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Chapter 5

The Fourth Day

The next morning began as any other for the five young ellyn; the warning of a criminal in Rivendell having been called off the former evening when no evidence could be found. The elflings were eventually persuaded, or threatened, out of bed, had their hair brushed (with what all the elflings considered to be far more force than necessary), poked and prodded into whatever their mother, father, or sibling considered to be appropriate clothing, and then they, without any coaxing, rushed to the dining hall for breakfast; leaving some very harassed family members behind them. After a hasty breakfast, the twins, Legolas, Lindir, and Haldir all gathered together and began their search for the six remaining barrels of red enchanted water.

Only this time, their search was leading absolutely nowhere, though it was not for lack of trying. The elflings were scouring the hallways and rooms of the last homely house and making regular checkups on the nobles to make sure they had not decided to partake in a glass of the 'Dorwinion wine.' Yet, so far, they had not caught a single glimpse, nor heard the slightest whisper, of the Greenwood barrels, and it was causing most of the elflings to become increasingly irritable and desperate.

Finally, a severely fed up Elrohir simply sat down on a nearby bench, crossed his arms and refused to move.

"Oh, come on Elrohir," begged an annoyed looking Elladan, "We're never going to find anything if we don't keep looking!"

"But we've been looking for hours now, and what have we found? Absolutely nothing!" retorted Elrohir.

"Well, we don't have to keep looking right now. It's about time we go check up on Lord Elrond and the rest of them," Legolas tried to persuade Elrohir.

"Fine…" sighed Elrohir, slowly getting up, but still looking severely sulky.

The rest of the elflings let out sighs of relief; Elrohir could be very stubborn when miserable.

The elflings all began moving in the direction of the second floor sitting room (none of the visitors were particular fond of the ground floor sitting room after the animal incident) where the nobles had been last they checked. Reaching it, Lindir carefully opened the door a mere few inches, and they all peered in, excluding Elrohir, who had chosen to stand back and continue sulking.

Elrohir found his curiosity roused however, when he heard his father mention his name. Immediately, Elrohir was at the door, staring inside intently.

"-Elrohir had wine on his tunic when he and the other young ones were brought to tell me if they had seen anything odd in Glorfindel's study, but I really doubt that he has anything to do with any of this."

"So your son has discovered the delights of wine already?" asked Thranduil with an amused smirk.

"Aye," answered Elrond, shaking his head sadly, "Eru forbid he ever gains entrance to the wine cellars."

Outside, Elrohir sputtered, and made a strange choking noise in outrage, causing Glorfindel to cast a confused glance in the direction of the door. Elladan quickly snapped it shut.

"I've never even had a single sip of wine," exclaimed Elrohir, fuming, "and yet I am thought to be the makings of a drunkard!"

"Yes! We know, Elrohir! But shut up now, I've just realized something!" Elladan was nearly jumping up and down in excitement, causing all of the other elflings, including Haldir, to look at him rather strangely.

"The wine cellars!" crowed Elladan proudly, as if this explained everything.

Lindir frowned at him, "You've just realize… the wine cellars?"

"No! That's not what I meant," answered Elladan now looking annoyed, "I meant that we haven't checked the wine cellars for the barrels of 'Dorwinion wine'.

"What is this about Dorwinion wine?"

The elflings all spun around, their expressions of excitement at their new lead quickly changing to horror.

"Erm, good morning Glorfindel," greeted Legolas in a small voice, looking fearfully at the Balrog-slayer.

Glorfindel crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, "Now, about this Dorwinion wine?"

The elflings glanced nervously around at each other and Haldir began fidgeting out of anxiety.

"We weren't talking about wine…," Elrohir tried lying.

Glorfindel didn't buy it; instead, his demeanor became even more severe.

"Well, we were," squeaked Lindir, "but we weren't planning to drink some or anything, we were just… talking about it."

"I see…," Glorfindel's bearing relaxed somewhat, "Well as long as you are not planning to drink any…"

And, with that unspoken warning hanging in the air, Glorfindel turned and re-entered the sitting room.

The elflings all let out breaths they hadn't realized they'd been holding and stared around at each other wide-eyed.

"That was way too close," Elladan shuddered.

The others nodded in agreement.

"Are we still going to search the wine cellars?" asked Elrohir nervously, "Or is it too much of a risk now?"

Lindir bit his lip, "I think we still have to, but we'd better not be seen."

