Chapter Four.

While the young Elven prince told the Lord as to why they were attacked, he did not mention the fact that he knew Alixuss at all. He merely told him that he, the hobbits, the dwarf and Aragorn were on a trek to find something and then return to Mirkwood for a celebration of some sort. Elrond had nodded as he told him about the swamp appearing out of nowhere. The Lord explained about its magical whereabouts and immediate appearances on unfortunate travellers. While he told all of this, unknown to the Elven Lord, Alixuss was sneaking up to his chambers that he used when he was in Imladris, but unknown to the magical one, someone knew he was there when he was supposed to go unnoticed.

As the red-haired Elf crept up a long spiral staircase, his footfalls softer than a feather, he could distantly hear footfalls behind him. Expecting it to a house-elf, he shrugged it off and carried on towards his destination, his room. Carefully, he felt around the rim of his hood, making sure it was secure just in case he encountered a house-elf at all. Smiling to himself, he snook up to a corner and peered around it, no signs of any movement, he slowly slipped around the wall and delicately ran up the corridor, his pursuers imitating what he had done, watching him from the corner and following once he was out of hearing range. His followers knew that whoever it was would hear them, whether it be man or Elf, not knowing whom they were actually following.

As Alixuss ran like the wind, neither him nor his cloak making a sound, towards the door he longed to be behind, away from preying eyes. As he reached the doorknob, he heard a slight gasp and very fast footfalls coming at him from behind, two sets t be precise. Quickly, he flung the door open silently and ran inside, just as he went to shut the door, the two pursuers jumped him and threw him to the floor face-first, one straddled his hips while the other grabbed his wrists and pinned them the carpet. 'I sincerely hope I do not get burns!' the Elf wizard thought while trying not to struggle, waiting for them to speak so he knew who his captors were. He could feel them looking at him, although he could not see them because of his hood. They had long hair, that he knew because he could feel the one on his back leaning over him, their hair on the back of his hood and the other, he could see it as they were leaning on the floor in front of him, knees spread to get a better hold on his wrists, head on the floor to try and see his face, dark hair lining their path. 

"Who are you and what on earth do you think you are doing in this particular chamber? An Elven Lords to be precise! It is off bounds to everyone apart from family members!" the one on his back spoke and immediately he knew it to be one of Elrond's twins, which he could not tell because he could not see him. Keeping his face buried in the carpet, he kept silent so they would eventually force him to his feet and see that the hood would not move, causing him to have to undo his charm on it, revealing himself to them. The twin on the floor, holding his wrists so hard that Alixuss thought he may lose the blood circulation completely, fidgeted slightly and tried to pull the hood off, failing.

"Why won't this hood come off?" an identical, if not the same voice sounded with a huff. The weight on his back shifted and the twin got off him and stood up, yanking him up as well. The other got up as well, still holding his wrists. He could see them now; Elladan was stood to his right while Elrohir held his wrists in his grasp as tightly as he could. They could not see him though; his hood still cast his face into a shadow like he had charmed it to. Elladan tried to remove the hood and growled when it would not come away from its owners face. Elrohir grew impatient and kicked the magical one in the shins, each sharp and painful.

"Reveal yourself!" the younger twin bellowed, aiming another kick at his knees. Elladan held him up as his knees gave out, grumbling at his brother. Alixuss smiled slightly beneath the pain etched on his face and knew if he spoke, Elrohir would pale quickly.

"You would do right not to touch me again, Tanya awra!" Alixuss growled and just as he had thought, the youngest twin paled and stood wide-eyed in front of him, letting go of his wrists. Elladan too, let him go and gaped at him.

"A…Alixuss?!" the eldest twin stuttered and gazed at him, as if he was trying to see his face. Alixuss nodded and thought it time to remove the hood now, he desperately needed to change into more elegant clothing to meet Elrond today, he was dirty from the ride to Legolas and to Imladris. Imagining his hood was lose, he undid the clasp on his cloak and it fell on the floor in a heap of dirt and slush. Shaking out his hair, it fell over his shoulders and he looked from each twin, his green eyes shining with amusement at the utter horror-struck look on the mirrored faces. He stood in front of them, his boots not black anymore but a sort of dark brown mud-splattered colour, the mud ran up to his thighs and his tunic was slightly dotted in dirt. He looked scruffy and really wanted to get changed so he could meet the Lord in more appropriate clothes.

