Disclaimer: Legolas and twins… not mine. Thranduil and Mirkwood… not mine. Elrond… not mine. Yeesh, this is depressing….
AN: I'm sooooo sorry that this took so long, it was written in 15 minutes snatches over the past few weeks… Hopefully this is satisfactory…
Apparently review responses are banned from now, several people have been kicked off… scary. So I will list all of you wonderful people at the bottom, but I won't do individual responses. If someone asks a question that I think everyone should know the answer to, (even if you didn't ask) I will answer to that person. If you want me to reply to your reviews by e-mail, let me know in a review and I will certainly do so…
Anything to keep you awesome people happy!
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"What's wrong?" Elladan finally asked in a whisper as the moments dragged on without a movement on the part of the battle ready elves.
"Listen!" Nethidal whispered. His voice was soft, hesitant, almost as if the elf was battling just to say that one word.
The twins tensed their ears and finally the strains of song came to them. The melody rose and fell like the wind, and it twisted deep into their subconscious and settled there.
The four stood there for what seemed like hours, listening to the strange tune. In reality, it was less than thirty seconds. The melody was cut off with a sharp screech that tingled in their ears.
Shaking his head as though he had been doused with water, Legolas let his bow slip from his grasp. The twins similarly shook themselves to alertness, but Nethidal continued to stare into space disconcertingly.
Elrohir shook the elder elf's shoulder gently. "Nethidal? Are you all right?"
Legolas passed his hand over Nethidal's eyes and his friend shook his head and smiled weakly.
"It's all right, I just thought I recognized it. But I suppose not."
The prince's piercing blue eyes weren't deceived though, and Nethidal knew he would have to explain himself to Legolas later.
The uncomfortable silence was broken by the twins, who had apparently swallowed his story.
"Hey Legolas, we've heard you're pretty good with a bow. Want to show us?"
A smile grew on the prince's face. Archery was the one thing where Valamas could not correct him. "Aye, I could do that."
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Legolas nocked an arrow and drew the string back. His eyes watched the target almost as if he expected it to move, much to the twin's amusement. Their snickers attracted his attention and he whirled, loosing the arrow as he did so.
The weapon shot between the four inches separating the two and embedded itself in the target behind them. Directly in the center.
The twins sprang apart as if kicked and stared incredulously at the quivering shaft, then at the prince who simply turned his attention back to the original target, eyes narrowed in concentration. Except now the Imladris elves knew their friend didn't need to concentrate so hard.
"Show off." Nethidal remarked from up in his tree.
Legolas allowed himself a slight grin. He had wanted to give his new friends a shock. And he didn't think this way of frightening them would make them want to cover him in food.
After all, gooey pie filling was hard to get out of hair.
Reaching into his quiver, he drew out two arrows and set them to the string. Elrohir asked sarcastically, "You're not planning on shooting apples off of our heads are you?"
Legolas shook his head and laughed. "I suppose I could, one at a time of course. But not at once, I'm not very good at this yet. I've only been practicing with two for a couple of weeks."
His nimble fingers easily held the shafts, but the problem was getting them where he wanted them to go. And he wanted them to go straight. This was the problem. The arrows would shoot off, and then ever so slightly veer off to the side. The result was hitting the outside ring of the target.
For Legolas, who normally had no trouble with archery, this was a welcome challenge. He was so intense on realigning his fingers and fussing with the way he held the arrows, he had absolutely no idea that the twins had joined Nethidal and were happily plotting away.
The elder elf was visibly ecstatic to get the twins of Imladris on his side. Elladan, (at least, he thought it was Elladan) would start with an idea, and the Elrohir would leap in and evolve it a bit further, and then they would switch. It was amazing to watch them play off one another, concocting a scheme that would no doubt excel.
And that was just the first one. They discarded it as being too nice.
Several pranks later, they were interrupted by a shout from Legolas. The blonde elf had been in the process of retrieving his arrows once more when he noticed movement near the edge of the woods. Straining his eyes, he managed to spot several low, furry shapes scurrying around the trees. Whatever they were, (and he had a pretty good idea) they were definitely not elves.
Turning, he sprinted toward his friends calling out for Nethidal. His pursuers were faster though, and he knew there was no way he would make it to safety. He darted left and right, hoping to gain some ground, but the animals leaped and brought him down. The last thing he saw before the creature opened its mouth was Nethidal laughing.
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"Eeeyuch!" Legolas pushed the puppy away from his face and wiped his mouth. "Slimy!"
Elrohir cautiously approached the downed elf. "Legolas? Are you… all right?"
Nethidal passed him and picked up one of the wriggling pups. It yipped and tried to lick his nose. "I was wondering when they were going to appear, mellon-nin. Your Ada won't be very happy about this."
The twins came forward then, and sat on the grass beside the Mirkwood elves. "Honestly!" Elladan exclaimed. "We thought from the look on your face that you were being chased by a-a Balrog or something!"
Legolas groaned. The puppies (all six of them) turned their heads and leaped. The wood-elf disappeared under a pile of tongues, soft brown coats, and madly wagging tails. The resulting strained laughter told his friends that the prince was being unmercifully tickled.
