Chapter 10:
Arrival

NOTE: :This is mindspeech.:

Two weeks later, Elladan and Elrohir had long since recovered. As expected, they were also back to terrorizing Erestor, or at least trying. Legolas discovered that it had been by pure luck that they had managed to dump that green pond water on him the last time. The councilor's reflexes rivaled the most seasoned warriors. The latest prank, trying to make Erestor walk through their trip wire that would in turn drop a breakable bag of food spoils on him, had failed. He had gone through the trip wire, but jumped out of the way the moment the bag began to fall.

At the moment, however, all thoughts of pranks seemed to be gone from the twins' minds. They were so excited about something that Legolas couldn't even make out what it was.

"What is going on?" Legolas finally yelled when all he could get from them was excited babble.

"Grandpa's coming!" Elladan exclaimed, jumping up and down on Legolas' bed.

"From where?" Legolas asked, thinking hard. He knew he had heard something about their grandparents. Something about them being important.

"From Lorien! Grandpa Celeborn is coming from Lothlorien!" Elrohir said, also jumping up and down.

The Lord of Lorien? Why? That worried Legolas, unlike the twins. He reasoned that if Lord Celeborn was coming here, then it must be something his father couldn't handle. But these worries, no matter how much they showed on his face, were lost on the two half-elves.

"Elladan, Elrohir." Erestor came in, and sighed. "You're going to flatten out the Prince's bed if you keep that up." They stopped. "Lord Celeborn is here."

The twins immediately dashed out of the room, leaving Legolas and Erestor behind. They followed at a more sedate pace. Greetings were already underway when they arrived.

Elladan and Elrohir immediately attached themselves to Celeborn's legs as soon as he dismounted from his horse.

"What have we here? Beggers?" He laughed at their wide-eyed faces.

"Did you bring us something?" They asked at once. Elrond, from the side, sighed and shook his head. Celeborn only smiled.

"Maybe I did." They both beamed. "And maybe I didn't." Their faces fell.

While everyone was otherwise occupied, Legolas crept up behind his father to watch. He wasn't expecting it when the King scooped him up and brought him forward.

"This is the boy, Celeborn." Thranduil said, and grinned when he immediately tried to hide in the folds of his tunic.

"Hello, Legolas." The Lord of Lorien greeted, and Legolas peeked out at him.

"Hello…" He answered hesitantly. The older elf smiled and grabbed the elfling from his father.

"Now is that any way to greet me when I've come all this way?" He asked, and Legolas blushed. He laughed, and reached down to include the twins.

"Let us continue this inside." Thranduil suggested. He led the way.

Celeborn had not come by himself. He had brought with him five of his best soldiers. Some might say that that wasn't much, but when you considered the skill of the Galadhrim, and the skill of the Lord himself, five was plenty. They could have easily beaten a company of orcs. One of those soldiers was Haldir, who walked beside him. He was Celeborn's Marchwarden normally, but being his most skilled warrior, he had been selected as a guard.

They walked along in apparent silence, but in truth, Celeborn, Elrond, and Thranduil were deep in conversation.

:What does Legolas have to do with this? He wasn't nearby when the twins were attacked.: Elrond was confused, though that wasn't abnormal when around the Lord of Lorien.

:It would take too long to explain, and then you may not understand it anyway. It was something that I saw in my wife's mirror. Whatever is going to happen here will involve Legolas along with the twins.: Celeborn replied.

:Let us just hope that whatever it is, it will be possible not to involve the children.: Thranduil said. They all agreed.

:I want to search their minds, and see if I can get anything from them aside from "monster." They may have traces of dark magic. Please allow me to do so on my own.: Thranduil and Elrond hesitantly agreed, since neither of them had left their children without at least two eyes on them since the incident.

"I think I may have brought the three of you something. Why don't you help me find it?" Upon hearing this, Legolas immediately lost his shyness, and the twins were excited again.

"What? What?" They wanted to know. They didn't notice that their fathers didn't follow them when he came to a set of guestrooms. They also didn't notice that three of the soldiers, Haldir and his two brothers, did follow.

"What did you get us Grandpa?" Elrohir asked.

"I'll tell you after you take a nap." He told them as he sat down on a comfortable chair and gathered them all on his lap.

"But we aren't sleepy!" Elladan protested.

"Yes, you are." Celeborn said with a smile.

"Nu-uh!" Legolas said with a petulant face, but that was interrupted by a sudden yawn. Celeborn only chuckled as the twins followed suit. Within minutes they were fast asleep.

"They might be angry with you when they wake up." Haldir murmured from the side, grinning.

"Of course not. They won't have any idea that I put them to sleep." Celeborn said but smiled. "Now, if the three of you will each pick an elfling, I can get this done before they wake up."

Rumil and Orophin carefully picked up the twins and settled them on their laps, and Haldir did the same with Legolas.

After a moment, Celeborn leaned forward and looked carefully at the Prince of Mirkwood. He frowned slightly as he went into what seemed to be a trance. After a few moments, he looked up.

"Anything?" The Marchwarden asked.

"No, but I don't doubt what the mirror showed me. Whatever involvement he has, it obviously hasn't happened yet." After similarly checking the minds of Elladan and Elrohir, he found some very interesting information.

"It seems that the 'monster' they saw was only an illusion, and what's more, whoever did it, is in the palace." Haldir had to remind himself not to give in to his instincts and jump up. The little Prince may not appreciate being woken up by being dropped.

"Someone hiding?" He asked instead.

"Yes and no. Whoever it is, they are certainly hiding behind a false personality, but if you mean literally, no. The security of this place is too tight to allow anyone to sneak around." Celeborn sighed and rubbed his temples. "Please keep the children until I get back."

"Where are you going?" Rumil asked.

"I must discuss this with Elrond and Thranduil. We must uncover this person who hides in plain sight."

A/N: …FLYING RUBBER MOLES… carried off in a straight jacket