Rating: PG-13. Kids stay away. ::evil laughter::
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.
Author's Note: Thank you to Nathalia Potter, who reviewed The Strength of One Green Leaf!
Attention readers, especially the kind reviewers who had asked me about the development of this story:
Unlike The Strength of One Green Leaf, this story will not be a cohesive structure of trials and resolutions. The elfling's stay is long, and things happen now and then, and I did not want to organize it and stuff all the episodes into one narrative. This is just a little episode with an introduction that follows the last chapter of The Strength of One Green Leaf but does not follow the same vein. It doesn't even have to be called a sequel. I personally think there are enough great fanfics out there with little Legolas causing mischief in Rivendell, and because I cannot hunt them all down and read them, I decided not to take the risk of being cliché. I am going to leave the details of the Imladris stay to your imagination, and will only provide small examples of this and that. That means no Glorfindel in this story, and no account of what it took for friendship to form, etc. I am very sorry to disappoint the many of you. But Glorfindel will make an appearance in the future, as I will hold true to my word and write more little snippets of the Imladris episodes as small vignettes. And the twins will further make appearances in the future as well. I hope you are not too disappointed. Thank you for reading!
On with the story...
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Of Elflings and Adolescents
Part 2
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Imladris was beginning to enter the golden season of autumn. Rich foliage drifted down from the trees, carpeting the forest grounds with colorful layers of quaint beauty. Sunlight was ripening with harvest gold, seeping through trees that were beginning to shed their shrouds of green. A gentle peace rested in the hush of the forest. The tranquility was only broken by soft voices ringing inside a small cave.
"Coast clear?"
Elrohir giggled. Elladan craned his neck and looked around outside. Then he ducked into the cave once more, grinning. "Just like old times."
Legolas, crouched in the furthermost corner, hugged his pillow tight. His bright blue eyes sparkled excitedly in the dark.
"Won't Lord Elrond miss us?"
Elrohir shook his head and began to lay out the blankets onto the cave floor. "Don't worry. Elladan and I have done this countless times before. Besides, we're in the safe borders." Elladan shuffled the pillows around, making a neat bedding on the cave floor. With a delighted cry, Legolas threw himself down onto the soft bedding. Elladan and Elrohir also lay down and sighed contentedly, while the elfling giggled and rolled around.
"Let's see if our friend can stay the whole night this time," grinned Elladan. Legolas sat up, scrunching up his face with an indignant look.
"That wasn't fair. You said there were spiders!"
Elrohir shrugged innocently. "There probably were. It was an old cave."
"But you never told me that Rivendell spiders were so small!" protested Legolas. Elladan and Elrohir laughed.
"We thought they'd be big enough for an elfling your size." Elrohir ducked as Legolas lunged toward him.
Pouting, Legolas mumbled something under his breath. He glanced out into the trees, and turned back toward the twins. "Why were you running away from that lady, anyway?"
At this question, the twins looked at each other. Elladan's lips twitched into a smirk. "I wasn't. Elrohir was."
Elrohir scowled at his brother. "Whose fault is that? You knew she was infatuated with you when you claimed to be me! Now I have to suffer in your place!"
Elladan leaned in closer, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Cheer up, brother dear. We can take turns being Elladan. She can't tell the difference anyway."
Annoyed, Elrohir pushed Elladan's face away. "Oh, stop being such an adolescent."
His twin shrugged innocently. "But we are adolescents."
While Elrohir was rolling his eyes at this comment, Legolas piped in.
"What is adolescent?"
Remembering then that the elfling was listening, the twins quickly discarded their topic of conversation. Turning toward the prince, they smiled simultaneously in a sweet and innocent way, which made the elfling look at them suspiciously. Unfortunately for the twins, Legolas was a bright elfling, and he already knew them too well.
"It's the stage of life when you're not an elfling anymore but not quite grown up yet," said Elladan.
