YAY! I have been going crazy over the last who knows how long! I suddenly am very appreciative of my computer, having not being able to use any at all for what seemed like forever. The trip was awesome, but not being able to write except maybe (if I was lucky) for 30 min every few days made it seem like eternity. As you can tell, I get bored VERY easily, and 7hrs a day in a RV w/ nothing to do . . . . . not good. I feel bad for my dad though, he had to spend 3wks in a small space with 2 teenage girls (one of my friends came with me) and a menopausal woman. Okay, enough about my trip . . . .

Legolas smiled as he watched the blonde Elf-child running back and forth across the path ahead of him, chasing brightly colored butterflies. He stayed far enough behind her so that she felt like she was still leading him, but close enough to be at her side in an instant if any danger threatened. The sun was setting in the west, casting a warm light on the trees, which already were colored in reds and oranges for the autumn. Occasionally a leaf would drift down from the heights and settle lazily on the forest floor. A soft breeze blew from the south, ruffling his hair like an obnoxious lover. Legolas closed his sky-blue eyes and let the zephyr caress his face. Sighing contentedly, he opened his eyes, but Aerin was no where to be seen. He called out to her, but got no response. He looked around frantically, but she was no where in sight.

He raced through the trees calling out. Suddenly, he could descry the harsh cries of orcs mingled with the forests' many voices. Among them, he realized with horror, were the screams of his young daughter. Brandishing his twin knives, the Prince raced towards the sounds. He came suddenly to an open glade and saw the beasts retreating into the foliage on the other side. He sheathed the Noldorian blades, and grabbed his long bow, a gift from Lady Galadriel. Stretching the string taut, he let the arrow fly, though it went wide and missed the orc host all together. He ran after them, but the distance between him and the beasts that held his daughter kept growing.

"Ada!" He heard Aerin scream as the orcs' rough hands violated her small body. "Ada! Ada!"

Legolas awoke with a start, to see two misty blue orbs only inches from his face. "Ada?" Aerin asked cautiously, obviously surprised by her father's stunned face. Her sandy hair was tousled and stray wisps framed her elvish face. Legolas could not ignore the large white t-shirt she was wearing, its sleeves hanging past her elbows, and the bottom long enough to brush the floor when she stood.

The Prince glanced at the clock, it was only four in the morning. "Aerin, what. . . . ." he was cut short when she hopped off his stomach and yanked him out of the bed.

"Ada, come here I want to show you something." she said, proceeding to push, pull, and otherwise force him down the hall.

What in Mordor? He may have been Quendi, but that did not mean he had not acquired mortals' terrible sleeping habits. "Why didn't you show your mother?" he asked, yawning.

Aerin laughed. "Naneth was sleeping."

Legolas moaned, "What do you think I was doing?" he mumbled under his breath.

She turned and glared at him sharply, she may have only barely come up to his waist, but it made him think immediately of Melannen when she was displeased. "You were dreaming."

Legolas resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Elleths. He thought grimly. When he looked back up, Aerin was perched on the arm of the sofa, holding a large book of some kind in her arms. He was about to scold her for sitting there, but decided against it. It was too early for an argument.

Legolas sat down beside her and she promptly jumped into his lap. Opening, what he noticed was a photo album, she pointed at a picture. "Who's that, ada?" Even though she was only six, Aerin had an uncanny way of placing him in situations that caused him to squirm.

The Prince gulped. How did she get that? He asked himself, quickly deciding he was not sure he truly wanted to know. Legolas was on thin ice, and he knew it. The Prince worded his next statement very delicately. "That," he put his hand over her's and pulled it off the old, colorless picture. "Is Lord Glorfindel of Imladris."

She thought it over for a few seconds, and nodded, but clearly unimpressed by his blunt description of the Elf Lord. She laughed at the aura that could be faintly seen shimmering around him in the picture. Then she flipped to another page. "Is that you?"

Once again, Legolas felt the ice cracking beneath him. "Aerin, that is your brother Elros."

"I have a brother?" she asked and he nodded. She looked for a long time at her father, and then back at the photograph. Biting her thumb, the young Elf-child stayed silent for several mor moments. "He looks a lot like you." She could be excruciatingly shrewd at times.

Legolas smiled, "Many people say that, riel nin." He sighed, for the truth was that he had hardly known his son, and only then under Glorfindel's sharp eyes.

"Where is he now, ada?"

"Elros . . . . . your brother, is dead." Legolas decided to keep it short, there was no need for her to grow up knowing the truth. The truth could be painful, no one knew that better than him. She gasped, even that small knowledge was hard for her to master. No one she knew had ever died before.

Her eyes scanned the other pictures on the page, while Legolas continued to muse. "Cheesecake?"

Legolas looked down and immediately snatched up the album. VIRGIN EYES, ELLADAN! He put the book on the highest shelf of a tall bookcase, far above her reach.

"Ada, who was the dark-haired Elf with naneth?"

"Lord Elladan Peredhil."

"Oh." she turned to see Melannen staring at them, smiling. She was just about to make herself a cup of water. Aerin skipped over and asked her something. There was the sound of breaking glass.

Author's note: thanks for waiting. As far as I know, Tolkien never really described Elves as parents, so I am kinda in uncharted territory here. Any suggestions, they are always welcome. :)