Nethidal rescued his friend after several minutes went by. Holding two of them, he explained to the twins exactly why his prince was sitting there sulking.
"Legolas was rushing to get to the training field about 9 weeks ago (late as usual) and off to one side of the trail, he heard whimpering and whining. Curious, and always eager to annoy Valamas, he turned off the trail and started to search.
"About forty ells from the trail, he found six puppies huddled beside their mother, who had been killed by a spider. Now, at first, his instincts were to race back to the palace and warn his father about spiders so close to the palace and training areas, leaving the puppies there. After all, he despises dogs.
"He hadn't gone more than five steps when a particularly loud whine turned his head. One of the puppies had sensed his presence, and being too young to walk or see, had made its loud and vocal objection to being left.
"Now, as I've already said, Legolas loathes dogs. Ever since a bunch of them attacked him when he was young (er), he has given them a wide berth. Never mind that the dogs that attacked him were half-mad from a disease, and the rest of the dogs are perfectly harmless."
Elladan snickered.
"So when I came along to see where he had gotten to, wasn't I surprised to see my prince kneeling in the dirt, wrapping a bunch of pitiful, dirty pups in his fine cloak, muttering about filthy mongrels."
Elrohir's laugh joined his brother's.
"All the way back to the palace he grumbled. Got rather annoying to tell the truth. Kept going on about leaving them to die like he should have, and how he prefers horses anyway.
"And he kept grumbling, all through the night as he gave them a bath, about how he was never going to get the stench out of his cloak. As he fed them milk with a bottle, he moaned about the fur clogging his bath drain. And as he let them sleep in his bed, while he took a chair.
"The next morning, I came to remind him that it was his turn to go out on patrol. He was curled up in his chair and the smallest was in his arms. He cracked open an eye and said dryly, 'I really dislike puppies.'"
The twins had identical smirks on their faces as they watched Legolas, who had given up trying to keep the pups off and simply lay in the grass with his arms over his head.
Nethidal grinned and sat down, clapping his hands. The pups yipped and raced over, climbing into his lap, pulling at his hair, and nipping his fingers gently. Legolas sat in the dust, arms folded.
"And they've been following me ever since! I never know when they're going to pop up; whether it's in my room in the middle of the night, breakfast, lunch, dinner, Ada's study, my bathtub, or in the middle of practice."
"The guards think it's wonderful, of course," Nethidal put in devilishly. "It's how the pups manage to sneak in past the gate every once in awhile. So by now, whenever we hear a yell from the prince's quarters in the middle of the night, we know it's just Legolas being rudely awakened by a cold puppy nose."
Elrohir bent down and picked up a small black one. "Oh, but Legolas, they're so cute!"
"Don't forget," Nethidal reminded, "he doesn't like dogs." A pause. "But that still doesn't explain why he's named them."
Legolas rose to his feet, careful not to step on any wagging tails. "How else am I supposed to reprimand them properly for tearing up Ada's robes? I can't just point and say, 'bad little brown one who looks kind of like the other brown one!'"
Elladan exchanged a knowing glance with his twin. Somehow it didn't surprise him. What an actor!
The prince shooed the pups away from his feet, and moved toward the twins, giving each a whack on the head. "Oh, hush! I'm going to go check on Mordax."
The three remaining elves doubled over in laughter as they watched him weave his way through his furry entourage, making more ground from side to side than forwards.
When he had finally disappeared, the Wood-elf and the Imladris twins went back to their scheming. Nethidal was about to get the prince back for more than 5 years of pranks.
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Legolas finally tired of watching his feet constantly; it seemed to make an awful lot of trees appear right where his head was going. After nearly breaking his nose after avoiding Maegrive, he sprang into the trees and continued along the path of branches.
The puppies, undeterred, followed along the ground, occasionally glancing upwards to make sure they were still close to their buddy.
Their buddy rolled his eyes in expraseration. These puppies were kind of cute, he had to admit Elrohir was right, but honestly! They were the main cause of all the reasons he had gotten in trouble lately. Well, most of the reasons.
But… what about the time he had set a trap for Nethidal and Nidhelv had sprung out of nowhere, causing Legolas to trip and the mud to spill all over himself? Needless to say, this only heightened Nethidal's affection to the pups.
Suddenly all thought flew from his mind except survival. The pups had suddenly disappeared, and the trees warned of danger, why hadn't he heard them before? They were practically shouting for him to turn and run the other way.
After all, it is hardly wise to wander into a spider nest…
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AN: Sorry, short, but I'm soooo rushed for time! How did you like the puppies?
Maegrive: means piercing bark.
Nidhelv: means wet fur.
Thanks so much:
Werewolflemming, ceriadara, KerowynGreenleaf, Arialas, theo darkstar, luna, Haldir's Heart and Soul, Aurehen, Alenor Peredhil, amani alye, Galimeril, Aranna Undomiel, silverkonekotsukari, Illeanah.
I love all you guys and wish I was brave enough to answer you all in person. I hope all you new people will come back for more!