The suspicion forgotten, Legolas widened his eyes in awe. "Really? How do we know when we're there? Am I adolescent?"
Elrohir laughed, pulling his knees closer to himself. "No, Legolas. Usually one can tell. It comes with-" he glanced at his twin – "...certain discoveries."
His brother raised an eyebrow. He then glared at Elrohir when the elfling started chiming that he wanted to know about these discoveries. Elrohir started, realizing his mistake.
"Just give him a lecture on how elflings are made, why don't you," mumbled Elladan. Elrohir busied himself with staring at a crack in the wall.
"How are elflings made?" Legolas was not one to miss an opportunity to learn. And one did learn such interesting things from these two.
The twins suddenly became very distracted. While Elrohir was still studying the crack in the wall, Elladan put himself to work by shuffling the already-neat pillows around, humming loudly. Legolas scowled. These two were hiding something.
"I want to know!"
Elrohir threw himself onto the bedding, suddenly looking very sleepy. Elladan leaned against his brother's stomach and began to snore.
Infuriated, the elfling hopped onto Elladan's stomach, making the twins yelp in surprise. "Tell me!" he chimed, shaking the brothers with all his might.
Wearily, Elladan sat up and lifted the elfling off of himself. "We would like to tell you, Legolas. But we don't know how." He glanced at Elrohir. "We can't tell him the way our grandmother told us, can we?"
Horrified, Elrohir shot up into a sitting position. "Are you mad?" he hissed fiercely. "When his father hears about it, he will cook us for dinner!"
Perplexed, Legolas looked up and creased his brows at Elrohir's absurd comment. "Ada doesn't cook elves for dinner," he stated matter-of-factly. And then he sank into contemplation, and thoughtfully added with less certainty, "Though I don't know for sure about adolescents."
Elrohir and Elladan looked at each other and laughed nervously. When the laughter died down, they stared at each other, and quickly shook their heads in distaste. "No, we can't," concluded Elladan. "And I am not going to explain it like Ada did."
Elrohir smirked. "You can't even remember it."
"Remember what?" piped in Legolas.
The twins looked away from each other and coughed. They both lay back down on the bedding, staring at the ceiling of the cave. Legolas growled, and pounced on Elrohir. "Why don't you want me to know?" he demanded skeptically.
Elrohir was forced to sit up once again, prying the elfling off of his lap. "No, no, Legolas. It's not that we don't want you to know-" he glanced down at Elladan, who was still sprawled on the bedding, arching an eyebrow toward his direction. "-well, maybe we don't, but that's not exactly-"
Impatient, Legolas zoomed his face down to Elladan's, his large eyes only a hair away from the twin's eyes. Startled, Elladan yelped and grabbed the elfling's arms to push him away. Squirming, Legolas persisted. "How are elflings made?" he demanded, unnerving Elladan with his intent and proximal stare.
Sighing, Elladan rolled his eyes and laid back. "Tell him, Elrohir. It's not taboo."
Elrohir sighed as well. He scratched his head. "I would," he mumbled, "if I knew how."
Legolas sat up straight, his bright blue eyes alert and attentive. Elrohir scratched his head furiously. Legolas tilted his head, curious and expectant.
"Well, there aren't any elflings around here...because Arwen is in Lothlorien." Elrohir felt an eyebrow-raised look coming from Elladan. He began to pull on his hair, and muttered something softly under his breath when his fingers become entangled with his neat warrior plaits. "There weren't any elflings born since Arwen, and that's because...there weren't any more elflings being made." He pulled his fingers out of the plaits and smoothened out his hair in annoyance.
Legolas frowned. He dubiously glanced back at Elladan, who lazily nodded his head in agreement. The elfling turned back to Elrohir.
"So?" he demanded.
Elrohir coughed. He reached out to poke Elladan's ribs. When the twin shot up with a shriek, Elrohir lay down. "Take over, brother dear."
