Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings or any recognizable characters
and/or places thereof.
Author's Note: The Elflings are a bit nasty in this, sometimes. Don't worry. You'll see. On another topic, a lot of this chapter is based on actual events--things that have happened to me. So please don't say it's impossible, because most of it actually happened.
Dragonsgirl22: Ah, but that would be a spoiler and I have a no-spoilers rule! You'll see, though.
Leggylover03: He cried because of Things That Happened. Again, you'll see.
Eph: I'm trying to post at least once a week on this one. I'm nearly out of school, so I'll have time soon.
For Ariel, who will have to wait.
*****Approximately one month past:
"Legolas Greenleaf! I thought I would never see you again!"
"Why would you want to?" Legolas asked, allowing his old friend and one-time teacher to embrace him. For a few moments it was a mass of golden braids, then Glorfindel drew back.
"There was only one of you, thank the Valar," said the elder Elf thoughtfully. "The twins, now there is another story. Two of them, and they switched on me quite often enough! I have one now, though, who may be flawed, but I shall never say a word about his lack of studiousness."
"Glorfindel, still tutoring the little ones? You always swore that the twins and I would drive you to quitting." They were walking now, ambling lightly along the corridor, eager to catch up.
"Well, you did, but there was this one boy--I will leave his story to the twins to tell, if they wish. Ah, here we are."
"Where are we, Glorfindel?" asked Legolas, but Glorfindel rested his hand on the door in front of them and motioned for silence.
"What you are about to see is one of the sweetest, most tragic scenes I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and I visit this room rarely enough, so keep that mouth of yours shut, Legolas Greenleaf!"
"Yes, Schoolmaster," said Legolas with a bemused smile.
"I mean it."
"I know."
"All right then." Glorfindel pushed open the door, and Legolas sidled in. The scene before him really did take his breath away. The room was big, large enough to constitute a small Hall. The walls and floor were lined with thick blue pads. There were windows along one wall, all of them thrown open to let in the chirping of birds and the bright sunlight; even an occasional squirrel or butterfly. No woodland creature would dare to venture, however, into this unorthodox classroom.
If unorthodox could even describe it. At the head of the class stood Elladan and Elrohir, Elrohir lecturing while Elladan showed the students exactly what they were to do. The student body was composed of eight children, each somewhere around forty years. Each student held a staff by their side. At first this seemed relaxed, as though they might be leaning on their weapons for support, but on a less cursory glance Legolas realized that the staffs were held perfectly vertical, about three inches above the floor.
"All right now, watch," said Elrohir. With a nod to his brother, the twins turned and gathered their own weapons. Elrohir continued to call out to the class as he and Elladan sparred--very slowly, to show the students the proper way to go about everything. "There," once Elladan had tapped him on the shoulder, "now it is your turn. Pair off and see what you can do."
Just as the eight paired off as they were told. Legolas noted one odd pair; a girl, it seemed, the only one in the class. She was taller than most of the boys and kept her brown hair tied back in a long, thick braid. The boy she was paired with seemed uncomfortable with himself, lacking all the grace most Elves so naturally possessed. The boy was still getting his footing when the girl swung high, and likely would have smacked him on the head had his reflexes not kicked in quickly. The boy raised his staff, flinching slightly as the two met, driving him back the tiniest bit.
"Keep your ground!" cried Elladan from behind the boy, causing him to jump, but he regained his composure and struck back at the girl. "It is not a sword, do not treat it like one." Elladan was being awfully harsh! He was only a young boy. The boy in question seemed to try harder, though, and he nearly tapped the girl once. She aimed for his stomach, but he blocked her. Seeing that Elladan had moved on, the girl shifted and drove her staff into the boy's groin. Legolas cringed in pain. The boy did not cry out, though for a brief second his face contorted to show extreme pain; he responded by jumping on her and wrenching her arms behind her back.
"Estel! Muriel! Stop it!" Elladan pulled the two apart. There were tears in the boy's eyes, but he knocked them away quickly. Elladan held each child firmly by a handful of their tunics. The girl squirmed and spat, but the boy stayed still.
Legolas thought to look at Glorfindel, beside him, and saw the Elf shaking his head. "What happened?" Legolas asked, not understanding.
"Muriel beats up on Estel all the time. No one will do anything much. Because she is a female the male students are less than kind to her. Only Estel can she get away with hitting like that; anyone else and the boys would be on her like mad."
"He does seem awkward. . ."
