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Chapter 6
The Fifth Day
The breakfast table the next morning was rather silent; the five elflings terrified to accidently do something that might anger their severely touchy and irritable parents, and all the other elves at the table knowing not to disturb the quiet. Thus, the awkward silence resulted in a rather rapid breakfast before the elflings gathered together outside the dining hall.
Elrohir shuddered, "This is terrible, I don't think I've ever seen Adar and Naneth so angry. Even Daeradar and Daernaneth were…" Elrohir trailed off, unable to find words to describe his grandparents' reactions to his and Elladan's venture into the wine cellar.
Legolas looked rather glum, "Maybe we should just tell someone about the barrels, they're bringing us nothing but trouble."
Lindir looked frightened, "But everyone so angry already, wouldn't it just make them madder?"
The five elflings considered this, and Elladan finally broke the silence, "Probably," he admitted before a determined look came across his face, "Besides, there's only three barrels left, we can finish this; Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron are counting on us."
With that, the elflings set off, a new resolve to find the remaining barrels spurring them on. However, their search continued on much as the previous day's had; they scoured the Last Homely House, searched everywhere they thought wine might have been placed, and yet, they could not find anything.
Exhausted, Elrohir sat down and massaged his worn out feet with a grimace, "This isn't working; it's taking too long. We have to find the barrels today."
Legolas glanced out a nearby window; the sun was high in the sky and it was almost midafternoon, "Maybe if we split up…" he suggested.
Elladan blinked, why hadn't they thought of that before?
"That's a good idea," he agreed, "We could search a bigger area in less time."
"We can't all split up though," Elrohir pointed out, "I'm supposed to be escorting Haldir around."
Elladan frowned, "Well, I guess there is going to be a group of two, but everyone else can search on their own, right?"
The rest of the elflings nodded, and it was decided upon. They split up, each, except for Elrohir and Haldir, going a separate direction.
Elrohir and Haldir settled on continuing straight down the original hallway they had been exploring. Eventually coming to its end, they turned a corner, and nearly ran straight into Glorfindel.
"Good afternoon, Elrohir and Haldir. Where are your friends?" a look of slight confusion appeared on Glorfindel's face.
"Oh, they… wandered off somewhere," Elrohir's explanation was rather weak.
A frown marred Glorfindel's features, "I see…" He then swept past the two elflings and continued down their previous hallway.
Haldir watched him leave, looking suspicious, "How did he know we were with Legolas, Elladan, and Lindir before?"
"Well, we have been wandering around with them for the past few days," Elrohir answered before asking, "Why? Do you think he's following us or something?"
"Well, perhaps our elders don't want us to get into any more trouble," Haldir pointed out.
Elrohir rolled his eyes, not taking the usually very strange elfling seriously at all, "You are far too paranoid."
Haldir just sighed and began humming once more.
~.-Legolas's POV-.~
Legolas strolled through the Last Homely House's many hallways; constantly wondering where the last three barrels might be, and trying not to get lost. Surely there hadn't been this many rooms and hallways yesterday? Legolas paused for a moment, trying to catch his bearings. He was standing near Erestor's study, so if he went… where? Where should he be going? Where could the enchanted water possibly be?
Legolas ran a hand through his blonde tresses; frustrated. It was a never-ending circle of wandering around and wondering where the barrels might be. There had to be a better way to go about this. He thought hard, he couldn't ask where the wine was, obviously, the results would be disastrous if his father heard about it, he'd also been trying to search for the barrels for far too long with no success, but perhaps…
Legolas remembered how the last three barrels they had found had come into their hands by listening to a conversation. With preparations for the festival in full swing, surely there must be some mention of the wine to be heard? Perhaps some eavesdropping was in order, but where to start? Who knew where the wine was? Well, Lord Elrond would probably know-
Legolas's thought process came to an abrupt halt and his eyes widened in horror. Had he just considered eavesdropping on Lord Elrond?! Clearly the twins were getting to him…
~.-Elladan's POV-.~
Elladan peered into another storage room, which was of course: empty. With a sigh, he closed the door and continued on to the next one, which was also empty. Frustrated, he glanced out a window; the sun was just starting its descent. Going over to the window, he leaned against the frame, and stared at the flower beds three stories below; not really taking the beautiful sight in. Perhaps one of the other was having better luck? He doubted it, but maybe he should go- Elladan suddenly did a double take.
Was that Legolas sitting behind those bushes, his ear pressed firmly to the wall? Elladan pressed his nose against the window pane; trying to get a better look. Whoever it was had light blonde hair, and was dressed in expensive Greenwood garb. Either it was Legolas, or King Thranduil had suddenly gotten much smaller.
Elladan pried his gaze from the strange sight, and set off; intending to find out why his friend was hiding in a flower bed. After running down three sets of stairs and apologizing to Glorfindel, whom he had nearly knocked over, Elladan made his way to the main doors. Once outside, he sprinted in the general direction of Legolas, and found the bushes he had seen from above.
