~*~

Aragorn didn’t know what had woken him. He laid in his bed, not moving, trying to figure out why the very pleasant dream he’d been enjoying, about Arwen, had suddenly fled.

Cautiously he lifted his head and looked around. The memory of the last time he’d been woken out of a sound sleep in this house still burned bright in his memory. He could almost feel the icy water hitting him again. But his prank loving brothers were nowhere in sight.

Brushing a few matted brown locks out of his face and swinging his legs over the side of the bed in the same fluid motion, the ranger stood and threw one last wary glance around the room. Nothing.

Padding softly across the lush carpet to the window he threw back the deep blue curtains. Blinking at the sudden light that flooded the room, Aragorn gave his eyes a few seconds to adjust before peering out.

A broad grin broke across his face at what he saw…

~*~*~*~

Elladan loved this dream. It had haunted his sleep for centuries. But the beautiful elf maiden that always smiled and whose laugh sounded like the sweetest music guaranteed that he never tired of it. He was just bending down to accept a kiss, when he felt himself being shaken.

He came awake instantly, bleary vision focusing on his foster brother clad in only a pair of trousers. “Estel? What’s-”

“Shhhh!” The ranger held a finger to his lips. Motioning for his brother to follow, he raced to the window and threw back the curtains.

Elladan frowned, shading his eyes against the light pouring across his bed. So far this was not his idea of a good way to start the morning. His brother had better have a good reason for waking him. And what was the human doing up this early anyway?

“Will you come here?” Aragorn gestured impatiently.

Still frowning, Elladan dragged himself out of the bed and to the window, stifling a yawn on the way. Aragorn held back the curtain, a rather goofy looking grin decorating his weathered face.

Peering out, the elf’s breath caught in his throat. The home he knew yesterday was no more. What greeted him was a world of pure white, as far as the eye could see.

Aragorn’s grin widened if that was at all possible. “The first snowfall of the season.”

~*~*~*~*~

All dignity was abandoned, any restraint thrown to the wind. Muffled clatters and thumps echoed down the halls. Aragorn stumbled out of his room, trying to run and pull a boot on at the same time. Elrohir skidded into the hallway barely managing to slow himself before hitting the wall with a loud thunk. Elladan tore out of his own room and raced past his brothers tossing both a long scarf and shouting at them to hurry up.

Racing down the elven halls, the sons of Elrond sounded more like stampeding horses then the royalty they were.

The three brothers slid to a halt at the door and threw it open, jostling each other for a view. Finally Elrohir pushed Elladan out into the snow and he and Aragorn followed. Standing perfectly still for a few moments, they took in the sheer beauty that surrounded them, breathing deeply of the crisp cold air and watching it form misty clouds as it left their mouths.

Aragorn was the first to move, crouching down and scooping up a handful of snow. Elladan started to follow suit when Elrohir’s hand on his arm stopped him. “Wait…we’re not children anymore.”

Elladan frowned at his twin, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Think about it, you and I are nearly 2,000…and Estel is-”

“Practically the same age by human standards.” Aragorn interrupted.

Elrohir rolled his eyes. “My point is…we’re adults, should we really still be doing this?”

His only reply was Aragorn’s snowball hitting him square in the face. Elladan burst out laughing, “There is your answer brother!”

Aragorn’s laughter turned to a yelp of alarm as Elrohir started after him, spitting snow and sputtering, “You’ll pay for that you little nift!”

“You have to catch me first!” the ranger called over his shoulder, laughing.

Elladan was on his knees, laughing uncontrollably as the two raced around, darting in and out of trees, throwing insults as well as snow at each other, Elrohir never quite getting close enough to catch his younger brother.

“You are so slow!” Aragorn taunted, ducking behind a tree to avoid another well aimed projectile, “Can’t even catch up to a human!”

“You’ll get it when you least expect it Estel!”

“Well you know what that means brother…” Aragorn threw three snowballs in rapid succession to cover his retreat as he started to run again, “This is war!!”

Elladan wiped his eyes as he struggled back to his feet, finally managing to get himself under control. He had had enough of being on the sidelines. Tossing a snowball from hand to hand, he waited for his chance, which didn’t come to much later. He watched as his unsuspecting brothers tore past him. Aragorn was still struggling to outrun the elf on his tail when Elladan’s snowball caught Elrohir right in the ear.

That did it…and promptly all heck broke loose, the chase turning into an all out free-for-all. The snow flew, the elves and human not even bothering to take cover or even duck, their main objective was now to make as many snowballs and score as many hits as possible.

Tiring as the battle raged on, Aragorn held up his hands in surrender, earning himself about four more hits before his brothers let him be and continued the fight with just the two of them. Aragorn collapsed into a snowdrift and closed his eyes against the reflection of the sun. He listened to the sounds of the elves’ battle, the laughter, the muffled thumps, and shouts of outrage or triumph. A smiled worked its way across his lips. At times like this…he could definitely say it was good to be alive.