Glorfindel looked sidelong at his friend. "All fifteen-year-olds are awkward." It felt strange, almost, to Legolas, that Glorfindel should defend a student so. Usually he let the young ones go about their own ways and develop on their own, being sure they made no mistakes but otherwise allowing them space. But then Legolas realized that Glorfindel had allowed space.
"Fifteen?" Legolas had not yet realized that Estel was a mortal.
Meanwhile, across the room, Elladan spoke in a hushed angry tone to Estel and Muriel as Elrohir sent the others on their way, collecting their staffs from them as they went. "Are you both all right?" Elladan began. After two positive replies, Elladan went on, furious, "Muriel, to begin with, that is one of the least chivalrous acts I have ever seen performed. Why did you do that?" Muriel only sneered. "And Estel, what have I told you about anger?"
"'m sorry, Elladan," Estel muttered, looking at his shoes.
"What have I told you?" Elladan repeated.
"It's cowardly and dishonorable and I should control myself as though in the heat of battle."
"Good." Elladan truly was pleased: a recitation would show nothing learned, but this showed that Estel thought these things over outside of class. "Now, both of you are at fault for this; Muriel for striking Estel in a most discourteous manner and Estel for giving in to anger and striking her back." Elladan left out that Muriel was a lady. She hardly was, anyway, and preferred to be treated just the same as the boys. "One hundred lines, both of you, by tomorrow. Muriel, you are to copy down the code of chivalry. Estel, 'I will control my temper'."
"Yes, Elladan," the two chorused, then Elladan sent them on their ways, as well. His eyes filled with pride as he watched Estel, head held high. Glorfindel followed this boy, saying his name to catch his attention. Estel looked up and moved to speak, but thought better of it, and he and Glorfindel continued down the corridor. Silently Elladan turned and began tidying things up. Without a word Elrohir walked over to his brother and rubbed his shoulder gently. "It's all right, I'm fine," Elladan said, turning, and for the first time saw his Mirkwood friend. "Legolas!"
"Elladan, Elrohir," Legolas replied, not in the mood for an exuberant hug at the moment. There was one thing he felt he needed to say, before it slipped his mind. "Do you ever let him see that look in your eyes?"
"What look?"
"That pride. He's only fifteen, for the sake of the Valar! Were you just a tad hard on him?"
Elladan and Elrohir sighed and exchanged glances. "Estel is our brother," Elladan explained. "He is fifteen mortal years old. We all know that when we are Estel's teachers he has to learn, and if we try to coddle him in the least it will only hurt him."
"That girl hit him for no reason," Legolas argued. "And he is young!"
"Legolas. . .did Ada not tell you about Estel?" Elrohir asked finally.
"No, he did not tell me."
"Oh. Well, it would be best if he did. . .instead of us. What brings you to Imladris?"
"I needed to get out of Mirkwood. It had been almost a decade since I last left, to visit your sister, and I was just itching to leave again. You two sprang to mind."
"You know you love us," Elladan teased. He had always been the more outgoing twin. "You know it." And the twins hugged Legolas both at once, nearly strangling the poor Elf.
*****
Later on, as the sun was setting, the children who had been in the staff-training class unwound from their day with a game, which Elladan and Elrohir supervised from the sidelines. It seemed the children old enough to be on their own, but sometimes the twins couldn't help it--without them around, Estel would be preyed upon, and that was hard for them to take. Even with them there he was given the position of goalkeeper, and pelted with balls flying at him from all about. Estel just laughed, saying it hardly hurt.
"There are a lot of them," Legolas commented. Elven children were usually few and far apart. The mere idea of seven born so close to each other. . .it was strange.
"Yes, there really is no explanation. Seven children in under ten years! Ada was furious about the whole business--" Elrohir began.
"As he always must be," Elladan cut in. Elrond was known for being very slow to anger on good days and quite quick to it on bad days. Most days were good, of course.
"--so," said Elrohir with a nasty look at his brother, "he designed this program. It takes care of the children and trains them for later life. He was really afraid that they would not be able to add to society."
"Glorfindel. . .?"
"No. Glorfindel only ever taught us," Elrohir replied.
"He told me he had a student right now."
"Ah. Estel."
"Ah." The clarified absolutely nothing, but that was just fine.
