Disclaimer: Go back to chapter 2.

A/N: I'm so sorry I didn't post this early. I was gone all last week and couldn't post. I'm going to try to get chapters out more quickly now so I can at least almost finish the story before I start school. Oh, on another note. If it sounds like the chapters are all about beat up humans and portray them as bad and elves as good, that is not my intent. Elves do have flaws, as well. One of their many flaws being pride. Kalen does not like humans, and at the same time, he is too stubborn and prideful to admit that elves and humans are a lot alike. Aragorn right now is just trying to slowly show Kalen that not all humans want to condemn him or belittle him. He is trying to reach out to the elf and get through the ice that has built up for so long in Kalen's heart. Please do not take offense. Thank you for all the reviews. Now on to the story.

Chapter 3

Lake-town

Kalen silently watched Elrohir and Aragorn as they talked and laughed. He glared at the ranger, but he wasn't even so sure he knew why he despised him. Of course, because he was human, but Legolas was right. This human was different. Kalen pushed those thoughts away. Even if he was a little different from other humans, he was still one of them. Perhaps what troubled him is how well his friends got along with this human. Perhaps it was the annoying words he often spoke that Legolas called, 'just trying to help'. Kalen sighed as he remembered the human's 'helpful' words before they left on this mission.

"You were the last person I thought would come on this mission."

Kalen gave the human a frustrated glance. "I have my reasons to go."

The human nodded. "It's very honorable to be willing to go to a place you despise just to protect a friend."

Kalen couldn't help the surprised look that crossed his face. The ranger understood and knew more than he was given credit for. Nonetheless, Kalen replied sharply. "I do not need your sympathy, Edan."

" Give the humans a chance. You may be surprised at what happens."

Kalen glared at him, then looked to Legolas for help. Legolas looked at him and Kalen swore he saw the elf prince smirk. But Legolas knew what Kalen wanted so he called out to the human. Kalen gave his friend a thankful look as the ranger walked away to help Elrohir put some supplies on a horse.

Kalen was drawn from his memory as he heard laughter from up ahead. He looked back at the human. The ranger was smart. Kalen had to give him that much, though he would never admit it to the human. But he was also naïve. He didn't understand everything that Mirkwood had been through. He was also right in that Kalen feared humans. But again, he didn't understand that that was what fueled his rage against them. Or maybe he did. Maybe that's why the human kept saying to give them a chance and stop fearing them so much. Kalen let out a frustrated sigh. He wished Legolas was here to talk with, but the elf prince had decided to stay and work on paperwork.

Kalen was wishing now that he too had stayed instead of coming along on this mission. And they hadn't even entered the human town yet. The time spent in such close relations with the ranger had been enough. The elf warrior did not know how he would survive in the human establishment.

With a sigh, he reminded himself of the reason he had volunteered to go on the mission. He was a warrior and a bodyguard to Princess Linriel. His mission was to protect her. She was going to a town full of humans, there was no way he could stay back at the palace and let her travel there. Despite the fact that Elrohir and Elladan could very easily protect her, Kalen felt as if he was responsible. If anything ever happened to the Princess, he would blame himself. He hadn't been there the past two times she was captured by humans. This time, he would be there and make sure she wasn't captured. That was his goal and failure was not an option.

------

"There is the town." Elrohir announced.

Everyone looked up ahead as Lake-town came into view. They crossed the bridge over the water and rode steadily on into the village. People began stopping their daily activities to stare at the strangers entering their town. Children stared in wonder, woman held their children close, but not quite out of fear, more of respect just to make sure their children didn't run off to greet the visitors. Even the men seemed taken aback. They knew it was impolite to stare, so they tried their best not to, but they couldn't help but wonder why a group of elves would travel into the town.

The elves rode on in silence until they came to the center of the town. There Linriel pulled her horse to a stop and the others followed suite. Elrohir dismounted and helped Linriel dismount. A crowd of people surrounded them, but aside for the occasional questions of children that were quickly silenced by their mothers, no one dared speak. Then one man pushed his way through the crowd.

He was a middle aged man who wore fine clothing. "Greetings, Mirkwood elves. Welcome to Lake-town. I am King Bard."

Linriel smiled and bowed her head slightly. "King Bard, slayer of the dragon Smaug and the one who rebuilt the town of Esgaroth. It is a honor to be able to meet you."

The man smiled. "You know who I am, but I know not who you are or why you have come."

"Forgive me. I am Princess Linriel, daughter of King Thranduil of Mirkwood. I bring a message from my father. It has been a while since we have had contact and we would like to honor our old treaty and reestablish contact."

King Bard smiled. "This is good to hear. Come, we have much to talk about."

