Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places featured in this story
Author's notes: Please read and review, oh, and this chapter is set a little later, so Elrohir's arm is all better now.
Responses to reviews:
Haldir's heart and soul: Thank you for reviewing. You hurt your ankle? Ouch, have some sympathy free of charge. Well, if you wanted another chapter, here it is.
A.Nuevil: Thanks for the reviews. By the way, could anyone tell me what on earth is meant by ROFLOL? That's two reviews so far that have had that in, and I don't know what it means…
Slina: Thank you for your review, and if anyone wants, there will be more to come, the ideas are all in my head-they just have to be written down (the hardest part you have to agree)
It was the first day of spring, and Imladris was a hive of activity. Preparations were being made for the annual feast the next day. Decorations were being hung, presents made and found for family, friends and loved ones. In the kitchen, elves busily prepared food and in the armoury, Glorfindel was using the chaos to avoid Erestor, who was after the paperwork that the warrior still hadn't finished.
Elrond and Celebrían were putting the finishing touches to the twins' presents, which they had been trying to keep secret for weeks. No easy task with children as inquisitive as Elladan and Elrohir.
Elladan and Elrohir were also busy. They were attempting to help decorate, but were only really succeeding in getting under everyone's feet. "Where shall I put this?" Elladan pulled on the sleeve of Laurëé, who was hanging paper lanterns. She didn't answer, as she was trying to concentrate on putting one lantern up without dropping all the others she was carrying.
"Where are you Glorfindel?" Erestor muttered to himself as he marched up the corridor. "That paperwork needed to be done two weeks ago." He spotted a flash of golden hair at the end of the corridor and broke into a jog.
Elladan began to get impatient, and decided that his lantern, which had a picture of crocus flowers on, would look best hanging from the ceiling. Unfortunately, he couldn't reach, so he climbed onto the banister of the stairs, despite protests from Elrohir about safety.
Glorfindel, thankfully, spotted Elladan before he could injure himself. He reached forward and picked the elfling up, then placed him safely back on the ground. "That wasn't very safe Elladan," he scolded, "don't do that." He was about to leave when he saw Erestor striding towards him, a dangerous look on his face. A spark of inspiration fired in his brain and he turned to the twins. "Let's go and find your parents shall we?" He asked, steering them towards the door. "To see if they have something you can do?" He walked away, and Laurëé smiled at him in thanks.
Erestor watched Glorfindel turn to leave and sped up again, but just as the warrior was leaving, another elf walked past and blocked his view. When they had moved past, Glorfindel and the twins had vanished. It was at this point that Erestor said something highly inappropriate and earned himself several shocked glances from other elves. He went off to sulk in the library.
Celebrían and Elrond finally finished the presents and hid them in the cupboard, underneath a pile of blankets (they'd need to move them later-or the twins would definitely find them). Barely seconds after they had closed the cupboard door, Glorfindel walked in with the twins. Celebrían squeaked in shock, and Elrond's eyebrows set off towards his hairline.
"Are you alright my lady? My lord?" Glorfindel asked, slightly concerned. The twins however, immediately guessed the reason for their parents' reaction.
"You were finishing our presents weren't you?" They exclaimed excitedly, and rushed forward, trying to look for clues. "Where did you put them?"
"You can find out what your presents are tomorrow." Celebrían stated firmly, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "Today I was thinking of taking a picnic to the river, perhaps you would like to accompany me?"
"Ooh!" They chorused, successfully distracted, and followed Celebrían out of the room.
"I'll meet you in the gardens in a minute," Elrond called after her, and once the twins were out of earshot he turned to Glorfindel. "The presents are in the cupboard," he said, "can you take them and hide them somewhere the twins won't guess? I really don't want them to find their presents this year, please?"
Glorfindel nodded, but looked a little disappointed, and Elrond realised something. "You're still avoiding Erestor aren't you?" He asked, to which Glorfindel nodded. "Well," Elrond continued, "normally I wouldn't condone your lack of responsibility about paperwork, but since it's a holiday, if you like then you can join us by the river." Glorfindel gladly accepted and went off at once to hide the presents.
"Are we ready?" Elrond asked as he walked up to where Celebrían was waiting with the twins, carrying a basket filled with food and drinks.
"Yes!" The twins cried impatiently, resisting the urge to jump up and down, because that would certainly annoy their parents, perhaps enough to cancel the trip.
"Well, before we go," Elrond said, "I want to set a few guidelines."
