The Captain of the Corsair eyed the army of mercenaries he had hired. The group was impressive. The man smiled, satisfied. They would do the job.

The warriors were from Near Harad. A young man, probably their leader, stepped forward and bowed to the Corsair.

"Captain Dargmor. What would you wish us to do?"

"You know very well what the Corsairs of Umbar have always wanted, Mrak" Dargmor replied mysteriously. "Gondor." After observing the man's shock, the Corsair continued. "We have plundered this land for ages. We were planning on the big strike. We have assembled the army to march and destroy Minas Tirith, taking all of her riches to ourselves. We were close to success at the time of the Stewards." The pirate's gaze darkened. "Denethor tried to protect his subjects, but he wouldn't have been able to stand against us. But everything changed with the coming of this King of theirs. He is protecting his land well. Too well."

Mrak shuddered, suspecting what Dargmor would ask of him and his men. He couldn't ask him to do this. It was an impossible task. The Haradrim stared at the Corsair again, intent on hearing the order, although he knew very well what was coming.

"King Elessar must die."

The man looked Dargmor in the eyes. "Die? My Captain, I am afraid this is not as easy as it sounds. The King always travels with an escort…"

"I know," the pirate interrupted him. "But your men are much more than his escort."

"I could never enter Gondor with such an army! It would be stopped long before it has reached Minas Tirith!"

The Captain looked at his mercenary as if he was some small child, requiring special explanations about everything. "You will not enter Gondor. The King will come out." An evil grin appeared on his face. "We will use a bait. A bait he would not resist." Dargmor amusedly observed Mrak's questioning gaze and continued. "The King has a son."

"Prince Eldarion?" the man was beginning to understand.

"Precisely. And he travels with quite a smaller escort. One that could be easily dealt with with a dozen of men. You can take that many into Gondor unnoticed. Besides," Dargmor continued, "The child seems to dislike having guards. He often tends to ride too fast, leaving them behind." Obviously, the Corsair's spies had done their job quite well.

"And what do we get out of this?" the man questioned.

"You'll get a share of the treasure after we've taken Minas Tirith. And this is to get you started." Dargmor tossed a small bad to the mercenary. Mrak quickly opened it, greedily burying his hand into the golden coins.

"Go," the Corsair ordered. "Your first task is to take the King's son. Then you report to me."

---

"I can never believe I got into a cave under my own will!" Legolas was recollecting his experience and smiled at Gimli, who was walking behind him.

"I also can't believe that I spent years in that blasted forest. I never got used to the talking trees."

Legolas stared at him as if the dwarf had said something really stupid. "These were Ents, not trees!"

"The same." Gimli murmured, ignoring his friend's glare. "They have branches, they have leaves... anyway, they are not supposed to talk. But you must admit that you liked the Glittering Caves."

"I will admit that they are better than other caves I've seen, but that doesn't mean a lot. I still don't like them." The elf lied. He actually liked the caves much more than he expected. They were beautiful indeed, and Legolas was always able to recognize and appreciate beauty. But he would never admit this to his annoying little friend.

Gimli also liked Fangorn, even though the Ents always scared him. He didn't expect he would have stayed in that forest more than a few weeks, at most months. Legolas didn't even think he would stay in the caves for more than a few days. That's why when they left Minas Tirith, they told Aragorn that they would return within a year. But they had stayed much longer.

The dwarf looked at his friend and noticed that the elf was staring somewhere ahead. "You miss him, laddie?" he asked.

Legolas nodded. "It's strange. I haven't seen Aragorn in only ten years. That's supposed to be like a single moment for me. But, it seems, since I'm spending so much time with you, my friend, I've started to perceive time the way mortals do."

"Oh, so now it's my fault." Gimli laughed. "But it's a good thing that you start thinking about time as a mortal. The less you think like an Elf, the better, as my father Gloin used to say." The dwarf chuckled as his friend rolled his eyes and shook his head in desperation. "I miss him too." he added softly.

A mischievous grin appeared on Legolas' face. "I even miss getting into trouble. My life was so boring these past ten years."