So, still rather anxious and jumpy, the elflings began making their way through the halls. There was just one problem: where were the wine cellars? Thus, the rest of the morning was spent trying to find discover this supposedly existing location.

Eventually, when tempers were running high, Haldir paused at a door, causing the other elflings to let out exasperated sighs.

"Come on Haldir, we have to keep moving."

"But I think it's this way," Haldir pointed to the door.

"What? How do you know?" Legolas looked dubious.

"It smells like wine," answered Haldir with a roll of his eyes, as if this was the most obvious thing in Middle Earth.

Lindir moved closer to the door and sniffed, "So it does!" he exclaimed in surprise.

The next moment, all the elflings were standing around the door sniffing.

"Well, Mithrandir always says, "When in doubt, always follow your nose," and with that, Elrohir yanked open the door to reveal a dark, steep staircase.

"Are you sure that's what he says?" asked Legolas nervously, staring at the creepy looking stairway.

"Well, yes, and everyone says he's really wise…" but Elrohir didn't look particularly certain of his own statement.

"Oh, come on," Lindir put on a brave face, "What's the worst that could happen?"

"We might fall down the steps."

"What if the door locks behind us?"

"Thuringwethil might be down there."

"Don't be ridiculous, Elrohir, Thuringwethil is dead."

"How do you know?"

Lindir sighed and started through the door, he froze however, when his first step onto the stairs coaxed a massive creaking protest from the wood. Nervously glancing down at the board, he was surprised to find that it was in perfect shape. Giving the board a glare, he continued down the steps, and heard the step creak again behind him as the other elflings followed him down.

They descended into the darkness and it soon became hard to see. Squinting, Lindir was fairly sure he could make out another door. Carefully edging over to it, he scrabbled around for the door handle for a bit before finally finding it. However, pulling on it resulted in absolutely nothing, so Lindir tried pushing. When there was still no movement, Lindir leaned down and squinted at the door handle.

"I think it's locked," Lindir's voice echoed in the room.

The other elflings groaned.

"Are you sure?" questioned Elladan.

He moved forward and bumped into Lindir, prompting a yelp from the elfling as he whacked his head into the door.

"Oh, sorry…" Elladan too knelt down and examined to door. Sure enough, if he looked hard enough he could just make out the outline of a key hole.

"It's locked," Elladan confirmed, "So who would have the key…."

"Ada has keys to everything," answered Elrohir after a moment's pause.

Everyone stared in the direction where Elrohir's voice had come from.

"Are you suggesting that we steal from lord Elrond?" horror was evident in Lindir's voice.

In the darkness, Haldir began to mumble something about 'insane.'

Ignoring this, Elrohir defended himself, "Where else will there be a key?"

"One of the servants must have one, how else would they get wine out of here every time someone wants a drink?" Legolas's deduction was flawless.

"Yes, but which servant? Do you really want to ask every servant if they have the key to the wine cellar? I somehow doubt that is going to work," Elrohir responded.

The room suddenly became very quiet.

Finally, Legolas broke the silence, "We're going to get into so much trouble…"

Everyone else agreed, but they had to try.

Emerging out of the darkness of the staircase, the elflings all headed back out in to the hallway. They made their way to the nearest of their bedrooms, which just so happened to be Legolas's, and began plotting.

Elrohir plopped down on to Legolas's bed and his brow furrowed as he began to think, "Ada always keeps his keys on him, except for when he sleeps, so were going to have to either be really sneaky or somehow distract him…"

"But we can't steal them right now, he is still in the sitting room," Legolas pointed out.

"How about at lunch?" Lindir questioned.

"That might work," Elrohir agreed, "If four of us distract him, then someone might be able to sneak the keys out of his pocket."

"But none of us sit next to him, and he's sure to notice if one of us just gets up and walks over to him," Legolas countered.

Suddenly, Elladan leaped up from his seat, "I have an idea! What if one of us dresses up as a servant and steals the keys while serving Ada?!"

Grins appeared on all the elflings' faces.

"That just might work," Elrohir mused.

"Except he'll probably still recognize one of us even if we dress up in servants clothes," Legolas's face sank, "I mean, it's not like it would change a lot would it? Our faces would give it away"

"Unless he wore a bit of makeup," Elrohir pondered, studying Elladan closely.

"Hey! When did we decide that I was to be the one disguised?" Elladan exclaimed indignantly.

"You're the tallest," Elrohir pointed out.

"We're identical twins!"

"Yes, and you're always saying that you're the tallest, I'm just finally admitting it."

