"Ready...and...NOW!" Legolas hisses.
Tauriel empties her bucket over the banister, hearing the water cascading onto the floor below a second before a spluttering shout echoes up to them. She is quick to duck back behind the railing, feeling Legolas drop to a crouch at her side and trusting him to make sure she is hidden. The two of them smother their snickering as curses bounce around the arched ceilings from below.
"Legolas Thranduilion!" Galion bellows, and Tauriel has to bite her hand to keep quiet as Legolas goes stiff beside her.
Another string of curses accompanied by soggy footsteps is enough to send the pair of them into near hysterics, and Tauriel almost does not notice the squishing sound getting higher up and louder.
Almost.
"Stairs! Stairs!" she hisses, scrambling to her feet and grabbing for Legolas. He is quick to catch on, taking her wrist and darting into the lead as she hears Galion reach the top of the steps and round the corner. Trusting Legolas to lead her, Tauriel follows the prince at a dead run as Galion gives chase.
Their laughter and Galion's shouts echo through the corridors of the palace, and Tauriel can hear other elves in the halls as they dart out of the way or snicker at poor Galion's expense.
No one tries to stop them. This was a common occurrence only a few hundred years ago, after all. Before the two of them had gotten older and more serious. Before their world had become dark with the intruding evils, and their forests overrun with the spawn of evil.
Before they'd needed to grow up.
Galion has gotten no slower over the years, however, and despite their lead, she can hear him catching up. Legolas pulls her down a side hallway, taking another sharp corner almost immediately after, and Tauriel is whipped into a spin that lands her in his arms, pressed up against his chest.
"Ssh," he whispers, pulling her close, and Tauriel grins. She rests her forehead against his shoulder, trusting that they are hidden but ready to run if need be, and listens for Galion as he runs past them. His footsteps echo down the hall, and she feels Legolas slip from their hiding spot with her in tow before they are running again, in the opposite direction.
"Come back here, you pair of goblins!" Galion calls, his voice echoing down the hall.
"Never!" Legolas calls over a shoulder, and Tauriel grins like a fool as they take another corner. Two turns later, Tauriel has completely lost track of their location in the palace. They stumble into what sounds like an open area, and Legolas hesitates for a second before pulling her off to one side. The creak of a turning doorknob reaches her ears, and then the prince lets her wrist go.
"Hide here," Legolas whispers, shoving her into what smells like a spice cellar, "I will draw him off."
Tauriel gets no time to protest as Legolas firmly closes the door and she hears him scamper away. It is only another second until she hears Galion, however, and she holds her breath in anticipation.
The door does not open, the footsteps moving away from her but not far, and Tauriel tilts her head as she hears Legolas shout something from a distance. She hears Galion's voice as well, but cannot make out what he is saying, so she edges closer and presses her ear to the door to listen.
"You can't spank me, I'm a prince!" Legolas' muffled voice comes from somewhere out in the room, although she cannot pinpoint him through the heavy wood.
"I don't care if you're a prince, I'm going to tan your hide!" the older elf calls back, and Tauriel has to take a slow breath to stem her laughter.
"You'll have to catch me first!"
"I've already caught you - you have nowhere else to go."
"I can wait here all day."
"Legolas, you will get down here this instant!"
"Nope, not gonna happen."
"Then I suppose I will have to inform your father about why exactly his elk was shaved half bald last spring."
"Galion, you traitor! You promised never to speak of that again!"
Tauriel can no longer contain her laughter, even with both hands covering her mouth, and a few small giggles escape.
Out in the room, Galion stops mid-threat. "Now hold on, what do we have here?"
Footsteps rapidly approach, and Tauriel turns to try and scramble deeper into the cellar. She has just barely begun climbing over what feels like a crate when the door is thrown open behind her.
"Got you!"
Tauriel yelps as she is grabbed from behind, feeling herself hoisted in the air for a second before she is tossed rather unceremoniously over a shoulder. Being moved in such a way is incredibly disorienting, and Tauriel is too dizzy to run when she is briefly set on her feet again.
It does not matter, however, because a second later she finds herself sprawled across what she can only assume is Galion's lap, as if he is about to give her a spanking.
"W-wait, Galion!" she yelps.
"If I can't catch the prince, I will settle for his partner in crime."
"Galion, you wouldn't hit someone who was blind," she pleads as he pins her across his lap.
"Watch me," is the growled reply. Tauriel can feel the dampness of his robes beneath her, and despite her precarious position she cannot help a hysterical little giggle at the mental image of Galion completely soaked with water and looking like a very irritated and half-drowned rat. "Oh, you won't think it's so funny in a few minutes," Galion mutters, and she feels him draw an arm back for the swing.
