Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
A/N: Okay, hello again everyone! I am terribly sorry about the delay in getting the second chapter of this story out but in the past three weeks I've had tests and papers galore, work (holiday season is murder on us) and believe it or not, I've been through three computers. Yes, three. My first one started to turn pink from my skin for some unknown reason. I took it back to the store and they gave me another one thinking it a freak reaction to that one computer. Wrong. Within less than 12 hours, my second new laptop started to turn pink too! So now, here we are on the third computer which is a darker metal, thank god, and it is not turning pink! It took me a long while to transfer all my files though because this is a different system than the one I'm used to working with. I've got it now though! HA! Anyway, I'm sorry if there was any confusion but this story directly follows Estel and Greenleaf where Estel was four years old. My pattern is usually I'll do a young Estel story then followed by an grown Estel and so on. So the next story after this one will once again focus on a grown Estel? Everyone with me? If not, just PM me and I'll try to explain in more detail. Anyway, thank you all so much for your reviews! I'm so glad that you all like it so far and believe me, there is much more to come. I won't even try to estimate how long the story is going to be because somehow my muse always runs away from me. A huge thank you to my very patient beta enb2004! Love you girl! As promised, here is Chapter 2. Enjoy!
Chapter 2:
Three days later Estel's birthday had arrived and the entirerty of Mirkwood was thrown into chaos as the surprise party was being constructed.
Much to Thranduil's dismay, Elrond found him very early in the morning with Estel in tow. "Ah, there you are mellon nin," he said. "Now Estel, I want you to be a very good boy for the King all right? Your brothers, Legolas, and myself have something very important to do so don't come looking for us unless it's truly an emergency."
"All right Ada!" Estel agreed happily. He had a feeling that a surprise of some sort was being planned and he loved surprises!
"Good luck mellon nin, believe me, you're going to need it," Elrond said laughingly.
Thranduil scowled but soon softened when Estel hugged him around the middle just like Legolas used to when he was but an elfling. Perhaps this wasn't going to be so horrible after all.
"I'll see you this evening tithen pen. I love you," Elrond said after picking up Estel and hugging him.
Estel giggled. "Love you too Ada!"
Elrond smiled and winked at Thranduil before departings. Once he had left, Thranduil looked down at the small child and smiled. "So tell me tithen pen what it is that you would like to do today?"
Estel frowned in thought for a moment before giving Thranduil a large grin.
Thranduil saw the grin and instantly began to sweat despite the chilly weather. That grin resembled the twins and Legolas' far to closely for his liking and it was making him increasingly nervous.
"Uncle Thrandy, will you teach me how to climb a tree?" Estel asked, his silver eyes pleading in such a way that it was impossible to say no.
Inwardly, Thranduil thanked the Valar that Estel's grin hadn't meant disaster and chaos like the twins and Legolas' did. "Of course Estel! I'll have you know that I am one of the best climbers around. Who do you think taught Legolas how to climb?"
Estel giggled and pointed at Thranduil.
Thranduil grinned and picked the little boy up and placed him on his shoulders. "Exactly! And guess what?"
"What!" Estel said excitedly.
"I just happen to know the perfect tree for you to begin climbing on," Thranduil said with a grin. In reality, the tree was practically a bush but for someone Estel's size, it was the perfect starting place.
"Is it that one over there?" Estel asked pointing towards the one lone tree in the courtyard by the pond.
"It is indeed," Thranduil chuckled. "I had it planted there specifically for Legolas and it was upon that very tree that he learned how to climb."
"Wow," Estel said in awe. To think that he would soon be climbing the very tree that Legolas had when he was young!
"Now Estel, the first rule of thumb when climbing is to be very aware of where your hands and feet are going," Thranduil said as he put down Estel and demonstrated. "One must always grasp onto the branches, but only the thick ones, while placing your feet where they won't slide."
"Like this?" Estel said as he easily hopped onto the lowest branch of the tree.
"Yes! Very good Estel!" Thranduil praised while inwardly wondering how Estel had mastered that so quickly. The only other person he knew that had grasped the concept so quickly was his own Legolas.
