Hello! Ynnealay here :) Happy April Fools Day!
So in recent news, my sister has agreed to write more chapters. I honestly don't know how long we plan to go with this story, but there will be more chapters. In the meantime however, here is the bonus chapter I promised. It includes a deleted beginning to the Chapter 7 (Truce) and a pretty long (By my standards) chapter telling the story of How Legolas and the twins got all the dye they use for pranks. So enough of my talking (Writing), let's get on with the chapter;
Deleted Scene: How Legolas Got Back From Being Covered In Varnish (I was too lazy to come up with a good name)
It took Legolas' mind a few minutes to realize where he was and what had happened. His head was slightly sore from being knocked out, but he wasn't injured severely. From the light in the sky, he could tell it was late afternoon. What was he stuck with? Was this furniture varnish? He sighed in annoyance. How was he to get down? The elf looked around, surveying where he was. He wasn't very familiar with the far parts of the woods surrounding Rivendell, but he did know that this was a commonly used path that was bound to be traveled often. He struggled more fiercely, but the ropes' strength was intensified by the sticky furniture varnish. How many times before had he been trapped? Tied to trees by orcs many times, yes. But never coated in furniture varnish. He heard the sound of hooves, and knew someone was coming. He almost shouted out for help, but his pride got the better of him. The rider came down the path and Legolas tried to turn the angle he was at so he could see the rider. Of course it was none other than Glorfindel, who was now starting to question why so many weird things had been happening lately.
"Legolas." Glorfindel stated monotonously. Legolas wasn't sure what the balrog slayer was thinking. "Why are you hanging upside-down above a path covered in… furniture varnish!?"
"Fine day, Lord Glorfindel." Legolas said sarcastically. Glorfindel stared at him, wondering how in Arda the prince got up there. Then a thought struck him – He and the twins must be having another prank war.
"Legolas Greenleaf, Prince of Mirkwood, son of King Thranduil, master archer. Do not tell me the twins put you up there."
"Fine. The twins did not put me up here." Legolas said getting more sarcastic by the second, "I am just hanging up here of my own personal preference and out of free will." This didn't faze Glorfindel. "Yes, the twins put me up here, alright?" It looked like Glorfindel was going to be angry at him for being so disrespectful, but the elder elf started to laugh. Legolas groaned, very embarrassed.
Still laughing, Glorfindel cut the ropes around Legolas' arms and then cut him down. With his arms free, Legolas manages to avoid landing on his head like a fool.
"Thanks." Legolas grudgingly said.
"You're welcome." Glorfindel replied, "Now, I assume I am correct in guessing that you will decline it if I offer to give you a ride to Imladris?" Legolas nodded, thinking about how embarrassing it would be to return on the back of Glorfindel's horse. However, he would have to go back. His horse was there, he presumed, and he had to clean off the furniture varnish.
"I will decline, thank you." Legolas said, forcing politeness.
Glorfindel shook his head; "Just as I thought." The elder elf rode away down the path and Legolas started to walk.
It was a longer walk than Legolas had anticipated, and he surely didn't plan that there was going to be what seemed like more riders on this path than usual. Some would look at him strangely, some would ask him if he needed help (to which he would force himself to politely decline), but the worst was when that same elven maiden who had cut Estel and him down from the greenhouse passed him on her horse with her friend, who was also very pretty. She whispered something to her friend and they both laughed at him. Eventually, whenever Legolas heard hooves, he just climbed into the nearest tree and hid until the riders past. It was sunset when he could finally see the buildings again.
He started to walk towards the door, but he could hear footsteps on the other side of it, two footsteps if he could hear right. He had no intention of being seen like this again, so he dashed around the side and waited for the two people to leave. He heard the door open and two identical voices were talking;
"Do you think he will come back?" Asked the first.
"He has to. His horse is here." Said the second. It was obviously Elladan and Elrohir who had just opened the doors.
