"I cannot think how I was roped into this," Coral remarked.

Harune looked sideways at her. "Nimrethil can be convincing at times."

Coral carried a hamper and wore only her salmon-colored dress, the white cuffs rolled to her elbow. She had left her cap and apron behind, but even the wind could not budge her brown hair, tied firmly into a bun.

Harune carried a patchwork quilt and Yuai and Avaron came behind him, each elf carrying a stone jug of tea.

"Whose idea was this?" Yuai asked, as he tramped through the faint path cleared in the underbrush under the forest canopy.

Harune turned to look at him, brushing a stray strand of hair off his face. His blue eyes twinkled. "I suspect Thranduil circulated the idea."

Thranduil's red hair flashed around a tree trunk up ahead. Ailunai followed him with a blue sunshade twirling in her hands. The parasol cast a circle of shade for her to walk in as she moved around jutting sticks and over rocks with as much grace as a sunflower nodding in the wind.

As Harune watched, Hyrondal fell back beside Ailunai. "A sunshade!" Hyrondal cried. He cast out his arms. "With all these trees?"

Indeed, it was shady for trees stretched around the elves as far as the eye could see and no bugs buzzed in damp ditches. Nor were there any houses in sight for there was only silence, but Ailunai poked Hyrondal with the tip of her sunshade and replied, "A lady carries a sunshade to fend off bugs."

A cry went up from Thranduil as he accosted Jailil and Nimrethil kneeling beside a ditch. "Look at this disgrace, Hyrondal! Us on a picnic and them picking weeds!"

As Jailil shoved Thranduil with a chuckle, the trees thinned out and gave vent to a shaded meadow. A stream ran tinkling through the soft, dark grass and an apple tree with a twisted trunk and rough bark offered half-ripe apples with a smirk.

Harune spread his quilt under the apple tree and weighed down the corners with fallen apples. Avaron and Yuai stuck the jars of tea into the creek to keep them cold and Coral opened the wicker hamper.

As the smell of fried fish and mayonnaise wafted into the air, Nimrethil announced, "I cooked everything."

"Then we know who to blame if the food goes south," Thranduil teased, and fled as Nimrethil ran at him. He splashed through the creek and laughed as Nimrethil paused to debate getting her dainty black shoes wet.

Avaron decided the quilt was clean enough for him and sat down near Harune. "We hear you have been visiting family."

Harune smiled. "Yes. My daughter Jade came home after several years of travelling throughout Mirkwood and, of course, I had to see her. I was relieved Thranduil was in one piece for me to come back to. I understand you and Yuai had unforgettable weeks as well."

Yuai rubbed his hand behind his neck as he sat down. Unlike Avaron and Harune, he wore no collared robe but rather a loose tunic and leggings. He peeled off his boots and leaned back on his hands. "Needless to say, Avaron and I both have spirited apprentices. A pity your orange hair faded, Avaron, I should have liked to see it."

Avaron quirked one black eyebrow. "No doubt! How did you hear about our misfortunes, Harune?"

Harune gestured to Thranduil, Hyrondal, Jailil, Ailunai, and Nimrethil. "Surely you can tell by the social network spread out before you word spreads quickly."

"To be fair, we have heard no horror stories birthed in your kitchens," Avaron said to Coral.

The woman shuddered. "I assure you; I live in constant fear of what would happen if I whacked Nimrethil. She is quite feral actually, but I dare not be done with her for she is a talented cook."

"Talent comes in different forms," Yuai said, frowning as Hyrondal tried to demonstrate a curved backflip to Thranduil. "What is that boy thinking? Thranduil will wrench his back!"

"Or not," Harune said, as Thranduil completed the backflip and bowed to Hyrondal. "They still practice together in the afternoons, you know."

Yuai pursed his lips as Hyrondal shoved Thranduil into the creek and Nimrethil started scooping water up in her shoes and throwing it over Thranduil. "Come on, Ailunai!" she cried. "Stir up some trouble!"

Ailunai looked down her nose at Thranduil dripping with mud before she slashed her parasol through the deep end of the creek and Thranduil screamed as a mix of sand and water splattered him. "Ailunai! I thought you were decent!"

Ailunai tossed her parasol behind her, where the tool almost clipped Jailil on the head, and declared, "I am a lady every day of my life except today!"

"I am doomed," Thranduil groaned.

Avaron brushed a strand of black hair off his face. "I understand these five rascals meet daily. What goes on at their meetings exactly?"

"If you listen, you will get a taste," Harune answered.

Nimrethil plunked herself down on the creek bank and dangled her bare feet in the water. She put her soaked shoes down beside her with a conscious look. "I tell you, I will cook for the King soon!"

Hyrondal snorted and gleefully demonstrated a chokehold on Thranduil. As Hyrondal scrambled to his feet, he said, "Good luck! I saw Yuai throwing those cookies you sent him to the birds."

