Mellaithwen : I'm glad to be of service to all the maidens! He! He!

szhismine : You are right. They should tell Thranduil!

Hp-Azn : How do you know it's cold? Have you gone starkers in the snow before? (grinning evilly)

Fire Breathing Ferret : Your pal kidnapped Leggy again, didn't she? That makes...what? The third time now?

meisalliam : No. I just can't resist it.

Aranel of Mirkwood : Why not? It's fun, as long as we are not the one who is naked! Ha! Ha!

Young Storyteller : Get your hot cocoa out right now! Somebody's gonna need it!

Dur En Thurin Naur : Turn his lips blue? I sure will! And how about all over his delicious, scrumptious, beautiful butt? Err…I mean, body?

Legolas Greenleaf : I so love your alter ego! (I believe our tug of war is still not finish. Care to continue?)

Someone Reading : Yes, it was spooky. I wrote that scene in the middle of the night when suddenly, out of the silence, I heard someone scream from the house next door! You can imagine how startled I was! (I found out later that our neighbor found a big rat on her bed! Oh, gross!)

Deana : Leggy went out for some snacks? Uh, not very likely.

Thanks to all those wonderful reviews that I'm not able to respond! You guys are awesome!

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"Legolas!"

Keldarion rushed to the balcony and made a quick search of the garden from there. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, except for the snow quickly accumulating on the ground. And there was no sign of his brother.

"Ai, Legolas, where are you?" the prince wondered out loud, scratching his head.

Then, a sudden thought came to his mind. He quickly grabbed the balcony rail and vaulted over, landing nimbly on the damp earth below. He started running towards the maze, firmly believing that he would find Legolas there, repeating the incident that had occurred last night.

But to his extreme puzzle and alarm, only the statue stood alone at the heart of the maze. The wet marble gleamed in the pale moonlight. There was nothing to indicate that Legolas had been there.

Keldarion grew even more frantic. "Where could he possibly be?"

He stared at the statue, frowning. "Do you have anything to do with this?" he growled, not expecting an answer, and would have bolted in fright if the statue did respond.

Not brave enough to find out, Keldarion spun on his heels and ran out of the maze. He began to explore every inch of the garden, trying to find his missing brother, grumbling all the while. "Valar only knows where the brat is," he muttered, searching through the thick bush under a giant oak tree before heading towards the gazebo. Legolas was not there, either.

Even though he felt that something was indeed very wrong, Keldarion couldn't help but suspect that this was just a prank, and that his brother was only toying with him. "He might be hiding somewhere up in the palace, laughing his head off to see me running around like a madman! Grrr!"

He grasped one of the pillars of the gazebo and squeezed, imagining that it was his brother's neck. "Wait till I get my hands on that insolent elfling and I…Ai Elbereth! Legolas!"

With a soft cry of alarm, Keldarion hastily jumped off the gazebo and dashed across the lawn for the fish pond a hundred yards away. His sharp eyes had caught sight of someone lying facedown in the water, and he had no doubt that it was his younger brother.

"Legolas!"

Keldarion jumped into the pond. The water only came to his waist, and he waded through it to get to Legolas who lay so still among the tall grass that grew thick near the bank. After much difficulty, slipping and sliding against the muddy bottom, Keldarion reached his brother and turned him over, gasping in dismay to see the bluish tinge on Legolas' skin.

"Oh, Valar…Legolas, Legolas. Answer me, please," Keldarion pleaded as he brushed the curtain of sodden hair away from his brother's face, repeatedly patting Legolas' numb cheek. He received no response. Legolas' eyes remained close.

Keldarion was thankful to note that his brother was still breathing, but just barely. The elder prince knew he must act quickly and get Legolas into the warmth of the palace before his brother succumbed much deeper into the cold. He also noticed that Legolas had somehow tangled himself with the tall wild grass. They were all over him, knotting around his arms and bare chest.

Cradling his brother in one arm, Keldarion used his other hand to yank and whack the encumbering plant away. As soon as Legolas was free, Keldarion gathered him up and climbed over the bank before rushing back towards the palace.

Knowing that he had no time to spare, Keldarion avoided the main staircase. He simply scaled up the wall and leaped onto his balcony. He quickly spread a blanket on the floor, right in front of the roaring hearth, before putting his brother down. Next, he dashed to the closet and took out more blankets to wrap Legolas in.

A while later, Keldarion was sitting as close as he dared to the hearth, adding more kindle into the flame. Legolas lay unresponsive in his arms, cocooned by layers of warm blankets to his chin. Legolas' long hair trailed over his brother's arm, still damp even after Keldarion had vigilantly toweled it dry.

Legolas' wet leggings had been stripped off him and the garment lay in small puddle on the floor nearby. Keldarion had been aghast to see the cuts and abrasions all over his brother's body, a 'gift' from his encounter with the wild coarse grass. But that was not what worried Keldarion the most. It was Legolas' stillness that told him how near to death his brother was—if not from drowning, but definitely from exposure. He wasn't even shivering! And that was certainly a bad sign.

