Legolas played with his food, idly listening to the talk around the table. It wasnt anything really interesting, just talk about this and that; who invaded whom, what weather to expect, nothing Legolas was interested in. But he was too nervous to eat, he couldnt remember the last time he'd sat at a table with other people and ate if he ever had. But he was determined not to make a fool of himself and tried to take slow bites, but habit was getting the better of him and he had to fight the urge to shove the food and run away. In Mirkwood if he didnt finish his food before the other servants got there, they'd take it from him. He had a feeling they wouldnt do that here, but it was hard to fight habit.
Legolas' strugglings was not unmissed by Elrond, who was watching him closely. He noticed when they were camping Legolas finished his food in seconds, but here he was trying to make an effort to be polite.
Not so brave now, are you ion-nin? Elrond thought. He knew that had to be humbling for the proud little elfling and didnt feel really sorry for him. He needed to be brought down a notch or two.
Finally Legolas asked to be excused, pushing his plate away. Elrond nodded his consent and Legolas practically ran out of the dininghall. He didnt know where is room was or even if he had one, so he went back outside and sat down on the steps. This place was a lot different from Mirkwood, the air was clean and everything was bright and beautiful. He was so captivated by the scene he didnt notice anyone had joined him until a large hand clamped down on his shoulder. Legolas gave a short cry of surprise and jerked away, turning to face whoever was there.
"Easy, little one." Elrond chuckled in a low voice. Legolas glared at him, not liking to be laughed at. "I did not mean to scare you." "You did not scare me," Legolas said in a haughty voice. "You only surprised me, that is all." Elrond surpressed a grin. He sat down on the steps, motioning for Legolas to join him. "I should go on ahead and tell you what is to be expected of you here." Elrond said. Legolas tensed. He didnt like 'what was expected of him', but he figured if he didnt like it, he could always just do what he wanted anyway. What was the worse they could do to him?
"First, you will attend lessons the same as Elladan and Elrohir." Elrond continued. Legolas' face broke into a grin. He loved to learn, but no one ever taught him anything. He didnt even know how to read or write, but he learned other things by listening to people talk. He was a very bright young elfling and craved knowledge he couldnt have.
"Second, you will also have battle training." Legolas bounced up and down in excitement. When he could grab a few minutes, he loved watching the warriors practice in the archery field. He always wanted to try, but he never had a chance.
"Are you serious?" Legolas asked. Elrond nodded. "Thank you!" Legolas paused for a minute before giving Elrond a brief hug. "You're very welcome." Elrond smiled. He wished his sons had the eagerness to attend classes that Legolas had. "But there is only one problem." Legolas bit his lower lip.
"And what is that?" Elrond raised an eyebrow.
"I do not know anything. I do not know how to read or write even! I will be completely useless!" Legolas cried. "Legolas, please calm down." Elrond put a hand on his shoulder. "It is alright. No one expects you to know everything when no one had taught you. You will simply have to learn." Legolas didnt look convinced, but nodded anyway.
"LEGOLAS!" two high voices cut through the air before either of them could say anything else. "Legolas, where are you?"
"I am out here!" Legolas called back. A moment later, Elladan and Elrohir appeared, breathless with excitement.
"Guess what!" Elladan exclaimed. "Glorfindel said we could practice our archery!"
"Um, good for you." Legolas looked at them in confusion.
"And he said you could come too, if you want." Elrohir explained. Legolas brightened visably. The twins pulled him to his feet and they broke into a run down the hill to the archery field.
"Have you ever practiced with a bow before?" Elladan asked. Legolas shook his head.
"Nae, I've never even held one much less used one." Legolas admitted. Elladan went to where the bows and quivers were leaning against a tree and selected one for Legolas.
"Here. This one should be easy for you to use." he handed it to him. Legolas smiled his thanks.
"Ok, here's the deal." Glorfindel's deep voice sounded from behind them. "You are not to aim at the house, at each other, or directly up, understand?" the three nodded. "Ok, here." he strung Legolas' bow and showed him how to hold it. "Now aim at the target over there." he pointed to where about a dozen targets were set up around ten feet away.
Elladan and Elrohir were already laying into the targets like professionals. Legolas tried to copy them, but only managed to sail over the target.
Frusterated, Legolas sat down on the ground, his bow cradled between his arms. It looked so easy, yet he couldnt even make one target.
"Are you having trouble?" Elladan asked. "No." Legolas bit back. "I am doing just fine."
"Well, I certainly can tell by the way you missed every target." Elladan snickered. Legolas glanced once over his shoulder to make sure Glorfindel wasnt paying attention before tackling Elladan to the ground, wrenching his bow out of his hands and using it to beat him in the face and over the head with it.
"Ai! Help! Glorfindel, Legolas has gone insane!" Elladan shouted, trying to protect himself from the attack. Glorfindel, who had been helping Elrohir resting his bow, hurried over and grabbed the back of Legolas' shirt and literally threw him off of Elladan.
"What is gotten into you? Have you lost your mind?" Glorfindel shook his head. "What happened?"
"He was taunting me!" Legolas pointed accusingly at Elladan. Glorfindel turned to Elladan with raised eyebrows.
"I was not TAUNTING him, I was simply teasing him, like I do Elrohir and he does me. I did not mean for him to take offense to it." Elladan wiped his bloodied nose on the sleeve of his tunic. "But even if I was, that does not give him the right to attack me like that!" Glorfindel lifted Elladan's chin and inspected the damage. He had numerous welts and bruises on his face and his nose seemed to be broken.
"Go to your adar and have him help you. Tell him what happened, but tell him I am handling it." Glorfindel instructed. Elladan noded and, keeping his head tilted back, headed back for the house. Then Glorfindel turned on Legolas with a look that made him think maybe attacking Elrond's heir maybe wasnt the best idea he ever had. He remembered what Glorfindel told him and wondered if he was going to make good on his threat.