On the playing field, the Elflings chased each other a great deal, hardly keeping track of what was going on. Estel smiled at the antics of which he could not be a part. A part of him missed Oswald, his childhood friend. His eyes strayed to Lysander, who was among those out on the field. The brothers looked so alike, identical eye color and hair color, fair of skin. It had been one of the most painful things Estel had ever experienced, growing up and watching Oswald remain a child. Lysander was Estel's friend, and kind, but only in private. In public, Lysander was too well thought of to be seen as Estel's friend.
"You understand, don't you, Estel?" Lysander had asked. No, Estel had not understood. After a time he came to understand what was on, and saw the look of pain in Lysander's eye when Muriel hit him hard, but then, Lysander cared more about the opinions of others. Estel did not understand why, if the others followed him, he denied Estel. The others would listen to whatever Lysander said. If he said that Estel was all right and should not be beaten up all the time, the others would leave Estel alone.
Somehow, in a group of only eight, there was a clique system as torturous as any other was. At the top of this system was Lysander, naturally. He was graceful and beautiful, and his fair looks set him apart. Lysander's studies were. . .he did not exactly excel. This was generally ignored. The second popular child was Wilwarindi. Wilwarindi was an odd one; while he had grace it was not in battle. His mind, however, that was what kept him popular. He was intelligent, and had the most amazing thoughts and insights. He never did anyone else's work for them, but he would help them find the proper answers.
Then there were the others: Minyadur, Luinil, Karnil, Alkarinque, Elemmiire, and Naarie. Minyadur was the oldest of the group, and though he was arrogant and dense everyone respected him, because he was eldest. Luinil and Karnil were twins. Their personalities were huge: Luinil was very quiet, yet he had this manner of scoffing at everything everyone did. Karnil was more accepting; he was also incredibly loud, funny, and strong. Alkarinque was even worse; he was always finding some secret about another person and "accidentally" telling the others. Elemmiire agreed with whatever Alkarinque said, or did. These two were scrabbling for a place among the more popular students. Naarie, last of all, was proficient in his studies, decent with weapons, and short. He was sweet, always kind to everyone and very understanding. No one could help but love Naarie.
Yet they were all Elves. They all banded together when the time came, they all had grace, they all. . .were Elves, in short. And for this reason Estel would never be a part of them. Muriel was a girl and a nasty person. She was not particularly disliked, however, because she was Elven. As far as the social ladder went, this was the order of the students: Lysander, Wilwarindi, Minyadur, Naarie, Luinil and Karnil, Alkarinque and Elemmiire, Muriel, Estel. And it seemed to Estel highly unlikely that this would ever change.
The edan was drawn out of his reveries as a ball smacked him right in the face. It stung, for a moment, then all feeling was gone. Estel began to laugh, because in a lot of ways in was funny. Had someone actually aimed for his face? Had it been an accident? He didn't care. It didn't hurt. It was funny.
It had been Luinil who had kicked the ball into Estel's face, and while he had not meant it, he thought it awful funny himself. However, the game began to disperse then, as it was time for supper anyway and they were all hungry enough to eat each other. With a small amount of chatter the seven headed in, leaving Estel, who was more comfortable on his own, anyway.
He could have followed them, like Alkarinque. He could have wheedled and begged for a spot among their ranks. Some days, like that particular day, Estel wanted to do this. He never did. He kept his head high, as though this would help, denied his tears, and watched the stars come out until the other children were indoors and would not notice him. He liked not being noticed. It made him feel powerful, in a way.
"Estel?" it was Elrohir. He tilted his head slightly. "Come in."
Estel looked around and shrugged, then ran to join his brothers.
"Are you all right?" Elladan asked at once.
"Yeah."
"Yeah?"
"Yes. Why would I not be?"
Elladan chuckled. If Estel wanted to leave classroom events in the classroom, he would not complain. "This is Legolas Greenleaf, a friend of Elrohir and I. He's from Mirkwood."
"Mae govannen," Estel said with a polite bow.
"Well met," Legolas returned.
"He is going to come with us next week," Elladan added.
"All right."
"You like him then?" the elder twin continued as if Legolas and Elrohir were not there. Elrohir was used to this; Elladan used this tactic to make others feel comfortable. If someone felt watched, he was often wary.
"I think he seems all right," Estel replied. "I've only just met him, but he had blonde hair."
Elladan laughed. "And?"
"And the only other blonde-haired people I know are Glorfindel, Oswald, and Lysander."
"All right."
Legolas turned to Elrohir and asked, "What happens next week?" Elrohir grinned, wondering if Legolas would be there or not. Elladan might have asked first. . .