"No, no, no, wait-!" she cries, twisting in his hold and struggling to get free as she tries to stall for time.
"Beg all you want, you won't change my mind."
"Legolas!" she yelps as he pins her more firmly.
Galion's hand lands on her backside but the blow is light, the strike pulled at the last second.
It is enough to lure the Prince, however.
"Galion, over here!" Legolas calls from somewhere to her left, but Tauriel doesn't have a chance to hear the reply. She hears the splash a second before she is suddenly doused with a frigid wetness that soaks her through and leaves her gasping.
"Legolas!" she cries, appalled, as Galion laughs.
"You need to work on your aim, my Prince. Although, seeing as you have come down off the cabinets..."
Tauriel finds herself suddenly sitting on the floor, soaked through, with Legolas and Galion in a scuffle somewhere off to her left. She lifts her arms, feeling the new weight of her soaked clothing as she wrinkles her nose in distaste.
Her bloody luck with water...
The sound of the scuffle gets closer, Legolas protesting loudly as Galion laughs, and Tauriel is debating whether to help or simply leave Legolas to his fate when she hears a door open behind her.
"What on earth is all of the commotion in here?" Thranduil's voice demands, and the sound of the struggle ceases at once.
"Ada, help me!" Legolas cries, and for a long moment no one makes a sound.
Tauriel can feel the heat rising to her cheeks as the silence draws out, and can only assume that Thranduil is looking over the scene in disapproval. After another moment, there is a long sigh from the king.
"Legolas, you have been home for a week," Thranduil says in exasperation, and Tauriel can almost hear him pinching the bridge of his nose.
"It was not my fault!"
"My foot it wasn't your fault, you little-"
"Ada, who are you going to believe? Galion or your own son?"
"You forget, ionneg," Thranduil starts before Galion can say anything, and Tauriel hears his footsteps approaching as his voice gets closer. "You are my beloved child, whom I have raised from birth. You should know by now that I fully trust you...to be causing trouble."
Galion snorts out a laugh as Legolas scoffs.
She hears the shift of cloth as Thranduil turns, most likely to face her.
"And Tauriel, really-"
"I was just doing as Prince Legolas told me," she replies, widening her eyes.
Legolas lets out a rather undignified squawk, and she has to bite her tongue to keep herself from smiling and ruining her "innocent" expression.
"Oh, sure, throw me to the wargs!" the prince says.
"You doused me with frigid water!" she argues.
"I was aiming for Galion!"
"Well you missed!"
"Children," Thranduil interrupts sharply, and the pair of them quiet down. "As you clearly cannot be trusted to behave yourselves indoors, might I suggest we go for a walk? A very, very long walk," he adds a bit more sternly, and Tauriel ducks her head in ascent, trying not to smile. Thranduil's footsteps retreat toward the door, and she hears a brief scramble as Galion and Legolas detangle themselves.
"There, see?" Legolas says. "We're going for a walk. You cannot spank me."
"I'm sure the walk can wait," Thranduil's voice drawls from the doorway, and Tauriel hears Legolas' horrified cry of "Ada!"
A second later the prince brushes up beside her, dragging her to her feet and taking her wrist to pull her along after him.
"No. No, it cannot wait. We are going for a walk now before it gets dark. Tauriel needs to dry off in the sun."
Tauriel follows him sheepishly, hearing Thranduil mutter an apology to Galion as they pass. The other elf, in turn, laughs it off.
"It is good to have them in such high spirits, My Lord. And it has been ages since I've done anything this exciting. Do not worry yourself. I take no offense."
Tauriel cannot help her little smile as Legolas tugs her along briskly, Thranduil falling into step behind them and grumbling good naturedly.
This was fun.
The last time she and Legolas had actually played together had been decades - if not centuries - ago. Her heart is still pounding in her throat, her blood singing as it rushes through her veins, and she lets her smile blossom into a full grin.
"I missed you," she mutters, nudging Legolas affectionately.
"And I you, mellon."
"And I had forgotten how peaceful it was without the two of you running around causing problems," Thranduil growls from behind them, but there is a hint of teasing in his tone, and Tauriel can hear the smile in his voice. He is not truly upset with them.
"Admit it, you missed this too," Legolas teases.
"I will admit no such thing."
"But neither does he deny it," Legolas whispers to her, and Tauriel snickers.
"Go get your gear, troublemakers," Thranduil says in fond exasperation behind them, and the two of them scamper off to do so, laughing.
Author's Note: I am still determined to have this finished by New Year's, even if it kills me. I will try to go back to posting every Friday. Happy exams, everyone! I have given you reason to procrastinate!
