Legolas was feeling pretty happy with himself as he strode off down the corridor. He thought that meeting with Elrond had gone pretty well. He had managed not to agree to anything he shouldn't AND Elrond had given him a clean bill of health which would get Elrohir off his back. He was still patting himself on the back when he ran into Gimli.

"Legolas, where have you been? I have hardly seen you lately. If I didn't know better I would think you were avoiding me." The dwarf was indignant.

"What do you expect?" Legolas said defensively, "after your attempt to poison me."

"Poison you?! Legolas, I have not tried to poison you. What nonsense do you speak now?"

Legolas leaned down towards his friend, and his voice sounded almost threatening.

"Alcohol poisoning is STILL poisoning Gimli!"

"Ah...yes...well" Gimli did have the grace to look embarrassed. "Well that did get a bit out of hand perhaps, no hard feelings though Legolas, it was only a joke."

Legolas frowned sternly at him. He was not really prepared to forgive this so easily.

"Shake hands with me Legolas," Gimli held out his hand, "Friends?"

Still Legolas hesitated, that was until he saw it, a glint of gold on Gimli's wrist.

"What is this?" He cried reaching out in a flash to grasp hold of Gimli's arm and pull up his sleeve.

" Where did you get this?"

"Oh that..." Gimli desperately tried to remove his arm from Legolas's grasp. " It is nothing. Just a trinket...Legolas let me go!"

"It is the same as Aragorn's bracelet, exactly the same. I haven't seen you wearing this before. Where did you get it Gimli?"

Gimli was struggling for words.

"Oh...well...in the market...I bought it in the market Legolas, nothing special...now let's go do something shall we? Forget about the bracelet."

"The market! Elrohir told me the man who made them was dead."

"Well perhaps it was just one last one, you never know, anyway Legolas, let's just leave this-"

But Legolas wasn't listening. Legolas was striding down the corridor at speed.

Gimli hurried after him but it was a struggle to keep up.

"Legolas wait! Where are you going?"

"To the market!" He cried, "There might be more. Come Gimli, show me where you found it."

Gimli knew he should never have put that bracelet on this morning, but it was just so pretty. Now how was he going to get out of this?

...

As soon as he left his Father Elrohir knew he had to track down Legolas and keep him calm. Calm and quiet his father had said so that was what he would do. He would start the minute he found him. It was finding him that was proving difficult.

He searched the palace to no avail, not in his room, not in Gimli's room, not in the gardens, surely he hadn't gone down to the wine cellars again? He was retracing his steps back to Legolas's room when he bumped into Glorfindel. Perhaps he may have seen him.

"Glorfindel, have you seen Legolas anywhere? It's important I find him."

"He is with Gimli, Elrohir. I saw them as they were leaving, they said they were going to the market."

"The market?!" Elrohir was horrified. "That is the worst place for him!" The market? This was terrible news, all those crowds and noise and stimulating colour. It was not calm at all.

"I think he is experienced enough to be quite safe in the market Elrohir." Glorfindel was not understanding the urgency of the situation.

"No! He needs to be kept quiet. My father says he is overwraught. The war has damaged him. I am supposed to keep him calm...the market is not calm!"

Glorfindel raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"I haven't seen any evidence of Legolas having been 'damaged' by anything...apart from the sealonging of course. He seems perfectly normal to me. Why does you father say that? Perhaps you have misunderstood him?"

"I have not misunderstood him. It is all about this Gimli poisoning business."

"Legolas poisoned Gimli?" Glorfindel was incredulous, "that's not right at all."

"No," Elrohir was so frustrated. Why was Glorfindel suddenly turning into such an idiot?

"Gimli poisoned Legolas, at least that's what Legolas says but father says he has not been poisoned at all. It is just in his head."

Glorfindel threw back his head and laughed and Elrohir could not for the life of him understand what was funny.

"It's not funny Glorfindel! He is not right in the head."

"Oh there is nothing wrong with Legolas's head Elrohir. Gimli did poison him...after a fashion."

Elrohir stared at him. Was Glorfindel damaged also? After all he had been in several wars himself and then there was that balrog incident. Were he and Legolas experiencing some kind of shared delusion? He decided perhaps he should just humour him and mention this to his father later.

"Right...well if you say so..."

"I do say so!" Glorfindel was certainly very convinced of this Elrohir thought. The damage to his head must be extensive.

He began to back away.

"Well I must go, I just have to ...,,,,speak to Legolas...very urgent..."

"Oh I think I might come with you. This might be interesting."

Elrohir was torn. He didn't want Glorfindel tagging along, especially if he was crazy. But then his father had said he must keep Legolas calm...and so he probably needed to keep Glorfindel calm as well. Telling him he couldn't come with him probably wouldn't achieve that. He couldn't see that he had any choice.

Which was how he ended up trudging through the streets of Minas Tirith, a strangely buoyant Glorfindel hot on his heels.

