Hi, I realized I haven't updated for quite sometime, I'm so sorry, I was on holiday, out of the country… so I didn't quite get the chance to update. Went to New Zealand (sighs blissfully). It was just amazing, I could probably gush about my trip for pages and pages (as evidenced by my diary) but I shan't bore you with the details… so on to the story!

Chapter Two – Fights and Falls

As quietly as was possible for an elfling, Elladan ran further into the forest, pausing every once in a while to see if he had been sighted yet. When the trees around him remained still and silent, Elladan sank down into the ground, resting against a trunk and keeping a wary eye out for Hirion and the group of elflings he held court over at the same time.

Elladan hated Hirion. The older elfling was terribly jealous of the younger one who was as good as, if not better than him in most matters. The only area where Hirion won hands down was in age and size, two things Elladan had absolutely no control over, even if he had wanted to change it.

Being smaller, Elladan reflected, smiling blithely, was good when dealing with annoying elflings like Hirion. It was far more embarrassing when Hirion lost to Elladan in some competition or other, then when Elladan lost to Hirion, and that was what mattered.

Not only was Hirion always at odds with Elladan, he was constantly picking on 'Ro. Elladan frowned. He would apologize to 'Ro later. He shouldn't have told 'Ro he was no fun, for, admittedly, his brother had gone gamely along with some of the more ridiculous schemes Elladan was famous for concocting. 'Ro could be sporting, Elladan knew, but at that particular moment, he was just so... infuriating.

There. Istion would be pleased that the last vocabulary lesson the twins had was being used, Elladan thought sourly, his face screwing up at the thought of his tutor. Elladan would never understand why his younger brother liked to spend so much time listening to their Ammë tell stories. It was fun, fair enough, especially when the sun had gone down and there was little else to do after dinner, but to spend a wonderfully sunny day indoors, even for a story, was something Elladan had trouble understanding.

Not only that, Elrohir would sometimes chose to stay with Istion, to ask some more questions, or with their Ada, to look through some maps, when the twins could be swinging from tree to tree, running through the long grass, or splashing in a small pool.

'Ro was strange, Elladan concluded with a grimace, but he was still going to apologize to him later. Even though everyone seemed to like 'Ro more. Elladan was sure of that. Istion definitely did. And every time Istion complained to Ada about Elladan's dismal homework, Ada would give him the look, and send him up to his room, or give him some punishment or other. (Elladan quite conveniently ignored the fact that Elrond would always come up to talk to him after that) And Istion would rather just teach 'Ro. Elladan had found that out when he had overheard Istion telling his Ammë that "Elrohir is a delight to teach" but that "Elladan needs to work much harder".

Feeling abjectly betrayed by Elrohir, Elladan sunk into the hollow at the base of the large trunk, his arms folded and his eyes narrowed mutinously. Maybe he wouldn't apologize to 'Ro after all, Elladan thought, as he dug the heels of his small, light boots into the damp and muddy ground.

He would get his boots and more of his tunic dirty, and his Ammë would scold him. For some reason, Elladan felt oddly satisfied at this fact.

~*~

As Feäloth passed under the young tree, Elrohir pressed himself backwards, trying to make himself as small as possible, in hopes that he would not be seen. Tucking his knees to his chest, Elrohir turned his head ever so slightly, such that most of his face was cast into shadow. Hopefully…

"Oh, look," a scornful voice cut across Elrohir's thoughts. "Here's one of them, scrunched up like the coward that he is. I wonder which though, I can't tell them apart." Sniggering slightly, Hirion turned to face the other elflings, Elrohir left forgotten on the branch for a moment, "Can you? Not that it matters though… they're both as useless as each other…"

Despite himself, Elrohir felt his face heating up. "Well there's only one way to find out," Hirion remarked cheerfully, moving towards the tree, "we'll shake it out." Before Hirion could even touch the trunk however, Elrohir had pounced at him, giving a loud howl of outrage that surprised even himself. Stunned, Hirion froze with one arm outstretched, and the next second, he was flat on his back, Elrohir scowling fiercely at him from where he was pinning Hirion down.

However, since Hirion was stronger and bigger, Elrohir soon found himself flat on his back, Hirion having flipped him over, smirking triumphantly. He could hear some of the elflings beginning to giggle, and he tried to wriggle out of the way.

"Leave him alone."

Elladan had pushed to the front of the crowd, and was staring before Hirion, staring ominously at the older elfling, his eyes clouded in worry for his younger brother, completely forgetting that he was displeased with Elrohir for the time being. Hirion snorted derisively, but released Elrohir, standing at his full height so he could look down at Elladan.

"Or what? You'll run to your ammë? Like the mother's boys that you are?"

Choosing not to rise to the bait, Elladan shrugged. "Or I'll fight you myself," he said coolly.

"Oh really?" Hirion studied the elfling before him thoughtfully.

"Yes. Really."

Meanwhile, Elrohir had propped himself up on his elbow and was scowling at his brother. He could take care of himself. He did not need Elladan to come barging in to trying to be a hero. "Elladan," he burst out rather furiously, "I can handle it myself!"

"Stay out of this," Elladan murmured, without glancing at Elrohir, his gaze fixed on Hirion.

The other elflings were looking excitedly between Hirion and Elladan, completely ignoring Elrohir. Any fight was always a good show, and one that took place between those two particular elflings was without fail splendid enough to recount for several days.

Then, Hirion charged at Elladan.

