Authors notes: This is a pre-LOTR fic. I had to write it as I love the idea of a younger Legolas! I got the names of some elvish websites, I hope they are not too weird.

Disclaimer: I don't own Middle-earth or any of the known characters. The ones that you haven't heard of are mine, for example Elerossë.

Childish Adventures.

            Everything was quiet in Mirkwood, everyone was having a peaceful day. The sun was shining and most people had stopped working and were just enjoying themselves. Even the spiders and other foul creatures had decided to take the day off. A maid was walking down the corridor, a bundle of freshly washed robes in her arms. She reached an arch and walked under it, and a bucket of water feel on her.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh."

Four elflings jumped out of the shadows and ran round the bend, laughing happily. They stopped and leaned against the wall, trying to fight off the hysterics. One stood up, mischief shining in his blue silver eyes. He pushed a strand of silvery blonde hair that had come lose of his braid, behind his ear.

"Well I think that Enelya like that!"

Another round of giggles was his reply, the other three had collapsed on the floor laughing. They sat there for a few minutes before Ranawen looked up at Legolas. Her dark brown wavy hair falling around her shoulders, her dark brown eyes locking onto Legolas.

"We had better be going before we're caught."

"We'll be caught anyway but that's part of the fun." Tanya said looking up at his friends, his black hair was pulled back in a braid like Legolas. He had dark skin like most elves in Mirkwood and had reddish brown eyes that looked like fire. Appropriate as that was what his name meant. Lólindir pulled himself to his feet, his light brown hair was pulled back into a braid, most children wore them except for a few, one of them being Ranawen. He had sharp green eyes set in a pale face, for like Legolas their mothers had been of Lorien. The four turned and ran down the corridors hardly meeting anyone which they were glad of. They never had anywhere to hide from the grown-ups so they hide in one of their rooms. But the grown-ups had worked that out and so now they had taken to running round the palace hoping that they wouldn't be found.

            Legolas, Ranawen, Tanya and Lólindir were sitting in a big tree in the gardens. It was overlooking a pond and was their favourite place in the summer. Legolas was presently sitting on one of the branches with his back to the trunk. He hummed to himself as he ran his fingers through the leaves.

"Little elflings where are you?"

Legolas started nearly falling out the tree. The look of fear on Lólindir's face was nearly hysterical, if the same thing that was after Lólindir wasn't after him too. He jumped down and joined the other three on the ground.

"Elerossë." He hissed glancing over his shoulder at the palace a bit further away. Elerossë was captain of the guards and a good friend of Legolas's father. The captain was always catching them and helping his father punish them for their tricks.

"The back entrance quick."

The four turned on their heels and bolted. Running through the numerous gardens that surrounded part of the palace they came upon the path that led to the kitchen. Pulling the door open they darted inside. Slipping in-between the cooks, waiters and waitresses they ran for the other side of the room. Cries of surprise and splattering of food followed them as they knocked trays to the floor. Making it out the door they tore down the corridors making their way to the royal chambers. After running up two flights of stairs, three of them stopped outside Legolas's door, while Tanya carried on running.

Smack!

The boy had been going to fast to stop and had run into the dead end. The other three burst into laughter.

"Well done Tanya."

"I meant to do that." Tanya declared pulling himself to his feet, he wobbled slightly his head dizzy and placed his palm on the wall.

"Open your-" Tanya started to say, but didn't finish because the wall behind him opened up. Tanya cried out in surprise as he fell over. The remaining trio rushed up to their friend. Tanya sat up rubbing his head, he glared at his friends daring them to tease him.

"You okay Tan?"

"I'm fine but what happened?"

Legolas looked around, there appeared to be a round door. Made to look like the wall and Tanya had somehow triggered a way to open it.

"Where were you leaning Tan?"

The boy stood up and pointed to a flower design on the wall to the right of the door. Legolas put his hand on it and said "close." The door slammed shut looking like part of the wall again. The blonde smiled and said "open", the door opened up again.