Lindir rolled his eyes, "Anyways, back to the topic; what sort of male servant wears makeup, Elrohir? It would look ridiculous."

Haldir suddenly looked up, "Unless he wasn't a male servant."

Elladan stared at him, eyes narrowed, "What are you trying to say?"

Legolas studied Haldir for a moment, "I think he's suggesting you dress up as a serving maid."

It was a good thing no one was near Legolas's room at that moment, for the loud shouting that came from within might have attracted a bit of attention.

"Oh, come on Elladan," protested Legolas, massaging his ears, "It wasn't that bad of idea."

Elladan glared at him, "I am not dressing up as a girl."

"It's the best idea we've had so far though, someone has to do it," Elrohir persuaded.

"Then why don't you do it?"

"Because Legolas and I were chased around by girls for nearly a full day and were almost forced to jump off a cliff," contradicted Elrohir, "I think we've done our fair share of suffering."

"Then why can't Lindir do it!" Elladan gestured to the elfling.

"Because he really is too short," Legolas pointed out.

"Haldir then," Elladan stated firmly.

Legolas, Lindir, and Elrohir stared at him dubiously, as if wondering whether he had somehow acquired a head injury.

Realizing the ridiculousness of his own statement, and that he was trapped, Elladan made a weak protest, "But…but… Oh come on! You can't do this to me!"

The other elflings raised their eyebrows at him, and Elladan gulped.

~.-Lunch-.~

The dining room doors were opened and Haldir, Lindir, Elrohir, and Legolas entered, quickly taking their spots at the table.

It had been a fairly simple matter to change the 'Duty: serving lunch' list to include Ivorithil, a suitable girly name, much to Elladan's displeasure. They could only hope that no one would find Elladan's absence particularly worrying, or that they would recognize him in his disguise.

Finally, after waiting what seemed like an eternity for everyone to be seated, the servants finally entered. The four elflings easily picked out Elladan amongst the crowd, but no one else seem to have noticed the slightly too broad-shouldered and still rather short maid.

Despite this, Elrohir couldn't help be proud of their work, strange as it was. They had stolen a maid's dress from the laundry and, despite being slightly too big, it hid Elladan's not so girly shape well. His hair had been pinned up by Lindir, whose small and nimble hands were quite good at such things, and Haldir had shown some talent with the makeup, stolen from Celebrian, made even more impressive by the fact Elladan had been less than willing to have rouge brushed on his cheeks and charcoal outline his eyes.

Someone seemed to have finally noticed Elladan's absence from the table however, causing Elrohir to return back to the present moment.

"Elrohir, where is your brother?" Elrond looked around the table, confused.

"I think he said he was coming…"

Elrond frowned, but nodded, and Legolas let out the breath he'd been holding.

The servants began to serve the food, which appeared to be some sort of squash soup, and Legolas found himself holding his breath again as Elladan made his way towards Lord Elrond. Carefully balancing the soup and a pitcher of water on tray, Elladan tried to act as though he knew what he was doing. After all, how hard could it be to serve food?

Reaching his father, he gently placed the tray down on the edge of the table; propping it against one of his legs. He then proceeded to pick up the ladle and began serving the soup. Nearby, Elrohir quickly started up a conversation with their Adar, hoping to distract him. Knowing this was his chance, Elladan carefully began to slip one of his hands into his father's pocket, still serving soup with his other.

Unfortunately, with most of his concentration being set on stealing the keys, one ladle of scalding hot soup missed the bowl entirely and, instead, landed in Elrond's lap. Elladan froze staring in horror at the liquid broth slowly sinking into his father's robe. Elrond seemed to have not noticed quiet yet, but it was only seconds later that slight frown appeared on his face and he stopped mid-sentence. Then, quiet suddenly, Elrond's demeanor completely changed as he registered how hot the soup was.

The Lord of Rivendell sprang up with a shout only to find himself immediately pulled off balance by Elladan trying desperately to extract his hand from Elrond's pocket. Trying to catch himself, Elrond stepped back, only for his foot to collide with the chair leg. This was proceeded by a very awkward fall that not only took out the chair, but also caused Elladan to fall as well; his hand having become caught in Elrond's pocket. Desperately, Elladan tried to catch himself by grabbing onto the table with his free hand. The Valar were without mercy however, as he missed and proceeded to catch the table cloth instead. This caused Elrond's cutlery, glass, partially filled bowl, and Elladan's tray, including pot of soup and pitcher of water to come crashing down upon the two figures. The result was, needless to say, painful.