"Faster, my lady. Faster…"

Keldarion nearly jumped a foot when Legolas suddenly spoke. He peered down at his brother's face, calling softly, "Legolas?"

Legolas' eyes fluttered open then. He stared dazedly back at Keldarion, confused. "What do you want?"

"What do I…?" Keldarion sputtered. "I'm worried to death about you and you ask me what I want?"

"Go away. I'm trying to sleep."

Legolas turned his face to the side and continued to doze. Keldarion was having none of that. He repeatedly patted his brother's cheek. "Oh no, you don't! I've waited long enough for you to wake up!"

With a snarl of oath, Legolas came awake once more and glared at his brother. "Get lost, will you?! Go back to your room!"

"This is my room!"

Legolas blinked. "What?" He looked around him, puzzled. "But…how did I get here?"

Then he realized the state he was in, wrapped in layers of blanket and lying on his brother's lap. Without looking, he knew he was naked underneath. He blanched.

"Ai! What the blazes have happened?" Legolas cried out, struggling to yank the blankets down. But he hastily pulled the warm fabric back over his shoulders when he started to shiver violently from the cold, his teeth chattering.

"Can't you guess?" Keldarion responded, smiling ruefully at his brother's wild panic.

Legolas felt the blood drain off his face. "D…Don't tell me I went out n…naked to dance around that b…blasted statue!"

"No. It was even worse."

Now Legolas felt as if he wanted to die. "You mean, I d…danced around naked in front of…a…a real life m…maiden?"

Keldarion couldn't stop himself from chuckling then. "Well, not that bad, but…" With a huge sigh of relief, he hugged his brother tight. "Valar! You could have drowned. I thought you were about to die!"

"Kel…ease up." Struggling for breath, Legolas pushed him away. "What…what…r…really happened? And why am I…sh…shivering?"

And so Keldarion told him everything, in vivid details, leaving Legolas wide-eyed in horror. "Good Lord!" he gasped out loud after Keldarion finished explaining. "What the…b…blazes was I doing in the…p…pond?"

"How should I know?" Keldarion responded with a shrug. "Don't you remember anything?"

Legolas shook his head, his mind numb. "Did I try to kill…m…myself?"

"I won't think that was the case because just now, before you woke up, you said something that totally freaked me out."

"What did I say?" Legolas asked, looking up at his brother.

" 'Faster, my lady. Faster,' " Keldarion answered with a sly grin.

Legolas blinked. Stupefied. "Why would I tell her to go faster?"

"Who knows? Maybe you were doing something very naughty then," said Keldarion as he grinned wider, his eyebrows wiggling.

"Very funny," Legolas said, blushing. "But I'm not the one who ran around…n…naked in the garden, humping a…s…statue."

Now it was Keldarion's turn to go red in the face. "Do I have to gag you to stop you from mentioning that again?"

"No. You can just simply…b…brush me off and tell me to leave you alone," Legolas softly replied, his eyes gleamed with hurt.

Keldarion sighed. He almost forgot about their argument earlier. Leaning down to kiss Legolas' brow, the elder prince said, "I'm sorry, brother, for being such an ogre. You know what? I think you were right. We need to tell father about all this before things could get out of hand. I should have listened to you."

"Wait, wait. Did I hear that right?" Legolas said with a grin, cupping a hand behind his ear. "Wow. This is a first. Do you mind putting that in writing so I could…"

"Don't push your luck!" Keldarion laughed. He then stared quietly at his brother. "Valar. If I didn't come looking for you, you could have died out there! Buried under pile of snow for the entire season! Oh, Legolas. I was this close in losing you!"

Legolas gripped one of his brother's arms, feeling the taut muscles tensing under his palm. "Easy, Kel. I'm fine, all right? Obviously, something did happen. But I'm still here. I'm not that easy to get rid off."

Keldarion chuckled. "I wish."

"So, what do we do now?"

"Right now, all I want you to do is get some rest before you try to recall what had happened."

"Rest? But I'm fine!" Legolas protested, scrambling off Keldarion's lap and tried to get to his feet.

"Fine, my foot," Keldarion responded as he grabbed his brother. "Are you able to walk? Good. Now get on that bed and stay there until I'm sure that you are completely well."

Mumbling incoherently under his breath, Legolas gathered the blankets more securely around his shoulders and plodded heavily towards the bed. He had to admit, he was feeling quite lethargic. Besides, he was still freezing, but at least his teeth had stopped chattering.

He sighed in contentment as his head landed on the pillow, lying in full stretch on top of the downy mattress. "What do you think we should do after this?" he softly muttered as his eyes began to glaze over.

"I will tell you later," Keldarion answered, stroking his brother's head. "But first, go to sleep."

There was no respond from the other prince. Legolas had already drifted to dreamland.

Tbc…