Author's Note: The Elflings are a bit nasty in this, sometimes. Don't worry. You'll see. On another topic, a lot of this chapter is based on actual events--things that have happened to me. So please don't say it's impossible, because most of it actually happened.
Dragonsgirl22: Ah, but that would be a spoiler and I have a no-spoilers rule! You'll see, though.
Leggylover03: He cried because of Things That Happened. Again, you'll see.
Eph: I'm trying to post at least once a week on this one. I'm nearly out of school, so I'll have time soon.
For Ariel, who will have to wait.
*****Approximately one month past:
"Legolas Greenleaf! I thought I would never see you again!"
"Why would you want to?" Legolas asked, allowing his old friend and one-time teacher to embrace him. For a few moments it was a mass of golden braids, then Glorfindel drew back.
"There was only one of you, thank the Valar," said the elder Elf thoughtfully. "The twins, now there is another story. Two of them, and they switched on me quite often enough! I have one now, though, who may be flawed, but I shall never say a word about his lack of studiousness."
"Glorfindel, still tutoring the little ones? You always swore that the twins and I would drive you to quitting." They were walking now, ambling lightly along the corridor, eager to catch up.
"Well, you did, but there was this one boy--I will leave his story to the twins to tell, if they wish. Ah, here we are."
"Where are we, Glorfindel?" asked Legolas, but Glorfindel rested his hand on the door in front of them and motioned for silence.
"What you are about to see is one of the sweetest, most tragic scenes I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and I visit this room rarely enough, so keep that mouth of yours shut, Legolas Greenleaf!"
"Yes, Schoolmaster," said Legolas with a bemused smile.
"I mean it."
"I know."
"All right then." Glorfindel pushed open the door, and Legolas sidled in. The scene before him really did take his breath away. The room was big, large enough to constitute a small Hall. The walls and floor were lined with thick blue pads. There were windows along one wall, all of them thrown open to let in the chirping of birds and the bright sunlight; even an occasional squirrel or butterfly. No woodland creature would dare to venture, however, into this unorthodox classroom.
If unorthodox could even describe it. At the head of the class stood Elladan and Elrohir, Elrohir lecturing while Elladan showed the students exactly what they were to do. The student body was composed of eight children, each somewhere around forty years. Each student held a staff by their side. At first this seemed relaxed, as though they might be leaning on their weapons for support, but on a less cursory glance Legolas realized that the staffs were held perfectly vertical, about three inches above the floor.
"All right now, watch," said Elrohir. With a nod to his brother, the twins turned and gathered their own weapons. Elrohir continued to call out to the class as he and Elladan sparred--very slowly, to show the students the proper way to go about everything. "There," once Elladan had tapped him on the shoulder, "now it is your turn. Pair off and see what you can do."
Just as the eight paired off as they were told. Legolas noted one odd pair; a girl, it seemed, the only one in the class. She was taller than most of the boys and kept her brown hair tied back in a long, thick braid. The boy she was paired with seemed uncomfortable with himself, lacking all the grace most Elves so naturally possessed. The boy was still getting his footing when the girl swung high, and likely would have smacked him on the head had his reflexes not kicked in quickly. The boy raised his staff, flinching slightly as the two met, driving him back the tiniest bit.
"Keep your ground!" cried Elladan from behind the boy, causing him to jump, but he regained his composure and struck back at the girl. "It is not a sword, do not treat it like one." Elladan was being awfully harsh! He was only a young boy. The boy in question seemed to try harder, though, and he nearly tapped the girl once. She aimed for his stomach, but he blocked her. Seeing that Elladan had moved on, the girl shifted and drove her staff into the boy's groin. Legolas cringed in pain. The boy did not cry out, though for a brief second his face contorted to show extreme pain; he responded by jumping on her and wrenching her arms behind her back.
"Estel! Muriel! Stop it!" Elladan pulled the two apart. There were tears in the boy's eyes, but he knocked them away quickly. Elladan held each child firmly by a handful of their tunics. The girl squirmed and spat, but the boy stayed still.
Legolas thought to look at Glorfindel, beside him, and saw the Elf shaking his head. "What happened?" Legolas asked, not understanding.
"Muriel beats up on Estel all the time. No one will do anything much. Because she is a female the male students are less than kind to her. Only Estel can she get away with hitting like that; anyone else and the boys would be on her like mad."
"He does seem awkward. . ."