A mischievous expression appeared on Elladan's face as he saw that, through the branches of the bushes, Legolas was very focused on listening through the wall. He had his eyes closed and a frown of concentration was on his face. Unable to stop himself, Elladan dropped into a crouch, and slowly began creeping towards his friend.
~.-Legolas's POV-.~
Legolas listened hard, a servant had just entered the room that he was listening to through the wall, and Legolas felt a thrill of excitement sweep through him as they mentioned the preparations for the festival. The excitement was immediately squashed by guilt however, when Lord Elrond answered the servant. He could hardly believe what he was doing! Eavesdropping on Lord Elrond! If his father heard about this- No! Focus on the conversation! Don't think about being grounded for the next age!
Legolas pressed himself closer to the wall, trying to make out what the muffled voices were saying.
"-the Hall of Fire is being decorated as we speak, as is the entry hall."
"Good," answered Elrond, "I just have a few instructions concerning the Dorwinion wine-,"
Legolas's heart leapt and he found himself holding his breath. However, a branch suddenly snapped directly behind him, alerting him to someone's presence. Spinning around, he unexpectedly found himself flying through the air as someone tackled him. He and the other person fell to ground in a whirling mess of hair and limbs.
Acting upon instinct, Legolas punched his attacker and shoved them off of him. Ignoring their yelp of pain, Legolas desperately flung himself back towards the wall, and pressed his ear against it.
"-kitchens. As for wine glasses; please use the crystal."
Legolas sprang up with a triumphant shout. The wine was in the kitchens! He could dance, he was so happy! However, he suddenly found himself back on the ground, a very annoyed Elladan sitting on his legs.
"What was that for!?" Elladan exclaimed indignantly, pointing to a bruise that was forming on his cheek.
Legolas stared at Elladan in open-mouthed shock, "That was you?! Sorry, Elladan!"
Elladan got off of him, but continued to look annoyed, "What were you doing anyways?"
Legolas stood up, looking at the ground evasively and feeling guilty.
Elladan's eyes widened and a wicked grin spread across his face, "Ooo! Was little Prince Legolas doing something naughty?"
Legolas glared at him, "No! Well… maybe, but it's really not important. I know where the enchanted water is!"
All thoughts of teasing his friend mercilessly disappeared from Elladan's mind, and he gaped at Legolas. "What?"
Legolas raised an eyebrow, "You know; the enchanted water? What we've been searching for? I've found out where it is."
I massive grin slowly spread across Elladan's face, "Well? What are you waiting for? Let's go tell the others!"
~.-.~
"So the wine is in the kitchens?" Lindir asked; looking mildly surprised.
"And we never even thought to look there," Elladan shook his head.
Legolas nodded, "So, how are we going to get to it? The kitchens are going to be busy with the festival beginning tomorrow."
The five elflings pondered this.
"Another diversion?" supplied Haldir.
"Preferably one without animals this time," Lindir added.
"A fire would get everyone's attention," Elrohir thought aloud.
The other elflings stared at him in horror.
"I didn't mean set the kitchens on fire!" Elrohir amended hastily, "I just thought we could throw something into one of the fires that will make a lot of smoke or something!"
Elladan thought about this, "That's not a bad idea."
"As long as we don't actually set the kitchen on fire in the process," Legolas pointed out.
"Ah, you underestimate me," Elrohir said, a mischievous gleam in his eyes, "This is going to be fun."
The other elflings didn't find his statement particularly encouraging.
~.-Half an Hour Later-.~
The elflings were standing outside the kitchen door that led to the vegetable gardens; in each of their arms were very large bouquets of flowers. It was a rather odd sight.
Elrohir sighed unhappily, "Is everyone ready?"
Three elflings mumbled, "Yes," while Haldir continued happily sniffing his flowers.
"Then here we go," Elrohir opened the door and the elflings entered the kitchens.
Immediately, a maid swept over to them, "What can I do for you, little ones?"
"We need some vases to put these flowers in," Elrohir answered, holding up his bouquet.
"Well, isn't that sweet!" exclaimed the maid, "Who are they for?"
Elrohir stared at the maid blankly and Legolas stepped in, "Well, we thought we could give them to our partners at the dance in the festival."
The twins and Lindir stared at him; horrified.
"Why, that's just adorable! They're going to love you!"
Elladan made a slight choking noise at the maid's proclamation.
"Now, come along, the vases are in this cabinet over here," the maid began to lead them across the room.
Along the way, the elflings passed a great fireplace which was being used to cook an assortment of breads and meats. One by one, they tossed their bouquets into the flames; Haldir staring after his sadly. Almost immediately the fire began to crackle and pop; a torrent of smoke pouring out as the flowers began to burn. It didn't take long for the cooks to notice.
"Fire!" someone shrieked, and the room erupted into chaos.
The elflings quickly began to move away from the fire, dodging around cooks and maids. Elves were shouting for water to be brought, and all the while the room was rapidly filling with smoke.
"Start looking for the barrels!" Elrohir managed to shout to the others over the noise.
The elflings nodded to show that they understood, and began to make their way through the mayhem of elves running this way and that.
