In the days that followed, Celebrían noticed that Arwen seemed cheerful. She was glad that her daughter was no longer troubled by her vision. However, she was seeing less and less of her sons, and of Glorfindel. She hoped against hope that they would behave themselves this year, but it was highly unlikely.

Elladan, Elrohir, Glorfindel and Elenion had squirrelled themselves away in a disused room which used to be a classroom for the children of Rivendell under the careful tutelage of both Erestor and Glorfindel among many other teachers. Glorfindel was in high spirits, his bright blue eyes shining with mischief as he rolled a map of Imladris out across one of the desks. In a low voice he told the others what he was planning for the Autumn festival night, the smiles on their faces growing wider by the minute.

Elrond just happened to be walking past when he heard the low conspirital mutterings. He pressed his ear to the door but even so could not make out what they were planning. He smiled, shook his head and walked away. He was always up for a good scare, but he hoped that the elf-men would take it easy this year. He had enough to worry about without having people scared half to death.

Erestor was being extra careful this year, the uptight advisor being the target of many pranks. After a few thousand years, though, he was fairly familiar with everyone's tricks. He was already checking behind doors and checking his bed for any large insects the twins may have put into it. Erestor was deathly afraid of spiders and had been foolish enough to tell Glorfindel. As he went into his personal washroom, he thought he saw a huge spider in the basin. He gasped, but then he realised that it was just a piece of fabric from a black tunic he has mended that looked like a spider. He brushed it away and had his daily wash before dinner. However, as he opened his cupboard to get some soap, a large brown, hairy spider sat upon one of his towels. Startled by the sudden movement and light, it jumped out and skittered across the floor. Erestor screamed and jumped up onto a nearby chair, shaking with fright. The spider stood still on the floor near his bed, his shrieking loud enough to send Elrond running to Erestor's room. Elrond threw open the door.

'Erestor, what is amiss?'

Erestor, whimpering with fear, shakily pointed to the spider sitting rather casually on his lovely blue rug. Elrond tried his complete best not to smile, and he succeeded. He walked over and the spider cowered, afraid of the very tall and noisy creature before it.

'See, Erestor? He's harmless.' Elrond very lightly tapped it. 'Go on, be away with you. Back to the forests, where you belong.'

It scurried across the floor, stopping outside Erestor's room as if it was waiting for Elrond to pick it up and take it back to the forests. Erestor stepped off the chair, his throat dry but his fear over.

'My thanks, Lord Elrond,' he said, blushing a little with embarrassment. Elrond smiled a knowing smile.

'You are quite welcome, Erestor. Even we, the wisest and fairest of all beings, have fears just like every other creature.' Elrond leaned in conspiritally. 'I myself have a fear of cats.'

Erestor arched his eyebrows. 'Really?'

'Oh yes. Spawn of Mordor, every last one of them. One attacked me when I was young and I've been afraid of them since. But for Eru's love, please don't tell my sons. I'll never hear the end of it.'

'Of course, my lord. Your fears are safe with me.'

Elrond left the room and picked the patient spider up, and gently placed it in a nearby tree. As he did, he laughed at the sight of Erestor standing on a chair, shrieking. That such a wise and noble elf is reduced to a quivering mess in the presence of a tiny and harmless creature. Elrond had half a mind to yell at his sons, who were invariably behind it, but it gave him such a good chuckle he let it slide.

Unseen in the shadows, an elf-maiden giggled, and silently swept away to get ready for dinner. She normally would never have done anything like this, but the mischievous atmosphere was hard to resist. She hoped that no one would ever find out it was her, though. Her father would kill her.

The morning of the Autumn festival arrived, and the whole of Rivendell was looking forward to nightfall, after the obligatory large feast, of course. The feast wouldn't be much in terms of meat because of the limitations of the hunters, but it was a nice feast nonetheless. The main courtyard was decorated with ribbons and buntings of orange, red and yellow, with a little bit of black and purple as well. Beleglor did not know what was going on and had to ask Lindir at breakfast.

'Why, it's the Equinox, of course!' he laughed. 'Tonight is the night that the spirits of dead Elves and Men walk the earth, or so they say. Children's stories, of course, but it's always fun to hear them again.'

'I've never heard such stories,' Beleglor replied.

'You have to come tonight, Glorfindel tells them beautifully. After the feast, of course. Tonight is one of the nights I do not sing. But I'm warning you, tonight is not for the faint of heart.'

'In what way?'

'Glorfindel and Elrond's sons go out of their way to terrify each and every person in Imladris, and they will stop at nothing.'

Beleglor laughed. He had always known Glorfindel, Elladan and Elrohir to be gentle souls; he could not imagine them terrorising anyone. 'I suppose I had better warn my children.'

'No, don't!' Lindir's eyes shone with excitement. 'They must not know anything of this, the fun is in being caught unawares.'

Beleglor smiled. 'All right. Anything else I need to know?'

'Wear red,' Lindir replied. 'The colour of blood. It's tradition.'

Beleglor ate his last bite of bread and stood up, grinning. Much as he loved living in Rivendell, its people were very strange. Tonight sounded like a night of fun, and Farothwen and Glorohtar needn't know anything. But first, he needed to get changed.

A/N: Hey all! My apologies once again for the delay. This story is, after nearly three years, starting to wind down. I'm sure it's been an albatross around both our necks! Thank you for continuing to read it. The chapters are going to be a little more frequent and certainly longer, and the next chapter is a beauty. I'm sure you want to reach the end of the tale as much as I do so relax and enjoy the party! Ooh, I wonder what the twins are up to...