till forever falls apart

chapter 25: riding

Two weeks to the day later, Legolas convinced himself to ask his father to let him and the twins go riding. As always, he chose his moment. Ever since Legolas began recovering from his accident, Thranduil had been in a great mood, better than Legolas had ever seen him. He waited until they were all together eating dinner. "Ada? Can we go riding tomorrow?" Thranduil looked over at his wife, who gave him a you know what to say look, before he turned back to their son. Thranduil put wine goblet down, but before he could respond, Legolas interrupted. "Two weeks ago, I asked how long it would take for me to be able to ride again. Elrond said two weeks. It has been two weeks. Can we go?" Legolas gave Thranduil the look. "Of course, ion-nin. (my son) I'll send word to the stables," answered Thranduil with a smile. Legolas was shocked. He hadn't expected it to be that easy. His father must have been in a really good mood. 

Legolas wasn't the only one who was shocked. Elrond, Elladan, and Elrohir all looked at Thranduil in disbelief. When the elflings weren't looking, Thranduil playfully winked at the Elrond and then at his wife. He was up to something. Thranduil and Elrond walked the boys to the stables. Idhrenel couldn't make it as she was helping the royal gardeners. She loved nature as she had helped back in Lothlorien when she was very little. She also very into helping the general public of Greenwood, so she would spent her time helping them too. When they reached the stables, Legolas was bewildered at what he saw. He had expected to see Berion waiting for them, but not this. Berion was there, along with a company of twenty guards, all getting ready to depart. "I'm sorry, Legolas. I forgot to tell you. Captain Berion and his company will be escorting you, to make sure you stay out of trouble. They won't let the three of you out of their sight for even a second," said Thranduil with a wicked smile.

Legolas should have expected that. Getting permission had been too easy. At least they were still going. Legolas searched for his horse, but it was nowhere to be found. The only horses that were saddled were three ponies used to train elflings when they first learned to ride; Legolas hadn't ridden one of those in decades. Legolas looked to his father again, who was now laughing uncontrollably alongside Elrond. "Did you really think we had forgotten the scare the three of you gave us? These horses will make sure you don't make any more quick getaways,tithen las. " 

Legolas was about to argue, when Thranduil interrupted him. "I never said which horse you could ride," said Thranduil between laughs. "Neither did I," added Elrond, also in between laughs. The three of them grudgingly mounted their ponies and set off, surrounded by the company of guards. The ponies they were riding were especially trained to go at the slowest pace possible, so it would be a long time before they got anywhere fun.

It took a long while for them to be out of Thranduil and Elrond's sight. "Serves them right for what they put us through," said Thranduil. "The boys want the two of you to visit us in Imladris as soon as possible. They said that Legolas already accepted the invitation, and he's going to try and convince you to accept." Elrond paused and looked back at where the three elflings had just left from.  Thranduil's eyes went wide. "Oh dear," was all he could respond. The three elflings had become fast friends and there would be no way to keep them apart now. All that was left was to batten down the hatches and prepare for the mischief the three of them would be getting into in the coming centuries. Elrond thought exactly the same thing and burst into laughter.

"You two could also come around the time that your wife will be joining us. From what I know is that she is going to visit my wife... they have some things to discuss. Though I do not know what, I know Celebrían is very excited."