Snowed In
Author: Adria Skye
Rated: G
Summary: Ever wondered what happens when it snows in Rivendell?
Spoilers: None really.
Warnings: None.
Elvish used in this fic: nin – my, ionn – son, mellon – friend, Ada – dad

Feedback: Of course.

Legolas Greenleaf walked through the woods at a leisurely but determined pace. He would make his destination before dusk. His father had given him two months to do as he pleased, free from his responsibilities as Prince of Mirkwood. He had decided to visit his friends Aragorn, Elladan and Elrohir at Rivendell.

It was uncommonly cold for the time of year. But it didn’t phase the prince. For he was an Elf and elves do not feel hot and cold as humans do.

❄❅❆❅❄

He reached Rivendell an hour before dark. Elrond’s twins, Elladan and Elrohir, came running out to meet him. They spoke simultaneously.

“Legolas! Welcome friend!”

“You didn’t tell us you were coming!”

Both gave the other a look and opened their mouths to continue, but Legolas stopped his friends before they could say anything.

“Where is Estel?” He asked, using his friend’s elven name.

“Hunting,” Elladan replied.

“And you did not go with him?” Legolas quirked an eyebrow quizzically. The brothers usually jumped at any opportunity to go hunting. Even though, due to the twins almost constant bickering, they hardly ever brought any game home.

“He claimed we were being over protective and that he needed some time to himself,” Elladan said.

“So then he left without anybody else, he did not even tell Father,” Elrohir cut in. Elladan sighed heavily and looked heavenward. At Legolas’ look he said:

“I’m imagining all the trouble that boy can and is going to get himself into,” Elladan explained.

“Ah, I see,” Legolas chuckled. “Lord Elrond wasn’t too happy, was he?”

“Oh, he doesn’t know.”

“Yet,” Elrohir chimed in.

“You see, Legolas,” Elladan said, “Ada thinks he’s off brooding about their conversation at lunch. He left right after it. ”

“He had said that he wanted to go see about some orcs that had been spotted on the northern border of the forest . . . ”

❄❅❆❅❄

“Father,” Aragorn leaned back in his chair.

“Four on the floor, Estel,” Elrond heard his foster son sigh and looked up. Aragorn’s chair dropped to rest on the floor. “What is it you want, son?”

“To be given leave to scout out our northern border.”

“If you take someone with you, that is not a problem.”

“Ada, I want to go myself,” Aragorn said, lifting his feet to rest them on the empty chair across from him.

“Absolutely not, Estel. Take your feet off the furniture,” Aragorn sighed again. “You know there have been spottings of orcs on the northern border. And I will not have you getting yourself into trouble.”

“Again . . . ” Elrohir felt he needed to add his opinion, but according to Elrond’s glare, his father did not agree.

“But Ada, I won’t.”

“And how do you know that, Son? Remember what happened last time? The answer is no.”

Aragorn opened his mouth to answer. “No, Estel, and that is final.” Elrond sighed as his foster son stalked out of the dining hall, fled up the stairs, and yelled behind him: “As much as you want to, you cannot protect me forever!” A door slamming announced that Estel had reached his room.

“Believe me nin ionn, I know.”

❄❅❆❅❄

“You see,” Elladan picked up where his twin had left off. “We caught him just before he left. He said he was old enough to go out on his own and he was going whether or not Father said he could. He made us promise not to go any where near the northern border or hunt any orcs on purpose.

“And,” Elrohir continued their story. “That he was back before tomorrow. Or, if he wasn’t, we’d tell Father and then come looking for him.”

“He had better be back soon. It looks like a storm is coming.” No sooner had Elladan uttered these words then the first snowflake of the season fell.

❄❅❆❅❄

It would soon be getting dark. And he was cold. And hungry. And tired and he wanted to go home. But Aragorn’s pride wouldn’t allow him to give in. He had kept his promise to his brothers and had headed south away from Rivendell.

The snow had been falling–hard–for about an hour. About an inch had accumulated beneath his feet. He thought about it for a couple minutes and then decided that if he got a move on, perhaps he could catch supper. If not, at least he would be able to sleep in his own bed.

He turned around and saw a pair of glowing eyes flying through the air toward him. It was already too close for a bow to do any good so Aragorn pulled out his sword. He was just in time to avoid the creature’s claws being buried in his shoulder. The thing impaled itself on his blade. He shook it off and it fell to the ground. Wolves. Great. He would have to tell his father.

He left the area quickly, hoping that this wolf had been a loner. The leaves on the forest floor behind him rustled. No such luck. He whipped around as one jumped out of a tree overhead. Then fell dead at his feet with an elven arrow protruding from its eye.

“Strider,” came the greeting. Legolas and his horse materialized out of nowhere. “What pray tell have you gotten yourself into now nin mellon?” He dismounted and stooped to retrieved his spent arrow. He slung his bow back over his shoulder.

“Hello yourself Legolas,” Aragorn said dryly.

Legolas took one look at his shivering human friend and turned to his saddle bags. “What do you say to going home, Estel?”

“Well, I was actually heading that direction but I got . . . delayed.”

Legolas pulled the ranger’s overcoat out if his saddlebags. He had apparently neglected to bring it and was feeling the effects. Legolas could see his friend was trying to hide his weakness. “Here, I believe you forgot this.” The prince saw his friend’s eyes light up at the prospect of being warm again. He held out the overcoat for the ranger to take. The worn article of clothing was eagerly accepted by the young ranger.

“How did you find me?” Aragorn asked the inevitable question while shrugging into his coat.

“Well, my father gave me some time to do as I pleased, so I decided to come visit Rivendell. When I got there, Elladan and Elrohir said you were ‘hunting’. But I managed to drag the full tale out of them.

