The three friends made good progress and by the evening they had reached the lake Aragorn had mentioned last night. After finishing what was left of their tasty meals, they laid down their bedrolls and prepared to go to sleep. After about an hour, however, Gimli felt a hand urgently shaking him awake. "What is it this time?" He murmured sleepily.

"It worked!" Aragorn said excitedly. "Did you see his eyes? It worked!"

"Yes, I did see them and I share your joy, but this is hardly a reason to wake me up," the dwarf mumbled unhappily.

"We have to do it again!" The man said.

Gimli stood up and stared at his friend as if he had gone mad. "Again? Challenge the elf to a cooking contest again?"

"No, not cooking," Aragorn said, "but we can think of something else. Are you sure you do not want a swimming contest in the lake?"

"I said no swimming!"

"As you wish." Aragorn took out his pipe and lit it. It helped him think. "I have an idea," he finally said, beaming. "You will climb a tree!"

"What?" Gimli stared at him, clearly doubting his sanity.

"You will climb a tree," the man explained. "This will amuse him."

"Amuse him?" The dwarf cried in outrage. "Amuse him! Who do you think I am, your Majesty? The royal clown?"

"Peace, Gimli!" The man said, laughing. "I did not mean that. But maybe you could climb a tree, and when he awakes in the morning, he will see you up there. Then you will cry at him that you could do anything an elf could do, including climbing trees; he will feel challenged again and will want to prove to you that he can do anything a dwarf can do, and-"

"Sounds reasonable," Gimli interrupted him, "but there is a slight problem. I cannot climb trees."

"This is not a problem," Aragorn said. "I will help you. When Legolas awakes, you will already be up there, and he will think that you have done it on your own. Besides, he will never suspect that I could have a reason to help you."

Gimli nodded thoughtfully. He did not like the idea much, but still could not resist the temptation of imagining Legolas's face as he grinned at him triumphantly from the top of the tree. "Then let us do it!" He said. "And we better start now. I am afraid this might take a while." He threw the sleeping elf a wary glance. "We have to be quiet."

"Worry not," Aragorn said. "I added some sleeping herbs to his rabbit stew. I thought that we might need to make more plans this night, and it would do us no good to keep worrying about not waking him up. Come!" Aragorn crouched and motioned to Gimli to get on his back.

"Ah, no, this is not going to happen!" The dwarf said. "You are not going to carry me as if I am a child!"

"Do you have any better suggestions?" The man asked. "You want to help Legolas, do you?"

"Of course I do!" Gimli said. And it was true. Well, he had to admit that he still was not sure if climbing a tree would help his friend heal, but at least he would see Legolas's stunned face on the morning, which made it worth it. With a sigh of surrender he wrapped his arms around the man's neck and his legs around his waist. Aragorn cautiously stood up and walked towards the tall oak. Gimli gulped. He hoped that Legolas would not wake up sooner than expected – if his friend saw him carried like this, he would never hear the end of it! On the other hand… it might help the elf's healing. Well, he was glad that this idea had never occurred to Aragorn and he was not going to share it with him!

Aragorn grabbed the lowest branch and started climbing. Ai, this was harder than he had anticipated! Gimli looked small but weighted as much as a fully-grown man, perhaps even more. Slowly but surely he made his upward progress, until he had to stand up on a branch to reach the next one. And then disaster happened.

The man was still not used to the heavy weight at his back and lost his balance. His cry of shock joined with Gimli's as they both flew towards the unyielding ground.

A heavy thud, and then pain – that was it. "Gimli?" Aragorn asked softly and rolled off the dwarf. "Are you alright? Anything broken?"

"Yes…" Gimli moaned, his voice laden with agony.

"What?" Aragorn knelled above him, frowning in worry. "Do not move, Gimli! What did you break?"

"My… pipe," the dwarf mumbled miserably and held up the broken piece of wood.

"Oh, this is serious," the man said sympathetically. "I am sorry. Well, I am unhurt."

"I know that you are unhurt!" Gimli grunted angrily. "You landed on top of me!"

Aragorn winced. "I am sorry, Gimli."

"You better be! But do not worry – I will remember this and return the favor!"

"As you wish, have your revenge on me, but let us get you on top of that tree first. The night will not last forever." The two looked briefly at Legolas, who was still sleeping peacefully, oblivious of what had just happened.

