ridiculous means that the Elf Lord of Imladris might take to keep Estel in the valley and safe from harm, the younger twin trailed off, "Or Ada may…"

"Tie him to a pillar in the courtyard?" interrupted a sabulous, whispery voice from nearby.

"Yes, tie him to a pillar in the …" the Noldo began to agree, but trailed off again when realizing it was not his twin or the Adan who had suggested this solution to the Adan's propensity to wander off.

Estel pushed away Elladan's hands where they were tying clean bandaging back around his stomach. He scooted forward on his rear until he could see into the face of the Wood-Elf lying on the ground. At seeing the bleary-eyed, pained, but very much conscious visage of his woodland friend, Estel cried out, "Legolas, you are awake!"

The mere moonlight, or what little of it that found its way between the thick, dark clouds overhead, was still too bright for the Silvan's eyes, and so he shut them. Rain spattered from between the limbs above, hitting his febrile, flushed face intermittently, though he felt cold, rather than warm, as he knew that he must be.

"Stay awake, Legolas," the Adan ordered him, and the amused Wood-Elf opened his eyes to find that some of the haze had left his vision.

At least Estel has been found, the Prince told himself. Perhaps they will take him home. He should have been more worried to note that the human had encountered more strangers, but now that he could see clearly Estel's wide smile, the Prince knew that the child was being cared for by whoever sat nearby. That they had woken him with their laughter and jokes of what their Ada might do to the human caused Legolas to suspect that he was in the presence of the Adan's Elven brothers, but it was not until one of them spoke that this suspicion was confirmed.

"He is Prince Legolas," someone chastised gently in the distinct accent of the Noldor Elves of Imladris. Said immortal moved into the Silvan's blurred view, reminding the Adan with a none too subtle hint that even with the Wood-Elf sick and prostrate on the ground before them, the human should still mind his manners in saying, "I am glad that you are awake, your Majesty."

Estel, however, did not seem to notice this. He moved as close to the Prince as he could get without sitting atop him. Legolas could not focus his eyes quickly enough to track the human's movements – he could only detect the distorted shape of the human's face as it peered down at him.

"Legolas," the child said elatedly, evincing that he had heard not a whit of what the Noldo had told him by once more not using the Prince's title, "this is my brother Elladan." At this, Estel pointed to the Elf beside him, and then, an identical, dark-haired Noldor Elf appeared by the first one, and Legolas looked between them, his weary mind slow to realize that the two Elves upon whom he gazed were indeed the twin sons of the Lord of Imladris. Pointing to the second Elf, Estel told the Silvan, "And this is my brother Elrohir. Do not worry, Legolas. Our Ada is coming to help you!"

He did not know why the two Noldor seemed so happy to hear the Adan call them his brothers, nor why they beamed at each other upon hearing the child call Lord Elrond his Ada, but Legolas did not try to understand. Thinking was too hard a task, and he was glad that the human's brothers were here to care for the child. He had been of little help as of late. Indeed, Legolas was certain of neither where they were nor how they had come to be here, but could not manage to ask.

The animated, excited human was patting the Silvan's shoulder in unintentionally harsh taps. The young man was obviously euphoric to see that Legolas was alert, and said as much to the twin Noldor, telling them as if they were not aware of this already, "He is awake!"

Estel took up a bladder holding water that sat at his feet, and uncorking it, slid his hand under Legolas' neck and gently lifted the unresisting Elf's head as he poured the last drops of the cool liquid between the Prince's chapped, cracked, and eager lips. "Let us give him something! Surely, you have some herbs that will aid him, even if they will not cure him. He must be in pain and his fever…" the child bossed his elders.

Estel's words broke the strange stupor under which the twins had been sitting, staring at Legolas in astonishment that the Silvan was conscious. One bustled to gather more water for the Wood-Elf, who found that though he remembered little of what had occurred since beginning his and Estel's journey down the mountainside, he could recall clearly that his thirst had been immense. The other twin searched through his bag, tossing aside parchment envelopes that likely contained herbs to use upon the Silvan. The Wood-Elf could not tell twin from twin, nor could his lessening awareness force his lax mouth to offer thanks to the Elves trying to help him.

Legolas knew that he was severely poisoned, that his body, though trying to fight off the toxin within it, was shutting down from the overload of both poison and injury. From the sympathetic smiles of the two Noldor as they tried to tend him, Legolas understood that the Adan's brothers knew this, as well. Should Lord Elrond not arrive soon, the Silvan's immortal life would be cut unpleasantly short.

"Hannon le," he tried to tell the human child when after sating the Prince's thirst, Estel laid the Silvan's head back upon the makeshift pillow under it.

Despite Estel's protest to the Silvan to remain awake, the Prince closed his eyes and fell back into a welcomed unconsciousness, his thirst slaked and his mind at ease: they had been found, and the innocent Adan would find his way home with or without the Wood-Elf.