Yuai winced as Nimrethil shrieked, "What! Wait until I get my hands on him; he threw away cups of ancient grain."

"No wonder they tasted so bad," Hyrondal giggled, and yelled as Thranduil jerked him to the ground.

"The most disgusting thing you ever saw," Jailil declared, as Hyrondal and Thranduil sat up. "Avaron took me to a hothouse filled with rotting animal flesh and acrophelia."

Ailunai sniffed. "So it is you giving off that smell." She dissolved into giggles as Thranduil looked at her.

"Why!" Hyrondal exclaimed. "You mean to tell me that wretch of a healer could have saved my arm at any minute?"

"Indeed," Thranduil said. "But, as I learned in the library today, healers do not bother wasting expensive medicines on the poor, who cannot pay."

"When I am Head Healer," Jailil said, and banged his fist down. "That disgusting protocol is the first thing to go!"

"If I had been you, Thranduil, do you mean to say I would have gotten all the acrophelia in Mirkwood?" Hyrondal demanded.

"Yes," said Thranduil. "Because my bill goes straight to Oropher, who does not even notice the coins missing from the treasury."

"That treasury," said Ailunai, "Is filled with suffering.

"I know," Thranduil said gloomily. "I hate to think of a poor woodcutter somewhere paying for my broken arm."

"Have you signed any more petitions, Thranduil?" Ailunai asked, and leaned over to tweak his nose.

"None to sign," Thranduil replied. "Oropher has been selective of the meetings I attend."

"Old rat!" Nimrethil said.

"If he hears you said that, he will automatically dislike any food you cook," Thranduil told her.

"It is too bad I could not bring a mentor to the picnic," Ailunai said. "But I would have to empty out the palace, I have so many tutors."

"I said you could share Harune," Thranduil said, sticking a blade of grass between his teeth.

Ailunai pecked him on the cheek with her lips. "You are too sweet, Thranduil. At least Harune is worth sharing! Have you listened to the forest lately?"

"Deeply," Thranduil answered. "But I cannot hear as much as you say you do."

"I listened to the forest hard when I whacked Yuai with the stick," Hyrondal said, and jumped when Ailunai poked him with her sunshade.

"When I was little and my father switched me," Ailunai said thoughtfully. "I would go outside, and the forest would be weeping. It does not give us its branches to cause harm."

"I bet the forest hates Oropher then," Thranduil remarked.

Ailunai picked a tiny clover flower in the grass beside her. "I think it a shame an elf can call himself a King when the very ground he walks on wishes to swallow him."

Thranduil stood up and wandered toward Harune. "The rich like Oropher; he keeps them rich."

"I see we have taken a group of budding socialists under our wings," Avaron remarked, before Thranduil flopped down on the quilt.

Harune offered a sandwich to Thranduil out of the hamper. "Eat it over the grass or you will make a mess."

Thranduil spread a napkin over his lap as his friends clustered around him. "Do you know we are sitting on royal bedsheets?"

Coral, with a straw-hat over her face as she lay on her back, sat up. "Royal bedsheets?"

"What is this quilt made out of?" Hyrondal teased. "Scraps from your cradle?"

"If you must know, I did not have a cradle—"

"But we have heard tales of the royal cradle, my prince!" Ailunai exclaimed. "Stories of how our ancestors carried the royal heir of Mirkwood to this forest on their long journey."

Thranduil raised his eyebrows at her. "Lucky for me, ada did not want to put me in a cage."

"It is a wonder you are alive then, considering Harune could have rolled all over you as a baby," Nimrethil said, plunging her hand into the hamper. She came out with a paper-wrapped package and peeled the paper off.

Thranduil tossed his blond hair. "That is not how it works, Nimrethil!"

Nimrethil pinched Thranduil's arm. "I know, Thranduil. I was only teasing."

"This quilt," Thranduil insisted, "Is sewn from discarded sheets from the King and Queen's bed. And I helped sew it."

"Explains some of the stitching in this quilt, that does," Nimrethil said, and sniffed.

"I will throw my sandwich at you!" Thranduil threatened.

"You will do no such thing!" Harune cried.

"Ada!" Thranduil complained. "Just like me, you do not know a joke when you hear it." He wiped the juice on his fingers on a napkin and stood up. "I am sorry, but I do not have time for tea."

"Where are you off to?" Ailunai asked.

Thranduil pursed his lips. "I have to attend a council meeting. I tried to wriggle out of it, but Oropher would not excuse me. Enjoy the rest of the picnic!"

"I wish I could wish you as much happiness," Ailunai replied.

Thranduil accepted a kiss from Harune before he waved and skipped into the woods, gathering his hair into one hand and braiding it into a shiny braid as he walked.

The sun glowed on his blonde head.

This was one of my favorite chapters to write to date, mostly because it made me laugh.

Thank you kindly for reading; I love hearing from you!

Next Chapter: Plans are made to attend Thranduil's brother's graduation. Does anyone remember what his name is?