"Well if he is coming back, he would be almost here by now." Said Elladan, or was it Elrohir?
"Good point. Maybe we should wait here to greet him when he comes back." Said Elrohir, or maybe it was Elladan. The twins snickered. Legolas silently cursed. If they were going to wait by the door, how was he going to get in without them seeing? Then he remembered, he had with him his bow and arrows, along with his twin knives since he had been meaning to leave. With complete silence, Legolas took out his bow (which was extra shiny thanks to the furniture varnish) and nocked an arrow. He pulled it back and quickly looked around for something that would make noise if it was hit. He saw a cart full of metal that was supposed to be going to the forge. It was being pulled by a horse. An easy shot. He aimed the arrow and fired at the rope that attached the cart to the horse. It hit and the rope snapped. The majority of the metal in the cart tumbled to the ground with a loud crash. The horse whinnied in fear and bolted away. Legolas heard the twins again;
"What was that!?" Said Elrohir (or Elladan). Legolas could tell he was being serious.
"That horse is running like it's terrified!"
"Come, we have to stop it!"
Legolas heard the twins run off and he snuck inside. His plan had worked a little too perfectly; he really did feel bad for scaring that poor horse. But he knew Elladan and Elrohir would calm it down.
Unlike last time, when he had been hoping not to be seen by anybody while covered in feathers and he hadn't been, this time he was spotted – at least partially. But in the end, he got to his room. Then he began the long task of cleaning off all the furniture varnish.
Bonus Chapter: How Legolas and The Twins Get Their Dye
Thanks to 80icrazy80 for the idea to this story, this story is dedicated to them. This story takes place before Aragorn was born, so there are only the twins and Legolas.
It was rare that the sun happened to shine perfectly in the valley of Imladris so that the glittering warmth and light made the whole population wish that there was some sort of outdoor picnic. Even rarer, however, was the twin sons of Elrond and the prince of Mirkwood being in Imladris at the same time and no 'chaos' happening, whether that was one of them on their deathbed or an insane prank war happening. Surprisingly, though, this was a very rare occasion in which Legolas, Elladan, and Elrohir were all in the same place at the same time and it was a perfectly sunny day and nothing chaotic was happening. Yet.
The three friends happened on be on a perfect grassy hill under the shade of a large tree. The twins were lying on the grass under the tree and Legolas was sitting in the tree, relaxing against the trunk.
"Do you know what?" Elladan asked, "I am bored."
"Are you?" Elrohir asked, turning his head.
"Exceedingly." He answered.
Legolas switched his position, so his hair was dangling down off the branch and his head was almost toppled off the branch as well. "I am astounded, Elrohi- Elladan. One of the sons of Elrond, bored? You are hardly ever bored."
"Well admittedly, I am bored also." Elrohir said.
"Honestly, I have to agree." Legolas sighed. There was silence for a moment, when Legolas spoke again;
"Shall we play a prank on Glorfindel?"
Elladan shook his head; "No good. We did that a day before you arrived. He was not pleased."
"'Not pleased' is putting it lightly, brother." Elrohir said with a slight laugh, "I believe he promised to 'give us a thorough lesson about the tip of a sword.'"
"What is Arda did you two do?" Legolas asked.
"You don't want to know." They answered in unison.
"Apparently, Glorfindel is not fond of 3am surprises." Elrohir said. Legolas shook his head, chuckling.
"So what do we do, then?" asked the wood elf.
Elrohir hummed quietly, trying to think of something. As he hummed, he picked up a stone from the grass and tossed it in his hands. He eyed a stack of buckets at the bottom of the hill. Aiming, he threw the stone at the buckets and knocked one over. He smiled and stopped humming.
"Is that the best you can do?" Elladan smirked. He picked up his own rock and aimed it. It landed in one of the bottom row buckets.
"Please," Legolas said lazily, "Allow me show you how it's done, novices." Elrohir threw him a stone and he tossed it, landing his projectile in the top bucket. He smiled triumphantly.