"What?!" Gimli was incredulous. "You mean that I am boring?"

"No, not at all, my friend. That's not what I meant," Legolas smiled. "Maybe boring is not the right word. Let's say uneventful. But think about it. Our way was long and passed through some dangerous places, but we met neither orcs, nor trolls, not wargs. I'm not used to that."

It was Gimli's turn to smile. "That's true. I'm afraid to disappoint you, my friend, but I don't think we'll get into any trouble this time." Legolas gave him a questioning look and the dwarf explained, "I mean Aragorn is not a ranger anymore. He is a king, and I'm sure a king has better things to do than getting into trouble."

The elf grinned. "You obviously don't know Estel as well as I do. That human's bad luck is unbelievable."

Gimli suddenly started laughing. "It's funny," he said. "He told me that it was your bad luck that always led the two of you into trouble."

"What? My bad luck... I just wonder how my bad luck happened to appear right after I met him. Oh, I need to talk to that human." He gazed into the distance, his eyes suddenly turning sad. "I wonder if he remembers us. Human memory is so short."

Gimli stared at him. What a ridiculous thought. "Well, even human memory is not that short."

"No," Legolas sighed. "I meant, does he still think about us. It's been ten years and we said we would return much earlier."

"Surely he does," Gimli replied cheerfully. "I'm sure he misses your bad luck."

Legolas just shoved the dwarf aside and quickened his pace. The two friends were approaching Gondor's borders.

---

"Come on, Berehil!" Prince Eldarion called to his best friend, as he raced his black mare. The other child followed closely.

The two boys were laughing. They had managed to escape their escort again. Worried cries were heard at the distance, but the forest blocked their view of the escort. This only added to the children's excitement, and they raced their horses even further.

"Why does you father send these men when they never manage to follow us," Berehil glanced at the young prince.

"I don't know. I keep telling him I don't need an escort. Gondor is quite safe. And he never takes me outside." Eldarion sighed sadly. He was upset that his father never took him when he went to foreign lands. "I want to leave Gondor for a while, Berehil. To see the rest of the world."

The prince had no idea just how soon his wish would come true.

Suddenly an arrow whistled past him. The prince froze. "Get down!" he shouted at his friend. But it was too late. When he glanced back, Eldarion saw another arrow protruding from the boy's chest. Silently, the child fell from his horse.

"Berehil!" the prince screamed in panic. He felt a pair of hands take hold of him and lift him lightly. He thrashed and fought but without success. A heavy object was slammed at his temple, sending him into unconsciousness.

Mrak separated a few of his men that would go with him. "Stay here." He ordered the rest. "Make sure the escort doesn't follow."

The mercenary rode into the forest, holding the limp child's body. He just needed to leave Gondor. There was a large group of his men waiting for him. After he joined them, he could count the job done.

---

"Taken?" The news of Eldarion's kidnapping had shaken the King.

"I am sorry, my Lord. We did everything we could." The soldier bowed.

"Everything you could! You were supposed to protect him with your lives!"

"The prince raced far ahead of us. We couldn't reach him. When we got there, he was already taken. Some of the attackers were left to deal with us. They killed most of our men. Only the two of us survived."

Aragorn gazed at the two soldiers. They had both sustained quite a lot of injuries although none of them severe. The second soldier, however, was holding an unconscious child.

"Berehil's condition is very bad, my Lord." He said. "I fear the boy is going to die."

King Elessar gently touched the boy's forehead. Who would do such a thing to a child? And what were they doing to his child right now?

He looked back only to see his own grief mirrored in a pair of blue-gray eyes deep as the ocean. The most devastating storm and the heaviest rain that had ever come to this land were nothing compared to the storm he could see inside these eyes. Aragorn gently lifted her chin, "I will find him, Arwen. I promise. I will go right now."

The soldier, holding Berehil, stirred uneasily. "My Lord, the child is dying. I'm afraid no one else can help him. But," the man hesitated, "the hands of the King are hands of a healer. Only you can save him."