Glorfindel looked sidelong at his friend. "All fifteen-year-olds are awkward." It felt strange, almost, to Legolas, that Glorfindel should defend a student so. Usually he let the young ones go about their own ways and develop on their own, being sure they made no mistakes but otherwise allowing them space. But then Legolas realized that Glorfindel had allowed space.
"Fifteen?" Legolas had not yet realized that Estel was a mortal.
Meanwhile, across the room, Elladan spoke in a hushed angry tone to Estel and Muriel as Elrohir sent the others on their way, collecting their staffs from them as they went. "Are you both all right?" Elladan began. After two positive replies, Elladan went on, furious, "Muriel, to begin with, that is one of the least chivalrous acts I have ever seen performed. Why did you do that?" Muriel only sneered. "And Estel, what have I told you about anger?"
"'m sorry, Elladan," Estel muttered, looking at his shoes.
"What have I told you?" Elladan repeated.
"It's cowardly and dishonorable and I should control myself as though in the heat of battle."
"Good." Elladan truly was pleased: a recitation would show nothing learned, but this showed that Estel thought these things over outside of class. "Now, both of you are at fault for this; Muriel for striking Estel in a most discourteous manner and Estel for giving in to anger and striking her back." Elladan left out that Muriel was a lady. She hardly was, anyway, and preferred to be treated just the same as the boys. "One hundred lines, both of you, by tomorrow. Muriel, you are to copy down the code of chivalry. Estel, 'I will control my temper'."
"Yes, Elladan," the two chorused, then Elladan sent them on their ways, as well. His eyes filled with pride as he watched Estel, head held high. Glorfindel followed this boy, saying his name to catch his attention. Estel looked up and moved to speak, but thought better of it, and he and Glorfindel continued down the corridor. Silently Elladan turned and began tidying things up. Without a word Elrohir walked over to his brother and rubbed his shoulder gently. "It's all right, I'm fine," Elladan said, turning, and for the first time saw his Mirkwood friend. "Legolas!"
"Elladan, Elrohir," Legolas replied, not in the mood for an exuberant hug at the moment. There was one thing he felt he needed to say, before it slipped his mind. "Do you ever let him see that look in your eyes?"
"What look?"
"That pride. He's only fifteen, for the sake of the Valar! Were you just a tad hard on him?"
Elladan and Elrohir sighed and exchanged glances. "Estel is our brother," Elladan explained. "He is fifteen mortal years old. We all know that when we are Estel's teachers he has to learn, and if we try to coddle him in the least it will only hurt him."
"That girl hit him for no reason," Legolas argued. "And he is young!"
"Legolas. . .did Ada not tell you about Estel?" Elrohir asked finally.
"No, he did not tell me."
"Oh. Well, it would be best if he did. . .instead of us. What brings you to Imladris?"
"I needed to get out of Mirkwood. It had been almost a decade since I last left, to visit your sister, and I was just itching to leave again. You two sprang to mind."
"You know you love us," Elladan teased. He had always been the more outgoing twin. "You know it." And the twins hugged Legolas both at once, nearly strangling the poor Elf.
*****
Later on, as the sun was setting, the children who had been in the staff-training class unwound from their day with a game, which Elladan and Elrohir supervised from the sidelines. It seemed the children old enough to be on their own, but sometimes the twins couldn't help it--without them around, Estel would be preyed upon, and that was hard for them to take. Even with them there he was given the position of goalkeeper, and pelted with balls flying at him from all about. Estel just laughed, saying it hardly hurt.
"There are a lot of them," Legolas commented. Elven children were usually few and far apart. The mere idea of seven born so close to each other. . .it was strange.
"Yes, there really is no explanation. Seven children in under ten years! Ada was furious about the whole business--" Elrohir began.
"As he always must be," Elladan cut in. Elrond was known for being very slow to anger on good days and quite quick to it on bad days. Most days were good, of course.
"--so," said Elrohir with a nasty look at his brother, "he designed this program. It takes care of the children and trains them for later life. He was really afraid that they would not be able to add to society."
"Glorfindel. . .?"
"No. Glorfindel only ever taught us," Elrohir replied.
"He told me he had a student right now."
"Ah. Estel."
"Ah." The clarified absolutely nothing, but that was just fine.