"You are in a tree." Elladan said, "You got an advantage."
"Are you sure it's not just because I am a better marksman?" Legolas bragged. Elrohir immediately looked up at Legolas,
"Everybody knows I could beat you in marksmanship, Legolas. I'm better." Claimed Elrohir.
"Stop lying, Elrohir." Said Elladan, more jokingly than serious, "Everybody knows I am better than you!"
"Oh?" Legolas said, "Let us put your claims to the test. To the archery range!" With that happy cry, the wood elf leapt down from the tree and took off down the hill to get his bow and go to the archery range.
=====O=====
The arrow hit the dead center of the target with a thud. Its archer nodded his head.
"See?" Legolas said, pointing out his perfect arrow between two arrows that had also hit the center, but not direct center.
"Fine, you win for now!" Elrohir said throwing up his hands in defeat.
"Never accept a challenge with Legolas Greenleaf in archery!" Exclaimed Legolas.
"Yes, yes, we get it. You won." Elladan rolled his eyes,
"I can do anything with arrows!" Legolas boasted, while walking over to remove the arrows from their target.
"Oh really, now?" Said the twins in unison, sharing a look. "Care to place money on that? Say, two silver coins?"
"Yes." Legolas said confidently, walking back with three arrows in hand. "You have thirty minutes to challenge me to something I can't do."
"Deal." Said Elrohir.
"Then shoot two arrows at a time, you have to hit both targets in the center." Elladan challenged.
"Too easy." Legolas loaded, aimed and shot, hitting the targets perfectly.
So the twins set about challenging Legolas to all sorts of challenges; shooting blindfolded, shooting higher numbers of arrows at a time, shooting backwards. Thirty minutes was almost up, when Elrohir cried out,
"Shoot ten arrows at once onto one target into a star pattern!"
Legolas looked incredulously at the elder son of Elrond, did he seriously expect Legolas to be able to make a shot like that!? It wasn't a fair challenge and Elrohir knew it. However, Legolas wasn't one to back down from a challenge and it wasn't against the rules of the bet, so he picked up ten arrows and nocked them (With slight difficulty) into his bow. He tried to release the arrows slightly one after another, so he would have a chance to aim them separately. However, as the twins (And Legolas) had expected, he didn't make the shot. His first three arrows started to make a star, but the rest were terrible. They flew to the edges of the target and some even missed the target all together. The last three arrows flew off to the side and the three friends watched as the arrows flew towards a painter sitting at the side of the archery range. The arrows got closer and- imbedded themselves into the canvas.
Legolas cringed. The arrows had flown straight through the painter's work. He looked up slowly. One of the arrows had knocked over a jar of red paint so it was spilled all over the painter.
"I am so sorr-" Legolas started. But the painter didn't hear him. When he looked up, he saw three young elves (Well, technically two of them were half-elves, and even that isn't technically correct) holding bows and there had been three arrows that had ruined his work. He stood up and started to yell at them;
"DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I HAVE WORKED ON THAT PAINTING!? ALMOST TWO HUNDRED YEARS! I PROMISE YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!" The painter then started to charge at them, holding his paintbrush aloft like a spear.
"Well…" Elrohir said, "I am going to escape because I prefer to end this day among the living." With that, he dropped his bow and sprinted off. Elladan paused for a split second before dropping his bow and following his twin. Legolas, not wanting to face the angry painter alone, did the same and ran after Elladan.
Now usually, Legolas, Elladan and Elrohir would not run from a painter, but he was waving around a very large paintbrush and was covered in dark red paint and it overall looked like he had used his paintbrush to brutally murder someone. Plus, the twins and Legolas agreed, he was being irrationally cantankerous. So of course, they ran.