The King stared at the boy. He knew that what the soldier said was true. Only he could save him. But he didn't want to lose a minute. His heart wanted to go and look for Eldarion. It was tearing apart at the delay. He turned to his wife as if looking for advice, but in her eyes he could see the same doubts, the same fears.

"I'll see to it that Berehil lives," he finally announced. "And then I'm going to find Eldarion." The King headed to the Houses of Healing.

"Estel," a soft voice stopped him and he turned back. Arwen's eyes were worried. "You know that the men who took Eldarion were after you."

Yes, he knew. His son was kidnapped because of him. And this knowledge was hard to bear. "I know. I am so sorry- "

"It's not that," Arwen stopped him. "I don't blame you. I just wanted to say," Arwen paused to swallow her tears, "be careful, Estel."

"I will." He gently touched her cheek. "I promise."

Everyone in the crowed that had gathered around was troubled. Except one. The spy grinned. So the King was going after his son himself. Their plan was going well so far. Captain Dargmor would be pleased.

---

"Should we go through the forest," Gimli murmured grumpily, as he stumbled on a tree root again. "As if I didn't have enough of Fangorn."

"That's the shortest way." The elf answered. "And the safest. We need to be careful. We are not in Gondor yet."

"And why, may I ask, do we need to travel during the night as well? It's dark, I can't see anything."

"We'll stop and make camp as soon as we find where."

Legolas stopped abruptly and lowered his head, as if listening to something.

"What? What's going on, lad?" Gimli asked, irritated that the elf didn't share with him what he had discovered.

"Shh," Legolas raised his hand, signaling the dwarf to be quiet. His face was concentrated on something. "Someone is weeping."

Elf and dwarf moved through the forest as quietly as possible. Actually as quietly as it was possible for Gimli since Legolas was making almost no sound. They stopped and crouched, looking at the men's camp through the branches.

"Do you see now why it is better to travel at night?" Legolas smiled. "Everyone you meet is asleep."

Indeed everyone was sleeping, except for the guard and a prisoner, tied to a tree. Mrak had managed to reunite with his people. Legolas could hear the weeping, but could not have a good view because a large rock right in front of the tree was obstructing the view. The elf rose cautiously, so that he could look above the rock. What he saw made his heart freeze.

A child? Who would take a child? The boy was no more than nine or ten years old. Legolas couldn't imagine that the child has done anything that had angered these men. In his heart the elf was certain that this boy didn't deserve to be prisoner.

Gimli also rose, wondering what his friend was looking at. However, he was still too short and couldn't look above the rock.

"What do you see?" he asked the elf.

"Shall I describe it to you, or would you like me to bring you a box?" Legolas smiled at the old jest as the dwarf glared at him. "They are keeping a child as a prisoner. We should free him."

Gimli eyed his friend. "And how exactly, my dear all-knowing friend, do you know who is right and who is wrong in this case?"

The elf sighed. It was a just question. They were not dealing with orcs, these were men; there was no way of knowing if the captors were indeed evil. "I don't know, but I am certain that there is no evil in this boy. My heart tells me so."

"My heart tells me so." Gimli mimicked and shook his head. Those weird elves and their intuition. "So what do we do now? Do we take them?"

"No. They are too many. Besides," Legolas hesitated, "we don't want to kill them." Gimli was right. They didn't know if these men were truly evil. The prince would never have any doubts about killing an orc, but he wouldn't kill a child of Ilúvatar, unless it was absolutely necessary.

"What do you suggest?" Gimli asked.

"We can free the child quietly, without waking them up." The elf smiled at his friend. "I mean I can free the child quietly. You wait here."

"What about the guard?" Gimli didn't seem convinced.

"We can just 'put him to sleep'."

That irritating elf seemed to have answers for everything.

"How?" the dwarf asked. Legolas seemed to hesitate. So he hadn't planned everything. "I can sneak from behind and hit him in the head with my axe," Gimli offered.

The prince resisted the urge to burst into laughter only because he was trying to be quiet. "You can never sneak unnoticed Gimli. You make too much noise."