The grand finale of the whole fiasco ended in Elladan ripping his hand, and the keys, out of Elrond's pocket and running, shrieking in pain, out of the hall. The dining hall was left in chaos, some, who hadn't seen what had happened, were staring in shock at the shouting lord Elrond, who was drenched from head to toe in the hot soup. Everyone else was screaming and calling for a healer. Glorfindel was half sprawled over the table; having tried to catch the tray, Celebrian was trying to wipe some of the soup off her husband, and the four elflings remaining in the hall were staring in horror at Lord Elrond.

Then Elrohir sprang to his feet and quickly rushed out of the hall after Elladan, with Legolas, Haldir, and Lindir only steps behind him. They followed drops of soup until they finally came to the twins' bedroom. Inside, they found Elladan sitting on the floor, key clutched tightly in his hand, but staring down at his arms in shock. The reason for this was not hard to see; his hands and arms, which the soup had spilled on, were bright red.

"What do we do?" Lindir looked panicked.

Elrohir followed Celebrian's lead and handed Elladan a blanket taken from a bed so he could wipe some of the soup off. Eventually, Elladan's vibrant red skin turned to a light pink. Satisfied that he hadn't suffered from any burns, Elladan quickly changed out of the now soup covered dress, removed the pins from his hair, and washed his face.

"Well," he stated rather glumly, returning to sit down on a chair, "That didn't quiet go as planned."

"At least we got the key," Elrohir tried to be optimistic, but even he didn't feel particularly celebratory at having accomplished their goal.

"Do you think Lord Elrond's going to be okay?" Lindir asked in a small voice.

"Of course he will be," stated Elladan firmly, "the healers have dealt with worse burns than that."

"Yes, like the time the cook tipped a pot of boiling water on himself! Or when the apprentice weapon smith accidentally touch the metal that had just come out of the fire-," Elrohir began enthusiastically.

"I get it! I get it!" Lindir shrieked, covering his ears, and Haldir winced at the images that came to mind.

"Well," Legolas sighed, kneeling down to grab the keys from where Elladan had dropped them, "We might as well get this over with."

Minutes later, the elflings were standing before the wine cellars door. Opening it, they headed down the stairs and, reaching the bottom, Legolas fiddled with the keys for a moment before finding the one that unlocked the next door. The door swung open on well-oiled hinges to reveal… nothing; it was impossible to see anything through the darkness.

Lindir squinted hard to no avail, "How are we supposed to tell which ones are Greenwood barrels? If there even are any…"

"They have the Greenwood insignia carved into the wood," Legolas remembered.

"We should have brought a candle," Elladan groaned.

"Well, here it goes," Elrohir stated, before stepping into the wine cellar.

The next few minutes were spent feeling around blindly for anything that felt even remotely like a barrel and trying not to bump into the shelves.

Finally, Legolas made the first discovery, "Hey, I think I might have found one!"

"Really?" asked Elrohir, peering through the darkness in the direction he thought Legolas's voice had come from, "Where are you?"

"Over here."

"Oh, yes, that's really helpful…"

With difficulty, the other elflings made their way over to where Legolas was standing.

"It's right here and I'm fairly sure this is the Greenwood crest on the top of it," Legolas stated.

"Are there any others?" Lindir's question was followed by a great deal of scuffling.

"I think this is another one right beside it!" Elladan exclaimed excitedly.

"There is another here," Haldir's dreamy voice echoed through the cellar.

"Three barrels!"Elrohir grinned, "We should take them back upstairs and make sure they're the actual thing."

A sudden creaking of the stairs caused all excitement to drain rapidly from the elflings however. For a moment, it was entirely silent except for someone's footfalls on the steps and the rapid breathing of the young ellyn.

Finally, Elrohir's voice permeated the darkness, "Hide!"

The elflings quickly took refuge behind barrels and shelves, hoping they were concealed, as it was rather hard to tell in the darkness.

Whoever had descended the stairs pushed open the door, as if they knew it would be unlocked, and the flickering light of a lamp flooded into the room. Once his eyes had adjusted Elrohir peered through the shelves he had hidden behind to see Glorfindel standing in the doorway.

For a moment the Balrog-slayer simply looked around without entering the room, and Elrohir hoped he might just leave, but then he spoke, and what he said made Elrohir freeze on horror.

"Elladan and Elrohir, I happen to know you're in here, so I would suggest you come out now."

