Disclaimer: I don't own these characters and I make no money from this writing.

Thanks again for all the kind reviews.

And well done, Andromida – you seem to have had that thought just as I did! Great minds, and all that!

"Elladan!" my mind cries. "Elladan!" And in that moment, I know why the thought is in my head, for there on the bank, bright against the dark woodlands is my brother, high on his horse and shouting to me. I drive for the bank, dragging the boat behind me and searching desperately for any sign of the boys.

"Estel!" he shouts. "I saw him fall. Where is he?"

"Downriver!" I shout, still looking. "I think he was swept away!"

My brother needs no more instruction and urges his horse along the bank, calling for Estel and searching. I watch him ride away, then suddenly turn his horse down the bank and right into the river. He crashes through the water and I can only hope it is because he has seen Estel and is riding to take him from the water.

I begin to search in earnest for Halbarad, my heart lighter now that my brother has found us. As I drag the boat onto the shore I listen carefully and hear sharply-drawn breath and the slide of water.

"Halbarad!" I shout.

"Here!" says a small, winded voice. "Here."

I slither along the water's edge and find Halbarad lying on his stomach. I grab the back of his shirt and pull him out of the water and up onto his feet.

"Come on, lad – I'll get a fire lit and you can dry out."

"Estel?" he says, stumbling up the steep bank in front of me. I steady him then climb up behind him.

"My brother will find him," I tell him, grabbing any wood I can find as I go. There is plenty stranded on the high water mark, where the winter floods have left it. In a few moments I have the tinder lit and the fire is beginning to spark and catch. My heart tells me to go after my brothers. My head tells me they will need a fire when they get back. When the fire is going I give its care to Halbarad and whistle up the other horse I know my brother will have brought with him, then abandoned as he went after Estel.

I go back to the fire and Halbarad leaves the circle of light to attend to himself.

Then Elladan appears out of the gathering dark, leading his horse. In the saddle, a small, wet, miserable boy sits, gripping the saddle with one hand. As he comes into the firelight he drops his head, hiding his face.

Elladan lifts him down and sets him on his feet but makes no move to comfort him. Instead, he goes to his horse and begins to unsaddle him.

Estel takes a few steps forward until he stands in front of me.

"I'm sorry," he says.

Taking my lead from my twin, I do not immediately look at him. "Whatever for?" I say quietly.

"I … I got it all wrong," Estel says, kneeling close by.

"You did?" I look up at Elladan, who is setting down his saddle near the fire. We both know this is important and that we must wait for Estel to speak his mind.

"I thought I could save him."

"Estel. He's safe. Look – he's just here."

Halbarad has stepped back into the circle of firelight and the sudden movement catches Estel's attention. His jaw drops.

"You didn't die!" he says.

"No," says Halbarad. "I didn't. Why did you jump in? I can swim like a fish." Halbarad sneezes and shivers. His temper is frayed by the cold. When I told him to take off his wet clothes he refused, but Elladan throws him a blanket which he had untied from behind his saddle. He stands and begins to peel off his sodden shirt and leggings. He stand in his small clothes then wraps the blanket around him. He ignores Estel.

"But…" Estel manages, his teeth chattering. Then he turns away suddenly and expels the river water in his stomach. I want to go to him but Elladan glares at me. Our brother must learn his lesson well.

He is gasping, but he turns back to us.

"I thought I could save him," he says.

"By yourself?" Elladan says. "With a broken arm? Estel, you can barely swim even when you have two good arms."

"I didn't think of that."

"Do you think Ruby considered his own safety as he went to protect you?" Elladan asks, his voice harsh and insistent.

I was setting my shirt to dry as I heard Elladan's question and wondered at its wisdom. If Estel runs away again he might be less than easy to find at night, in the wild.

Estel looked up at my brother, who stands head and shoulders taller than him. "I didn't want him to try to save me! But I didn't want Halbarad to die if I could prevent it! How am I to know the right course of action? Everything I do is just wrong!"

Elladan goes down on one knee and catches hold of Estel by the shoulders. "No, brother, no, it is not. You did what your heart told you to do. I am only sorry I arrived too late to prevent the need for your action."

"But you came back just in time," he says, his shoulders sagging. "You saved me."

"I came too late," Elladan insists. "If I had been able to slip away before, I would have put you on a horse and taken you straight back to Imladris where you belong."

I suddenly sense the strength of feeling which has been building in my brother, in the hours he has spent trying to follow us. He must have found the orc tracks, and the marks of battle, and the Dúnadan, whose name I do not even know.

Estel is flinching from hi tone, which Elladan immediately softens. "Father misses you," he adds quietly. His tone is a strange mixture of love and frustration.

Elladan begins to undo the ties on Estel's jacket. He could push Estel to say more but the boy is clearly tired out. Elladan says nothing but it seems Estel has more to say himself.

"Must I let others do what they want to do, then? Can I do nothing to prevent them?" he asks, his head cocked to one side.

"You may help others all you can," Elladan tells him. "You may offer them everything you have, even your life. In turn, you must allow others to do good if they wish."

"And stop them from doing bad things?" Estel asks, his face thoughtful.

"Yes. If you can, you should stop them from doing bad things."

"But not good things?"

Elladan asks. "No, Estel. You cannot prevent them from doing good things, even if in doing them they end up looking like a drowned rat.

Estel grins, a wide, cheerful grin, completely transforming his face. Then a thought grabs him. "So – so I shouldn't be sad about Ruby because he was doing good?"

At last Elladan hugs his brother. "Be sad, Estel, but do not be angry with him. Try not to be angry."

Estel nods and begins to co-operate as Elladan removes his jacket and his tunic. He is already strong, his muscles beginning to develop, but he is thin.

I know Elladan is right, that Estel must try not to be angry. Yet I know also that if Elladan had failed to pull him from the water I would be angry, with both of them, and with whatever had ordained he should die too young. And I know that anger is what we both harbour in us since our mother left us. It is expecting a lot of a little boy to understand that.

"Elladan," he says, as a blanket is pulled round his shoulders. "If we go home now, can Halbarad come too?"

I know Elladan's answer before he gives it in a nod. He holds Estel close and waits, and after a few minutes, grasps him and picks him up bodily.

The boy - my small, knowing brother - is asleep.

We guard them all night. In the morning, we head home, Estel riding with Elladan, Halbarad with me. We hope to avoid the river, and the orcs, and all else that has marred our adventure.

I think we have all had enough of adventures for a while.

tbc

(Amended. I thought this was finished but the boys tell me otherwise. Sigh.)