"You mean – you want to try this again?" Gimli asked incredulously. As the man nodded, he shook his head in dismay – sometimes he wondered who was more insane – men or elves… and how did he always end up surrounded by both was beyond him.

-:-

When Legolas awoke, Aragorn was already up, leaning against a tree and smoking his pipe. "Good morning, Legolas," the man said cheerfully although he looked strangely tired. "Breakfast is ready. Would you like some-"

"Where is Gimli?" The elf asked suddenly, looking wildly around.

"Ah, Gimli?" Aragorn shrugged. "Up there."

"Good morning, Master Elf!" The dwarf said and made Legolas jump. The elf looked up, and saw a very smug-looking dwarf waving at him. "You should join me. The view is beautiful."

Legolas's eyes widened and he looked at Aragorn in shock. "What is happening here?"

The man shrugged. "Nothing much. Gimli awoke early and decided that the air would be fresher up there."

The elf's gaze moved back-and-forth from the man to the dwarf, and he wondered which one of his friends had lost his mind. Finally, he jumped up and nimbly climbed next to Gimli. "Now will you tell me what you are really doing up here?" He asked. "And how did you climb the tree anyway?"

"I told you already, Legolas, I am simply enjoying the view," he answered calmly.

The elf sighed and touched his friend's forehead to check for any signs of fever. The dwarf seemed well and his bewilderment only grew. "I would very much like to see you climbing."

"You… would?" Gimli did not sound so sure anymore. "Well, I will show you some other time, but now I only wish to enjoy the view."

"So you do not wish to have a race down the tree?" Legolas asked with a mischievous grin. Normally this grin would have made Gimli very happy because it was a sure sign that his friend was healing, but now he was too worried about his upcoming humiliation to notice anything and simply shook his head. "You are afraid that I will win?" The elf asked sweetly. "Oh, come on, Gimli, you must be so good at climbing trees, I am sure you have nothing to fear." Saying this, Legolas nimbly jumped to a lower branch and started his swift descent, and Gimli had no choice but follow.

The dwarf had not even reached the lower branch, however, when he lost his footing and slipped from the branch. "Gimli!" The elf shouted in horror and reached out for his falling friend, but he was not fast enough and could only helplessly watch the dwarf falling, crushing branches on his way down.

Aragorn quickly rushed to catch Gimli, but as the dwarf fell on top of him, he was unable to keep his balance and fell to the ground, the weight of his shorter friend pinning him down. Legolas jumped next to them a heartbeat after the dwarf had fallen. "Are you alright?" He asked swiftly, his eyes shifting worriedly from the dwarf to the man and back.

"I am not hurt," Gimli answered happily and grinned down at Aragorn, who looked out of breath. "I told you I would return the favor laddie! No hard feelings!"

Satisfied that the dwarf was well, Legolas turned to his other friend. "Aragorn?"

"I… I…" he tried to speak, but Gimli's weight had pushed all air out of his lungs. He locked eyes with Legolas and the urgency in them startled the elf. Obviously Aragorn wanted to tell him something very important.

"What is it?" He asked and helped the man rise to a sitting position as the dwarf rolled off him. "Do you have a broken rib? Maybe you should not move too much…"

"I-" Aragorn tried to speak again, but the air that suddenly rushed into his lungs made him cough.

"What?" Legolas's worry was turning into panic. "You do not have a punctured lung, do you?"

"I… I think that Gimli won!" Aragorn finally managed to say and could not suppress a grin at his friend's stunned face.

"It is true, it is true!" Gimli cried happily. He had not realized this until then. "I won! I won the race down the tree!"

Legolas stood frozen and glared daggers at the dwarf, then at Aragorn, and then at Gimli again, until his lips suddenly started to twitch and finally he gave up and let them curl into a wide smile. And then the smile was not enough to express his mirth, and he started to laugh. His laughter was growing stronger and clearer, until he ended up lying curled on the ground, arms wrapped around his stomach, laughing helplessly. When the elf finally managed to gain control over himself, he rose up, still laughing feebly, and noticed that his friends were looking at him with broad grins.

"This was good," he said and blushed slightly. "Gimli won. He won a tree-climbing contest against me!" He shook his head in disbelief, not noticing that the man and the dwarf exchanged a glance. "Well, I suppose we should be going now," he finally said. "We have made some good progress, but it is still a long way to Umbar."