They ran through an area of Rivendell that was used as a main square or marketplace. There were many elves there and as Elrohir ran, he looked behind him to see Elladan and Legolas following him and of course the painter was chasing them. Because he was looking back instead of forward, Elrohir crashed into an elleth carrying a basket of apples. The basket fell to the ground along with Elrohir and the unlucky woman. Apples toppled everywhere, tripping unsuspecting elves in the square. Elladan caught up with the fallen Elrohir and helped him up. The twins both stood up just in time to see Legolas come rushing up, the painter still chasing with a wildly fuming look in his eyes. It caused the three to wonder what the painting had been of exactly.
"Come on!" Legolas exclaimed, running ahead as the twins looked back. An elf noticed the three of them running at top speed through the square and looked behind them to see what was happening. He slipped on an apple and caused several more elves to fall down around him. In the commotion, the three painting-wreckers managed to lose the painter in a mad dash towards the river. They reached the bridge and started to cross it when the elleth that had been carrying the apple basket came briskly down the path looking agitated. She would spot them if they stayed on the bridge (or in any unhidden area). Elrohir quickly dived into a nearby patch of decorative trees and yanked his brother and friend with him.
"Elladan!" Legolas exclaimed.
"Not my fault." Elladan whispered back.
"Elrohir!" Legolas hissed.
"Shh!"
They all were quiet. They could hear the sounds of commotion in the square, different people demanding to know what had happened.
Suddenly, the ground began to crumble beneath Elladan and the soft soil slid him down towards the river. Elrohir became aware of this and stopped his brother from sliding down too far by catching him by the arm. Then, both of them started to fall towards the river. It happened fast and the drop down was steep. Legolas tried to catch them both but in the end only ended up getting pulled into the water himself.
In an instant, they were all soaked. The river wasn't deep, likely only up to their chests, but it was fast and soon they were swept downstream by the current. They all swam towards the shore. Legolas and Elrohir managed to catch hold of branches and they helped Elladan out of the river. There were trees and bushes lining the river and then there was a wide field, used for tournaments of swordplay or celebrations. They started to walk out of the trees, ever aware of their soaked condition. They were about to celebrate, thinking they had escaped the painter and the apple-lady but then they all stopped dead in their tracks. The painter was standing in the middle of the field searching for them. They all cursed at the same time.
"What do we do now?" Elladan whispered.
"We wait until he leaves?" Legolas suggested. So they waited, but the painter didn't leave, in fact on a few occasions, he would come closer to the bush they were hiding in.
"Waiting is not going to do much good." Elladan said after a while.
"Do you have a better idea?" Legolas replied.
"I do." Elrohir offered. He pointed to a pile of large branches that had been blown down after a recent storm. Some of the branches were tall enough the hide them and looked like a small tree standing up.
"You cannot be serious, brother." Elladan said.
=====O=====
"I am completely serious." Elrohir whispered very quietly. "Because it is working." He smirked. They had all grabbed their own branches and were shuffling around the perimeter of the field; hiding behind the tall branches and hiding when the painter happened to look their way.
"If we get caught, this is all on you!" Elladan whispered
"Don't worry we're not going to get caught" Elrohir said back
"How do you know ?!" Elladan said a little bit louder this time
"Shut up! He'll hear you!" Elrohir said a lot louder
"BOTH OF YOU, FOR THE LOVE OF ERU! SHUT YOUR MOUTHS SO I DON'T HAVE TO SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!" Legolas shouted quickly realizing what he'd done. The painter looked up and started to charge for them!
"Great now you've blown our cover!" Elladan shouted at Legolas, Elrohir looked at Legolas
"Idiot." He said.
"Never mind me! RUN!" Legolas screamed. The trio bolted across the field, dropping their branches. At the end of the field was a path leading back to the Main Square and a row of storage sheds. They were about to run to the Main Square, but thought better of it when Elrohir yanked them towards the storage area after seeing the Apple Lady in the Main Square.
"What are you doing!? He'll catch us!" Elladan exclaimed.