Aragorn snorted. “I’ll bet it took a lot of dragging too, didn’t it?”

“Oh, yes,” came the sarcastic reply. Legolas mounted his horse and extended his hand down to his friend. Aragorn took it and mounted behind the prince.

❄❅❆❅❄

By the time they reached Imladris, they were both thoroughly soaked and trudging through four inches of snow.

Aragorn dismounted and sneezed at the same time. He attempted to hide it by clearing his throat but Legolas caught him and shot him a sympathetic glance.

“Don’t tell Ada, please,” Aragorn begged.

“Groveling is not very becoming of a king Aragorn,” Legolas teased. At Aragorn’s unamused look, he relented. “If you go right to bed, I won’t say a word.”

Estel contemplated this for a moment and nodded his head in agreement.

Chapter Two

When Aragorn and Legolas slipped into Rivendell, they found Elrond waiting up for them.

“What happened to you two this time?” The elven-lord held Aragorn at an arm’s length before giving Legolas a once-over. “Well, at least you two are in one piece this time, albeit a soggy one…”

Elladan’s “Estel! You’ve returned!” and Elrohir’s “You’re finally back!” announced the twins’ entrance.

Elrond raised an eyebrow at their comments. “You knew where he was, didn’t you?”

“Well . . . ” Elrohir began.

“You see-,” Elladan was cut off.

“Never mind boys, we’ll talk about this later,” Elrond said. He turned to his youngest son and his friend. “Estel, to bed with you. Now.”

“Yes Ada.”

“Legolas, I think it would be wise if you were to do the same. You don’t look much better than he does,” Elrond’s tone and expression softened, “Besides, you two are creating puddles on my floor. Come on, off with you. Go.”

“We’re going, Lord Elrond,” Legolas and Aragorn raced for the stairwell.

❄❅❆❅❄

Someone was shaking him. He groaned and rolled over. “Five more minutes, Ada.” He protested and pulled the covers over his head.

“Come on Strider, get up.”

“Legolas?” Estel asked. He risked lifting the covers and blearily peeking at his friend. He blinked in the sunlight.

“Yes, it is I, mellon nin. How is your cold this morning?”

Aragorn sniffed. “Fine, I think it’s gone.”

Legolas was skeptical but didn’t question his friend any further. “Good, rise and shine. And come look out the window.” Legolas’ voice sounded childish.

Aragorn reluctantly left the comfort of his warm bed and padded to the window. The entire world had been covered in a foot of glistening white powder. Aragorn was instantly awake. He made a new record getting dressed. Leaving Legolas to stare out the window, he raced for the lower level. His friend was at his heels in no time.

When they reached the dining room, they learned that Elladan and Elrohir had not waited for them. But the four companions finished at the same time anyway.

Elrond stopped his youngest son as he was going out the door. “Estel are you dressed warmly enough?”

“Yes, Ada.”

“What are you wearing?”

“Two layers on the bottom, three on the top. And my overcoat.”

“Come on Estel! What are you doing?” Came Elrohir’s impatient call.

“May I go, Ada?”

“Yes, go on, son.” Elrond grinned, he loved it when it snowed. He got the entire house to himself. And it was *quiet*. That was a rare occasion in Rivendell. As his youngest walked out the door he heard him mutter to his brothers and friend, “I told you it would be quicker if we got out before he saw us…”

As soon as Aragorn walked out the door he got a snowball in the back of the head. He whipped around, no easy task for a human in a foot of snow, and tossed a hastily constructed snowball back in the direction of his unknown assailant. He got great satisfaction and a good laugh out of watching his icy projectile hit Legolas right in the ear.

As Legolas turned to look at him, he was hit in the back of the head by another snowball. This time the culprit was Elladan. Before running after him, he left Aragorn with a fair warning: “I *will* get you for that, human!”

“Come on ‘human’ quick before they return,” Elrohir proceeded to dig a trench and began to construct a wall. “Why don’t you make snowballs? And put them…” he dug a hole in the wall. “Here.”

“Gotcha,” Five minutes later, Legolas and Elladan appeared around the corner and were cordially greeted first by snowballs in the chest, then by Estel and Elrohir’s laughter.

Legolas and Elladan looked at each other. “I’ve got Estel, you get Elrohir.”

“Got it. But, Legolas, what shall we do with them once we catch them?” Elladan asked.

“Uh, I have no idea. I guess we’ll figure that out once we get there.”

“Ready?”

“One,” Legolas counted off the numbers on his fingers. “Two, THREE!”

The two elves ran lightly over the snow and cleared Elrohir’s wall with a leap.

Estel looked up. “LOOK OUT!” He got most of it out before Legolas landed on top of him. They rolled around in the snow for a while before Legolas managed to half-bury Aragorn in it. At the threat of a handful of snow being dropped on his head, Estel gave up.

“OK, OK, I give up!” Legolas sat on his prisoner before a similar surrender came from Elrohir.

“Told you I’d get you back, human.”

“Prissy Elf,” was Aragorn’s only reply.

“Well, Legolas, we’re there, what do we do with them now?”

“Hmm, good question, Elladan. We could always…” As Legolas began to voice a list of options, all of them rather uncomfortable for Estel and Elrohir, the two beings in question looked at each other.

“Ready?” Aragorn mouthed. At Elrohir’s nod, both threw off their attackers with a yell. Caught by surprise, the two previous predators became the prey.

“Now who’s got who?” Aragorn questioned as he now sat upon Legolas.

But his victory was short-lived, for it was becoming dark in Imladris and Elrond called the companions in for dinner.

The End(?)

Whoa. OK. First fic I’ve ever finished, but I”m not even sure if it’s done or not. What do you guys think? Should I add more? Or am I finished? I don’t know, you tell me.