"We are not going to Umbar, Legolas," Aragorn said. "In fact, I believe it is time to go home."

The elf froze and stared at him in confusion. "Go home? But what about this thing you lost? We must find it! Surely you are not giving up!"

"I am not giving up, Legolas," the man said with a smile. "On the contrary. I succeeded. Now I have it back and my quest is complete."

"You found it?" The elf asked bewildered. "When? Where? How?" His confusion was growing, but finally he managed to find the right question. "What? What was it that you had lost?"

The man looked at him for a moment, smiling affectionately. "Your laughter, Legolas. This joyful smile on your face, this bright twinkle in your eyes. I had not heard this laughter and had not seen this twinkle for a long time, and I missed them. But now I have them back."

The elf blinked in surprise a few times. And then he remembered. He remembered the exact words Aragorn had used when he described this mysterious object that he had lost.

I lost something. Something precious to me. Something I would give my life to get back.

No, Legolas, it is not a person, but it is something just as important.

He blinked once again, but this time it was to keep a tear from falling. His throat felt too tight too speak. "Now I see why you did not tell me what it was," he uttered when he finally gained control over the sudden emotions. "And why you needed me to come with you, and why Faramir looked so happy when we were leaving. But there is still something that I do not understand. Why could we not take horses? Why did the trip have to be on foot?"

Aragorn laughed. "I have to admit that this has no significance in our plan, and was irrelevant to your healing. The only reason we did that was because Gimli refused to spend any more time 'on top of one of those horrible beasts'."

The dwarf blushed slightly. "Ah, do not look at me like that, Legolas, it is true! I rode all the way from Rohan." He rubbed his hands, looking satisfied. "And now at last I can return to Éomer and tell him that our plan succeeded."

"Our plan?" Legolas looked surprised. "Was Éomer involved as well in the plan to help me?"

"Er- not exactly…" Gimli looked uncertain, as if wondering if to tell them or not. Finally, he could not help it anymore. "Alright, I will tell you." His voice lowered as if he was revealing a big secret. "About two months ago I journeyed to Gondor with Éomer and his escort. When we crossed the White Mountains, our paths separated. I continued to Ithilien to meet with Legolas, and the Rohirrim traveled to Minas Tirith."

"We know this already," Legolas said. "What does it have to do with your plan?"

"Oh, it has everything to do with my plan," Gimli said cheerfully and looked at Aragorn. "I asked Éomer how you were faring, and he said that he was worried about you. You were working too much and refused to take a rest. He had talked to Lady Arwen, and she shared his concern, but the two were unable to persuade you to take a rest, and so they decided to ask me for my highly-valued advice." The dwarf grinned happily. "For nearly two months Éomer and I had been devising cunning plans how to make to leave Minas Tirith and your work for a few days, and have been corresponding actively with Arwen to exchange ideas. Finally we decided that the only way to make you take some time for yourself and remember the freedom of you life as a ranger would be to make you think that you are doing it to help Legolas."

Aragorn was staring at him in utter shock, and the dwarf smiled gently. "Come on, my friend, we all know that you are an excellent healer, but sometimes healers need healing too."

"You mean…" The man could barely believe what he was hearing. "You mean that this trip was for my sake and not for Legolas's?"

"Oh, no, not at all!" Gimli said. "It was for both of you! Both of you needed to heal, but both of you had to be ignorant of the true reason why you were coming. This is why I let Legolas win the cooking contest. You told me that I had to make him lose because this would challenge his fighting spirit. Well, I thought I had to take care of your fighting spirit too."

"You let me win?" Legolas asked incredulously. "I thought that I won because I had cooked the better meal! And you, Aragorn, told him that I had to lose! I cannot believe it!"

His friends smiled innocently and he shook his head in exasperation. "Well, it does not matter. This is a wonderful plan Gimli and I like it a lot. He surely needed to have some rest. Why did you not tell me of it? I could have helped you."

"Were you not listening?" Gimli cried. "This trip was for both of you. So you both needed to know nothing of my plan. Besides, there is nothing you could have done to help. The best way you could have helped me help Aragorn was to get better yourself, which you did."

"Hmm, you are right," the elf conceded. "How noble of you, Gimli… Aragorn, do you know what I am thinking?" He asked with a wink.

