Legolas called the manservant to clear the dishes away. As he did, Legolas took advantage of Estel's distraction and tiredness to slip him into his pyjamas and lay him down in bed. Estel was sleepy he was almost completely out of it, sitting on the bed with faraway eyes and mouth partly open while Legolas threaded his arms and legs through his pjs.

"Goodnight baby"

"Uhh" was all he got in return as Estel burrowed down under the covers. Legolas smiled and bent over to press a small kiss on his forehead.

"Love you Estel"

"Luh yu tuhhh" Estel mumbled. Loosely translated that was "I love you" in sleep speak.

Legolas smiled, blew out the candles by Estel's bed and moved to leave. But just before he could go…

"Nana?"

"Yes, baby?"

Estel sat up lazily and rubbed his eyes "can we climb twees again ta-morrow?"

"Maybe, tithen pen, maybe. If there's time in the day. But you'll have to get a good sleep first"

"Okay" he said sleepily, laying back down and pulling the blankets over himself.

Smiling at him one last time, Legolas pulled the door closed.

It was not the momentum of a bouncing child that woke Legolas this morning. Nor was it a chorus of excited "good mornings". In fact, it was the pleasant chorus of the birds outside that awoke him that particular morning. He stirred lazily, pulling his blankets aside as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He blinked and glanced out the window. The sun was blazing high in the sky. Wait a moment… high in the sky? That meant it was quite late in the morning. Why had Estel not woken him before now? He swung his feet from the bed, stood and went to his room. The door was ajar. He went in. The bed was empty and Estel was nowhere to be seen. Legolas furrowed his brow but told himself not to panic. Estel was probably somewhere else in the keep, having breakfast or playing with the other children. But the kitchen and dining room yielded no results. Nor was he with the other children. No one had seen him. Now Legolas began to panic. He hurried through the keep, calling out for him. He did not come. By now the weather had turned and rain was sheeting down. Many people were searching but no one had found the little one. Legolas wrung his hands and set his jaw, bouncing on his heels in anxious agitation. Elrond laid a calming hand on his shoulder.

"Legolas I'm sure someone will find him soon. He could not have got far"

"But what if he's lost? Or hurt? Or someone's taken him? Or…" Unaware of himself, Legolas had began to pace

Elrond quieted him "It will do you no good to work yourself up. Estel has gone missing before and we have always found him through level headed thinking. So, think. Where would he go?"

Legolas gnawed his thumbnail as he thought "I don't know, I can't think!"

"You must try Legolas. Calm down and use reason"

"…he could be playing outside…"

"Alright then. I will send out a scouting party"

Just then lighting snaked across the sky, a blazing arch of white light. The thunder followed soon after with a rolling booming crash. The storm was closer to them then they had thought. Legolas jumped. He knew how he hated storms and the thought of him out there alone, tore at his heart. It was too much to take. His thin restraint broke. Still in his thin night gown, feet bare and hair unkempt, Legolas rushed out of the keep, calling frantically for Estel.

"Legolas! Come back! It's pouring down, you're not properly dressed!" Elrond protested, shouting after him. It was to no avail, his cries fell on death ears

Legolas was running so fast he was just a streak of colour on the landscape. He yelled out frantically, wheeling around, searching high and low. He had been searching for 10 minutes in the pouring rain and found nothing. He was freezing cold, his wet night gown plastered to him like a second skin. His voice was hoarse and his throat sore. He had seen no sign of Estel. His heart was bursting at the seams and he was seconds away from collapsing into a heap and sobbing. He bit his lip, tears welling up in his eyes. He scrabbled his brain for options. Elrond's advice came back to him. He forced himself to slow down and think.

Trees… Estel had said something about trees…

Something panged in his heart. He started forward as if propelled by some other force. He wandered around for a while until he came to the foot of a tree. He put his hand to its bark. The wind howled and billowed, thunder crashed and the rain hissed down. He forced himself to focus on the tree, and the cry of the life force within it. Something was different.

"Estel?" He called.

He was answered with a wail but he could not discern whether it was a child's cry or the sound of the wind within the trees. But his heart throbbed in his chest, something stirring inside. Before he knew it he had climbed halfway up the tree. He called out again. This time he was certain. The answering wail was Estel's. He climbed like the fires of a dozen Uruk-hai were underneath him, spurred on by renewed hope. As he broke into the trees crown he saw him. Estel, clinging to a branch, soaked to the bone, eyes wide and terrified.

"N… na…. Nana?" he said pitifully, teeth chattering.

With a cry of joy, Legolas snatched him up, squeezing him tight, a delighted babble pouring from his mouth. He kissed him many times, breathless and exhausted. His body shook with the force of his joy, exhaustion and cold. He leapt from the tree, rolling to absorb the impact and then sprang up again. The sensation of going so quickly from utter panic and despair to holding Estel in his arms was too much and he felt a sob rise up in his throat. Again he shook, this time from the force of his tears. Anyone who had come across him would have thought him dangerously unhinged, a crazy elf lying in the rain on the dank forest floor, squeezing a child and howling with strangled tears.

"Are you okay, Nana?"

The question restored a little of Legolas's senses. "No, tithen pen I'm not. I've been worried sick! What were you thinking? Going off into the forest all alone? You could have been killed!" unbidden, his tears morphed into anger.

Estel's bottom lip wobbled "I'm sorry Nana. I… I just wanted… to show you how I could climb a tree all by myself"

Legolas's anger softened. It was not Estel's fault, really. He had not known how worried Legolas had been. "It's okay tithen pen. You're not in trouble." He pressed a kiss to his forehead "I was just so worried about you. Never EVER run off without asking me first or taking somebody with you. Alright?"

Estel shivered, burrowing deeper into Legolas's arms "Alright nana"

Legolas stood "C'mon, tithen pen. Let's go home"

Elrond was relieved when they returned, though he was flabbergasted by their appearance. Legolas was saturated, water pooling at his feet. His hair had been whipped into a frenzy by the wind and the lightning's static. His shirt was plastered with mud and grass. Estel was much the same, shivering in his arms. Elrond called for hot towels to be brought and for baths to be run. Estel whinged and whined as he was led away to his bath, but Legolas contented himself in the knowledge that he was in safe hands. He allowed himself to be ushered into a bath of his own, sinking down into the hot silky water. When he fell asleep, no one was surprised. Elrond's servants woke him gently, helping him to dress and taking him to his bedchambers. He flopped down on the bed and sunk immediately back into sleep.