~*~*~*~

The sound of Elladan dropping to the ground next to him opened the ranger’s eyes. A second later Elrohir also let himself fall to the snow.

“Who won?” Aragorn asked with a raised brow.

“Stalemate.” Elrohir panted.

“It was not!” Elladan objected, “I beat you and you know it!”

“Did not.”

“Did so.”

“Did not.”

“Did so.”

“Did not!”

“Sore loser!”

“Am not!”

“Yea.”

“No.”

Aragorn sighed and closed his eyes again as the old argument continued. He had heard it countless times before. He opened one eye briefly as Elladan straddled Elrohir’s chest, pinning his brother’s arms.

“Concede defeat.” Elladan spoke with his face inches from his bother’s nose.

“Never!” Elrohir shouted, throwing his twin off.

The two began to roll around in the snow wrestling to pin the other beneath them. Aragorn was content to watch them with a smirk, until the crashed into him. The human was briefly trapped beneath the elves before they rolled off him and continued to wrestle, oblivious to what had just happened. Aragorn spat snow and glared in their direction. They didn’t notice. Elrohir had a grip on his twin’s pointed ear and was using it to his advantage while Elladan tried to hook his legs around his brother’s midsection. Shrugging in resignation, Aragorn launched himself into the fray.

~*~*~*~

Lord Elrond watched it all with a bemused smile, perched on the railing of one of the many balconies in Rivendell. It was the same every year. The first snowfall was always marked in this way. They would spend the entire day outside, getting more snow on each other then was on the ground.

It did the elf lord’s heart good to see them enjoying themselves so much. These were getting to be dark times, and more often then not, his boys were forced to grow up faster then Elrond would have liked.

But for today, they could be the children that still lived in their hearts.

And that was just what they looked like, rolling around in the snow, children.

Shaking his head at his sons’ antics, he went inside to make some hot cocoa.

~*~*~*~

Aragorn was exhausted from the play-fighting, but he didn’t care. It was a welcome exhaustion, the kind that came after you have had a bit too much fun to keep up with.

The three brothers were all leaning forward, hands resting in their knees, sucking in great gulps of the frigid air. “Well,” Aragorn commented between gasps, “that was exhilarating.”

The twins didn’t answer. But Elladan straightened, looking at something over Aragorn’s shoulder. A smirk suddenly crossed the elf’s face. And that was the only warning the Aragorn had before something slammed into the base of his skull sending him flying forward to the ground.

His brothers erupted into fits of laughter. Aragorn rolled over, rubbing the back of his head and picking up the source of his headache. A rather large iceball. Looking up sharply he was ready to send it back where it came from, until he recognized his attacker. “Arwen???”

Somehow even more beautiful with her current triumphant smirk, the she-elf winked and saluted.

Finally overcoming his shock and remembering to close his mouth, Aragorn’s eyes narrowed, “Oh there is no way I’m letting you get away with that.”

His fatigue forgotten, the human leapt up and dashed after the elf. He saw her eyes widen before she turned and fled.

“I thought that a human could never hope to catch an elf.” Aragorn called after Arwen with a laugh,
“Why are you running from me?”

“Because I’m not stupid!” she said sprinting off.

Aragorn sped up his pace after the young elf and let out a loud laugh. “No you may not be, but that won’t save you once I get my hands on you!”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

The two sprinted past the twins, who were still doubled over in laughter, “He would! Run!” Elladan was able to choke out.

Arwen jumped on top of a rock and balanced a moment on the ice slicked surface before jumping off. Her pace quickened as she descended a steep hillside. The ground was slippery and hard to keep steady on, but the elf kept her balance and went on anyway. Reaching the bottom with a skid she stopped and looked back up just in time to see Aragorn leap over the rock she had just stood on.

Not expecting the sudden invert in the land the human lost his footing and fell with a hard thump in the snow, but he didn’t stop where he landed. Sliding down the slick incline the ranger tumbled head over feet and didn’t stop tumbling till he slid to a halt at the bottom of the hill.

Arwen laughed, but stopped when she realized Aragorn was not moving.

Wide eyed with fear lacing through her she raced over to the still form. “Estel?” she called shaking him slightly, “Aragorn!?”

Turning him over, she fell back into the snow when the man burst out laughing. “Estel!” she shouted. Enraged, she punched him soundly in the gut.

Aragorn grimaced as the air was forced from his lungs, but he still could not hold back his laughter. Not even if it meant getting punched again. “You…you should have seen…your face…” He choked out between gasps.

His laughter was choked off as Arwen’s slim hands wrapped around his throat. “Don’t *ever* do that again.” She snarled in his face.

