The sunlight streamed through the treetops, casting patterns on the clearing that the two friends had camped in. The man began to stir as the sun began its trek across the sky and the morning freshness tickled his senses. He had been tired and had fallen into a deep sleep, not worrying about his safety, as he knew that his best friend was watching over him. Turning over, Aragorn opened his eyes slowly and focused on the figure that was kneeling by the fire, feeding it some sticks to build it up. The figure had a faint ethereal glow about him and his damp golden hair glistened in the sunlight as it hung down his back and his warriors braids were pulled back behind his pointed ears. Tall and lithe, he looked infinitely graceful as he was kneeling by the fire. Freshly filled water skins were sitting beside him as where they camped the night before was near a small stream that meandered through the outskirts of the forest. They had been on their way to Rivendell and had stopped on its very remotest borders the previous evening. They were in no rush to get Aragorn's home, as they weren't expected and it was going to be a nice surprise for his family. Especially since they had managed not to run into any orcs, wargs, raiders or every type of bad guy that Middle Earth seemed to have. It would be a nice change to actually walk into Imladris under their own power, and not dragging each other back for once. Aragorn brought his mind back from it's musing and noticed that Legolas was watching him, a grin on his face.
"Good morning mellon nin, did you sleep well?" Aragorn smiled and pushed himself slowly up, throwing off his blanket, plus Legolas's that had some how mysteriously found it's way over his body last night, and stood up.
"I slept very well thank you mellon nin. I'm close enough to home that I feel I can relax my guard slightly and I knew that you were watching over me." Legolas smiled, putting a pan on the fire and beginning to cook them some breakfast. He had already been hunting and had gotten some eggs to cook with their remaining rations of meat. He wasn't really hungry, but enjoyed the companionship of sitting with Aragorn and eating.
"As I always do Estel and always will. Now, would you like some breakfast?" Aragorn walked over to him and smiled at Legolas, heartened by his words. Glancing down at the cooking food he breathed in the smell of the fresh eggs and cooking meat.
"Yes thank you. I'll just freshen up a little bit." Legolas laughed and gestured towards the stream.
"The water is clear, cold and lovely this morning Estel." Aragorn smiled as he walked over to it, glancing back at his friend, his tone warm and teasing.
"And I bet you've already had a swim this morning, haven't you?" Legolas laughed, gesturing at his damp locks.
"Well, the damp hair does sort of give it away." Aragorn laughed as he knelt down, splashing the cold water over his face. "Besides, I'm not like you smelly humans, I prefer to be clean." Aragorn laughed joyfully as he turned around and headed back towards the fire.
"Well, we all can't be elves and use magic to stay clean and tidy all the time." Legolas grinned; this was a long-standing gripe between the two of them.
"I do not use magic. I just take pride in my appearance, unlike some people I could mention." Aragorn sat down opposite Legolas and poked out his tongue at him.
"Elves."
"Humans." They laughed and Legolas handed Aragorn his breakfast. They ate quickly and in silence, enjoying each other's company. As they finished and began clearing up and packing away their camping gear, Aragorn turned to Legolas, determined to get in the last word. Grinning as he slung his pack on his back he looked at his friend.
"Well mellon nin, let's see who gets home first. The smelly human or the prissy elf!" And with that, he took off at a run, his friend not far behind him.

Elrond, Lord of Rivendell, Herald of the High King, Keeper of one of the Elvan Rings of power, Father to the twin terrors of Elladan and Elrohir and daughter Arwen and the best healer in all of Middle Earth was seldom surprised by anything. He was currently meeting with Erestor and Glorfindel regarding the gathering of supplies for the coming winter when he heard joyful greetings and the sound of very familiar laughter. Raising an eyebrow at his friends, he walked to his balcony, Glorfindel and Erestor behind him, and looked out. And what he saw below did, for the first time in a very long time, surprised him. His adopted son, Estel or Aragorn as he was known more often lately by, was standing below at the stairs into the main hall, being greeted by his twin sons. Prince Legolas of Mirkwood was with him as well, and for the once neither of them were injured. A chuckle escaped Glorfindel and when he spoke, his voice was full of mirth.
"Well, I think that's a first. From the looks of things, both of them are unharmed." Erestor couldn't help but join in as well, his tone thoughtful and cultured.
"Yes, this must be a first in the whole history of Arda, what say you my Lord?" Elrond kept the smirk off his face with an effort as he turned around to head down to greet them both.
"I say I should really take the pair of you to the practice fields and teach you not to tease me about my children." The two of them shared a glance and laughed even harder, falling into step behind Elrond.

