Chapter 1: The Announcement

Elrond could feel Glorfindel's calm, but curious warrior gaze on him.

Elrond had not been expecting a letter. Yes, he had learned of his friend's nasty habit of burning some of his letters but to his surprise (which was a miracle since Elrond hardly got surprised) he had received a courteously written reply from Thranduil. Even Erestor needed the proof to believe Elrond. And now, the great balrog slayer awaited for Elrond's opinion in the letter. Glorfindel looked at Elrond's quiet and wise mind before breaking.

"And?"

"Oh, my apologies Glorfindel, I was lost in thought," said Elrond, still clutching the letter. "It seems as Thranduil has agreed to come...although not personally, which was expected. However, he's sending his youngest son to come, Legolas."

"I didn't know King Thranduil had another son," said Glorfindel frowning although Elrond thought he saw a faint flash of emotion through the balrog slayer's eyes. "Okay...I did hear about it, we all did. But those were only snippets, little rumors we thought idle. So it's true."

"Indeed," said Elrond quietly, gathering all the rumors he had heard.

Legolas Thranduilion. He had been rumored to be one of the greatest archers in Middle-Earth, despite the guess that he was only about fifteen years old. He was rumored to have a dead accuracy and a speed that could rival lightning's. He also had heard he had the most beautiful golden hair and perfectly carved face an elf could have, in other words: incredibly good looks. He had heard that every patrol he lead into the dangerous grounds of Mirkwood, had come back whole without one person dead and everybody no worse than some injuries. He was to say to have some-

"LORD ELROND!"

"Yes?" he looked at Glorfindel, who was shaking him. "Is anything wrong?"

"No Elrond," he said. "You only zoned out for a couple of minutes. I only wished to read the letter Thranduil sent you, if you may."

"Oh, of course," said Elrond quickly and handed it to Glorfindel when suddenly, the door burst open and a not-so happy looking Erestor came in tugging from two little elflings' ears. The elflings were wincing but Erestor came and put them to stand in front of Elrond.

Elrond sighed, shaking his head looking at Erestor. "What did they do again, Erestor?"

"They've done another of their pranks!" exclaimed Erestor infuriated. "Again may I add! They stuck my seat with honey and it took me half an hour to get out of the mess and much more to clean it as well! I had to run after them with honey smeared in my buttocks!"

The twins, who were obviously Elladan and Elrohir, otherwise known as 'Dan' and 'Ro' or the Trickster Twins of Rivendell, snickered at the word 'buttocks' but only got hit lightly in the head by Erestor, who glared at them.

"I'm really sorry for that Erestor," said Elrond and then looked at Elladan and Elrohir, who had their heads down. "Aí, you two! I don't know why you must do so many pranks! You cause enough wreckus without moving...I fear you bring me a headache every time there's a complaint."

They grinned, dimples showing. "Why Ada! There aren't many complaints of our jokes from Rivendell, they're mostly from Glorfindel and Erestor since they can't appreciate having our pranks pulled on them by the most charming elflings of the century."

Elrond had to chuckle as Glorfindel looked up to glare at the Twins and Erestor as well. He sighed, shook his head and said to Erestor:

"Again, I deeply apologize for an inconvenience they might have caused you. I promise that they won't pull any pranks on you for all this Spring Festival."

Erestor was a very respectful scholar and he had very good courtesies. Yet since Elrond was so friendly with his servants, over the centuries, they had considered themselves like brothers. So that lead to some of the people talking to Elrond freely. Erestor snorted at Elrond before leaving, "No offense, Lord Elrond, but I'd really want to see you try."

Glorfindel snickered. "He is right Lord Elrond. If you want these two to stop pulling a prank for a few days, it will be like starving them in a cell."

"That's right Ada, no offense, we are unstoppably infamous!" exclaimed Elladan and Elrohir nodded in consent. The Twins mostly agreed with each other.

Glorfindel passed the letter to Elrond who put it down on his desk and suddenly, Elrohir asked: "Ada, you're letting us go? Without a punishment whatsoever?"

"Oh, I'm going to give you a punishment," said Lord Elrond. "You'll be washing the dishes this evening...everybody's dishes may I add. Perhaps that will make you think twice before you do anything again. But for now, I wish to talk to you and Arwen."

Glorfindel looked at a servant nearby, who nodded, understanding Lord Elrond's command and hurried off to find Arwen. The twins looked at their father. "Is it about the Spring Festival lecture?"

"Yes," said Elrond. "But there will be a difference this year."

"Huh?" asked Elladan when suddenly, the servant arrived, with Arwen at her side. And then quickly leaving the office.

Arwen had grown into a beautiful young elfling, despite only being eleven years old in human years. Her eyes were startling blue and shimmered like the sea. Her skin was silky and white as porcelain, looking even better with Arwen's flowing black hair that was as dark as the night sky.

"Mae govannen, Ada," she smiled. "Is there any problems here?"

