A Monkey's Harp – thankies for reviewing every single chapter in one go! That's dedication! (Or madness!) Thanks for picking me up on the Peredhil/Peredhel thing – I was always confused over that one, and I'm far more fluent in French and German than I am in Sindarin (I'm about to start translating my fics into French…)The twins aren't quite as fried as a certain pair of hobbits in the FotR film *cough*MerryandPippin*cough*

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"Elrohir?"

"Mmmm?"

"Are you awake?"

"Would I be talking to you if I wasn't?"

Pause. "You have a point."

"What do you want?"

"Do – do you think Ada will be very angry?"

"I have no idea. The mushrooms we shall get away with, I think, if he still blames the Mirkwood wine. As for the rest, I know not. The firework thing we most definitely will not get away with."

"That is what I thought." Pause. "Do you think Erestor will appreciate a skylight? In the long term, I mean."

"No idea."

A sharp knock upon Elladan's door ended their conversation. "Elladan? Are you awake?"

Elladan scowled from the doorway that joined his bedroom with his twin's. "Glorfindel," he mouthed. Elrohir nodded, mirroring his brother's expression.

"Elladan! Get up at once!"

"I am up!" Elladan called back.

The door was unlocked and a very annoyed Glorfindel stormed in. "Your father demands a word with you. Now."

"Where?"

"The green conference room. I advise you not to tarry; he is not in a good mood."

"He should not have drunk so much wine."

Glorfindel's intense blue eyes seemed to bore a hole right through the heart of the elder twin. "If it was the wine," he replied shrewdly, a gleam in his eyes that neither twin liked.

"We shall go as soon as we are dressed," said Elladan.

"You had better. I have better things to do with my time than to babysit two unruly, immature brats such as the two of you." He left briskly, almost, as Elladan was later to remark, flouncing off. Said twin pulled a face at the retreating back of the Balrog slayer (a fact of his past that Glorfindel never let any forget for long).

The twins, sighing heavily, duly dressed and, with heavy hearts, made their way to the aforementioned meeting place with their father. Neither spoke on the way, unsure as to how their father might be. 'Hacked off' would be putting it far too mildly, if Elrond was still suffering the effects of the mushrooms.

Elrond was waiting for them and he did not look happy. At all. Elladan gulped. Perhaps yesterday's actions had not been such good ideas after all, in hindsight. We do not all have Ada's gift of foresight, he thought glumly.

"Yesterday," stated Elrond, sitting down at the head of the table. "Explain."

Elladan sat down and opened his mouth to begin.

"Did I tell you to sit down?"

"Er…"

"Kindly wait until you are invited to do so, in future."

"Sorry, Ada." Elladan stood again.

"Are you?"

Both hung their heads. Elrond sighed impatiently. "Your behaviour yesterday was nothing short of disgraceful. I am ashamed to have to admit that you are my offspring. Why did you do it?"

They looked at each other, silently agreeing that honesty was perhaps the best policy in this situation. Elladan raised his head. "We were bored, Ada," he confessed.

"And you have been so moody, irritable and, quite frankly, virtually impossible to live with since Ammë left," added Elrohir, meeting his father's harsh glare. "We simply thought that you needed cheering up."

"And this is how you do it? By wrecking your home, making me look a complete idiot in front of people from a variety of races from all over Middle-Earth? A fine way to behave, I don't think. And neither did you, so it seems."

"We truly are sorry," said Elrohir. "We did not know that you would be so upset. We thought you would find it funny."

"You would have done in the past," added Elladan accusingly. "You are not the only one who misses Ammë! She was our mother and we loved her just as much as you! As did Arwen! We all hurt, but we at least have moved on! You seem perfectly happy to dwell in the past and it isn't healthy!" Tears had been welling up in his eyes throughout this short speech and now they spilled over. Elrohir was also close to crying. "All we wanted to do was bring a little relief and lightheartedness to Imladris and lift the gloom that has been here ever since Ammë left!"

Elrond's face lost the angry expression it bore and the Elf-lord hung his head to hide his own tears. "I am sorry," he whispered. He turned away momentarily to compose himself. That done, he faced his sons once more. "I have to confess that I was not overly impressed by the glued door."

"It is not the only thing that was glued," muttered Elrohir.

"Oh?"

"Ask Arwen to explain; I am sure she is more than capable of doing so," growled the younger twin.

Elrond arched one eyebrow. "I will do so. I do have to commend you on the bucket-over-the-door stunt, though. It has been long since I have seen the dignified Thranduil so…well…undignified. Legolas was certainly amused. Though you shall have to clear up the mess you made from that picture frame that crashed to the floor."

"That was Arwen's fault as well!" put in the elder twin hastily.

"How so?"

"She pushed me."

"I see. And did she push you for absolutely no reason whatsoever?"

Elladan, face significantly pink in colour, declined to answer this.

Elrond shook his head. "What can I possibly do with you two?"

"Forgive us?" offered Elladan cheekily.

"Ahem."

The twins focused their gaze intensely upon their feet.

"Perhaps you could start by repairing as much of the damage done as it is possible for you to do. And no shirking. Understand?"

"Yes, Ada," the two wrongdoers chorused.

"And you are not permitted to leave the house for a fortnight." Elrond smiled to himself as his sons' shoulders slumped. They will regret yesterday's actions, he thought. They do not know that I intend to let them off sooner than a fortnight – Thranduil covered in green dye was, after all, a most entertaining sight. They will suffer as much as possible. And he also intended to have words with their sister, who was clearly far from innocent herself. Drag that out a while, make her think that she has got away with it, and then she will suffer the consequences also. Oh yes, he was certainly looking forward to the next few days.

"Ada?"

Elrond snapped out of his daydream. "You may go. I am going to bed."

"But Arwen is hardly innocent!"

"I shall deal with it. Go. Get out of my sight before I become unable to resist the urge to throw something large, heavy and hard at the pair of you!"

The twins fled.

A few minutes later, hidden in an alcove around the corner from their father's bedroom (and with a curtain hiding them from view), the twins heard a yell emanating from the aforementioned room. They exchanged identical looks of amusement.

"Which lunatic put apple pie in my bed???"

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