Aragorn and Legolas looked up as they sensed Elrond approaching. A wide smile was on his face as he held out his arms and pulled Aragorn into a bone-breaking hug. The twins moved to one side and stood next to Legolas, grinning widely.
"Estel, it is good to see you again ion nin, and in one piece as well. What miracle has happened to enable the two of you to walk into Imladris under your own power." This got a few laughs as Aragorn hugged Elrond back just as hard. Releasing each other Elrond smiled at Legolas as the young prince bowed in greeting.
"I think the Valar decided we needed a quiet trip for once Lord Elrond." Elrond laughed softly and nodded.
"I think they must be worried about my sanity, as every time you leave here I wonder what condition you'll be coming back in." They all laughed as they walked into the main hall.
"Well, just once we had to come back fine Ada, we can't always be unlucky." Legolas laughed at Aragorn's words softly as they headed up the stairs towards their rooms.
"I think you must be right Estel. Now, we need to clean up." Elrond watched fondly as his adopted son and his best friend walked up the stairs.
"You may need to you prissy elf, I'm just fine."
"No, your not, you need a bath Estel!" The two friends continued to bicker and tease all the way to their quarters. Chuckling softly, Elrond and his friends went back to their meeting knowing that the two of them would spend their time cleaning up, while the twins grinned at each other and followed their brother and his friend. Aragorn paused outside his room, smiling at Legolas who paused at his door as well.
"What is it mellon nin?" Aragorn just shook his head and smiled.
"I'm just glad to be home Legolas. It's been a while."
"That it has Estel. Now, go have a bath." Aragorn laughed and entered his room and Legolas watched him go. Moments later the twins came and stood beside Legolas, watching their brother a moment they turned as one and looked at the wood-elf.
"Okay, you're here and unharmed. What happened?" Legolas just laughed as he shook his head at there over protectiveness as he entered the guestroom that had been put aside for him permanently.
"You can't accept that just for once we had an un-eventful journey?" Elladan shook his head as he helped Legolas take off his bow and quiver. Elrohir went over to the cabinet and began to pour them all a drink of wine.
"I'm afraid that Elladan can't accept that Legolas, whereas I can." Legolas raised an eyebrow at both the twins as he began to shed his clothes. He pointed to the bathroom and Elladan took the hint and went in, beginning to fill it for him.
"And I'm an orc." Elrohir grinned and handed him a goblet.
"Here, drink this and begin to relax. Once you've bathed and got into some clean clothes we'll escort you and Estel down to dinner." Legolas sipped the wine, nodding in agreement.
"That's nice."
"Legolas, would you like bubbles or scented oil?"
"Oil please, I don't have a maiden to share the bubbles with." Legolas gave the twins a smirk as he sat the goblet back down and began to shed his clothes heading towards the bath. "And how come I seem to have gotten the pleasure of both of you, I thought you would be annoying Estel since you haven't seen him in so long." The twins shared one of their glances, as Elrohir had followed Legolas with the wine and goblets.
"Well, we wanted to ask you first how he seemed." Legolas turned from where he was about to strip off his breeches, his expression confused as he looked from brother to brother.
"What do you mean?" Elladan sighed as he turned the water off, as the bath was full enough for Legolas.
"Well, how did he seem. Was he happy, depressed, angry, upset or anything like that on your journey?" Legolas sighed and finished getting undressed. He stepped down into the bath and ducked himself under the water. Emerging after giving their words some thoughts he looked at the two of them, his expression open.
"Honestly mellon nin, he is fine. Not once during our journey did he seem anything other than happy and carefree. In other words, he was Estel through and through. Now, go bother your brother." Laughing, Elrohir sat down the bottle of wine and Legolas's goblet where he could reach them and followed Elladan out of the room.
"Hannon le Legolas. We'll see you in a little while." Laughing Legolas sipped the wine and then grabbed some soap and a wash cloth. The twins would go and tease Estel now about the Valar knows what. Suddenly, an evil idea popped into his head and he smiled most evilly. He would speak to Aragorn later and they would then have some fun this evening at the twin's expense.

