Chap 1 - Hide and Seek.

A/N - Sorry to all those who have read this chapter, I'm reposting, please review! To all those who haven't read this, the other updates shouldn't take this long, it's just I didn't get any reviews till I asked people to read this. So, I got those reviews and then waited to see if I got any more, but I didn't, so now I'm reposting the next few chapters one at a time. This is two years after Legolas and the other three became friends.

"Be good now, won't you Legolas?" King Thranduil asked his youngest son.

"Yes Adar " the young boy sighed, fingering his child's braid. "But…er"

"What is it?" asked his father

"Can't I come?"

"No nin ion, I'm sorry but you're too little. Namárië."

"Namárië Adar." the young prince waved miserably after his father and brothers.

"Come now Prince Legolas, cheer up. I've never seen you look so down before" commented Arhivil, the elf maiden who looked after Legolas when his father went on trips like this one.

"I still don't see why I can't go to Imladris."

Arhivil sighed; they went through this every time, "Your too little nin caun. When you get you warrior braids you'll be able to go. Come now, don't you want to play something?"

Finally Legolas saw his chance to make himself a pest to the maid, mischief glinted in his eyes as he turned to face her, "Can we play hide and seek?"

"Sure" Arhivil answered, "I don't see why not"

"You count first," the little elf said brightly.

Arhivil agreed, turned her back and began to count. Unfortunately she hadn't been paying much attention and didn't see the gleam in the young ones bright, blue eyes.

Legolas ran down corridor after corridor until he finally found what he was looking for, Arhivil's room. Pressing his hand to his mouth to stop himself laughing out loud he entered slowly. He wasn't allowed in Arhivil's room so he knew she'd never look for him in there. He had never come up with a better plan for having fun. Looking around he found all sorts of things. Suddenly he had a brainwave; he would mix everything up. So long as he was careful she wouldn't know until she couldn't find something. He placed bottles from cupboards on the dressing table, bottles from the dressing table in drawers, mixed up the contents of various cupboards and drawers, and continued to do so until he heard Arhivil coming down the corridor. It wouldn't surprise him if she came in for a rest so he dived under the bed, a bottle of perfume from one of the cupboards still in his hand.

Arhivil sighed as she sat down. Sure Legolas was small, but he was so mischievous she wondered why she had said they could play hide and seek.

"Where are you Legolas?" she muttered to herself, though Legolas heard every word, " I've checked the whole of the top and bottom floors and the Great Hall. Where else is that pesky Prince allowed?"

Legolas shook slightly with silent laughter but not enough to disturb the bed. He heard Arhivil sigh again and leave the room. He rolled over accidentally knocking over the bottle of perfume over, sending clouds of scented smoke around his head. This caused the little prince to choke, unfortunately for him Arhivil's sister, Sarie, was passing.

"Arhivil, are you alright?" Sarie called.

Poor Legolas could hardly get enough air to breath let alone answer. He tried desperately to stop choking but couldn't and because there was no answer Sarie came to investigate.

"Arhivil? Are you in there?" 'Still no answer', Sarie thought, 'what's wrong with her?' "I'm coming in!"

The last remark made Legolas gasp, making his coughing redouble. He would be found! This room was forbidden. 'I'm in for it now', he though, 'what will I tell her?' Just then Sarie lifted up the cover that went over the side of the bed and found Legolas under there, choking on a cloud of perfume.

"P…Prince Legolas?!?!" she gasped, "What are…I mean…why were…er…I…why are you in here?"

She was stuttering quite badly, not particularly unusual for her, if she was startled, but Legolas could barely answer through his coughing.

" I was…I…I didn't mean…I though…um-" was all he could get out in between coughing fits.

"Let me help you out from there." the young elf maid said, concern in her voice.

Legolas allowed himself to be helped up and Sarie rubbed his back in a circular motion until the coughing passed.

"Now, what were you doing in here?" she questioned again, inspecting the perfume as she waited for an answer.

"I…in…er" Legolas stammered, 'Flip! What do I tell her', he thought staring at Sarie slightly panicky. Then, 'I have it,' he thought and continued to speak, "I…that is…we…I mean, me and Arhivil, were playing hide and seek, and I…I was hiding and must have took a wrong turn in my…in my excitement."

"Ah! And this perfume, why did you have that?"

"Oh, when I got in I saw it didn't look like the room I was aiming for, and…and…one of the cupboards was ajar and…I…er…looked in and found this. I picked it up to look at but heard Arhivil coming so I hid under the bed and…when she left I turned to go but…I…um…I…knocked the bottle over and started choking when it sent that big cloud around my head."

"You were lucky. This is cloud perfume. It doesn't settle so no one will know about your mistake by the scent. It's mainly for rooms that don't smell nice because the scent remains in the air. The cloud fades after twenty minutes when it's all spread out."

"You…you won't…tell anyone, will you?" Legolas asked giving her such a look that she had to give in.

"OK. If you scamper now. Take the side door, it leads to a parlour but no one's in there."

Legolas ran for all he was worth to get to the Great Hall. Thanking the Valar Sarie was so gullible he skidded to a halt outside a door and pressed his ear to it. No one in, he thought happily, perfect. Creeping in quietly he hide behind a curtain just as the master archer, Dimrost, entered.

"Poor Arhivil" he said to Sirion, his friend, "She went and got herself into a game of hide and seek with little Prince Legolas. He's a horror to find."

"Mmm. Remember last time it took a week to find him." Sirion replied.

"She told me she would only look for a day this time and then she's going round everywhere telling him she's given up."

"Poor wen." Sirion said shaking his head, "I don't think she realised what she was letting herself in for first time she offered to play."

"Come on. I've got a class to teach in five minutes."

Only one day, thought Legolas. He was quite disappointed but decided to make Arhivil pay for her weakness with a game of tag.

Translations

Adar - father

Nin ion - my son

Nin caun - my prince

Namárië - farewell

Wen - maiden

REPLIES TO REVIEWS.