Title: Daily Troubles

Author: Settiai

Disclaimer: "Lord of the Rings" and other related characters are all properties of J.R.R. Tolkien. No infringement is intended. This story, such as it is, was written as a sign of respect and love for the characters, the books, the movies, and their creator. I claim no ownership of the aforementioned books, movies, and characters.

Additional Disclaimer: Any spelling, date, canon, or character errors are the fault of myself only and are completely by accident. I am not, and have never claimed to be, an expert on Tolkien's magical world of Middle Earth. Please forgive any omissions that you might find, but also feel free to point them out to me.

Summary: After spending a day taking care of the young twins, Glorfindel and Erestor try to give Elrond an explanation on why his home is in shambles.

Rating: PG

Feedback: Comments and helpful criticisms are always appreciated.

E-mail: [email protected]

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Elrond's eyebrows rose a bit as he stared at the two elves that were standing before him. An amused smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and inwardly he was struggling not to burst into laughter. As the lord of Imladris, he knew very well how improper that would seem. Besides, he was not sure about Erestor, but he knew that Glorfindel would almost certainly strangle him with his bare hands. No, it might not be very wise of him to laugh at a twice-born Balrog slayer.

The half-elf let out a quiet sigh before letting his gaze drift over Erestor and Glorfindel.

"Celebrían and I were gone for less than six hours. Would either of you mind telling me how, in such a short period of time, my home was transformed into a disaster area?"

The two elves shared an exhausted look before turning their gazes back to Elrond, who was looking at them with an expectant expression on his face. Glorfindel cleared his throat, his hand unintentionally moving upwards to finger a strand of his hair.

"Would you like to take a guess, my lord?"

Elrond gave his friend a quick glance before letting out another sigh and dropping down into a nearby chair.

"They are only children, not even twenty years old yet. What could that have possibly done that would cause this much..."

He paused for a moment, a tired look slowly appearing in his eyes. Why was he even bothering?

"Fine, I am listening. What exactly have my sons been up to this day?"

Glorfindel and Erestor once again shared a look, and for a few seconds they appeared to be having a silent argument between themselves. After a moment or two, however, the blond elf nodded his head and dropped down into a chair across from Elrond.

"As you know, everything was fine when you and Celebrían left for your picnic. Unfortunately for the two of us, that lasted until the two of you had disappeared from sight. Within a period of no more than ten seconds, your sons somehow managed to evade Erestor and I. We, with the help of several elves under my command, spent the next two hours searching all of Imladris for them. During that time, we did not even catch a glimpse of Elladan or Elrohir."

Erestor broke in at this, his mouth slowly twisting into a grim smile.

"However, Lord Elrond, we did find several... traces... of your sons. Such as pans of water balanced above doorways in such ways that when Glo... someone opened the door, they were immediately drenched."

At this, Elrond let out a quiet cough that sounded very much like a muffled laugh. He quickly stopped his 'coughing' however, and motioned for them to continue the story. Glorfindel let his gaze drop to his left arm, where his sleeve had quite a noticeable rip in it.

"We finally found the twins--but we had some difficulty in getting to them. You see, they somehow managed to..."

Glorfindel's voice dropped to an almost unintelligible level, and he quickly muttered something under his breath. Elrond's eyes widened just a bit, and his eyebrows rose once again.

"Was I imagining things, or did I just hear you say that my sons somehow managed to lock themselves inside your rooms?"

A small smile slowly started to appear on Erestor's face, but he quickly forced it away when Glorfindel glared at him. The blond elf forced a strained smile onto his face before slowly turning to face Elrond once again.

"Yes, you did hear me correctly. Elladan and Elrohir apparently decided--correctly, I might add--that my quarters would be one of the last places that we would think to look in. In fact, we probably would not have even though to check there if we had not heard the two of them yelling for help."

Elrond's eyebrows rose once again, and Glorfindel quickly explained his last few words.

"Somehow they managed to cause the door to my quarters to become stuck. I was forced to climb in through the balcony so that I could let them out."

The lord of Imladris let his gaze drop to Glorfindel's arm before he looked back up with a questioning expression in his eyes. The blond elf gave him a wry grin before, over the sound of Erestor's almost silent laughter, answering his friend's unspoken question.

"When I came into the room through the balcony, neither of the twins were expecting me. They panicked, and Elladan thought that I was a... Actually, I am not sure what he thought that I was. All I know is that I had to move quite quickly to avoid the sword that he swung at me."

He noticed the way that Elrond's eyes had narrowed slightly and quickly gave the half-elf an apologetic smile.

"They went through some of my belongings. I promised you that I would put anything dangerous away--and I did. How was I to know when I hid it that they would have ample time to search through my things."

Elrond was tempted to roll his eyes at his friend's excuse, but his gaze moved upwards towards Glorfindel's hair, and he quickly pushed the urge away.

"And your hair? I am almost certain that it did not have blue streaks in it when I last saw you."

Glorfindel's smile became even more forced as his hand once again moved up to finger his hair.

"Let me put it this way, mellon-nin... If your sons ever come near me again with any color ink, especially blue, I cannot be held responsible for my actions."

The lord of Imladris was barely able to contain his laughter as he let his gaze move away from the bright blue streaks in his friend's blond hair.

"I will be sure to keep that in mind. Now... Is there anything else that I should know of?"

Erestor and Glorfindel shared another look before turning towards Elrond and shaking their heads quite quickly. Glorfindel stood up and swiftly planted a rather phony smile on his face.

"No, I think that those were the main problems. There were several other incidents... Very minor though."

The two elves once again shared a look before both of them bowed slightly towards Elrond.

"If you would excuse us..."

Within seconds, the two elves had hurriedly left the room, leaving a more than slightly puzzled Elrond behind them. He did not have long to ponder over their strange behavior just before they left though. Only a few minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and Celebrían slowly opened it and walked in. There was a slightly annoyed expression on her face as she gazed at her husband.

"By chance, have you seen either Glorfindel or Erestor? According to our sons, there was an incident earlier today that involved a fire in our bedroom, and the two of them were supposed to be coming to tell you about it. Why, meleth nin, whatever is wrong?"