***I am presently disclaiming the majority of these characters and the place referred to as Middle Earth, they are not mine, Tolkien owns them. Enjoy***

Legolas was up early this morning; even before his father arose was he pacing the hallway in front of his father's door; not so patiently waiting till they could go down for breakfast and then the surprise. All last night he has the most amazing, fantastical dreams of what the surprise could be: from a red stone to match his blue to spouting wings and flying over the trees, racing to see who could make it to the forest's outer border.

But there was one dream that had comforted and confused him all at the same time, it seemed like a wonderful surprise to have but he felt as though it was not something he thought up, rather another elf had dreamt it and put it into his head; perhaps it was Mithrandir's magic. He remembered distinctly, every detail: he felt lost, was walking alone someplace, he did not know where; only this place was dark and scary and no one else was there. He had cried out, asked for his ada, but ada did not come, but when he thought all hope was lost, there glowed this ethereal light before him; this light approached him but he felt no fear, he was fascinated, he wanted to run to it but remained still, only staring. When finally this figure was before him, Legolas eyes focused and he saw the figure of a beautiful elf maiden with long golden hair and large warm brown eyes, if not for the hair Legolas would have thought it was Sildulin.

The woman said not one word, but took the elf child in her arms,
holding him close to her; Legolas wanted to cry, thought that strange since never before had he felt so loved and secure. But he knew he would have to wake up at some point, he knew it was a dream, but it was so real. The she-elf had brought him to the bank of a small, rolling brook and sat down against a tree, with Legolas in her lap. He stared into her eye, then reached for her cheek, resting his small hand against it; her skin was soft. Why was this lady crying, Legolas thought. He didn't know what to do, what did ada do when he cried.

"It's okay, Legles here. Legles not let anything happen to you." That sounded right, his ada was usually rocking him in his arms as he said that, but Legolas thought he was much to little to accomplish that task, so settled for picking a flower that was next to them and handing it to her. She smiled.

"Thank you my precious Greenleaf." She kissed him on his cheek, but Legolas did not feel strange about it, it felt like when his ada or Sildulin or Kaimelar kissed him on the cheek. He looked to her with a strange recognition; he felt as though he had seen her before.

"Naneth?" he asked. She placed him on the grass next to her as she rose, bending over to stroke his hair.

"Ion nin." She replied; then Legolas woke up, not knowing whether it was real of fantasy. He did not want to think about it, so rather he curled himself back up into his bed and went back to sleep, prepared to dream up wild adventures he would one day have.

But now currently his only worry was the fact that his father had still not risen, Legolas decided he had to take it upon himself to rouse him. He knocked on the door, quietly at first, the progressively louder, till he could knock no more, as his little hand began to get sore. He heard some muffled sounds, but they quickly died down; Legolas was determined though to accomplish his task. As he had done so often, he reached to the doorknob and squeezed through the tiny opening he created as he pushed the door open.

"Ada?" he whispered through the darkness, seeing his father's still form on the bed. What a sleepyhead Legolas thought, did his father not know of all the excitement that he was missing by sleeping? He crept through the room until he reached the edge of the bed, he jumped up and sat beside his father, poking his little finger into his father's arm, in hope to wake him.

"Ada, it is wake up time," he said, slightly louder than before. This task was much more difficult then he intended it to be. Legolas sat a moment contemplating a plan of action. He stood on the bed and began to jump. "Ada! Wake up!" he continued jumping as he yelled out, but suddenly he was no longer jumping, as his father's strong arms took hold of him, and began to tickle him till it seemed that Legolas had used up all the laughter a youngster had inside himself.

"You wake up!" he cheered when his father finally settled him next to him, a huge smile beaming.

"Well, I had some help in the matter." He said looking to his son, who merely nodded in agreement, he had helped out, hadn't he? The two laid in silence for a bit, but Legolas' restlessness had not subsided.

"We go now?" he asked sweetly, looking at his father anxiously. He simply could not wait one more moment; he had to know what the surprise, how thrilling it all was. Thranduil sighed and began to rise, it was not always best to test the patience of a child at the break of dawn; he was simply much too tired to put up a fight.

"Yes, yes, we will go now, but I assure you Legolas, no one else is up yet. We will be the only two down there." Legolas frowned at this information, it was not what his little pointed ears wanted to hear, why was no one else has exciting as he? What was wrong with them, sleeping while a surprise was to be had. He would simply never understand adults; they were, plainly put, much to practical.

"I wake them up?" he asked hopefully, fairly sure his father would not allow such a thing, but it was worth a try. Thranduil thought this over, should he force everyone to rise as early as he had to, or should he be the considerate host; act like the dignified royalty he was. Oh, to be a child as Legolas was, again: carefree, without responsibility. But then again, he gained most of the joy he knew from his biggest responsibility: the three children he had helped raise, and watched grow. "Ada?" Legolas drew his attention back to the problem at hand.

