Middle Earth begins. Elladan and Elrohir are the twin sons of Lord Elrond. Estel was adopted by Elrond 2 years ago, so he is nearly 4 years old in my version.

Chapter 1

Elladan bent down to look at the trail more carefully. He had been following it for several days now without any success.

"Brother," called Elrohir, from behind him. "It is time you gave up on that trail. Just admit it, you cannot catch the deer."

Elladan glared back at his brother. Elrohir just grinned and mounted his horse, turning around to face Elladan.

Elladan was surprised to see Elrohir in such a good disposition. It had been a long time since Elrohir joked and smiled about. Elrohir had been quite close to Arathorn and since Arathorn's death, he had been rather subdued. He felt that it had been his fault that Arathorn was dead for he had been there when Arathorn took the arrow in his eye. Only for Aragorn, or Estel , who was now under his father's care, did Elrohir smile genuinely. Considering it had happened two years ago, Elladan was grieved to hear that his brother still felt guilty. The death of one of Elros' line was hard on both them and their father, but he had learnt to overcome his grief when Estel entered the picture. Thinking of Estel, who was always happy to see them, brimming with childish excitement, brought a smile to his face.

"At least I am able to track," he snorted. "Unlike an elf who mistook the tracks of a doe with that of a wolf."

"That was not my fault!" retorted Elrohir. "I was distracted because of you; talking about private matters in front of Beren. If that tale got out, I would never be able to look at the Rangers in the eye again. "

Elladan began to speak, a witty remark on his tongue when he suddenly paused, cocking his pointy ears. "'Elrohir, Daro" he said, putting his hand up to stop his brother's horse. "Do you hear that?"

The forest itself was silent, as if all the trees were listening in on them. Only the wind whirled relentlessly, fluttering the dark hair of the elven brothers around their pointed ears.

"Yrch!" whispered Elrohir. "What are they doing so close to Imladris?"

"I know not," replied Elladan, his voice hard and cold, the millennia of hatred for these fell creatures shining in his eyes. "But I know that they will not remain long."

Both brothers silently moved across the clearing towards the location of the orcs. They parted the bushes in front of them to see unhindered. A shocking sight greeted them. A group of orcs, carrying various crude weapons milled about.

"Ed' i'ear ar' elenea!" exclaimed Elrohir. "So many!"

"Look they are surrounding something on the ground." whispered Elladan stretching his head.

Before they could get a clearer view of what was on the ground, the wind suddenly blew from behind the twin, sending their scent towards the direction of the orcs. The brothers looked at each other, rapidly making their decision. Before the orcs could react, they attacked. Both brothers dealt death swiftly and gracefully, caring not for their own injuries, only the mad fury at these creatures shining in their minds.

Pulling his sword out from the last orc, Elladan paused to look around. Utter destruction lay around them as dead orcs littering the ground. Elrohir was limping towards him, covered in the orcs' black ichors, red patches showing through his tunic.

" Tis only a scratch," said Elrohir in reply to the look that Elladan gave him. They looked around once again to make sure none of the creatures escaped. When they saw that all the creatures were slain, they wiped their blackened weapons against their tunics. Then they began to slowly tend to their wounds. Elrohir had a large cut across his torso, courtesy of an orcish scimitar.

"I do not want to be there when Ada sees this," remarked Elladan. He too sported numerous cuts and scratches. "He is tired, I think, of constantly patching us up every time we step out of Imladris."

"Compared to Legolas, I believe that we receive much less injuries," replied Elrohir.

"Yes, I cannot think what King Thranduil goes through each day when Legolas leaves for his patrols in Mirkwood."

"Greenwood, gwanunig nîn, Greenwood" said Elrohir, with the air of someone who was lecturing a child. "King Thranduil would have your hide if he realizes that we call his precious forest Mirkwood."

"Well then," amended Elladan. "Greenwood it is."

"Did you see what those orcs were surrounding?" asked Elrohir.

"No, but look" said Elladan pointing his finger towards a spot away from the battlefield. "That was where the orcs were convening around. En!"

As they cautiously approached that spot, they saw that indeed, there was something there; a baby human, not more than 2 years old by the look of him. He was covered in some sort of striped clothing. The baby blinked at them sleepily, as if a battle had not just happened a few meters away from him.

"What is a child of the edan doing so far from human settlements?" asked Elrohir. "Where are its parents?"

"I will scout the area to see if his parents are here anywhere." Elladan sheathed his sword and disappeared into the forest to see if there was any sign of the child's parents.

Elrohir looked down at the baby. "Av-'osto, tithen pen. We will not let any harm come to you now." He sat next to the child. His eyes caught a glittering object lying near the child. "What is that?" he mused out loud, lifting up the strange object. It was some sort of a necklace that looked as it if was broken. Some sort of powder was running out of it.

Suddenly he heard the footsteps. He hastily tucked in the necklace into his tunic pocket and stood up. He relaxed when he realized that it was his brother.

"I could not find any sign of edain being here, not even a solitary track," said Elladan as he walked towards him. "I think his parents are probably dead. The orcs had the baby when we saw him, so I assume that they were probably going to make him their dinner."

Elrohir's eyes widened, in horror. "We cannot leave him here for the wolves, Elladan."

Elladan knew what he was thinking about. What if it was Aragorn that was here? They had found Estel like this, sitting near the body of his dead mother, crying his eyes out. They could never leave an innocent baby out in the forest.

"No, we will take him to Ada. He will know what to do." Elladan slowly moved towards the baby as to not scare it. The baby made no noise as he lifted him, just staring at Elladan with deep blue intelligent eyes as if he understood all that was happening around him.

"Do we have something to cover him with?" he asked. "He will be cold soon. All our clothes are too worn and dirty."

"Yes, I have an extra cloak in my pack," replied Elrohir. "I will go take it." He left to find their horses which had bolted during the battle. After some time, he came back, clutching a bundle of cloth in his hands. Elladan swaddled the baby in the cloak.

"He is very handsome," observed Elladan as he mounted his horse with one hand holding the baby securely against his chest. "If it was not for his round ears, I would have said he were an elfling."

"That would only be because you cannot see properly, Gwanunig nîn. An elfling has not been born in Arda for nearly two yén," retorted Elrohir. "Tis a pity that you could not even remember such simple details, brother. What will Erestor say? All that time he spent torturin-er…. teaching us about the elven history, wasted because you were too busy trying to put frog spawn into his tea cup."

"That was you, little brother," replied Elladan. "I was the one who distracted him. 'Twas a much more perilous job. I had to listen to Erestor speak without pause on how to organize the library properly, for nearly one hour."

Elrohir just laughed as he clambered up his horse, swiftly setting down the path for Imladris, Elladan following closely.

Later, that day, a pair of disheveled dark haired elven brothers were seen riding down the path, atop two white horses, and in one's arm was a bundle of clothing in which lay a sleeping child of man.

Translations

Yrch = Orcs

Daro = Stop

Ed' i'ear ar' elenea = By the sea and stars!

En = Look!

Edan = men

Tithen pen = little one

Av-'osto = Fear not

Gwanunig nîn= brother (twin)

Edan = man

Yén= elvish unit of time, equal to 144 human years

Ada = Father (Dad)

I got these Elvish Translations from a really good website but i don't know if they are all accurate. I have also seen twin bothers as gwador nîn but i decided to go with gwanunig nîn.