Clover: I'm afraid there won't be much action in this chapter, either, but I will contrive to insert some in a later chapter. Given Anomen and the twins' track record, that shouldn't be too difficult!

Fluffy's fangirls: Thank you. By the way, does your screen name have something to do with Hagrid's three-headed dog in the first Harry Potter book?

Kel: When push comes to shove, Elrohir does love Anomen.

Natalie: The elfling stage provides endless opportunities for chaos, confusion, and comedy.

Haldir's Heart and Soul: Right. Elrohir really hasn't figures out the best way to win friends and influence people, at least as far as Anomen is concerned!

Opalkitty: Thank you. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

Trinilee Greenleaf: Yes, Elrohir is possessive, but in the end his possessiveness, unlike Saruman's, will not turn out to be a force for evil.

Beta Reader: Dragonfly

The next day, Elrohir returned at once to the subject of getting rid of Gandalf.

"We need to decoy that wretched wizard away from Imladris," he declared to Elladan.

Elladan was no happier than he had been the night before, and he once again tried to dissuade his twin from taking on the irascible Istar.

"Elrohir! You know the proverb: 'Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger'."

Elrohir waved off the objection. "If we trick him into leaving Imladris, he won't be around. So how could he possibly get at us? It doesn't make sense!"

"Elrohir, I think the whole point of being a wizard is that one can do things that don't make sense. I mean, magic wouldn't be magic if that weren't so. It is sort of like 'faith'. Remember how Erestor explained that one day? He told us a Man once said, 'I believe because it is absurd'. Erestor said that meant, if you believe something that can be explained easily enough, then where's the faith in that? Well, if magic made sense, it wouldn't be magic, would it?"

Elrohir made a gagging sound.

"Elladan, must you talk philosophy at a time like this? Mithrandir is stealing Anomen's affection, and perhaps he will steal him away altogether! Is that what you want: Anomen wandering the wilds in the company of a wizard who is on a mission to save Middle-earth?"

"Actually," said Elladan, "that sounds lovely." "I wonder," he added hopefully, "if Mithrandir would take us, too."

Elrohir gagged again.

"Elladan, stop talking nonsense, and let us get down to business."

Elladan sighed. "Very well. How are we to decoy him away?"

"Nothing easier. We must come rushing into the Hall and report seeing some creature that Mithrandir desperately wants to track."

"A Troll?"

"Mithrandir has no interest in Trolls."

"An Orc?"

"An ordinary Orc won't do. They're fourteen a farthing."

"A balrog?"

Elrohir shook his head.

"A balrog would bring out Glorfindel, who would soon discover the ruse. Then we would be polishing shields for, oh, about a century, I reckon."

The twins sat thinking intensely.

"I have an idea," Elladan said at last.

"An idea!" japed Elrohir. "That sounds about right!"

Elladan ignored the gibe.

"Elrohir, do you remember when Mithrandir came back from that journey he went on with thirteen Dwarves and a Perian?"

"Yes, I do. He had many a tale to tell in the Hall of Fire! The ones about the Perian were particularly delightful."

"Indeed! He gave a droll account of the Perian's escaping from a Goblin redoubt somewhere beneath the Misty Mountains."

"Oh, yes. I remember that. There was an odd creature in it. Mithrandir said that he had had to piece together a description of it, as the Perian was not very forthcoming."

"Yes! And he said he should very much like to meet that creature again."

The two elflings grinned one at the other.

"Well, then," chortled Elrohir, "let us contrive to bring about a meeting. Now we must try to remember the description."

"Small as a Perian," Elladan said promptly.

"Ears like a Perian's," added Elrohir.

"Naked save for a breech clout."

"Scrawny."

"Bad teeth."

"Scanty hair."

"Crawls about on his hands and feet."

"Hisses."

By now Elrohir himself was gleefully crawling about on hands and feet, his bottom waggling in the air. Elladan gave a shout of laughter and threw himself down on the floor as well. Down the corridor, Anomen heard their giggles as he approached the chamber. He had come to collect clean clothes, but now he slowed to a halt. 'They have a very good time when I am not about', he thought wistfully to himself. 'I had better not disturb them. Perhaps later, when they are out, I can slip in and get my things'.

With that, he sadly wandered off and threw himself down in the garden, lying on his back and gazing up at the clouds. Gandalf was closeted with Elrond and Glorfindel, and Anomen felt very lonely.

'I wish I could be with Mithrandir always', he said to himself. "Whatever shall I do when he leaves? And as he is with Elrond right now, he is probably planning to depart very soon. He always goes over maps with Elrond before he sets out again. If only I could find some way to convince him to stay!'

He thought very hard for a very long time.

'If there were something hereabouts that was of great interest to him, he would stay to investigate it'.

Anomen ran over in his mind all that Gandalf had talked about during the time of their acquaintance.