"Hide!" Legolas said,
"Where!?"
"Come on! Follow me!" Legolas said, running behind one of the storage sheds. There was a stack of crates nearby and he took a running start, using the crates for leverage and grabbed hold of the roof. Legolas pulled himself up and lay flat against the roof. He motioned for the twins to follow him. Elladan climbed up first and then Elrohir. They all lay against the roof and saw the painter walking suspiciously around the base of the sheds.
Follow me, Legolas mouthed, and got up soundlessly. The prince went to the edge of the roof and leapt to the adjacent one, away from the painter. The twins followed. They jumped a few more roofs and then descended. The landed right beside the door of one of the sheds.
"In here." Legolas whispered, holding open the door as the twins went in. He followed, it was pitch black inside, but they didn't mind.
"We can wait in here until he leaves the area." Said the archer.
"Where's the light?" Either Elladan or Elrohir said, Legolas couldn't tell which. They all walked around blindly in the dark trying to find a light when Elladan found something close to the wall. It was long and stretched upwards, he couldn't tell how long it was, but it felt like a rope, so he pulled it. A rather loud crash echoed through the dark, metal on stone. Instinctively, they all took cover by ducking and covering their heads in case something fell on them. Luckily, nothing did. However, some of whatever objects had caused the loud crash landed very close to Elladan as he could hear.
"What was that?" Legolas said getting up.
"I don't know." Replied one of the twins. Suddenly something rolled towards Legolas and in the dark he couldn't see it. He tripped over it, crashing into Elrohir in the dark and landed on the ground. To their surprise, there was a slightly sticky, cold, and wet substance covering the ground. Elladan heard both his brother and Legolas fall and started to walk towards the sound,
"Elrohir? Legolas? Are you alright?" asked Elladan blindly. As he approached the fallen elves, he slipped on the floor, slick with some liquid.
"We're fine." Elrohir said, getting up. "There is something on the floor."
Elladan got up, "I noticed."
"We should get out of here." Legolas said, who had also stood "If this liquid is a harmful chemical, who knows what staying in here with this spilled all over the place will do to us?"
"I agree." Elladan said, walking towards where he remembered the door to be. "Plus, the painter must be gone by now." Pushing the door open, light streamed in. There were a multitude of colours shimmering on the floor, mixing with each other and spilled metal cans rolled about, apparently having fallen off some of the hanging shelves that were lopsided thanks to the ropes being pulled too tight in places. On the back wall, many un-spilled cans were stacked neatly to the ceiling. It took only a second to read the labels on the cans and realize what this storage shed contained– dye. Of every colour. There were so many cans that the three of them were sure it would take at least a yén to use up half of the cans. The twins gasped, this could open up so many pranking possibilities.
Just then they heard a shout outside. They ran to the entrance, almost slipping on the dye, and looked out to see the painter, the apple lady, and a third holding fabric scissors with a dangerous look in her eyes, running towards them with expressions that were less than unpleasant.
Finally they noticed each other – they were all covered in dye, which was rather unbecoming. However, they were at the moment, about to get chased again.
"Back to the house and hope that father doesn't find out?" Elrohir asked Elladan.
"Agreed." The younger twin said. They took off running with Legolas in tow, all three of them mentally promising to come back for the dye if they ever needed a prank substance.
"You know, you still owe us two silver coins, Legolas." Elrohir said as Legolas ran up beside him.
"Shut up." The prince said.
So the word Cantankerous: It means 'Irritable, not in a good mood'. The conversation they have while crossing the field was written by Riellebay (My sister). Lastly, I refer to Elladan and Elrohir as 'Elves' sometimes, which is strictly speaking not correct. They are half-elves, which is still not correct. Technically, The twins are about 73.5% elvish, 23.5% human, and 3% Maiar. So yeah. I will post a new chapter to the prank war as soon as I can.
===Reviews Please===
~*Ynnealay*~
