Some time later, Elladan gently laid Nanaylia onto the ground just before climbing to his feet. She groaned and moved slightly, as if sensing he was no longer there beside her. He cupped her cheek and she went back into a peaceful sleep. He kissed her on the other cheek.

"I will be back, my love. I am not going far," Elladan quietly said before heading outside.

He was greeted by his brother, who looked over at him. Elrohir narrowed his eyes as he looked at the extremely happy smile on his brother's face.

"So how are they doing?" wondered Elrohir.

"They're doing fine. They're both sleeping right now," Elladan replied, the smile still on his face.

To Elrohir, that smile meant something happened in there while he was had been on watch. He wasn't certain what exactly happened, but it made Elladan act as if everything was going right in his world.

'I would like to know what happened in there but I will ask later,' Elrohir thought to himself. 'Right now, he looks like an idiot with that grin on his face.'

###

Althar looked around the camp at the damage that the twins had done. There were several men that had been killed, others had varying degrees of injuries.

"I really do not like elves anymore. They come in here, kill my men, take myslaves and create chaos that will take days to recover from," Althar muttered to himself.

He headed towards his tent and his second-in-command walked up to him.

"Captain, the death count is 12 while the injured is 8. There are 12 who are not injured or dead. What shall we do now? Shall we go after those elves?" the man wondered.

"Oh, we're going after those elves. Those two we captured before are going to be our slaves," Althar replied.

"And what of the two that took them away?" wondered the man.

Althar stopped just outside his tent and turned to look at the man standing next to him.

"Since the four seem to know each other, I've got a little treat for the three male elves. They are going to have to witness their she-elf friend being taken, by me. She will bear my children and she will serve me. As for the two that 'rescued' them, they will also serve us. Then when their usefulness runs out, they will die by my hand," Althar replied. "The one with the she-elf will also serve us but we won't be killing them. They will serve us for a long time to come. We head out at dawn for them. I really doubt they got far with those two hurt."

The man was a bit stunned by this news as Althar headed into the tent. The man turned around to look at the others and sighed.

"All this for two Elven servants we found in the woods," he muttered as he headed across the camp. "I have got to be crazy listening to him."

###

Thranduil stared out the window, wondering what was going on with his children. He hadn't been this worried about them in centuries. Not since the last time they were out in the woods all night by themselves.

Galadriel was sitting in a chair not far from him while Celeborn was pacing. She looked at the Elven king and saw the immense worry on his face.

"Thranduil, what is it that troubles you? Has something like this happened before?" Galadriel wondered.

Thranduil was a bit stunned by the question for he wasn't expecting it. He lowered his head and closed his eyes. He sighed and it was filled with a story that needed to be told.

"Thranduil?" Celeborn said, stepping towards the elf.

"Yes, it has," Thranduil replied as he turned to look at Galadriel and Celeborn. "When they were younger, they decided to go outside playing. This was a couple years after their mother died and they didn't tell Chimone or myself where they were going. So when nightfall came, we couldn't find them anywhere and it was cold out. They had apparently wandered off into the woods and gotten lost. Everyone was searching all night and all the next day for them. Night came again and it was cold again. We simply couldn't find them! When we finally found them, it was in the middle of the night a few nights later and they were so close to death. They were so frozen, even though they had managed to find this cave. But they barely had anything on and they didn't know how to make fire yet. They were in great need of food and water. I almost lost them. Almost lost my entire family within a few short years. I don't know what I'd do if it turns out something like that has happened again. If they die now, I would never forgive myself."

Galadriel and Celeborn were both surprised to hear this story for they hadn't heard it before. They looked at each other. Thranduil's stare again turned to the window.

"I cannot imagine how you must feel right now. Here they are again in a simliar position," Celeborn said.

"That's what worries me," Thranduil told them.

Galadriel stood up and walked over to Thranduil. She knelt beside him, placing a hand on his and he barely noticed the gesture. She placed a hand on his cheek and turned his face towards her.

"Thranduil, son of Oropher, I can assure you that no matter where your children are and no matter what condition they are in, they will survive," Galadriel whispered to him. "I am certain they will. Don't forget that my grandsons are with them. They take care of each other."

Thranduil stared at her through tear filled eyes. He wanted the tears to go away and he didn't want anyone else to see them but he couldn't help it.

"Go ahead and cry. It is a natural thing. It does make you any less of a king... or a father," Galadriel said to him. "The way I see it, you are being the father now, not the king."

Thranduil stood up and walked a few feet away from Galadriel. She walked up behind him and took him in her arms. She watched as a few tears began to fall down the king's face. He was glad that only the two of them were seeing him like this.

"Once morning comes, I'm sending out some troops. The first place they are to look is that cave," Thranduil quietly told her.

Galadriel nodded, knwoing that there was a possibility that the group took shelter in that cave.

