It was a slow morning at Amon Ereb. A great storm had blown through the night before and everything was covered in snow. Maedhros was making his way back to the main Keep from the armory where he had been taking inventory when something cold hit him in the back of the head and fell down the back of his tunic. He whirled around, crouching in a defensive stance.
His gaze fell not on hostile enemies determined to kill, but rather on the peredhel twins. They both were looking at him with huge eyes. Based off his position and posture, Maedhros guessed that Elros had thrown the snowball. His suspicions were confirmed when Elros began to cry.
"I'm sorry!" The elfling wailed, "I didn't mean to hit you."
As his pulse settled after the freight, Maedhros slowly let his guard drop. He came over and crouched in front of the twins. Elrond had seen his approach and, fearing for punishment for Elros, had pushed his twin behind him.
"He didn't mean to," Elrond stated firmly, tears in his own eyes.
"It's alright," Maedhros murmured consolingly, "It was an accident and it caught me by surprise, that's all. Lesson number one of a well trained elven soldier is he knowns how to aim. I think can help."
The twins blinked. This is not what they had expected. They had expected to yelled at or possibly put on latrine duty (Maglor had used that occasionally as a threat, but the twins had always been smart enough to afterwards avoid whatever behavior was being disciplined).
"Really?" They asked in unison.
"I believe so," Maedhros nodded, for once giving into his old role of Maitimo, the awesome older brother.
Maedhros led them behind the small stable where he set up a hay bale as a target. He quickly found that once they got over their fright, the twins were extraordinarily enthusiastic, if not a bit clumsy.
Once they had improved a bit (if that is what it could be called), Maedhros went to leave. The twins however pleaded against this. They hung onto his legs and begged him to play with them.
"Not now," Maedhros grabbed a fist full of Elrond's tunic and pried the elfling off of his leg. He set Elrong down on the bale of hay and grab Elros. No sooner had he lifted Elros, then Elrond had re-attached himself the Maedhros' leg.
"Go find Kano," Maedhros grumbled. He had other things to attend to. Keeping his brother's wards entertained was not one of them.
"No, we want you!" Elros decided.
"Atya is better at stories and stuff. You are better at this," Elrond said confidently, as though that explained why Maedhros was more desirable in this situation.
"Alright, one more hour," he sighed, "Lesson number two, know how to out maneuver your opponent."
And so it was that Maedhros found himself instructing the twins on various strategies, both offensive and defensive, to utilize in their snow wars. This was not how he had planned to spend his afternoon. But then again, when he was back in Aman, this was not how he had planning on spending his life.
Somewhere along the way, the twins decided that they wanted to put their new found knowledge into practice by attacking Maglor. Maedhros originally decided that their plan was too dangerous, but after looking at their pleading faces, he relented. They set up an elaborate ambush for the younger FĂ«anorion.
It was close to meal time when Maglor came out to retrieve the twins for dinner. He came out of the main building and around the corner, whistling jauntily.
"Elrond! Elro-"
As his brother rounded the corner, Maedhros signaled the attack. Maglor was completely unprepared to be pelted by snow balls. After the second volley, he dropped to the ground. A few more snowballs later, Maedhros stopped the twins. Maglor had yet to rise, he remained sprawled in the slush. A sickening thought crossed Maedhros' mind. What if Maglor had been injured? They were only snowballs, but still…
He raced over to the downed elf and turned Maglor onto his back to check for injuries. The only warning Maedhros got was Maglor's shit eating grin before he was flipped head over heels into the slush next to his brother. Maglor easily rolled to his feet.
"Give me a little credit, Russ," Maglor beamed, "I wouldn't go down that easily."
Maedhros dusted himself off.
"Then you give me no choice, you wickedly ungrateful child," Maedhros declared. He darted forward and threw Maglor over his shoulder. Then he marched over to a deep bank of snow and prepared to toss his brother in.
"No! Please! I surrender!" Maglor shrieked when he saw his doom.
"Good," Maedhros grunted. He frowned as he found that he was unable to toss Maglor as the musician had latched on tightly.
"Elrond, Elros, please come here," Maedhros barked.
The twins scurried forward obediently, uncertain why they were being called.
"I need you to tickle him," Maedhros commanded. The twins gaped at him before exchanging a gleeful look. They climbed up on the fence railing next to Maedhros to reach their foster father.
"No, please brother, I beg you!" Maglor gasped out as the twins tickled him. Maedhros didn't say a word, he merely flipped Maglor off his should and into the deep powder. Maglor landed in the soft snow with an oof. He came up covered in white.
"Oh, it's on," Maglor narrowed his eyes playfully.
"Lesson three, boys," Maedhros sternly told the peredhel, "Know when to retreat."
With that, he scooped the twins up and hurried out of snowball range.