"And you can," Gimli was thinking, "But your bow and knives won't do any good." Suddenly a smile spread all across Gimli's face. There was something in that smile the elf didn't like.

"What do you propose?" he asked although he feared what he was going to hear.

"Well, obviously I can't do it because I'm too noisy. You can do it, but your bow and knives don't serve the purpose. This leaves us with only one option…"

Legolas' face paled a little as he realized what the dwarf was suggesting. "This is not going to happen. Gimli, I'm serious. There is NO way I am going to fight with an axe."

Gimli chuckled, "You want to save the boy, don't you?"

"Gimli, I would do anything, but not this!" But Legolas knew that his friend was right. There was no other way. Reluctantly, he took the dwarf's weapon.

Gimli almost doubled over laughing at the sight of the Elven prince holding his axe. "Oh, Legolas, it's such a pity your father can't see you right now. He would be so proud." Gimli was aware of Thranduil's dislike of dwarves. The elf just glowered at him, which made him laugh even more. "Just wait until I tell Aragorn about this," Gimli managed to say, "We'll have so much fun. We'll never let you live this down."

Legolas just grabbed the dwarf's collar and raised him above the ground. "You are not going to tell anyone about this! Do you hear me? Anyone! Or else I'll make you a demonstration of how well I can use my own weapons. And as a target I'll use a certain short creature with a long red beard!"

This threat only added to Gimli's mirth, so Legolas gave up and shook his head. "Dwarves." He muttered as he entered the men's camp.

---

King Elessar knew that his son's kidnappers actually wanted him, so he had decided to travel incognito. Dressed in his old ranger's clothes, he was waiting for his escort to assemble. The soldiers had taken off their Gondor uniforms, and looked like ordinary hunters.

The Queen approached. Her face was pale and troubled.

"Don't worry about Eldarion, my love. I won't come back without him. I swear."

"That is what I am worried about," she replied softly. "That you won't come back." Arwen didn't know if she possessed her father's gift of foresight, or she was just worried too much, which made her imagine things, but she couldn't get rid of the feeling that something terrible was going to happen.

She gave him a brief kiss, but pulled away quickly and turned her head, so that her shining raven-black hair fell over her face, concealing her tears.

Aragorn couldn't bear the sight of his wife's pain, but he knew there was no time to comfort her. He had spent enough time already trying to heal Berehil. It was worth it, the boy would live. But now he had to leave immediately.

"We will both come back. I promise." He said and rode into the darkness.

Arwen turned her beautiful eyes to the stars, praying to the Valar that what her heart was seeing would never come true.

---

Legolas stopped and quickly dropped to the ground, as the guard turned towards him. The man didn't seem to notice the intruder and walked towards the prisoner.

"Stop wining," he slammed the boy. "I'm tired of listening to you."

Legolas' heart rose with anger. He couldn't bear the sight of this man hitting the boy. He didn't know what made him feel so much for this boy. Yes, it was true that he could never stand it when someone helpless was hurt, but there was something else about this child. Something special that Legolas didn't understand, but it made him want to protect that boy no matter what. But he knew he had to wait. If he rose now, the child would see him and would probably react in some way, alerting the guard.

A pair of sad and angry gray eyes turned towards the guard.

"You killed my friend." The boy's voice was anguished, but strong and lethal. "You will pay for this, coward! You wanted me, why did you have to kill him?"

"I'll kill you as well if you don't shut your mouth!"

"You won't kill me," the boy answered boldly. "You need me."

The guard slammed the boy again and turned away irritated.

Legolas followed him closely. When he thought that the moment was good, he stood up quietly and raised the dwarven axe. He could only hope that the guard would not hear Gimli's suppressed laughter, which his sharp elven hearing could easily pick up.

The guard felt a heavy object hit the back of his head. He was unconscious before he could make a sound.

Eldarion's head hung down. The boy was weeping again, and had not noticed what had just happened. The young prince suddenly tensed, as he felt a hand block his mouth.