Elladan glared at his twin, muttering something about unfairness. Then he turned to Legolas. He stared at the wide-eyed elfling for a moment, and then sighed. He lazily scratched his ear. "Elflings aren't born randomly. They have to be made in a very...intimate way." He yelped when the back of Elrohir's hand swiftly knocked his stomach.
"How?" The elfling's large innocent stare was beginning to unnerve Elladan. He stared up at the ceiling.
When he realized that no more answers would be forthcoming, Legolas scowled. He glanced at Elrohir, who tried his best to look innocent. Frustrated, the elfling sat still, biting his nails, until his eyes lit with excitement. "I know!" He sat up straight. "I can ask Lord Elrond!" he cried happily.
The twins exchanged glances. Elladan pulled on his warrior plaits absentmindedly. "I doubt that would satisfy you, though you are welcome to try." His tone was skeptical.
Legolas frowned again. "Why?"
Elrohir sat up. He exchanged glances with his twin. The brothers broke into soft laughter.
"Do you remember-"
"Yes, that was the longest lecture of my life-"
"And it gets longer every time-"
"Took us forever to finally learn from her-"
Puzzled, Legolas broke in. "Why won't I be satisfied with what Lord Elrond tells me?"
The twins turned to look at him, their dark eyes twinkling with fond memories. Elladan grinned.
"Oh, Elrohir and I were as old as you are now, I think. We asked Ada how elflings are made." He glanced at Elrohir, who giggled. "He sat us down in chairs, and explained for an hour about the scientific process that occurs within the body upon the hour of conception. We went away completely baffled." He chuckled.
Elrohir nodded in agreement. "We asked Erestor afterwards, but he told us to ask Ada again – so we did. By then, we were much older. You would think we would have understood by then." He laughed aloud, shaking his head. "But Ada gave us a lecture at least three times as long, going into all sorts of expert details. We went away even more confused, if that was at all possible."
Legolas sat before them, eyes wide, as he tried to digest the information. His eyes glittered brightly in the darkness of the cave. "Scientific?" His tone was awed. "There's science involved in making elflings?"
Elladan laughed. "Believe me, you don't want to know. You will learn in your good time."
Elrohir gently pulled Legolas onto his back, lying down onto the blankets with him. "Let's sleep now, shall we? I'm tired from our excursion this morning."
Only then did the elfling notice that daylight had given way to darkness outside. Stars were glimmering in the thick blue sky. Blinking in the dark, Legolas stared up at the ceiling. He couldn't get the question out of his mind. He wanted to know.
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To Be Continued
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Leannan-S: Thank you! I hope this little story will be to your liking.
Nikki1: Sorry to disappoint you...I hope this will suffice. Thank you for your review!
Starlit Hope: Thank you!
LOTRFaith: I'm sorry there is no Glorfindel in this story – but I did start a vignette with him in it, just for you! Hahaha. Thank you for your review!
Brazgirl: This story is very different from my last one; I hope I don't disappoint you too badly. Thank you for your review!
Unni: Wow, do I feel loved or what? Thank you so much; I missed you too! Honestly! ;) I do hope you get to come online more often...good luck in your exams!
Templa Otmena: Haha, I am actually working on another Aragorn-Legolas vignette. The twins are not going to be too developed in this one, sorry to say, but they will make an appearance in my frighteningly extensive story later on. Thank you for your kind review!
Someone Reading: Yes, Thranduil did give him the braids...::sniff:: And Elladan and Elrohir are difficult to write about, since I really don't know them...but I shall try my best to depict them as how I see them! Thank you!
Coolio02: Ooh, thank you! I hope this story pleases you!
mistopurr: Uh oh, now I'm in trouble. Hehe. I hope I don't disappoint you with the shortness and lightness of this fic...thank you for your kind words!
Karri: Ahh, you make me feel guilty! I skipped right over the segment you were looking forward to! Sorry, but I know you're a fantastic writer and have wonderful ideas about that on your own already...hehehe. Thank you for reviewing again!