A/N: Look who's back! Yes, it's me Lij and Spork! We finally found the segment we need for this chapter, thanks to Alce Peredhil who sent me the transcript to the book I was looking for! I needed the book so I could find some things for the chapter. I don't own those things by the way, just merely reworded them. Alce now gets a solid chocolate statue in the LOTR character of her choice. You had better hurry up and pick one, Alce!

Well, there's nothing new with me aside from the fact that I am feeling a lot like Meryl at the moment. I went inner-tubing yesterday on a three-person tube, and discovered that you get bounced around a whole lot more. I woke up this morning and found out that I couldn't get out of bed, because I'm so sore. It took all of my willpower to get out of bed, get down the stairs, and sit here in front of the computer. I have a feeling that I won't be leaving this spot for a while.

Now that I've bored you completely with my Author's Note, I'll let you get on with the chapter. Happy reading!

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Chapter Twenty Two: The Prank Wars A Sticky Situation

Meryl found herself in the library after the meal, along with Legolas. She was in a grumpy mood after being punished by Lord Elrond. The guy really needed to lighten up. She stood with her arms crossed, refusing to speak to Legolas. This was all his fault, and she felt that she had to tell him.

"This is all your fault, you know," she growled at him.

"My fault?"

"If you hadn't tried pulling that prank on me, I wouldn't have had to get revenge on you."

"Ah, but you did not have to get revenge on me, you know. Especially in the same room as Lord Elrond. You could have just let the matter drop."

Meryl glared at him. "I'm stubborn, okay? And I usually deal out as much damage as someone has given me."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed and shook her head. "If you hit me, I would try to hit you right back with equal strength, if not more," she explained. "You amaze me with your naivety sometimes."

"As much as I am enjoying listening to this little argument," interrupted a new voice, "it is time to put you two to work."

Meryl turned to see an Elf walk to the pair. He had dark hair, like most other Rivendell Elves, and deep brown eyes. They were like two piece of dark chocolate. Thinking of chocolate made Meryl hungry again. She shook her head and pushed that though out of her mind.

{You just ate,} she scolded herself mentally. {It's not the time for food.}

"Lord Erestor." Legolas bowed to the Elf, who bowed in return. Meryl watched on, waiting for him to introduce her. After a moment, she cleared her throat and nudged him in the side. The Elven prince took the cue and said, "Ah, yes. Meryl, this is Lord Erestor, the head of Rivendell's library. Erestor, this is Meryl. She's the one who got us both into trouble, and the reason why both of us are here tonight."

She glared at him. "It was as much your fault as it was mine! Need I remind you what you did?"

Legolas ignored her. "It is nice to see you again, Erestor. Have you been locked in the library all the time that I have been here?"

The Elf laughed. "Of course, Legolas. Lord Elrond had assigned me the task of finding a rare book that I had not seen in over a century. I finally found it in the back of a bookshelf. The strange thing is, I do not know the reason why Elrond has asked me about the book. He refused to tell me why he had taken an interest in it."

"What was it about?" Legolas asked.

"It was of tales and prophecies from the ancient Seers of Arda," The Elf replied. "This has not been the first time that my lord has asked for books such as this, but this one is very old and dates back to the First Age."

"Maybe he has taken an interest in fairy tales," Meryl suggested, shrugging. "Either that, or there's a grandchild on the way that Aragorn and Arwen didn't tell us about, and he's preparing for his role as grandpa."

Meryl dressed into her nightclothes and clambered into her new bed. She pulled the covers over her head, and left the candles in her room burning. She loved her new room. It was a lot like her old room, but it had a bigger washroom, a larger bed, and she even had a balcony. A large velvet like curtain separated her room from her new balcony.

Erestor had put both her and Legolas immediately to work. Since she had a broken arm and was limited on jobs to do, she had the job of rebinding books with a special type of glue, while Legolas had to reshelve them in their proper places. Legolas looked like he knew what was going on, which brought Meryl to the conclusion that Legolas had been in this situation before. Meryl was surprised at all of the rules that came with shelving books. After hearing Erestor remind Legolas what the "rules" were, she found herself quite confused. She asked Erestor what he meant.

"You slap the covers together gently, then wipe the head and sides with a cloth. Then you dust the shelf before you put the books back," he had replied, "When you shelve the books, you cannot shelve them too tightly, otherwise the pages cannot breathe."

He was about to go into more detail, but Meryl stopped him. Hearing about the rules made he even more confused, but she chose not to open her mouth and ask another question. That was one of those times where ignorance was bliss.