"Don't fear. I'm here to help you." Someone whispered. "I'll let you go. Don't make a sound."

Eldarion sighed with relief. He knew that sooner or later his father would find him. This was probably one of his men. The boy nodded. His bonds were cut.

Eldarion had to suppress a gasp of surprise as long golden hair spilled in front of his face. A pair of blue eyes, clear as a mountain lake, locked with his. This was certainly not who Eldarion was expecting to see. This was certainly not what Eldarion was expecting to see.

Legolas smiled at the boy's shock, but he was no less surprised. The child was unusually handsome. Dark hair was falling around his noble face. There was some dignity in the proud gray eyes. He could almost swear that there was something elfish about this child. But now was not the time for solving mysteries. "We need to get out of here. We have to be quiet."

Eldarion just nodded and followed Legolas. The elf was surprised at how quietly the boy could actually walk.

"You are so good with the axe, my friend," a happy dwarf greeted them. "You should seriously consider changing your weapon."

Legolas shoved the dwarf aside and turned to Eldarion, "This is Gimli, the most unnerving dwarf you could ever meet."

"It's my pleasure to meet you." Gimli smiled and bowed respectfully

Eldarion stared at Gimli. He had never seen a Dwarf before. A Dwarf and an Elf traveling together? This was a most unusual pair. The name was not familiar to the prince. His father used to tell him about his friends a long time ago, when he was too young to remember. But as the years passed, the King lost hope of seeing his friends again. Talking about them was too painful.

After carefully inspecting Gimli, the boy turned his gaze towards his savior. The elf also bowed and introduced himself, "And I am Legolas, son of Thranduil."

Eldarion knew that it was his turn to introduce himself. But an image of his mother came to his mind.

"Be careful, ion-nin." Arwen had said once. "Your name is not safe outside Gondor."

"Don't worry, Nana," the boy had answered. "Ada would never let me go outside Gondor."

But now he was outside his kingdom. Yes, Eldarion was sure that the two beings that saved him were not a danger to him. But he also realized that this was his chance for adventure, to take another name, to be someone else. He knew the tales of his father's past. The King had had a lot of different names, a lot of different identities. The prince had always longed to experience such a life. Not to be the prince of Gondor anymore, but just a ranger, wandering through the wilderness. A smile came to his lips. He was about to tell his new friends to call him Strider, when he got another idea.

"And my name is Berehil," he was going to honor his friend's memory by taking his name. "I am from Gondor," he added. Then he suddenly turned to Legolas. "You are an Elf!"

The prince of Mirkwood was surprised. "Have you seen an Elf before?" Most common people had never seen Elves and didn't recognize them.

Eldarion smiled. His mother was an Elf. His two uncles, Elladan and Elrohir, were Elves. He had never seen his grandfather, Lord Elrond, who had sailed to the Undying Lands before he was born, but, in spite of that, he had seen plenty of Elves. "I have heard tales," the boy answered simply.

"Why were you taken, Berehil?" Legolas asked the boy.

"I don't know." Eldarion lied. He was sure that these men wanted something from his father.

"I heard you tell the guard that they couldn't kill you because they needed you. Why do you think they might have needed you?"

"I have no idea," the prince answered again. "I just supposed they needed me since they had kept me alive so far.

Legolas wasn't satisfied with this answer. He knew that the child was hiding something. But he also knew that whatever it was, there was nothing evil about this boy. So the elf decided to let his new friend keep his secret. And yet he wanted to know what was so special about this boy. What made him look so noble? And, most of all, what made Legolas feel such a deep friendship towards a child he had just met? The prince was determined to solve the mystery.

---

Experienced hands were tracing the tracks from the fight, trying to read them. Keen gray eyes were scanning the area, discovering every clue. The man was kneeling on the ground, concentrated on the battle that was fought several hours ago, but was coming alive in his mind. His clothes were old and worn out, they were sewed at some places where they had been cut by a sword or a knife. Old blood stains decorated them, especially near the patches. His dark cloak didn't look any better. The hood was down, revealing black locks of unkempt hair falling freely around his handsome, but troubled face. One would never think that this was the King of Gondor and Arnor.