On the playing field, the Elflings chased each other a great deal, hardly keeping track of what was going on. Estel smiled at the antics of which he could not be a part. A part of him missed Oswald, his childhood friend. His eyes strayed to Lysander, who was among those out on the field. The brothers looked so alike, identical eye color and hair color, fair of skin. It had been one of the most painful things Estel had ever experienced, growing up and watching Oswald remain a child. Lysander was Estel's friend, and kind, but only in private. In public, Lysander was too well thought of to be seen as Estel's friend.
"You understand, don't you, Estel?" Lysander had asked. No, Estel had not understood. After a time he came to understand what was on, and saw the look of pain in Lysander's eye when Muriel hit him hard, but then, Lysander cared more about the opinions of others. Estel did not understand why, if the others followed him, he denied Estel. The others would listen to whatever Lysander said. If he said that Estel was all right and should not be beaten up all the time, the others would leave Estel alone.
Somehow, in a group of only eight, there was a clique system as torturous as any other was. At the top of this system was Lysander, naturally. He was graceful and beautiful, and his fair looks set him apart. Lysander's studies were. . .he did not exactly excel. This was generally ignored. The second popular child was Wilwarindi. Wilwarindi was an odd one; while he had grace it was not in battle. His mind, however, that was what kept him popular. He was intelligent, and had the most amazing thoughts and insights. He never did anyone else's work for them, but he would help them find the proper answers.
Then there were the others: Minyadur, Luinil, Karnil, Alkarinque, Elemmiire, and Naarie. Minyadur was the oldest of the group, and though he was arrogant and dense everyone respected him, because he was eldest. Luinil and Karnil were twins. Their personalities were huge: Luinil was very quiet, yet he had this manner of scoffing at everything everyone did. Karnil was more accepting; he was also incredibly loud, funny, and strong. Alkarinque was even worse; he was always finding some secret about another person and "accidentally" telling the others. Elemmiire agreed with whatever Alkarinque said, or did. These two were scrabbling for a place among the more popular students. Naarie, last of all, was proficient in his studies, decent with weapons, and short. He was sweet, always kind to everyone and very understanding. No one could help but love Naarie.
Yet they were all Elves. They all banded together when the time came, they all had grace, they all. . .were Elves, in short. And for this reason Estel would never be a part of them. Muriel was a girl and a nasty person. She was not particularly disliked, however, because she was Elven. As far as the social ladder went, this was the order of the students: Lysander, Wilwarindi, Minyadur, Naarie, Luinil and Karnil, Alkarinque and Elemmiire, Muriel, Estel. And it seemed to Estel highly unlikely that this would ever change.
The edan was drawn out of his reveries as a ball smacked him right in the face. It stung, for a moment, then all feeling was gone. Estel began to laugh, because in a lot of ways in was funny. Had someone actually aimed for his face? Had it been an accident? He didn't care. It didn't hurt. It was funny.
It had been Luinil who had kicked the ball into Estel's face, and while he had not meant it, he thought it awful funny himself. However, the game began to disperse then, as it was time for supper anyway and they were all hungry enough to eat each other. With a small amount of chatter the seven headed in, leaving Estel, who was more comfortable on his own, anyway.
He could have followed them, like Alkarinque. He could have wheedled and begged for a spot among their ranks. Some days, like that particular day, Estel wanted to do this. He never did. He kept his head high, as though this would help, denied his tears, and watched the stars come out until the other children were indoors and would not notice him. He liked not being noticed. It made him feel powerful, in a way.
"Estel?" it was Elrohir. He tilted his head slightly. "Come in."
Estel looked around and shrugged, then ran to join his brothers.
"Are you all right?" Elladan asked at once.
"Yeah."
"Yeah?"
"Yes. Why would I not be?"
Elladan chuckled. If Estel wanted to leave classroom events in the classroom, he would not complain. "This is Legolas Greenleaf, a friend of Elrohir and I. He's from Mirkwood."
"Mae govannen," Estel said with a polite bow.
"Well met," Legolas returned.
"He is going to come with us next week," Elladan added.
"All right."
"You like him then?" the elder twin continued as if Legolas and Elrohir were not there. Elrohir was used to this; Elladan used this tactic to make others feel comfortable. If someone felt watched, he was often wary.
"I think he seems all right," Estel replied. "I've only just met him, but he had blonde hair."
Elladan laughed. "And?"
"And the only other blonde-haired people I know are Glorfindel, Oswald, and Lysander."
"All right."
Legolas turned to Elrohir and asked, "What happens next week?" Elrohir grinned, wondering if Legolas would be there or not. Elladan might have asked first. . .
