A/N: See, I am getting better at posting. It would have been sooner except that well um… There was this gigantic six-page book review thing (nine counting the cover, bibliography, and endnote) and this other book report thing. Plus my great-grandmother died. And we watched my aunt's two youngest (18 mo. and 3 years) for her cause my uncle couldn't take care of them during the day, so they were at out house for four days. Then there was Halloween and I was kinda busy all of that weekend. Then my life has decided I don't need sleep, of course it is very wrong.

Note: You can skip the author's notes if you want cause they contain no important information and if they did it would be bolded.

Chapter 4

Elrond looked at the window hoping to catch a glance of a tall pointed hat coming through the gate. He had no such luck however and all he saw was the sunset.

Elrond was not normally worried about Gandalf but when he said he would be somewhere at a certain time he was. It had been two weeks since his letter and while a day or two late would not have been out of the ordinary, a full week was. 

Elrond sighed; sometimes Gandalf was exasperating. The wizard never fully explained his purposes and at the moment that was a point of frustration to Elrond.

Sounds of laughter drifted up from the garden below and Elrond smiled in spite of his worry. Kira and Kali were a handful, although they had finally met their match in his sons. The elvish twins were still on manure duty, but they had gotten back for the punishment by dumping them in the nearby lake in their clothes. A sudden scream in the garden and his head snapped upright.

"Glorfindel," he called out to the elf, who was next door in his own study, "come here please." In a moment the tall blonde elf came through the door. " I want you to go check on the twins, all of them. I heard a scream and that usually means mischief is afoot."

"I agree, do I have you permission to punish them if they are up to no good," Glorfindel asked with a grin on his face.

Elrond smiled, "Of course my friend." Knowing full well that Glorfindel's punishments were more effective in getting the point across to not do that particular crime again.   

Earlier that afternoon Kira and Kali had set out down to a small clearing they had seen earlier. 

 "Lookie! It's a widdwe biddy teeny tiny house made out of a buncha sticks!!!" Kali said, plunking the sticks down on the ground and proceeding to make them into a 'widdwe biddy teeny tiny house.' Kira used some acorns she had found to knock it over.

"Hey! That wasn't funny!" Kali said.

"Yes it was. You should have seen your face… Honestly, you looked like a strawberry."

"Did not." Kali argued, feeling her ears turn red.

"Did too." Kira said.

"Did not."

Soon, the acorns were forgotten as the two girls made a whole village of "stick houses" and acorn people. There were even some leaves to make a boat out of to put in a nearby stream. For the next couple of hours, they played quietly, occupied by their newfound interest.

Kali held the boat steady in the water while Kira built the houses. And then, the boat floated off. "Hey!" Kira shouted. "Why'd you let go?"

"I didn't mean to!" Kali said. "It just floated off! I couldn't help it!"

"Yes, you could have." Kira said.

"Could not."

"Could too."

"Could not."

"Could too."

"Could not."  SPLAT! A huge pile of mud came hurling through the air and collided with the side of Kira face.

"What was that for?" She asked, turning around and facing Kali.

"What?" Kali asked.

"That!" Kira scooped up some mud and threw it at Kali.

"Hey! I didn't do anything!"

"Yeah, right."

Soon, mud was flying through the air. Kali threw mud everywhere except at Kira, who sent her the wrong mental images. And then, they heard a SPLAT that didn't sound like mud hitting a tree or a rock. Then, who popped up but poor little Elladan, covered in mud.

"Oops." Kira said, sending Kali a mental image of Elladan standing in the middle of the clearing with mud dripping from his dark brown hair.

"Whoopsie." Kali said. "Sorry, Mr. Elladan, sir. We didn't mean to… It's kinda hard to aim WHEN YOU'RE BLIND, YA KNOW!!"

And them from nowhere, two big blobs of mud hit Kira in the hair.

"Alright, Elrohir, you'll pay for that!" Kira shouted whirling around and throwing mud back at Elrohir. But not before she got hit in the back with another blob of mud.

Kali just stood there, laughing. Or that is, until she was hit by five blobs of mud at the same time. "Oh, its on now." She said, straining her ears to hear any movement. "Bring it on." She said.

In a fraction of a second the small clearing was filled with flying mud. Surprisingly no one was mad or anything, but all its participants were laughing loudly. It was total chaos, but organized chaos. Every one was hitting more or less on their targets, except for Kali who was throwing in all directions because of her blindness. She was hitting everyone, though not whom she had planned to hit when she threw.

A sudden shriek echoed through the clearing and everyone froze and looked at its source. Arwen stood there with a big splat of mud decorating the front of her dress. "Elrohir," she yelled at the culprit, "This was brand new!!! You are so going to pay for this!" Elrohir gulped nervously then his face split into a wide grin as Elladan caught her square on the face. Sputtering Arwen retaliated and the mud fight resumed.

However it was not to be so. Kali threw a wild throw in the direction she thought Elladan was in. However he wasn't there. Kira heard a loud "humph!" behind her and slowly turned around with the others.

Standing behind her was Glorfindel. A very angry, mud splattered Glorfindel.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I want to thank all my wonderful reviewers. You have no idea how much they convince me to write more and update faster.