Estel beamed at him and before Thranduil could do or say anything, Estel hopped to the next branch and sat down next to him. "Now what?" he asked excitedly not knowing that he had nearly given the poor King a heart attack.
"Estel, how did you do that?" Thranduil asked slowly while trying to calm his racing heart. Never, never had he seen an Edain move like that in the trees before. Estel had done it so quickly the King had thought for sure that he was going to fall!
Estel looked at him oddly. "I just did what you said to do Uncle Thrandy. I watched where my hands and feet were going and once I was in the right place, I moved."
"Oh is that all," Thranduil muttered sarcastically to himself. This one was indeed a special child and Thranduil was more than happy to be considered part of Estel's extended family. He could, however, do without being given near heart attacks by the unexpected talents the child seemed to harbour. There was only so much that even an Elven Lord could take!
"Can we go higher now?" Estel asked hopefully.
Thranduil looked at Estel appraisingly and inwardly shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see why not seeing as you practically have climbing mastered. Just be very careful on the high branches because they are thinner than these ones," he warned.
"I'll be careful," Estel chirpped happily before swinging at an alarming rate to the next branch and even farther up.
"Estel!" Thranduil groaned as he scrambled to keep up with the headstrong child.
"Wow! It's beautiful up here!" Estel exclaimed from the top branches.
"Hold on one moment until I get there," Thranduil said grabbing a branch as he spoke. In his haste, however, to reach Estel he did not take his own advice about watching for thinner branches. As he pulled himself up onto the higher branch, Thranduil suddenly heard an ominous creak.
"Oh no," he whispered as he desperately tried to get to the nearest branch, but it was too late. Before Thranduil could truly comprehend what had just happened, the branch underneath him cracked and both he and the branch went plunging down into the icy cold pond right underneath the tree.
Sputtering and coughing he surfaced and waded out of the pond and collapsed onto the courtyard.
"Uncle Thrandy, Uncle Thrandy! Are you all right?" Estel asked from above him. How the child had gotten out of the tree without assistance was beyond him.
"Yes Estel, I'm all right. Just soaking wet," he said to the anxious child.
"Good," Estel said with obvious relief as he went to hug the King.
"Ah ah! I don't think so tithen pen. You can't hug me just yet because I'm wet. What would your Adar say if I let you hug me with these wet robes and then you caught ill because of it?" Thranduil said being careful to keep Estel at arms length.
"I take it that he would be very displeased," came Legolas' cheerful voice from behind Thranduil. "Mind you Ada, why exactly are you wet anyway?"
Thranduil growled but didn't say anything knowing that Estel would tell the story. He would be lucky if the entire population of Mirkwood didn't hear about what happened by night fall.
"Uncle Thrandy was teaching me how to climb, when he didn't listen to what he told me and stepped on one of the really really thin branches! The branch broke and he fell into the pond!" Estel exclaimed.
Legolas stared at his father for a moment before breaking out into hysterical laughter. "You Ada? One of the best climbers stepping on one of the thin branches!" he asked in between bouts of laughter.
"Yes yes, rub it in ion nin," Thranduil mock growled. "As if it wasn't embarrassing enough as it was, Estel managed to get to the top and back down without any assistance!"
"You mean to say he beat you during his very first climbing lesson?" Legolas laughed.
"Yes ion nin, that is what I just said," Thranduil said playfully cuffing Legolas on the head.
Shaking his head in laughter and disbelief, Legolas turned to Estel. "My, you are just full of surprises, aren't you Estel?" he said.
"Yep!" Estel said proudly.
"Indeed," Thranduil said dryly. "Now Legolas, I thought that you were supposed to be with Elrond and the twins getting everything ready."
"That's actually why I came out here in the first place," Legolas said. "Everything went very smoothly and we are actually ready for the surprise now."
"Yah! I love surprises!" Estel said with a big grin.
"Here Ada, I'll take Estel while you go and change. Don't worry, I'll explain your absence to anyone who wishes to hear the tale," Legolas said with a grin as he took Estel's hand and began to walk away.