"Wow! I bet this is something even Thranduil and Elerossë don't even known about."

"Yeah and it shall be our secret!" Tanya said a broad smile covering his face.

"Yes but we don't even know where it leads too, not to mention we may not know which flower to use again anyway."

Lólindir pointed out, rubbing his chin, very much like his father. Legolas smiled, Lólindir was very much the brains of the group. The other three would think of something evil to do and Lólindir would plan everything out, what they needed, the escape route. Yes, Lólindir was definitely the smart one of the group. Legolas glanced back at the wall, it was wooden and had carvings all over it as a decoration. It looked like ivy with flowers attached too it. Lólindir glanced over all the other flowers, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Our flower only has four petals the others have five."

"Right." Legolas declared, he turned and smiled at his friends. They were going to have so much fun!

            A hand landed on the blonde's shoulder, "What are you doing little one?"

Legolas spun round to face his brother Beren, Beren was the oldest in the family. He had brown hair, which was odd seeing as neither of his parents had brown hair. Thranduil had a bright golden colour while his mother had a silvery blonde. He also had a pair of deep blue eyes the colour of the darkest ocean. Beren was quite a bit older than Legolas, and bent down to look his brother in the eyes.

"Elerossë is looking for you. He's asked me to bring you four to him if I find you."

"But . . but you can't Beren! Oh please don't! I'll . . I'll um I can . . . ."

Beren laughed watching as Legolas fiddled with his braid as he desperately tried to think of something to do. Beren ruffled Legolas's hair affectionately, "I won't tell him I saw you. Just do me a favour?" Legolas nodded his head quickly, "Don't play a trick on me."

"Of course I won't, I never have." Beren raised an eyebrow at his brother, "Okay maybe I have years ago, but I don't anymore."

Beren nodded, standing up and walking away. Legolas turned back to his friends, flashing them an evil smile.

"Let the tricks begin!"

            Legolas sat down on his bed, pulling cobwebs out of his hair. He was covered in dust and grime, his friends didn't look any better. The four had spent the morning exploring the door and the passage beyond it. Which turned out to be lots of passages all connecting with lots of secret entrances. They now had means to escape their chasers once they played tricks on them, and now all they had to do was play the tricks. Legolas dropped to the floor and pulled a rolled out piece of paper and spread it out on the middle of the floor. They crowded around it.

"Alright, so to start of we are going to get Amras. Then we're going to go into the tunnels and split up. Me and Tan are going to go for Eldalote, while Legolas and Ranawen you're going to go for Golradir. Once we've done that we're going to get the big one and go for our main prize Elerossë."

The four looked at each other evilly, then stuffing the plan back under Legolas's bed they went to his window. There was a tree outside Legolas's room and one of the branches had extended itself towards the window. Legolas had discovered that he could jump from the window sill to the tree and climb down it with ease. It was his escape route. Climbing down, they set off towards the archery fields. There was a marble arch upon entering, plants grew all over it and there was a ring of trees surrounding the fields very much like a wall as they grew so close together. The four were presently sitting in one of the trees keeping as still as possible. An elf walked forward towards the arch, he had his quiver on his back and a bow in his hand. He walked under the arch and splash, he was covered from top to toe in mud. Suppressing their giggles they jumped from the tree and turned and ran, there was a cry like a wounded animal behind them. And they knew why what was wounded, his pride. To say the least Amras was stuck up, he believed himself to be one of the best. Seeing as he had gotten his job of teaching the elflings how to use the bow when he was quite young. He believed his senses to be the best and seeing as someone or some people had just dumped mud all over him he was a bit annoyed. Darting through the trees they reached the side of the palace. Pulling a bush aside they pressed their hands against a carving of a flower. They opened the door on the side of the wall and dived inside. It shut behind them and Legolas and Tanya picked up a flaming torch each, that they had lit earlier. Crawling through the passage they ended up in a small room, it had different passages coming off it. It was the centre of the network of secret tunnels. There were a few buckets and a bag of something leaning against the wall, which they had set up earlier. Grabbing some of them, they turned and ran into two different passages.