Linriel nodded and followed the man. Her companions followed behind. Kalen took up the rear, closely watching every human of the town. Bard led them into a huge building built as a palace and began to lead them through it.

"You have done a superb job of rebuilding this place to the splendor it once was." Linriel comment as she looked around.

Bard smiled. "Thank you. It has been a lot of work."

"I imagine so."

"Forgive me, my lady, but I do not remember seeing you around after the Battle of Five Armies." Bard said.

"I came to your town once, but for the most part, I did not care to fraternize with humans." Linriel said.

Bard nodded his head. "I don't think any of your people really did." He opened a door to a room and motioned for them to go inside. They all did, except for Kalen who volunteered to stand watch at the door. As they entered Bard continued talking. "Which makes me wonder why you have come here today?"

Linriel nodded. "First, let me introduce you to my companions." She turned to the twins first. "This is Elladan and Elrohir, the twin sons of Lord Elrond."

Bard bowed a greeting. "The infamous twins." He said smiling. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Thank you. We are please to meet you as well." Elladan said with a courteous bow.

Linriel continued her introductions. "And this is Estel, adopted son of Lord Elrond."

Bard raised an eyebrow, but bowed his head respectfully.

"Now on to important matters." Linriel said as they each took a seat around a huge table. "My father King Thranduil wishes to honor our old treaty. We would like to get together and talk again. Perhaps we can reestablish the trade between our people that we had years ago."

Bard nodded, but remained skeptical . "That sounds promising, but though your people helped us in the past, we weren't always the most welcome."

"And we wish to change that, too. As proof, I would like to cordially invite you to my wedding that will be held in Mirkwood in six days."

The man smiled at her. "The princess of Mirkwood is getting married. And who is the fortunate one?"

Linriel smiled at Elrohir. "Elrohir has been my fiancé for a very long time. We are very excited to finally have the chance to be married."

"Congratulations. I am honored to be invited. I am sure my people would be happy to attend."

Linriel nodded. "Splendid. We would also like to ask two of the children of this town to participate in the wedding. We need a ring bearer and flower girl and we would be honored if two children would be willing to help us."

Bard thought for a minute. "I might know the perfect children to help you. My son, Bain, would love to participate in an elven wedding and I know a young girl who I believe would be ecstatic about the idea. I will send for my son now."

Linriel smiled. Things were working out perfectly.

-----

Kalen stood protectively by the door. He wasn't exactly sure why he was guarding the entrance to where Bard talked with his group. Perhaps because it was an old habit, or perhaps it was because he wished to be alone for a moment. He had been in the human town for barely two hours and all ready he was feeling suffocated around them. There were so many humans and being around them made him feel edgy and nervous. They stared at him as if he were some animal they had never seen. Their gaze pierced into him like they were trying to read his soul. It unnerved him. It took all the restraint he had not to jump on his horse and ride as far away from this place as he could. Anything to get away from the filth that he felt from this place. He felt like he would rather spend a night in an orc cave as a prisoner than spend another minute in this place. He wasn't about to leave Linriel here though, so he knew he had to endure this place a little longer. The princess had said they would stay one night before leaving to go back to Mirkwood. Kalen could hardly wait for the return journey.

Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching and he groaned inwardly as he saw a guard leading a young child towards him. He took a deep breath and stared ahead at the wall. The boy child suddenly stopped in front of him. Kalen didn't have to look to know the boy was staring at him in wonder.

"You're an elf!" The boy exclaimed.

Kalen rolled his eyes. Were human children always this perceptive?

"I've never seen an elf before, but I've heard so much about them." The child continued, still staring in wonder.

Kalen glanced down at the child. He wasn't the best at determining the age of humans but he assumed the boy was no more than six or seven. He looked quite young and naïve.

"Come, my little prince, your father is waiting." The guard said as he opened the door.

Kalen glanced inside and saw that Linriel and the others were still inside talking with the man named Bard. He rolled his eyes and focused them back on the wall. It was going to be a very long night.

-----

Elladan sat down against a wall. A smirk played on his lips. "Do you think they noticed that we are gone?"

Aragorn looked at him and grinned. "Probably by now, but I think that was the best escape we have ever done."

Elrohir sat next to his brother. "And you two won't be the ones getting in trouble for it either."

Elladan and Aragorn both raised an eyebrow. "Is my twin getting soft? Getting in trouble has never stopped us before."

"But things are different now. This isn't the games we use to play to get away from Ada and meetings. Bard was giving us a tour of the town and we were expected to at least appear interested."

"Correction, you were expected to appear interested." Aragorn said. "He was giving Linriel a tour since her father had helped rebuild this town. As her fiancé, you should have appeared interested. The obligation did not fall on us."

Elrohir glared at him. Elladan shoved him playfully. "Come on, lighten up, El. It's not a big deal."