Strider, ranger of the North, was back.

"My Lord, what do you see?" one man from the escort approached. Aragorn sighed. He preferred to travel alone. He would move much faster and would attract less attention. But Arwen would have none of that. Finally, he had agreed to take an escort, so that she wouldn't worry that much.

"They have gone that way," the King pointed into the forest. "Four people on horses left with Eldarion. But there is something that bothers me," he paused and looked at the ground again. "The tracks are too easy to follow. As if they wanted to be found."

Aragorn picked up a branch broken by a horse's hoof. He was certain it was left there on purpose. He looked at it, letting the memories flow back to him.

"They have gone north!" the young ranger was exited that he had been able to pick up the tracks.

"Estel, something is not right." Strider gave his golden-haired companion a questioning look. "The tracks are too easy to read. I think they have been left here on purpose," Legolas continued. "It's a trap."

The young man was disappointed. He was proud that he had been able to interpret the tracks, and it turned out that they had been left there on purpose. If anyone else had said this, he would have refused to believe. But this was Legolas. In spite of his disappointment, Estel was glad that the Elven prince was with him. It was a trap indeed and he wouldn't have found this out by himself.

"I wish you were here, mellon-nin." Aragorn whispered. "I need you." He signed and tried to get the memories out of his mind. There was no use to think about the past. Legolas and Gimli had said that they would return within a year. Ten years had passed. Surely, they had left for Valinor long ago. They had apparently decided to go without saying a last goodbye. That thought hurt. A lot. But there was nothing he could do about it. He had long ago given up the hope to see his best friend again.

"My Lord?" one of his men interrupted his thoughts.

"It's a trap," the King answered. "I'm sure of it. But we have no choice. We need to find Eldarion. We just need to be very careful." Aragorn mounted his horse and rode forward.

---

"How could a mere boy escape from a whole troop of men!" Dargmor was furious as Mrak brought him the news.

"My Captain, we believe that he was aided by someone. I sent some of my men to look for him. The rest are waiting in the forest ready for attack in case the King arrives."

Dargmor suddenly grinned. "The King will arrive. One of my spies just returned from Minas Tirith. The King himself will look for his son. You are quite lucky that I received this good news. Otherwise I don't know how I would have accepted the child's escape," Dargmor glared at Mrak. "Go back to your men! Bring me the King alive if you can." The Corsair thought for a second. "But if you think it would be too much trouble, just kill him. In any case, don't let him get away! Do you understand?"

Mrak nodded and smiled darkly.

---

"So you are traveling to Gondor?" Eldarion was relieved that his companions would escort him home. At the same time he was a little bit disappointed that his adventures would end. But he didn't want to worry his parents, and, most of all, he didn't want his father to go and look for him. He knew he was being used as a bait.

"Yes," Gimli answered. "We are going to visit a friend of ours. A very good friend. Haven't seem him in ten years."

"Why haven't you seen him for so long?" the boy asked.

"Well, of course, it was all the dwarf's fault," Legolas smiled. "He insisted on staying quite long in these caves of his."

"As far as I remember," Gimli corrected, "you didn't mind staying in the caves. Besides, we stayed much longer in Fangorn."

"You liked Fangorn!" Legolas protested.

"Alright, I'm sorry I asked," Eldarion smiled at the pointless argument. But then his eyes turned sad.

"What's wrong, Berehil?" Legolas immediately noticed the change in his companion.

"I'm just afraid that my father will go and look for me. I don't know what my kidnappers would do to him." The child voiced his fears.

Legolas gazed into the deep gray eyes. "Your father must be a good man, Berehil, to have a son like you. I hope that nothing ill befalls him."

The elf looked away. He couldn't believe how close he felt to this child he had just met. This was the third time in his long life that he had befriended a mortal in such a short time. Actually, he had never befriended an elf that fast. When elves met, they had centuries ahead to get to know each other and let their friendship flourish. With mortals time was so short and relationships were growing and developing much faster.