###

Legolas blinked his eyes and tried to move. He lifted his head to see he was in a cave and his sister was sleeping nearby.

"I remember this cave," he whispered as he rose to a sitting position.

He found his body ached all over but not as bad as it was the day before. He looked around to see that no one else was in the cave besides them.

"Where're the twins? They did come to our rescue last night. I am certain of that," Legolas wondered.

"We did come to your rescue last night Legolas," came a familiar voice.

Legolas looked towards the entrance of the cave to see two familiar faces.

"Elladan, Elrohir! It is so good to see you!" Legolas said with a smile.

Thw twins walked over to Legolas and Elrohir knelt beside the elf. Elrohir removed the bandages to look at the wounds and Legolas winced a little.

"They look better than what they did last night," Elrohir said as he looked at Legolas in the eyes.

The twin looked at the black eye now sporting Legolas' face. He sighed as Elladan walked over to Nanaylia. Legolas looked over at her.

"How is she?" wondered Legolas.

"She'll live. The wound to her abdomen was a bit more serious than what we first thought but it is nothing that time won't heal," Elladan replied as he moved the blanket enough to check the wound.

It was then that Legolas noticed that neither his sister nor himself were wearing anything. He blushed a bit, causing Elrohir to laugh.

"We had to take your clothes off. They were still wet and you would have froze if we didn't," Elrohir explained.

Legolas nodded, understanding as he looked over the cave walls. Elrohir watched the elf do so.

"Have you been in here before?" Elrohir asked.

Legolas nodded. Elrohir wanted to ask him about it but he didn't want to seem too nosy about it.

"It was a couple years after our mother died. We wandered out here and got lost. Night came and it started to rain," Legolas suddenly started, catching the attention of both twins.

Elladan listened in on the story as he continued to look over Nanaylia's wounds. She had woken up from his gentle touch and was not listening to what her brother had to say. She was paying more attention to the hands on her stomach.

"We found this cave and we stayed in here. Days passed before they found us. We nearly died from it. No food, no water and we weren't wearing much. The one thing I can remember is the rain. It rained almost every night," Legolas explained to the twins.

Elladan and Elrohir were both surprised by this story. They figured that the two wouldn't want the whole world knowing what happened.

"That must have been awful for your father," Elrohir quietly said.

"Yes, it was. I cannot imagine what he is going through now. He does not know where we are," Legolas replied.

He was itching to stand up and Elrohir could see that. He handed Legolas his leggings and turned around. Legolas smiled at the gesture as he stood up to put them on. Once he did have them on, he walked over to Nanaylia and knelt beside her.

"Please tell me that he didn't go that far," Legolas pleaded with her. "I do not remember."

"He didn't. The twins came before he could," she replied. "I don't know if you remember but he sliced me across the stomach."

She also appeared to have the desire to get back on her feet but she didn't because of three pairs of male eyes staring back at her. Legolas laughed.

"Once you get dressed, we shall return home," Legolas told her, taking her hand.

"I will be back. I just want to make sure that the men really haven't decided to come after us," Elrohir told them. "I really don't want to meet up with them on our way back."

The three nodded just before he left the cave. Nanaylia soon tried to sit up and she did so with some help from her brother and Elladan. She held up the blanket as she took a glance around.

"Where's my dress?" she asked them.

Elladan grabbed from behind him and handed it to her. He continued to stare at her. She stared back at the two of them. She narrowed her eyes, as if trying to tell them through telepathy to turn around.

"That's right. You probably will need some privacy putting that back on," Legolas said as he turned around.

He poked Elladan in the side once he saw that the dark-haired elf was not going to move. That got his attention and also moved. Nanaylia smiled as she dropped the blanket and put the dress on. She stood up, allowing the dress to fall down the entire length of her body.

"It's safe now to look," she told them.

They turned around and smiled.

###

Althar and a few of his men walked around in the woods, looking for Nanaylia and Legolas.

"We are not going to find them. They are elves. They have better hearing than what we do. They will hear us and get out of sight before we find them," one of the men said to Althar.

"I don't believe that! We will find them. I mean, we found them once, did we not? We will find them again," Althar replied.

As if on cue, they heard some melodic laughing coming from nearby. Althar smiled as he began to head towards the laughing. He moved some bushes to see three of the four elves sitting within a cave.

"We found them!" he murmured as he faced the dog. "Go get them."

The dog immediately listened to its master and began to bark, running after the elves. The three were surprised as the men walked out of the bushes. The three elves soon had their backs to each other. Elladan had grabbed his bow and aimed it Althar but he knew deep in his heart that he could not stop them. He wanted to stay alive long enough to see his dream come true. He soon felt a small tug on his tunic and he knew it was coming from Nanaylia.

"How did they find us?" Nanyalia gasped.

"Even better, how did we not hear them coming?" wondered Legolas.

TBC...