Elrohir sighed. His brothers were right. It wasn't really that big of a deal. He just hoped Linriel would understand that he had been bored by the whole tour and wanted to do something more interesting. Maybe he could use the old 'Elladan talked me into it' gig. He doubted it would work. She had heard that too many times. But this time he could use Aragorn, too. It was double the pressure. He laughed inwardly. He knew in truth it had very little to do with his brothers. He was bored and was looking for some way to escape. Aragorn had only been the one to suggest it.

A smirk suddenly played on Elrohir's lips. His brothers knew it far too well and they could tell some type of retort was coming. "I'll just tell Linriel that it was all Estel's fault. He was the one that suggested the whole idea. I only went along because I didn't want him wandering the human town by himself."

"Your logic is flawed. You knew I was going to be there with him so he wouldn't be alone." Elladan told him.

"That would hardly be protection if anything were to be amiss in the town." Elrohir retorted.

Aragorn snickered. "You have a point there."

Elladan glared at them both. "I could take both of you on with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back."

"Now that would be a sight to see." Elrohir said with a laugh.

They continued laughing and joking one another until two kids and a young man walked by them. The kids stopped and looked at them. Smiles were on their faces.

"You're the elves that the town has been talking about." One of the children said.

"Well, two of them, yes." Elrohir replied. "He's just a normal human." He said as he poked at Aragorn.

Aragorn rolled his eyes.

"Are you two twins?" The other child asked.

Before they could reply the older child that had been with them spoke up. "Treta, Hartha, mind your manners. We shouldn't bother the elves with petty questions."

"Oh, they don't mind. They love answering questions from children." Aragorn said with a smile.

Elladan cast him a glance that clearly said 'I'll kill you later'. It's not that he or Elrohir minded kids, it was that the continual questions did get annoying.

"Well then if you don't mind, I would like to ask one myself." The older boy said. "I have heard many tales about two elf twins. They say no one can tell them apart because they are always together. It is said that they are inseparable. It is also said that when they fought together no foe could stand against them. Some even say that they could read each other's mind."

"Well the tales are not always true, lad." Elladan said. "Some people can easily tell us apart."

"Though it can be very confusing at times." Aragorn injected.

Both twins ignored him. Elrohir continued talking to the children to prove that not all tales were correct.

"And my brother and I do not always travel together…"

"Name one time you haven't." Aragorn interjected once again.

Both Elrohir and Elladan cast him a side glance.

"Well there was that time… where… um…" Elladan stumbled.

Elrohir picked up for him. "That time we were separated in the woods and I traveled back to Mirkwood and you kept going towards Rivendell."

"And you turned back, Elladan, realizing your brother would travel back to Mirkwood. You were separated for one day." Aragorn said.

The twin glared at him. The human was enjoying himself far too much.

"There have been other times, Estel." Elladan said. The kids snickered and Elladan turned his attention to them. "I suppose it is true though that no foe could stand against us. That doesn't sound like a myth to me."

Aragorn chuckled. "If only."

Elrohir smacked him. "Give us some credit."

The children were enjoying this little banter between the friends so they continued their questions. "Is it true that you can read each other's minds?"

"Or anyone's?" The other child asked

Elrohir laughed. "Elladan and I know each other well, but that does not mean we can read each other's mind."

Aragorn gave him a glance. Elladan put his finger up in front of the human's face. "Not a word, Estel."

"I didn't say anything." Aragorn defended though his lips curved into a smile.

"You didn't need to. I knew what you were going to…" Elladan stopped and looked back at the children. They were grinning. Even Elrohir was smirking.

Elladan glared at his twin. "Don't even start."

Elrohir put his hands up and remained quiet. He didn't need to speak. Elladan knew exactly what he was thinking.

Unfortunately for Elladan, everyone understood that Elladan knew exactly what his brother was thinking.

"I think you just answered both questions." Aragorn said smiling.

Elladan sighed.

"You walked right into that one, brother."

"I thought I told you to hush." Elladan said as he glared at Elrohir.

"Not in so many words you didn't."

"No, but you are supposed to read my mind, remember."

The children laughed.

Aragorn smiled at them. "Any other questions for my brothers?"

"I think we have bothered you long enough." The eldest said, still grinning. "Thank you so much for your time."

"Anytime. I wouldn't ever want to miss a chance to joke my brothers." Aragorn said smiling.

Elladan put an arm around him and grinned. "And we wouldn't want to miss having another reason to kill you."

Aragorn grinned sheepishly. "Truce?"

"Not in your life." Both twins said in unison.

Aragorn laughed. It was moments like this that he wished would last forever. His brothers truly meant the world to him and he couldn't imagine life without them.