"Ai." Was he said, head held high with a playful smirk that could rival Glorfindel's pasted on his face. The twins exchanged a look of fear as the Elf before them cracked his knuckles and took the clasps that resembled small stars on either side of his head, near the back and let the twisted tresses of hair fall free about his face. He looked even scruffier now, but kept the smile on his face as the twins bowed in respect.

"Amin hiraetha, Lord." Elrohir said, taking the Elf's hand and kissing it slightly, common thing to do if one was in the wrong. Elladan did as his brother did, kissing the other hand while Alixuss stood, watching with a raised eyebrow and a slight smirk. Once they both let go of his hands, they took a step back and waited to be spoken to. Alixuss folded his hands and straightened his back.

"It is completely understandable as to why you attacked me. I thank you both for being so protective of my chambers. I will see to it that your father knows I am here soon enough, in the mean time, please sit down somewhere whilst I change into my formal robes." He said the last part of his sentence with a slight frown. How he hated to wear robes, especially those of the Rivendell Elves. They were too heavy and long and way too smothering for his likes but he must wear them in order not to offend the Lord and feel his mood. The twins nodded and made their way over to the balcony and settled down on the stools and began to chatter and look out over their grounds.

The Elven Lord, although he did not think himself to be, rummaged through his wardrobe to find something light to wear and soon enough he found what he was looking for. Carefully, he pulled out a long green formal tunic, that like Lord Celeborn of The Woods wears, a darker green silk belt and a pair of soft-bottomed shoes. Slipping his muddy boots off, he padded across the carpet he was pinned to earlier and entered the bathroom where he proceeded to change. Once he was finished. He came back out and placed his worn clothing at the foot of his bed where the house-elves would collect it later on. Slowly, he stood before a full-length mirror and looked at himself. 'Rather fetching' he thought with a proud smile and turned to the side slightly before swaying to the other side.

"My Lords? Do you not think your father would prefer me to wear a circlet?" he asked while inspecting himself still and no sooner had he spoken those words, the mirror images appeared either side of him. He held out his arms and let the sleeves touch the floor like wings delicately formed to the shape of leaves, the swirls of the Elven pattern placed along them and down his chest, under his belt only to end up at the floor, the tunic covering his feet from view, the pattern ended at the top under his chin, the collar lower than his extremely high tunic he wore beforehand.

"I think he would be pleased if you would, my Lord." Elladan said while he played with the soft fabric of the long sleeves, Elrohir moved his hair from his face and pulled it over his shoulders, resting it halfway. He had forgotten to take the shortening charm he had over his hair, he had done one so it would not annoy him while he was riding.

"Ai. But he would be greatly pleased if you were to have your hair styled as well, you know how annoyed he gets my Lord, about your hair and you not obeying him and putting it up. Have you had it cut, my Lord? It seems shorter." Elrohir spoke softly as he ran his fingers through Alixuss' hair, the younger twin did like his hair, it was unnaturally soft.

"Amin uuma malia! I like my hair the way it is but, seeing as I have not been here for a while, I shall be respectful and have it done. I have not had it cut, young Lord, it is a simple charm which I shall remove." He stepped back out of the playful hands of either twin and pulled his hair together and pulled around his neck to let his rest against his shoulder before yanking on it, and it was as if it had been tucked inside his skull for it just slipped out in a huge river of red and fell to the top of his thighs and rested there.

"My Lord, it is ever longer than before!" Elladan exclaimed with a slight chuckle as he stepped back into those ever-playful hands again, Elrohir quickly went to get a small stool for the Elf to sit on so he would he high enough for them to style his hair for him. Alixuss wasn't a tolerant of his hair, he hated styling it the most because he usually ended up with it in knots and aching arms and an aching head, the house-elves weren't so gentle either so he preferred to have either twin do it for him. It was the only time he ever had it styled, only when he was in Imladris. He didn't mind those soft hands in his hair, they were calming and he could feel himself dropping off while they messed about with it.

"Havo dad." Elrohir said as he slid the stool up behind him, complying, Alixuss sat down as he was told and felt a brush running through his hair. No sooner had he sat down, the brush was gone and fingers began to work at once. They pulled his hair down over his back and pulled back the sides before twisting them and holding them, joined in a tight star clasp. They did not top-tie his hair like Legolas would have his, top-tied and side-braided, they left it lose but side-twisted it. They then pulled pieces of hair from under the twists and looped them up over his head and pinched them in place with small green clips, jewelled ones from his small jewellery box. Once they were done, they let him examine his hair.

