((As usual, none of these characters belong to me. They belong to Tolkien, whom I very much admire. I use all of the people and places of his with very much respect. Thankies to Bodldops yet again for giving it a look-over. *grins* I believe I have a fan…Well, anywho, onwards!))

"Ouch, that was my foot, you bumbling dwarf," a low voice hissed in the darkness.

The night was somewhat dark in Imladris under the new moon and partially cloudy sky. A gentle winter breeze stirred about the Last Homely House, whistling faintly through the leafless oak and beech trees and fluttering the needles of the resident pines. A couple of inches of snow lay on the ground, though, and that gave the night an almost ethereal glow. There were no tracks in the snow that led up to the shadow of the house, where the voice had come from.

Below one of the lower windows of the Fire Hall, two small, slender shadows were residing just under the eaves. They moved with utmost silence, but that had been broken in the interests of yet another argument. On the whole, it was surprising that they had not yet been caught by one of the several elves that happened to be passing near the window.

"Well, quit complaining and hold still," a voice whispered sternly back. "You'd better be quiet too, or else we'll be caught again. You know that Erestor will tell ada, or even better, he will have us sit in for more boring lectures of his."

"You're telling me to be quiet?" the first said indignantly. "You're the one going on and on endlessly. If we get caught, it's your fault. Now help me up, will you?"

Muffled sounds of shifting followed. After a few more moments of muttered complaints and insults, the very top of a dark-haired head poked just over the windowsill into the yellow-golden light that was coming out of the Fire Hall. A pair of cool grey-eyes followed, but no more of the elfling appeared. After a few seconds of scanning the hall in an expertly manner, his glance shot back down into the shadow.

"Let me down! They'll see me!" He said urgently. A muffled yelp was the only reply for a moment.

"You didn't have to jab me in the neck," The second elfling mumbled, sounding as if he were rather fed up with this whole business. "So, is he there? Elrohir, I don't know if you are, but I'm freezing out here." He rubbed his hands together a little and thought wistfully of how warm it had to be inside the Fire Hall.

"Yes, he's there. Now come on, we haven't got much time," Elrohir answered in a business-like tone. He turned and began walking swiftly across the snow back in the direction that they had come. His brother was quick to follow.

The two young elves were clad in warm grey clothes that looked a little too fine to be worn while wandering about outdoors on a cold winter night. As usual, the dark-haired twins were not where they were supposed to be, and were almost certainly up to no good. They weren't even yet fifty years old, but they could cause more mischief than elflings twenty years older than themselves.

Elladan happened to be walking faster, gaining a bit of a lead, so he didn't notice when he brother paused and stooped down to scoop up a handful of snow. However, he did notice when a snowball hit him squarely in the back of the head. He whirled, disregarding the fact that his hair was now looking frosted, and would soon be wet. The young elf looked none too pleased.

"What was that for, and after just telling me we didn't have time to be goofing off?" He demanded.

Elrohir simply grinned brightly at his brother, the expression only dimly visible in the faint light that was reflected off of the snow. He was quick to dash on by his brother before thoughts of retaliation could be formed. He simply couldn't have passed that chance up, it had been too inviting. It was actually the third time that he had caught Elladan unawares, and he had the sneaking suspicion that his twin had some revenge planned.

A dignified snort was all Elrohir got from Elladan at the moment. The slightly elder twin could already feel his head getting wet and very cold. Celebrian would certainly scold if she found out about this. Actually, Elrond and Erestor would, too. Glorfindel would probably just be amused.

Elrohir paused just inside the side door that they had used to get out in the first place and waited. Upon not hearing or seeing anyone nearby, he relaxed and took a moment to shake the snow off of his boots. Neither twin had been wearing a jacket, as usual. Elladan came in just a moment later.

"It's about time," Elrohir said, every bit as stately as he had ever been as he straightened and started to turn to his brother. "I was beginning to think that...gah!"

He did not get to finish telling what he had been starting to think, because his brother had deftly grabbed onto his collar and dropped a snowball down the back of his tunic. He'd taken the time to grab a handful of snow on the way in, obviously. Elladan had to suppress laughter at Elrohir's yelp and following jump. He covered his mouth with one hand as he stepped back to avoid getting trampled.

"Be quiet," He said once Elrohir had shaken most of the snow out of his shirt, and he had regained enough composure to speak rather than just laugh. He was still grinning brightly, though. "You deserved that one."

Elrohir gave him a glare that was meant to be deadly, but it did nothing to dull Elladan's grin. His twin was right, after all, but Elrohir wasn't about to admit that.

"Laugh all you want now. You'll be sorry later," Elrohir said calmly as he tried to piece together some pride amidst the mess. He smoothed out his tunic in a very affronted way and then stalked on past his brother down the hall. "Well, come on," He added, as if he were doing Elladan a favor by still associating with him.

Elladan rolled his eyes and followed, still looking very pleased with himself.