It was Lindir who found the barrels, and the other elflings barley heard his triumphant shout which alerted them of his success. They pushed their way through the crowd of elves and over to the pantry where they found Lindir proudly standing before the last three Greenwood barrels of enchanted water.
"Fantastic!" Elohir shouted, "Let's take them to the caves!"
The elflings grabbed the barrels and made their way through the smoke and elves as fast as they could. Bursting out of the back door and into the vegetable garden, the elflings coughed and choked; their eyes watering from the smoke as they raced towards the caves. Eventually making it there, Elrohir set his barrel down with the others and happily began to dance around; knocking over his barrel in the process.
"We've got ten barrels of enchanted water! We've got ten barrels of enchanted water!" he sang out.
"No we don't," Lindir stated flatly, staring at the barrel Elrohir had knocked over.
The other elflings spun around to face him.
"What do you me-," Elrohir broke off abruptly; eyes widening in horror.
The barrel Elrohir had knocked over had opened to reveal… flour. The barrel was full of flour.
"No!" Elrohir wailed, "That's not fair!"
Elladan yanked off the lid of his barrel also to reveal flour, as did Legolas.
"But how…," Legolas sputtered, "Lord Elrond said there would be Dorwinion wine in the kitchens!"
"Are you sure that's what he said?" Elladan growled, looking annoyed.
"Well… no. He said, "I just have a few instructions concerning the Dorwinion wine-," and then you knocked me over. All I heard after that was, ""-kitchens. As for wine glasses; please use the crystal."
"You fool!" Elladan howled, "He was instructing them on how to prepare the wine! He wanted them to take it to the kitchens and pour it into the wine glasses before taking it out into the hall! The wine wasn't actually in the kitchens!"
Legolas turned red, "Well, if you hadn't knocked me over I would have known that!"
"Don't try to blame this on me!"
"STOP ARGUING," Lindir wailed, "THIS ISN'T HELPING!"
It suddenly went silent and four elflings stared at him through the darkness of the cave.
Lindir's hesitant voice broke the silence, "Sorry."
"No, you're right," Legolas frowned, "We're being idiots."
Elladan nodded, "We need to find the last barrels now. How much time do you think we have before supper?"
Haldir answered, his dreamy voice echoing in the cavern, "I think it might be supper now actually."
The elflings stared at him for a moment before racing towards the entrance of the cave. Sure enough, the sun was just about to set.
"We're going to be late!" Legolas shrieked.
"We're going to be even later if you don't move!" Elrohir shouted back, pushing Legolas away from the entrance of the cave.
The five elflings raced towards the Last Homely House, praying to the Valar that their parents, or, in Haldir's case, brothers, weren't as grumpy as they had been this morning.
Luckily, due to the mishap in the kitchen, dinner was running late, and the elflings were barley on time. Hoping that they looked presentable, they took their seats at the table. Besides a few raised eyebrows at their near tardiness, there was no comment, and the elflings exchanged relieved looks. A few moments later, dinner was served.
"So, what have you been doing all day?" Elrond asked his sons, exchanging a look with Glorfindel.
"Er, we were…" Elrohir trailed off, unsure of how to answer.
Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Celebrian answered for him, "Oh, didn't you hear?! Our sons were picking flowers to give to their partners at the dance!"
Celebrian beamed at her sons, while Elrond, Glorfindel, and almost every other ellyn who had been within hearing range of Celebrian's announcement gave them bizarre looks. Perhaps Erestor had swallowed something particularly sour to achieve the look he gave them; for surely picking flowers for a girl couldn't be that odd?
"You were what?" Elrond sputtered.
Elladan put on the best smile he could manage, "You know, picking flowers. We got them from that meadow near the falls. We thought it would be a nice surprise."
Elrond just stared at him and nearby Legolas and Lindir were barley holding back laughter at the twins' misfortune.
Feeling rather malicious after having seen this, Elrohir added, "And Legolas, Haldir, and Lindir joined us."
Legolas and Lindir froze, staring at Elrohir in horror. Elrohir just crossed his arms and smirked in response.
Thranduil and Maenor turned to stare at their sons who both managed fake rather feeble smiles. Rumil and Orophin just gave Haldir exasperated looks, not looking at all surprised at their brother's antics.
"See, aren't they sweet!" Celebrian exclaimed, still beaming, "They're going to grow up to be such gentlemen."
Down the table, Haldir choked on his food upon hearing this.
After supper, the elflings managed to gather outside the hall before being dragged off to bed early; part of their punishment for the wine cellar incident. After a quick scuffle between Lindir, Legolas, and Elrohir, which was apparently entirely accidental, Elrohir managed to quickly tell them his plan.
"We're going to have to search for the rest of the Greenwood barrels through the night. We'll meet you in the caves. Do not get caught."
The other elflings quickly nodded before racing off to appease their parents.
Nearby, blue eyes watched the exchange with great interest.
~.-.~
Adar/Ada: Father/Dad
Naneth/Nana: the elvish word for mother/mom.
Daeradar: elvish word for grandfather.
Daernaneth: elvish word for grandmother.
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