Meryl's door was opened and a fully cleaned Dae bounded in, followed by a haggard Liselle. The handmaiden's clothes were thoroughly soaked and her hair was clumped in wet strings. Liselle gave Meryl a scalding look.

"You knew that he did not like baths," she scolded.

Meryl hid a smile. "Of course," she replied innocently. "That's why I had you give him a bath."

Her handmaiden put her hands on her hips. "And what is this about you appearing at the meal not wearing a dress?"

"Did you think that I would want to wear one?" Meryl asked. "I hate dresses!"

But Liselle wasn't finished. "Lord Elrond also told me of the prank that you have played tonight, and of your punishment. We have talked it over and agreed that you shall be confined to your quarters during your free time as well, for two days."

"But, Liselle! That's not–"

"Make it three days now." Liselle gave her a glare. "Do not tempt me to make it four."

"You're not my mother," Meryl grumbled under her breath.

"I believe that we have spoken of this before. Yes, I am not your mother, but I am your superior, which means that I do have some power over you, however little it may be."

Meryl hated Elvish hearing even more now. She rolled over in bed and pulled the covers over her head. "Good night Liselle," she said shortly.

"Good night, Meryl. We shall speak of this in the morning." Liselle blew the candles out and the room darkened as each light was snuffed. She left the room and closed the door.

Meryl rolled over in bed. "I hate this, being stuck in my room. When am I going to have an adventure?" she mumbled as she began to drift off to sleep. "This is all your fault Legolas. I had just gotten my freedom too."

In the middle of the night, Meryl woke to a soft noise, like a muffled cry. She rolled over in bed and moaned. The noise subsided. Thinking twice, she sat up in bed and called out, "Is somebody there?"

There was silence. Nothing else made a sound. Meryl figured that the noise may have some from Dae or a mouse or something. She lay back and went back to sleep. The last thought in her mind before she slept was that if Legolas or the twins had anything to do with the noise, she would kill them.

When she woke in the morning, she quickly dressed. She tentatively opened the door, still remembering the noises that she had heard the night before. She leaped back as she spotted a bucket of water teeter on the edge of the door and then topple to the ground, sending water everywhere. Her suspicions were correct. It seemed that someone wanted to continue the string of pranks.

"It's a good thing that I was so careful," she said. "Otherwise I would be soaking wet. Oh well, off to eat!"

Followed by Dae, she left her room and went to the dining hall. She managed to get lost on the way down, but found her bearings and reached the dining hall. She entered and her eyes searched for a familiar face, or at least, a familiar friendly face. Her eyes finally fell upon one of the twins, whose face registered a look of utter surprise.

{It was them then. My suspicions were correct,} she thought.

She spotted an empty seat next to the twin and went over to sit next to him. She smirked as she sat down next to him. "Expected to see me dripping wet? Nice try," were the first words that left her mouth. "With the bucket of water and all. It's a good thing that you guys were a little noisy last night, otherwise I would have been soaked."

The Elf smiled sheepishly. "I must admit that this was my brother's idea. It was not just us though, we had a little help."

"Legolas?"

Elrohir, as Meryl finally figured out who it was, nodded. "The noise you may have heard was when I accidentally stepped on my brother's foot."

Meryl grinned. "And here I thought that Elves always had balance and grace," she teased. "Why did Elladan want to play a prank on me? I didn't do anything to him, or at least not yet."

"Legolas does not know this but my brother wished to place the blame on him, thus angering you. You would exact your revenge on him while my brother and I remained unscathed."

"I see, help with the work, and then laugh on the sidelines." Meryl pondered on this, and surprised the Elf when she asked with all seriousness, "Do you know what this means?"

Elrohir winced. "Legolas is not the only one who shall be punished."

"Oh yeah." She glanced around the room. "Speaking of those two, where are Elladan and Legolas?"

"They have not arrived yet. You and I are early, if you have not noticed."

Meryl saw that there were many empty seats at the table. "So we are." She decided to change the subject. "You know what? I still can't tell the two of you apart sometimes."

Elrohir's eyebrows raised. "Oh? I feel hurt. After all, you have known us for so long."

"Nice try with the guilt trip," Meryl said. "You know what? I need to figure out a way to tell the two of you apart. You look too much alike."

Elrohir grinned. "Until then, I shall inform my brother of your problem and we will help you with it."

Meryl's eyes widened. "Oh God, you're not going to start wearing the same clothing, are you?"

"Actually I was thinking of something different, but that is not a bad idea."

