Disclaimer- Refer to chapter 1.

A/N- I know I dropped this story for a while, but I'm back! And I DO plan to finish this story.

Chapter 5- Tea and Stories

The little elfling Legolas pushed open the oaken door and ran into the room where Elvellon and Tirnen were. He was breathing hard as he braced himself against the massive door. "B…bath…" Was all he could manage to stutter out.

Tirnen gasped quietly and looked with sympathy upon his friend. "That's disgusting," He said appalled. "Why do they make us take those nasty things? No one likes them!"

"Except for the grown-ups. They like them. They take them all the time." Elvellon piped in.

"But grown-ups are weird," Legolas chimed up, "They are always making us do boring stuff all the time!"

The other two agreed to this by nodding their small heads.

"Where do grown-ups come from anyway?" Elvellon asked.

Both Legolas and Tirnen shrugged at this. Legolas was about to answer, but a knock came at the door. Thranduil appeared moments later carrying a glass of something hot.

"Come here, ion…" The king coaxed, "You need to drink this to make you better."

"But I feel fine, ada." Legolas feigned. He smiled slightly and stifled a cough.

Thranduil couldn't help but smile at Legolas. "Come, ion-nin." He reached out and put his arm around Legolas' small waist. He drew him close and pulled him into his strong, loving arms.

"What's that, ada?" Legolas eyed the steaming drink.

"This, Legolas, is tea. It will make you feel better." The Elvenking held the glass up to the tiny prince's lips.

Legolas took a small sip and make a disgusted face. "Eww!" He spat the tea out. "Ada, that's nasty!"

"Do you want to feel better?" Thranduil queried.

"Not if I have to drink that." Legolas pouted.

"Do not pout, Legolas. You need to drink this." He held the glass back up to the tiny delicate lips. Legolas, though, refused to open them even a crack. "Legolas, quit jesting!" Thranduil started to get frustrated with the tiny prince.

"NO." Legolas said sternly. He then started to squirm and try and wriggle free of his father's strong grip.

"Legolas!" Thranduil scolded harshly, "Stop this…" His voice calmed a bit after scolding him.

The little elfling looked down sadly and snuggled close to his father's chest. He listened quietly to Thranduil's strong beating heart.

Thranduil, against his own will, gently lifted Legolas' chin and pried his mouth open with his finger. He tilted the glass to the prince's lips and forced Legolas to drink the tea.

Once all of the green-colored liquid was gone, Legolas got out of his father's lap and went over to his friends quietly, keeping his blond head bent low.

The Elvenking felt extremely vile for forcing his son to drink the tea. He got up and exited quietly, shutting the door as he left.

"Eww!" Legolas hung his pink tongue out, "Nasty!"

"What was that?" Tirnen raised a dark eyebrow.

"I don't know… but it was sick." Legolas scraped his tongue against his teeth, hoping to scrape some of the taste out of his mouth.

Another knock came upon the door. But this time, Thranduil did not appear; rather Gwelwen did.

"Gwel!" Legolas ran to the tall elf and hugged his leg. "Gwel… I have bad taste in my mouth…"

Gwelwen scooped Legolas up into his long arms. "It will go away. Just wait." He smiled.

"I want it to go away now…" Legolas pouted.

The tall elf could only help but smile. "It is time for some little elflings' bedtimes now…" And with that, he carried Legolas off to his room with Tirnen and Elvellon following closely behind.

Gwelwen opened the door to Legolas' room. The room was a massive room. Filled to the ceiling with toys and pillows. Painted on the walls were Mirkwood's colors: green with silver leaves. On the floor was a beige rug laying on top of a wooden floor.

"When's ada coming in?" Legolas asked once he was laid on his bed.

"He has a lot of work to do… he could not tuck you in tonight. He asked me to do so." Gwelwensaid as he placed the other two children in their beds adjacent to Legolas'.

"Why ada have a lot of work?" Legolas asked sadly.

"He is king. Kings have a lot of work to get done." Gwelwen said, picking up a bedtime story.

"Why is he king?" Legolas asked, stifling a yawn.

"He was prince once, but then he became king once Oropher, his adar, passed on." Gwelwen tried to explain as easily as he could, "You will be king one day, too."

"I will?" Legolas looked a little happy.

The servant nodded. "Yes." He answered simply. "And you will make a great king."

Legolas beamed happily. "But I no king for a long time."

"No, you will not be king for a very long time." Gwelwen smiled.

"What's the story?" Legolas' attention was now drawn to the book under the servant's arm.

"Oh, this is the story on dragons, wizards, and hobbits." He smiled, hoping that the elflings would want to hear the adventure.

"Oh…" Tirnen sighed, "So it's a history book?" He lay down and rolled onto his side, not desiring to hear the story.

Against Tirnen's small protest, Gwelwen read the story to the children,

He smiled as the last of the children finally fell asleep. As silent as a mouse, Gwelwen slipped out of the bedroom and shut the door gently behind him.

A/N- Well, all I can ask of you is to review Thanks!