'He talks more about the Periannath than any other thing', he said to himself. 'But it wouldn't do to remind him of that, for he would leave straightaway and journey to their land!'

Anomen stood up and began to pace back and forth.

"If only there were a Perian in Imladris," he exclaimed. "But from what Mithrandir says, it is very rare for them to venture far from their homes. There was one, of course, who went forth in the company of thirteen Dwarves. He has long since returned to his land, however."

Anomen suddenly paused in his pacing.

"Wait a bit!" he cried. "Mithrandir has talked about a creature like a Perian, one that the true Halfling encountered on his journey. I remember Mithrandir told Elrond that he suspected the creature would soon come forth from his lair under the Misty Mountains. And I remember he said he very much hoped to meet him when he did! What if I were to tell Mithrandir that the creature were lurking about Imladris? He would stay in hopes of encountering it! Yes, that is what I shall do! I shall say that I saw a creature in a tree—and that would be true, too, for I am always seeing some creature in a tree! It must be in a tree, for that shall explain why no one will find any tracks. Now, then, if I am quite careful, I shall be able to give Mithrandir the impression that the creature is the one he very much wants to see. I truly have seen skinny creatures and small ones, creatures with scanty hair and bad teeth and those that crawl about on all fours and those that hiss. If he will put those things together, he will come up with the creature if he is as eager to find him as I think he is. And then he will remain in Imladris!"

While Anomen was devising this plan, the twins were putting the finishing touches on their own scheme.

"We must tell Mithrandir that we saw the creature in the shallows of the Bruinen," opined Elrohir. "Then, when he finds no tracks, it will be perfectly explainable."

"Grand! Now let's go tell him!" exclaimed Elladan, who had completely forgotten his misgivings.

"No, you troll-brain! First we must go to the Bruinen and back. If he doesn't see our tracks leading to and fro the river, he may grow suspicious."

"So we go to the river, we don't see anything, but we go back and say that we do?"

"Right," said Elrohir.

"But we must have a reason to go to the river."

"Um, we are tired of venison, and we want to hunt duck."

"Elrohir, the flocks have flown south."

"Oh, yes. Ah, I know: we can fish.

"Excellent! But we will have to wait until tomorrow."

"Why?"

"It is a little late to set out on a fishing expedition, isn't it?"

At dinner that night, the conspirators, although hungry, pretended to find the meal little to their liking. After watching them push their meat about the plate, Elrond asked them why they had so little appetite.

"Oh, Ada," groaned Elrohir, "it is so very boring to eat venison day in and day out."

"Yes," Elladan chimed in. "We have been eating venison for an eternity."

"And I hope you shall live to eat it for another eternity," replied Elrond. "But the Cook varies the preparation, so I do not know why you have suddenly grown so tired of it. Howsoever, if you really find it so dreadful, I can have the Cook chaffer with the Dunlendings for a pig or two."

Elladan and Elrohir shuddered. Dwarfs ate pork; Elves, as a general rule, did not.

"Ada," ventured Elrohir, "fish is much nicer than pork, don't you think?"

"True, but the Dunlendings are no fishers."

"Of course not," Elrohir replied quickly, "for they haven't got such a nice river as our Bruinen."

Elrond's eyebrows arched. The icy cold Bruinen was not usually referred to as a 'nice' river. Still, trout were often seen breaking its surface, and Elrond could not deny that the thought of a nicely browned fish was appealing after months of venison, no matter how well prepared.

"If you have such a great desire for fish, you may spend tomorrow casting lines into the Bruinen." He turned to Anomen. "You may go as well," he said.

"Oh, no thank you, Ada," Anomen said quickly. "I think I shall go to the forest to, to, to—collect acorns! Yes, I shall collect a great quantity of acorns, and so, if our stores run short this winter, we shall be able to make flour of them and so stave off hunger! Yes, that's it! Why, Glorfindel says that in a pinch acorns can be stewed!"

Elrond's eyebrows crept a little higher. It had been hundreds of years since Elves had faced such hard times as to be reduced to eating acorns. 'I suppose', Elrond said to himself, 'that this has something to do with the quarrel between Anomen and the twins. Anomen has seized the first excuse that has come to mind to avoid going with them to the river. He probably fears Elrohir will push him in—which is not altogether out of the realm of possibility, I am afraid!'

Elrond considered whether he ought to insist upon Anomen's going but then decided to give the elflings time to work matters out on their own.

"Very well, Anomen," he said. "You may spend the morrow gathering acorns."

It was three very happy elflings who went to bed that night, the twins in their chamber and Anomen in Gandalf's. Each was certain that the next day would see the most desirable of outcomes to Mithrandir's sojourn at Imladris. The twins were sure that the wizard would depart, and Anomen was equally sure that he would remain. Obviously, Anomen and the twins could not both get their wishes. The question, however, was whether anyone would.