Chapter 31: I want to be a penguin

Legolas and Haldir had had a grand time running through the trees, heading to the palace. Haldir had picked some flowers and given them to Illiendal, making her giggle and pat him on his head. By the time Haldir, Legolas, Illiendal and Arhael had arrived at the palace, Legolas no longer cried but was grinning happily.

"Legolas! Illiendal!" Thranduil ran out of the palace, getting the bottom of his robes dirty, to great his children.

"I was so worried, when neither of you arrived home and I did not even see the bus pass by!" Thranduil squeezed his little elfling in an embrace.

"Arhael! You brought him home? What of the bus? You brought them both home?" Thranduil looked up. Arhael smiled.

"Did you not get the phone call from the school? The bus broke down so all parents where asked to pick up their children. Legolas and his sister where the only two children, aside from my own son, left so I brought them here for you, they would have been quite lonely if I had left them alone, even almost every teacher was gone home, save Erestor but he had fallen asleep."

"Thank you so much. No, I got no call, for my lazy son Cield has been on the phone for hours, talking to someone who he keeps on calling Calaen. Apparently an imaginary friend." Thranduil said.

"Thank you sir." Illiendal said, Legolas nodding his head.

"Your both welcome. I must return to my home, for I do not wish to leave my pregnant wife alone with our littlest, Orophin." Arhael smiled before leaving, Haldir happily waving goodbye before following his father.

"Cield! Get off the phone with this 'friend' of yours! Honestly, tomorrow we are getting you a full-time, real job, no more 'taxi driving for a few hours a week' business." Thranduil snapped, grabbing Cield's cell phone and turning it off (with great difficulty since Thranduil was not very accustomed to cell phones, he could barely use a normal phone as it was).

Cield moaned a bit and then lay down, getting comfortable as his son, Nenmir, climbed onto his chest.

"Hello Ada. I made cake with nana. Will you eat some?" Nenmir asked. Cield smiled.

"After supper, yes, I will be eating some, as much as you want me to eat."

"Will you eat all of it?" The little elfling giggled.

"How much did you make?"

"Big cake, five layers. Cook helped." The elfling giggled.

"I might be able to eat the first layer, but I don't know about all five layers…"

"Come on ada, I want you too! And you said 'as much as I want you to'!" the elfling protested.

"Fine, then instead of supper I will eat a whole cake!" Cield got up, carrying his son into the kitchen. The cake was chocolate and coated in a thick layer of sweet, sweet icing. There was actually eight layers and the bottom was enough to feed twenty."

"At least allow me to leave the bottom layer for everyone else." Cield said. Nenmir nodded his head in agreement. "And leave the very top for me, it's small so I can share it with Malfinniel too." Nenmir said. Cield nodded.

It still left six layers for Cield to eat. By the time the fourth layer was gone, Cield had thrown his head back and his hands where on his abdomen, quietly groaning.

"Ada, there is still two layers left. Finish." Nenmir ordered.

"Ion nin, I am so full." Cield said. He was ready to unlace his leggings, he was certain he would burst out of them if he did not.

"Nenmir, hini (son), your father has eaten quite a lot. Let him rest." Firelien put a loving hand on her son's shoulder. Nenmir sighed and nodded.

"Okay ada, you can stop."

"Thank valar." Cield said, getting up and leaving the room.

After a delicious supper prepared by the cooks of the palace, Legolas was tired, for he had had a rough day. Thranduil tucked him in bed and kissed him goodnight, singing a quiet lullaby to calm Legolas.

In the morning all the children were curious to see what arts with Galadriel would be like. Almost every child in middle-earth enjoyed, or rather, loved to do arts (save the dwarf children, for glue often stuck little unwanted papers into their fuzzy beards). Legolas wanted to leave immediately, for he was very fond of arts.

When the children did arrive, Galadriel looked very strict. She held a paper in her hands. By the time the whole class was settled, the only absent being Elladan who had caught a cold from playing in the rain.

"Alright students. Today is usually art class but we have been given an assignment just recently so we must do that before proceeding with arts. But before we begin I would like to explain the rules of my classroom." Galadriel said, many whines coming from the students.

