Chapter 3

The next day found them astride their horses once again.

“I sincerely hope you are proud of yourself, Elrohir! You once again managed to scare away an entire herd of deer before any of us got a shot off,” Elladan reprimanded.

“If it had not been for you tripping me while I’m trying to remount, we wouldn’t be having this discussion,” Elrohir shot back.

“I did not trip you, brother. That was your own fault.”

“No, it was yours, remember? You. . .”

“I swear, mellon nin, they act as though they were still children,” Aragorn remarked.

“Ah, but they are, Estel, they are.” A smile crept up on Legolas’ face. “And so are you.”

“Why, Legolas Thranduilion, you pompous little…” The human was stopped short as a snowball caught him in the shoulder and he sneezed at the same time, pushing him precariously close to falling out of his saddle. As he regained his balance, he whipped around to see that the twins had finally stopped their bickering long enough to gang up on their little brother. They were now on foot pursuing Legolas who had dismounted as well. Not as fleet-footed as his companions, Aragorn rode hard to catch up with them. Giving them a wide berth he rode ahead of them, and dismounted. He quickly formed three snowballs and gathered them in his arms, then proceeded to hide behind a large tree. As soon as Aragorn had concealed himself, the three elves raced into the small clearing. He let his projectiles fly. Each found its mark and the human fled for the safety of his saddle.

“Oh no you don’t, little brother!” Elrohir caught his foot and upset his balance. He landed hard in the snow. And was immediately tackled by three vengeful elves.

Two hours and countless snowballs later, the companions decided it was time to set up camp. The twins had volunteered to make dinner and Legolas was busy constructing a flet in a nearby tree, so that left Aragorn to start the fire. He eventually found a pile of sticks under the brush that had not been touch by enough snow to soak it. More were to be found under various conifers. Aragorn could feel a headache beginning to set in. Every time he leaned over to retrieve a twig, his head felt the need to throb and remind him he should not have left the house. Finally, when he felt he had found enough to at least get the fire going, he returned to camp.

“It’s about time, Estel,” Elladan felt the need to comment.

“Yes, brother,” Elrohir cut in. “Where have you been? We were about ready to send out a search party.”

Aragorn made a face at his brothers and turned around to make his fire. “Ha, ha. It just snowed. If you think you can do better, why didn’t you go yourselves?” Elrohir could be heard in the background mocking him in a high pitched voice.

“‘Why didn’t you go yourselves,’ he asks.”

“Shut up, Elrohir,” Aragorn grumped. He turned around just as Elrohir made a face at his back. “I saw that.”

“And. . .” he taunted.

“Look, I’m cold, and I’m hungry. Would one of you ‘perfect’ elves over there like to come over here and help the ‘sick’ human get a fire started?”

“Ah!” Elrohir exclaimed. “At last he admits to our superiority!”

Legolas came over with his pack in hand. “You’re quiet. Are you feeling alright?”

“Do I look like IÂ’m feeling alright? ItÂ’s about ten degrees right now,” Aragorn sneezed. “And getting cold – achoo colder. And IÂ’m achoo wet,” he sniffed.

“That’s what I thought,” Legolas gathered the wood his friend had gathered and proceeded to start a fire. “The twins are going to find us some dinner. Why don’t you fill that pot in your pack with some snow so we can start some tea?”

Aragorn sniffed again. “Sounds good.”

“Well, that was good,” Elladan sighed and patted his stomach after a satisfying dinner of roasted quail.

“Yes, it was. Good job, Legolas. If you weren’t a prince I’d offer you a job as a cook.”

“I don’t think father’s serving staff would be very happy about that, Elrohir. They’ve only been working for him for the past couple thousand years.”

“True, true,” his twin consented. “Oh! I forgot to mention it earlier, but I think we may have found a good hunting spot for tomorrow. We found signs of a herd of deer.”

“Yes,” Elladan confirmed. “It would be enough to fill the storehouses for the rest of the winter and we could go home.” He looked pointedly at his dozing human brother, who had managed to look increasingly miserable in the past two hours.

“That’s probably a good idea, Elladan,” Legolas commented. “But right now I’m going to bed.” “That also is a good idea, my friend,” Elrohir said. “Allow me to wake Sleeping Beauty over there.”

“I’m awake,” Aragorn mumbled. He got up and stumble just far enough to fall onto his sleeping pallet. “G’night,” He pulled the covers over his head.

“Yeah, we ought to good home tomorrow, no matter what,” Elladan said. “Of course, I have a feeling weÂ’ll want to after spending all day with him tomorrow anyway. Humans…”

TBC….