His thoughts drifted back to the first two mortals he had felt close so soon after meeting them. The first was a human child he had met in Imladris. Little Estel had instantly found a place in his heart. The second was a dwarf. The elf looked at Gimli and smiled at the memories. There were so many prejudices at the beginning, but they had become friends in spite of them. Now Legolas was glad that he could call this dwarf a friend.

---

Aragorn was riding in front of his men. Arwen had asked him not to ride first for this might suggest their enemies that he was the King. He knew she was right, but letting another one lead instead might make the man seem to be the King and endanger his life. Aragorn would never let any of his men die instead of him. He knew that it was their duty to protect him with their lifes, that he was important and Gondor needed him, but still King Elessar wouldn't want anyone to sacrifice his life to save him.

Aragorn couldn't get rid of the uneasy feeling that someone was watching them. He was staring at the forest, trying to make out what was hidden in the trees, but he couldn't see anything.

He stopped abruptly and leaned backwards, so that an arrow coming from his right passed just in front of his chest and stuck into a tree.

They were ambushed.

---

"Look at the Elf," Gimli elbowed Eldarion, an irritated expression on his face. Legolas was walking slightly ahead of them, his gaze focused somewhere in the distance. Gimli knew that look. "He always laughs at me that I sleep too much. It is totally not fair. These Elves can sleep and dream as they walk. No wonder that when it's time for sleeping they are wide awake."

Eldarion tried to look surprised at the new information. He decided not to correct Gimli that this was not completely a substitution of sleeping. After all he was not supposed to have any knowledge on the subject.

Legolas had left his mind stray into the beautiful realm of Elven dreams.

"Legolas!" a child's voice called to him.

The prince turned around and smiled at the eight-year-old boy. There was a hint of sadness in the usually cheerful gray eyes. "What is it, Estel?"

"This tree is so pretty," Estel pointed at a tall tree. "I wish so much to climb it, but it has no branches near the ground and I can't." the child looked down. "All Elven children can climb it," he said softly. "Why can't I?"

Legolas sighed. He could understand how hard it was for a human child to be raised by Elves. He was sure that Estel was much more skilled and agile than any human of his age, but among Elves he would always look clumsy. "Do you want to climb much higher than all of the other children?"

"Yes! Can I?" There was such hope in Estel's gray eyes. Legolas smiled. This child deserved his name.

The prince raised the child with ease and put him on his back. "Hold on to me!" he ordered and started climbing gracefully, as if he was carrying nothing. The elf grabbed the last branch and jumped to the top, his heart overfilled with joy as he was listening to Estel's laughter.

"Legolas?" a child's voice called to him. The prince needed a second to realize that it was not a part of the dream. Who was calling? Was it possible? Estel? He turned around to see a pair of gray eyes looking at him. The prince smiled slightly and somewhat nostalgically. It was not Estel. Estel didn't exist anymore. He was replaced by King Elessar.

"What is it, Berehil?" he asked the child.

"Gimli told me that you are from Mirkwood. This means that you are a Wood Elf." Legolas nodded, quite surprised at the boy's knowledge. "So you should be able to climb trees well?" The prince was surprised again. Most people didn't even know that Elves were more skilled than them.

"Yes, I am able to climb trees." He replied.

Eldarion looked at a tall pine-tree. "This tree is so pretty. I wish so much to climb it, but I can't. Will you help me?" Legolas stared at the boy, completely shocked. His confusion increased even more as the boy turned to him his gray eyes. These eyes were so pleading and so full of hope.

Legolas raised Eldarion to his back. "Hold on to me!" he said and starting climbing gracefully, listening to the boys merry laughter.

"Elves," Gimli murmured. "They can never stay with their feet firm on the ground. And now he is corrupting the poor boy."

Legolas reached the last branch and cautiously eased the boy onto it. "Be careful, Berehil. It's a long way down." Then he turned his face east and froze. His blue eyes suddenly grew larger and his face paled.

A party of orcs was running in their direction.

TBC