...

Legolas was despondent. Sitting slumped against the wall in a far corner of the market he was the picture of misery.

"Cheer up Legolas, It is not as bad as all that." Gimli was trying to get his friend to at least get up off the ground.

"We have looked everywhere Gimli and there are no bracelets. I wanted one. I thought I could get one for my father. He loves sparkly things."

Gimli shuffled his feet awkwardly,

"Yes, well, I am sure we can find him something else...some other little trinket..."

"Not the same as them. They are beautiful Gimli, I have seen nothing like them. Are you sure you can't remember where you bought it."

"Legolas," Gimli was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. "We have searched every stall in this damn market." He had no idea how he was ever going to get the elf out of here and spending the day hunting for a non existent bracelet was not his idea of fun. At that very moment his day got infinitely worse.

"Legolas!" It was Elrohir charging through the crowds and when Elrohir discovered Legolas had seen his bracelet it would not be pleasant. He seemed to have Glorfindel with him as well...just great.

"See I told you!" Elrohir was saying to Glorfindel, "see how miserable he is." He sounded anxious and Gimli could only surmise this was not going to be good.

"Elrohir," Legolas brightened up when he saw his lover, "We are looking for those bracelets, have you seen any of them here?"

"What?" Elrohir threw Gimli a startled look. "Legolas I told you the man that makes them is dead."

"But Gimli has one! He said he bought it here."

"Gimli has one?" Elrohir glowered angrily at the dwarf. "Oh really Gimli?"

"I just happened...Legolas spotted it...I..." Gimli struggled to find a suitable explanation and failed.

Elrohir turned his back on him and instead concentrated on Legolas.

"Legolas," he said speaking very slowly and very carefully.

"I think you need to come back to the palace, come with me."

"Why are you talking to me like I am an idiot?"

"I'm not! I'm not..." This was not going well, "I just think somewhere more relaxing would be good for you, somewhere less noisy perhaps."

"Here is fine." Legolas was being stubbornly obstinate.

"Maybe a little lie down would be good?"

"Elrohir! Will you leave it alone. Did your father not tell you there was nothing wrong with me?"

"Look," Really Elrohir thought, it was easy for his father to say but this keeping people calm was not easy and he could hear Glorfindel cackling like a madman behind him.

"He didn't exactly say there was nothing wrong with you, just that you hadn't been poisoned."

Legolas was about to launch into a tirade when Gimli interrupted.

"What's this Legolas? You have been to see Elrond? Are you sick? What is this about poison?"

"You should know Gimli. It was you who did it."

Elrohir's heart sank, now Legolas was telling Gimli his hallucinations, how could he stop him? He was pulled from his contemplation of what to do next by the roar of a very angry dwarf.

"You told Elrond I poisoned you!"

"You did Gimli."

"You know that is not what happened. You dare question my honour...to Elrond?!"

Elrohir watching them was silent, horrified, and very confused about what to do next. Now no one was calm. And then it got worse.

"Now, now Gimli Gloinson, I think you will find Legolas is speaking truly," Glorfindel piped up from behind him.

That was the last straw for Gimli.

" I will not stand here being falsely accused by elves!" He cried. " I will not!" And he spun on his heels and marched loudly and very deliberately away.

"Why did you do that!" Elrohir hissed. To hell with keeping Glorfindel calm, he was making things worse...anyway Glorfindel was Elladan's problem not his.

Glorfindel simply smiled at him sweetly,

"Because it was amusing."

" Now I will never find the bracelet," Legolas muttered angrily, "and anyway what is Gimli's problem? He did poison me. As if I would lie to Elrond, who does he think I am?!"

Elrohir decided he must take control. Legolas was getting far too upset and far too excited, he had to put a stop to it. He was not going to stay in the market searching for a bracelet that didn't even exist. He knew he should NEVER have given one to that dwarf no matter how much he paid. He could think of only one way to get Legolas back to the palace.

"Legolas," he placed a hand gently on Legolas's shoulder and bent to whisper in his ear. He made sure his voice was low and husky.

"Come back with me for some relaxation. Do you not want to?" He made sure to tilt his head in what he hoped was a very alluring manner. At first it didn't seem to work.

"I don't need to relax," Legolas snapped. "I want to find this bracelet."

"Come on Legolas," Elrohir made his best effort to be as erotic as possible. It usually did the trick.

" Some ...recreation, you and I ...together?"

" N- ...oh!" The penny dropped.

"Well why didn't you say so in the first place?"

Legolas grabbed his hand and Elrohir gave a sigh of relief.

"We will see you later Glorfindel!" Legolas called out happily as he dragged Elrohir through the crowds. "Elrohir and I have important business to attend to!"

And Elrohir suddenly wondered if his father would count this as excitement.

Perhaps they should just have a hot chocolate and a bit of a cuddle?

He didn't fancy his chances at all of convincing Legolas of that.