The younger elf neatly side-stepped, his mind going back to some of the hand to hand combat he had seen Glorfindel teaching the young recruits. Brawling was, as a general rule, sternly discouraged among the elves, but Glorfindel liked his recruits prepared for all forms of fighting. Rather unwisely, perhaps, he had invited the elder son of Elrond along on that particular day, and Elladan had been waiting to try the move on someone since.

As Hirion passed him, Elladan gripped the front of the older elfling's tunic, and flipped him onto the forest floor, before moving back and out of range. Elladan knew that Hirion was far stronger, so if he was to win, he would have to rely on his greater agility and (possibly) skill. Hirion lay gasping on the ground and Elladan relaxed slightly, waiting for him to rise, afraid that it would be unsporting to attack him while he was thus disadvantaged.

When Hirion didn't rise, Elladan moved forward, concerned. He didn't mean to throw Hirion that hard… This however, proved to be a huge mistake, for Hirion smirked, reached out, and grabbed Elladan's right leg, yanking the older twin down. Then, he aimed a punch at Elladan's right side.

Elladan winced as stars went off in his vision. His cheekbone hurt, and he was sure that he would have a splendid black eye the next day. Kicking out, he felt his foot connect with something soft, and smiled in satisfaction. He wouldn't be the only one.

As Elladan and Hirion tumbled on the forest floor, landing blows on each other, Elrohir watched dispassionately from the side. The other elflings were cheering (and bettering) but Elrohir was disinclined to partake in either activity, still feeling terribly angry. Well, Elladan wanted a fight didn't he, he thought angrily, it serves him right when he gets beaten up then.

Pain shot out in his right arm and Elladan yelped. Hirion had bitten him. While he was still trying to get over that fact, Hirion slammed Elladan into the ground, and the elfling felt his vision swim. If only the trees would stop moving…

"I'm better than you, half-elf" Hirion spat, watching in glee as Elladan's eyes glazed over momentarily, "remember that."

Then Hirion had stood up and sauntered off, accompanied by all the elated elflings, safe the twins. "What vicious fun!"

"…and when you slammed him!"

"Wait till my brother hears about this…"

"…always knew you would win…"

The voices faded off into the forest, and Elladan groaned, closing his eyes. His head really, really, hurt. As a matter of fact, Elladan was sure his whole body ached. Shaking his head in an attempt to get rid of the spinning trees, he pulled himself onto his feet, but fell back down, when Elrohir shoved him. "I didn't need you to interfere!" the younger twin yelled, hands balled up by his sides.

Elladan groaned, more loudly this time. His mind felt strangely disconnected from his body, and he did wish that Elrohir would quit using such difficult words. "I did not," he protested, blinking owlishly up at Elrohir, "I was trying to help."

"Well, I did not need your help."

"Hirion would have hurt you, 'Ro…"

"Don't call me that!" With a stamp of his foot, Elrohir was gone.

Standing up, Elladan looked dolefully down at himself. His tunic was torn and scratched everywhere, his leggings were ripped, and he was sure he looked awful.

Ammë and Ada were going to kill him. And, strangely enough, he didn't feel quite so satisfied with that fact as he had before.

As before, to all those lovely people who reviewed, I'm ever thankful, and really, it's part of what really motivates me to write. Of course, the fact that I love writing IS a major part of it… but I would probably drag on and never get much completed without all the lovely reviews, so thanks so much!

I know I didn't quite reply the reviews from my first chapter, so I shall proceed to do so now, and I'm so sorry I wasn't able to the last time… and to all those who have reviewed for my second chapter too, thanks! And I hope you like this update.

angelbelle-ariana – Thanks! I do try, and I do love stories about the twins, especially when they were younger. Next chapter, here!

frodo16424 – Lol, I rather suspect that they would be upset if they found out that their father could sneak around like that without their knowledge. But that's what's cool. Thanks for the review!

daw the minstrel – I hope so too! : ) Haha, I'll try my best, and I hope you like the story.

Elentari-Taure – Thanks! Here's another update coming, and I hope I can continue to update frequently, though with this huge increase in work and stuff that's bound to be coming up… one can only hope! I'll update whenever I can though.

Lutris – Yep, the idea that the twins can still be childish sometimes, and it kind of brings back fond memories of the twins when they were younger and all the floating feathers… Elrond should be used to them by now though, and we all know there'll be a sudden influx of 'pillow-wars' once Estel comes to Imladris… =P Thanks, and here's the update! Hope you like. : )

Sara – Sorry for the huge break… Holiday. Lol, oh yes, the idea of Glorfindel embroidering is rather… amusing no? (runs away from enraged balrog-slayer)

Ithilin Palandiriel – Thanks! And I hope you liked this chapter too!

Dragon Confused – Thanks! Haha, I can never quite decide whether to wish that Tolkien had written a lot more about Elrond and his family, or to be glad that he hasn't, since that leaves much more room for interpretation… Lol. It would've been great if Tolkien had tackled the topic more… though I'm quite obviously biased. : ) Ah yes, young twins are just so adorable. Heh. Love such fics too.

And to everyone else, thanks for reading this story! Drop me a review, come on… please? Haha, I'd love to hear from you. And do let me know if I've made any severe errors… I don't think (and don't hope) so though…

See you! I'll update as soon as I've got some spare time again. In the meantime, however, I'll just continue writing. : ) Merry (belated) Christmas everyone!