"No Arwen," smiled Elrond. "You see...this year in the Spring Festival-"

"Oh I love the Spring Festival!" exclaimed Arwen. "It is all so beautiful when the snow melts, the grass glimmers, the animals rejoice, the flowers bloom and even the trees seem to sing! It's such a jolly occasion!"

"Oh shut up Arwen," said Elrohir playfully hitting her in the side of her head. Despite Arwen and the Twins being about eight years apart, Elrond had encouraged them to have a strong bond together and indeed had that happened. "You nature freak."

"HEY!" she exclaimed but Elrond stopped her before anything else could happen.

"Anyways, instead of only Lothlorien coming here to Imladris, we will have another guest," he looked at them to examine their looks of surprise and then continued, "we will be having Greenwood here."

"WHAT?!"

"MIRKWOOD, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ADA?"

"YAY!"

Elladan and Elrohir, looking horrified, turned to look at their cheerful little sister. She was smiling and looked worriedly at her brothers when they gaped at her, "What? Did I do something wrong? Because I didn't. I thought that more people, meant more happiness!"

"Arwen, are you insane?" asked Elladan. "Don't you hear all of those things about Mirkwood?"

Elrond wanted to correct them to 'Great Greenwood' but even he, had to admit, that those bright green gardens and beautiful buildings Greenwood use to have, were now replaced in a darkness so fierce, that it repelled all of his and Thranduil's childhood memories. Isolating Mirkwood in silence.

"I heard that King Thranduil has such a hot temper, that it could burn a dragon's scales off if he wanted," whispered Elrohir and Elladan nodded, continuing.

"And there are rumors that whenever a human comes into his palace," whispered Elladan, "he can chop the human's head off himself in less than three seconds. And keeps all of the heads in one room."

"SEDHO!" exclaimed Elrond infuriated. "Who are we, allies who speak rumors behind his back? We must respect Thranduil for those are only rumors and not even true ones. Besides, it is not he, that is coming, he has too many issues to tend to in Mirkwood."

The brothers sighed in relief and Arwen looked at him curiously. "Then who is, Ada?"

"It will be his son," said Elrond and he got an even worse reaction.

"Surely you don't mean Thalos, Ada?" frowned Elladan, hearing stories about the massive prince of Mirkwood and highly esteemed general. "I would not think it proper for King Thranduil to get his eldest son and crown prince here in Imladris. Wouldn't it be risky?"

"And there are so many things about him," Elrohir added. "I heard, that his gray eyes are so powerful, they can cut through steel just by looking at it. And that his voice, is so loud, it booms louder than war horns in battle."

"It is known," the twins said together.

Elrond sighed. "In the Valar, who tells you all these things? They are all rumors, wrong rumors may I add!"

"We just pick them up, Ada," smiled Elladan. "Everything evolves around us. We're just plain amazing."

"Anyways," sighed Elrond again. "It is not Thalos...he is also busy I suppose. So Thranduil is sending his youngest and second son, Prince Legolas, here to represent Mirkwood in Imladris."

"Prince Legolas?" asked Elrohir excitedly. "The one that is rumored to be an archer as good as Glorfindel?"

"Why, we thought those were stupid lies!" Elladan said. "Why weren't we informed properly of his existence Ada?"

"We are never to sure of Thranduil," said Elrond leaning against the windowsill looking at the clear blue sky. "He is like a puzzle, an unsolved puzzle who will never be solved. I suppose it's for the better...safety precaution perhaps."

"So when is he coming Ada?" asked Elrohir. "We could do an archery contest! It would awesome!"

"Indeed, it would...perhaps I may finally have some competition," said Glorfindel and Elrond almost jumped. He had been so quiet, he had almost forgot he had been there.

Arwen laughed while the Twins faked looking insulted, "Why Glorfindel, aren't we enough competition to you? We're insulted!"

"Legolas," Elrond said judging by the position of the sun, "would probably be here tomorrow, before midday, although we do not know the exact time."

"TOMORROW?" the three children exclaimed.

"Wait a second," said Elrond. "Before you worry about anything else, I must talk to you all."

He looked at Elladan and Elrohir. "I want you two to behave yourselves, this is Legolas' first visit and perhaps last, if he returns with the wrong idea in his head. I want you to treat him well and I want you to treat him as if he were in his home. I want no of your foolish pranks pulled on him, for we do not know his personality well enough and he might have Thranduil's temper [the twins shuddered by this]. However, you can laugh and treat him as a friend, I want for you to cheer him up, understand? Make him smile...Mirkwood isn't in it's brightest days anymore and perhaps that has affected the poor elfling."

He turned to Arwen and smiled. "And for you Arwen...just be yourself, my little Undomiel."

Arwen grinned smugly at the twins and they glared back to her.

Elrond dismissed them all to their previous chores and he was left in his office alone with Glorfindel, who looked at Elrond with amused eyes. "Well...with Mirkwood here things are going to be very different. Who knows what will happen?"

"Indeed, nobody knows," said Elrond quietly. He looked out of the window. "This will be a very interesting Spring Festival indeed."