It was beautiful. It was twisted at the side, his hair underneath running freely down his back and some over the front of his shoulders, the loops were tightly pinched to his hair with their green clips and they had left two thick tresses of his slightly shorter fringe untied. He was pleased. One last thing to place, his circlet. Elladan appeared with it in hand. It was silver unlike Elrond's golden one, similar in style apart from the small emeralds and ruby's that decorated it. Where it joined in the middle was a large Emerald, placing itself just above the centre of his eyebrows. The twins were smiling as he stood up.

"Hannon Le, twins. Now, let us meet your father in these…clothes." He said and the small party exited the room, closing the door behind them and walked, a twin either side of the Lord, down to the Hall of Fire, each in formal robes. 'Only the Valar knows how they managed to attack me wearing robes!' Alixuss thought with a small smile. Elladan was wearing robes like his twin, the robes exactly the same as their fathers. Elladan in light blue, Elrohir in dark blue.

As they neared the hall, they could hear Legolas' familiar melodic voice speaking to the Lord about how they had been attacked and was explaining that he had been daydreaming of things back home. He had not mentioned Alixuss at all, much to Elrond's annoyance. He knew he had something to do with the antibiotic his foster son had received. Elladan and Elrohir walked through the huge oak doors and bowed to their father and announced that they had a visitor. Legolas and Elrond both stood, waiting for whomever it was to enter.

"Hello, Mellon Nin. T'has been too long since our last meeting." His voice floated through the doors before he walked through them and Legolas felt his heart pound. The Elven magician walked in, hands folded at his belt and the amused grin on his face. Elrond walked forward with a warm smile and enveloped him in a tight embrace. It had been too long since this bundle of chaos had been in Imladris, too long for Elrond's liking.

"Ah, Alixuss! 'Tis good to see you once again. You look very elegant. Did you deicide to have your hair done or did you think it best in my presence? And the circlet? And the tunic?" the Lord asked with a smug grin as he and his friend walked over to Legolas, the red-haired Elf simply shot Elrond a smirk and a slightly hurt look. Alixuss' green eyes smiled at Legolas as if saying 'thank you' for not saying anything about him. Once they were all seated, the twins relaxing on the far side of the hall, engaged in heated discussions on something very important.

"So, how do you come to be here?" the Lord asked while taking a sip of wine from his glass. Legolas was still very impressed by how different Alixuss looked from before, he had become this Elf of high stature and elegancy and no longer a dirt-ridden rescuer. If Legolas had never met him and knew who he was, he would have thought him to be some sort of Lord or King or even Prince of some Elven realm.

"I came with this party. I had a call from the Prince here. The reason he did so is because we became good friends many years ago when I was sent to Mirkwood to free them of darkness. I had told him how to call me if he ever needed help, or if he was lonely at all. As it be, he was in dire need of help, my Lord, the man would be dead if he had not thought so quickly. When I reached them, the call of urgency was strong so I thought to take four horses with me, hence the reason he arrived so quickly, Legolas was frightened to say the least," he spoke gently and looked at the young Elf softly before turning back to ever listening Lord, "he had already tried his best to stop the bleeding by tearing of some of his tunic and packing the wound with the strips. The rest were confused. I gave Aragorn an antibiotic, the one you are familiar with I think, the fast healer. He is stable now, he will heal perfectly fine thanks to Legolas' quick thinking." He finished with a sip of his wine and sat back in his seat, waiting for Elrond to finish pondering his thoughts. Finally, the Elven Lord sat forward and grabbed Legolas' hand tightly.

"Hannon Le, Legolas. Uuma dela." He said and smiled softly, a gentle sight to see from the usually cold face of the Lord of Imladris. The Lord turned then to the one on the other side of him and looked stern.

"Why, then, did you sneak in? Could you not face me being dirty?" he asked, slightly amused at the fact that Alixuss stiffened his back and looked un-flattered. Legolas smirked and noticed a slight burn on the underside of the Elf's wrist, both of them.

"You know why I had to sneak in, as not to cause distress. And yes, I was dirty, so I cleaned up with the help of your sons. Ever more so. By the way Elrond, thank you for having my room protected by them, they thought me to be a thief so they attacked me by mistake. They pinned me to the floor, hence the burns on my wrists," he said as he turned his wrists up to show him, "and once they knew 'twas me, the look of horror. But they helped with my hair; I asked if you would prefer me to be in this tunic and with dishevelled hair or nice hair like you keep asking me to have, they said the latter. And I would have thought you have been pleased by appearance!" he said, pretending to be upset, folding his arms across his chest and looking away.