Gasping, Aragorn grabbed the elf’s arms and pried her hands away from his neck. “Take it easy, you know that the only way a human can catch an elf is to fight dirty. And besides…Ada wouldn’t like it very much if you killed me.”

“It would be justified if I did.” She growled as she jerked her arms away and stood, brushing snow off her overcoat, “You scared me to Mandos Estel!”

Stomping off in a huff, Arwen was not expecting to feel a hand grasping her ankle, and didn’t realize her feet had been pulled out from under her till she hit the ground with a small cry of surprise. Rolling over she saw Aragorn’s face grinning down at her. He leaned over her stomach, resting his elbow in the snow and his head on his fist.

She sighed, tying desperately to hide a smile. There was just no way she could stay mad at him. “Get off me you big lug!” she demanded, a small chuckle finally working through her defenses.

“Why?” the human asked. “You are rather comfortable.”

She arched a brow, “So we just stay here in the snow all day, while I’m being squished and you have a nice pillow?”

He grinned, “Well…as long as it is with you…”

Rolling her eyes she made a face. “More like *on* me.” She studied the smug smile decorating the ranger’s face, “Oh get off!” she shoved him and he toppled to the ground with an ungraceful flop.

“Clumsy human.” She laughed.

“Raku elf.” He shot back, his grin widening on his weathered face.

“You’re calling me a demon?!” she asked in mock indignation.

“Of course not.” The human’s voice dripped with sarcasm, as he laced his hands behind his head and leaned back into the snow. “You’re a perfect little angel.”

Arwen sighed as she pulled herself to her feet, turning her back on the man. “You are absolutely impossible Estel.”

The ranger laughed and looked up, Arwen. If only she could have seen the mischievous glint lighting his gray eyes, “Oh, come on. I have my good points.”

“Indeed?” the elf asked, raking snow out of her long black hair. “Name one.”

“I make life interesting.”

Shaking her head, she snorted, “What is that supos-” She stiffened. “*ESTEL!*”
~*~*~

Aragorn was running before the high pitched shriek echoed in the frosty air. He snickered as he imagined the way the snow he had shoved down Arwen’s coat must be dripping icily down her back.

“*Aragorn!*” the shriek rang out once more and, noting the outrage tingeing it’s shrillness, the ranger pushed himself to run faster.

Stopping in front of his brothers to catch his breath, every gulp of the frigid air burning through his lungs, Aragorn shot them a glare as he heard them snicker. “Just shut it before you-”

He was cut of as someone tackled him from behind and he landed hard, face planted in the snow.

Laughter rang out from the twins. “You are really in for it this time Estel!” Elrohir blurted unable to control himself. “You should have seen the look on your face when you went down!”

Wiggling out from under the she-elf on top of him, Aragorn leaped behind Elladan for protection.

“Oh, no you don’t!” he said leaping aside, but the ranger only followed. “I am not going to get killed for your devilish mind!”

Arwen charged the two, but Aragorn pushed his brother forwards into her and the two elves collided, falling into the snow in a tangle of legs and arms.

Elrohir was beside himself, doubling over from his fit of laughter as he tried to talk. “Yes…you are!” he managed to get out before falling to his knees. The site of the two struggling to get off each other was something he not seen in a long time.

Aragorn could not hold it in any longer. His laughter joined his brother’s as the two snow covered elves turned to him with fire in their eyes. “Isn’t this sweet? Wrestling like when you were young.” He said failing to make a serious face.

The older twin shook his head. “That does it Estel, now you have got *two* of us to run away from. How long of a head start do you want?”

Looking up at the sky the man pretended to think the question over, when Elrohir stood.

“Come on now…” he laughed addressing his twin, “you are going to ruin their ‘friendly’ play. You know how much the human loves to flirt.”

Arwen turned a glare on her brother. “That is *it*! You first…Estel later.”

Aragorn was ahead of her though. Bounding forwards he crashed into Elrohir easily knocking him off balance and sending him to his back.

“One would think that an elf your age might have learned to bite his tongue. The lesser pain would have saved you many good poundings over the years.”

“But never at your hands” Elrohir quipped as he rolled over, pinning the human beneath him. “You would never have survived the attempt.”

Aragorn only smirked at him. “Tell me again where I learned everything I know about fighting…”

Elrohir frowned, “From me and Elladan. Your point?”

“My point…” Aragorn smoothly pulled the same move his brother had just used, placing himself on top again, “is that anything you can do, I can do.”

“Correction little brother…” Elrohir laughed, and once more flipped the human over, “anything you can do *I* can do better.”

“Anything?” the Ranger’s smirk held, and he arched a dark eyebrow before bringing up his knee and shoving it into his brother’s gut.