            Elerossë sighed and nodded pretending to listen to Amras as he complained that they had thrown mud all over him. Elerossë threw his white slightly grey hair over his shoulder and fixed his eyes on the elf.

"The four did it, I know they did - "

"I thought you said they would never get you."

"Well I - "

"Don't worry I'll deal with The four and you go and clean up."

Amras nodded and walked away still coated in mud. Elerossë shook his head and turned and walked off, The four as most elves called them were going to be in so much trouble when he caught them. He turned when he heard a far off yelling, Golradir and  Eldalote were coming down the corridor. The pair where teachers to the elflings and were a bit on the strict side. Elerossë chocked back a bout of laughter as he saw the two were covered in tar. He may catch the little ones and punish them for playing tricks but it was quite amusing to see some of the things they did. Especially seeing as he wasn't that fond of the two before him.

"Elerossë - "

"I know I know, they've already played a trick on Amras today."

The two nodded and turned away knowing that the captain would catch them. Elerossë paused leaning against the door frame, they were never usually this bold. Playing three tricks and not getting caught once was quite a hard thing to do.

"What's the matter Elerossë?"

The elf looked up to see Thranduil walking down the corridor. His spring crown resting on his bright golden head, bright blue eyes taking in his archers thoughtful expression. Elerossë was very close to the king, seeing as when Thranduil was a child he had helped take care of him. He had been by Thranduil's side through his father's death and the two were great friends.

"I'm thinking about where your son might be."

"What has he done now?"

"They've er got Amras, Golradir and  Eldalote."

Thranduil shook his head, he truly loved his son. He was very much like his mother, Máraran. He had the same air of kindness as her, he also held the same gracefulness she once had. Not to mention her mischief, Máraran had an interest in playing tricks on people. She couldn't do it on her people so she did it on her husband and other close friends. Legolas was definitely his mother's child.

"Well when you find him, send him to me."

Elerossë nodded and walked down the corridor to his study.  He didn't noticed the four figures in the shadow, or the bucket over his door. He cried out in surprise as the bucket fell on him, causing the honey in the bucket to thoroughly soak him. He heard shouts of giggles as he felt something being thrown on him, pulling the bucket off his head Elerossë looked down. He was covered from top to bottom in feathers. He roared and turned on the small children in front of him.

"Uh oh." Legolas whispered, his big eyes landing on the archer. The four turned and ran, screaming down the corridor. Elerossë turned and bolted after them. The children's screams could be heard throughout the whole of Mirkwood, and more than one elf stopped work to watch the captain of Mirkwood chase The four.

            Legolas and turned and dived into the shrubbery with his friends. Scampering through the undergrowth. After spending most of their lives being chased by Elerossë the elflings knew how to get away from him. The Eldar couldn't fit through small spaces which the children could. Legolas stood up and leaned against the tree in a small clearing, panting deeply.

"Do you think he'll find us?" Tanya whispered, looking behind him.

"Well maybe if we wait for a while and then go to the tunnel." Lólindir suggested, his brows furrowed.

"Brilliant idea Lólindir, now all we have to do is - "

"You lot."

"Don't interrupt me Ranawen."

"But - "

"Not know Rana we're working out our plan."

"Tanya we - "

"Stop it you silly she-elf!"

"Tan don't yell at her." Legolas said turning and glaring at his friend. Turning, the blonde smiled at Ranawen. The brunette was rigid staring into the bushes.

"What is it Rana?"

"Spider."

"P . . pardon?" Legolas whispered turning and peering into the bushes. A lot of eyes looked back at him.

"Oh dear."

"Help." Tanya squeaked as the spider started making his way towards them.

To be continued . . . . .