Aragorn was already in his bath when the twins walked in, a bottle of wine and three goblets with them. Aragorn raised his eyebrow at them as he washed the soap out of his hair.
"And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" The twins got identical looks of innocence on their faces, and Aragorn immediately became on his guard. Years of experience had taught him to be wary of his brothers when they looked at him like that. The twins smiled as they made themselves comfortable against the wall, sitting on a handy bench.
"No reason Estel, we just wanted to see how you were and ask of your journey with Legolas." Aragorn snorted as he began to wash himself more thoroughly.
"No, you want to sticky beak your noses into my business and see if there is anything in it you can use to justify tagging along in a few weeks when we leave to go visit Legolas's father." The twins shared a look of incredulous disbelief.
"Why would we want to do something like that to you Estel, you're our brother, we are only concerned for you." Aragorn grinned at them both as he rinsed himself off.
"No, you want to wrap me in cotton wool for the rest of my life. I am fine. Legolas is fine. We had a quiet trip into Bree to see some of the other Rangers, then we went exploring for a little while and now we're home. Fine, in one piece, healthy and hale." The twins shared another look and then smiled rather ruefully.
"Alright then Estel, we believe you." Elladan looked thoughtfully at him. "Although you have aged somewhat I believe."
"It has been almost a year Elladan. Mortals do age you know."
"I know." Elladan's words were soft and sorrowful. Suddenly a glob of soap hit him square in the face and he looked up startled, to see Aragorn grinning at him.
"Stop looking so morbid." Laughing, Elrohir backed away slowly, heading for the door. He knew what was coming. Suddenly, Elladan launched himself at Aragorn and a water fight ensued. Laughing at the chaos before him, Elrohir suddenly found himself the target of two conspiring brothers and soon found himself soaking wet along with the two of them.

Legolas finished tying off the last of his braids and ran a hand over his clothes once more, making sure he was presentable. He was dressed in dark brown leggings and soft brown boots, a light green tunic of the softest silk with an over tunic of deep green, embroider with the symbol of his house. Satisfied he was presentable he left his quarters and knocked on Aragorn's door. A muffled come in was heard and he opened the door, entering and then pausing in the doorway, an expression of disbelief on his face. Suddenly, he laughed out loud, his musical laugh echoing around the room. Estel was standing on his bed, in just a towel wrapped around his waist, while holding a pillow and having just got one in the face. Elladan and Elrohir were in much the same state, feathers were floating softly to the ground and the whole room looked like a disaster area.
"Only you Estel. Come on, I'll help you clean up and get dressed for dinner." Legolas pointed at the twins. "You two will go and change and get yourselves presentable for dinner and then join us there, okay?" The twins just looked him like he was insane but Legolas just raised an eyebrow, suddenly looking very much like his very imposing father and the twins put down the pillows and nodded.
"Ah yes, your right Legolas. We'll see you both at dinner." And with that, they both practically ran out of Estel's room. Legolas waited until they were gone before shutting the door behind him and turning to look at Aragorn. He lowered his eyebrow and then suddenly grinned.
"I love doing that to those two." Aragorn just laughed as he stepped off his bed.
"So, did you mean it about helping me clean up?" Legolas laughed, moving over to the fireplace to pick up the dustpan and broom.
"Yes mellon nin, I did. Now, get dressed while I begin."
"Hannon le." Aragorn moved over to his wardrobe and quickly took out black leggings and a light blue shirt. He dressed himself quickly and turned to find that Legolas had managed to put most of the feathers back into the broken pillow. He laughed as he moved over to his friend, his smile wide.
"You know, I am going to have to think of something to get back at them for this." Legolas's smile was literally as pure as the driven snow.
"I know just the thing Estel, just the thing."

tbc…..