Meryl closed her eyes and buried her head into her hands. "Oh no. What have I done?" she moaned. Dae stuck his head in her lap and drooled on her knee as a sign of trying to comfort her.

Breakfast passed with Elrohir telling the others that Meryl had figured out their plan and she was exacting revenge on them sometime in the future. Legolas was quite irritated that he was going to be the object of the blame. When asked how she was going to do it, she smiled and said nothing. The Elf had also informed his brother about Meryl's problem with telling them apart. Elladan laughed and agreed with the plan to confuse Meryl until she could tell the two apart.

Saying goodbye to the others, Meryl left the room followed by the faithful Dae only to find the Nessa and Mahtan waiting outside. Her face lit up into a huge smile. "Hey guys! Why weren't you at breakfast?"

They looked at each other before looking at her. Nessa stepped forward. "Meryl, do you realize whom you are eating with?" she asked gently.

The teenage girl shrugged. "It's just the guys. And Elrond, and Erestor, oh, and some others."

"The Elves you have just named are some of the most important Elves in all of Imladris. It is an honor to dine with them, Meryl. We are not old enough, nor important enough to eat with them, so we must wait for our turn," Mahtan said.

Meryl frowned. "That stinks. Tell you what, I'll bring some food with me tomorrow, okay? That way, you guys can eat before your meal starts, so you don't have to wait as long. Tell Gilraen and Golradir also."

Smiles spread across both faces. They thanked her profusely before she held up a hand. "Hold it." She searched them with calculating eyes. "You guys weren't standing there by chance," she said slowly. "Who sent you?"

They look apologetically at her. "It was Liselle," Nessa said. "She has sent us to escort you back to your room. Why, I do not know, but we are to not let you from our sight until you are back in your room."

Meryl groaned. "I hoped that she would have forgotten about that. But then again, it hasn't even been a full twenty-four hours."

"Forgotten about what, may I ask?"

She shook her head. "Never mind." She started down the hallway. "Well come on you two, seeing as I'm going to be locked in my room for the rest of the day, I'd better get there."

The twin elflings fell into step beside her. "What do you mean that you are to be locked in your room for the remainder of the day?" asked Mahtan.

"Like I said before, never mind," Meryl said shortly.

The twins' eyes widened slightly at this sudden change of personality, but Meryl didn't see. They glanced at each other in confusion. They continued down the corridor in silence. Meryl turned a corner and stopped. "Crap!" she muttered, glanced around the corridor.

"What is wrong?" Nessa asked, seeing the look on the girl's face.

"I seem to have forgotten where my new room is," Meryl replied, with a grimace.

Nessa and Mahtan laughed and they took her by the arms. "It is this way." They led her through the hallways until they stopped in front of Meryl's door.

"We shall leave you now," Mahtan said.

"We trust that you will go into your room, and not the other way. Otherwise–"

"–Liselle will have our heads," Nessa's twin finished. And with that, they took their leave.

Meryl nodded. "Don't worry you guys," she called after them. She set a hand on the door handle and a look of extreme disgust crossed her face. "Oh, my God..."

The twins and Legolas were out in one of the many gardens in Rivendell. They were strolling around and just enjoying each other's company. They were inquiring Elrohir about how their prank on Meryl had failed.

"She said it was she had heard something last night," he replied. "I assume it was when I had stepped on your foot Elladan. You should have never made such a cry. And here I thought you a warrior."

"Did she tell you that she had discovered everything?"

Elrohir grinned and shook his head. "Only the bucket of water, so that means she hasn't–"

His sentence was cut off by a loud howl of, "IT'S STICKY!" echoing throughout Rivendell, which was then followed by, "I'M GONNA KILL YOU! I'LL GET YOU GUYS FOR THIS!"

They all burst into laughter and fled the scene, not wishing to encounter Meryl's wrath when she found them.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{

A/N: Well, that's the new chapter! Don't worry about me updating again... That was the only chapter I needed help on. I'm writing Chapter 24 as we speak... Well not really, but I'm currently writing the chapter. You know what the fun part is? ONE WEEK UNTIL MY BIRTHDAY! WOOT! J I'll officially be sixteen in one week! -dances around the room- Also, before I forget, I'll be gone between the dates of August 4th through the 15th . My step-brother's getting married, and I'll be over on the West Coast for a while going to his wedding and a baseball game (The Twins vs. Seattle. GO TWINS!)

By the Lion's Mane,

Leo

Post Script: This QuickEdit really sucks It won't let me use certain characters on my computer I'll have to work on that.