Elrohir glanced over to where Elladan was hiding behind a few barrels. His twin's wide eyes met his own, and in that moment, Elrohir knew their game was up; Glorfindel was certain to find them. Feeling suddenly ashamed of himself, Elrohir stood up and moved out from behind the shelves, Elladan coming to stand by his side. Keeping his head down, for he dared not meet Glorfindel's eyes, he asked, "How did you know?"

"You thought I wouldn't notice Elladan stealing lord Elrond's keys? And with all your talk of Dorwinion wine, it wasn't very hard to realize where you would be taking them."

Elladan and Elrohir gulped, Glorfindel had seen past Elladan's disguise at lunch and now they were going to be in more trouble than could have possibly imagined. Elrohir couldn't even envision what their Adar's reaction was going to be when he found out who was responsible for the disaster at lunch.

"Now, come along, I'm sure you father won't kill you," Glorfindel began to lead the twins out of the cellar only to pause at the door, "So, where are these keys of yours?"

Elladan and Elrohir froze; Legolas had the keys.

Thinking quickly, Elrohir pretended to search his pockets for them, "They're right… Oh, I must have dropped them."

Heading back into the cellar, Elrohir looked around frantically; desperately trying to remember where Legolas had hidden. The slightest, almost imperceptible, click of keys alerted him to where Legolas was however, and he made his way over towards it. Once Legolas had handed him the keys, Elrohir mouthed a quick thank you, and headed back towards the door.

"Here they are," Elrohir announced, handing the keys to Glorfindel, who proceeded to close the door and lead the twins up the stairs.

Once the three remaining elflings were certain he had gone, they emerged from their hiding places.

"Lucky he didn't realize we were here as well," Lindir shuddered thinking how his father would have reacted to discovering that he had been in the wine cellar.

"And lucky he didn't lock the door," Legolas agreed.

"Seems like a little too much luck…" Haldir trailed off.

"Nonsense, Haldir, the Valar must finally be on our side!" Legolas exclaimed, not even wanting to consider the alternative.

Legolas then headed for the barrels and proceeded to pick one up.

"Come on Lindir and Haldir, you have to carry the other two here," Legolas then began making his way towards the door.

Lindir and Haldir hastily followed, Haldir still feeling rather dubious about their amount of 'luck.'

The trip to the caves was a relatively short one, the trek running smoothly and without any difficulties. Thus, the three elflings were feeling relatively happier once they accomplished their goal, though the twins' fate still hovered in the back of their minds. Glad to be done with the three barrels, the elflings began to make for the last homely house, intending to see if their friends were still in one piece.

Approaching the front doors however, Legolas felt his cheerful mood sink somewhat, for King Thranduil was standing on the steps, his expression suggesting that someone was in deep trouble.

"Er, good afternoon, Adar," Legolas greeted warily.

Thranduil raised an eyebrow, "Do know what lord Glorfindel discovered in the wine cellar not even an hour ago?"

Legolas gulped, "W-what?"

"He found both of Lord Elrond's sons, and he mentioned that I may want to speak with you," Thranduil's demeanor suddenly became much more intense, "So, you don't have anything to do with this, do you? I know you have been with them for the past few days…"

Legolas tried to say something, but his mouth was dry and all thoughts of how he could get out of this situation fled from his mind. Thranduil loomed over him, a frown slowly appearing on his face. Legolas swallowed and stuttered something unintelligible before beginning to tremble.

"Legolas!" Thranduil exclaimed, scowling fiercely, "You were not down there, were you?!"

"I'm sorry, Adar!" Legolas wailed, unable to lie.

A great deal of shouting then commenced and Haldir and Lindir quickly fled the scene.

"We're doomed!" Lindir shrieked, still running, "Everyone is going to hear about this! My Adar is going to kill me!"

"I'll ask the Valar to grant you a merciful death!" Haldir answered, not being particularly comforting, before sprinting off to hide from his brothers.

~.-.~

Ellyn: the plural form of ellon, so a group of male elves.

Eru: the equivalent of God in Middle Earth.

Mithrandir: one of Gandalf's many names.

Thuringwethil: A Middle-Earth vampire, who served Sauron, and could take the form of a bat-like creature. [Might want to try and keep this in mind as it becomes important later (oooo, spoilers ;D )]

Ada/Adar: Dad/Father

Valar: Pretty much the equivalent of Middle-Earth gods.

All reviews are appreciated. :D