"I believe I do," the man replied.

"What?" Gimli asked, feeling strangely worried.

"I find all this rather unfair," Legolas continued in a deceptively gentle voice.

"Unfair?" The dwarf asked perplexed. "What is unfair?"

"You see, you helped me overcome the pain the sea-longing is causing me. You helped Aragorn escape his royal duties. And yet, no one has helped you heal."

"Heal?" Gimli was completely confused. "Heal from what?"

"Oh, but you surely need healing Gimli," Aragorn said. "Healing from your desire to make cunning plans and to manipulate your poor unsuspecting friends."

"No, no, I only wanted to help!" Gimli cried and took a few steps back, as the man and the elf approached him with slow and deliberate steps.

"Do not be shy, Gimli, let us help you," Legolas said sweetly. "You helped us heal. Now let us heal you. As you put it so well, sometimes healers need healing too."

"No! No! Noooo!" Gimli cried in horror as two pairs of arms grabbed him and threw him towards the lake. "You fools!" The dwarf shouted, splashing about and trying to stay on the surface. "I cannot swim!"

Aragorn and Legolas exchanged a worried glance. "He cannot swim!" Instantly both of them jumped into the water, swimming towards the dwarf with fast, powerful strokes. By the time they reached Gimli, however, the dwarf had disappeared underwater. Legolas looked around in near panic and was about to dive and look for the dwarf, when suddenly Aragorn gave out a startled cry and disappeared under the surface as if he had been pulled down. The elf stared in horror. Was there some underwater creature that had captured his friends? He had left his knives on the shore and there was no time to go back!

Before he could make up his mind on what to do, something grabbed his own leg and pulled him down. Legolas turned around under water and glared at the dwarf, who was grinning happily at him. After a brief fight he and Aragorn were free from the dwarf's strong grasp and the three friends swam towards the shore.

For a long while they lay on the grass, soaking wet, trying to regain their breath. "You said you could not swim!" Legolas murmured accusingly.

"I lied," Gimli admitted. "Oh, you should have seen your face under the water!"

The elf tried to glare at his friend but failed miserably as he dissolved into laughter. "Thank you Gimli," he finally said and smiled affectionately. "Thank you so much for all you did for me. I have not felt this good for a while." He then turned to Aragorn. "Thank you both," he added softly.

"I must thank you too, Gimli," Aragorn said. "You helped me a lot. This trip did me a great good and I was a fool not to realize myself how much I needed this." He looked at the elf, and noticed that he was frowning at him. "What is it Legolas?"

"What do you think it is?" The elf replied in mock-offence. "I thanked both of you, and now you are thanking only him!"

"And why would I thank you?" The man asked with a mischievous smile. "I lost a cooking contest to you and suffered great humiliation, and then I was nearly killed by a falling dwarf because you decided to challenge Gimli on tree-climbing! You better have a good reason, elf!"

"Oh, but I do!" Legolas said. "I helped you recover what you have lost. Remember, this thing so valuable to you that you wanted to get back?"

Aragorn laughed. "You are right. Thank you for being happy again, Legolas." They shared a smile.

Gimli cleared his throat. "And I must thank you both for throwing me into the lake. It was most entertaining!" He grinned innocently at his friends' glares.

"Be careful, dwarf, or we might throw you again," Legolas warned. "And now we know that you can swim."

Gimli decided that his best strategy would be to change the topic. "I do not want to go back yet," he said. "We are having a good time together, and I am sure that my kin in the Glittering Caves will manage well without me for a while."

"I also think I could delay my return to Ithilien," Legolas agreed. "It will be good to spend some more time together, just the three of us."

"Aragorn?" Two sets of round and hopeful eyes were turned towards the King.

The man looked downwards. "You know, I would have loved to stay longer, but now our task is accomplished, and I have duties in Minas Tirith, and-"

"Aragorn!"

He sighed in defeat. "As you wish, I am staying with you…" The happy cries of his friends were contagious and Aragorn soon laughed with them.

The tree rose up and walked towards the lake, letting their tired bodies relax in the water's gentle embrace. "I saw that you can swim, Gimli," Legolas said. "But can you swim faster than me?"

"You bet I can, elf!" The dwarf cried, and Aragorn jumped back to evade the wild splashing that followed. He could not help a smile. It was good to see that some things never changed.

The End