"Oh don't be such a child. You should act your age, not like my sons! For Valar's sake, you are older than I!" that made Legolas shoot a confused look at Alixuss, 'he is not my age? Did he say that so I should not feel too young around him?' the young Prince thought. Elrond noticed this look and shook his head while a smile played on his lips. Alixuss on the other hand, glared at him as if his look would kill him before turning to look at Legolas.

"How old are you?" came the voice of the blond and the red-haired Elf shifted slightly before answering.

"I lied to you when I told you I was your age Legolas. I only said that to make you feel better, that you had someone to talk to your age instead of having to feel over covered by adults. I am not as young as you, I may look it, but I am not. I look younger than most Eldar only because I bewitch my skin, I am in fact much older than Elrond, I'll only say that I'm older than 8000 years. I was the one who delivered the Lord of Imladris, Lord Celeborn, Lady Galadriel, Gandalf the White and many other Eldar. I am sorry for misleading you." He said with a final smile, Legolas was wide-eyed to say the least. His mouth was open and his body was slack from a sort of shock. The Elf was over 8000 years old?! Over four times older than he? He sure did not look it, he looked his age but, alas, he was not.

"Do not treat me different now Legolas. I am still the same me, I have not changed. I think the reason I act the way I do is because I missed out on child-hood, therefore, much to Elrond's dismay, I am far worse than you at being childish." He said with a smirk and a snort from the Elf Lord who was rolling his eyes. Legolas smiled and nodded in acknowledgment.

"I understand. 'Twas shocking enough to hear your age but ever more so knowing you are far worse than I at being childish. Do you rival the twins?" he asked and Elrond laughed.

"No, he cannot rival them, they rival him. He is far the worse throughout the land dear Legolas; he has a far worse temper than anyone I can think of. When he is angry, there shouldn't be an innocent person for miles around, fleeing out of fear. You have seen his eyes change colour yet? Well, when he is angry they go red, blood red, but when he is beyond anger and hatred, they go the blackest of black. Alixuss is the ultimate annoying Elf in my eyes. He plays up more than my sons and on more than fifteen occasions I have had to yell at him." Elrond said with amusement and Alixuss just smiled and shrugged. Legolas was enjoying this and as he went to laugh, a small tray with a ring upon it came in with a house-elf attached. She bowed and handed the ring to Elrond who took it and held it carefully.

"I do believe this is yours? Amin utue ta." he said as he held it up to Alixuss' hand and placed it within his palm. Yes it was his, his ring, the most dangerous ring in middle-earth, the rival to The One Ring, but that had been destroyed many years before. Now, the evil one wanted his ring but would not dare take it from him nor Rivendell at that, Elrond's temper was nasty, nothing compared to his Elven Lord friend.

"Hannon Le. I have been searching for it for years! Where did I leave it this time?" he had left it here before, by accident of course. He'd take it off to bathe to stop it from going rotten and then forget to put in back on and Elrond would find it, only because he could see it. To anyone other eyes, the ring wasn't there, it was invisible but to high-elf eyes such as Elrond's, Celeborn's, Galadriel's and his own, it was a pure silver ring with a thin bang attached in the form of two rings, moulding into his star crest, slightly like that of the Evan star pendant but even more captivatingly beautiful, with an Amethyst stone in the centre. Alixuss placed on his middle right hand finger and looked at it. Legolas could not see anything.

"What ring?"

"Ah, you won't be able to see it young one, 'tis not for Elven eyes such as yours but for high Elven eyes such as ours." Alixuss said with a sad smile, even the house Elf did not know why she had been told to carry an empty tray into her Lord. Alixuss smiled once again and yawned.

"Would you like something to eat?" Elrond asked while he stood up and stretched out the kinks in his neck. Legolas nodded with a smile and Alixuss did he usual thing to the Lord when he asked such a question, he rolled his wrist and wiggled his fingers with a slight dip in his brow. Elrond shook his he with a sigh and clapped his hands, and in came five trays of food that were placed upon a table. Legolas beamed and got up to go wake to Hobbits and the Dwarf. The twins came walking over and smiled at Alixuss, Elrohir began to play with his hair again.

Translations:

Tanya awra – that hurt
Amin hiraetha – I'm sorry

Amin uuma malia – I do not care/ I don't care

Havo dad – sit down

Hannon Le – thank you

Mellon Nin – my friend

Uuma dela – do not/ don't worry

Amin utue ta – I found it

A/N: if anyone actually reads this, was it good? Took FOREVER to do it! lol love y'all! Oh btw!! Imma change chapter one, the Elvish chanting Alixuss does, I didn't know Elvish then so now I do, I should be able to change it to Elven, hopefully *fingers crossed* xxx