"Oh Greenleaf, don't forget that you are my youngest child and as such, my memories of your misdeeds as an elfing are very very clear in my mind," Thranduil threatened.
"So you say Ada," Legolas said without batting an eye. "We'll see you shortly!" he said with a laugh and took off with Estel before Thranduil could get a word in edge wise.
"Young ones," Thranduil muttered fondly.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Within the palace, Elrond was pacing around restlessly waiting for Legolas to retrieve Thranduil and Estel. Honestly, what was taking them so long? How hard was it to collect one human child and one Elven King? Surely not that hard!
"Elrond, mellon nin, you must stop pacing around like that! There is nothing to worry about. We are safe here in the palace, so you have no need to worry." Glorfindel said with exasperation
Elrond shot both Glorfindel and the twins a glare for that statement. "Do you honestly think that I believe that nonsense Glorfindel? How many times have they proven that wrong?" he said with another glare at the twins.
"What? What did we do?" Elladan asked defiantly.
Elrond glared at his eldest. "Elladan, you know very well what you and your wayward brother have done and the trouble you have gotten into here in this very palace. And now, you have spread your 'disease' to your baby brother!"
"They've spread what disease to their baby brother?" Legolas asked in a amused voice from behind Elrond.
"Oh thank you mellon nin!" Elrohir exclaimed. "Adar thought that just because you were running a bit late that something terrible had happened to Estel based on our previous experiences here."
"See Ada?" Elladan said. "Nothing to worry about."
"Humph, we'll see," Elrond said, still suspicious. "Now, where is your father Legolas?"
"Oh, he had to go and get changed out of his wet robes," Legolas said laughing.
Elrond and Glorfindel blinked while the twins chuckled. "Wet robes?" they asked together.
"Yes, wet robes. You see, Estel here wanted to learn how to climb a tree, so father took him to the one he taught me to climb as an elfling. Unfortunately for Ada, he apparently didn't listen to his own advice about how to avoid the thin branches and down he went into the pond," Legolas said laughing with everyone else joining in.
"You learned how to climb tithen pen? Way to go!" Elladan said scooping up Estel and hugging him tightly after he had stopped laughing.
"He's a climber all right," Thranduil said finally entering the room in clean robes with his hair still slightly wet. "I'm telling you Elrond, he's a natural. He moved so fast that one would think he was an elf who had been born in the trees like my Legolas."
Elrond smiled and finally allowed himself to relax. Maybe Glorfindel was right and he was becoming to paranoid. Well, who could blame him with the children he had? Even Arwen had been a troublemaker in her day and still was. Between his four children it was a wonder he hadn't gone grey from sheer fright yet. "I am very proud of you ion nin," he said taking Estel from Elladan. "Now, what do you we all go down to the dinning room so we can start your birthday party Estel?"
"Yah!" Estel said scrambling to get down.
Elrond smiled and gently deposited Estel on the floor as everyone moved towards the door. Estel was growing up so fast. It still seemed like it was only yesterday that Estel had been barely more than a babe and tugging at his father's robes to be picked up and held.
Thranduil seemed to have realized where Elrond's thoughts had gone for he clasped him on the shoulder gently. "He is still very young Elrond and he has his whole childhood in front of him. He is only five after all."
Elrond smiled. "I know. But I am going to miss my baby boy.
"Yes, I know you will but at the same time you will enjoy watching him grow into a strong young man. You'll always have memories of his childhood just like you do of your other children and I of mine," Thranduil said wisely.
Elrond smiled again at his long time friend. "Oh mellon nin, what would I do without you?" he asked shaking his head.
Thranduil laughed. "I have no idea mellon nin. Thank goodness for everyone that I am here to keep that head of yours straight and pointing in the right direction."
"Indeed," Elrond said wryly. "Come, let us go and enjoy my little one's party. Maybe then we will discover more of his hidden talents."
Thranduil laughed and together the two friends walked out of the room never knowing that some of Estel's harbored talents would soon be put to the test in one of the cruelest situations imaginable.
Translations:
Ada: Dad/Daddy
Ion nin: My son
Tithen pen: Little one
Mellon nin: My friend