"I'll bargain with you, you can wake up one other person of your choosing, to keep us company at breakfast while we wait for the others to rise." Legolas' eyes lit up, he has father had said yes, but who to pick. What a great decision it was. One name jumped out at him, he grabbed his ada's hand and began to drag him out of the room.

"Come ada, we go see Sil!" he cried. He was quite strong for one so little, Thranduil thought as Legolas continued to pull him down the hall to his sister's room. They stopped in front of the door, Legolas looked to his father, to make sure he had not changed his mind.

"I wake up Sil?" Thranduil nodded. Poor Sildulin, he thought, of course he would choose her; she will not forgive me for this, will she? He waited outside, as Legolas crept in, much like he had done in his father's room. And there was the sound of his son's jumping on the bed.

"Legolas, quit it. I am sleeping." He heard her say, her voice groggy. He could tell she was still tired, for she could hold her temper with Legolas, but this morning she sounded irritable; then again who wouldn't?

"You must wake up," Legolas insisted.

"I will tell adar if you do not go." Sildulin countered, but Legolas persisted with the jumping from the sound of it.

"Adar told me to!" Blame on me, Thranduil thought, was it not he who was so insistent on waking them all up just moments ago.

"Do not lie, Legolas."

"Legles not lie!" the little elf sounded defensive, waking up Sildulin was not as fun as his child thought it was going to be. "Ada outside! He told me I could!"

"Then fine, I am awake, are you happy, brat? Now go while I change." The king he heard his son jump from the bed and stomp out of the room. Thranduil saw a little pout on his face as he exited into the hall and looked up to his father. He lifted his arms, and Thranduil picked him up; his sister had rarely reprimanded Legolas and it stung the little one.

"Sil mean," he said, his father carrying him to the dining hall, still disgruntled. Thranduil brushed a strand of blond hair from the child's face, and almost smiled, even upset, his son's face was endearing. He was going to miss these moments when Legolas got older, then all of his children would be grown up. There would be no more pouts, no more jumping on the bed, no more tossing in the air. There were still treasured moments to be had, but there was something that one looses as they get older, as they see what the world has to offer (both good and bad); though you gain, you also loose, it was more obvious to a parent than anyone else when they looked at your face as saw some of that genuine youthfulness stripped away.

"Sil is not mean, and you know that, but Sil is tired and you woke her." Thranduil explained, but it did not pacify Legolas who could only remember what had just happened.

"But you said I could, she should be mean to you." Legolas said despairingly, not being able to bear the face that the sister he so loved and cherished had said such things to him: she called him a liar and a brat. She had never done that before; he felt like crying and throwing a tantrum all at the same time.

"Legolas I know that you are upset, but I promise you that your sister still loves you and she didn't really mean any of those things she said." But it wouldn't work, Legolas had already gotten himself worked up; Thranduil had to let it run its course. Only this early in the morning could this happen, Thranduil sighed.

"But if she loved me she would not say mean things. I not a brat, am I, ada?"

"No, you are not. But Legolas be fair, do you not say mean things to people when you are angry? Even if you love them? It is not right to do that, and it does hurt, but when everything is done and settled, you realize that those hurtful words were spoken in anger, not from the heart." Thranduil eyed the child approvingly, at least he had him thinking; there was a piece of blond hair in his mouth. They got to the kitchens, Thranduil did not bother waking someone to serve them, and picked some biscuits and cheese and milk for them to have. He and Legolas carried the three plates into the dining hall and waited in silence for Sildulin to join them. After what seemed years to Legolas she came and took her seat in the Dining Hall, across from Legolas, who was avoiding her eyes. He suddenly felt greatly apprehensive and afraid, and could not look at his sister, for fear he might cry.

"Morning Sildulin." Thranduil said, watching as both of his children tried to overcome the awkwardness of the morning's events.

"Good morning ada." She looked to her brother, hoping for him to look up to her and see she was smiling at him. "Good morning Legolas."

Legolas lifted his eyes, which had been examining the finer points of his breakfast, afraid that Sildulin would once again be harsh with him, his eyes shone of relief. "I so sorry Sil. Don't be mad, I did not mean to. But I chose you; I want you to be with us in morning. I not mean to be a brat," he rattled off, stopping to catch his breath.

"I know you did not. And you are not a brat, well you are sometimes, but I love you no matter how bratty or spoiled you act." She teased him; glad to see he was not too upset by what she had said this morning to him. "And I am sorry for the way I acted."

"I love you no matter how mean and tired you act." Legolas vowed, taking a huge bite of his breakfast; he was hungry and now that his stomach was not in knots about Sildulin he could easily quench his hunger. The difficult part now was awaiting everyone else to wake up, so he could finally discover what this surprise Elrohir had mentioned last night.

**Thanks again for reviewing all, it made me feel so loved (!! Anyways, yeah this chapter drifted a little from its original intention, but I promise the next one will be much better. Thanks again all***