There punishment for last night's antics was a lot harsher then they had imagined. Muttering something about it being the last straw, Thranduil had announced that he was fostering both Ranna and Legolas off to separate elven kingdoms for a year. It was a common practice amongst the nobility but it was often delayed until the elflings were thought to be able to represent their family with dignity.

But nobody could see either of them doing that anytime in the future.

By placing someone else in charge of the errant elflings, they would be forced to deal with an adult they didn't know and would hopefully force them to respect the elder. Plus it meant not having to deal with them for a year, let someone else have there hair turned blue by there stunts!

Humph!

Legolas stood before Ranna's bed – ready for the great escape of their lives. There was no way they were going to be separated. So they were doing what any logical elfling would do.

Run away and be raised by spiders that would give them Valer like powers, which they would use to punish those who had tried to separate them.

They had even thought of new names for themselves – it was perfectly logical.

But first was the difficult task of waking Ranna up. A task that was hypothesized in some quarters, that could made the battle on the Last Alliance look simple. Being in a hurry, and running low of buckets of water, Legolas decided upon the typical 'jump on the bed until bones are broken' tactic. It was so old fashioned but those are the levels a prankster must resort to in emergency.

"Okay! STOP IT! I'm awake!'

Five minutes later

"This is getting really old, REALLY FAST!"

After throwing Legolas the mother of all death glares, Ranna changed and grapped the pack she had put together the night before. Filled with everything a future spider master would need plus rope. A spider master naturally wouldn't need rope but it was there anyway.

Packs holstered on there backs, dressed in black to disguise them in the bright morning sun, the mischievous elflings slinked out of the window with all the skill of there age.

Be glad that it was only a one storey drop and that they didn't break any bones. Well, no important ones.

Luck, much to the surprise of the author, was good to the elflings and they somehow managed to sneak into the forest without being detected.

Legolas gave a large whoop of happiness at there apparent success. Ranna, slightly more dignified at these matters, expressed her excitement with a little dance.

"So," Legolas' eyes shined with excitement, 'where do we go now?'

'Legolas!" came the answering whine ' you know the plan! We find the nearest spider nest and convince them to take us in!"

"I knew that!" He sent her a sulky look. "Besides, it's not Legolas anymore remember? Change of identity?" The young prince gave her an incredulous look, amazed that she could forget such an important fact.

Ranna looked horrified at her mistake. "I'm sorry Cranberry Sauce! I swear on my spider like arms that I will not make such a mistake again!"

He mulled over her vow for a minute before nodding his acceptance of her apology. "Let's not argue Cranberry Sauce 2, we have to concentrate on finding our brethren. "

Linking arms, they skipped off with only their quest in mind. Unaware of the chaos they had left behind.

Totally unaware that Thranduil had sent messages off the night before with requests to both Gladerial and Elrond to look after the elflings.