The years passed quickly, even for Estel; summers flitted by with lessons in archery and knife-fighting, winters with stories and songs in the Hall of Fire. Gilraen watched her son grow more elven and yet more human by the day, long-haired but still sun-darkened more than any true elf. His admiration for his brothers and mentors did not dim as he aged - if anything, he took his leave of her more to follow Elladan and Elrohir, or occasionally even Glorfindel, when the older elf permitted it. He was now at the ripe age of fifteen, accompanying his brothers almost everywhere they went as a triplet to the twins.
That did not mean that he was quite as able as they, though.
"Little brother, I've seen starlings stronger than you," teased Elladan, stretched out lazily along a sturdy branch some ten feet or so above Estel. Estel himself was standing at the trunk of the tree, trying to bend Elrohir's old recurved bow down far enough to string it. So far, he was failing.
"And I'll bet when you were only fifteen you could string a monstrous thing like this," Estel shot back, letting go of the top nock with a sigh of resignation. The bow, hardly bent at all despite his efforts, straightened again.
"No, but at least I didn't leave tracks like a wounded Orc."
"Of course you did, Elladan," Elrohir called down from higher up in the tree. He was all but hidden from view if the viewer was looking upward, green tunic and russet-brown leggings fading in between branch and leaf. "Fifteen? You were no more than as if Estel had been.. what, six?"
"Eight, at least!"
"Ha!" Estel picked up the bow again, trying in vain to pull it down as he stretched the string upwards. "It's no use, Elrohir. I can't string it."
An acorn, aimed by elven fingers, hurtled down to connect with considerable force for such a small projectile against the top of the boy's head; Elrohir grinned and shifted, a sudden rustle of movement in the leaves as Estel glanced upward with a scowl of mock indignity. "Nothing is ever useless, Estel. As I recall, you said the same thing when Glorfindel was trying to teach you how to track."
"Of course, all you ended up tracking was yourself," muttered Elladan as he draped an arm over the branch next to his perch, trying to get more comfortable. "Kind of hard not to, between the footprints you left and your complete inability to track."
"I learned!" Estel defended himself, dragging down the bow's tip another inch.
"Only after an entire summer staring at the ground!"
"As I was saying," Elrohir cut in with a laugh, "'tis not useless, brother. But it will not come to you so quickly. Be patient."
"Easy - for--" Estel grunted, bracing one knee against the bow's belly as he pulled it down further. "--an elf to - say."
"Nonsense. Your mother tells you the same thing every time you go to her about wanting to learn who your fa--"
Elladan was cut off by a handful of acorns dropping onto his head and Elrohir's sharp look. Estel, still intent on mastering the bow, missed the silent exchange. "If this isn't useless, it's hopeless, then." The bow creaked as he plied it downward again. "By the Valar, this has to be the stiffest bow I've ever touched in my life--" An ominous crunching noise came from the weapon as he yanked it down further still. Elladan and Elrohir had, in the interim, discreetly moved back closer against the tree, watching the struggle.
CRACK! With a final tug of Estel's, the top third of the bow broke raggedly off from the rest, sending a four-inch long fragment of splintered wood flying up at the twins. Elladan moved aside slightly to let the shard pass, and Elrohir's hand reached out with elven swiftness to catch it before it could succumb to gravity again and hit anything else on the way back down. Estel stood below, aghast, broken bow still in hand. "Ai! Elladan, Elrohir, are you all right? The bow--" he trailed to a stop, at a loss for words.
"The bow broke," Elladan finished for him as Elrohir lightly tossed the piece of bow back down to land by Estel's feet. "As we knew it would, if you pushed it too far. Brother, do you think we jest when we tell you that things such as that will not come quickly?"
Estel at least had the grace to flush slightly, muttering some response indecipherable to Elrohir's hearing, though Elladan laughed and swung down from his branch, landing on the ground with a soft thud. "No, don't worry. The thing was ancient anyway. Not that it was entirely the bow's age that caused it to break."
Elrohir, too, slid down from branch to branch until he was back in the grass. "Even you should know that a stable bow would not make such a racket just to be strung, Estel," he reproved mildly, albeit with a smile. "Though perhaps it's for the best. I was hoping to get a new one at the summer fair, anyway."
Estel brightened immediately, attention brought off the bow since Elladan and Elrohir didn't seem angry. "Did you hear about Melpomaen's new bows? 'Tis said he only has three this year, but they're his finest yet - two to trade, and one to gift to the winner of the midsummer hunt."
"The envy of all Imladris," Elladan chuckled, "I'm sure. Mean you to join us in the hunt again this year, Estel? I fear you own nothing yet that would equal one of Melpomaen's bows in a trade."
"You've still another fortnight before the hunt to train," Elrohir added, one arm stretching up to run his hand over the leaves above his head.
Estel only shrugged in response, lifting the bow off the ground. "I may. Shall we take the bow home, then?"
"Only if it befits you to learn patience before you break anything of mine."
"Elladan!"
"What?"
Estel was laughing. "Stop! You two bicker like a couple wedded and regretted."
"We do not!" the two elves protested in unison. Elrohir ignored Estel's point-proven smirk and spun the youth around so that he was facing the direction back to Imladris proper. "We'll give you a head start. If you can get back to your rooms without being caught by either Elladan or me, I'll get you one of Melpomaen's bows at the fair." Estel promptly fled, bow still in hand, disappearing with a moment into the sun-dappled woods.
Elladan watched him go with a grin, shaking his head. "Do you think that was really fair, bribing him like that? I mean, really, Elrohir. One of Melpomaen's bows? Can you even get one from him?"
"He still owes me for that last decade I took over his turn on watch."
"A century of watches might pay for one of his bows. With a decade, you'll be lucky to get the string."
"I'll find some way to, brother. If Estel ever gets back home uncaught, that is. Do you think we've given him long enough of a start?"
"I'd say it's been long enough. Let's go!"