"It seems you thrive in fist fighting, no?" without waiting for an answer, Glorfindel pulled his tunic and shirt over his head and set them neatly aside. "Since nothing seems to be getting through to you, perhaps you need someone bigger then you show you what it feels like, hm?" Legolas didnt say anything, he was too busy staring at the warrior's rippling muscles. Surely he wasnt serious?
"You want me to fight you one on one?" Legolas whispered. Glorfindel nodded, taking a leather band out of his pocket and trying his hair back out of his eyes. Now Legolas knew starting a fight with Elladan had been a bad idea. There was no way he'd be able to stand his ground against the legend. "But..." Legolas tried to stall while looking for a way out. "But what? You seem so keen on fighting, now you have someone who is willing to fight and you are reluntant." a smirk graced Glorfindel's face. Legolas decided he couldnt back out now, he wasnt going to be shown up as a coward. He stepped forward, fists raised and swung at the older elf, who sidestepped him, tripping him so he stumbled. While he was trying to regain his balance, Glorfindel gave him a mighty shove, making him land facefirst in the dirt. "IS that all you got?" Glorfindel taunted, motioning for him to make another move. Now Legolas was angry and came back at him with full vengance, but Glorfindel blocked every blow, much to Legolas' frusteration. Finally, Glorfindel swung himself, catching Legolas in the face, making his nose bleed, splitting his lip, knocking him to the ground. Stunned, Legolas could only look up at Glorfindel. "Have you had enough?" Glorfindel asked. Legolas tried to glare at him, but the tears he was trying to hold back took away the effect. Glorfindel felt a pang of guilt, but the elfling needed to learn. "Think about how you feel right now before you start fighting with someone. The pain and the humiliation should be a reminder to you that I can and will bring you to your knees, young one. Elrohir," Glorfindel motioned to Elrohir, who had been watching the whole thing in silence. "take Legolas to your father and tell him I will tell him what happened later." Elrohir nodded, helping Legolas to his feet and headed to the house.
In the healing wing, Elrond was giving Elladan a fresh cloth to stem the flow of blood when the two arrived.
"What happened?" he asked when he saw Legolas, who lost his struggle with tears and was crying freely. "Glorfindel said he will explain later." Elrohir replied, helping Legolas climb onto one of the beds. Elrond frowned, but got a cloth and held it to Legolas' nose. "Thank you, Elrohir." Elrond said, dismissing his youngest. "Tell Glorfindel to meet me in my study in about twenty minutes." Elrohir nodded and hurried out.
After Elrond cleaned up Legolas' nose and lip, the elfling still hadnt stopped crying. Elrond felt bad for him, but knew he deserved what he got for starting it with Elladan. He needed to keep his temper in check.
"I will be back in a bit," Elrond told the two elfling. He advised them to stay there and keep something on thier noses until it stopped bleeding. After he left, Elladan reached out and patted Legolas' arm.
"I am sorry that you thought I was taunting you. Its just me and Ro tease each other like that all the time." he said. Legolas nodded, his cries quieting to sniffles. "Hey, ada said you are going to be joining Ro and me in studies." Elladan said brightly in an attempt to change the subject. Legolas nodded, rubbing his wrist over his eyes.
"He told me something like that earlier." Legolas replied.
"It will great fun. You and me can pass notes when Erestor is not looking. Ro is too intent on actually listen he is no fun." Elladan rolled his eyes. Legolas grinned slightly.
"But what if we get caught?" Legolas asked.
"When I get caught doing something in class, Erestor simply rolls his eyes and says, 'acting like your adar's son again, Elladan?'" Elladan rolled his eyes with a grin. "I do not know what he means by that, ada does not act like me at all!" Legolas had to agree with that, he'd never met two people who were less alike!
In Elrond's study, Glorfindel was recounting what had happened between him and Legolas. Elrond listened in silence until Glorfindel finished.
"So that is why he was crying." Elrond mused. Glorfindel felt another pang of guilt. He didnt think he'd make him cry.
"He was crying?" he asked guiltily.
"Oh yes. In fact he was still whimpering when I left." Elrond smiled when he saw the look on his friend's face. "fear not, mellon. I do not think he was crying because of pain, but because of the humiliation of being, once again, shown up by you."
"I am running out of idea of what to do with him! Nothing I've done so far has worked. It is like he has multiple personalities or something! He is fine one minute, then the next he goes into a fit of rage! Even though I do not approve, I do see why Thranduil had him in the position he was in." Glorfindel sighed.
"I believe you are doing fine with him." Elrond said, leaning down and getting a bottle of wine out of the bottom drawer of his desk. "He needs someone to rough him up a little. Once he knows that is what he can expect from you, he will be much more cautious." Elrond pour the wine into two glasses, offering one to Glorfindel, who readily accepted.
"Perhaps you are right." Glorfindel agreed. He downed the wine in one gulp and went to pour himself some more.
"He actually reminds me of you when you were his age." Elrond said with a smile. Glorfindel choked.
"Of ME? I NEVER behaved in such a manner!" Glorfindel protested indignantly.
"Not like that, but in the sense you were pretty high on yourself as an adolensence." Elrond smirked. "Your head was so inflated,I'm surprised your horse could carry you! You were pretty haughty and arrogant and acted like everyone was inferior to you." Glorfindel opened his mouth to protest, but realized his friend was right.
"Perhaps I was a bit...over the top as a youth." he admitted. "but I also remember exactly what that got me too. I do not want him to take as long as I did to realize he does not have to be so arrogant to gain attention." Glorfindel said. "Like I told him, I will not hesitate in bring him to his knees."
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