Gasping, the elf fell back off his brother, clutching his stomach.

Aragorn chuckled at him. “I suppose catching you off guard didn’t fall under that category.”

Elrohir tried to glare at him, but gave up and laughed. “Very good Estel.”

The man offered him a hand up. “Oh, and don’t forget I was also taught by Rabryn.”

Elrohir gave a short groan as the human helped him to his feet. “That Ranger…he is a bad influence on you.”

Arwen snorted at him. “It’s not like you two are any better.”

Elladan adopted a look of mock hurt. He clutched his chest, “I’m crushed.”

The she-elf gave him a solid shove. “I’m sure.”

Elladan shoved her back, and Arwen responded in kind, hard enough to knock her brother off his feet.

Elrohir rolled his eyes, “Now see what you have done?”

“Who…me?” Aragorn asked innocently.

Elrohir sighed, “Estel, I swear you are going to be the death of us all.”

“I’ll second that.” Elladan added.

Aragorn studied the elf a moment, “You know…we all could just go inside and avoid any bloodshed…”

The four looked at each other… “Nah…”
~*~*~*~

The sun was just beginning to hide behind the misty mountains when Elrond finally heard the noise of the young ones returning indoors.

“You all go change out of those cloths right now.” He called to them, not even bothering to look up from his book.

“Yes Ada.”

The foursome, dripping wet and flushed from the cold, stomped up the stairs, trailing snow after them.

Elrond sighed. Celboril would have a fit when he saw the mess on ‘his’ carpet.

It took only a few minute’s before they came tromping back down, laughing and shoving each other.

The Elven Lord glanced over the top of his book as Elladan dropped into an overstuffed chair, Arwen and Aragorn flopped onto the couch. Arwen tripped Elrohir before he could sit, sending him sprawling on the floor.

The dark haired elf sighed and stretched out on the lush carpet, “Fine I’ll just stay here. It’s probably better then sitting next to you two lovebirds.”

Aragorn gave his brother a sound kick.

Elrond said nothing, knowing it would not help anything. Instead he motioned to a tray holding several mugs of steaming hot cocoa.

Elladan passed them to the others, who nodded their thanks.

The Elven Lord subtly studied his children, looking for any possible injuries they might have inflicted on each other, paying special attention to his human son. The young ranger often ‘forgot’ that he did not posses the same resilience to the cold as his elven siblings. Nothing looked too serious. But he noticed that while the others had set down their mugs, Aragorn still had his hands wrapped around his, savoring the feel of the heat on his bluish tinted fingers. Elrond frowned, “Estel, didn’t you wear gloves?”

“Yes.”

“Then where are they?”

“In the top of the beech tree.” The ranger grumbled, sending an accusing glare at Arwen.

For her part, Arwen did a pretty good job of looking innocent. Then she gave up at shot the man a smug smirk. Smoothly she changed the subject before her father could chide her, “Ada you should see the snow stallion that we made. It looks so real.”

“Thank you.” Elrohir spoke from the floor.

“Hey don’t take all the credit!” Elladan demanded. “We *all* helped.”

“But I did the most work. Without my creative expertise it would have looked like a common mule.”

“Creative expertise?” Arwen scoffed. “You have all the creativity of a rabbit.”

“And how would you know?”

“All of you hush and drink your cocoa.” Elrond demanded. “You make my head ach.”

The siblings hushed and sipped their drinks. But they continued to glare at one another. Elladan chucked a pillow at his twin.

Elrond sighed. He stood and tucked his book under his arm. “I know you all better to think that you will refrain from killing each other. I am going to my room to continue reading in peace. Estel sit closer to the fire until you thaw.”

The human obeyed. Turning to the elves he grinned evilly, “You know Ada; it’s really not my fault that they decided to make me into an ice human today.”

“Why do I find that hard to believe?”

The human pointed at his brother on the floor, “He started it!”

“Did not!”

“Fine, you lost ether way.”

Elrohir threw his father a look. “I did not!” he shot back at Aragorn.

“Did too!” Elladan and Arwen joined the chorus.

Elrohir flopped back to the floor with a loud thud.

Aragorn smirk, “Careful brother, you need to preserve as much of that short term memory of yours as possible.”

Elrohir threw the pillow at him. “If your feet were half as fast as your mouth you could outpace our best stallion.”

“Well if you were riding it, of course I would.”

Elrohir opened his mouth to reply then closed it again, eyes fuming, not at the comment, but at his own failure to formulate a reply.

Aragorn laughed, “Got you with that one.”

Elrond shook his head. “By the Valar, putting up with all of you, it is a wonder I do not have gray hair.”

Climbing the stairs to his room, Elrond’s sharp hearing caught one last comment made by is foster son… “So…shall we do this again tomorrow?”

-fin-