Dwarves were nothing but trouble. Legolas had known this for a fact even before he met Gimli, but now he was more certain than ever. His reasoning behind that statement had changed this past century, admittedly, but the statement still held. Dwarves were trouble.

Only a dwarf could have gotten him into this mess. Only a dwarf.

"You're stuck," Gimli repeated for what must have been the hundredth time.

"I am not stuck," Legolas refuted. "Elves do not get stuck. It is not my fault you dwarves made the tunnels in your mines so small."

"Which is why you are stuck," Gimli conceded agreeably, "but you are stuck nonetheless, Master Elf."

"You are the one who wanted me to see the cursed cavern in the first place," Legolas grumbled.

"And you agreed," Gimli said. "Which is why you are in the tunnel but which does not change the fact that you are stuck."

" . . . Aye."

"Best get to work getting you unstuck, then. Right, here's how we'll do it - "

Later, when asked why they were late, Gimli just grunted and waved it off, keeping the embarrassing story to himself.

Dwarves were trouble, certainly. Legolas's father had been right in telling him thus.

Where Thranduil had gone wrong was in thinking that this meant they weren't worth every bit of it.