"I heard that curse word in your mind, young Boromir, and that is one of my rules. No swearing inside or outside of your head. No throwing objects - yes I know you just threw that eraser to Merry, Mr Took. No chewing gum – Go spit that out Arwen. No writing or passing notes – dispose of that note immediately Goldberry. No thinking dirty thoughts. No kissing – Stop fantasizing about my granddaughter, Estel. No saying mean things about other students – Legolas, for your information, not all dwarves are smelly losers and you shall not think of Gimli that way again or I will talk to your father. Also, there will be no discussion or thoughts of gay people (or Frodo, Mr Gamgee). I permit no rings in the classroom, aside from my own ring. There is no touching or looking directly into the mirror that is at the end of the class – yes Gimli, I did find out who's hair that was in the water." Galadriel stated. Most of the children had been ignoring her, more fascinated by the fire truck outside.

"Now, the assignment I found on my desk is that we will all discus what we want to be when we grow up. Take out a sheet of parchment, a quill, and ink. At the top, write your name." Galadriel explained. The children all did as they where told, save Estel, who was not certain of which name he should put.

"What do you think, Arwen? Aragorn, Estel, Elesar-

"Please Estel, just put one and be silent." Galadriel said.

"Now, write whatever job you would like when you grow up. I will give you five minutes, and then you will say the job you want out loud and say one thing that is required to have this job.." Galadriel said.

In five minutes most children where done.

"Alright. Pippin, why don't you start?"

"Okay. When I grow up I want to be the taste-tester at a mushroom-flavoured chocolate factory. Once that kind of factory is invented, of course. It would take a very good tongue to do this job."

"Hm, yes… I suppose that could be considered a good report for a first grader…" Galadriel wrote a "C" in her grade book for Pippin. "Merry, you go."

"I want to invent a mushroom-flavoured chocolate factory, so that Pippin can work there with me. It would take mushrooms, but don't worry, I know an old farmer who has plenty of those." Merry grinned. Galadriel wrote "D" in her book. "Go, Legolas."

"I want to be a penguin when I grow up. You have to be able to swim to be a penguin, and my ada taught me how to swim already so I am all set." Legolas beamed. Galadriel gave him a C. These grades where not as high as hoped. "Boromir, go."

"When I grow up I plan to rule gondor, but to do that I might have to kill a certain man in this class, which would require a knife." Boromir shot an evil look at Estel, who hid under his desk. That got Boromir a C.

"Go, Tom."

"Master." Tom said. And that was all he said, no matter how many times Galadriel asked him to say one thing required to be a master. That got Tom a D-.

"Your turn, Haldir."

"When I grow up… Well… I want to be March-Warden of Lorien, like my ada… My ada always says that to be March Warden it takes… Well… Lots of skill." Haldir stuttered. It did get him a B; so far the highest mark in class.

"Miniature Nazgul, go."

"When I grow up I want to be a peace maker. You need to be friendly to be a peace maker." Mini blushed (though you could not tell he blushed). Galadriel gave that a C.

"Go, Frodo."

"I want to be a ring-bearer, and I want to go exploring with my ring. You need a ring to be a ring bearer." Frodo smiled with pride. That was a B-, for after all, it was a logical answer.

"Sam?"

"I want to be a security guard when I grow up. You need to be… Uh… Strong. Yea, that's it!" Sam got a C.

"Arwen?"

"I want to be queen of Gondor. To do that I need to marry the king." Arwen smiled at Estel, making him giggle. That got her a -B.

When all the students had gone, there was not a single mark higher than Haldir's.

"Alright… Well then, the marks where not as high as hoped-

"Ma'am! Ma'am! Did you get that paper on the jobs? My mistake! I make a misprint, see? Grade ones? This is for out eleventh graders, to prepare them for the next stage! I am sorry!" Billy Bob ran in saying, taking the paper from the lady's hands and running out.

"So we wasted all that time when we really did not have to do that boring work?" Boromir exclaimed.

"Not really…" Galadriel had a brilliant idea that could really get the children excited and still remaining on the topic of their jobs…

To be continued…

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