"Aww…" Elladan sighed, as guidelines often meant that he'd be told that under no circumstances should he do exactly what he had been thinking of doing at the time. It was amazing really, how accurately Elrond or Celebrían could read his mind.
"Now now," Elrond frowned, "I'm not trying to spoil your fun, I'm trying to keep you safe. You wouldn't want to miss the celebrations tomorrow because of a silly accident, would you?"
Both Elladan and Elrohir shook their heads, Elrohir rather more vigorously, because he knew exactly how much accidents could hurt, whereas Elladan didn't.
"Right," Elrond waited for quiet then began, "Both of you need to stay where either your mother or I can see you at all times. The water will still be very cold at this time of year, and dangerously fast flowing, so you won't be able to go swimming." At this point, he stopped, while Elladan and Elrohir voiced their complaints. "I won't change my mind on this." He stated, in the kind of voice you didn't argue with, "Finally, when we get there please stay away from the edge, I don't want to be fishing you out when you fall in."
Safety guidelines finished, Elrond decided that it was time to be off. They had reached the edge of the garden when Glorfindel caught up to them, shooting furtive glances back at the house, just in case Erestor had spotted him.
Back inside, a pile of paperwork was towering on Glorfindel's desk. He had been given the paperwork to do at the beginning of winter, and apparently, the problem didn't go away if it was left alone. Halfway through winter, Glorfindel had resolved to get some of it done. He had achieved two pages by the time he gave up. Paperwork and Glorfindel were like oil and water-they just didn't mix. The first time he tried to be organised, his mind had wandered, and he'd spent half an hour naming his stationary (his quill had been affectionately dubbed Erestor). Erestor was not happy because the paperwork was reaching the urgent stage, and the paperwork was not happy because it was teetering perilously close to the wastepaper basket.
"Ahh," Glorfindel sighed, stretching his arms out in front of him, "the weather is beautiful." He was happy, because he was finally far enough away from the paperwork and Erestor to be safe.
The river was brilliant, sparkling clean water rushed over smooth stones, and you could see the fish. An abundance of wildlife had gathered by the riverbank, and Elladan and Elrohir wasted no time in getting to know what seemed to their parents like the entire insect population. "Look ada!" Elrohir held out his hands, "I'm going to call it Glorfindel!"
The warrior peered over at this statement to find out what noble creature had made Elrohir think of him. In Elrohir's hands was a small, delicate dung beetle. Glorfindel groaned and buried his head in his hands.
While the twins met the local wildlife and Glorfindel attempted to persuade Elrohir that he should name the dung beetle after someone else, Elrond and Celebrían lay down under a tree, basking in the dappled sunlight.
"Finally," Celebrían sighed, "A chance to relax with my husband in peace and quiet," Elrond leant over and kissed her on the cheek.
"I'm sorry we haven't been able to spend much time together recently," he apologised, "but I was snowed under with paperwork," Celebrían didn't look appeased so he planted another kiss on her lips.
Celebrían smiled. "All is forgiven," she said, running long fingers through his hair, "Perhaps we should talk about the issue of spending time together tonight."
"Lunch!" Elrond announced a little later, and the twins plus Glorfindel arrived complete with a menagerie of insects. Glorfindel had failed to persuade Elrohir to give the dung beetle a new name, but he had managed to ensure that a caterpillar was called Erestor.
Lunch was eaten with relish, and was eaten far too fast by Elladan and Elrohir. Once lunch was finished, it was time to think about leaving. Of course, both of the twins were reluctant to leave, come to think about it, so was Glorfindel. Still, the feast was tomorrow, and they all needed to finish their own preparations.
Elladan was the first to accept the fact that they needed to leave, and he headed off along the riverbank towards Imladris. "Careful Elladan," Elrond called, "The bank will be slippery,"
No sooner than the words had left Elrond's lips, Elladan's foot skidded on the wet grass and he fell over. In less than a second, the elfling had slipped off the path and fallen towards the river.
"Elladan!" Elrond cried, and rushed forward just in time to see Elladan tip forward, banging his head on a rock as he splashed into the icy water. A trickle of blood curled up through the water and Elladan's motionless body sank towards the riverbed.
Author's notes: Aha, a cliffhanger. If you would like to find out what happens, then please review. Constructive criticism gladly accepted. I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't very well written, please forgive me. The next chapter doesn't have a title yet, so any ideas for that would be welcome, and any ideas for future chapters are also welcome. Thank you, please review.